Dòngxuán língbǎo yùlù jiǎnwén sānyuán wēiyí zìrán zhēnjīng 洞玄靈寶玉籙簡文三元威儀自然真經
The Spontaneously-Arisen True Scripture of the Liturgical Standards of the Three Primes from the Tablet-Text of the Jade Register of the Dòngxuán Língbǎo
About the work
Second member of the 三經同卷被一 fascicle (cf. KR5b0232, KR5b0234). One of the foundational Lao-jūn 靈寳 scriptures, with strong claim to inclusion in the earliest stratum of the Língbǎo corpus revealed in the late fourth century. The catalog dates the work “ca. 400” — i.e. to the original Língbǎo revelations associated with Gě Cháofǔ 葛巢甫 (fl. c. 397–402).
Abstract
The opening passage establishes the cosmological framework: “The Heavenly Worthy said: in the palace of the Middle Prime (Zhōngyuán gōng) of the Língbǎo, there formerly existed three sections of liturgical standards, totalling 2,400 articles; from after the LóngHàn 龍漢 kalpa through to the Chìmíng 赤明 first year, the upper Sages compiled and abridged the essentials to be used in transmitting the teachings to the Perfected who were qualified to attain the Way — eighty articles altogether, which are practised today.” The work then sets out the eighty articles. Sample articles include: “Article on Reverence for the Master: when cultivating the immortal Way, one should think of the direction in which the scripture-master dwells, and bow three times mentally, vowing ‘May the Master attain the immortal Way; may I myself ascend in salvation’”; and: “Article on Reverence for the Master: after one has finished bowing to the scripture-master, one then turns one’s thought to the direction where the registers-master (jíshī 籍師) dwells, and bows three times mentally.” (中元玉籙簡文神仙品曰…).
The pre-history (the 2,400 article yuánjīng, the kalpa-transmission narrative) is characteristic Língbǎo apocalyptic; the work itself is a regulatory code for the xíngdào 行道 (cultivation) of the Daoist initiate, prescribing the daily mental and physical disciplines required in relation to the jīngshī 經師, jíshī 籍師, and the broader hierarchy of teachers.
Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 1: 224–225, John Lagerwey, DZ 530), the work belongs to the original Língbǎo corpus revealed around 400, anticipating its inclusion in Lù Xiūjìng’s 437 Língbǎo jīngmù; its absorption into the Sānhuáng tradition is also attested.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 1: 224–225 (DZ 530, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Bokenkamp, Stephen R. Early Daoist Scriptures. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
- Ōfuchi Ninji 大淵忍爾. Tonkō dōkyō: zuroku-hen 敦煌道経 : 図録編. Tokyo: Fukutake, 1979 — for the early-medieval transmission of the work.