Dongxuan Lingbao Dao Yao Jing — A Numinous Treasure Scripture of the Daoist Canon

This is a scripture of the Numinous Treasure (Lingbao) tradition, shelved in the Daoist Canon under the Cavern of Mystery (Dongxuan) division, as its own title announces. A Dunhuang manuscript witness is cited throughout its collation notes, which places the text in circulation no later than the early eleventh century, when the Dunhuang cave library was sealed; the density of Buddhist technical vocabulary running through it — kalpas, skillful means, the Ten Great Evils, the Realm of Hungry Ghosts — points toward a Tang-dynasty (618–907) or Five Dynasties date, though this is an inference, not a certainty, and no Daozang catalogue number for the text was confirmed in preparing this translation.

The scripture is built from doctrinal prose and hymn in alternation. Its speaker for most of the text is not a named deity such as Laozi but the Dao itself, addressed here throughout as "the Way," speaking in the first person; at two turns in the argument, lesser sovereigns of the text's own devising — a "True King" and an "Immortal King" — step forward to sing five-character hymns. Between the hymns run two long narratives of filial sons rewarded with immortality, and a shorter episode, closer to a Lingbao salvation liturgy, in which guilty ghosts are pardoned out of the eighteen hells by a king's compassion and their descendants' filial devotion.

The whole text turns on one compound: xiào 孝, filial devotion to parents, and xiàodào 孝道, "the Way of Filial Piety" — which this scripture uses again and again as another name for the Dao itself, not an ethical addition to cultivation but, in its own cosmology, identical with it. This translation renders 孝 as "filial piety" or "filial devotion" and keeps 孝道 as "the Way of Filial Piety" throughout, asking the reader to hold both words together exactly as the text insists on doing.

Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese of the Daoist Canon, printed in full below the translation. To our knowledge, this is the scripture's first complete published English translation.

Translation

The Way said: The Great Way is hidden and empty, still and vast, without name. Filial piety comes forth from the Void; borne upon Nothing, it receives its birth. Born into form, it takes filial piety as its law; and being nameless, it is called the Way. It dwells where nothing stands above it, and answers mysteriously where nothing lies beneath it. Its name and its working reach high and far; its benefit is vast and great; its spirit-power meets no obstruction; it has no beginning and no end — therefore it is called the Way of Filial Piety.

Among all things that have form, none is born except through the Way, and none is brought to completion except through filial piety. Therefore the Great Way gives birth to the Primal Breath (yuanqi); the Primal Breath gives birth to the Supreme Ultimate (taiji); the Supreme Ultimate gives birth to Heaven and Earth; and Heaven and Earth give birth to the ten thousand things. Among the kinds of the ten thousand things, humankind stands first; among all spirits, the Great Way is the most honored — and humaneness and filial piety honor it, which is why it is called the Way of Filial Piety. The Way is father to the ten thousand things, and is also called their mother. It is also said: the Way gives birth to the One; the One gives birth to the Two; the Two gives birth to the Three; the Three gives birth to the ten thousand things. The ten thousand things flourish when they attain the Way, and perish when they lose it.

Be subtle, soft, and yielding; endure disgrace; be compassionate and filial. Advance in cultivating the Middle Way, the mind never slackening. Tend yourself through filial piety, and above, repay the Prime Grace. The Mysterious Father and the Mysterious Mother — such is the great kindness of one's own two parents; and it is that great kindness which gives filial conduct its name: the practice of the Way of Filial Piety.

The mind comes forth from emptiness, and the Way enters into non-being. Emptiness and non-being resonate together, unmoving yet responsive; and in that response the Way is completed — the Way of Filial Piety is completed. Therefore empty the mind to meet all things, and all things will meet you with an empty mind in turn. Each awaiting the other, spirit meets spirit: first the spirit opens through, and afterward the body; and when body and spirit both open through, the Way of Filial Piety is complete.

It goes out into being and enters into non-being; it divides its form a hundred million times, and there is no place it does not dwell. In Heaven it is the Heavenly Numen; on Earth it is the Earthly Deity — and the Heavenly Numen and the Earthly Deity are the root-essence of the two luminaries. Morning and evening they pour out their light, nurturing all beings that hold life. In the East they govern the Nine Yi; in the South, the Eight Man; in the West, the Six Rong; in the North, the Five Di — the peoples of the four directions — and in the Center, the Three Tai. Even the mingled peoples of the border states, and the tribes that move by water and land, seen and hidden, all without exception depend on the Way to receive their birth.

