San Jie Fu Mo Guan Sheng Dijun Zhongxiao Zhongyi Zhenjing — Spoken by Lord Guan, Sage Emperor and Subduer of Demons in the Three Realms
This is a Ming-dynasty scripture centered on Guan Yu (d. 220 CE), the general of the Three Kingdoms period who was deified over the centuries that followed as Guan Sheng Dijun, "the Sage Emperor Guan" — one of the most widely worshipped gods of Chinese popular religion, honored by Daoists, Buddhists, and Confucians alike as the embodiment of loyalty and righteousness. A prefatory note dates a redaction of the text to 1556, made by a Ming Minister of War from Puzhou named Yang Bo, who describes himself restoring a garbled scripture that its own legendary account of transmission says was composed by Guan Yu himself and handed down for more than five hundred years through named Jin- and Song-dynasty scholars. Such transmission claims are part of the genre — a devotional pedigree, not a verifiable history — and no Daozang catalogue number for this text survives in the materials available to us; it belongs to the much larger corpus of Guandi scripture and morality literature that spread widely from the Ming dynasty onward and that Chinese Wikisource holds within its Daoist canon collection.
The scripture proper is nineteen short chapters of unrhymed four-character verse, spoken throughout in Guan Yu's own voice. The first chapter is a versified autobiography retelling the life familiar from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms — the oath in the Peach Garden, the deaths of Yan Liang and Wen Chou, the parting from Cao Cao, the single-sword meeting, the flooding of Yu Jin's Seven Armies — before turning, as every later chapter does, to moral instruction: on marriage and childbirth, building, examinations, travel, litigation, illness, plague, fate, and the karmic law that governs all of it. Two short liturgical pieces are appended: a Precious Litany of praise, and a Precious Repentance that invokes more than twenty of Guan Yu's accumulated titles — among them Guardian of the Dharma and the monasteries, a title marking his adoption as a temple-guardian deity within Chinese Buddhism as well.
A note on the title: 忠孝忠義 pairs two virtue-compounds that share the word zhong 忠, "loyalty" — 忠孝, loyalty and filial devotion, and 忠義, loyalty and righteousness — rather than naming four separate virtues; this translation renders the sense as "loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness." The verse is kept as short lines throughout, in keeping with the text's own stated purpose as something to be held and recited (持誦) aloud. Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese of the Chinese Wikisource transcription, which is printed in full below the translation. To our knowledge, this is the scripture's first complete published English translation.
Translation
Preface to the Scripture of Loyalty and Righteousness
The nineteen chapters of the Scripture of Loyalty and Righteousness of Lord Guan, Marquis of Longevity Pavilion, were all composed by the Marquis himself. In the Jin dynasty, Chen Shou set it forth in a vernacular general account, which seemed rather coarse and indecorous. Then in the Song, the Academician Sun Shi compiled and related it, and after the crossing south, the Vice Censor-in-Chief Zhang Shou revised it and had it carved for printing. It was transmitted in this way for over five hundred years, so long past that it could no longer be traced with certainty, until the people of the world no longer even knew that this scripture existed.
Yet the Marquis's loyalty and righteousness shine bright through the whole universe; his meritorious deeds hang recorded in the annals of history; his shrines and temples spread across the whole realm. From the gray-haired aged to the milk-toothed young, to the farthest seas and the remotest borders, there is none who does not honor and revere him — and wherever the Marquis is present, his numinous power and heroic brilliance are manifest, a thousand years as if a single day.
I, Bo, was fortunate to be born in the Marquis's own district, and have long relied on his sheltering protection. In the bingchen year of the Jiajing reign [1556], I served as governor, pacifying and overseeing Jing-Chu. Jing was of old the region the Marquis protected, and even now, house by house, all bow before him as though he stood here still.
On returning from a mission and taking leave of His Highness the Prince of Chu, I was asked by the Prince about matters of the Marquis's native district; he then brought out the Scripture of Loyalty and Righteousness and showed it to me. I bowed to receive this gift with a leap of joy, as though the Marquis himself had suddenly descended. Returning by boat, I examined it from beginning to end: its sequence was disordered, its leaves scattered and missing, its characters and strokes garbled and mistaken. So I collated and corrected it and copied it out anew, placing the Marquis's portrait first, together with an account of his letter taking leave of Cao Cao and the eulogies later generations have offered in his honor, gathering all of it into a single volume.
I carried it with me to the capital; then, posted to service in Guanzhong, I had no leisure to have it carved and printed. It happened that the Commander-in-Chief Liu Xian was moving his troops to garrison Chuan-Guang; hard-pressed as I was, I entrusted it to him, so that it might be carved and printed even in that remote garrison town — to raise the spirit of the soldiers, to instill the manner of loyalty and righteousness, and to spread it through all the realm, so that those who look up to and revere the Marquis would have it to hold and recite, and thereby take him as their model. So it is said.
Set down by Yang Bo of Puzhou, Minister of War of the Ming.
The True Scripture of Loyalty, Filial Piety, and Righteousness
Chapter One: Setting Forth My Resolve
Lord Guan said:
I was, in the Eastern Han, a man of Xieliang.
When the Yellow Turbans rose in revolt, the realm called for troops.
Reading the notice in Zhuo Commandery, I chanced to meet Liu and Zhang.
In the Peach Garden we swore brotherhood —
in life and in death, never to forget.
I studied the Springs and Autumns; I knew the arts of war.
First I put down the Yellow Turbans; three times I fought Lü Bu.
