Tàishàng língbǎo jìngmíng rùdào pǐn 太上靈寶淨明入道品
Most-High Língbǎo Jìng-míng Chapter on Entering the Way
About the work
A single-juǎn chapter (pǐn 品) of Jìngmíng 淨明 conduct-regulations setting out the moral-disciplinary requirements for entry into the tradition. The text is the first of a three-piece cluster (sānpiān tóng juǎn 三篇同卷) which also includes KR5b0262 (Língbǎo jìngmíng yuàn zhēnshī mìgào) and KR5b0264 (Tàishàng língbǎo jìngmíng fǎyìn shì) — although in the Zhèngtǒng dàozàng they are bundled as DZ 557, DZ 558 and DZ 559 respectively.
Abstract
The opening situates the Jìngmíng tradition’s secret cloister “in the western precinct of the Tàishàng shàngqīng Xuándū yùjīngshān 太上上清玄都玉京山”, styled the “Dàojūn xiūfǎ zhī yuàn 道君修法之院” (the Way-Lord’s cultivation cloister) and named Tàishàng língbǎo fǎlù zhōngxiào dìzǐ 太上靈寶法籙忠孝弟子 (“Loyal-and-Filial Disciples of the Tàishàng Língbǎo Register”). The chapter then enumerates the three core requirements: xiàotì 孝悌 (filial piety and brotherly love); liànxíng 鍊形 (refining the body); and jiùdù 救度 (rescuing-and-deliverance). The disciple must burn incense, perform morning rites, pray for the king’s parents and for all sentient beings, and only afterwards invoke the divine officers.
The text continues with a series of fán dé jìngmíng fǎ zhě… 凡得淨明法者 (“whoever obtains the Jìngmíng method, must…”) clauses prescribing inner discipline: keep a small notebook to record daily faults; remain humble and modest; keep a mirror and a basin of water at the resting-place to “know the intention behind my establishing this method”. The text is a concise behavioural catechism for the Jìngmíng tradition’s moral-ritual programme, integrating the Confucian xiào 孝 ethos with the Daoist fǎlù 法籙 discipline.
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1094, John Lagerwey) treat the work as an anonymous late-Sòng-Yuán Jìngmíng code of conduct. The work is one of the most distinctive witnesses to the Jìngmíng tradition’s Confucian-Daoist hybrid ethics.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Vol. 2: 1094 (DZ 557, John Lagerwey).
- Akizuki, Kan’ei. Chūgoku kinsei dōkyō no keisei: Jōmyō-dō no kisoteki kenkyū. Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1978.