Tàishàng xuánlíng Běidǒu běnmìng chángshēng miào jīng 太上玄靈北斗本命長生妙經
Wonderful Scripture on the Long-Life of the Natal Destiny of the Mysteriously Numinous Northern Dipper, of the Most High
anonymous Southern-Sòng revealed scripture in one juàn of three folios, a shorter liturgical sequel to the preceding KR5c0003 / DZ 622, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 623 / CT 623, 洞神部本文類).
About the work
The text is a compact recitation-liturgy (kēyí 科儀 in embryonic form) flanking the fuller Běidǒu běnmìng yánshēng zhēnjīng (KR5c0003): it opens with an “Opening Scripture Supreme Wondrous Grade Numinous Stanza” (Kāijīng wúshàng miàopǐn língzhāng 開經無上妙品靈章), frames itself as a further revelation by Lǎojūn to Zhāng Dàolíng on the same occasion at Chéngdū in 155 CE (“Tàishàng Lǎojūn in Yǒngshòu year 1, first month, seventh day, descended to Chéngdū and bestowed on the Heavenly Master the Wondrous Scripture of Dipper Life-Extension. Its chapters having not yet been exhausted, he further bestowed the Wondrous Formula of Long Life”), and closes with the “Praise-Chant Consummating the Numinous Incantation” (Zàn yǒng yuánmǎn língzhòu 讚詠圓滿靈呪). Where DZ 622 gives the cult’s theological content, DZ 623 provides the brief opening-and-closing frame for its recitation.
Prefaces
No independent preface. The opening Kāijīng stanza is the quasi-prefatorial frame (lines 12–16 of the Mandoku base text): “Bowing at the feet of the Most High Venerable, taking refuge with reverence in the Northern Pole; looking up, I invoke the Two Honoured Emperors and present my audience before the Seven Original Lords. The scripture first emerged at Chéngdū; the Dào became the root of heaven-men. Dispelling calamity and resolving peril, preserving life and guarding the mysterious Truth, the three thousand messengers of the Southern Mound and the seven thousand divine captains of the Northern Dipper together come to guard the Dharma-seat and enter in concord the gate of purity and stillness. I now, with single-minded sincerity, chant, and the qì of the Dào naturally preserves [me].”
Abstract
Kristofer Schipper’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004, 2:983, DZ 623), dates the scripture to the Southern Sòng (1127–1279) together with its four directional sequels DZ 624–627 (KR5c0005–KR5c0008), all of which share the revelational frame — Lǎojūn descending at Chéngdū to Zhāng Dàolíng in 155 CE — and the same Zhèngyī 正一 liturgical ethos. The běnmìngBěidǒu soteriology articulated in DZ 622 is here presupposed rather than expounded; the scripture functions as a preface-and-envelope for the longer core scripture within the context of the Southern-Sòng Dipper-recitation liturgy. Frontmatter notBefore/notAfter accordingly 1127/1279.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2:983 (DZ 623, Kristofer Schipper).
- Xiāo Dēngfú 蕭登福. Tàishàng xuánlíng Běidǒu běnmìng yánshēng zhēnjīng 太上玄靈北斗本命延生眞經 (1–2). Dàojiāo xuétàn 道教學探. Taipei: Wénjīn, 1993.
Other points of interest
The two “Honoured Emperors” (Èr zūn dì 二尊帝) invoked in the Kāijīng stanza — distinct from the seven Dipper stars proper — are Tiānhuáng Dàdì 天皇大帝 and Zǐwēi Dàdì 紫微大帝, whose addition to the Dipper scheme as “emperor-stars at the mouth of the Dipper” (cf. KR5c0002’s discussion) is itself a Southern-Sòng liturgical development. The scripture’s short length — three folios, mostly of chanted verse — marks it as intended for insertion into the already developed Dipper retreat (Běidǒu zhāi 北斗齋) of the Sòng Zhèngyī tradition.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5c0004
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), 2:983 — DZ 623 entry (K. Schipper).