Sān tán yuán mǎn tiān xiān dà jiè lüè shuō 三壇圓滿天仙大戒略說
Brief Discussion of the Heavenly-Immortals’ Great-Precepts at the Three-Altar Round-Fullness
by 開玄闡秘宏教真君柳守元 (柳守元 in his cult-title Kāixuán Chǎnmì Hóngjiào zhēnjūn)
A short canonical exposition of the Tiān xiān dà jiè 天仙大戒 — the highest-grade ordination-precepts of the Lóngmén school’s three-tier ordination system: chū zhēn jiè 初真戒 (Initial-Perfected Precepts; cf. KR5i0098) → zhōng jí jiè 中極戒 (Middle-Pole Precepts; cf. KR5i0099) → tiān xiān dà jiè (Heavenly-Immortals’ Great-Precepts). This three-altar ordination (sān tán) was the institutional centre of the Lóngmén school’s revival under Wáng Chángyuè 王常月 in the mid-17th century and remained the governing ordination-system of late-imperial Quánzhēn. The present Lüè shuō expounds the highest-tier precepts as a planchette-revealed Yuán shǐ tiān zūn sermon, with a fictional disciple Wú jiè asking the Heavenly Worthy to expound the Heavenly-Immortals’ Great-Precepts, and the Heavenly Worthy obliging.
Prefaces
Opening discourse (Liǔ Shǒuyuán). “Of old there was the transmission: Yuánshǐ tiānzūn expounded the Heavenly-Immortals’ Limitless Great-Precepts, saying: at this time the Yuánshǐ tiānzūn at the Bǎohuá lín on the Nine-Lotus throne, with the various heavenly-worthies, the heavenly multitude, dragons, ghosts, spirits, expounded the limitless wonderful Way. Then in the seat there was a Perfected one named Wújiè (No-Precept), who from the seat rose, kowtowed, took up the jiǎn (slip), knelt long, and spoke up to the Heavenly Worthy: ‘Since the opening-and-transformation, never have I heard this wonderful Way; today, listening to your benevolent voice, my lungs and viscera are clear-and-cool, deeply life-resolved. But the cultivators of the Way — initial-perfected and middle-pole precept-keeping conduct cultivation — these have all been heard of; only of the Tiān xiān dà jiè I have not yet heard. I do not know what Way-method reaches this position. I only hope that the Heavenly-Worthy, the great-sage, will expound it for the multitude.’ The Heavenly-Worthy then expounded… [the Great Precepts follow].”
Abstract
The canonical exposition of the third-tier Tiān xiān dà jiè of the Lóngmén three-altar ordination system. The text is a key witness to the late-Míng / early-Qīng Lóngmén institutional reform under Wáng Chángyuè (王常月, 1622–1680), who established the sān tán dà jiè system; the present DZJY recension postdates Wáng but transmits his tradition through Liǔ Shǒuyuán. Composition c. 1700–1750.
For the broader Lóngmén ordination tradition see Esposito, Facets of Qing Daoism, and Goossaert’s work on Quánzhēn institutional history.
Translations and research
- Esposito, Monica. Facets of Qing Daoism. UniversityMedia 2014. — fundamental on the Lóng-mén ordination-system.
- Goossaert, Vincent. The Taoists of Peking. Harvard 2007.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0097
- Author: 柳守元.