Guan Sheng Dijun Jueshi Zhenjing — Spoken by the Sage Emperor Lord Guan

This scripture speaks in the voice of Guan Sheng Dijun, the Sage Emperor Lord Guan — the deified Guan Yu (d. 220 CE), the general of the Three Kingdoms period whose loyalty and righteousness, magnified over centuries of imperial titles and popular devotion, made him one of the most widely worshipped gods of the Chinese world: guardian of oaths, patron of soldiers and merchants alike, and a moral exemplar invoked by emperors and shopkeepers together.

Together with the Taishang Ganying Pian and the Wenchang Dijun Yinzhi Wen, it forms the loose grouping known as the "Three Sacred Scriptures" (san sheng jing) at the heart of popular Chinese moral instruction — texts printed and given away by the thousand as an act of merit in their own right. Tradition holds that it was delivered by spirit-writing sometime in the late imperial period; several accounts place it in the Qing dynasty, but no date is firmly fixed, and — unlike the older philosophical and liturgical works that make up the 1445 printed Daoist Canon — we found nothing tying this particular scripture to that canon. It is presented here as a scripture of the wider Daoist textual tradition, preserved in the Chinese Wikisource transcription printed in full below.

In form it is direct divine speech: an opening address on conscience, self-scrutiny, and the certainty of unseen retribution, followed by two long catalogues built from terse four-character phrases — first the everyday duties and quiet good deeds that store up unseen merit, then the offenses, from petty fraud to violence against kin, that call down ruin on the offender and his descendants alike. This is the language of the "ledgers of merit and demerit" that shaped popular Chinese moral life for centuries: not abstract ethics but an itemized account, meant to be read, copied, recited, and lived by.

One word is worth pausing on: yingong 陰功, "hidden merit" — good done where no one is watching, the invisible credit this whole scripture asks its reader to accumulate. Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese, which is printed in full below the translation. A published English translation of this scripture may exist that this search did not surface; to the limit of what could be checked, we know of none — see the colophon for exactly what was checked.

Translation

The Sage Emperor said: A person born into the world must, above all, fully carry out loyalty, filial devotion, integrity, and righteousness, and virtues like them — only then is one without shame in the way of being human, and able to stand upright between Heaven and Earth. If one fails to carry out loyalty, filial devotion, integrity, and righteousness, then though the body remains in the world, the heart within it has already died; this is called living a stolen life.

For truly, the mind of man is itself spirit, and spirit is itself the mind: a mind without shame is a spirit without shame. To deceive one's own mind is to deceive the spirits. This is why the noble person holds the Three Awes and the Four Knowings, and is watchful over himself even when alone. Do not think a darkened room permits deceit, or that a hidden corner excuses shame: in every act and every stillness, the bright spirits watch and examine; it is bound to come to light, as surely as if ten eyes beheld you and ten hands pointed at you — and how much more so, when retribution itself is manifest and clear, not wrong by a hair's breadth!

Lust is the first of the ten thousand evils; filial devotion is foremost among the hundred virtues. Whenever a thing goes against reason, and the heart would be ashamed of it, do not do it merely because there is profit in it. Whenever a thing accords with reason, and the heart would not be ashamed of it, do not fail to do it merely because there is no profit in it. If you turn your back on my teaching — come, test my blade.

Revere Heaven and Earth,
show reverence to the spirits,
honor your ancestors,
be filial to both parents,
uphold the laws of the state,
respect your teachers,
love your brothers,
be true to your friends,
live in harmony with your clan,
be at peace with your neighbors,
honor the bond of husband and wife,
and instruct your sons and grandsons.

Always lend a helping hand,
broadly accumulate hidden merit,
rescue the endangered, relieve the urgent,
show pity to orphans and the poor,
build and repair temples,
print and produce scriptures,
give out medicine, offer tea,
refrain from killing, release captive creatures,
build bridges and mend roads,
pity widows, lift the destitute from want,
value your grain, cherish your blessings,
settle troubles, resolve disputes,
give generously to help good works succeed,
hand down instruction, teach others,
dissolve grudges and old enmities,
keep your measures and scales honest,
draw near to the virtuous,
keep far from the wicked,
conceal others' faults, praise their good,
benefit all beings, aid the people,
turn your heart toward the Way,
correct your faults and renew yourself,
let your whole heart brim with kindness,
and harbor no evil thought.