The mother nurtures with love; the child lives by filial devotion. On the day that growth is complete, repayment is certain to follow — even insects and crows know enough to repay a debt of kindness. A man guilty of the five great offenses is not even the equal of bird or beast. One who does not walk the Way of Filial Piety and turns against the Prime Grace is called an evil man, not a noble one; he cannot be called a man of the Way — he is in truth a guilty ghost. Among all the manifold bonds of humankind, one who does not practice the Way of Filial Piety sees good and does not follow it, hears the Way and does not believe it. Yet the Way is ever compassionate, and does not abandon the multitude of beings; by skillful means it manifests itself, in every kind of spirit-transformation, granting them hidden proofs. One who cannot make use of it is called a worm-eaten corpse. The worm-eaten, decaying corpse is also like a stranded po-soul: the vital essence that watches over the corpse still dwells within the body.

At that time the Lofty and Luminous True King spoke this hymn:

Do not say that filial piety is not real,
do not say that the Way is not spirit-filled.
Practice filial piety, and its light fills the world;
clear and bright, it shines upon your heart.
A mind confused in darkness does not awaken;
hesitating, it loses the road of life.
At the felicitous assembly, merit and name are reckoned;
without merit, in the end there is no crossing over.
Heaven stands silent, granting no joy;
hell is thick with bitter cold.
I say to you, worthy sons:
labor diligently to build the steps of transcendence.
Do not follow the foolish herd who die for nothing,
their bodies turned to ash and gathered up by ants.
Once fallen, they become wandering ghosts,
through ten thousand kalpas forgetting the road of life.
In boiling water and burning coals their guilt has no end,
and vast and lost, they keep watch over their own graves.

When the True King had spoken this hymn, he inclined his head and snapped his fingers, and the sound was heard in the eighteen hells of scalding water and coals, and at the gates of sin of the Six Palaces. Then he spoke a further Hymn of Suffering:

The gate of Heaven is never closed;
the gate of Hell has never opened.
Suffering there without rest,
guilty ghosts gather in crowds.
Thirsty, they drink from the boiling cauldron;
hungry, they eat burning ash.
How did they come to lose the Way of Filial Piety?
Wealth and lust were the matchmakers of their ruin.
In the strength of their youth they did not walk the Way;
only at the point of death did they wish to turn back.
Hearing of filial piety, they mocked and slandered it instead,
and now in the boiling water and fire their grief has no end.

Then, when the True King had finished speaking this hymn, he released from his heart the light of filial piety, flooding the world with brilliance; the light turned into lamps and shone into the eighteen great hells of accumulated night. The True King's breath of compassion transformed into five-colored clouds of the immortals, spreading to cover the boundless worlds of the ten directions. All the guilty ghosts were at once set free and pardoned. They washed themselves in the Mysterious Ford and climbed the Phoenix Stair; they bowed in repentance, confessed their faults, and rejoiced in gladness and peace, and they sang this song:

The Six Palaces strike out the roster of sins;
in the Nine Darknesses no soul is left unanswered.
The lamp of Heaven brightens the dark chambers;
they bow their heads in homage to the Mysterious Gate.
The Three Officials no longer take up their case;
forever they return to the One Most Honored.

When the guilty ghosts had finished singing this song, not yet having been granted rebirth, they returned again to their graves. Night after night they came through in dreams, saying to their sons and grandsons: "If you wish the living and the dead to have their desires fulfilled, quickly burn the sacred incense of the Nine Darknesses; establish a chapel and richly furnish it with seats. Practice the Way with a focused mind, and save all beings with compassion. With incense and lamp, vow and recitation, repay the kindness of your two parents and the kindness of the Great Way; recite the scriptures and their teachings, and so aid the realm and sustain life. Rescue the orphaned and the endangered; heal sickness and plague. Guard the One and build merit; exhort others toward goodness."

