Shangqing Taiji Yinzhu Yujing Baojue — A Shangqing Ritual Manual of the Six Dynasties

This is a Daoist ritual manual of unknown authorship, probably composed sometime in the Eastern Jin or Southern Dynasties period (317–589 CE), and reckoned by its own catalogue note among the ancient scriptures of the Lingbao tradition. It survives in one scroll in the Daoist Canon (Zhengtong Daozang), classed there among the Jade Instructions (玉訣) of the Cavern of Mystery (洞玄) division. No firm date or precise place in the canon's numbering could be confirmed for this translation; the honest limit of that search is stated below.

The text calls itself a "hidden commentary" (yinzhu 隱注) — an esoteric gloss transmitted alongside the great scriptures of Highest Clarity, explaining not their doctrine but the rites that must surround them: how a master confers the Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue, the Great Cavern Scripture of Perfection, the Lingbai Cavern of Mystery scripture, and the Celestial Script of the Three Sovereigns; how the reader must clack the teeth, swallow saliva, burn incense, and visualize the body's inner spirits before opening a scripture-case; what pledge-offerings a disciple must bring; and what befalls one who mishandles or leaks a scripture entrusted to secrecy. Prose rubrics, each introduced by the formula "The Hidden Commentary on the Jade Scripture of the Most High says," alternate with short five-character verse charms meant to be intoned aloud during these rites. A second voice, "the Realized Person of the Great Ultimate," then speaks at length on secrecy, fasting, and the karmic destiny that fits a person to receive such teachings, closing with an eight-stanza eulogy of a Wisdom Scripture.

One term is worth flagging for the reader: 三素, here rendered "the Three Primal Essences," names the three-colored radiances or cloud-forms in which the body's inner deities are visualized — a recurring image in the rites this text describes, and one this translation has kept literal rather than smoothing into a single English abstraction.

Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese of the Daoist Canon, which is printed in full below the translation. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Shangqing Taiji Yinzhu Yujing Baojue.

Translation

The Most High is mysterious and subtle, the primordial origin of the Three Caverns. Its utmost, profound words are hidden and hard to hear, standing remote and crowning the darkness, encompassing all the host of beings. Its virtue reaches far, its majesty towers high; where its utmost substance dwells is the gate of all wonders, the ancestor of the divine transcendents — gathered together, it becomes a text. To chant and recite it is to ascend into the void, to drive dragons and ride the clouds; only through faith, only through utter devotion, restraining the passions and making the will single, can this be done.

Therefore the one of true resolve seeks out this scripture from afar, honors and serves the ritual master, bows the head at the hall of virtue, sincerely asks and sincerely inquires, and begs to receive the precious scripture. Without transgression, without doubt, in true faith in the correct Way, the divine transcendents may be hoped for. Expelling the old and taking in the new, drinking down the finest fungus of immortality, calling to himself out of the Void, in time he shall fly as a transcendent. The wheel of the Law fixes his awakening; he penetrates and beholds the Nine Bournes — how remote this marvelous instruction, how could the lesser transcendents know it!

Then the son who studies the Real, if he can meditate alone facing the numinous forms, bringing his feelings into accord with the cinnabar, tempering and testing his thoughts of form, enduring hunger and braving cold, laboring without weariness, taking but one meal at midday; when slander comes he does not grieve, when praise gathers he does not rejoice; he holds his virtue within alone and shows to others an untroubled face; he bathes in the green iris, so that the breath of his embryo suffers no injury; he ascends to the fast and enters the chamber, and burns incense of true sandalwood.

Then he dons cape and cap and headcloth, sets his ritual vestments in order, arranges the rites facing down, submits his life to the Great Real, and bows three times before the scripture. Then he opens the eight-colored treasury and lays out the supreme treasure-store, and takes up and reads the Great Cavern, the Cavern of Mystery, the honored scripture of the Way and its Virtue, the hidden chapters of the Eight Elements, the gold-truth and jade-light scriptures that dissolve demons and scatter the numinous, that summon transcendents and walk the void, the winged scripture of flight — its clear sound resounds through the heavens, and the myriad Real Ones descend to the courtyard.

The Most High orders his carriage yoked; together they ride the cloud-chariot, billowing and dense, joining far off with the dark obscurity. The Three Primal Essences shine together in radiance; on his crown he bears the round brightness; his body is clothed in gauze cape, his belt hung with jade pendants and fire-bells. Solemn and grave, the high Real Ones fly onward on their distant journey; the Jade Flowers support their wings, and together they ascend to Highest Clarity.

It asks not noble or base — this is decided by utmost sincerity alone. The Three Realms offer their gifts, the Demon Kings receive him with reverence; his years are without limit, and who then reckons the age of kalpas? Here he wanders free and at ease, forever holding to what is upright and beneficial.

The Hidden Commentary on the Jade Scripture of the Most High says: The rite for conferring the Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue. The master faces north, the scripture on the table before him; the disciple prostrates to his left. The master holds the scripture; the disciple raises up the pledge-offerings. The master clacks his teeth thirty-six times, mentally fixing on the Three Palaces — the Muddy Pellet, the Elixir Field (dantian), and the Crimson Palace — from which the Three-in-One emerge, a thousand chariots and ten thousand riders, encamping about and guarding master and scripture. Then he intones this charm:

Drifting, drifting over the ridges of the Great Void,
its flowing light abides in the High Mystery.
The scripture begins with no ending kalpa,
forever preserving Heaven, Earth, and Man.
The lord of the age who studies it attains to Yao;
the Daoist priest who chants it attains transcendence.
The worthy now receives it in reverence,
and hands it on according to the rule.
If the age lacks a son of utmost virtue,
guard it in secret; do not proclaim it lightly.
Honor it, and rise to Highest Clarity;
abandon it, and fall to the Nine Springs.
I speak the Way of Non-Action:
clarity and stillness are virtue's own nature.

When this is done, the disciple bows three times and receives the scripture. If the disciple is a woman, she prostrates to the right. This holds the same for every scripture.

The Hidden Commentary says: The rite for conferring the Great Cavern Scripture of Perfection. The master faces north, the scripture upon the table; the master holds the scripture, the disciple raises the pledge-offerings. The master clacks his teeth thirty-six times, fixing his mind upon the Jade Emperor of the Most High, causing the light of sun and moon to shine upon the bodies of master and disciple, and intones:

How distant and remote is the Palace of Grand Subtlety —
the Realized Ones are formed of emptiness and born.
The natural Way of the empty ford
is gathered together as the Great Cavern Scripture.
The true worthy offers the pledge of the rite,
and riding its fortune, passes through the Yellow Court.
The Most High strikes his name from the register of death;
the Arbiter of Fates writes his name among transcendents.
Guard it in secret through the passing years and kalpas;
to leak it in carelessness brings the torments of hell.
Calamity and reckoning will fall upon his seven generations of ancestors,
and the knife of wind will unbind your very form.

When this is done, the disciple bows three times and receives the scripture.

The Hidden Commentary says: The rite for conferring the Cavern of Mystery Scripture of the Numinous Treasure of the Most High. The master faces north, the scripture upon the table; the master holds the scripture, the disciple raises the pledge-offerings. The master clacks his teeth thirty-six times, fixing his mind on the colors of the Five Viscera, causing them all to be complete and to merge into a canopy of precious cloud that spreads and covers master and disciple, and intones:

The celestial writ is simple, without excess;
the Way and its Virtue are of themselves complete.
Cultivate it, and transcendence is certain —
what more could then be desired?
Its patterned radiance fills the Great Void,
blazing forth in mysterious splendor.
Let its transmission wholly follow the rule;
to leak it in carelessness is to fall to hell.

When this is done, the disciple bows three times and receives the scripture. Then he bows once more to each of the Ten Directions, beginning from the north and turning eastward round the circle, visualizing the true forms of the Most High in the Ten Directions as though they stood before him now.

The Hidden Commentary says: The rite for conferring the Celestial Script of the Three Sovereigns of the Most High. The master faces north, the scripture upon the table; the master holds the scripture, the disciple raises the pledge-offerings. The master clacks his teeth twenty-four times, fixing his mind on the Three Palaces, in each a single Realized One in the form of an infant, unclothed, breathing forth from its mouth a purple vapor that fumes about master and disciple, and intones:

The celestial script of the Most High
was handed down from the very beginning of Heaven and Earth.
The Sovereign Man proclaimed its mysterious purport,
and this became the book of utmost truth.
Let the worthy now receive it in reverence,
his will set upon ascending to the Great Void.

When this is done, the disciple bows twice and receives the scripture.