At Xu Field I shot the deer, and stayed my hand for fear of striking the vessel beside the rat.
Besieged at Tuji, I lost my brothers in the rout.
Cao Cao, the cunning hero, petitioned to enfeoff me Marquis of Longevity Pavilion.
I looked after my two sisters-in-law; I thought only of my brothers.
I slew Yan Liang and cut down Wen Chou; I hung up my seal and took my leave of Cao.
On Baling Bridge he held out a brocade robe on his blade's point.
I lodged that night in the Hall of Righteousness, a bright candle burning until dawn.
Alone I rode a thousand li; at five passes I cut down their generals.
I slew Cai Yang; at the Old City we gathered and spoke together.
Afterward I met Zilong; Zhou Cang returned to righteousness.
Through the snow to Longzhong, three times we called upon the Sleeping Dragon.
In righteousness I released Cao Cao; in mercy I spared Huang Zhong from the blade.
I was made governor of Jing Province, encouraging farming and expounding learning.
With a single blade I went to the meeting, laughing and talking at ease.
At the fierce battle of Red Cliffs I drowned the Seven Armies in the flood;
I took Pang De alive, and my might and fame shook all of Huaxia.
First I was enfeoffed General of the Front; then advanced among the Five Tigers.
The tripod was set at Xichuan; in divine might I swept away the invading foe.
I have no other talent — I hold only to loyalty and righteousness.
Upholding the Han, I put the traitors to the sword; facing death, I never shrank away.
Now my years draw near sixty; life and its span rest with Heaven.
Look upon my crimson heart; listen to my small words.
As a son, give your utmost in filial devotion; as a minister, give your utmost in loyalty.
Let the father be kind and the mother loving; let the elder brother be gentle and the younger respectful.
Let husband and wife lead and follow each other in accord; let friends keep faith and right dealing.
Toward neighbors, servants, and maids, be sincere and full of true harmony.
My words are simple and near at hand; put them earnestly to use in body and mind.
Whether scholar or official, whether general or soldier —
hold and recite my words, and they will help you to rank and renown.
Whether farmer or artisan, whether merchant or trader —
hold and recite my words, and your profits will grow fifteenfold.
Going out to sea or into the mountains, marching in war to destroy the invader —
hold and recite my words, and you will sound the songs of triumph and victory.
It is you, my soldiers and officers, whom I hold most dear;
recite them with utmost sincerity, and my spirit will shine down upon you.
Among the people there is high and low; there is affliction by illness and entanglement in punishment;
there is the household and the road, trade and marriage, theft and fire and flood, litigation and strife.
Recite with utmost sincerity, and all such things will find their peace.
The resolve I have held throughout my life is loyalty and righteousness alone.
The deceit and danger of worldly men are what I despise and cast away.
How much more, then, the Lords of Heaven and all the spirits of Fengdu —
who patrol by day and watch by night, their awesome numinous power blazing bright.
Chapter Two: Prime Chaos
In prime chaos, at the very beginning, Heaven and Earth had not yet parted.
The great transformation was a single body, spreading its breath out into ten measures.
It brought the ten thousand forms to completion, carrying yin and yang in its embrace.
Where yang was in excess, the male was formed; where yin was in excess, the female was formed.
Transforming and transforming, bearing and bearing life, and so the bonds of human relation came to be.
Fate is rooted in causes and conditions carried from before; there is good and there is evil.
Long life or short, noble or base, rich or poor, ample or meager —
the recompense for one's deeds follows like a shadow follows its form.
Plant orchids, and you gain their fragrance; plant millet, and you gain your grain.
All is bound to one's own doing — blessing sent down, or calamity sent down.
Head against Heaven, feet upon Earth, the upright breath of the Five Phases
and the wondrous Way both reside in man — these are not to be lightly cast aside.
To keep them is exceedingly hard; to lose them is exceedingly easy.
If you lose your way from the true path, you will surely enter the source of evil.
Greed, anger, lust, and killing drown one forever in hell.
All of this comes from the beings themselves — each makes it, and each receives it.
Listen carefully to my words, and be spared from sinking into misfortune.
Be filial and obedient to father and mother; be in harmony with your six degrees of kin.
Hold fast to loyalty and keep your integrity; do not transgress against the punishments of Heaven.
When the five members of the body are whole and the ten features are rightly formed,
then among all things in the world, none is more precious than to be human.
Chapter Three: Endowment and Fate
A person is endowed with breath and fate, and thereby comes to have a living body.
Wind and soil differ from place to place, so what one is endowed with naturally differs — and this is called one's breath.
Wise and foolish differ from one another; clear and turbid stand at different degrees — and this is called one's fate.
Fate is bound to the calendar stems and star-lodges; breath is bound to Heaven itself.
One must certainly study the Way, to keep one's root and origin whole.
The foolish can become wise; the turbid can become clear.
Listen carefully to my words, and do not squander your life in vain.
Chapter Four: The Way of the Age
I lament the way of the age: no loyalty, no filial devotion;
no reverence for teachers and elders; no harmony between brothers;
husband and wife out of accord; friends without righteousness.
Heaven and Earth go unhonored; the spirits and gods go unfeared.
The five grains are not respected; the three lights are not given their due caution.
Light scales and oversized measures, killing living beings and harming life,
lechery, deceit, and rebellion — these accumulate in small degrees until they become manifest.
People such as these the spirits and gods detest and cast away:
first they take away the po-soul, then they take the body's life.
