Tàishàng cíbēi dàochǎng xiāozāi jiǔyōu chàn 太上慈悲道場消災九幽懺
Confession-Liturgy of the Great-High Compassionate Bodhimanda for Dispelling Calamity and Saving from the Nine Dark Hells
by 葛玄 (attributed); preface by 李含光 (序)
About the work
A ten-juǎn confession-liturgy of the jiǔyōu 九幽 hells, framed as the work of Gě Xuán 葛玄 (the late-Hàn / Wú-period xiāngōng 仙公, c. 164–244; cf. 葛玄), preceded by a substantial preface composed by Lǐ Hánguāng 李含光 (683–769; hào Xuánjìng xiānshēng 玄静先生 — note the source rubric: “三洞法師玄静先生李舎光撰”; the personal name appears in the source as 舎光, a known graphical slip for 含光, since the Xuánjìng xiānshēng title is uniquely Lǐ Hánguāng’s).
The attribution of the body to Gě Xuán is pseudepigraphic — the work is, like other “Cíbēi dàochǎng” 慈悲道場 (Compassion-Bodhimanda) liturgies of the Tang period (cf. its Buddhist counterpart, the Cíbēi dàochǎng chànfǎ 慈悲道場懺法 attributed to emperor Wǔ of Liáng), a Tang-period composition retrofitted onto the canonical Daoist saint. The Lǐ Hánguāng preface is, however, the authentic editorial frame and a securely attested mid-Tang document; the preface is therefore the terminus ante quem non fix on the work.
Abstract
The opening preface (xù) by Lǐ Hánguāng traces the lineage of the Daoist canon: “In the dawn of the Chìmíng kalpa, the cloud-script first took form in the empyrean; after the rise of the yánHàn dynasty, the língwén gradually spread to humanity. In Xīshǔ (the west), the Jīnquè yíkē (Daoist Golden-Gate Code) was preserved; in DōngWú (the east), the Tàijí tradition was transmitted. From this point the great secret-treasury, the cavern-Perfected jade chapters — Zhāng [Dàolíng] and Xú [Láilè] revealed them in the former age, Táo [Hóngjǐng] and Lù [Xiūjìng] propagated them in the latter; masters and disciples succeeded one another, age after age there were people to maintain them.”
The preface then explains the pseudepigraphic frame: “This ‘Compassionate Bodhimanda Confession for the Removal of Calamities and the Nine Dark Hells’ originated with the Tàijí Left-Immortal-Duke Gě Xuán: at the time of Hán emperor Huán [r. 146–168], he resided on Mount Shàngyú of Tiāntái, where he cultivated himself in seclusion. He moved the Tàijí Perfected Xú Láilè to descend to the Immortal-Duke’s chamber and bestow upon him the Língbǎo Heavenly Writings of the Jade-Script, the thirty-six divisions of the Dòngzhēn, Dòngxuán, and Dòngshén precious scriptures. The Immortal-Duke dwelt in the mountain in concentrated contemplation; over the course of decades he penetrated the spirits and moved the sages, with the mountain-spirits and tree-demons standing guard; those who bowed and sunk in soul-departure all attained ascension. He held that the deep meaning of the Great Vehicle could open and guide living beings, lifting the drowning; he therefore drew from the three caverns of the canon the essential matter, compiled this confession, and made it so that the multitudes of the present age might hear and see it, and the many of the future easily awaken and easily practise. From the Avīci 阿鼻 and Fēngdū 酆都 hells to the cold-night three paths, five sufferings, eight difficulties, nine darks, sunken souls — none should be left in dark imprisonment, but receive the moisture of the dharma…”
The body of the work, in ten juǎn, gives the confession proper, organised by the jiǔyōu and the various subdivisions of the underworld pantheon. Per Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 1: 505–506, John Lagerwey, DZ 543), the work is a Tang-period production with strong Buddhist influence (the cíbēi dàochǎng idiom, the bānán and jiǔyōu schema), unambiguously identifiable as a Daoist parallel to the Buddhist cíbēi dàochǎng chànfǎ (the famous “Liánghuáng chàn” 梁皇懺). The Lǐ Hánguāng preface dates the work no later than 769 (Lǐ’s death), and the developed cíbēi and Mahāyāna terminology suggests c. 720–760.
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: 505–506 (DZ 543, entry by John Lagerwey).
- Russell, T. C. “Li Han-kuang and the Maoshan Tradition.” Journal of Chinese Religions 18 (1990): 79–105 — for Lǐ Hánguāng’s place in mid-Tang Daoism.
- Barrett, T. H. Taoism Under the T’ang: Religion and Empire During the Golden Age of Chinese History. London: Wellsweep, 1996 — chapter 4 covers Lǐ Hánguāng and Xuánzōng.
Other points of interest
The Lǐ Hánguāng preface is one of the most explicit Daoist statements of the formal canon-lineage genealogy from Zhāng / Xú → Táo / Lù → present, and is a key source for the Tang-period Daoist self-understanding of canonical authority. The source rubric’s spelling 李舎光 is a known graphical slip for 含光; the Xuánjìng xiānshēng honorific is uniquely Lǐ Hánguāng’s.