The Hidden Commentary says: In transmitting the scriptures and talismans of the Highest Clarity rank, the master always faces north. For texts of the middle rank — the outer writings of active practice — the master faces east. For the registers of the seed-lineage of transcendents and sages, the one transmitting the scripture faces south. The male disciple prostrates to the left, the female disciple to the right; the pledge-offerings and the sworn oath follow the same rule as for the ritual master.

The Hidden Commentary says: When about to open the case of the Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue, first burn incense, set the ritual vestments in order, and bow as in the opening rite, then intone:

Mysterious, mysterious, the ancestor of the utmost Way —
its highest virtue embodies the vast primordial.
Though the celestial truth is distant and subtle,
it lies close by, bound to the Lord of the Muddy Pellet.
Its palace chambers are all of seven treasures,
its windows opening of themselves.
Through clarity and stillness the real is ever attained;
he drives his cloud-borne carriage upon the purple clouds.
Sun and moon shine upon him left and right,
he ascends as a transcendent, his years made whole.
His seven generations of ancestors are born above in Heaven,
and his house becomes forever a gate of the Way and its Virtue.

Only then may the scripture be read.

The Hidden Commentary says: When about to open the case of the Cavern of Perfection Scripture, first burn incense, set the ritual vestments in order, and bow according to the rule, then intone:

Subtle, subtle, the gate of the mysterious ancestor,
blazing bright, piercing through the empty cavern.
The utmost Way comes through stillness and silence,
and then one beholds the Palace of the Three Primal Essences.
The Great Way is accomplished here;
he yokes his carriage-team and rides cloud-dragons.
Attending the scripture on left and right
are the Jade Maidens and the Jade Boys.
His body crosses the ford of deathlessness,
loosed from its net, following the numinous wind.
His seven generations of ancestors are reborn from the womb,
and his house becomes forever an ancestor of divine transcendents.

The Hidden Commentary says: When about to open the case of the Cavern of Mystery Scripture, first burn incense, set the ritual vestments in order, and bow according to the rule, then intone:

Silent, silent, the ancestor of utmost non-being,
standing empty upon the towering slopes of the kalpas.
Vast and radiant, the text of the Cavern of Mystery —
who can fathom its dark and distant reach?
Once entered upon the path of the Great Vehicle,
who then reckons the passing of years and kalpas?
Neither born nor dying,
should he wish to be born, it is through the lotus flower.
He transcends and rises beyond the roads of the Three Realms,
and with a compassionate heart unbinds the net of the world.
The Realized One's virtue is beyond compare,
and generation after generation his house belongs to the transcendents.

The Hidden Commentary says: When about to open the case of the Celestial Script of the Three Sovereigns, first burn incense, set the ritual vestments in order, and bow according to the rule as above, then intone:

The Most High fixes the numinous talisman,
inscribing the wisdom of Heaven and Earth into its command.
On hearing its name, no chariot need be awaited —
the ten thousand transcendents gather in an instant.
It summons the spirits, be they great or small —
how then could the impure and unclean resist it?
In pure fasting, cut off from human affairs,
one stands remote, face to face with the spirits,
and ascends above to the Palace of Jade Clarity,
to wander and feast beyond the nine far bournes.

The Hidden Commentary says: When about to read the Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue, clack the teeth thirty-six times and swallow the saliva thirty-six times. First fix the mind on the Azure Dragon to the left, the White Tiger to the right, the Vermilion Bird in front, and the Dark Warrior behind; beneath the feet the Eight Trigrams, and thirty-six numinous tortoises; a lion crouching in front; on the head a kerchief of the Seven Stars; the Five Viscera giving forth the Five Vapors, their patterned gauze covering the body. The Three-in-One attend the scripture, each followed by a thousand chariots and ten thousand riders; Heaven and Earth each provide eighteen thousand Jade Maidens and Jade Boys to guard it.

The Hidden Commentary says: When about to read the Cavern of Perfection Scripture, clack the teeth thirty-six times and swallow the saliva thirty-six times. First visualize the Whirling Wind merging together with the Sovereign of the One Hundred Spirits and the Myriad Realized Ones, and only then chant the Cavern Scripture.

The Hidden Commentary says: When reading the Cavern of Mystery Scripture, clack the Vast-and-Radiant tooth and the One tooth thirty-six times, swallow the saliva thirty-six times, visualize the five-colored vapors of the Five Viscera rising up to pour into the essence of the Five Stars, and then read the scripture.

The Hidden Commentary says: When chanting the Scripture of Walking in the Void of the Cavern of Mystery of the Most High, first clack the teeth three times and swallow the saliva three times. Fix the mind on the sun and moon before one's own face, entering through the nostrils into the Palace of Golden Flower within the Cavern Chamber; their brightness issues out from behind the neck, blazing forth into a round nine-colored image, pressing into the Jade Pillow and shining through to the Ten Directions, following me as I journey the scripture's distances, circling and turning as I go. The sun enters through the left nostril, the moon through the right. When this is done, clack the teeth again as at the start.

The Hidden Commentary says: When about to read a scripture of ascension to transcendence, first clack the teeth twelve times and swallow the saliva twelve times; chant one section, then clack the teeth again — three rounds in all. Each scripture-roll has its own particular rite; where none is recorded, this instruction may be followed.

The Hidden Commentary says: If a scripture of the Way is not received from a master, then the spirits will not act on its behalf. If the age has no ritual master, and no one to transmit the register, one should present the pledge-offerings at a Quiet Chamber of the parish, or else, in a secret chamber, invoke the Mysterious Master Lord Lao, bowing three times facing north; and afterward give alms to the hungry and needy, with a mind of perfect equality, before using the scripture. If a master is present in the age, this rule need not be followed.

The Hidden Commentary says: When turning through the scripture, sit upon a small couch five feet high, equal in breadth and length; wear only the kerchief and cape — there is no need to wear the coarse Daoist robe. The Realized Ones of the Most High, when reading the scripture, wear ceremonial vestments: a brocade cape of scattered gauze and nine lights, a kerchief of crimson gauze set with precious brightness, and on the feet, sandals patterned with lions. Daoists today who read the scripture, laboring hard at the ritual observances, wear coarser capes and vestments; but on the day they attain the Way, the Celestial Emperor will confer on them the scattered-gauze cape of nine lights, and the tasseled, celestial-treasure vestments of the flying transcendents, in recompense for their former virtue. Let the aspirant not covet the cap and cornet of the world, casting off the plain vestments of a Daoist. Though worldly dress brings honor before the eyes, it does not escape death; the Daoist in coarse robe and ritual vestments ascends as a transcendent and is clothed instead in celestial garments. Once celestial garments are worn upon the body, they enable a person to fly as a transcendent, riding upon the Void.

The Hidden Commentary says: The manner of reading the scripture should follow the tones of the central Xia lands — this is the correct sound of the Nine Heavens. The Sixty-Fourth Great Brahma Eulogy Scripture, in the sounds set for its chanting, is likewise the correct sound. The sound in which the scripture is read should follow this correct sound. The Transcendent Duke said: When Laozi journeyed west to convert the barbarians, and taught the foreign lands to read the scriptures, he mostly used the sounds of Great Brahma Heaven — this only suited what those Daoists of that region favored.

The Hidden Commentary says: For every five hundred words of the scripture read, clack the teeth three times, run the tongue along the upper and lower lips, and swallow the saliva three times; this keeps a person from exhaustion, and over time the voice grows clear. Not knowing this method injures the vital breath and wearies the spirit. The Realized One said: Boil bamboo leaves down into a strong drink, and take it while reading the scripture and visualizing; it benefits the essence, penetrates the spirit, and sets the harmonious breath flowing.

The Hidden Commentary says: The Nine Great Hidden Talismans of the Most High — swallow them down with water at true noon, and after a thousand days one may pass in and out without hindrance, hidden or revealed at will, and become a transcendent. Wear the Five Talismans of the Numinous Treasure upon the body, and one rides dragons and drives the vapors, passing through water and fire; the Five Emperors will support one's flight, and one may journey far and soar high — this too makes a transcendent. When wearing the True Forms of the Five Sacred Peaks, or the Great Talismans of the Three Caverns, one must not go near the bedchamber or engage in impure union — to do so is death without doubt, and transcendence is lost forever. How can one not take care!

The Hidden Commentary says: When the Daoist enters the chamber to fast, and reads the Jade Stanzas of Walking in the Void of the Most High, and the Winged Writ of Flight, he becomes able to gallop upon nine dragons, and the cloud-chariot comes to receive him — these two matters should be kept secret.

The Hidden Commentary says: Read the Five Thousand Words ten thousand times without ceasing, and the Most High will send down cloud-dragons to receive you. If, the ten thousand readings complete, one has not yet departed, read it three times a month thereafter, and await the coming of the cloud-chariot — then one ascends as a transcendent.