The whole world is deluded and confused, each thinking he has gained the advantage,
but in a single morning, when impermanence comes, all is given back to Heaven and Earth.
Listen carefully to my words, and savor well this true taste.
Chapter Five: Dwelling
In the dwelling-place of human life, peace and safety are the true blessing.
Do not seize land to the harm of others; do not deal out hidden poison.
Where the pattern and law are not followed, snakes and vermin breed their curse,
birds and rats deliver their omens of ill.
Stones are thrown, bricks are hurled, chickens startled, dogs set loose to bark —
shadows menace, dreams oppress, and lechery and theft are added besides.
Over the wall, through gaps in the wall they come; the courtyard and gate know no peace.
Young and old alike are seized with dread.
By night, something howls upon the roof-beam; by day, something peers into the chamber.
Oxen, horses, and the six domestic animals also fall prey to plague.
Mourners come one after another; calamity strikes at one's own flesh and blood.
The funeral carts go out one upon another; grief-stricken cries and weeping fill the air.
Listen carefully to my words, and turn calamity round into blessing.
Chapter Six: Marriage and Childbearing
When people of the world take marriage and raise children, they should give weight to matching the horoscopes.
The Three Clashes and Six Harms, the affliction of Separated Degrees,
the Flowery Pond and the Heavenly Dog, the Widow's Lodge and the Solitary Star
make it hard to obtain heirs, until the line itself is cut off.
But they do not know that, at the hour of birth,
the Great Unity stands at the gate, the Holy Mother guards the chamber, and the Arbiter of Life is in the courtyard.
Yet if there are wrongs unresolved, and taboos broken against ghosts and spirits,
this brings on difficult labor, and both mother and child are lost.
Listen carefully to my words: in the ordinary field of the heart, day by day,
be bright, be upright, be true, and misfortune and calamity will not entangle you.
You will bear many worthy sons, many as the locusts of the ancient ode.
At the hour of delivery there will be cause for joy; in the birth-straw there will be nothing to fear.
Chapter Seven: Building and Construction
When people of the world build and construct, they do not know yin and yang.
The Nine Ramparts and the Seven Slayings — to offend against them is surely to be harmed.
Tai Sui the year-star, and the General; the Crane Spirit, the Great White;
the Metal Spirit, the Sword's Edge; the Nine Fine Ones, the Seven Slayings;
the Yellow Banner, the Leopard's Tail; the Wind Lord, the Blade and Block —
the household spirits of the soil, and every ghost and spirit besides.
If, when work is begun, even one precaution is neglected,
illness and death will follow, and the ill fortune of lawsuits will strike unlooked-for.
Listen carefully to my words: cultivate virtue and do good,
and Heaven and Earth will hold no anger against you; yin and yang will do you no harm;
the hundred spirits will shield and guard you, and you will flourish for generations without end.
Chapter Eight: Rank and Renown
The rank and renown of the scholar are endowed by Heaven itself.
Some, aloof and unmatched in their fortune, never rise, never attain.
The successful rejoice; the unsuccessful grieve.
Through the cold window, in bitter study, long they sit beneath the fire's dim light.
Fighting hard, yet striving in vain, they fail to meet the examiner's favor.
When I preside over the field of letters, their rise and fall turn all to good.
Like the Three Gorges, the source of words pours forth like a river cascading down.
Listen carefully to my words: in an age of flourishing fortune,
heroes are drawn into the hub of the wheel, rising above the crowd, surpassing the rest.
Chapter Nine: Travel
When soldiers and commoners travel abroad, they must above all be prepared.
Pitching camp, setting up quarters, marching out, facing the enemy ramparts —
one must read the wind and clouds, and hold fast to loyalty and righteousness.
Pledge your heart to serve with all your strength, and ghosts and spirits will shield and guard you.
Bandits and thieves work their cunning; wind and wave bring their entanglements.
In the deep mountains and desolate valleys, tigers, wolves, and mountain demons dwell;
on the great sea and the long river, serpent-dragons are to be feared.
The unjustly dead have their wandering souls; calamity has its appointed meeting.
Seizing the living to stand in for the dead, ghosts and demons work their harm.
When misfortune meets you upon the road, how are you to face it?
With a heart centered and upright — this is what I have held to all my life.
Listen carefully to my words, and act with all caution and care.
Chapter Ten: Curses and Litigation
That a person meets with curses and litigation is also something appointed by fate.
Heaven and Earth, year and month, the ruling day and the very hour —
the Red Mouth and the White Tongue each have their governing spirit.
In going out and coming in, in every act and motion, one must know what to avoid.
By day there is clanging gossip; by night there is simmering slander.
Agreement to the face, betrayal behind the back; the sparrow's beak, the mouse's fret.
Resentful curses and imprecations, lawsuits and litigation multiplying,
slander and calumny heaped upon abuse — the statutes of punishment stand ready for all of it.
Listen carefully to my words: turn back and examine your own heart.
The good you do and the evil you do both arise from yourself alone.
Chapter Eleven: Illness
When a person falls ill, and long illness will not heal,
lying sunk in sickness upon the mat — what is the cause of this?
The single heart-mind is not clear; the five spirits have no master.
The three lives bear their karmic burden; the four elements will not rise.
In ordinary days, offenses are given against the sages and worthies of old,
against the Three Lights and the Seven Luminaries, against the shrines, altars, and numinous platforms,
against the incense-fire of the City God, against the well, the stove, the land, and the home.
