Correct Rites of the Celestial Heart of Shangqing上清天心正法
- Also known as
- Tianxin Zhengfa (Correct Method of the Celestial Heart), Secret Essentials of the Assembled Perfected for Aiding the State and Saving the People (appendix)
- Author / transmission
- Deng Yougong
- Period
- Southern Song · Compiled by Deng Yougong (active mid-12th century) during the Shaoxing era (around the 1140s); the Tianxin Zhengfa tradition itself arose with Rao Dongtian and Tan Zixiao at the beginning of the Northern Song.
- Canon division
- Zhengyi Section
- Collected in
- Zhengtong Daozang, Zhengyi Section
- Category
- Talismans and Registers
- Fascicles
- 7 juan
Synopsis
The Shangqing Tianxin Zhengfa (Correct Rites of the Celestial Heart of Shangqing) is a seven-fascicle ritual manual of the Tianxin Zhengfa (Correct Method of the Celestial Heart) tradition, compiled by Deng Yougong in the Southern Song. The Tianxin Zhengfa is traditionally said to have been established when Rao Dongtian unearthed a golden casket containing jade writs on Mount Huagai at the beginning of the Northern Song, and transmitted by Tan Zixiao; it takes the "correct qi of the Three Luminaries" (sun, moon, and stars) as its basis and three talismans (the Talisman of the Three Luminaries, the Talisman of the Celestial Net, and the Talisman of the Black Baleful Star) as its core, performing methods of interrogation and summoning, exorcism, healing, and the pacification of dwellings, with particular emphasis on the Great Sage of the "Celestial Net" and the pantheon of the Northern Pole Bureau for Expelling Evil. Deng Yougong's edition systematically records the specific ritual procedures and doctrine of the "correct method" — the altar and shrine, the ritual seal (the Seal of the Great Rites Master Who Presides over All Heaven), talisman forms, incantations, the interrogation and summoning of ghosts and spirits, the eradication of evil and demonic influences, and the healing of illness and averting of calamity. It is the standard text for the most popular newly arisen talismanic tradition of the Song dynasty; the Yuan scholar Yu Ji remarked that "in the transmission of talismanic methods, none has flourished so greatly as the Tianxin." This method exerted enormous influence on later Zhengyi Daoism, the Lüshan tradition, and popular ritual traditions.
Key Ideas
- The correct qi of the Three Luminaries and the three talismans of the Celestial Net and the Black Baleful Star
- The Northern Pole Bureau for Expelling Evil and methods of interrogation and summoning
- Practical talismanic methods for healing illness and exorcising evil
- The rise of a new talismanic tradition in the Song dynasty
Structure
Seven fascicles, divided into sections on the origins of the method, the ritual seal, talismans and registers, interrogation and summoning, and healing.
Editions
- Zhengtong Daozang edition
- Zhonghua Daozang, vol. 30
Translations
- Studied in Edward Davis, Society and the Supernatural in Song China (2001)
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Secret Essentials of the Assembled Perfected for Aiding the State and Saving the People, Corpus of Daoist Ritual (Daofa huiyuan), Pearls Left Behind from the Sea of RitualsRelated figures
Rao Dongtian, Tan Zixiao, Deng Yougong- Edward Davis, Society and the Supernatural in Song China, 2001
- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- 李志鸿《道教天心正法研究》