The Hidden Commentary says: Read constantly the Scripture of the Yellow Court's Inner Vista, and one does not die. Constantly ingest the primordial vapor — this too is the Way of deathlessness.

The Hidden Commentary says: Constantly visualize the head as upright and blue-green as jasper, the two hands as red as cinnabar, and the two feet as white as snow. With this concentrated visualization, read the scripture and carry out its wondrous practices, and one draws near to transcendence. Clack the teeth constantly, twelve times; through the twelve double-hours of day and night, clack once each hour — this too keeps the body from death, and the spirits will forever attend and guard it.

The Hidden Commentary says: The clacking of teeth is also called the Heavenly Drum; it summons the body's spirits, calls down the celestial Real Ones, and assembles the host of transcendents. Clacking the left teeth together is called Ringing the Heavenly Bell; clacking the right teeth together is called Striking the Heavenly Chime. When a Daoist fears the approach of demons or brigands, let him ring the bell and strike the chime, twenty-four rounds each, and the goblins and specters will not dare draw near; the celestial demon-guardians will protect his body, and a hundred blessings will arrive together.

The Hidden Commentary says: Laozi's Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue speaks of that which is looked at and not seen, called yi; that which is listened for and not heard, called xi; that which is grasped at and not caught, called wei — these are the very titles and ranks of the Three Primordial Lord Laos. It further says: these three cannot be told apart, and so are merged into one — this is the Three Primal Essences joined as the Lord of Primordial Unity, the mysterious father and primal mother who is honored as the embryo's ancestor. Read this scripture, and the Three Lord Laos will show themselves to you; when you behold them, the transcendent Way is accomplished. The Way is exhausted in this — the writing cannot exhaust the words, and the words cannot exhaust the meaning. Of all things profound in principle, none surpasses this text; one who has penetrated it is said to have seen it, though none can fully know it.

The Hidden Commentary says: Kunlun, Penglai, Zhongshan, Songgao, and Wangwu — the scriptures of Highest Clarity are also fully found upon these mountains.

The Hidden Commentary says: Bordering the land of Nalayi is the Mountain of Human-Birds of Kunlun, a separate seat of governance of the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning: its palace chambers are of seven treasures, and its high towers rise above heaven. When the Queen Mother of the West first studied the Way, she too ascended this mountain. Upon it are gathered in full the scriptures of the Three Caverns, written out in the empty vault — each single character a full zhang in size. The True-Form Chart of this mountain is of the utmost weight; to wear it upon the body is at once to attain the mysterious truth of the Three Caverns. Even the hundred beasts of that mountain can fly and do not die — how much more, then, a man! All manner of marvelous things spring forth there. When the assembled sages of that mountain chant the scriptures, all use the sounds set by Great Brahma Heaven — neither mournful nor grieving, neither hurried nor slow, vast and elegant, essential and wondrous; those who hear it are dissolved into ease. The transcendents on Mount Kunlun mostly render it in the manner of the central Xia lands; the chanting of the Nine Heavens is desolate and far-carrying, its clear tones cold and bright — those who hear it are cut off beyond the heavens, and made to forget all feeling. When the host of transcendents gather, chanting the Cavern of Mystery together in unison, their fresh sounds strike out resounding, subtle and far-heard, spreading their patterned brilliance through the empty cavern, the strings of the void ringing out — and the Palace of Jade Clarity itself is moved to delight. This is why the reading of scripture is what the high Real Ones hold most dear. The Inscription of the High Tower says: "You wish to ride the empty air and mount the void — then chant my writ of Walking the Mystery on Winged Feet." The host of transcendents do not understand these words. Walking-the-Mystery and the Winged Scripture — these two writings, like the Mysterious Scripture of the Most High, are not transmitted even to the lesser transcendents.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: The Scripture of Walking in the Void is the chant of Walking the Mystery used in the fasts of the Numinous Treasure. The Winged Scripture is the hymnody of the Cavern of Perfection.

The Hidden Commentary says: A person who studies the Way while dwelling at home should receive the Five Thousand Words. On the new and full moons, on one's natal-star day, on the Eight Nodal days, at midday and at midnight, chant it once each time. If the aspirant cannot read it himself, let him request the master to read it for him; the aspirant should personally tend the incense fire, listen with a single mind to receive the scripture's purport, and set his will to carry out its wondrous practices. On the day his form is entrusted to the Great Yin, the Celestial Emperor's cloud-chariot will receive the person's bodily spirit, and it will not pass through the trials and punishments of the Three Officials of Mount Tai's hells. Above, he is born before the Celestial Emperor in Heaven's hall; below, he is born into a house of lords and kings among men. His features are complete and fine, his numinous countenance radiant — those who behold him are gladdened at heart, and merely to see and hear of him turns a woman into a man, binds the karmic bond to Highest Clarity, and the transcendent Way fulfills itself. This scripture is transmitted to all the host of beings, whether great or small; whatever is sought through it meets with no hindrance — sending off the dead and nourishing the living, there is nothing to which it is not fitting. It is also able to bring peace to the state and rest to the people, and to subdue the borderland tribes — there is none who does not follow the Way through it. How wondrous is this scripture! Nothing surpasses it.

The Hidden Commentary says: Though a student of the Way may cultivate good conduct, he may yet be caught up in the karmic reckoning of a former life, and be beset time and again by illness, calamity, and misfortune, and grow weary and worn. In such a case the Daoist ritual master should keep a fast on his behalf, and turn through the Five Thousand Words and the Scripture of the Cavern of Golden Truth and Jade Clarity Wisdom That Dissolves Demons, so that the numinous powers of the middle rank encamp about and guard the sick person — this is what is called being rescued at the very extremity of distress. For rescuing every urgent need, there is no wheel of the Law that surpasses this one.

The Hidden Commentary says: One who receives the scriptures of the Three Caverns should cut off human affairs in order to carry it out. Taken together, the Three Caverns are called the Cavern of Oneness of the Most High, the exalted scripture above all others. Should this teaching be carelessly received by three separate persons, then transcendence cannot be attained. Take care of this, take great care.

The Hidden Commentary says: In receiving the scripture, every character must be collated three times against the exemplar. To err in one character diminishes one's life by a year; beyond this the reckoning is added accordingly — to add or omit even one character likewise forfeits a year of life. If one wantonly damages the scripture-book, in a later life one will suffer the trial of the knife of wind that dissolves the form. To receive the scripture without honoring the master brings no blessing even from its cultivation, and in a later life one is born among the crippled and diseased, or among the six domestic beasts. Of all evils under Heaven, none exceeds hidden treachery; if one carries out the Way while harboring it, one will surely be tried within this very life — deaf in the ears, blind in the eyes, the heart and nose stopped and troubled, the stomach's fluids blocked, the body breeding worms and sickness, and at death falling into hell, passing through every torment — mountains of knives, forests of swords, boiling in cauldrons, swallowing fire, every orifice festering and rotting, seeking death and unable to find it — until at last one is born among pigs and dogs, and there butchered and cut apart. These are called the Three Evil Fates.

The Hidden Commentary says: For conferring scriptures of the middle rank and below, face east and clack the teeth twelve times, intoning:

Solemn, solemn, the virtue of the high Real Ones —
its traces vanish, resting in the leisure of the Void.
Its radiant light ascends to Grand Simplicity,
coming and going with no bridge or ford needed.
Where there is heart, response comes of itself;
without single devotion to the Way, the bond grows faint.
Turning and returning, it is handed on from one to another,
binding a karmic tie within the unseen.
Master and disciple, though wearing no mourning garment, become as kin.
In upholding the scripture and practicing every good deed,
be ever as one who stands at the brink of a deep abyss.
Outwardly it rescues from calamity and sickness;
inwardly it guards and delivers the body.

When this is done, bow and receive the transmitted scripture. The proper transmission of the transcendents likewise employs this charm.

The Hidden Commentary says: The Great Cavern Scripture of Perfection is also called the Scripture of the Way of Grand Perfection, or the Highest-Rank Inner Scripture of Beholding Heaven of the Supreme Way of Great Clarity — in ten scrolls altogether. The Scripture of the Golden Elixir of Highest Clarity is in seven scrolls. Its exalted, wondrous Great Cavern Scripture of Perfection of the Great Elixir and Wisdom That Dissolves Demons has thirty-nine chapters.

