Great Rites of Shangqing Lingbao (Wang Qizhen)上清灵宝大法（王契真）
- Also known as
- Wang Qizhen's Great Rites of Shangqing Lingbao
- Author / transmission
- Wang Qizhen
- Period
- Southern Song · Compiled by Wang Qizhen (active late 12th to early 13th century) from the teaching of Ning Quanzhen, dating from around the early 13th century, contemporary with Jin Yunzhong's recension.
- Canon division
- Zhengyi Section
- Collected in
- Zhengtong Daozang, Zhengyi Section
- Category
- Ritual Protocol (Keyi)
- Fascicles
- 66 scrolls
Synopsis
Wang Qizhen's recension of the Great Rites of Shangqing Lingbao, in sixty-six scrolls, is a systematic compilation of the Lingbao methods of the Donghua tradition transmitted by Ning Quanzhen, running parallel to Jin Yunzhong's recension but more extensive and varied in content. Ning Quanzhen (1101–1181) was a celebrated Southern Song ritual master whose Donghua Lingbao methods fused the Correct Rites of the Celestial Heart, Thunder Rites, and Lingbao retreat liturgy; Wang Qizhen compiled the material into this work. It discusses in detail the substance of the Dao, ritual registers, the pantheon of deities, altar diagrams, talismans, memorials and petitions, visualization, refinement and salvation, feeding of hungry ghosts, ranks and grades of office, and the sequence of retreat and offering rites; the work is vast in scope and rich in diagrams, and places particular emphasis on combining 'internal refinement' with retreat ritual, holding that 'the practitioner of ritual takes internal refinement as the root' — a representative example of Southern Song Lingbao ritual absorbing new methods. The differences between this recension and Jin Yunzhong's reflect two divergent orientations within the Southern Song Lingbao tradition, 'adhering to the ancient methods' versus 'absorbing new methods,' making it an important source for studying the evolution of Song ritual, the Donghua tradition, and the origins of later Zhengyi ritual.
Key Ideas
- A compendium of the Donghua tradition's Lingbao methods
- Internal refinement as the root, retreat ritual as its application
- Fusing the Correct Rites of the Celestial Heart and Thunder Rites into Lingbao ritual
- Detailed altar diagrams, talismans, and ranks of ritual office
Structure
Sixty-six scrolls, organized into general discussion of Dao and ritual, deities and the Perfected, altar diagrams, talismans and registers, memorials and petitions, refinement and salvation, and retreat procedures.
Editions
- Zhengtong Daozang edition
- Zhonghua Daozang, vols. 33–34
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Great Rites of Shangqing Lingbao (Jin Yunzhong), Golden Book of Salvation according to the Lingbao Tradition, Jade Mirror of LingbaoRelated figures
Wang Qizhen, Ning Quanzhen, Lin Lingzhen- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- Judith Boltz, A Survey of Taoist Literature, 1987
- Kristofer Schipper & Franciscus Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon, 2004