Page 551 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

H UAN GTI NG JI NG 5II

emperor, however, the Yellow Register Retreat could also be performed by
the common people. For this reason, the Yellow Register Retreat has been
the most universal of all rituals of Merit (*gongde) for the dead from Tang and
Song times until the present day.
Almost all Lingbao rituals that developed during the Song period are deemed
to be based on the Yellow Register Retreat. One typical example is Jiang Shuyu's
mf~Jn (n62- I223) *Wushang huanglu dazhai licheng yi (Standard Liturgies of
the Supreme Great Yellow Register Retreat). In the Ming period, as attested
by Zhou Side's )1§J }i!Wif (I359-I45I) Shangqing lingbao jidu dachengjinshu .... UfIlf
1i J!f rJf Jj["* JJ.X; ~. (Golden Writings on the Great Achievement of Deliver-
ance of the Numinous Treasure of Highest Clarity; in *Zangwai daoshu), the
Yellow Register Retreat was inflated into a multipurpose ritual capable of
resolving all difficulties for all people, from emperor to commoner. Since that
time, the name Yellow Register Retreat became a synonym for Taoist ritual
as a whole.
In present-day Taiwan, the ritual of Merit belongs to the same stream as
the Yellow Register Retreats of the Six Dynasties, Tang, and Song periods.
Rituals of Merit that last more than two days are often called Yellow Register
Retreats.
MARUYAMA Hiroshi

m Davis E. 200I, 227- 36; Lagerwey I98Ib, I63-65; Maspero I98I, 292- 98;
6fuchi Ninji I983, 463-677

* jinlu zhai; yulu zhai; zhai; Wushang huanglu dazhai licheng yi

Huangting jing

Scripture of the Yellow Court

The Yellow Court (huangting w)ll ; fig. 40) is the Center. In the body it has
various locations: in the head, in the spleen, between the eyes, or in the lower
Cinnabar Field (*dantian). The text entitled after the Yellow Court is one of
the most popular and influential Taoist scriptures. Dating originally from the
second century, it is probably the earliest extant work describing the human
body as animated by inner gods, and has given rise to commentaries and
further elaborations.
The scripture exists in two main versions, called Inner (nei i*J) and Outer
(wai )'~ ). The full titles of both contain the term jing ~ (light or effulgence),