Where daily conduct shows no reverence, and offerings are not duly made,
the wronged and unjustly dead entangle the living with curses and oaths.
Grievances tied in a former life, debts of resentment paid back and forth —
listen carefully to my words: measure another's heart against your own.
When the reckoning comes due another day, it will already be made plain, right now.
Chapter Twelve: Fate and Fortune
People are endowed with fate and fortune, and the ten thousand things are never equal.
Rich or noble, poor or base, each must settle into his own lot.
The Five Phases meet with strange misfortune; the Nine Luminaries shift and change.
In a year that meets clash and penalty, one's fortune may be overcome in battle.
The Solitary Star, the Widow's Lodge, the Yang Blade, the Sword's Edge —
the Prosperity Star falls into defeat, the Traveling Horse lands in the Void.
In action and use, danger and peril; in going forth or staying still, hardship and want.
How is one to ward off and turn this aside? By turning back and examining oneself.
The Three Officials dispel calamity; the Five Directions dispel misfortune.
Listen carefully to my words: follow and keep to this without swerving.
Chapter Thirteen: Nurturing Life
In the nurturing of one's life, one must grasp the essentials of the Way.
Able to set aside the many entanglements, one is forever free of every harm.
Outward thoughts do not enter in; inward thoughts do not go out.
The five viscera are cool and clear; the six bowels are settled and at ease.
Drawing breath into great harmony, moistening and enriching the field of the body.
Moderate, too, your food and drink, and let due discipline safeguard the body's chambers.
Drive out and dismiss the Three Worms; still and silence the Six Roots;
illumine with calm the Eight Consciousnesses; clarify and refine the Three Origins.
Listen carefully to my words, and you will be forever free of fault.
Chapter Fourteen: Plague and Its Cure
Of the plagues between Heaven and Earth there are twenty-five.
Of the venoms between Heaven and Earth there are twenty-four.
Of the wasting sicknesses of consumption there are thirty-six.
To meet with this great affliction has always its own cause. And what is that cause?
Hidden corpses and stagnant vapors call forth and infect one deeply;
contention over graves, contagion from the tomb.
Listen carefully to my words: with a pure and clear heart, report to Heaven;
above, let it reach through the Three Realms; below, let it penetrate the Nine Springs.
Offer merit for the departed souls; carry the ancestors across to salvation.
This is not something medicine can cure — its cure lies in the field of the heart.
Chapter Fifteen: The Great Simplicity
Once the Great Simplicity had scattered, benevolence and righteousness arose.
Once rites and music had been made, crookedness and evil began to walk abroad.
Once the six bonds were lost, the four classes of people fell into strife.
Those above showed no tolerance or forgiveness; those below kept no loyalty or constancy.
Whole households fell to sickness; death arose on every side.
Wealth and goods were consumed away; year upon year brought official punishment.
Life itself was cut off before its time; calamity followed upon calamity.
Filth and confusion mingled and infected; flesh and blood were left scattered and alone.
In a human world such as this, how could there be peace?
Listen carefully to my words: earnestly set in good order the Five Relationships.
Follow humility, follow generosity; be trustworthy without fail, be sincere without fail.
Keep the law, be content with your lot; do not covet, do not contend.
Calamity will dissolve, misfortune will vanish, and a hundred blessings will all arrive.
Chapter Sixteen: The Realm of Desire
I look upon the Realm of Desire: living beings are without true feeling.
No loyalty, no filial devotion; no righteousness, no benevolence.
They do much evil karma, with never a heart of repentance.
The guiding bonds crumble and split; the great cycle of fate totters of itself.
War and fire run rampant unchecked; jade and stone burn alike together.
Famine, wasteland, and flood; oppressive rule and excessive punishment.
Every kind of suffering is endured to the full; the very will to live is extinguished.
The way of humanity is near its end — by what means is there release?
Listen carefully to my words: do not give yourself over to greed.
Loyalty, filial devotion, benevolence, righteousness — guard them forever, without fail.
All good and all evil are lit and judged by the heart alone.
Do good, and blessing is born; do evil, and calamity arrives.
Chapter Seventeen: Rain and Sunshine
Heaven has its rain and its sunshine; the seasons have their plenty and their want.
When the rains fail their season, towering drought brings its ruin.
Zhu Rong fans the flames of disaster; the Red Rat roams the city.
Hai Ruo loses his constant course; fish and turtles run wild and astray.
Calamities of Heaven come and go — this is what the world has always known.
Listen carefully to my words: cultivate virtue, and wait upon it.
Follow Heaven, know its season, and let it come of itself in its own time.
Be diligent, be frugal, be reverent and watchful, and you will free yourself from misfortune and disaster.
Chapter Eighteen: Those Born to Life
Those born to life in this world are endowed by High Heaven above.
The Eastern Dipper governs the reckoning; the Western Dipper records the name.
The Northern Dipper enters one into death; the Southern Dipper enters one into life.
The Central Dipper's Great Culmen oversees and commands all the host of spirits.
The Green Thearch guards the hun-soul; the White Thearch holds the po-soul;
the Red Thearch nourishes the breath; the Black Thearch circulates the blood;
the Yellow Thearch rules from the center — and not one of the myriad spirits oversteps its place.
Distant, distant, through a hundred million kalpas, within the midst of chaos,
dim and shadowed forms in the darkness, vast and boundless without end —
the Jade Emperor gathers in the breath, the numinous wind collects the mist.
A thousand harmonies, ten thousand unions, of themselves come to form the real.
