Sandong Shenfu Ji — On the Origins of Sacred Script and Talismans
This is a technical treatise of the Daoist Canon (Daozang), of uncertain date but drawing on Six Dynasties and Tang scriptural sources — the Shangqing revelations, the Lingbao canon, the Scripture of the Three Sovereigns, and commentators such as "Master Lu" and "Master Song" — to trace where sacred script comes from: how the primal pneumas of the Three Origins condensed into the "cloud-seal script" and the "eight assemblies," how this heavenly writing descended through history into the ordinary scripts of seal, clerical, and cursive hands, and how the talisman-writer's own brush still draws on that same original power. It is prose throughout, built as a chain of short entries, each headed by a two- to four-character term and each grounding its claim in a named scripture — a bibliographic essay in the form of a catalogue. It closes with a short instruction on the mental discipline of drawing a talisman, and then with the "Five Chapters Bestowed by the Most High," five hymns of dense revelatory verse for the five directions and their five colors, each addressed to the star-lords and thearchs who guard the living and ferry the dead.
A note on one recurring term: ba hui 八會, "the Eight Assemblies," names the primordial script said to underlie all later writing — a technical term with no single English equivalent, kept here as "the Eight Assemblies" throughout. The text also preserves at least two passages that read as corrupted or garbled in the Wikisource transcription itself (marked below); these are translated as literally as the wording allows, without supplying invented sense.
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 text's first complete published English translation.
Translation
On the Method of the Three Origins, the Eight Assemblies, and the Six Scripts
The Comprehensive Discourse on the Gate of the Dao says: when yin and yang first divided, there was the pneuma of the Three Origins, the Five Potencies, and the Eight Assemblies, which formed the writ of flight to Heaven, later compiled into the chapters of the eight dragons' cloud-seal script and bright light. Master Lu, explaining the Three Powers, calls them the Three Origins. Once the Three Origins were established, the Five Phases were all complete. Taking the Five Phases as five positions, the union of three and five is called the Eight Assemblies, and this became the script of all writings. There is also the chapter of the eight dragons' cloud-seal script and bright light, the pneuma of spontaneous flying mystery, which condensed out of emptiness into script — characters a full zhang square — arising within all the heavens, giving birth to and establishing all things.
According to the Declarations of the Perfected, Lady Purple Tenuity said that the writ of the Three Origins and Eight Assemblies is the ancestor from which all script arose; the eight dragons' cloud-seal script is the root and source from which it sprang, the beginning of writing itself. It is also said: the Eight Assemblies are the Three Powers and Five Phases, taking form after the primal division. Another text says: the true text of the Lingbao Vermilion Writ in five chapters came forth before Yuanshi. On this reasoning, the Three Origins should not be the Three Powers, nor the Five Potencies the Five Phases — these are properly the three pneumas of the Venerable Elder of the Three Treasures, and the three pneumas are, of themselves, not the same as the Five Potencies. Hence the Scripture on the Life-Giving Spirits of the Nine Heavens says: the ten thousand transformations of Heaven and Earth could not be born were they not nurtured by the Three Origins and guided by the Nine Pneumas. It also says: the three pneumas are the sovereigns of Heaven and Earth, and the nine pneumas are the root of the ten thousand things. Thus we know that these — [the source reads 呂兀 here, an unclear or corrupted phrase; it is rendered literally, without a supplied meaning] — existed before Heaven and Earth had opened, before the Three Powers were born.
Master Song explains the Eight Assemblies as being simply the three pneumas and the Five Potencies. The Three Origins are: first, the pneuma of the Boundless Grand Nothing, Origin, Most High Jade Sovereign; second, the pneuma of the Vermilion Boundless Grand Nothing, Origin, Supreme Jade Clarity; third, the pneuma of the Dark Silent Mystic Pervasion, Origin, Supreme Jade Emptiness. The Five Potencies are the three-and-five assemblies possessed by the Three Origins — that is, the harmony of yin and yang: yin has Lesser Yin and Greater Yin, yang has Lesser Yang and Greater Yang, and the harmony within harmony is the Five Potencies.
