Precepts of Medium Ultimate中极戒

Also known as

Scripture of the Great Precepts of Medium Ultimate, Highest Clarity, and Cavern of Perfection, on the Wisdom of Contemplating the Body, Three Hundred Great Precepts of Medium Ultimate, Three Hundred Great Precepts

Author / transmission

Wang Changyue

Period

Qing (originating in the Six Dynasties) · The precept text derives from the three hundred articles of the Six Dynasties Shangqing Great Precepts of Dongzhen Wisdom on Contemplating the Body; Wang Changyue incorporated it as the second altar of the Three Altars of Great Precepts, and it was re-edited in the early Qing.

Canon division

Dongzhen Section, Precepts (Jielü) category (origin) / outside the Canon

Collected in

The source scripture is in the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era, Dongzhen Section, Jielü Category; the Qing-dynasty precept text is outside the Canon (included in the Essentials of the Daoist Canon)

Category

Precepts and Rules

Fascicles

1 juan, three hundred precepts

Synopsis

The Precepts of Medium Ultimate, in full the Precepts of Medium Ultimate: Great Precepts of Shangqing Dongzhen Wisdom on Contemplating the Body, form the second altar of Wang Changyue's Three Altars of Great Precepts, comprising three hundred precept articles, hence also called the "Three Hundred Great Precepts." Their content derives from the Six Dynasties Shangqing text Great Precepts of Dongzhen Wisdom on Contemplating the Body, and covers detailed rules for restraining evil and doing good in body, speech and intent: prohibitions on killing, drinking wine, coveting wealth and lying, as well as rules against treating the scriptures and teachings with contempt, engaging in disputes with others, killing or harming birds and beasts, or damaging others' crops, and injunctions to be mindful of saving and delivering sentient beings and to respect one's teachers and elders — combining ethical norms with methods of practice. Those who receive this precept are called "disciples of the Medium Ultimate precepts," and must already have received the Precepts of Initial Perfection and possess a corresponding degree of cultivation. This precept incorporated Six Dynasties Daoist precepts into the Qing-dynasty Longmen system of precept transmission, showing how Quanzhen precepts were constructed as "tracing far back to Shangqing," and it is a text that bridges earlier and later periods in the history of Daoist precepts.

Key Ideas

• The Three Hundred Great Precepts cover body, speech and intent
• Derived from the Shangqing precepts on contemplating the body
• The second altar of the Three Altars of Great Precepts
• Restraining evil, doing good, and saving sentient beings

Structure

One chapter, containing three hundred precept articles.

Editions

• Essentials of the Daoist Canon edition
• Daoist Texts outside the Canon, vol. 12
• Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era edition of the Great Precepts of Dongzhen Wisdom on Contemplating the Body (source text)

Translations

• Partial English translation in Livia Kohn, Cosmos and Community (2004)

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Wang Changyue
• CTEXT search

Related scriptures

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