Língbǎo jìngmíng yuàn zhēnshī mìgào 靈寶淨明院真師密誥
Secret Mandates of the Perfected Master of the Língbǎo Jìng-míng Cloister
About the work
A short single-juǎn document recording the secret gào 誥 (mandate / oracular decree) issued by the Tiānshūyuàn registrar Luó Zhàoxiān 羅照先 on behalf of the Perfected Master, conferring posthumous celestial offices on the nine generations of ancestors and the six categories of kin of the Jìngmíng Cloister’s Yǎnjiào zhēngōng 演教真公 (Master Zhōu Fāngwén, 周方文).
Abstract
The text opens with the formula “Tiānshūyuàn lùshì Luó Zhàoxiān fèng zhēnshī yùzhǐ pànxià Jìngmíng yuàn Zhōu yǎnjiào zhēngōng děng jiǔzǔ liùqīn xiānzhí xiàluò” 天樞院錄事羅照先奉真師玉旨判下淨明院周演教真公等九祖六親仙職下落 (“Luó Zhàoxiān, registrar of the Tiānshū Bureau, in obedience to the Perfected Master’s jade-decree, hands down to Master Zhōu of the Jìngmíng Cloister and others the celestial appointments of their nine generations of ancestors and six categories of kin”). The text then itemises ancestor-by-ancestor — zǔhuì Xián 祖諱賢 (“ancestor named Xián”), zǔhuì Zūnlǐ 祖諱遵禮, etc. — and assigns each a specific celestial office (Zǐwēi diàn shànbù pànguān 紫微殿善簿判官; Fēngdū zuǒ dàpànguān 酆都左大判官; Bǎomìng zhēnrén Yùhuáng diàn 保命真人玉皇殿; etc.). Maternal kin are similarly enumerated (Dèngshì, Jīnshì, Hàoshì…). The mandate then turns to a divinatory operation (a yellow-dyed bèixīn 背心 garment, faced east, three breaths of qì) accompanied by an incantation: “Rìchū língguāng, yuèyìng xīfāng, nánběi èrdǒu, tǒnglín jìgāng…” (“As the sun rises in numinous light, as the moon shines toward the west, North and South Dippers preside in the cosmic order…”). A red-cinnabar talisman is appended.
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1094–1095, John Lagerwey) treat the text as the celestial-appointment counterpart to the catechesis in KR5b0258: the Perfected Master, having instructed Zhōu Fāngwén, also rewards him by assigning his ancestors to specific celestial bureaucratic posts — the Jìngmíng tradition’s distinctive ritual fusion of Confucian filiality and Daoist bureaucratic theology.
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: 1094–1095 (DZ 558, John Lagerwey).
- Akizuki, Kan’ei. Chūgoku kinsei dōkyō no keisei: Jōmyō-dō no kisoteki kenkyū. Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1978.