Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) School灵宝派
- Also known as
- Lingbao Scriptural School, Gezao Lineage (later period), Lingbao Daoism
- Type
- Sects
- Period
- Eastern Jin–Song-Yuan
- Founded
- At the end of the Eastern Jin (c. 397–402), Ge Chaofu ‘compiled and constructed the Lingbao [scriptures]’
- Founder
- Ge Chaofu, Ge Xuan
- Region
- Jiangnan (Jurong, Mount Gezao); spread nationwide during the Tang and Song
- Ancestral seat
- Mount Gezao
- Status
- Absorbed into Other Lineages — Absorbed into Zhengyi Daoism in the Yuan dynasty, it ceased to exist as an independent tradition; but Lingbao ritual became the mainstream of Daoist rites of retreat and offering, and the deliverance and blessing rites of today's Zhengyi and Quanzhen temples still take the Lingbao retreat rites as their framework. Mount Gezao today has Chongzhen Temple and other rebuilt structures.
Overview
The Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) School is a Daoist scriptural tradition that arose at the end of the Eastern Jin, based on the Lingbao scriptures. The transmission of the Lingbao scriptures is traditionally traced to Ge Xuan (the Immortal Lord Ge) of the Wu kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, who is said to have received the Preface to the Five Talismans of Lingbao and other texts from a Perfected of the Most High on Mount Tiantai; these were subsequently transmitted through Zheng Yin to Ge Hong. During the Longan era of the Eastern Jin (397–401), Ge Hong's grand-nephew Ge Chaofu produced a large body of Lingbao scriptures, and 'the teaching spread widely,' forming a corpus of texts centered on the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning opening the kalpa to save humankind, including the Scripture of the Perfected Writs in Red Script of the Five Elders and the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation (the Duren jing) — scholars refer to this corpus as the 'ancient Lingbao scriptures.' The Lingbao scriptures absorbed a great deal from Buddhism, including the concepts of kalpas, rebirth, and Mahayana universal salvation, along with numerous transliterated terms, while also inheriting the ritual forms of the Celestial Masters and the visualization practices of the Shangqing scriptures, forming a religious tradition centered on rites of retreat and offering and on the salvation of all beings. Lu Xiujing of the Liu Song compiled and organized the Lingbao scriptures, wrote a Catalogue of Lingbao Scriptures, and established the Lingbao retreat rites, making Lingbao ritual the mainstream of Daoist liturgy. In the Tang, Zhang Wanfu and Du Guangting further systematized Lingbao ritual. From the Northern Song onward the Lingbao School took Mount Gezao in Jiangxi as its center of transmission, ranked alongside Mount Longhu and Mount Mao as the 'Three Mountains of Registers,' with sole authority to confer the Lingbao registers; in the Southern Song, the Donghua School, represented by Ning Quanzhen, emerged, along with large-scale liturgical compendia such as the Golden Book of Salvation according to the Lingbao Tradition and the Great Rites of Shangqing Lingbao. In the Yuan dynasty it was absorbed, together with Shangqing and Zhengyi, into Zhengyi Daoism. The Lingbao School's Duren jing was placed first among the scriptures in the Ming-dynasty Zhengtong Daozang, and its rites such as the Yellow Register Retreat still form the basic framework of the liturgies of both the Zhengyi and Quanzhen traditions today.
Core Doctrine
Takes the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning as the supreme deity, proclaiming that 'celestial writs of true text' open the kalpa to save humankind; advocates the universal salvation of all beings, benefiting both the living and the dead, with merit that can be dedicated to deceased ancestors and to all sentient beings; introduces the concepts of kalpas, rebirth, heaven and hell, and karmic retribution for good and evil. It emphasizes the merit of fasting and the salvific power of ritual, giving it a more universalist religious character than the Shangqing School. This orientation made the Lingbao School the most socially engaged and ritually oriented of the Daoist scriptural traditions.
Practice & Ritual
Centered on rites of retreat and offering: the Golden Register Retreat (praying for the blessing of the state), the Yellow Register Retreat (delivering the souls of the dead), the Retreat of Illuminating Perfection, the Retreat of the Three Primes, the Retreat of Naturalness, and others; recitation of the Duren jing; pacing the void, circumambulation, incense offering, confession and repentance, and the casting of dragon tablets; the wearing of the Five Talismans of Lingbao and visualization of the Five Directions and Five Emperors; in the Song dynasty, rites of refinement and salvation and the feeding of hungry ghosts developed as further rites of deliverance. The basic framework of Lingbao retreat rites has been followed in Daoist liturgy for over a thousand years since.
Transmission
The traditional lineage: Ge Xuan → Zheng Yin → Ge Hong → Ge Chaofu (the actual composer of the scriptures) → Ren Yanqing, Xu Lingqi, and others → organized by Lu Xiujing → Zhang Wanfu and Du Guangting of the Tang → the Lingbao Ancestral Altar at Mount Gezao in the Northern Song → the Donghua School of the Southern Song (Wang Gu, Tian Lingxu, Ning Quanzhen) and the Great Rites of Lingbao system → merged into Zhengyi Daoism in the Yuan.