Zhāng xiàn míng sù huáng hòu shòu shàng qīng bì fǎ lù jì 章獻明肅皇后受上清畢法籙記
Record of Empress Zhāng xiàn míng sù’s Reception of the Shàng qīng Complete-Dharma Register
by 朱自英 (Zhū Zìyīng, 974–1029); composed 1024
A unique historical-ritual record of the Shàng qīng register-ordination of Empress Liú 劉太后 — known by her posthumous title Zhāng xiàn míng sù huáng hòu 章獻明肅皇后 (961–1033, Empress and later regent of Sòng Rén zōng 仁宗). The record is composed by Zhū Zìyīng 朱自英 (974–1029) — an important Northern-Sòng Shàng qīng Daoist patriarch — in 1024. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng as DZ 778 / CT 778 (Dòngshén bù, Pǔ lù lèi 洞神部譜錄類).
About the work
Historical event
In 1024, the Empress Liú — then Empress Dowager and regent for the young Sòng Rén zōng 仁宗 — received the Shàng qīng complete-Dharma register (Shàng qīng bì fǎ lù 上清畢法錄) from the Daoist patriarch Zhū Zìyīng 朱自英. This was one of the most prestigious imperial-Daoist ordinations of the Northern Sòng — a formal Daoist initiation of the empress-regent into the highest-level Daoist register-ordination.
Empress Liú (961–1033) — “Zhāng xiàn míng sù” by posthumous canonisation — was one of the most politically-powerful women of the Northern Sòng. Her regency (1022–1033) shaped the early reign of Rén zōng and established key institutional patterns for the Sòng court.
Author
Zhū Zìyīng 朱自英 (974–1029) — a Shàng qīng patriarch of Mount Máo 茅山, at whose hands the Empress received the register. See also KR5a0006 (likely his related work).
Content
The text records:
- The ritual event of the ordination.
- The registers received by the Empress.
- The spiritual-ritual significance of the event.
- Imperial documentation — the formal records of the ordination.
Abstract
A distinctive historical-ritual document of Northern-Sòng imperial Daoism — one of the rare surviving first-hand accounts of a Sòng imperial Daoist register-ordination.
Dating. 1024. Dynasty: 宋.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004, DZ 778 entry.