Within the real there is spirit — the Great Lord of Long Life.
Listen carefully to my words: treasure and cherish your life.
Chapter Nineteen: Karmic Retribution
The karmic retribution of this world — by what does it come to be?
A heart-mind mean and grudging; its threefold feelings thrown into disorder.
Doubt and confusion breed anew; one's every act grows dark and clouded.
Relying on evil, walking a crooked path, turning one's back on the true to follow the false.
Without benevolence, without righteousness, defying Heaven, going against Earth;
deceiving the sovereign, striking at one's lord, without loyalty, without wisdom;
without love, without compassion, treachery and recklessness running rampant;
cruel to the common people, slaughtering living beings;
delighting in overpowering the lives of creatures, binding oneself in crime upon crime.
Acting in this way, one's debts of grievance have no bound.
At every turn one meets with hardship and grief, beyond all counting, thread by thread;
sudden disaster wounds one's very life, and grief and suffering are borne in full.
All this evil karma gathers together — and it arises from no other cause than oneself.
In all that a person does, ghosts and spirits watch and oversee;
riding upon your own transgressions, they add their unseen punishment upon you.
Living beings, not knowing this, go on still in their reckless ways.
Listen carefully to my words: keep to your lot, and preserve your life.
Without deceit, without scheming; without theft, without lust;
guard your heart and keep to yourself, and your household's incense-fire will know full peace.
Hold to this in thought after thought, without fail, and blessing will be yours to the end of your life.
Here ends the Scripture of Lord Guan, the Sage Emperor — Who Succors the World, Dispels Calamity, and Gathers Blessings — on Loyalty and Righteousness.
The Precious Litany of Lord Guan
The Sage Emperor Guan, Great Celestial Worthy,
the True Supreme Thearch Who Subdues Demons,
his numinous power made manifest at Jade Spring Mountain,
his heroic bearing forever shaking the world.
Utmost in greatness, utmost in strength,
his vast and flowing spirit forms the upright breath.
A pillar of stone amid the current, upholding the bonds of order,
sun and moon lay bare the matter of his heart.
Upon his head, a crown of nine hanging strings;
upon his body, a robe embroidered with dragons;
upon his feet, slippers of purple cloud;
at his waist, a sash of white jade.
Among the world of men he discerns good and evil,
together with the Thunder Bureau and the Celestial Ministries.
Life and death rest with his command alone —
the Green Dragon Crescent-Moon Blade is his.
By a single thought he attained numinous understanding of himself,
not entering the Way through gradual cultivation and proof.
Not Hai, and not male —
the Supreme Ultimate is, at root, the Limitless.
The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning set him upon his course;
he stands equal to the Great Unity Who Saves from Suffering.
As a Perfected Lord he has been handed down from ancient times;
in reverence and remembrance we extol his utmost virtue.
The Precious Repentance of Lord Guan
Your servant has heard:
The imperial gate-towers rise sheer and lofty; the jade palace is fine and translucent.
Immortal flowers blaze in splendor; simurghs and cranes fly calling through the air.
Upon the utmost, solemn, precious throne, his sagely transformation flows and spreads.
Balanced in letters, prepared in arms, his oversight discerns all things clearly.
He unites and completes the Three Teachings; he fulfills to the utmost the Five Constants.
Great calamity he is able to ward off; great affliction he is able to withstand.
In great righteousness he does not bend; in great integrity he does not waver.
Spoken of in its greatness, it spreads through the whole Dharma-realm;
spoken of in its smallness, it draws in to a single mote of dust.
His utmost sincerity pierces through with blazing, resplendent, awesome power;
crooked spirits and demon-thieves are of themselves all dissolved and destroyed;
poisonous dragons and fierce beasts each are made to hide their form.
On the mountain peaks grow herbs of immortality; from the sea rise mirage-towers.
The age is governed in clarity and peace; bright stars and rose-hued clouds appear.
Repentance without limit; the Great Way without limit.
With the utmost heart-mind, we pay court and worship:
Above, to the Celestial Worthies of the Three Clarities;
in the middle, to the Great Thearch Who Inspects Registers and Charts;
below, to the Great Thearch of Earthly Blessing —
the Great Thearch, Subduer of Demons in the Three Realms;
the Great Thearch Who Assists Heaven from the Southern Pole;
the Great Thearch of the Crimson Heart Who Guards the Realm;
the Great Thearch of Bright Spirit at Fengdu;
the Great Thearch Who Guards the Dharma and Protects the Monasteries;
the Great Thearch Who Jointly Governs Civil and Martial Affairs;
the Great Thearch Who Bestows Blessing and Extends Life;
the Celestial Worthy of Upright Breath Between Heaven and Earth;
the Celestial Worthy Whose Loyalty and Constancy Pierce the Sun;
the Celestial Worthy Who Assists the Turning Fortune from Purple Tenuity;
the Celestial Worthy Whose Divine Might Shakes All Distant Things;
the Celestial Worthy Who Upholds the Altars of the State;
the Celestial Worthy Who Purifies and Clarifies the Realm Within the Seas;
the Celestial Worthy Before Whom Barbarian Peoples Stand in Awe and Submission;
the Celestial Worthy Who Makes People Loyal and Righteous;
the Celestial Worthy Who Makes People Filial and Reverent;
the Celestial Worthy Luminous in Every Place;
the Celestial Worthy Who Answers Every Prayer in Every Place;
the Celestial Worthy Who Dispels Calamity and Releases Sin;
the Celestial Worthy Who Dissolves Karmic Consciousness;
the Celestial Worthy of Precious Splendor, Perfect and Complete.