In every good deed,
act with sincere faith;
though people do not see it,
the spirits have long since heard.
They add to your blessings and lengthen your life,
grant you sons and favor your grandsons;
disasters dissolve, sickness vanishes,
misfortune cannot touch you;
all people and creatures find peace,
and lucky stars shine down upon you.

But if you harbor an evil heart
and do no good deeds —
defile another's wife or daughter,
destroy another's marriage,
ruin another's good name,
envy another's talent,
scheme for another's property,
incite others to feud and sue,
harm others to profit yourself,
fatten your house and enrich your body by it,
curse Heaven and blame Earth,
rail at the rain and scold the wind,
slander the sages and vilify the worthy,
destroy sacred images and deceive the spirits,
slaughter oxen and dogs,
befoul paper marked with writing,
use power to bully the good,
use wealth to oppress the poor,
sunder others' flesh and blood,
set brother against brother,
refuse faith in the true Way,
commit adultery, theft, and lechery,
delight in extravagance and fraud,
scorn diligence and thrift,
carelessly waste the five grains,
fail to repay kindness received,
act against your own conscience,
cheat with an oversized measure and an undersized scale,
set up false and deviant teachings,
lure the simple-minded astray,
falsely promise them ascent to heaven,
collect their goods and commit lechery,
swindle in the open, cheat in the dark,
speak recklessly, twist the truth,
utter curses in broad daylight,
scheme harm behind others' backs,
hold no regard for Heaven's principle,
go against the hearts of others,
disbelieve in retribution,
and lead others into evil,
cultivating not one shred of goodness,
carrying out evil deeds of every kind —
then come lawsuits and quarrels,
flood and fire, thieves and bandits,
venomous illness and plague,
misfortune in birth and foolishness in your children,
your own death and your household's ruin,
your sons turned thieves, your daughters turned wanton:
the near retribution falling on yourself,
the distant retribution on your children and grandchildren.
The spirits watch and examine;
not a hair's breadth is out of order.
Good and evil are two paths;
by them calamity and blessing divide.
Do good, and blessing rewards you;
do evil, and calamity descends.

I have spoken these words,
wishing that all people uphold them.
Though the language is plain,
it is of great benefit to body and mind.
Whoever mocks and scorns my words
will have head severed from body;
whoever is able to uphold and recite it,
for him ill fortune dissolves and blessings gather.
Ask for a son, and receive a son;
ask for long life, and receive long life;
wealth, rank, and renown —
all these may be attained.
Whatever you pray for
will be granted as you wish;
ten thousand misfortunes will melt like snow,
a thousand blessings gather like clouds.
All such fortune as this
only goodness can bring about.
I myself hold no favorites;
I bless only the good.
Practice every good deed,
and never let this resolve slacken.

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; no other translation was consulted in producing it. The opening address is rendered as continuous prose, broken into paragraphs at natural pauses in the argument; the two long catalogues that follow — first everyday duties, then the good deeds and offenses that store up or spend a person's unseen merit, each built from strings of four-character phrases — are set one phrase to a line, in keeping with the scripture's own terse, recitable form.

Before the claim below was written, a translation-status check was performed within the bounds the library sets for such checks. The two local reference bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western translation — Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 Purple Cloud survey — were searched under the scripture's Chinese title, its pinyin, and the names Guandi and Guan Sheng Dijun; neither lists this text. Both bibliographies, however, are weighted toward canonical, monastic, and philosophical Daoist literature, and this scripture belongs to the separate popular morality-book tradition, so their silence is not strong evidence by itself. The Good Works Library's own Ethics and Response shelf already holds Suzuki and Carus's 1906 translations of this scripture's two companion texts in the popular "Three Sacred Scriptures" grouping, the Taishang Ganying Pian and the Yin Chih Wen; neither that edition nor its accompanying notes mentions this scripture, so it does not appear to have shared their translators' attention. A live web search could not be completed at the time of preparation, so no broader check beyond these two bibliographies and the library's own shelf was possible. To the limit of what could be checked, we know of no published English translation of the Guan Sheng Dijun Jueshi Zhenjing; we make no claim to being first, only that a bounded search, honestly reported, found none.

