Tàishàng Lǎojūn shuō xiāozāi jīng 太上老君說消災經
Scripture on the Dispelling of Calamities, Preached by the Most High Lord Lǎo
anonymous Táng revealed scripture in one juàn of six folios, second of the bundle “Qī jīng tóng juàn shāng sì” 七經同卷傷四 with KR5c0011 and KR5c0013–KR5c0017, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng (DZ 631 / CT 631, 洞神部本文類).
About the work
The scripture is staged as Lǎojūn’s revelation to the Guardian-of-the-Pass Yǐn Xǐ 尹喜 from a Bìxiá 碧霞 palace-throne of five-coloured clouds, with an entourage of thirty-six Imperial Lords of the heavens, twenty-four of the earths, ten of the immortals, and the eight great Dragon- and Ghost-Lords. The core of the scripture is a triple litany of protector-deities to be invoked whenever a household is beset by demons, plague, or misfortune: thirty-six Vájra (jīngāng 金剛 — Yuánqì, Hùndùn, Zǒnglǐng, Wànzhào, Zhuōguǐ, Bùlù, Shōuqì, Hǎoshēng, Zhènshǒu, Qùxié, Bǎomìng, Shǒuxíng, Shǒuqì, Xíngzhēn, Chúwěi, Chúxié, Pòhuò, Shàngzòu, Xiàwèi, Shàngmíng, Bǎoshēn, Chángshēng, Biànhuà, Qīngdìng, Dìngshēn, Zhūquè, Xuánwǔ, Dàshèng, Chéngdào, Tiāndào, Dìdào, Shéndào, Huǒtóu, Wēinù, Dàlì, Mièmó); twenty-five Divine Kings (shén wáng 神王), twenty-seven Strong Men (lìshì 力士), and thirty-seven Celestial Masters (tiānshī 天師, “resident above the thirty-six heavens”). The scripture closes with a thirty-two-line hymn (sòng 頌) expounding the efficacy of the text, and with Lǎojūn entrusting Yǐn Xǐ with its preservation and restricted transmission — “let it not be shown to the unworthy” — before Lǎojūn’s ascent to the Jade Capital on a five-dragon chariot.
Prefaces
No preface.
Abstract
Hans-Hermann Schmidt’s notice in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004, 1:555, DZ 631, under 2.B.7 Língbǎo) dates the scripture to the Táng, “one of those minor scriptures typical of the Táng period,” on the strength of citations to a “Xiāozāi jīng 消災經” at DZ 289 Chéngxīng língtái bìyào jīng 乘星靈臺秘要經 3a and DZ 592 Shénxiān gǎnyù zhuàn 神仙感遇傳 5.18a, both of which probably refer to the present text. The scripture’s insertion of the Buddhist jīn’gāng / lìshì vocabulary into a LǎoYǐn Xǐ revelational frame provoked Buddhist polemical reaction — for instance the critique in Fǎlín’s 法琳 Biànzhèng lùn 辨正論 8.547a–c. Frontmatter notBefore/notAfter set to 618/907 (Táng).
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, 1:555 (DZ 631, Hans-Hermann Schmidt).
- Kamata Shigeo 鎌田茂雄. Chūgoku Bukkyō shisō-shi kenkyū 中國佛教思想史研究. Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1968 — on Fǎlín’s Biànzhèng lùn and its Daoist-polemical context.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5c0012
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), 1:555 — DZ 631 entry (H.-H. Schmidt).