I humbly consider:
The Way of Heaven shines forth manifest; the Way of the Six Heavens proceeds;
steadfast and firm, it does not scatter; wondrous and subtle, it gives body to all things.
Hard-pressed, yet able to hold fast — by this one gradually attains brightness.
Humble, yet not careless — by this one gradually secures a livelihood.
Let the rich not grow arrogant; let the noble not grow licentious.
Those who keep the law in their hearts will never hear the clank of chains;
those who honor the Buddha will not be invaded by demon and calamity;
the upright are disciplined in virtue and worthy of praise;
those who give in charity are granted blessing and extended life.
Good indeed, good indeed! In sincere and reverent repentance, one rises at last to the Highest Clarity.
From the emperor above to the common people below, all rejoice together in great gladness,
believe, receive, and put this into practice.
Here ends the Precious Repentance of Lord Guan, the Sage Emperor.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Ethics and Response shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below, consulted from the Chinese Wikisource transcription. The preface and the closing repentance are prose and are rendered as prose; the nineteen chapters and the Precious Litany, which are composed throughout in unrhymed four-character verse, are rendered as short lines, generally one English line to one four-character phrase of the source, grouped into stanzas at natural breaks in sense; the invocation of titles within the Precious Repentance is set out as a list to keep its more than twenty distinct epithets legible.
Before the claim below was written, a genuine translation-status check was performed. Both local bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western-language translation (Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 Purple Cloud survey) were searched under the Chinese title, its romanizations, and "Guandi" / "Guan Yu" / "Guan Sheng Dijun" generally, and record no translation of this or any closely related Guandi scripture. Three web searches were then run — for the Chinese title, for a romanized title, and for the scripture in connection with scholarly treatments of the Guandi cult — and turned up only the Chinese text itself (on Wikisource, Kanripo, and devotional sites) and general secondary discussion of Guan Yu's cult, never an English translation of this scripture. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Sanjie Fumo Guansheng Dijun Zhongxiao Zhongyi Zhenjing. We state this as the limit of our search, not as a certainty.
