Cízūn shēngdù bǎochàn 慈尊昇度寶懺
Precious Confession of the Compassionate Honoured-One for Ascending Salvation
About the work
Companion to KR5b0242 within the 二懴同卷被七 fascicle. The Cízūn 慈尊 (“Compassionate Honoured-One”) in the title is Tàiyī jiùkǔ tiānzūn 太一救苦天尊, the principal Daoist deity of mortuary salvation; the rite seeks his intervention to “elevate-and-save” (shēngdù 昇度) the named deceased.
Abstract
The opening follows the standard SòngYuán pattern: a fǎshì rúshì 法事如式 rubric (“ritual matters according to standard form”), the celebrant burning incense and reporting to the cosmos: Zhìzhēn wúshàng dàobǎo Tàishàng sānzūn, the jīngbǎo and shībǎo in their standard Sòng formulae, the Dōngjí gōngzhōng dàcírénzhě Tàiyī jiùkǔ tiānzūn 東極宫中大慈仁者太一救苦天尊, the Qīngxuán shàngdì, the Jiǔyōu bázuì tiānzūn 九幽拔罪天尊, the Shífāng jiùkǔ tiānzūn, the Dàcí dàbēi jiùkǔ zhēnrén 大慈大悲救苦真人, the Dàcí dàbēi dàhuì zhēnrén 大慈大悲大惠真人, the assembly of zhēnzǎi 真宰 in the Jiùkǔ huì 救苦會, the Fùzòu xiāngguān 傅奏香官, the Gōngcáo shǐzhě 功曹使者, and the local tǔdì lǐyù zhèngshén 土地里域正神. The dedicatee is named, and the rite proceeds with the formal shēngdù declaration.
Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1026, John Lagerwey, DZ 540), the work, like its companion DZ 539, is a Sòng-Yuán composition. The unusually rich cí-bēi (compassion) vocabulary — and the appearance of two specifically-named dà-cí dà-bēi Perfected — confirms the influence of Buddhist Avalokiteśvara-tradition typology.
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: 1026 (DZ 540, entry by John Lagerwey).