"Zhuan" (seal-script) means "to compile": to compile and gather the cloud-writs is called cloud-seal script. This is the writ of the Three Origins and Eight Assemblies, the chapters of the eight dragons' cloud-seal script. All are Heavenly writ — the pattern of the Three Origins and Eight Assemblies is this. The cloud-seal script of bright light follows the pattern of the Five Talismans and Five Victories. The base text of the Eight Assemblies numbers 1,109 characters in all; its chapters of true text together come to 668 characters. This is the primal root of the Three Powers, giving birth to and establishing Heaven and Earth, opening and transforming gods and men — the source of the ten thousand things. Hence it is said there is the Way of Heaven, the Way of Earth, the Way of Spirits, and the Way of Man — this is what is meant. The Jade Instructions says: in cultivating and using this method, the five chapters are each divided by character count, each having four articles:
First: it governs the summoning of the Sovereigns of the Nine Heavens, the checking of the charts and registers of the immortals, and the method for seeking transcendence and attaining the Real. Second: it governs the summoning of the constellations and star-palaces of Heaven, the rectifying of Heaven's degrees and divisions, and the way to protect the state and give the people peace. Third: it restrains and governs the pneumas of the Six Heavens of Fengdu. Fourth: it commands the Water Sovereign to summon and control dragons and birds. As for the inner sounds of all the heavens: each heaven has eight characters, and the thirty-two heavens together have 256 characters. These treat the degrees and periods of all the heavens, the names, titles, and ranks of the great sages and perfected immortals, the offices they govern, the terraces and cities where they dwell, the transformations of immortals, the order of their ascent and descent, the categories of the many demons, and the causes and conditions by which the living and the dead turn upon the wheel. Of these, thirteen characters are the names of the primal essences of the Five Directions, and the methods of ingestion in seeking transcendence, refining the spirit and transforming the body, and ascending in broad daylight. The remaining 122 characters lack an explanation of their original sound.
Second: the Eight Assemblies were elaborated into the script of dragon and phoenix, called dragon-writing. Everything below this was set down by the mystic sages, in order to transcribe the Heavenly script.
Third: in the time of the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie, drawing on the forms of dragon and phoenix, took the traces of birds' footprints to make the ancient script, replacing knotted cords — this is the ancient form.
Fourth: in the Zhou dynasty, the scribe Zhou changed the ancient script into the Greater Seal script.
Fifth: in the Qin dynasty, Cheng Miao changed the Greater Seal script into the Lesser Seal script.
Sixth: after the Qin, Yu Yang changed the Lesser Seal script into clerical script. It is also said that the Han called clerical script "assistant's script." Others say it was devised by Cheng Miao in prison and came from the convict-clerks, hence it was named "clerical." These, then, are the Six Scripts.
Cloud-Seal Script
There is also the chapter of cloud-seal script and bright light, a Sanskrit-like script of accordant forms, its graphs differing into sixty-four kinds, disseminated through the thirty-six heavens. Today, as scriptures are handed down, all use clerical characters to explain the Heavenly script, the two circulating mixed together.
The Eight Forms, Six Scripts, and Six Categories
First is the Greater Seal script; second, the Lesser Seal script; third, engraved-tally script; fourth, insect script; fifth, seal-impression script; sixth, placard script; seventh, halberd script; eighth, clerical script. In the time of Wang Mang, the Minister of Education Zhen Feng was ordered to collate and fix the characters, and again there were six scripts: first, ancient script — the writing found within Confucius's wall; second, strange characters — variant forms of the ancient script; third, seal script; fourth, assistant's script, that is, clerical script; fifth, twisted seal script, used for seal impressions; sixth, bird-seal script, used for translation.
When Cangjie first made writing, there must already have been a writing implement; the Book of Odes speaks of the vermilion tube, and this was a brush. As for the claim that Meng Tian invented the brush — Meng Tian was a Qin general whose family had been renowned for three generations, and he refined the cutting of brushes to such skill that the fame came to rest on him alone. It was only in the Han, under Emperor He, that Cai Lun first made paper; before that, writing was only on bamboo strips and tablets. "Tablet" means to set down and explain matters in words; "strip" means to be spare and unencumbered. One need only know that, at root, this was Heavenly script on golden strips; everything from earthly script on down — the Eight Forms and Six Categories — all issued outward from the True and Real, and students may look further into this themselves.
It is also not known in what age this scripture came to be written on paper and made into scrolls. Now, it is said that already at the beginning of the kalpa there was a brush, with which the Grand Perfected wrote — how then can it be said there was none, down to the Eight Forms and Six Categories? Because the Celestial Worthy's creative transformation contains every method within it; later generations only inherited and used it, one after another in sequence.