A note on hard passages. The source, as transcribed, contains a small number of readings that resist confident translation: among them 土基 in the first chapter, where the received Three Kingdoms tradition names the site of Guan Yu's siege as Earth Hill (土山); 非亥亦非牡 and 崇窗推至德 in the Precious Litany; and 六天道行 and 正直者懲善可稱 in the Precious Repentance. These have been translated as literally as English allows, by the plain sense of the individual characters, rather than silently corrected or smoothed over; the Chinese as transcribed is preserved unaltered in the Source Text below. No ▢ or other unencodable character occurs in this text.
Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation and editorial work.
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Source Text: 三界伏魔關聖帝君忠孝忠義真經
Classical Chinese text of this Guandi scripture, in the Chinese Wikisource transcription. Presented complete for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
三界伏魔關聖帝君忠孝忠義真經
忠義經序
關壽亭候忠義經十九章，皆侯自製也。晉陳壽演俗通義。似近鄙褻。玆宋學士孫奭編述。南度中 丞張守訂梓。相傳五百餘年。漫無可稽。世人亦不知有是經也。維侯忠義昭宇宙。功烈垂史冊。 祀祠遍天下。黃髮稚齒。極海窮邊。靡不崇重。而侯之隨在。著靈威英顯赫。千戴一日。博幸生同侯鄉。藉侯庇久。嘉靖丙辰。巡撫荊楚。荊故侯保障區。迄今家至左聯。頂禮如在此。還省辭楚王殿下。王詢侯故里事。復出忠義經示博。拜賜躍。若侯陡降也。歸舟檢閱後先。紊敘簡篇遺逸。字畫錯亂差訛。遂為校正重錄。首揭侯像。并述侯辭曹之書。後人仰候之贊。彙成一帙。攜之京師。繼役關中。未遑浸梓。適都督劉顯移兵守川廣。困以貽之。俾刻荒鎮。以作士氣。以風忠義。且播之天下。瞻奉者有所持誦。則傚云。
明 兵部尚書蒲州揚博敘事
三界伏魔關聖帝君忠孝忠義真經
述志章第一
關聖帝曰。吾本東漢解良居民。黃巾作亂天下招兵。觀榜涿郡偶遇劉張。桃園結義。生死不忘。
吾習春秋。吾知武藝。始除黃巾。三戰呂布。許田射鹿。投鼠忌器。土基被困。失散兄弟。曹操
奸雄。奏封壽亭。吾奉二嫂。吾思兄弟。誅良斬醜。挂印辭曹。霸陵橋上。挑起錦袍。吾宿義司
。明燭達旦。獨行千里。五關斬將。吾斬蔡揚。古城會敘。後遇子龍。周倉歸義。冒雪隆中。三
顧臥龍。義釋曹操。恕斬黃忠。頜牧荊州。勸農講學。單刀赴會。談笑自若。赤璧鏖戰。水渰七
軍。生擒龐德。華夏威名。初封前軍。繼加五虎。定鼎西川。盪寇神武。吾無所長。惟持忠義。
扶漢誅奸。死無畏避。吾年近六。有命在天。視我赤心。聽我微言。為子盡孝。為臣盡忠。父慈
母愛。兄友弟恭。夫婦倡隨。朋友信義。鄉鄰僕婢。真誠和氣。吾言淺近。切用身心。為士為官
。為將為兵。持誦吾言。扶助功名。為農為工。為商為賈。持誦吾言。利盈十五。出海入山。行
軍滅寇。持誦吾言。凱歌捷奏。惟爾兵將。尤我所矜。至誠持誦。精神照臨。民有貴賤。患病犯
刑。家庭道路。交易婚姻。盜賊水火。搆訟鬥爭。至誠持誦。諸事咸甯。平生立心。惟此忠義。
世人欺險。吾所鄙棄。況復天君。酆都諸神。日巡夜察。赫赫威靈。
鴻濛章第二
鴻濛原始。天地未分。大化一體。布氣十分。成就萬象。負抱陰陽。陽餘為男。陰餘為女。化化
生生。迺有倫理。宿命因綠。有善有惡。長短貴賤。富貧厚薄。所作之報。如影逐形。種蘭得香
。種粟得糧。皆係所業。降福降殃。頂天履地。五行正氣。妙道在人。不可輕棄。保之甚難。失
之甚易。若迷正道。必入邪源。貪嗔淫殺。地獄永淹。皆由眾生。自作自受。諦聽吾言。免淪凶
咎。孝順父母。合同六親。盡忠秉節。不犯天刑。五體俱足。十相端成。世間萬物。最貴為人。
氣數章第三
人稟氣數。乃得生身。風土不同。稟受自異。故謂之氣。智愚不同。清濁殊度。故謂之數。數係
干禽。氣係於天。務須學道。以全其元。愚可以智。濁可以清。諦聽吾言。勿虛爾生。
世道章第四
吾嗟世道。不忠不孝。不敬師長。不睦兄弟。夫婦不諧。朋友不義。天地不尊。神明不懼。五穀
不重。三光不避。小秤大斗。殺生害命。姦淫詐逆。積微成著。如此等人。神明厭棄。先奪其魄
。後殺其體。舉世昏迷。自謂得計。一旦無常。委之天地。諦聽吾言。玩此真味。
居處章第五
人生居處。平安為福。勿佔害人。勿施暗毒。不循理法。蛇虫嫁孽。鳥鼠送妖。拋磚打石。驚雞
弄狗。影脅夢逼。更加姦盜。踰牆穴隙。庭戶不甯。小大惶惑。夜嘯其梁。晝瞰其室。牛馬六畜
。亦遭瘟疫。吊客頻仍。禍連骨肉。喪車疊出。悲號泣哭。諦聽吾言。轉禍為福。
配育章第六
世人配育。宜重合婚。三刑六害。隔角交侵。咸池天狗。寡宿孤辰。艱於嗣息。遂至絕倫。不知
生時。太乙在門。聖母衛房。司命在庭。或有冤衍。鬼魅禁忌。致於難產。母子俱廢。諦聽吾言
。平日心田。光明正大。兇禍不纏。多生賢子。以賦蠡斯。臨盆有慶。坐草無虞。
修建章第七
世人修建。不識陰陽。九壘七煞。犯之必傷。太歲將軍。鶴神太白。金神劍鋒。九良七煞。黃旛
豹尾。飛廉刀砧。土家眷屬。一切鬼神。若值興工。有一不戒。病患喪亡。官符橫害。諦聽吾言
。修德作善。天地無嗔。陰陽無害。百神呵護。永世昌大。
功名章第八