At this, the ordinary people, moved by these dreams, woke with a start from their sleep. Each of them saw in their courtyard the lamp of Heaven shining bright, its rays piercing the heart, and all were awakened in the depths of their being. Practicing filial piety and honoring the Way for eighteen years, they attained the fruit of the Six Penetrations. As for their departed ancestors, they received transformation in the Southern Palace; all were born into blessed realms, beheld the Way and heard its teaching, and all ascended to the rank of immortals.

The Way said: The Way and its Power are vast and great; filial piety holds together the hidden world and the visible. The guilty ghosts, granted pardon, took up the Way; their sons and grandsons, awakened from within, practiced filial piety. Whoever honors my Way must first practice filial piety, and only then practice the Way — this is why it is called the Way of Filial Piety.

In ancient times there was a man who practiced the Way first and filial piety only afterward. The Way knows no birth and no death; a man has a beginning and an end. He practiced the Way, but before his practice of the Way was complete, he wished to be filial, and his parents would no longer wait. Because they would not wait, he was struck down by prostrate grief, wounding his harmony and depleting his vital breath, which can hardly be called a gain. Once past the age of forty, signs of decline appeared in him; his practice of Guarding the One thereupon lapsed, and the mourning in his heart never came to an end. By the age of sixty he lay a corpse among the graves. For three years his form and spirit did not scatter; sacred birds sheltered him beneath their wings, and fierce beasts stood guard over him.

On the seventh day of the seventh month, at the turning of autumn's Beginning, the Celestial Worthy of Great Unity looked down and took pity on him. Then, when the Autumn Equinox came, he sent an immortal messenger bearing a jade elixir, who descended to save him. The moment it touched his lips he came back to life, as easily as waking from sleep. The Eight Kings of the Western Palace granted him a chariot of whirlwind, and he ascended to the Palace of Heaven, given the title Filial Immortal. To this day his life spans ninety thousand great kalpas; his form is like gold and jade, his bearing like cloud. He passed out of death and into life, and endures forever without limit.

When the Filial Immortal first began, he endured every hardship of mire and coals; wind and frost could not change him, hunger and distress brought no alteration. The Way honors the elixir brought to completion; he held his resolve high and noble, cherishing constancy and holding fast to integrity, and only then did he win the fruit of it. Riding in state upon a cloud-chariot, he soared up into the higher realms. Even now he practices filial piety, and holds his two parents in memory: "It was their deep, primal kindness that let me accomplish the Way — a thing beyond all conceiving."

In an age long past there was a man who from the first practiced filial piety to the utmost. Both his parents lived to be a hundred and thirty-seven years of age; the son himself had already reached a hundred and five. He was well versed in medicinal arts, and regularly took elixirs of radiant cinnabar; parents and son alike, their strength never failed them, and the filial son dressed himself in garments of many colors. He was skilled in music too, and twice each day he sang and danced to make them merry.

Then one day his parents came to the end of their lives, as gently as a person falling asleep; their bodies felt no pain, their minds no confusion. The filial son built their burial mound and carried out the funeral rites for his two parents. Crows and beasts gathered like clouds to help him, carrying earth in their beaks and mouths, and over three years the mound rose a hundred feet high. The filial son then built a hut there and lived in it for nine years, practicing filial piety and cultivating the Way. Sacred candles throughout the world lit themselves to make clear the sincerity of his heart; the Incense Officials presented a child as a pledge of the Way's good faith. Heaven and Earth, father and mother to all, were moved by the purity of his resolve, and bestowed on him the immortal pears; he ascended into the Western Palace, receiving the title Golden-Light Filial Son, Bright-Jade Child of Truth. Though he had grown old, he attained the Way, and to this day has returned to the freshness of infancy. Though he had gained the reality of the Way, he never forgot the Way of Filial Piety.

How much more, then, the ordinary man, who forgets kindness and betrays righteousness, and does not practice humaneness or virtue — how does he differ from a corpse? He turns against Heaven and Earth, wallows in lust, and is besotted with wine; he is greedy for wealth and without a shred of righteousness, and profits himself at the cost of harming others. He devours fish and flesh raw, his mouth fouled with grease and blood; his whole body reeks of rankness, and he puts his faith in evil spirits. Some leave their households for the sake of profit, falsely claiming to honor the Way; they destroy merit and steal the wealth of the teaching, trading it away for wine and women, never knowing when to stop. As death nears they beg for pity, but the roster of their sins is already sealed, and the spirit of life no longer dwells within them. Their will and mind grow confused, their breath grows faint and their color changes. In vain they feel remorse — the Way grants no pardon. Their hun and po souls scatter and disperse, and they suffer in every place. Their flesh is eaten by ants, their bones and flesh mingling with the earth, their five organs rotting away until no human form remains.

