Tàishàng xiāomiè dìyù shēngzhì tiāntáng chàn 太上消滅地獄昇陟天堂懺
Confession-Liturgy of the Great-High for Extinguishing the Hells and Ascending the Heavenly Halls
About the work
A single-fascicle salvation-confession addressed to the jiǔyōu 九幽 hells, numbered bèi 5 (被五) in the Dòngxuán sequence. The title summarises the rite’s twin functions: xiāomiè dìyù 消滅地獄 (extinguishing the hells) and shēngzhì tiāntáng 昇陟天堂 (ascending the heavenly halls) — i.e. the release of the dead from infernal punishment and their elevation to celestial existence.
Abstract
The rite consists of a sequence of zhìxīn cháolǐ 志心朝禮 (“with sincere heart, audience and reverence”) declarations, each invoking a different Daoist textual or scriptural treasure (sānbǎo língwén 三寳靈文, jiǔqīng shèngfàn 九清聖範, shídòng zhēnquán 十洞真詮, wàntiān xiānfàn 萬天仙梵, sīmì lánghán 柲宻琅函, xuánwēi qióngzàng 玄微瓊藏) and pairing it with a directional petition for the salvation of the dead. The petitioner asks that “the heavenly grace universally save, and the hells altogether open” (天恩普度地獄咸開), that “Compassion’s light illumines and Compassion’s love receives” (慈光攝受), that the jiǔyōu and the wǔkǔ 五苦 (nine darks and five sufferings) “join together and listen” (交㑹咸聽). The closing huíxiàng dedicates the merit to the deliverance of the named deceased and to their ascent to the nángōng 南宮 paradise.
Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1025–1026, John Lagerwey, DZ 537), the work is a SòngYuán composition with strong Buddhist-influenced rhetoric (the cíbēi 慈悲 / compassion language is unusually prominent for a Daoist text), transmitted through the Míng Zhèngtǒng dàozàng.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 2: 1025–1026 (DZ 537, entry by John Lagerwey).