Tài shàng xuán mén gōng kè jīng 太上玄門功課經
Most-High Mystery-Gate Daily-Course Scripture
anonymous Quánzhēn / Lóngmén liturgical day-course
The standard Quánzhēn morning-and-evening recitation manual in the Xuánmén (Mystery-Gate, = Quánzhēn) lineage’s formulation. The work parallels KR5i0090 Qīngwēi hóngfàn dào mén gōng kè but in a slightly different liturgical tradition. The two together comprise the principal late-imperial Daoist gōng kè manuals — the equivalent of Buddhist zǎowǎn kèsòng — and are the daily ritual-spine of cónglín clergy life. The work is divided into 早 (morning altar) and 晚 (evening altar) sections, each with its full sequence of jìng kǒu / jìng xīn / jìng shēn / ān tǔdì / jìng tán spells, scripture-recitations (the Qīng jìng jīng, Yù huáng xīn yìn jīng, etc.), and the standard liturgical closing.
Prefaces
Anonymous preface (essentially identical in substance to the parallel preface at KR5i0090). “Privately considering: the gold-book and jade-tablet are the gate-of-entry to the Way; chanting-scriptures and reciting-mantras are the path of cultivating-immortality. To attain the Way’s gate, one may restore the Yuánshǐ’s nature; to traverse the cultivation-path, one may apprehend the spontaneous mind. Therefore Daoists living in the cónglín offer incense for three thousand days, exerting effort across all twelve hours without slacking. Morning-and-evening offerings are made to the holy face; on the rota of one’s own sincerity-rotation, earnestly we wish-extend the state-fortune; certainly the celebration of ascending-immortality may be obtained.”
Abstract
The standard Quánzhēn / Xuánmén daily liturgy. The text is anonymous and undated, but the lineage and content date its standardised form to the late-Míng / Qīng era of Quánzhēn liturgical consolidation. Composition c. 1700–1809. The text is the Quánzhēn equivalent of the Buddhist zǎowǎn kèsòng and remains in regular use in mainland-Chinese Daoist cónglín today (with slight modifications). For the broader liturgical context see citations under KR5i0090.
Translations and research
- Goossaert, Vincent. The Taoists of Peking, 1800–1949. Harvard 2007.
- Komjathy, Louis. The Way of Complete Perfection. SUNY 2013.
- Olles, Volker. Ritual Words: Daoist Liturgy and the Confucian Liumen Tradition (Harrassowitz 2013) on the broader liturgical landscape.