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Complete Collection of Daoist Ritual Protocols道门科范大全集

Also known as
Complete Collection of Ritual Protocols
Author / transmission
Du Guangting
Period
Late Tang to Song · Attributed to the editorial hand of Du Guangting (850–933); the present 87-juan text mixes in Song–Yuan additions.
Canon division
Zhengyi Section
Collected in
Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era, Zhengyi Section
Category
Ritual Protocol (Keyi)
Fascicles
87 scrolls

Synopsis

The Complete Collection of Daoist Ritual Protocols, attributed to the editorial hand of Du Guangting, is a compendium of retreat and offering ritual texts from the late Tang onward, in 87 juan. Its contents include the complete ritual texts for dozens of retreat and offering rites — for birthday and natal stars, averting calamitous stars, repentance for illness, praying for rain or snow, settling the household and pacifying the earth, resolving grievances and enmities, transferring and salvaging the souls of the dead, and ascension to Highest Clarity, among others — each rite including procedures such as opening the altar, inviting the sages, offering incense, announcing the text, repentance, and sending off the sages, together with the documents used; most are the "small-scale offering rites" addressing the everyday needs of believers, complementing the large-scale ritual of the Liturgies of the Yellow Register Retreat. Du Guangting was the great synthesizer of Daoist ritual at the end of the Tang and during the Five Dynasties, and although this work was later augmented, it remains an important source for the study of the types of retreat and offering ritual in the Tang and Song, popular Daoist services, and the evolution of ritual texts; most Ming–Qing ritual manuals follow its framework.

Key Ideas

  • A compendium of ritual texts for averting calamity and praying for blessings
  • Everyday offering rites for believers
  • The standard procedure from opening the altar to sending off the sages
  • The transmission and elaboration of Tang–Song ritual

Structure

87 juan, each containing one or more rites.

Editions

  • Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era edition
  • Zhonghua Daozang, vol. 43

Full Text & Online Resources

Related scriptures

Liturgies of the Yellow Register Retreat, Established Regulations of the Daoist Community, Golden Book of Salvation according to the Lingbao Tradition

Related figures

Du Guangting
References
  1. 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
  2. Franciscus Verellen, Du Guangting (850–933): Taoïste de cour à la fin de la Chine médiévale, 1989