Tài shàng líng bǎo jìng míng zōng jiào lù 太上靈寶淨明宗教錄
Record of the Most-High Numinous-Treasure Pure-Bright Sect-Teaching
attributed to 許遜 (Xǔ Xùn, zì 旌陽 Jīngyáng — the Eastern Jìn ancestor of the Jìngmíng dào); a SòngYuán liturgical and doctrinal compendium of the Jìngmíng zhōngxiào dào 淨明忠孝道 reprinted in DZJY
A two-juàn compendium of the Jìngmíng zhōngxiào dào (Pure-Bright Loyalty-and-Filiality Way) — the SòngYuán reform-movement of the cult of Xǔ Xùn (= 許旌陽 Xǔ Jīngyáng), centred at Xīshān 西山 in Jiāngxī. The work transmits the doctrine, the moral and ascetic precepts, the entry-rite, and the recitations characteristic of the Jìngmíng tradition. The pseudepigraphic preface attributes the work to Xǔ Xùn himself, signed Gāomíng tàishǐ Xǔ Jīngyáng. The work is generically related to the canonical Pure-Bright collection (DZ 1110 Língbǎo jìngmíng yuánshǐ jìng and adjacent), but the present DZJY recension preserves a different selection of materials — most likely a Yuán or early-Míng anthology consolidated for the late-imperial recitation use.
Prefaces
Preface (Xǔ Xùn, pseudepigraphic). “Jìngmíng method is the hidden text of the Most-Pure Mystery-Capital Jade-Capital. Of old, Tàiyáng zhēnjūn Xiàodào míng wáng, having attained illuminated supreme Way through filial-conduct, descended into the lower-realm. Then the Shàngqīng shàngdì descended at the Fúsāng dòngshénzhītáng, summoned the míng wáng, and preached the dharma to verify him, taking him as the highest disciple, naming him Língbǎo dà zhēn rén — and the Jade-Pure decree-and-mandate dispatched him to deliver the realm. Therefore the perfected one made his great vow to dwell at the Eastern Pole, gathering the various-grades — what is called Língbǎo jiùkǔ tiānzūn, on the Chìmíng yuán nián 8th month 15th day. — Jìngmíng means: no obscure place not illuminated, not a single dust-speck not refused. Foolish-and-wise all gaze upward to its gate of opening-and-deliverance, the path of ascending-the-perfected. With xiàodì (filiality and brother-respect) as its standard, with xiūliàn as its method, with xíngchí as its essential — accumulating-and-supplementing each other, polishing-and-sharpening wisdom — and only then is the Way-pneuma firm and complete; the spirits-and-immortals submit to its service; in a single breath one may reach the mystery-principle. — Of old I longed for the Way’s wind, and broadly sought the master’s purport. With heart-fixed and eye-recognising, with aim-determined and intent-firm, after receiving the law from Wújūn I studied followingly Chénmǔ and accomplished her merit; encountering Shàngshèng I was given this book and the Way was thereby completed. — As to my receiving favour to be lifted up, the spirit-marvellous trace cannot be exhaustively spoken. He who obtains my book — be careful and do not abandon yourself; this is all of ten generations’ accumulation, and the gradual ascent is at hand. I once wrote at the end thirty-five sections of Daoist scripture, current in the world; few obtain it. How much more this trigger-mechanism, all the Most-Sage’s secret registers — to perform it, can it be neglected? — Gāomíng tàishǐ Xǔ Jīngyáng respectfully prefaced.”
The body of the work follows immediately with the Tài shàng líng bǎo jìng míng rù dào pǐn 入道品 (“entry-into-the-Way item”): an entry-rite manual specifying the location of the Jìng míng mì yuàn 淨明祕院 in the Mystery-Capital and the daily-conduct rules: incense-burning morning and evening; ritual prostrations on behalf of state and family; thereafter for “all sentient beings”; calling on the spirits when there is need and dismissing them when not; zhōngxiào (loyalty-and-filiality) and yǒutì (brother-respect) as fundamental.
Abstract
A late-imperial DZJY recension of the Jìngmíng zhōngxiào dào corpus, transmitting the SòngYuán reform-tradition that took the Eastern-Jìn cult-figure Xǔ Xùn (= Xǔ Jīngyáng, the master who slew the dragon-flood at Xīshān) as its founding patriarch. The Pure-Bright tradition centres on a synthesis of xiūdào (Daoist cultivation) with zhōngxiào (Confucian loyalty-and-filiality), using the family-ethical register as the operative path of religious advance. The canonical formulation by Liú Yù 劉玉 (1257–1308) reorganised the cult; the present DZJY anthology is one stage further in the post-Yuán transmission. For the cult’s history see Akizuki Kan’ei 秋月觀暎, Chūgoku kinsei dōkyō no keisei 中国近世道教の形成 (Tokyo: Kobundō, 1978); Ueno Tsutomu, The Pure-Bright Way (in Schipper-Verellen II, on DZ 1110 etc.).
Translations and research
- Akizuki Kan’ei. Chūgoku kinsei dōkyō no keisei: Jōmeidō no kisoteki kenkyū 中国近世道教の形成: 浄明道の基礎的研究. Tokyo: Kobundō, 1978. — fundamental on the Jìng-míng corpus.
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen. The Taoist Canon II, entries on DZ 1110 Tài shàng líng bǎo jìng míng yuán shǐ jīng and adjacent.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0041
- Patriarchal attribution: 許遜 (託名).