Tàishàng língbǎo jìngmíng fǎyìn shì 太上靈寶淨明法印式
Patterns of the Method-Seals of the Most-High Língbǎo Jìng-míng
About the work
A short single-juǎn presentation of the seal-patterns (yìnshì 印式) of the Jìngmíng 淨明 Method, bundled in the Daozang with KR5b0263 (Tàishàng língbǎo jìngmíng fǎ xù) under the single shelfmark DZ 559.
Abstract
The text prescribes: “Fán dé jìngmíng fǎ zhě, diāo yìn èr kē, gè èr cùn sì fēn, yī yuē Tàishàng jìngmíng zhī yìn, yī yuē Jìngmíng fǎzhǔ zhī yìn.” 凡得淨明法者，雕印二顆，各二寸四分，一曰太上淨明之印，一曰淨明法主之印 (“Whoever obtains the Jìngmíng method shall carve two seals, each two cùn four fēn: one inscribed ‘Seal of the Most-High Pure Brilliance’, one inscribed ‘Seal of the Pure-Brilliance Method-Master’.”). The two seals serve different functions: the Tàishàng jìngmíng zhī yìn is used to seal memoranda and petitions to the celestial bureaucracy; the Jìngmíng fǎzhǔ zhī yìn is used in summoning and dismissing spirits. Officers who additionally hold a zhíchēng 職稱 (titled rank) also carve a third zhíyìn 職印 (rank-seal).
The text accompanies these specifications with diagrams of each seal-face (now preserved as blank rectangles in the Daozang Han-fēn-lóu printing of the canon — the original engraved patterns have been lost in this stage of the transmission, but the prescriptive text survives). Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1095, John Lagerwey) treat the Yìnshì as the seal-canon of the Jìngmíng tradition’s bureaucratic operations.
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: 1095 (DZ 559, John Lagerwey).
- Akizuki, Kan’ei. Chūgoku kinsei dōkyō no keisei: Jōmyō-dō no kisoteki kenkyū. Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1978.