The Six Categories are: first, pictographs — sun and moon are examples; second, indicators — "up" and "down" are examples; third, phono-semantic compounds — "river" and "sea" are examples; fourth, compound ideographs — "military" and "trust" are examples; fifth, mutually explanatory characters — "examine" and "old" are examples; sixth, borrowed characters — "order" and "chief" are examples.
Talismanic Script
There is nothing among the ten thousand things that does not function by essence and pneuma. Hence the Two Forms and the Three Luminaries all move by essence and pneuma passing through them; and once the ten thousand things exist, essence and pneuma likewise pass through them. So it is that the Five Phases and all categories of things possess essence and pneuma. By spreading the Dao's essence and pneuma onto strip and ink, one gathers the essence and pneuma of things, to repel the false and deviant, to assist the true and real, to summon and assemble the host of numinous beings, to govern life and death, to preserve the fortunes of the kalpa, and to pacify and garrison the Five Directions.
Yet these talismans have their root in condensed emptiness: the Grand Perfected looked up and copied the Heavenly script, distributed it among the positions, and distinguished the differences among diagram, image, talisman, and writing. A talisman draws generally on the forms of clouds, of things, and of stars and constellations; writing analyzes and distinguishes the sense of sounds and phrases; a diagram paints the shapes of numinous transformation. Yet within a talisman there is writing, resembling and mingled with image; within writing there is diagram, form and sound used together. Hence there are the Eight Forms and Six Categories, each bringing out and manifesting the other.
The Eight Manifestations
The Eight Manifestations are: first, Heavenly script — the Eight Assemblies are this; second, divine script — cloud-seal script is this; third, earthly script — the images of dragon and phoenix; fourth, inner script — what tortoises, dragons, fish, and birds emit; fifth, outer script — what is borne on scales, shells, feathers, and fur; sixth, ghost script — mixed forms, faint and obscure, not to be understood by human beings; seventh, the script of the Central Efflorescence — the cursive art of cloud-seal script is this; eighth, the script of the Rong and Yi peoples — resembling the tracks of insects.
As for these Six Categories and Eight Forms — sometimes a present-day character coincides with an ancient one, sometimes an ancient character coincides with a present-day one; talisman and coloring interweave, together forming one method, joined into one use — so sameness and difference are never fixed. This follows what Master Song said, though the original text has not been seen. Yet in the scriptures of the Three Caverns, where talismans contain characters, it is like the ancient script within the Book of Documents, where the ancient characters happen to coincide with the present ones.
The Jade Script Instructions
The Most High Lord of the Dao, at the Southern Cinnabar Cavern of Yang, on High Wan, spoke these Instructions on the Numinous Text and Jade Graphs for the scholar Wang Longci. But it is not known for certain in which age they were annotated; students should seek this out for themselves. He also expounded the various methods of cultivation, talismans, offerings, contemplation and visualization of the Five Directions, and the averting of calamity — and this is precisely an explanation and unlocking of the text of the Eight Assemblies, clarifying principle within the principle of the base text itself, just as an explication of the true text further clarifies the principle of resonant communication.
The Scripture of Settling the Will also asks: does this bring forth the meaning of subtle contemplation? There is a matter within the matter, just as the Jade Instructions further clarifies the transmission of scriptures and the rites of covenant and conferral. In general, wherever any scripture contains an explanatory unlocking, it is commonly called Jade Instructions.
The Sovereign's Script and the Thearch's Writing
The Scripture of the Three Sovereigns says: the Sovereign's script and the Thearch's writing both issue from spontaneous emptiness and nothingness; within the void, pneuma condensed into characters, without ancestor and without precursor, without limit and without bound, appearing and hiding according to the turning of fortune, unbroken and ever-abiding.
Heavenly Script
The Scripture of the Inner Sounds of All Heavens says: suddenly there was a Heavenly script, its characters a full zhang square, appearing of itself in the void; upon it the patterns and colors blazed forth, eight-cornered points of radiance hanging from it, its refined light so dazzling to the eye that it could not be looked upon directly. The Celestial Perfected Sovereign Man said: this text is honored and sublime beyond ordinary comparison. For this reason it opens the beginning of Great Existence, yet closes off Heaven's own brightness — treasuring the Dao within it, and honoring its text. Its characters are winding and profound, not of the form of ordinary writing — for it prizes its own wondrous image while concealing its utmost reality.