I say this to those yet to be born, who wish to honor the Way of Filial Piety: recite the scriptures and precepts with diligence, and truly observe body and mind; cut away every greed and attachment. Once greed and attachment are cut away, no affliction remains. The causes and conditions of affliction arise from craving and desire; if craving and desire are cut off, the entanglements of birth and death are severed forever, with nothing left over, and body and mind know joy. The mind set upon the Way is vast and far-reaching, and the Seven Generations of Ancestors receive its blessing — how could the Way be attained by a single person alone?

The spirit-power of the Way of Filial Piety is like Heaven and Earth: everything Heaven and Earth bring to life shares this single source; only one's own father and mother cannot be borrowed or feigned. One should practice filial piety to repay this great kindness. One should cultivate the Way — keeping fasts and precepts, performing the rites of deliverance, burning incense and lighting lamps — to bring relief from suffering and hardship. When the Seven Generations of Ancestors are in distress, they set their hope on sons and nephews to call upon the spirit-power of the Way, hoping to win release — just as a man in prison, bound in cangue and chains, hopes for a merciful pardon to wash away his offenses, so that he may be happy and free, his mind without care.

The rosters of sin in the world of shadow and the world of sun are much the same, differing only in small particulars: to sin and then meet with pardon is not as good as never having sinned; though the guilt is excused, its entry remains on the record. Having once failed in a single act, one goes without trust for the rest of one's life. Therefore life must not be squandered, and the Way must not be forgotten. To forget the Way and squander life is to be called a guilty ghost, not a human being. Forgetting the Way and squandering life, one drifts with circumstance, turning and turning without end — like a man adrift on the great ocean, unable to make out its shore, longing to return to a familiar island, yet carried off by wind and wave, forever losing the way home. One who has lost the Way of Life is just the same. While the body is strong and vigorous, even hard things can be accomplished — why not, then, practice filial piety, cultivate the unsurpassed Way, and cut off forever the causes and conditions of birth, death, and affliction?

The Way said: Whoever hears my Way is a worthy man; whoever practices my Way is a Perfected Person. At that time the Immortal King spoke this hymn:

Would you know the flourishing of the Way of Filial Piety?
The hall is filled entirely with maidens in attendance,
graceful and fair is the chamber of the Western Palace;
receiving Heaven's mandate, they take their place beside kings and dukes.
At such a time my Way goes forth,
and the lamp of Heaven shines bright in every place.
Sacred incense calls bright understanding back,
and over hill and wild auspicious clouds arise.
Enemy states lay down their mountain wars;
within the Four Seas no armies clash.
Whoever can cultivate the precepts of the Way of Filial Piety
will see, in a moment's time, the Great Peace.

The Way said: the Way does not cultivate man — man must cultivate the Way. The Way is by nature spontaneous; it does not cultivate the way of man. But man is not spontaneous by nature, and so he must strive with diligence. In cultivating the spontaneous Way there are thirty-six thousand essentials, but their foundation is the Way of Filial Piety. No one lacking in compassion and filial devotion, who rebels against his parents or does violence to his sovereign, has ever attained the Way. One who is disloyal and unfilial is counted among the Ten Great Evils: in life he breaks the sovereign's law; in death he falls into hell, and through life and death he is held to account, with no date ever set for his release. He is given over to the Realm of Hungry Ghosts.

The Way said: utmost filial piety is the cultivation of the Way — it is the cultivation of the Way of Filial Piety. The Way resides in utmost filial piety; what is unfilial is not the Way. Why is this so? Filial piety can give rise to compassion; filial piety can give rise to forbearance; filial piety can give rise to diligence; filial piety can give rise to endurance of hardship; filial piety can give rise to steadfastness; filial piety can subdue every demonic obstacle. Wealth and lust, wine and meat, fame and glory and rank; overturning and seizing, contending and competing, clashing in arms and killing — before all this the man of utmost filial piety is utterly unmoved, his mind untouched by any of it. Guarding the One without wavering, he finds every demonic obstacle dissolves and subsides of itself.

Filial piety bars the golden gate and bolts shut the road of death, so that every ford and bridge used by demons and traitors is cut away. Still and silent within and without, he practices the Way of Filial Piety single-mindedly; within, no clash of arms; without, no hidden bandit. The Way of Filial Piety has no form; it cannot be grasped by any mark. The Way of Filial Piety is vast and great; and no more can its marks be discarded. Grasping and discarding alike are without a mark; its true response, active in the world, is like a treasury without end. Because the treasury is without end, there is no grasping and no discarding; where there is grasping and discarding, exhaustion and negligence follow. Where there is exhaustion, that is not the Way; where there is negligence, that is not filial piety. Neither exhausted nor negligent — this alone is called the Way of Filial Piety.

Filial piety is like the breath, in and out — the breath cannot stop; if the breath stops the body perishes, and if filial piety stops the Way fails. As one breath follows another, so let thought follow thought; whether walking or standing still, hold it in mind — let it remain in the heart from thought to thought, never to be released or set aside. To release it is to ruin the Way — and so it must never be set aside.

The Way said: to men and women yet to come, who wish to seek the Way of Filial Piety — do not seek it for profit, and do not seek it for lust. Profit breeds delusion and greed, and delusion and greed are not the Way. Lust breeds jealousy, and every condition of suffering grows and spreads from lust; jealousy is not virtue, and the conditions of suffering are not the Way. Seek the Way with a lustful mind, and the Way cannot be gained. The Way is not a sacrifice, and cannot be sought with wine and meat; seeking the Way is by nature a clean and pure thing, and cannot be sought with filth or arrogance. Seeking the Way of Filial Piety calls for no-mind, and cannot be sought with cleverness; seeking the Great Way calls for formlessness, and cannot be sought through outward appearance.

One who seeks the Way, then, should seek with a mind that seeks no gain. Seek neither with a mind fixed on what came before, nor with a mind fixed on what comes after. Seek with a mind that neither arises nor ceases; seek with a hidden mind; seek with a vast mind; seek with a plain, upright mind; seek with a mind of patience and diligence; seek with a still and yielding mind; seek with a mind of compassion and utmost filial devotion. I have set out the essentials of the Way in brief; reason on from these by their kind, and in time they will grow clear of themselves.

At that time the True King, for the sake of all beings yet to come, set forth in brief the essentials of the Way, that it might be circulated widely and held in reverence. Whoever obtains it and recites it morning and evening, cultivating its practice with a focused heart, will attain the Way in their heart — a thing beyond all conceiving.

Here ends the Dongxuan Lingbao Scripture on the Essentials of the Way.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Lingbao Salvation Scriptures shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The scripture's doctrinal prose runs on for long stretches in the source without paragraph break; it is here divided into paragraphs for readability, with nothing added, omitted, or reordered. Its five passages of five-character verse — three hymns of the True King, one further hymn of suffering, one song of the pardoned ghosts, and one hymn of the Immortal King — are kept as verse, line for line.

Before the claim below was written, a genuine translation-status check was performed: both local bibliographies of Daoist texts in English translation — Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 Purple Cloud survey of Daoist texts in Western languages — were searched under the scripture's Chinese title, its pinyin, and its subject matter (filial piety in a Daoist scriptural setting), and returned no entry for this text or for any comparable text organized around 孝道. Two rounds of open web search, under the Chinese title and under the pinyin title, returned no published translation in any language and no scholarly discussion of the text by name. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Dongxuan Lingbao Dao Yao Jing (洞玄靈寶道要經). We state this as the limit of our search, not as a certainty.

A note on the hardest passages. 蠹敗之尸，亦如拓魄 is translated "like a stranded po-soul," reading 拓魄 as a rare or damaged term for an unquiet po-soul (魄); the collation note attached to it gives a variant, 有妒魅, that does not resolve the difficulty either. 香官墳嬰 is translated following the Dunhuang variant 獻嬰, "presented a child" — the base reading does not construe as it stands. 帝一尊, in the pardoned ghosts' song, is left as "the One Most Honored" rather than silently identified with the Celestial Worthy of Great Unity named later in the text, though the two may well be the same figure. The scripture's two exemplary tales — a son who dresses in bright colors to entertain his aged parents, a son who builds and keeps a mourning hut for nine years beside the grave — draw on standard filial-piety imagery without naming it; readers who know the traditional Twenty-Four Exemplars of Filial Piety will recognize the gestures.

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

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Source Text: 洞玄靈寶道要經

Classical Chinese text of the Daoist Canon, in the Chinese Wikisource transcription. Presented complete for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. Numbered notes marked (注) in the text record variant readings collated against a Dunhuang manuscript witness of the scripture; the notes themselves are given in full at the end of this section.

道言：大道幽虛。寂寥無名。孝出於無乘无 (注)1 受 生。生形法孝，無名曰道。處於無上，玄應無下。名行高遠，利益弘大，神通無礙，不終不始，故名孝道。有形之類，非道不生，非孝不成。故大道生元氣，元氣生太極，太極生天地，天地生萬物。萬物之類，人居其長。萬靈之中，大道最尊。仁孝尊道，故名孝道。道為萬物父，亦名萬物母。又曰：道生一，一生二，二生三，三生萬物 (注)2 。萬物得道則昌，失道則亡。精微柔弱，忍辱慈孝。進修中道，心無懈惓 (注)3 。以孝自牧，上報元恩。玄 (注)4 父玄 (注)5 母，二親大恩。二親大恩，故名行孝，行孝道也。心出於虛，道入於無。虛無相感，不動而應。應則道成，成孝道也。故虛心以待物，物亦虛心以待之。彼此相待，然後神交。先通其神，後通其身。身神俱通，則孝道成矣。出有入無，分形百億，無所不宅。在天為天靈，在地為地祇。天靈地祇，二景之根精也。晨夕輸照，養育含生。在東主九夷，在南主八蠻，在西主六戎，在北主五狄，在中主三泰。雖邊邦雜類之種，水陸行藏之族，悉皆賴道而得受生。母以慈養，子以孝生。生成之日，定有反哺。蟲烏之心，猶知報恩。五逆之人，不如禽獸。不行孝道，背叛元恩，是名凶人，非君子也。不名道士，是真罪鬼。凡百人倫，不行孝道，見善不從，聞道不信。道猶慈恩，元元不捨。方便示現，種種神變，與其幽驗。不能用之，是名蠹 (注)6 尸。蠹敗之尸，亦如拓魄 (注)7 。守尸之精，住其身中。爾時，高明真王而作頌曰：

勿言孝不真，勿言道不神。行孝光天下，明然 (注)8 照爾心。心迷暗不悟，躊躇失生路。吉會考勳名，無功終不度。天堂寂不歡，地獄多寒沍 (注)9 。語汝儀堂 (注)10 子，勤建仙真步。莫學蠢死羣。灰身螻蟻聚。一墮浮遊鬼，萬劫忘生路。湯炭罪未窮。茫茫守丘墓。
　　 爾時真王作此頌已。倪而彈指，聲聞十八湯炭地獄、六宮罪門。又作苦頌曰：
天堂永不閉，地獄未曾開。受苦無休息，罪鬼合羣來。渴則飲鑊湯，飢則食熱灰。由何失孝道，財色受殃媒。強壯不行道，臨終始欲迴。聞孝翻誹笑，湯火長悲哀。
　　 於是真王 (注)11 作此頌己。放 (注)1 2 心孝光，洞朗天下，光變成燈，照耀十八大地積夜之獄。真王慈氣，化成仙雲五色 (注)13 ，徧覆十方無極世界。是諸罪鬼，一時放赦。洗沐玄津，升於鳳階。禮悔首過，歡喜慶泰，而作歌曰：

六宮除罪目，九幽無對魂。天燈朗暗室 (注)14 稽首禮玄門。三官不受事，長歸帝一尊。

　　爾時罪鬼作此歌已。未得受生，復歸丘墓。夕夕通夢，語其子孫曰：欲得存亡如願，急然 (注)15 九幽神香，建立精舍，盛施牀座。精心行道，慈救萬物。香燈願念，報二親恩，報大道恩，轉誦經教，助國扶命。救濟孤危，療治疾疫。守一立功，勸人作善。是時，凡人感通此夢，睡中驚悟 (注)16 。各見庭中，天燈照明，光芒射心，皆悉冥悟。行孝奉道，一十八年，得六通果。是其先亡，南宮受化，皆生福地，見道聞法，並登仙位。
　　 道言：道德弘大，孝攝幽明。罪　鬼蒙赦而行道，子孫冥悟而行孝。奉吾道者，先當行孝，而後行道，故名孝道。往昔有人先行道而後行孝。道無生滅，人有始終。行道道行未成，欲孝而 (注)17 親不待 (注)18 。為不待故，則有伏哀之慟 (注)19 。傷和損氣，不名益 (注)20 易。年過四十，衰相表現。守一遂廢，心喪不終。及年六十，伏尸 (注)21 塚間。積經三年，形神不散。靈禽翼覆，猛獸衛護。以七月七日立秋之節，太一天尊，俯而愍之。後至秋分，遣一仙使，齎持瓊丹，下而救之。入口便活，猶如睡覺。西宮八王，給其飈輪。上升天府，號曰孝仙。于今壽九萬大劫，形如金玉，氣色似雲。出死入生，長存無窮。孝仙初始，備嬰塗 (注)22 炭，風霜不改，飢惱無變。道貴丹成 (注)23 ，高尚其志。懷貞抱節，然後獲果。坐命雲車，飛浮上界。于今行孝，憶想二親，元元大恩，使我成道，不可思議。往昔劫中有 (注) 24 一人，先行至孝。二親俱壽一百三十七歲，子年已登一百五歲。善明方藥，常餌丹光。父母并子，筋力不衰，於是孝子被服綵衣。又善音樂，一日二時，歌舞作樂。是時，父母一旦終亡，如人睡臥。身不痛惱，心志不亂。孝子結塋，舉殯二親。烏獸雲集，助其銜土。積經三年墳高百尺。於是，孝子結廬九載，行孝修道。天下神燭，以明其心。香官墳嬰 (注)25 ，以為道信。天地父母，感其精志，賜其交 (注)26 梨，升入西宮，錫號金光孝子明玉真童。老而成道，于今反嬰。雖得道真，不忘孝道。况於凡夫，忘恩背義，仁德不行，與尸何別？反逆天地，躭淫嗜酒。貪財無義，利己害物。生啖魚肉，膏血洿 (注)27 口。通體膻腥，信用邪魅。或為利出家，詐云奉道。毀損功德，竊取法財。貿易酒色，不知厭足。臨死求哀，罪目已定，生神不居。志意悶亂，氣玲色變。徒有悔心，道不原赦。魂魄離散，處處受苦。肉食螻蟻，骨肉和土。五內糜爛，無復人形。語汝來生，欲奉孝道。勤誦經誡，諦觀身心，斷諸貪著。既斷貪著，即無煩惱。煩惱因緣，因貪慾生。若斷貪慾，生死攀緣。永絕無餘，身心快樂。道心弘廣，七祖介福，何但一身而成道耶？孝道神力，譬如天地。天地所生，無種所有。唯有二親，不可假作。應當行孝，以報大恩。應當修道，齋戒拔度，燒香然燈，以濟苦厄。七祖在難，希望子姪，請道神力，冀得解脫。如人囚禁，枷鎖繫縛，望逢恩赦，蕩除罪咎，快樂自在，心無憂慮。冥陽罪目，大同小異。有罪逢赦，不如無罪。有罪雖兔，其目猶在。既失一行，終身無信 (注)28 。故生不可失，道不可忘。忘道失生，是名罪鬼，不名人也。忘道失生，隨境而舍。展轉無窮。如汎大海。不識邊際，思歸舊島。風浪所漂，永失來路。失 (注)29 生道者，亦復如是。及其強健難事已辦。何不行孝，修無上道，永斷生死煩惱因緣。
　　 道言：聞吾道者為賢人，行吾道者為真人。爾時仙王，而作頌曰：
欲知孝道隆，滿堂皆女僮 (注)30 。窈窕西宮室，承運補王公。此時吾道行，天燈處處明。神香迴朗識，山野慶雲生。敵國罷岡戰，四海不交兵。能修孝道誡 (注)31 ，斯須見太 (注)32 平。
　　 道言：道不修人，人須修道。道本自然，不修人道 (注)33 。人非自然，故應精進。修自然道，三萬六千道要，要以孝道為宗。未有不慈不孝，反逆父母、殺害君主，而得成道。不忠不孝，名十惡人。生犯王法，死入地獄。生死受考，無有出期。得餓鬼道。