士人功名。質賦於天。落落數奇。弗顯弗達。得意者忻。失意者戚。寒窗苦讀。黎火久被。鏖戰
枉攻。主司不契。吾蒞文場。升沉益利。三峽詞源。如流瀉水。諦聽吾言。昌期世際。入轂英雄
。出類拔萃。
游行章第九
軍民游行。尤所當備。下寨安營。出師對壘。須識風雲。堅持忠義。矢心報效。鬼神呵衛。盜賊
騁奸。風波係累。深山窮谷。虎狼魈域。大海長江。蛟龍可畏。幽枉有魂。劫數有會。捉生代死
。鬼妖為崇。游行遭遇。何以處之。中心正直。平生所持。諦聽吾言。謹慎行之。
符訟章第十
人有符訟。亦命所值。天地年月。日主時刻。赤口白舌。皆有神司。出入動舉。避忌須知。朝有
擊聒。夜有剪炒。面是背非。雀角鼠憂。怨詈咒咀。獄訟繁興。謗讟詆詬。刑憲俱存。諦聽吾言
。自反其心。作好作惡。皆由己生。
疾病章第十一
人有疾病。積久弗瘳。沉痾枕席。其故何由。一心不明。五神無主。三生有劫。四大不舉。平日
觸犯。古聖先賢。三光七曜。廟社靈壇。城隍香火。井灶地宅。起居不敬。供奉不職。冥魂冤枉
。牽纏咀盟。前生結釁。怨債交征。諦聽吾言。將心比心。他時執對。即今分明。
命運章第十二
人稟命運。萬有不齊。富貴貧賤。各安其軀。五行奇騫。九曜更變。年逢刑沖。運或剋戰。孤辰
寡宿。羊刃劍鋒。祿逢於敗。馬落於空。動用兇危。行藏坎壈。何以禳禦。自反自省。三官解災
。五方解厄。諦聽吾言。順守不忒。
攝生章第十三
人之攝生。須明道要。能屏眾緣。永除諸害。外想不入。內想不出。五臟清涼。六腑調泰。引氣
太和。注潤身田。仍節飲食。法藥保廷。驅遺三尸。安寂六根。靜照八識。澄妙三元。諦聽吾言
。以永無愆。
瘟療章第十四
天地瘟疫。二十有五。天地蠱毒。二十有四。癆瘵之疾。三十有六。遭此大患。厥有其故。其故
伊何。伏屍故氣。感召深染。塚訟墓注。諦聽吾言。清新告天。上通三界。下徹九泉。追薦魂爽
。超渡祖玄。非藥可療。治在心田。
太樸章第十五
太樸既散。仁義乃興。禮樂既作。奸邪斯行。六義既失。四民有爭。上不寬恕。下不忠貞。全家
疾病。死亡橫生。消耗財物。累歲官刑。性命枉逝。災害相仍。穢雜交染。骨肉伶仃。如此人世
。那能安平。諦聽吾言。敦敘五倫。從謙從厚。必信必誠。守法安分。勿貪勿爭。災消禍滅。百
福咸臻。
慾界章第十六
吾觀慾界。眾生無情。不忠不孝。不義不仁。作多惡業。全無悔心。綱維圯裂。大數自傾。兵火
肆超。玉石俱焚。凶荒洪水。苛政繁刑。備諸苦惱。生意滅絕。人道將窮。何由解脫。諦聽吾言
。勿肆以貪。忠孝仁義。永寶勿愆。一切善惡。皆由心照。為善福生。為惡禍到。
雨暘章第十七
天有雨暘。時有豐荒。雨澤愆期。亢旱為殃。祝融扇禍。赤鼠遊城。海若失經。魚鱉妄行。天災
流行。世所常有。諦聽吾言。修德以侯。順天知時。聽其自來。勤儉畏敬。自免凶災。
生人章第十八
世之生人。賦受上蒼。東斗主算。西斗紀名。北斗落死。南斗上生。中斗大魁。總監眾靈。青帝
護魂。白帝持魄。赤帝養氣。黑帝通血。黃帝中主。萬神無越。眇眇億劫。混沌之中。幽冥形影
。寥廓無窮。玉帝攝氣。靈風聚煙。千和萬合。自然成真。真中有神。長生大君。諦聽吾言。珍
愛爾生。
業報章第十九
世之業報。何事而成。刻薄一心。雜亂三情。更生疑惑。所為昏昧。恃惡邪行。背真就偽。不仁
不義。違天逆地。欺君伐主。不忠不智。無愛無慈。奸妄侵肆。殘虐百姓。殺戮眾生。嗜強物命
。結諸罪冤。如此作業。冤對無邊。動見患難。不可縷數。橫禍傷生。備受哀苦。 萃諸惡業。來
起無因。人之行事。鬼神監臨。乘汝罪釁。加爾陰刑。眾生不知。猶是妄行。諦聽吾言。安分保
生。無欺無險。無盜無淫。存心守己。香火咸甯。念念弗失。福爾終身。
關聖帝君濟世消災集福忠義經 終
關帝寶誥
關聖大天尊。伏魔真上帝。靈著玉泉山。英風常震世。至大與至剛。浩然成正氣。砥柱立綱常。
日月揭心事。頭戴九旒冠。衣穿龍袞袍。足攝紫雲履。腰懸白玉絛。人間察善惡。雷部與天曹。
生殺惟所令。青龍偃月刃。一念自靈通。不從修證入。非亥亦非牡。太極本無極。元始肇天尊。
救苦同太乙。真君古來傳。崇窗推至德。
關帝寶懺
臣聞
帝闕巍峨。玉殿玲瓏。仙花燦爛。鸞鶴飛鳴。極嚴寶座。聖化流行。文衡武備。監察分明。統成
三教。克盡五常。大災能捍。大患能禦。大義不屈。大節不移。語大。則佈盡法界語。 語小。則
斂入微塵。精誠貫格赫奕威靈。邪精鬼賊盡自消滅。毒龍猛獸各得藏形。嶽生芝草 海吐蜃樓。治
世清平。景星卿雲。懺悔無極。無極大道。 至心朝禮
上詣三清天尊。中撿圖籙大帝。下策地祉大帝。三界伏魔大帝。南極協天大帝。赤心衛國大帝。
酆都朗靈大帝。護法伽藍大帝。合司文武大帝。錫福延生大帝。乾坤正氣天尊。忠貞貫日天尊。
紫微協運天尊。神威遠震天尊。扶持社稷天尊。澄清海甸天尊。蠻夷畏服天尊。令人忠義天尊。
令人孝敬天尊。在在昭明天尊。處處感應天尊。消災釋罪天尊。消除業識天尊。寶華圓滿天尊。
伏以
天道昭彰。六天道行。貞固不散。神妙體物。困而能守。漸得光明。賤而不苟。漸得營生。富者
莫驕。貴者莫淫。懷刑者枷鎖不聞。奉佛者妖孽不侵。正直者懲善可稱。布施者錫福延生。善哉
善哉。懺悔虔誠。誕登上清。上至帝王。下及庶民。皆大懽喜。信受奉行。
關聖帝君寶懺 終
Source Colophon
The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of this text (article 三界伏魔關聖帝君忠孝忠義真經, revision of 1 March 2017), inspected from a witness copy captured on 8 August 2026. Chinese Wikisource transcriptions are published under CC BY-SA 4.0 and the GFDL; the text itself is a Ming-dynasty devotional composition and is in the public domain. The wiki header and license templates have been removed; the text is otherwise complete and unaltered.
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