Dragon Insignia
The Lingbao Scripture says: when the Vermilion Brightness opened the chart, its motion and measure followed spontaneously; Yuanshi settled and garrisoned it, bestowing the Five Chapters — the Vermilion Writ in jade characters, the dragon-script of Eightfold Awe — to preserve and govern the fortunes of the kalpa and make Heaven abide forever. This is the Dragon Insignia.
Phoenix Text
The Scripture of the Purple Phoenix and Vermilion Writ says: the old text of this scripture is stored within the Purple Chamber of the Most High's Six Directions; six-headed lions, great beasts, flank the walls, and jade lads and jade maidens stand guard over the Phoenix Text.
Jade Tablets and Gold Script
When the Three Origins disseminated scripture, all of it was engraved as writ of gold cinnabar, held in bags of spontaneous cloud-brocade, sealed with the seal of the Three Origins' treasured spirits, and stored in the office of Great Existence above the Nine Heavens — this is called the Jade Tablets and Gold Script. It is also said: purple jade was made into strips, and native gold into characters, bound with threads of gold and wrapped in dark-blue silk. The Most High's Code of the Great Perfected says: the Jade Tablets and Gold Script use the Seven Treasures for their strips, and are also called the Purple Strips.
Stone Script
The Scripture of Original Conduct says: the Dao spoke, saying: long ago, in the world of Chanli, King Dui had a daughter named Guoyin. From birth she did not speak; when she reached fourteen years, the king found this strange and abandoned her among the mulberry trees south of Fu, in the empty mountains. The girl wandered the mountain and its market, and suddenly met a divine being beneath the cypress grove at the Cinnabar Ridge lodge. The divine being took Guoyin's right hand and inscribed upon a red stone, saying to her: "Though you cannot speak, you may remember this." Heaven, moved by this, took pity on her affliction and sent a Numinous Lad of the Vermilion Palace down to teach Guoyin the guardianship of cultivating the body, and bestowed on her the eight characters of the Vermilion Writ. Guoyin thereupon was able to speak.
The Lingbao Scripture of Jade Instructions says: the Dao told Qiuceng of A: "In a former life you and the Honored Spirit of the Southern Culmen were together in the world of Chanli; beneath the cypress grove at the Cinnabar Ridge lodge you both first set your intent upon the Dao. At that time the Southern Culmen bore the surname Huang and the given name Duming; he took your right hand, and together you inscribed a red stone to record your names. The Southern Palace then wrote your brush-trace and inscribed it on the Southern Veranda; it remains there to this day, and the stone characters likewise survive. Do you remember this or not?" Qiuceng's mind awoke to understanding, and raising his eyes he saw at once what the Southern Culmen governed: on the south wall, the carved writing read: "In the year Taijia, on the first day of the seventh month, Huang Duming the King and Qiuceng of A, together beneath the cypress grove of Cinnabar Ridge, set forth their vow" — twenty-three characters in all, each perfectly distinct.
Inscribed on Silk
The Scripture of the Five Talismans says: each single copy of the Five Talismans is written on Nanhe silk — Nanhe being a red-colored silk — sealed within a casket of golden petals, stamped with the seal of the Dark Capital, and entrusted to the Lord of Dongxuan at Zhenshui. The Immortal Lord's Inquiries says: the Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue in its two parts, together with the Mystic Scripture of Dongzhen, the Three Sovereigns' Heavenly Script, and the assembled chapters and hymns of Shangqing, were all composed by the Most High and written down on Nanhe silk — hence it is called "inscribed on silk."
Jade Graphs
The Scripture of Inner Sounds and Jade Graphs says: the Celestial Perfected Sovereign Man said: the spontaneous jade graphs of the inner sounds of all the heavens, characters a full zhang square, appear of themselves above the dark void, eight-cornered points of radiance hanging from them, their refined light so dazzling to the eye. The Numinous Writ of the Eight Assemblies has characters without fixed form; their meaning winds and runs deep, difficult to trace in full — all are the hidden Brahma-words within all the heavens, condensing the pneuma of flying mystery, harmonizing the sounds of the Five Directions, born above Yuanshi, issuing from within the cavern of emptiness, opening a path to salvation according to the turning of fortune, universally accomplishing the work of Heaven and Earth.
