Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation (Duren jing)元始无量度人上品妙经

Also known as: Scripture of Salvation (Duren jing), Taishang Dongxuan Lingbao Wuliang Duren Shangpin Miaojing (Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation, the Duren jing), Lingbao Duren jing (Lingbao Scripture of Salvation)
Author / transmission: Ge Chaofu
Period: Late Eastern Jin · Formed when Ge Chaofu produced the Lingbao scriptures during the Longan era of the Eastern Jin (397–401), originally in one chapter; it was expanded into a sixty-one-chapter edition in the late Northern Song, of which the first chapter is the original Duren jing.
Canon division: Dongzhen Section, Original Texts (Benwen) category
Collected in: Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era, Dongzhen Section, Benwen Category, first item (the sixty-one-chapter edition)
Category: Early Daoist Scriptures
Fascicles: Ancient edition in one scroll; Daozang edition in sixty-one scrolls

Synopsis

The Duren jing, in full the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation of Primordial Beginning, is the first scripture of the Lingbao lineage, and the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era places it at the head of the entire Canon. The text presents itself as a discourse given by the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning in the Heaven of Beginning Blue, "expounding the scripture ten times to universally save the beings of heaven and earth," proclaiming the doctrine that "the way of immortality values life, and salvation is limitless," and describing the thirty-two Celestial Emperors, the hidden tones of the various heavens, the secret words of the Great Brahma, and the "Jade Calendar of the Primal Cavern"; it holds that reciting and upholding this scripture can deliver departed souls, avert calamity, prolong life, and raise one into the ranks of the immortals. Its ideas of universal salvation and its concepts of the thirty-two heavens and cosmic cycles clearly draw on Buddhism, while it also retains the pantheon and talismanic elements of the Celestial Masters and Shangqing traditions. In the Tang it was placed among the scriptures every Daoist priest must recite, and under Emperor Huizong of Song it was elevated to the foremost position in Daoism, becoming the scripture most frequently recited in retreat and offering ritual. Its commentaries include the four commentaries by Yan Dong of the Qi, Xue Youqi, Li Shaowei, and Cheng Xuanying of the Tang (jointly published as the Four Commentaries on the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation of Primordial Beginning), as well as commentaries by Chen Jingyuan and Xiao Yingsou of the Song and Chen Zhixu of the Yuan, forming a major body within the history of Daoist scriptural exegesis.

Key Ideas

The way of immortality values life; salvation is limitless
The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning expounds the scripture; the system of the thirty-two heavens
The secret words of the Great Brahma and the inner sounds of the various heavens
Reciting the scripture to deliver departed souls and avert calamity
The Buddhist–Daoist fusion of the concepts of cosmic cycles and universal salvation

Structure

The ancient text is one chapter, containing the Lord of the Dao's opening preface, the Cavern Jade Stanzas of Primordial Beginning, the Central Chapters of the Numinous Writings of Primordial Beginning, the Lord of the Dao's middle preface, the secret words of the Great Brahma, and the Lord of the Dao's closing preface; the sixty-one-chapter Canon edition is a late Northern Song expansion.

Editions

Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era sixty-one-chapter edition
Dunhuang manuscripts
Zhonghua Daozang, vol. 3 (four-commentary edition)

Commentaries

Yan Dong, Xue Youqi, Li Shaowei and Cheng Xuanying, Four Commentaries on the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation of Primordial Beginning
Chen Jingyuan, Collected Commentaries on the Duren jing
Xiao Yingsou, The Inner Meaning of the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation of Primordial Beginning
Chen Zhixu, Commentary on the Duren jing
Xue Jizhao, Commentary and Explanation of the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation of Primordial Beginning

Translations

English translation of the ancient text in Stephen Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures (1997)

Full Text & Online Resources

Related scriptures

Scripture of the Perfected Writs in Red Script of the Five Elders, Preface to the Five Talismans of Lingbao, Scripture of Wisdom, Fixing the Will, and Penetrating the Subtle, Supreme Secret Essentials (Wushang biyao)

References

Stephen Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures, 1997
任继愈主编《道藏提要》
小林正美《六朝道教史研究》
维基百科「度人经」条