Page 714 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

Thus ennobled, priests focus on ingesting the energies of the holy scriptures,
gaining command over all gods, and communication with the supernatural
powers. A mastery of the rites of confession and the spiritual hierarchies of
both Heaven and Earth in which they participate permits priests to turn to
the ritual rubrics, especially those for exorcism and salvation for the dead, but
also for transmitting the whole system to other worthy practitioners.
Although Ning's ritual synthesis was widely practiced and was part of
many traditions in Southern Song and Yuan times, later practitioners also
borrowed such elements as the Salvation through Refinement (*liandu) ritu-
als and *Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) deities, as well as aspects of *Tianxin
zhengfa (Correct Method of the Celestial Heart) exorcistic practices, from
which some ritualists sought to distinguish their Lingbao rites of salvation.
Key texts in the tradition include the * Lingbao wuliang duren shangjing dafa
(Great Rites of the Superior Scripture of the Numinous Treasure on Limit-
less Salvation), the two works entitled *Shangqing lingbao dafa (Great Rites
of the Numinous Treasure of Highest Clarity), and the *Lingbao lingjiao jidu
jinshu (Golden Writings for Deliverance by the Sect Leader of the Numinous
Treasure Tradition).

Lowell SKAR
m BoltzJ. M. 1987a, 41-46; Qing Xitai 1994, I: 149-54; Skar 2000,437-40,443-44,
and passim
~ For related entries see the Synoptic Table of Contents, sec. 111.7 ("Song,
jin, and Yuan: Lingbao dafa")

Lingbao jingmu
~ jf #£ m

Catalogue of Lingbao Scriptures

In 437, the Taoist *Lu Xiujing issued to his coreligionists a list of the *Lingbao
scriptures. The preface to this work survives in the *Yunji qiqian (4.4a-6a), while
the list itself is found in truncated form in the Tongmen lun M rH~ (Com-
prehensive Treatise on the Doctrine) of Song Wenming :{( Xlij] (fl.549-51),
preserved in *Dunhuang manuscripts P. 2861.2 and P. 2256.
The catalogue is divided into two parts. The first are thirty-six juan of scrip-
tures, in ten sections, that were revealed by the Celestial Worthy of Original
Commencement (Yuanshi tianzun j[; ~t 7(.) in a previous kalpa-cycle. Fif-
teen juan of these still reside in heaven. The second comprises eleven juan of