Scripture of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Life (Beidou jing)太上玄灵北斗本命延生真经

Also known as

Beidou jing (Northern Dipper Scripture), Scripture of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Life, Beidou Yansheng jing (Northern Dipper Scripture for Prolonging Life)

Author / transmission

Anonymous (attributed to Taishang Laojun)

Period

Late Tang – Northern Song · Attributed to the Supreme Venerable Sovereign, who is said to have descended to Shu in the first year of the Yongshou era of the Han (155) and transmitted it to Zhang Daoling; in fact it was probably composed between the late Tang and Five Dynasties and the Northern Song, in interaction with beliefs about one's birth-star and with esoteric Buddhist Northern Dipper rites.

Canon division

Dongshen Section, Original Texts (Benwen) category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Original Texts category of the Dongshen (Cavern of Spirit) section; commentaries are in the Jade Instructions category of the same section.

Category

Early Daoist Scriptures

Fascicles

One Fascicle (Juan)

Synopsis

The Beidou jing (Scripture of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Life) tells how the Supreme Venerable Sovereign (Laojun) descended at the Yuju site in Chengdu and expounded to the Celestial Master Zhang that the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper — Tanlang (Greedy Wolf), Jumen (Giant Gate), Lucun (Preserved Wealth), Wenqu (Literary Excellence), Lianzhen (Chastity), Wuqu (Military Excellence) and Pojun (Army Breaker) — govern each person's allotted destiny and preside over the registration of life spans; a person should burn incense and recite the scripture on their birth-star day and pay homage to their governing star-lord, whereby hardship may be resolved, life prolonged, and calamity and sin dispelled. The scripture also includes the ‘Beidou Incantation’ and a Seven-Star Talisman. It established the canonical basis for the Daoist beliefs in the ‘governing star-lord of one's allotted destiny’ and in ‘paying homage to the Dipper,’ and together with the scriptures of the Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Dippers it forms the ‘Five Dippers Scriptures,’ becoming the most popular recitation text for star-and-dipper rituals from the Northern Song onward, and remains today the core scripture of the ‘Dipper Worship Assembly’ performed in Daoist temples. Its ideas descend from the Han-Wei belief that ‘the Northern Dipper governs the register of life,’ and it interacted with the Tang-dynasty esoteric Buddhist Scripture of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper for Extending Life. Commentaries include Xu Daoling's Commentary on the True Scripture of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Allotted Life (Yuan).

Key Ideas

• The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper register birth and death and govern each person's allotted destiny
• Paying homage to the Dipper on one's birth-star day prolongs life
• The Beidou Incantation and the Seven-Star Talisman
• The system of the Five Dippers Scriptures and the ritual of Dipper worship

Structure

One scroll, containing the narrative of its origin, the names of the Seven Stars and what each governs, the merit of recitation, the Beidou Incantation, and talismans.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Daozang Jiyao edition
• Temple recitation editions

Commentaries

• Xu Daoling, Commentary on the True Scripture of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Allotted Life
• Commentary by Fu Dongzhen

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Beidou jing
• CTEXT search

Related scriptures

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