Lingbao Rites of Retreat and Precepts (Lu Xiujing's Liturgies)灵宝斋戒威仪（陆修静斋仪）

Also known as

Supreme Lingbao Text of the Assembled Tablets, Lingbao Retreat Rite for the Candle of Light, Lantern of Precepts and Penalties, and Vows of Blessing, Lingbao Text of the Five Sentiments (Wugan Wen), Lingbao Rite of Transmission and Conferral (Shoudu yi), Master Lu's Abridged Rules for the Daoist Community (Daomen Kelüe)

Author / transmission

Lu Xiujing

Period

Liu Song · Lu Xiujing (406–477) compiled the Lingbao retreat liturgy between the Yuanjia and Taishi eras (c. 437–477), writing over a hundred scrolls of retreat ritual, of which several survive today.

Canon division

Dongxuan Section, Dignified Observances Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongxuan Section, Ceremonial Observances category, and Zhengyi Section (scattered across several texts)

Category

Ritual Protocol (Keyi)

Fascicles

Surviving today, one scroll each of: Various Tablet Texts (Zhongjian wen), Liturgy of the Retreat Discourse on the Illuminating Candle, Precepts and Penalties, the Lamp, and Vows, Text of the Five Stimuli (Wugan wen), Rite of Transmission and Conferral (Shoudu yi), and Abridged Regulations of the Daoist Community (Daomen kelüe), among others

Synopsis

Lu Xiujing was the founder of Daoist retreat and offering ritual; while editing the scriptures of the Three Caverns he also drew on the ancient Lingbao scriptures to establish a systematic body of retreat liturgy, historically said to run to 'over a hundred scrolls of retreat ritual.' Texts preserved today in the Daozang include the Assorted Tablet Texts of the Most High Dongxuan Lingbao (recording the format of tablet texts used in retreat rites), the Lingbao Retreat Rite of the Lantern of Light, with Precepts, Penances, and Prayers of Blessing (explaining the meaning of lighting lamps, confession, and penance), the Five-Part Treatise on the Meaning of the Lingbao Retreat (discussing the meaning of retreat practice and dividing it into nine retreats and twelve methods), the Rite of Transmission of the Lingbao Scriptures, and Master Lu's Abridged Codes for the Daoist Community (a program for rectifying the offices of the parishes and the religious community of the Way of the Celestial Masters). These texts established the types of Lingbao retreats — the Golden Register, Yellow Register, Enlightening the Perfected, Three Primes, Eight Nodes, and Natural retreats — and the basic procedures of 'practicing the Way in the three periods,' 'pacing the void,' and confession; they were the model followed by Zhang Wanfu and Du Guangting of the Tang and the Song–Yuan Great Rites of Lingbao, earning Lu Xiujing the title 'Father of Daoist Ritual.' The Abridged Codes for the Daoist Community records the parish, register, and communal-feast institutions of the Southern Celestial Masters and their abuses, and is a precious historical source for the study of early Daoist religious organization.

Key Ideas

• The system of Lingbao retreats (Golden Register, Yellow Register, Enlightening the Perfected, Three Primes, etc.)
• The procedures of practicing the Way in the three periods, pacing the void, and confession
• Retreat as the purification of body and mind, communicating with Heaven and Earth
• Rectifying the institutions of the Celestial Masters' religious community

Structure

Preserved as several separate texts, each in one scroll.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Zhonghua Daozang, vols. 4 and 8

Translations

• Peter Nickerson's English translation of the Abridged Codes for the Daoist Community, included in Early Daoist Scriptures (1997)

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Lu Xiujing
• CTEXT search

Related scriptures

Related figures