The Hidden Commentary says: The high purport of Highest Clarity, the subtle words of utmost perfection, is the wondrous scripture of the flying transcendents. The Scripture of the Numinous Treasure — also called the Cavern of Mystery, or the Scripture of the Most High's Ascent to the Mystery — is, in every case, of the highest rank among high transcendents, the utmost truth of the void and non-being, the hidden treasure of the Great Way. The Celestial Script of the Three Sovereigns — also called the Cavern of Spirit, or the Cavern of Transcendents, or the Jade Tablets of the Most High — these three, the scriptures and talismans of the Three Caverns, are the guiding thread of the Way, the mysterious ancestor of the Great Void, and the foremost scripture of the high Real Ones. How could the lesser transcendents ever hear of them!

The Hidden Commentary says: This Precious Instruction is the ancestor of all scriptures. The Most High commands that it be transmitted to the transcendent dukes, transcendent kings, transcendent earls, and transcendent ministers of the Great Ultimate. Until one has attained that office, it is not transmitted to him. Any Daoist who has seen this book is bound to become a transcendent duke; his name of old destiny in the mysterious register will thereby be fixed. In transmitting it, the pledge-offerings are five ounces of gold, ninety feet of white silk, and three hundred sheets of scripture-paper of proper length, presented to the master of the Way. Only then, once the aspirant's sincere devotion to seeking the Way is known to be complete, can this Precious Instruction be declared to him. Master and disciple first keep a pure fast facing one another for nine days — or seven, five, or three days — and when the fast is complete, the scripture is received at midday. When the scripture is to be transmitted, the master faces north within the quiet chamber; with his left hand he takes up the scripture and holds it, and the disciple with his right hand raises it up to receive it, swearing the pledge of the Way not to leak it carelessly among the vulgar. He recites the written vow: calling the seven generations of ancestors to witness, that he will uphold a heart of humaneness, filial devotion, and great compassion, wishing only to fly as a transcendent and ascend into the Void, that his seven generations of ancestors may be freed from bitter suffering and together be born into Heaven. When the master has finished reading the vow, he intones aloud to the disciple:

The Great Simplicity is originally without substance,
and sage after sage has called it the Mystery.
The Two Forms move from beginning to end through it,
the utmost depth of the myriad things.
The Way's transformation spans a hundred million kalpas,
its turning cycle round as a circle.
The profound principle returns to unforgetting,
and dark meditation answers the karma of former lives.
Great awakening, the wisdom beyond compare —
nothing surpasses this wheel of the Law.
Devote your will to the Way, present the pledge of the rite;
when sincerity is complete, the master shall proclaim it.
If the age lacks a worthy and accomplished one,
seal it away upon a famous mountain;
to hand it on lightly, in careless compliance,
is to clasp a stone and sink into the Nine Springs.
The aspirant becomes a Duke of the Great Ultimate,
by command of the High Honored One, who bids me transmit it;
the Three Realms shall report and open the way,
and the Mysterious Capital shall hear of it at once.

When this is done, the disciple bows six times and takes up the scripture with both hands. Having received this ritual object, the master should undertake the scripture's rites of fasting and discipline, and give alms to the poor and distressed of the world with a mind of perfect equality, allowing no partiality. This scripture is ever attended by thirty Jade Maidens and thirty Jade Boys, who besides also observe the Daoist's conduct and virtue, and report it to the Most High. How can one not take care of this, how can one not take great care! When the scripture is conferred, fix the mind on the Three Primal Lords dwelling in the Palace of the Muddy Pellet. The master clacks his teeth thirty-six times, and only then intones the charm.

Here the Hidden Commentary on the scripture of the Way comes to an end.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: The various Realized Ones have always, according to what each cultivated, received its oral instructions separately — not all received at once. This is why each transcendent has his own portion of this transmission. When it is transmitted in part, the pledge-offering is one ounce of gold and one hundred sheets of paper, with no need for plain silk; the visualization and the charm follow the rule given above.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: The Transmission of the Fundamental Work of Transcendents is called the Scripture of the Traces of the Way. In every case it should be received from a master, facing west, using the pledge-offerings and oath common to all scriptures, with ten feet of crimson silk, to make manifest the utmost sincerity. In the near scriptures of the higher transcendents, visualize ten Jade Maidens and ten Jade Boys; for the middle transcendents, five; for the lower transcendents, three — they constantly attend and transmit it, burning incense to protect and shelter the body of the disciple who receives and reads it, and to guard his household. He should ever hold to loyalty and filial devotion, honor and revere his master and father, practice the Four Equal Minds, endure insult while advancing in diligence, give charity while tolerating wrong done to him, not contend over empty and false things, and keep his intent fixed on his resolve, ever mindful of the Way and constant in his vow — soaring on wings above to Great Clarity, flying up to the mystery on high, being led forward by the high transcendents: this is the essential ford of studying the Way. If one is able to receive the words of the Hidden Commentary of the Most High, and practice the Great Cavern Scripture, he is then called a Great Ritual Master of the Most High. When one has already received the scriptures of the Three Caverns, he is called the Great Ritual Master of the Mysterious Scripture of the Most High, and a ritual master may then in turn transmit the Scripture of the Traces of the Way to others among the transcendents. If a person does not receive this Scripture of the Traces of the Way from a master, the Jade Maidens will not consent to protect him, and his practice of the Way brings no benefit to his body. When beset by illness or by demonic apparitions, he may fast and chant the Scripture of the Traces of the Way in a quiet place, and the hundred ghosts and goblins and every calamity will scatter and vanish at the very sound of it. The Jade Maidens and Jade Boys will sing its praise, its sound heard through the Nine Mysteries, and the transcendents will rejoice, coming to rescue and deliver the aspirant.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: Since the beginning of the kalpa, Chi Songzi, Wang Qiao, Xianmen, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, and Master Yin all received the secret instructions of the Hidden Commentary on the Five Thousand Words, and diligently practiced the Great Way, becoming elders among the Realized Ones above — this is truly the wondrous essence of the Commentary. In due course, down to the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, who delighted in the Way and its Virtue with utmost sincerity and emptiness of heart, a Realized One of the Most High descended to the riverside to instruct Emperor Wen. The Realized One at that time was chanting the scripture to himself; the emperor, not yet having penetrated the deep and subtle principles of the Way's meaning, yet with his heart thirsting for it, heard that there was an extraordinary man there and hastened eagerly to him — driving there in person, he bowed his head, inquired courteously after his conduct, and asked to receive the truth of the Way. The Realized One composed for him chapters and verses, briefly opening one corner of the truth, so as to unravel what had held him back. Now the profundity of this scripture is difficult indeed to fathom, and so it is said that it cannot be reached by thought or discussion. Yet it was enough to let Emperor Wen entrust himself to the carved heights of the dark heavens, hold fast his radiance and ride the clouds, loose the reins of his flying dragon, and ascend directly to the Palace of Golden Flower in the celestial hall, taking his place among the celestial beings in their lectures and recitations — this too belongs to a secondary rank of the transcendent Way, yet how joyous it is! Emperor Wen, by practicing the Scripture of the Way and its Virtue, attained to this towering height. Emperor Wu merely labored hard after divine transcendence, but being of a stubborn and unyielding nature, he too attained only a place among the lesser ranks of celestial beings. In studying the Way, gentleness and faith are the very root. To read but a single chapter of the Realized One of the Riverside is to reach through to the Jade Capital of the Most High: the transcendents of every heaven fold their hands and proclaim it good, and its sound is carried through the Three Realms; the Demon Kings bow in reverence within their halls, and the officers of Fengdu hold it in respect, bowing their heads before the ritual master. The Realized One of the Riverside is thus the ritual master of the Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue, and this is why its chapters and verses are held in such honor. The secret Way of cultivating the body must not be shown to the vulgar; the vulgar constantly mock this scripture as empty and false, saying it cannot bring one to transcendence and deliverance from the world — but this is each a matter of former karmic destiny, and cannot be forced by instruction. Where the teaching does not take hold, both sides incur blame; and so it should be kept deep and secret.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: When performing obeisance to this scripture, fix the mind on the Most High Lord Lao and bow three times; next recall Master Yin and the Realized One of the Riverside as the Ritual Masters of the Mysterious Center, and bow three times more, all facing the scripture. Thirty-six thousand transcendent boys and jade maidens constantly attend the scripture, burning incense and scattering flowers, communicating with the host of transcendents, petitioning on the aspirant's behalf for the mandate of deathlessness, and seeking the Way of ascending to Heaven in broad daylight.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: When the Daoist is about to make the golden elixir, let him chant this scripture through one day and one night; the Great One will be delighted, and will come down to the aspirant's chamber, warding off demonic trials and inauspicious changes — whatever is then undertaken will surely succeed.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: In studying the Way, fasting and discipline are the very root. Chanting the scripture requires a fast; collating the scripture requires a fast; copying the scripture requires a fast; writing talismans requires a fast; compounding medicines requires a fast; making the golden elixir requires a fast; concentrated visualization requires a fast; visiting the master to ask questions requires a fast; performing obeisance requires a fast; receiving the scripture requires a fast; rescuing from illness and dispelling calamity requires a fast; and calling down the Realized Ones requires a fast. The fast is what the Most High honors and respects, what Lord Lao tends and protects, and what all the sages rely upon. The rites of fasting are very many; it is for the aspirant to choose and receive them according to his cultivation.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: Long ago, when I studied the Way, I heard this teaching from a Realized One of the Most High, and I upheld and practiced it; now I hand it on to you in turn. Keep it in secret and cultivate it; teach it in secret to a person of later generations who bears the destined karma and is fit to become a high transcendent — will you do this?

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: When a person is born at the gate of transcendent sages, and delights in the Way and takes joy in its scriptures, gentle in nature and compassionate at heart — all this is because a vow of former karmic destiny has come to meeting in this present day. Such a one draws near to transcendence, and should apply himself diligently to the ritual observances — will he not surely become a high transcendent?

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: When a person bears the auspicious marks of a transcendent-to-be, the essential thing lies in meeting all things with a compassionate heart, so as to support and complete those marks — only then is transcendence attained. If one cannot bear with his own nature and tolerate wrong done to him, the auspicious marks of transcendence are spoiled. These words are true. Take care of them, reflect upon them, uphold them — the teaching reaches its utmost here.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: I possess the Hidden Instruction of the Yellow Simplicity of the Nine Heavens, which I transmit to others. It is also called the Ritual Deportment of the Cavern of Perfection, or the Hidden Instruction of the Most High on the Fundamental Bond of the Wheel of the Law, or the Inner Teaching of Jade Clarity of the Most High, or the Scripture of the Ritual Deportment of the Three Caverns of the Most High, or the Hidden Commentary Instruction on the Jade Scripture of the Great Ultimate of the Most High. It is transmitted to those whose former destiny fits them to become transcendent dukes, transcendent kings, transcendent earls, or transcendent ministers of the Jade Capital, the Mysterious Metropolis, the Great Nothing, the Great Ultimate of the Most High. It is not told to Daoists newly beginning their study. If in the age there be one who meets the master of this scripture, it is because his name in gold is already inscribed upon the tablets of the Mysterious Metropolis.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: In upholding this high scripture, should not the Daoist make his heart and mouth answer to one another? He should look on others as himself, honor his master as his own father, long for the scripture as one thirsts, be mindful of rescuing others from distress and hardship, admonish and encourage others toward good, be gentle and tolerant of wrong done to him, love those who possess the Way, keep his fondness for far mountains and waters, constantly practice a compassionate heart, and conduct himself with humaneness and love. If a Daoist, though placed in honor, is not proud; if, faced with the shocks of illness and hardship, he holds his resolve unmoved — such a one may be spoken to of the Way, and it is right to tell him of the Hidden Commentary. But if one merely adorns himself for appearance while his heart and mouth pursue different ends, the Precious Instruction must be kept secret from him and hidden forever. Three years after receiving the scripture, a person's conduct may be observed, and the truth of him known for certain. This is why this scripture may be kept secret even from high transcendents, and the middle transcendents rarely see it. If a student's merit from former lives is insufficient to sustain the Great Law, his name will not be entered on the tablets of the Jade Capital of the Mysterious Metropolis of the Most High, and in the end he will never meet the master of this scripture. If the instruction, once received, is carelessly shown to even one person, transcendence cannot be attained; at death one becomes a lesser ghost, suffering bitterly in the hells of the Three Officials, and in a later life is born among the six kinds of affliction, turning through the wheel to receive his due retribution — the offense is of the utmost gravity. This is why it is kept secret, and is called the Hidden Commentary.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: When a person keeps a pure fast in long stillness, concentrates his thoughts and delights in the mystery, chants the scripture and repents his transgressions, burns incense and performs obeisance — he shall come to see the flying celestial beings, and the transcendent boys and jade maidens will descend into his chamber. Sometimes a voice within the chamber will be heard proclaiming his goodness; sometimes a radiant light will shine upon his body; sometimes the ringing of gold and jade, or the sound of the eight instruments, will be heard — all these signs mean that his attainment of the Way is about to be completed. Strive at it, strive at it — the Most High will not fail the aspirant. The trouble lies only in the aspirant's own lack of steadfastness, in not carrying the scripture through to its utmost — this alone is what makes the transcendent Way difficult. Hold these words always in mind.

The Realized Person of the Great Ultimate said: Long ago, when I first attained transcendence, I received the Great Wisdom Scripture of the Great Lord of the Way of the Most High, and recited it seven times over, clacking the teeth three times, swallowing the saliva three times, and visualizing the Lords of the Three Primal Essences in the Palace of Golden Flower, in the form of infants, as I chanted this text. The original Wisdom Scripture has thirty-one thousand words; the high sages excerpted and proclaimed this chapter of it, fit for one who is to become a Daoist and Transcendent Duke of the Jade Capital of the Great Ultimate of the Most High. Now I shall tell it to you — would you not wish to hear it?

Eulogy of the Wisdom Scripture of the Most High

The Most High is the mysterious, empty ancestor;
broaden the Way, and honor its scripture.
In the space of a single glance, transcendence is already attained,
and one's years pass numberless through the kalpas.
Towering, towering, the virtue of the Great Real;
silent, silent, its ground in non-birth.
The radiance of the empyrean forms a structure of emptiness,
and one journeys upon the void, of itself and freely.
Sun and moon shine forth in blazing brightness,
in peace and harmony, joy without end.

He who studies transcendence cuts off flowery thoughts,
for thought upon thought builds up and accumulates.
Coming and going, they disturb my spirit;
once the spirit is agitated, there is nothing it does not pass through.
Extinguish thought, rest in the leisure of the void,
and desolate, desolate, enter empty stillness.
Seek the scripture as though hungry and thirsty,
hold fast your resolve like metal and stone.
This shall preserve you upon the mysterious road of flight,
and the Five Numinous Powers will ferry you across on the talisman-register.

I am ferried across by the Six Perfections of practice,
and so I am able to loose the Three Nets.
In pure fasting I perform obeisance to the Grand Simplicity,
breathing out and in, I nourish the cloud-tooth.
Free and at ease within the Golden Watchtower,
the Jade Capital becomes my home.
There of themselves the Seven Treasures spring forth,
and every person sits upon a lotus flower.
Looking up, I chew the apples of the Mysterious Metropolis;
looking down, I hold the melons of the empty cavern in my mouth.
My countenance shines brighter than ten suns —
what then does it matter how many years and kalpas pass?
The drum of the Law calls together the celestial transcendents,
and the ringing bell summons the Great Demon.

The numinous wind fans the fragrant blossoms,
brilliant and radiant, they open their manifold folds.
The Great Real strokes the cloud-chimes,
and the host of transcendents pluck their numinous lutes.
Elegant songs rise above the Three Heavens,
scattering wisdom through the forest of Jade Flowers.
The seven generations of ancestors ascend to the hall of blessing,
by way of these sounds of walking the mystery.
If merit from a former life is insufficient,
this scripture remains distant and hard to find.
If faith in the Way is not carried through to the end,
he who seeks to fly may fall and sink instead.
The Way of the Most High is Non-Action —
its spreading depends upon the aspirant's own heart.

Study of the Way proceeds from sincere faith,
serve your master as your closest kin.
Restrain your radiance, keep company with clarity and emptiness,
striving diligently, renewed with each passing day.
While the multitude have not yet crossed over,
I will not, in the end, cross over alone.
Great vows bring weighty recompense,
and mysterious virtue is surely to be trusted.
Hidden evil brings the deepest guilt,
and its retribution comes round like a turning wheel.

Studying the Way is bitter work indeed,
morning and evening building the field of blessing.
Planting virtue is like planting a tree —
the deeper the roots, the more abundant the fruit.
If you can delight in and honor the mystery,
you shall rise drifting to the clear Heaven.
Cultivate this Way of Non-Action,
and bind your karmic ties to the good.
The Most High has spread the utmost Way,
and inscribed its name as the Chapter of Wisdom.
To draw others out of suffering requires great capacity,
to transcend the vulgar world is to attain the real.
A numinous bearing is marvelous to the world,
radiant as a lotus rising from a deep pool.

Every person's conduct has its own root,
each depending on the merit of a former life.
In establishing virtue, strive to seize the moment;
once a vow is made, follow it without fail.
Good and evil each await their recompense,
and the principle of fortune hidden within misfortune is beyond fathoming.
The worthy scholar upholds the words of the Law,
and in the Way and its Virtue holds both together, forgetting all else.
To understand this is the Great Wisdom,
and one rises to become a Duke of the Great Ultimate.
The Precious Canopy joins the Jade Carriage,
the command is given, and nine dragons are yoked to drive it.
Golden Flowers hold up the Cavern Scripture,
and transcendent boys, every one, bear the incense.
His whistling song resounds through the Mysterious Metropolis,
ringing jade and striking the carnelian bell.

With body poised, he mounts above Highest Clarity,
his radiance transcending, at ease in the purple empyrean.
Holding fast to nothing, upholding the guiding thread of the Law,
he wanders the mystery in utmost freedom and ease.
Ten thousand kalpas pass as but a single night,
a thousand springs as but a single morning.
Towering, towering, shaded by cloud-flowers,
his hand holds a branch of the precious grove.
Fragrant incense rises up of itself,
and from the mysterious stair a whirlwind ascends.
The numinous banners scatter, borne on the following wind,
and every crowding thought dissolves in its own time.
Extinguishing wisdom, he embraces the Great Chaos,
and Non-Action becomes his clear and simple song.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Shangqing Scriptures shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The text's continuous prose — the recurring rubrics each introduced by the formula "the Hidden Commentary on the Jade Scripture of the Most High says," and the later sayings of "the Realized Person of the Great Ultimate" — is kept as prose paragraphs in the order of the source; the many short five-character verse charms embedded within those rubrics are kept as verse, line for line; and the one place where the source names a distinct hymn, the closing "Eulogy of the Wisdom Scripture of the Most High" with its eight five-character stanzas, is reproduced as a heading. The bibliographic headnote at the head of the source text (title variants, unknown authorship, approximate date, one scroll) is apparatus rather than scripture; it was used only to inform the reader introduction above and was not translated into the body.

Before the claim below was written, a bounded translation-status check was performed. The two local reference bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western translation — Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 Purple Cloud update of the same — were searched under the Chinese title, its pinyin, and its short name (太極隱注); neither contains an entry for this text. Two web searches were then run, for the Chinese title and for its pinyin romanization together with "translation." These turned up the Chinese-language text on ctext.org and Baidu Baike, a Taiwanese canon-catalogue page confirming the text's place among the Jade Instructions (玉訣) of the Cavern of Mystery (洞玄) division of the Zhengtong Daozang, and a 2025 academic article (in the journal Religions) examining this scripture's role in the early formation of "Three Caverns" doctrine — a scholarly study of the text, not a translation of it, and it neither offers nor cites a complete English rendering. No published English translation of this scripture, complete or partial, was found. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Shangqing Taiji Yinzhu Yujing Baojue. We state this as the limit of our knowledge, not as a certainty.

A note on a few terms and passages. 太極真人 is rendered throughout as "the Realized Person of the Great Ultimate"; 三素 as "the Three Primal Essences"; 泥丸 as "the Muddy Pellet" and 丹田 as "the Elixir Field," following the house glossary. Two ritual instructions resisted full confidence: the phrase 叩豁落、一齒 (concerning a named manner of tooth-clacking) was rendered literally as "clack the Vast-and-Radiant tooth and the One tooth," since no more specific technical sense could be confirmed; and 六度 in the closing eulogy, though it borrows the Buddhist term for the Six Perfections, is used here in a general devotional sense rather than a doctrinal one. No character in the source was found illegible or unencodable.

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

🌲

Source Text: 上清太極隱注玉經寶訣

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

上清太極隱注玉經寶訣

經名：上清太極隱注玉經寶訣。又名《太上玉經太極隱注寶經訣》。簡稱《太極隱注》。撰人不詳，約出於東晉南朝。係古《靈寶經》之一。一卷。

夫太上玄微，三洞初元。至賾之辭，幽而難聞，落落冥冠，包匝羣品。迢迢至德，巍巍高尊，至具所栖，眾妙之門，神仙之宗，集而成文。諷誦昇虛，策龍乘雲，惟信惟盡，制情使專也。於是乎有志之士，乃遐尋斯經，尊奉法師，稽首德堂，寔問寔諮，請受寶經。莫犯莫疑，真信正道，神仙可期。吐故納新，挹服英芝，虛無相招，飛仙有時。法輪定覺，洞觀九垓，邈矣奇訣，中仙焉知。爾乃學真之子，若能孤思對景，趣合情丹，鍊試色想，經饑涉寒，苦而不倦，日中則餐，謗來不戚，譽集弗歡，獨德於內，外夷眾顏，沐浴青芷，胎氣無殘，登齋入室，燔煙真檀。於是披帔冠巾，整肅法服，設禮下方，歸命太真，三拜經前矣。乃開八色之蘊，陳無上之寶藏，而執讀大洞洞玄，道德尊經，八素隱篇，金真玉光，消魔散靈，招仙步虛，飛行羽經，清音霄暢，萬真降庭。太上命駕，同乘雲軿，蓊藹鬱勃，遐合杳冥，三素齊景，項負圓明，身服羅帔，玉佩火鈴，肅肅高真，飄飄遠征，玉華扶翼，俱登上清。不問貴賤，决在至誠，三界獻禮，魔王奉迎，長年無極，焉知劫齡，於玆逍遙，永我利貞。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：授道德經法。師北向，經於案上，弟子伏左，師執經，弟子擎法信。師叩齒三十六下，心存三宮，泥丸、丹田、絳宮，三一出，千乘萬騎，營衛經師，因而祝曰：

　　飄飄大虛嶺，流景在上玄。經始無終劫，長保天地人。世主學致堯，道士誦得仙。賢者今奉受，依法以相傳。時無至德子，保祕不妄宣。宗之昇太清，棄之墮九泉。我說無為道，清靜德自然。畢，弟子三拜受經。若女弟子伏右。凡經皆同爾。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：授大洞真經法。師北向，經於案上，師執經，弟子擎法信。師叩齒三十六下，心存太上玉皇，令日月之光，映照經師徒之身，而祝曰：

　　太微何眇邈，真人結虛生。空津自然道，集為大洞經。真賢奉法信，乘運歷黃庭。太上削死籍，司命書仙名。保祕年劫積，泄慢地獄嬰。灾考及七祖，風刀解汝形。畢，弟子三拜，受經。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：授太上靈寶洞玄經法。師北向，經於案上，師執經，弟子擎法信。師叩齒三十六下，心存五藏之色，令備具，合成寶蓋之雲，羅覆經師徒，而祝曰：

　　天書簡不煩，道德自備足。修之必神仙，當復何所欲。文耀太無間，煥然而玄郁。傳授悉依法，泄慢墮地獄。畢，弟子三拜，受經竟，又方一拜十方，從北始，東迴而周也。想見太上十方真形，如今像矣。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：授太上三皇天文。師北向，經於案上，師執經，弟子擎法信。師叩齒二十四下，心存三宮，各一真人，如嬰兒之狀，不著衣，口吐紫氣，以薰經師徒，而祝曰：

　　太上之天文，傳說天地初。皇人宣玄旨，是為至真書。賢者令奉受，志願昇太虛。畢，弟子再拜，受經。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：傳授上清品經符，皆北向。中品之書，有為之外文，師東向。仙聖苗裔籙，傳經者南向，男弟子伏左，女弟子伏右，法信祝誓，如法師之法。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：當開道德經蘊之時，先燒香，整法服，禮拜如初法，而祝曰：

　　玄玄至道宗，上德體洪元。天真雖遠妙，近緣泥丸君。宮室皆七寶，窗牖自然分。清靜常致真，駕景乘紫雲。日月左右照，昇仙長年全。七祖上生天，世為道德門。於是可讀經矣。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：當開洞真經蘊之時，先燒香，整法服，禮拜如法，而祝曰：

　　微微玄宗門，煥朗徹空洞。至道由靜默，當見三素宮。大道於此成，驂景乘雲龍。左右侍經仙，玉女及玉童。身濟不死津，解羅順靈風。七祖反胎生，世為神仙宗。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：當開洞玄經蘊之時，先燒香，整法服，禮拜如法，而祝曰：

　　寂寂至無宗，虛峙劫仞阿。豁落洞玄文，誰測此幽遐。一入大乘路，孰計年劫多。不生亦不死，欲生因蓮花。超凌三界塗，慈心解世羅。真人無上德，世世為仙家。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：當開三皇天文蘊之時，先燒香，整法服，禮拜如上法，而祝曰：

　　太上定神符，勒命天地慧。聞名不俟駕，萬仙儵忽萃。招靈無小大，豈况於滓穢。清齋絕人事，眇然與神對。上昇玉清宮，遨宴九遐外。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：當讀道德經時，叩齒三十六下，咽液三十六過，先心存左青龍，右白虎，前朱雀，後玄武，足下八卦、神龜三十六，獅子伏在前，頭巾七星，五藏生五氣，羅文覆身上，三一侍經，各從千乘萬騎，天地各有萬八千玉女玉童衛之矣。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：當讀洞真經，叩齒三十六通，咽液三十六過，先存迴風混合帝一百神萬真，然後詠洞經。

　　太上玉經隱注日：讀洞玄經，叩豁落、一齒三十六下，咽液三十六過，存五藏五色之氣，上注五星之精，而讀經。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：誦太上洞玄步虛經時，先叩齒三下，咽掖三過，心存日月在己面上，從鼻孔入洞房金華宮，光明出項後，煥然作九色圓象，薄入玉枕，徹照於十方，隨我遠經，旋迴而行矣。日從鼻左入，月從鼻右入，畢，又叩齒如初法。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：當讀昇仙之經，先叩齒十二下，咽液十二過，詠一篇，三通叩齒也，經卷亦各有法，不載法者，可依此訣也。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：夫道經不師受，則神不行矣。若世無法師，又無籙傳者，當以法信投靖治，或可密室啟玄師老君，北向三拜，然後以物布施於饑乏之人，平等一心，而用經也。世有師，不須按此法也。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：轉經，坐小牀上，高五尺，廣長悉等，但巾帔，不須著褐也。太上真人讀經法服，披離羅九光錦帔，丹羅寶曜之巾，足下獅子文履。今道士讀經，勤苦於法事，麤其帔服，後得道之日，天帝授子離羅九光之帔，天寶纓路飛仙法服，以酬往德也。兆勿慕世之冠冕，捨於道士陋服也。世服雖目下榮耀，不免於死，道士麤衣法服而昇仙，被服天衣矣。天衣著身，令人能飛仙乘虛也。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：讀經之法，法中夏之音，此是九天之正音也。第六十四大梵讚經，諷誦制聲，亦是正音。讀經之音，當法此正音。仙公曰：老子西化胡，教外國讀經時，多是大梵天音也。適道士所好者耳。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：讀經五百言，則叩齒三通，以舌舐上下脣，咽液三過，令人不極，久而聲清。不知此法，損氣勞神也。真人曰：濃煮竹葉作飲，以讀經而存思，益精通神，和氣流行。

　　太上玉經隱注曰；太上大隱符九首，日正中以水頓服之，千日則出入無間，隱見在意，為仙人矣。佩靈寶五符於身，則乘龍駕氣，經歷水火，五帝扶翼，遠遊高翔，亦為仙也。佩五嶽真形，佩三洞大符，不得近房室，交接陰穢，必死不疑，永無仙期，可不慎哉。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：道士入室齋，讀太上步虛之玉章，及飛行羽書，則能馳騁九龍，雲駕來迎，此兩事宜祕之矣。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：常以讀五千文萬遍，太上雲龍下迎。萬遍畢未去者，一月三讀之耳，須雲駕至，便昇仙也。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：常讀黃庭內景經，乃不死也。常服元氣，亦不死之道矣。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：常存頭正青如碧玉，兩手如丹，兩腳如雪。以此精思讀經，行諸妙事，去仙近矣。常叩齒十二下，晝夜十二時，時一叩，亦不死身，神恒具衛。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：叩齒一名天鼓，召身神，招天真，會羣仙也。左齒相叩，名鳴天鍾，右齒相叩，名擊天磬。道士意恐畏辟鬼賊，鳴鍾磬各二十四通，則妖精不敢前，天魔護身，百福并至。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：老子道德經稱：視之不見夷，聽之不聞希，搏之不得微，即三元老君之位號矣。又言：此三者，不可致詰，故混為一。是三素合為元一君，是胎尊之玄父元母。讀此經，三老君見子，子見之，仙道成矣。道盡於此，書不盡言，言不盡意。理之賾者，莫尚乎斯文，通曰見之，無能知之也。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：崑崙、蓬萊、鍾山、嵩高、王屋，上清經亦備有也。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：緣那羅衛之國，崑崙人鳥之山，元始天王所別治，七寶宮室，高臺凌天。西王母初學道，亦登此山。其上三洞經悉具，書虛中作經，一字方一丈也。是山真形圖至重，服佩便得三洞之玄真矣。山上百獸皆能飛行不死，何况人乎。諸奇物並出於此矣。其山眾聖誦經，皆大梵天制音，不哀不傷，不遲不疾，弘雅要妙，聞者融然。崑崙山上諸仙多作中夏，九天誦詠，蕭條遠暢，清音泠朗，聽者霄絕，使人忘情。時會眾仙，歌詠洞玄，合讀齊唱，新聲激響，窈窕遐聞，揚藻空洞，虛絃鳴彈，而玉清感悅矣。故讀經，上真之所重也。《高臺銘》曰：子欲乘空凌虛，誦我步玄羽書。諸仙不解此語也。步玄、羽經，此之兩書，太上玄經亦不傳中仙矣。

　　太極真人曰：步虛經者，靈寶齋步玄誦也。羽經，洞真之詠也。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：居家學道，當受五千文。月朔半，本命日，八節日，日中、夜半時，各一遍誦之耳。若兆不能讀者，請師為讀之，兆當親侍香火，一心聽受經旨，志以奉行經上妙事。託形太陰之日，天帝雲車迎人身神，不經太山三官地獄考罰之中也。上生天堂天帝之前，下生人間侯王之家。相好具足，靈顏煒燦，觀者心悅，但欲見聞，亦轉女為男，結緣上清，仙道自剋也。此經傳通羣品，無大無小，隨意所求，無有拘礙，送死養生，罄無不宜也。亦能安國寧民，制伏邊夷，莫不順道者也。斯經妙矣，弗有尚焉。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：學士雖修善行，或嬰前世之對，疾病灾厄，頻煩委頓者，道士法師，當為持齋，轉五千文，及消魔智慧玉清金真洞經，中品威神，營衛病人，所謂臨困得濟者也。救度一切之急，莫有及此之法輪矣。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：受三洞經，當絕人事而行之也。總三洞，名太上洞一，高上之經矣。受此語三人，則不得昇仙也。慎之慎之。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：受經皆比字三校，誤一字，滅壽一歲，過此計加之，增損一字，亦奪一歲。若妄破經書，後生受風刀解形之考。受經不敬師，修之亦無福，而後生棄疾及六畜之中也。天下之惡，莫過陰賊，若協此行道，必見世受考。耳聾目盲、心鼻煩塞，胃津不通，身生蟲病，死墮地獄，經諸苦惱，刀山劍樹，湯煮吞火，孔竅潰爛，求死不得，竟生猪犬之中，方被屠割，所謂三惡之者矣。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：授中品經以下，東向叩齒十二通，祝曰：肅肅上真德，滅迹停虛閒。暉景昇太素，去來無梁津。有心則自應，不專道則綿。展轉以相授，將結冥中緣。法師及弟子，無服而成親。奉經行眾善，恒如臨深淵。外以救灾病，內以護度身。畢，拜受經傳。仙人本業，亦用此呪法。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：大洞真經，或曰太真道經，或曰太清上道觀天內經上品，凡有十卷。上清金丹之經七卷。其高上大妙大丹消魔智慧大洞真經，三十九章。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：上清之高旨，極真之微辭，飛仙之妙經也。靈寶經，或曰洞玄，或云太上昇玄經，皆高仙之上品，虛無之至真，大道之幽寶也。三皇天文，或云洞神，或云洞仙，或云太上玉策。此三洞經符，道之綱紀，太虛之玄宗，上真之首經矣。豈中仙之所聞哉。

　　太上玉經隱注曰：寶訣，眾經之祖也。太上命傳太極諸仙公仙王、仙伯仙卿。未得此任，不傳之矣。道士有見斯書，皆應為仙公之人也，玄錄宿名將定焉。傳之法信，以金五兩，白繒九十尺，長度經紙三百幅，呈道師君，然後知求道精誠之丹盡，乃可告此寶訣也。師與弟子先對清齋九日，或七日、五日、三日齋竟，日中時受經也。當傳經時，師北向，於靜室內，左手請經，執此經，弟子右手擎受道誓信，約不妄泄流俗。列墨辭：以七祖為證，將奉行仁孝大慈之心，惟願飛仙昇虛，七祖離苦毒，俱生天中。師讀辭竟，口祝於弟子曰：

　　大朴本無質，聖聖謂之玄，二儀由始終，萬物之至淵，道化彌億劫，運周若圓環，賾理歸無忘，冥想應宿緣，大覺無上慧，莫尚此法輪。志道效法信，誠盡師當宣。世無賢達士，封之於名山，順以苟合授，抱石濟九泉，兆為太極公，上尊令我傳，三界以奏啟，玄都一時聞。畢，六拜，雙取之。取此法物，師當營經法齋戒，施散世間窮厄之者，一等之心，不得偏意也。是經常有玉女玉童各三十人侍之，并察道士之德行，關奏於太上矣。可不慎之，可不慎之。度經之時，心存三元君在泥丸宮也。師叩齒三十六下，乃祝之耳。

　　隱注道經畢矣。

　　太極真人曰：諸真人由來多隨所修，別受其口訣，不頓受之也。所以仙人各各有得傳此一事矣。分傳者，法信用金一兩，紙一百幅，不須素繒也，存祝如上法。

　　太極真人曰：仙人本業傳，謂之道迹經也。法皆應師受之，當西向，用眾經之祝信，以丹絳十尺，效精誠之至矣。上仙道邇經，存玉女玉童各十人，中仙五人，下仙三人，常隨侍傳，燒香擁護受讀弟子之身，衛其家口也。恒當忠孝，尊仰師父，行四等心，忍辱精進，布施容非，不爭虛誕，其意守志，念道常願，凌翮大清，飛行上玄，提携高仙，學道之要津矣。若能受太上隱注訣言，習行大洞之經，便號為太上大法師。夫已受三洞經，稱太上玄經大法師，法師自得傳諸仙道迹經也。夫人不從師受此道迹經，玉女不肯護人，行道無益於身也。有疾苦妖怪時，可齋誦道迹經於靜處也，百鬼魍魎殃咎，皆應聲散滅矣。玉女玉童為唱讚，音聞九玄，此仙人歡然，救度於子也。

　　太極真人曰：劫始以來，赤松子、王喬、羨門、軒轅、尹子，並受五千文隱注祕訣，勤行大道，上為真人之長者，寔要注之妙矣。逮至漢孝文皇帝，好樂道德，精誠虛盡，太上真人降乎河上，以化文帝。真人時自誦經，帝未弘道義幽賾之理，既心之所渴，聞有異人踴躍，即親駕稽首，禮問動靜，諮請道真。真人為其章句，略其一隅，通其所滯也。夫此經之賾難究矣，故曰不可思而議也。然自足令文帝託刊霄冥，保景乘雲，散轡飛龍，徑登天堂金華宮中，及諸天人講誦為事矣，亦仙道之次者也，樂乎哉。文帝行道德之經，致是巍巍矣。武帝徒勤苦於神仙，而性剛，亦得預天人之次耳。學道柔信為本也。夫讀河上真人一章，則徹太上玉京，諸天仙人叉手稱善，傳聲三界，魔王禮於堂中，酆都執敬，稽首於法師矣。河上真人，則道德經之法師也，所以尊其章句焉。治身祕道，不可示俗人，俗人常笑此經虛誕，謂之不能昇仙度世，此各有宿緣，弗可強訓也。教之不行，彼此獲罪，故宜深而祕之也。

　　太極真人曰：禮此經時，心注太上老君，三拜，次念尹先生、河上真人為玄中法師，亦復三拜，並向經也。常三萬六千仙童玉女侍經，燒香散花，通致眾仙，為兆請不死之命，求白日昇天之道也。

　　太極真人曰：道士當作金丹之時也，一晝一夜誦之，太一歡悅，來臨子之室矣。辟鬼試不祥之變也，所作則必成焉。

　　太極真人曰：夫學道以齋戒為本也，誦經必齋，校經必齋，書經必齋，書符必齋，合藥必齋，作金丹必齋，精思必齋，詣師請問必齋，禮拜必齋，受經必齋，救疾消灾必齋，致真人必齋。齋者，太上所敬重，老君所營護，諸聖所倚賴，齋法甚多，在兆所修受也。

　　太極真人曰：我昔學道，聞此訓於太上真人，奉而行焉，今以相傳也。子祕而修之，密教後世有宿命之人，應上仙者，可乎。

　　太極真人曰：夫人得生仙聖之門，而好道樂經，柔性慈心者，皆宿緣願會於今日矣。將去仙近也，宜當勤於法事，必上仙者乎。

　　太極真人曰：夫人有仙真相好，其要在慈心觸物，以輔相好，然後得仙矣。不能忍性容非，仙相敗也。斯語信焉。子其慎哉，子其思之，子其奉之，言之至矣。

　　太極真人曰：予有九天黃素隱訣，傳諸人也。或曰洞真威儀，或曰法輪元綱經太上隱訣，或曰太上玉清內教，或曰太上三洞威儀經，或曰太上玉經太極隱注訣。傳諸宿命應為太上玉京玄都太無太極仙公仙王、仙伯仙卿之人矣。不告始學之道士也。若世有遇此經師者，皆玄都已有金名之簡焉。

　　太極真人曰：夫奉上經，道士使心口相應？視人如己，敬師如父，思經如渴，念濟厄困，諫諍勸善，和柔容非，愛於有道，遠好山水，常行慈心，仁愛經營。道士居貴不驕，處疾苦之撼軻，而執志不移，此可與言於道者也。宜告之以隱注。若雅飾相傾，心口各用，當祕於寶訣，永幽之矣。受經後三年，其行亦可觀，斷可知也。是故此經上仙可祕，中仙希有見者。學道前世功不足弘大法，太上玄都玉京無具名也，亦終不與此經師相值矣。受訣妄示一人，則不得昇仙，死為下鬼，苦毒於三官地獄，後生六疾之中，輪轉受對，其罪至重，是以祕之，故曰隱注焉。

　　太極真人曰：夫人清齋久靜，精思耽玄，誦經悔罪，燒香禮拜，將見飛天人矣。仙童玉女降於子室矣。或聞室中為稱善，或光景照身，或聞金玉之響八音之聲，皆子道欲成也。勤之勤之，太上不負子矣。所以患子不固，不盡至經，是以仙道之難耳。常念此語矣。

　　太極真人曰：吾昔始得仙時，受太上大道君大智慧經愒七遍，叩齒三下，咽液三過，存三素元君在金華宮，如嬰兒之狀，而詠此文也。智慧本經有三萬一千言，上聖抄宣是章，應為太上玉京太極仙公道士矣。今當相告，子豈不願聞之乎。

太上智慧經讚

　　太上玄虛宗，弘道尊其經。俯仰已得仙，歷劫無數齡。巍巍太真德，寂寂因無生。霄景結空構，乘虛自然征。日月為炳灼，安和樂未央。

　　學仙絕華念，念念相因積。去來亂我神，神躁靡不歷。滅念停虛閑，蕭蕭入空寂。請經若饑渴，持志猶金石。保子飛玄路，五靈度符籍。

　　濟我六度行，故能解三羅。清齋禮太素，吐納養雲牙。逍遙金闕內，玉京為余家。自然生七寶，人人坐蓮花。仰嚼玄都奈，俯含空洞瓜。容顏曜十日，奚計年劫多。法鼓會天仙，鳴鐘徵大魔。

　　靈風扇香華，璨爛開繁衿。太真撫雲璈，眾仙彈靈琴。雅歌三天上，散慧玉華林。七祖昇福堂，由此步玄音。前世德未足，斯經邈難尋。信道情不盡，圖飛乃反沈。太上無為道，弘之在兆心。

　　學道由丹信，奉師如至親。抑景偶清虛，孜孜隨日新。眾人未得度，終不度我身。大願有重報，玄德必信然。陰惡罪至深，對來若轉輪。

　　學道甚亦苦，晨夕建福田。種德猶植樹，根深果亦繁。子能耽玄尚，飄爾昇清天。修是無為道，當與善結緣。太上弘至道，書名智慧篇。拔苦由大才，超俗以得真。靈姿世所奇，燁若淵中蓮。

　　人行各有本，皆由宿世功。立德務及時，發願莫不從。善惡俱待對，倚伏理難窮。賢士奉法言，道德在兼忘。解是大智慧，上為太極公。寶蓋連玉輿，命駕御九龍。金華擎洞經，捧香悉仙童。嘯歌徹玄都，鳴玉叩瓊鍾。

　　竦身凌太清，超景逸紫霄。保無持法綱，遊玄極逍遙。萬劫猶昨夜，千春如晨朝。巍峨蔭雲華，手鬱寶林條。香煙自然生，玄階興扶搖。靈旛順風散，繁想應時消。滅智弘大混，無為為清謠。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this text (article 上清太極隱注玉經寶訣, revision of 12 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.

🌲