Supreme Secret Essentials (Wushang biyao)无上秘要
- Author / transmission
- Compiled by imperial decree under Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou
- Period
- Northern Zhou · Compiled by scholars of the Tongdao Guan on the order of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (Yuwen Yong) between the third and sixth years of the Jiande era (574–577); originally one hundred scrolls, sixty-eight survive today.
- Canon division
- Taiping Section
- Collected in
- Zhengtong Daozang, Taiping Section
- Category
- Encyclopedic Compendia (Leishu)
- Fascicles
- Originally 100 scrolls, of which 68 survive today (Dunhuang fragments can supplement the catalogue)
Synopsis
The Wushang Biyao (Supreme Secret Essentials) is the earliest surviving Daoist encyclopedic compilation, commissioned by Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, who after suppressing both Buddhism and Daoism established the Tongdao Guan (Abbey for Pervading the Way) and ordered its compilation, intending it to summarize the essence of Daoist teaching for the moral instruction of the state. The work originally comprised one hundred scrolls in 288 sections; sixty-eight scrolls survive today, excerpting scriptures of the Three Caverns and Four Supplements from before the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Its contents range across kalpas and cosmic cycles, Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, the Grotto-Heavens, emperors and kings, and the ranks of immortals and deities, through the ordination, precepts, and vestments of priests, the transmission of scriptures and registers, retreat and offering rituals (such as the Retreat of Mud and Ashes, the Retreat of the Three Sovereigns, the Retreat of Enlightening the Perfected, the Golden Register Retreat, and the Yellow Register Retreat), the recitation of scriptures, visualization, ingestion of substances, and liberation from the corpse, up to the ranks of immortality attained through 'the section on attaining the Way' — all supported by quotations from the scriptures. Because it was compiled early and quotes extensively from original Six Dynasties texts, it preserves a great many scriptures now lost (particularly from the Shangqing, Lingbao, Celestial Masters, and Sanhuang Wen systems), making it a first-hand source for the study of Six Dynasties Daoist scripture, ritual, and theology. The Dunhuang manuscripts P.2861 and P.2256, among others, preserve the original table of contents, allowing reconstruction of the full scope of the original work.
Key Ideas
- A classified compilation of excerpts from Six Dynasties Daoist scriptures
- A state-sponsored organization of the Three Caverns and Four Supplements system
- A compendium of retreat and offering rites and the sequence of ordination ranks
- Preserves a great many scriptures otherwise lost
Structure
Originally one hundred scrolls in 288 sections, of which sixty-eight scrolls survive, arranged by categories such as Heaven and Earth, immortals and deities, the religious community, retreat ritual, cultivation, and attaining the Way.
Editions
- Zhengtong Daozang edition
- Fragmentary Dunhuang manuscript table of contents
- Critical edition punctuated and collated by Zhou Zuoming, Wushang Biyao (Zhonghua Book Company, 2016)
Translations
- French study: John Lagerwey, Wu-shang pi-yao: Somme taoïste du VIe siècle (1981)
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Seven Slips from the Bookbag of the Clouds (Yunji qiqian), Pearl Satchel of the Three Caverns, Scripture of the Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang wen), Lingbao Rites of Retreat and Precepts (Lu Xiujing's Liturgies)Related figures
Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, Wang Yan- John Lagerwey, Wu-shang pi-yao: Somme taoïste du VIe siècle, EFEO 1981
- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- 维基百科「无上秘要」条