Sanhuang (Three Sovereigns) Tradition三皇派

Also known as

Sanhuang (Three Sovereigns) Scriptural School, Dongshen Section, Scripture of the Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang Wen)

Type

Sects

Period

Wei–Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties

Founded

The Wei-Jin period (c. 3rd–4th century)

Founder

Bo He, Bao Jing

Region

Jiangnan

Status

Vanished — After being banned during the Zhenguan era of the Tang, it had no independent transmission; the name of the Dongshen Section and the Sanhuang registers survive only nominally within the Zhengyi register system.

Overview

The Sanhuang (Three Sovereigns) Tradition is a Wei–Jin Daoist scriptural school centered on the Sanhuang wen (Scripture of the Three Sovereigns — comprising the Sanhuang neiwen, Tianhuang wen, Dihuang wen, and Renhuang wen), occupying the Dongshen (Cavern of Spirit) Section in Lu Xiujing's Three Caverns classification, forming a triad with Shangqing (Dongzhen, Cavern of Perfection) and Lingbao (Dongxuan, Cavern of Mystery). According to Ge Hong's Baopuzi neipian, chapter "Xialan," the Sanhuang neiwen was obtained by Bo He from the walls of a stone chamber on Mount Xicheng, and Bao Jing (Ge Hong's father-in-law) likewise obtained the text from a stone chamber on Mount Song; the Sanhuang wen was used in talismanic form to summon deities, subdue ghosts, and ward off evil, and together with the Wuyue zhenxing tu (True Forms of the Five Marchmounts) was regarded as among the "weightiest of Daoist texts." The Sanhuang Tradition had a certain transmission in the Southern Dynasties, and Tao Hongjing of the Liang also recorded it. In the Tang dynasty, because the Sanhuang jing contained statements such as "he who receives it as Son of Heaven may bring about Great Peace," Emperor Taizong, in the twentieth year of Zhenguan (646), judged its language to be seditious and ordered all copies of the Sanhuang jing burnt throughout the empire, replacing it with the Daodejing; the Sanhuang Tradition declined from this point. However, the name of the Dongshen Section and rites such as the Sanhuang Retreat were preserved within the structure of the Daoist Canon. The Sanhuang Tradition had no tightly organized congregation; it was chiefly a system of talismanic methods and scriptural transmission, and its historical value lies in representing the tradition of talismanic summoning of deities within early Daoism, and in constituting one pole of the Three Caverns and Four Supplements system. After the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Sanhuang registers were absorbed into the Zhengyi register system.

Core Doctrine

Centered on the worship of the Sovereigns of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity and their true writs, holding that possession of the Sanhuang wen enables communication with the gods, the summoning and subduing of ghosts and spirits, and the avoidance of calamity in favor of blessing; it emphasizes the sacredness and secrecy of the talismanic texts. In conjunction with the Wuyue zhenxing tu, it formed early Daoist conceptions of the divinities of famous mountains and the sacredness of geography. The Sanhuang wen was regarded as "celestial writing" (tianwen), to be kept secret in stone chambers and transmitted only to the right person — reflecting early Daoist belief in the numinous power of written symbols.

Practice & Ritual

Receiving the Sanhuang wen and the Wuyue zhenxing tu (requiring a blood covenant or pledge of allegiance); summoning deities and subduing ghosts by means of talismanic writs; the Sanhuang Retreat (listed by Lu Xiujing as one of the Nine Retreats and Twelve Methods); wearing talismans and visualizing the Three Sovereigns when entering the mountains; and transmission of the scriptures and registers of the Dongshen Section. When entering the mountains, practitioners carried the Sanhuang wen and the True Forms to ward off tigers, wolves, and mountain spirits; wearing the talismans required fasting beforehand, and receiving the scriptures required a blood covenant and the payment of ritual pledges (faxin).

Transmission

Bo He (on Mount Xicheng) and Bao Jing (on Mount Song) each obtained the Sanhuang wen → Ge Hong → transmission and study among Southern Dynasties Daoist priests → compiled by Lu Xiujing into the Dongshen Section → decline after being banned in the early Tang, its scriptures and registers absorbed into the Three Caverns and Four Supplements system. Tao Hongjing's Dengzhen yinjue in the Southern Dynasties and Lu Xiujing of the Liu Song both transmitted the Sanhuang wen; this transmission was interrupted by the ban in the early Tang.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples