Taishang Sansheng Jieyuan Miaojing — Spoken by the Celestial Worthy Who Seeks the Cry and Rescues from Suffering

This is an anonymous Daoist scripture preserved in the Daoist Canon; its precise date is not established from the sources available for this translation, though its repeated references to Orthodox Unity (Zhengyi) priests and to the Three Purities suggest it is no earlier than the Song–Yuan popular ritual tradition, when Zhengyi became the standard designation for talisman- and register-based Daoist practice.

It belongs to a family of salvation scriptures spoken in the voice of a Celestial Worthy — here given the epithet "Who Seeks the Cry and Rescues from Suffering," recalling both the widely venerated Great Unity, Celestial Worthy Who Saves from Suffering, and, further back, the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin's own vow to hear and answer the cries of the suffering. Like much of this genre, it draws Buddhist vocabulary — karma, yakshas, gathas, the sea of suffering, the hells — into a Daoist ritual frame of talismans and registers.

The scripture is a frame narrative. The Celestial Worthy descends into a western kingdom and is questioned by its queen, who has lost pregnancy after pregnancy and infant after infant; he shows her the vengeful spirit of one such child and explains that these deaths are debts of grievance carried across three lifetimes, brought on by carelessness or violence toward the unborn. He then teaches the scripture itself, together with an incantation, and the court's recitation of it frees the whole kingdom's dead; two closing verses and three talismans, to be written in cinnabar and swallowed, follow. Its two key terms name the same wrong in two registers: yuanjie (冤結, here "grievance-knot"), a psychological knot of resentment, and yuanye (冤業, "grievance-karma"), a debt that must be repaid — the scripture's promise is that sincere recitation can dissolve both.

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

At that time, the Celestial Worthy Who Seeks the Cry and Rescues from Suffering, together with his many attendants, was making a circuit of the worlds of the ten directions, transforming and delivering living beings, bringing them out of the sea of suffering, so that they might return to the true Way and not fall into false teachings. He looked out upon the West and saw, within it, a certain kingdom whose king was titled Pure Brahma. The people of this kingdom were much given to lust and killing; they did not cultivate good works, and many of them sank into the hells and lost the human form again and again. Mindful of these living beings, he at once transformed his body and descended. The king of that kingdom dreamed one night that a spirit brought him word: "Tomorrow a Celestial Perfected One will come from the east — why not go out to meet him?" The king's heart could not rest; he sat up and waited for the dawn, then summoned his many great ministers, the queen and consorts and royal kindred, and the people of the city, and journeyed far from their own dwellings to receive the Celestial Worthy. West of the city there was a great garden, its towers and pavilions stately and well ordered, its flowers in lush and full bloom.

At that time the Celestial Worthy sat within the Hall of Seven Treasures upon a throne of the golden dragon, with heavenly acolytes attending as guards. The king, his ministers, the queen and consorts and royal kindred, and the people of the city gathered in a circle below the throne, watching and listening as he expounded the wondrous Dharma of Orthodox Unity. Of a sudden auspicious vapors filled the garden and heavenly flowers scattered down; the whole assembly, astonished, felt a joy beyond words. Then the queen and the several consorts burned incense, made their obeisance, and knelt to address him, saying: "Ours is a lowly, small kingdom, a land of the ignorant and dull — never before have we been able to hear so lofty and mysterious a Way as this. To meet with it today is a deep good fortune. We have a small matter we wish to lay before the Way; we humbly pray that in your vast compassion you will grant us leave to speak it."

The Celestial Worthy said: "Whatever you have to say, speak it with your whole heart." The queen then said: "The king is now advanced in years, and no heir has yet been established. In the past I have conceived, and within a few months the child was lost. Or, when the months ran their full term and a son or daughter was born, then somewhere between the age of one and five, the child would die outright. I do not know what offense, in a former life or in this present life, has brought about such a thing. If I might receive your pity and compassion, I beg to receive your instruction."

The Celestial Worthy said: "This is because, in a former life, you were careless during pregnancy and killed the child in your womb. In its heart the child harbored resentment and hatred, and so in this present body you receive such a retribution. Fearing that you would not believe this, I shall now summon this wronged spirit, and you shall question it yourself." Where the Celestial Worthy pointed, the queen looked, and saw a yaksha, its face blue as leaves, its eyes like baleful stars. Pointing at the queen, it said: "In my former life, I was assigned by unseen decree to be conceived in your womb, with you as my mother. You yourself were young, and gave me no care or protection at all; you acted just as you pleased, and through this carelessness you killed me in the womb. Now I wish to repay this in kind — but because in your former life you were born and dwelt in the Central Kingdom, where you reverently honored Heaven and Earth and the sun, moon, and stars; served your parents-in-law with diligence; were filial and obedient to your own parents; reverently honored the Three Treasures; held the good and virtuous in the highest regard; made images and copied scriptures without the least stinginess; built shrine halls and raised altars, giving your utmost effort to these deeds; had compassion for the distressed and gave relief to the poor and needy — through this accumulated merit, you have in this present life attained the rank of queen of a small kingdom. Had it not been for this store of blessing, I would have killed you outright; it would have been only a matter of time." The queen cried out; her heart and spirit filled with dread, and trembling, she bowed and knelt before the Way: "In a former life I did indeed do such a thing. Though I know it now, what use is my regret? I humbly beg the Celestial Worthy to show me some means. I will give up all my own wealth as alms; I ask only for release."

The Celestial Worthy said: "Excellent, excellent! Although in your former life you built great merit and widely cultivated fields of blessing, know that you have never yet repented of the grievance-knot within your own body. Long ago I received the Wondrous Scripture of Resolving Grievances of Three Lives from the Celestial Worthy of Orthodox Unity. You should now follow me and recite it with a focused heart, and the grievance-karma will dissolve of itself. Now, a person receives life from Heaven and Earth and is formed through the joining of yin and yang; only after three months does it begin to differentiate into male or female. It may be protected but must not be harmed; it may be nurtured but must not be injured — its life is one body with its mother's, not to be separated. If through carelessness it is lost, this becomes a debt of grievance. In a single day one creates a grievance, and across three lifetimes the debt must be repaid — is this not truly to be feared? Living beings, deluded and unaware, relying on their youthful vigor, at the time of pregnancy take no care to protect themselves at all, but act just as they please — climbing to heights and leaping down, carrying heavy loads and running in haste, or straddling and riding until the body is worn out, or careless in the joining of yin and yang, or struck or leaned against, gripped or pressed, beaten or kneaded, or harmed by taking medicines, or injured by the prick of needles, or eating poisonous fish and noxious meat, or eating hard foods and cold broths. Through such things as these, pregnancy is much harmed. Whether done by oneself, or brought about at another's hand, the causes of such harm cannot be told in full. What was done in a former life is repaid in this present body. This brings it about that pregnancy is beset with much illness, with pain that lingers on without end; appetite diminishes, walking and standing become difficult, the skin swells and breaks, the lower back feels bored through as if by an awl; longing for daybreak, watching through the night, a single day feels as long as a year. Enduring this suffering until the months are complete, when the time of birth approaches many difficulties arise: labor continues for days without delivery, or the child lies crosswise and against its natural course; relatives and in-laws are struck with fear, and the whole household is anxious and alarmed. At just this time the wronged enemy comes to do harm, and the suffering is extraordinary: sometimes the mother lives and the child dies, sometimes the child lives and the mother dies, sometimes both child and mother perish — all becoming spirits of untimely, violent death. If such a spirit manages to be reborn, it undergoes the same again as before; if it has not yet been reborn, it lingers to torment its own kin. But if one encounters this scripture and holds and recites it with single-minded devotion, all such grievance-karma will be entirely dissolved and removed." He then spoke the incantation, saying:

Dawn and dusk, their courses turning,
shining bright through ages past and present.
The ten thousand kinds receive their endowment,
binding together, taking on form.
Grievance-karma wrongly entangles,
invading across three lives.
By the pneuma of Orthodox Unity,
the wronged spirit is dissolved and freed.
Hearing it, they scatter at once;
heeding it, they part and disperse.
Heavenly troops, armored soldiers,
uphold and guard without fail.
Swiftly born, swiftly freed,
each finds peace and rest.
By the talisman-decree of the Primordial Sovereign,
not one moment shall it cease.
Swiftly, swiftly, as the statutes command!

At that time the scripture was recited seven times, and the yaksha, before the throne, bowed in thanks to the Celestial Worthy: "Now, receiving this merit, I shall go directly to the Central Land, to be reborn into a wealthy and noble household." It bowed in thanks and departed. All who heard of this were greatly overjoyed.

The Celestial Worthy said: "This scripture does not resolve the grievance-knot of only a single person. If each of you brings forth a sincere heart and recites the scripture a hundred times, then all the people of the kingdom who carry grievance-knots shall be entirely released." Those in the assembly then spoke with a single voice, reciting it together. When they reached the hundredth recitation, they suddenly saw dark clouds spread out on every side; within the black mist, auspicious vapors hung down from the sky, and beings of many kinds bowed and said: "We have specially received the compassion of Heaven, who has granted us this scripture and its rite; the grievance-knots of the whole kingdom — already born or not yet born, offense light or heavy — are all alike released." In an instant the clouds withdrew and the mist dispersed; the sky grew bright and clear, and the people rejoiced and gave praise and thanks for Heaven's grace. The assembly then said: "Though we have relied upon the power of the Way and been universally delivered, and though we have no grievance before our eyes now, we fear there may be offenses committed at some other time. What merit might we cultivate beforehand, that we might forever escape this suffering?"

The Celestial Worthy said: "Now that I have spoken this Wondrous Scripture of Resolving Grievances of Three Lives — if there be any good man or good woman who each day burns incense and recites this scripture three times, the grievance-knots of their own body shall all be dissolved. If one copies out a single copy with a sincere heart and gives it to another, the whole household and its kin shall share alike in the blessing. If, further, there be one whose unborn child is weak in its vital breath, or who miscarries again and again and is troubled, let them turn to reciting this scripture, and they shall attain peace and stability, and shall surely bear a wise son or daughter. If, in the midst of sleep and dreams, one continually sees a departed child, this is a matter of grievance-karma, still waiting to come again; let one, with a focused heart, burn incense every morning and evening and bow in reverence to this scripture, and the wronged spirit will withdraw of itself, so that there is no cause for fear anywhere. If, further, there be one whose labor is difficult, then, before the dangerous month arrives, let them invite an Orthodox Unity Daoist priest, and, before the sacred images of the Three Purities, burn incense and recite this scripture; then they shall move the good spirits to protect and guard them, so that the birth proceeds according to its proper course, with no calamity of grievance or violent misfortune — mother and child both kept whole and safe, each preserving the years allotted by Heaven. And if, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, one holds and recites this with sincere devotion, then in a future life as a person one shall be wealthy and noble, wise and clever, of upright appearance, with flourishing children and grandchildren, and shall obtain blessings beyond measure." Moved by these causes and conditions, he then composed a gatha, saying:

Living beings tie many grievance-knots;
grievances run deep, hard to untie.
In a single day the knot of grievance forms;
across three lives the debt does not cease.

Now I transmit this wondrous scripture,
to dissolve and remove all grievance-karma.
Hear it recited, listen with a focused heart,
and the wronged enemy will fade of itself.

At that time, when the Celestial Worthy had finished speaking the scripture, the many immortals and great sages came to receive him, that he might journey on to other lands and deliver the multitude of beings there. He spoke once more to the king and queen, saying: "From now on, follow and honor the true Way, and you shall bear a filial and wise son. I now bestow upon you three numinous talismans; write them in cinnabar and swallow them. One talisman protects the body; one talisman wards off the wronged spirit; one talisman hastens a swift birth. You may use these to teach the people of the world to honor and practice this reverently."

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Daoist shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The scripture's narrative frame and teaching-speeches are rendered as prose, following the source's own paragraph divisions exactly; its one incantation and two closing gathas, each in regular four- or five-character lines, are kept as verse, one English line to a line of the Chinese.

Before the claim below was written, a genuine translation-status check was performed: the standard bibliography of Daoist texts in English translation (Komjathy, Daoist Texts in Translation) and a 2023 survey of Daoist texts in Western-language translation were both searched under the scripture's Chinese title, its constituent terms, and its pinyin romanization, and turned up no entry for this text under any of them. Web searches under the Chinese title and under the romanized title returned the Chinese text itself, reproduced on several Chinese Daoist devotional websites, and a bibliographic listing of the scripture within a modern Daozang compilation, but no English-language translation, complete or partial, of the scripture. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Taishang Sansheng Jieyuan Miaojing. We state this as the limit of our knowledge, not as a certainty.

A note on a few choices. The scripture's central wrong appears under two names: yuanjie (冤結), rendered throughout as "grievance-knot," and yuanye (冤業), rendered as "grievance-karma" — the same injury figured first as a knot to be untied, then as a debt to be repaid, matching the scripture's own title, "resolving" (解, to untie) the grievance. The western king's name, Jingfan (淨梵, "Pure Brahma"), is translated rather than left as a bare transliteration, because its echo of a Buddhist birth-narrative — an aged, heirless king; a dream announcing a holy arrival; a royal woman who receives the visitor and is taught in turn — appears to be deliberate, and transliteration would erase that echo for an English reader. Two brief phrases resisted full confidence: one character describing how a fetus's life is bound to its mother's "as a single body," and one describing a mother "enduring" through the final months of pregnancy, are both rendered by contextual sense rather than on certain philological grounds. Both readings stand before the reader in the Chinese text below for their own judgment.

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

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Source Text: 太上三生解冤妙經

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

爾時尋聲救苦天尊，與諸侍從巡遊十方世界，化度眾生，出離苦海，令歸正道，不入邪宗。觀見西方，于內一國，王號淨梵。此國人民多生淫殺，不造善功，多沉地獄，多失人身。念彼眾生，遂即化身下降。其國王夜夢神報，來日天真，自東而至，何不迎之。王心不寐，坐而待旦，詔眾大臣、后妃天親，及諸市民，遠離本所，迎接天尊。至於城西，有一大園，樓閣嚴整，花太繁盛。

是時天尊在七寶殿內金龍座上，天童侍衛，國王大臣、后妃天親，及諸市民，座下圍繞，觀聽演說正一妙法。俄然瑞氣盈園，天花交散，大眾驚異，喜悅難言。時有皇后及諸貴妃，燒香拜禮，跪而告曰：弊居小國，愚魯之邦，未嘗得聞如斯高玄妙道。今日遇值，深為幸矣。有少短意，欲訴道前，伏願洪慈，特賜允許。

天尊曰：汝有何言，盡心而說。後告曰：今王年老，子嗣未立。先有所懷，數月之中，遂致損落。其或月滿，所得男女，或一歲二歲，或三歲，或五歲之間，即便死亡。未知前生今世何罪，致得如是。若蒙哀湣，則仰受訣言。

天尊曰：是汝前生之中，懷孕不慎，殺落其胎。兒女心內憎嫌，故得今身如此之報。恐汝不信，吾今攝此冤魂，汝當親問。天尊指處，皇后視之，見一夜叉，面如葉藍，眼如怪星。指皇后而言：前生之時，我受陰注，投你為母。你身年幼，全無惜護，隨性作為，因此不慎，殺落我身。今欲還報，緣汝前世生居中國，敬奉天地日月星辰，勤侍翁婆，孝順父母，欽崇三寶，至重善人，塑像造經，略無慳惜，蓋殿修壇，竭力施為，憫憐困苦，濟惠貧寒，積此善功，今生證為小國之后，若非此福，我即殺你，料應多日。皇后叫言，心神懼怕，戰戰兢兢，拜跪道前：我有先身，曾作如是，今日雖知，悔之何及。伏望天尊略示方便，捨自己之財，盡為佈施，願求解釋。

天尊曰：善哉善哉．汝雖前生建大功德，廣作福田，即知不曾懺悔身中之冤結。吾昔於正一天尊，受《三生解冤妙經》，汝當隨吾精心誦之，冤業自消。夫人稟天地而生，搆陰陽而成，三月之外，始分男女，可保而不可傷，可養而不可害，命與大人一體無輿。誤損有落，便成冤債。 一日造冤，三世報還，豈不怖哉。迷昧眾生，倚恃年壯，懷孕之時。全無將護，恣意而行，登高跳下，負重急走，或跨騎勞形，或陰陽不慎，或撞或隱，或搦或按，或撲或揉，或服藥而損，或針刺而傷，或食毒魚惡肉，或喫硬物冷漿。如斯等事，姙孕多傷。或是自作，或教他殺害之因，焉能盡說。前生所作，今身還報。致使懷孕多病，疼痛纏綿，飲食減少，行立艱難，皮膚腫破，腰似錐鑽，巴明盻夜，一日如年。受此痛苦，啀至月足，臨產多般，或連日不分，或橫逆不順，親姻恐懼，眷屬憂惶。當此之時，冤家來害，苦痛非常。或母活子死，或子活母死，或子母俱亡，皆為橫夭之魂。若得託生，依前再受，若未託生，纏害親姻。若遇此經，志心持念，一切寃業，盡總消除。即說咒曰：

晨昏運度，耀明古今。萬類受稟，結化成形。冤業誤染，三世相侵。正一之氣，解免冤魂。聞之即散，聽之離分。天丁甲卒，扶護無傾。速生速免，各得安寧。元皇符命，時刻不停。急急如律令。

是時念經七遍，夜叉座前拜謝天尊：我今承斯功德，徑往中土，託生富貴之家。拜謝而去。眾人聞之，皆大歡喜。

天尊曰：此經非獨解一人之冤結。汝等各發誠心，誦經百遍，一國之人，應有冤結，悉皆解脫。于會下言，同聲誦之。至於百遍，驀見陰雲四布，黑霧之中，瑞氣垂空，諸多類拜而言：我等特蒙天慈，降賜經法，一國冤結，已生未生、罪無輕重，咸皆解脫。倏忽之間，雲收霧斂，天氣朗清，人民歡慶，讚謝天恩。眾等告曰：然賴道力，普得濟度，雖無即目之冤，慮有他時所犯。作何預修功德，永離此苦。

天尊曰：吾今說此《三生解冤妙經》，若有善男子善女人，每日燒香誦經三徧，己身冤結，盡皆消滅。如精心抄一本與人，闔家眷屬，同霑福惠。若復有人胎氣怯弱，或數落不安，轉誦此經，即得安穩，必得智慧男女。如睡夢中間，常見亡過兒女，此是冤業，又待重來。精心每日旦暮燒香，拜禮此經，冤魂自退，普無驚怖。若複有人臨產多難，即於難月之前，請正一道士法師，對三清聖像，焚香誦經，遂感善神護佑，誕育順理，則無冤橫之災，子母全安，各保天年之壽。如行住坐臥，精誠持念，後世為人，富貴聰明，形容端正，子孫榮旺，獲福無量。歎斯因緣，而作偈曰：

眾生多結冤，冤深難解結。 一日結成冤，三世報不歇。

我今傳妙經，解除諸冤業。聞誦志心聽，冤家自消減。

是時天尊說經既畢，諸仙大聖來迎天尊，巡遊他方，濟拔群品，再為國王后妃曰：自後依奉正道，即生孝慧之男。吾今付汝靈符三道，朱書吞之。一符保身，一符辟冤魂，一符催速生。汝等可以教世人遵敬奉行。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this text (article 太上三生解冤妙經, revision of 26 May 2020), 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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