　　道言：至孝修道，修孝道也。道在至孝，不孝非道也。何以故？孝能慈悲，孝能忍辱，孝能精進，孝能勤苦，孝能堅正，孝能降伏一切魔事。財色酒肉，名聞榮位。傾奪爭競，交兵殺害。至孝之士，泯然無心。守一不動，一切魔事自然消伏。孝堅金關，閉揵死道，是諸魔奸津梁斷絕。內外寂靜，專行孝道。內無交兵，外無伏賊。孝道無形，不可取相。孝道弘大，不可捨相。取捨無相，真應動用，如無盡藏。無盡藏故無取無捨，有取有捨則有窮有怠。窮則非道，怠則非孝。不窮不怠，是名孝道。孝如噓吸，氣不可停。停氣則身 (注)34 滅，停孝則道敗。喘息繼念，行住憶想，故念念在心，不可放捨。放捨則道敗，故不可捨也。
　　 道言：來生男女，欲求孝道。莫為利求，莫為色求。利生癡貪，癡貪非道。色生嫉妬，一切苦緣，因色滋長。嫉妬非德，苦緣非道。色心求道，道不可得。道非祭祀，不可以酒肉。求道本清潔，不可以穢慢。求孝道無心，不可以智慧。求大道無形，不可以色相求。夫求道者，應以無得心求。亦不前心求，亦不後心求。應以不起不滅心求，應以祕密心求，應以廣大心求，應以質直心求，應以忍辱精進心求，應以寂靜柔弱心求，應以慈悲至孝心求。略舉道要，以類推之，久自明矣。
　　 爾時，真王為諸來生略說道要，流通供養。有得之者，晨夕誦念，精修其事，心 (注)35 得成道，不可思議。

洞玄靈寶道要經竟

(注)1 无：原作『元』，依敦煌本改。

(注)2 敦煌本无『又曰』至『萬物』十五字。

(注)3 倦：敦煌本作『倦』。

(注)4 玄：敦煌本作『元』。

(注)5 玄：敦煌本作『元』。

(注)6 蠹：敦煌本作『靈』。

(注)7 如妬媿：敦煌本作『有妒魅』。

(注)8 然：敦煌本作『靈』。

(注)9 寒沍：敦煌本作『號呼』。

(注)10 儀堂：敦煌本作『善男』。

(注)11 於是真王：敦煌本作『是時六門』。

(注)12 放：敦煌本在『放』字前有『於是真王』四字。

(注)13 五色：敦煌本作『七色五色』。

(注)14 室：教煌本作『識』。

(注)15 然：教煌本作『傳』。

(注)16 悟：敦煌本作『寤』。

(注)17 而：敦煌本作『孝』。

(注)18 待：敦煌本作『守』。

(注)19 為不待故，則有伏哀之慟：敦煌本作『是故則有伏衰。』

(注)20 益：敦煌本作『變』。

(注)21 尸：敦煌本作『死』。

(注)22 塗：敦煌本作『荼』。

(注)23 成：敦煌本作『誠』。

(注)24 中有：敦煌本作『時中州』。

(注)25 墳嬰：敦煌本作『獻嬰』

(注)26 交：敦煌本作『文』。

(注)27 垮：敦煌本作『污』。

(注)28 信：原作『言』，依教煌本本改。

(注)29 失：原作『央』，依敦煌本本改。

(注)30 女僮：敦煌本作『玉童』。

(注)31 誠：敦煌本作『戒』。

(注)32 太：教煌本作『泰』。

(注)33 不修人道：敦煌本作『故不修人』。

(注)34 身：敦煌本作『死』。

(注)35 心：教煌本作『必』。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this scripture (article 洞玄靈寶道要經, revision of 18 July 2009), 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 ancient and in the public domain. The wiki header and license templates have been removed; the text is otherwise complete and unaltered.

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