A few notes on the source and its choices. In three places the transcription appears to substitute a homophonous or graphically similar character for the one the sense requires — 未 for 謂 (marring an otherwise exact parallel about acting from profit), 宇 for 字 (in the injunction against befouling written paper), and 轂 for 穀 (in the injunction against wasting grain) — and the translation follows the reading these substitutions most plausibly point to; the Chinese below is left exactly as transcribed, uncorrected. The term yingong 陰功, "hidden merit" — merit accumulated in acts no one else witnesses — is kept close to its literal sense throughout, since it names the moral logic the whole scripture runs on.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation and editorial work.

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Source Text: 關聖帝君覺世真經

Classical Chinese text of this scripture, in the Chinese Wikisource transcription. Presented complete for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

帝君曰﹕人生在世﹐貴盡忠孝節義等事﹐方於人道無愧﹐可立於天地之間﹐若不盡忠孝節義等事﹐身雖在世﹐其心已死﹐是謂偷生﹐凡人心既神﹐神既心﹐無愧心﹐ 無愧神﹐若是欺心﹐便是欺神﹐故君子三畏四知﹐以慎其獨﹐勿謂暗室可欺﹐屋漏可愧﹐一動一靜﹐神明鑒察﹐十目十手﹐理所必至﹐況報應昭彰﹐不爽毫髮﹐淫為萬惡首﹐孝為百行先﹐但有逆理﹐於心有愧者﹐勿未有利而行之﹐凡有合理﹐於心無愧者﹐勿謂無利而不行﹐若負吾教﹐請試吾刀。

敬天地﹐禮神明﹐奉祖先﹐孝雙親﹐守王法﹐重師尊﹐愛兄弟﹐信朋友﹐睦宗族﹐和鄉鄰﹐敬夫婦﹐教子孫。

時行方便﹐廣積陰功﹐救難濟急﹐恤孤憐貧﹐創修廟宇﹐印造經文﹐捨藥施茶﹐戒殺放生﹐造橋修路﹐矜寡拔困﹐重粟惜福﹐排難解紛﹐捐資成美﹐ 垂訓教人﹐冤讎解釋﹐斗秤公平﹐親近有德﹐遠避凶人﹐隱惡揚善﹐利物救民﹐回心向道﹐改過自新﹐滿腔仁慈﹐惡念不存﹐一切善事﹐信心奉行﹐人雖不見﹐神已早聞﹐加福增壽﹐添子益孫﹐災消病滅﹐禍患不侵﹐人物咸寧﹐吉星照臨。

若存惡心﹐不行善事﹐淫人妻女﹐破人婚姻﹐壞人名節﹐妒人技能﹐謀人財產﹐唆人爭訟﹐損人利己﹐肥家潤身﹐恨天怨地﹐罵雨呵風﹐謗聖毀賢 ﹐滅像欺神﹐宰殺牛犬﹐穢溺宇紙﹐持勢欺善﹐倚富壓貧﹐離人骨肉﹐間人兄弟﹐不信正道﹐奸盜邪淫﹐好尚奢詐﹐不重勤儉﹐輕棄五轂﹐不報有恩﹐瞞心昧己﹐大斗小秤﹐假立邪教﹐引誘愚人﹐詭說昇天﹐斂物行淫﹐明瞞暗騙﹐橫言曲語﹐白日咒詛﹐背地謀害﹐不存天理﹐不順人心﹐不信報應﹐引人作惡﹐不修片善﹐行諸惡事﹐官詞口舌﹐水火盜賊﹐惡毒瘟疫﹐生敗產蠢﹐殺身亡家﹐男盜女淫﹐近報在身﹐遠報子孫﹐神明鑒察﹐毫髮不紊﹐善惡兩途﹐禍福攸分﹐行善福報﹐作惡禍臨﹐ 我作斯語﹐願人奉行﹐言雖淺近﹐大益身心﹐戲侮吾言﹐斬首分形﹐有能持誦﹐消凶聚慶﹐求子得子﹐求壽得壽﹐富貴功名﹐皆能有成﹐凡有所祈﹐如意而獲﹐萬禍雪消﹐千祥雲集﹐諸如此福﹐惟善可致﹐吾本無私﹐惟佑善人﹐眾善奉行﹐毋怠厥志。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of this scripture (article 關聖帝君覺世真經, revision of 2 April 2025), 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 scripture itself 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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