The Celestial Worthy commanded the Celestial Perfected Sovereign Man to annotate its correct sounds, so that the Sovereign's Dao might flow clear and its bounty reach the ten directions. The Sovereign Man, not daring to disobey the command, took up his brush and annotated it, saying: "My form and soul were struck dumb with awe; following only what I myself perceive, I offer this brief annotation of the text's meaning of the Fivefold Union — its Dao is enough to open a path of salvation for gods and men." The harmonizing of the Five Directions, sounds beyond measure, together form the inner sounds of all the heavens — hence it is called the meaning of the Fivefold Union.
The Script Born in the East
The Scripture of Great Peace says: script is born in the East and made bright in the South; hence Heaven's script is born in the northeast, and thus writing comes forth from the northeast and Heaven displays its image there. The tiger, which bears pattern, has its house at Yin; the dragon, which bears pattern, has its house at Chen. Script is born in the East and flourishes in the South — hence we know that the true text first came forth in the northeast.
Jade Registers
The Hidden Writ of Jade Clarity holds the Sovereign's strips of gold script and the registers of dark jade, by which the Mystic Winged Jade Scripture may be transmitted. It also says: unless one holds the Sovereign's chart and jade registers, one cannot hear or see the Hidden Writ of Jade Wisdom and Jade Clarity of the High Sovereign, nor the Winged Scripture of Dark Mystery and Hidden Profundity.
Jade Chapters
The Preface to the Assembled Chapters says: Yuanshi commanded the Grand Perfected to take up the brush; the Jade Consort brushed clean the mat; gold was cast into strips, and the Jade Chapters were carved and inscribed. The Five Elders kept its register, hidden away in the Palace of the Nine Numinous Immortal Capital, and it was transmitted, wrapped in cloud, as the scripture given to the Immortal Lord Ge.
Jade Slips
The Scripture of the Golden Root says: the Most High Lord of the Great Dao entrusted the Great Cavern Scripture of Perfection to the Highest Minister, Lord Azure Lad, to keep its register in the Azure Palace of Eastern Florescence, so that it might be transmitted to later sages who are fit to become Perfected. These golden strips and jade slips issue from the Palace of the Numinous Capital of the Most High, carved out of jade.
Vermilion Writ and Black Register
The Code of the Great Perfected says: the vermilion strips are strips lacquered in red, declaring that fire governs yang; the black register is text written in ink, declaring that water governs yin. Those who study long life and follow these do not die. Hence they are named the Vermilion Strips and Black Register, kept secret and never transmitted lightly.
Jade Tallies
The Heavenly Sovereign holds in hand the Jade Tally of Flying Immortals; the Human Sovereign holds in hand the Jade Tally of the High Sovereign for Preserving Life; the Earthly Sovereign holds in hand the Jade Tally of the Primal Sovereign for Fixing the Register.
The Writ of Linked Blessings
The Scripture of Thirty-Nine Chapters says: the Most High has the Gate of Gem Feathers, where the joined span becomes an embryo, its mandate called Wangxuan — the One who is sovereign of the Three Pneumas; the Primal Elder is guest of the Supreme Thearch, together sustaining the countless bodies, the Spirit Terrace engraving their names upon the strips of Linked Blessings. It also says: the Most High's golden strips and jade slips are the Writ of Linked Blessings.
Carnelian Tadpole Script, Gem Text
The Winged Scripture of Flight says: the gold script and jade registers are the carnelian tadpole-script, the gem text.
Compilation in White Silver
The Scripture of the Golden Chamber for Deliverance of Life says: within the Palace of the Numinous Spirits of Grand Constancy, there is the instruction of the Golden Chamber for the deliverance of life and the turning-back of years — all cast in strips of gold, engraved as a compilation in white silver, its text written with a purple brush.
The Vermilion Writ
The Scripture of Jade Instructions says: Yuanshi's Vermilion Writ, the true text in five chapters, is set out by the Five Thearchs and guided by yin and yang; it turns the pivot-cord of the Nine Heavens and sets in motion the bright light of the Five Planets.
True Text Tempered by Fire
The Scripture of Original Form says: "In the first year of Vermilion Brightness, I, together with the High and Great Sage the Jade Thearch, tempered the true text within this earth, using fire to burnish forth the form of its characters. At that time the true text's fire leaked forth, and pneuma sprang up in the remaining places, transforming into a forest of seven treasures; and so its branches and leaves became purple script, its ground gold, its jade text inlaid with silver. Within it, all the dragons, birds, fierce beasts, and every numinous creature constantly fed upon the forest's dew; the true pneuma entered their bodies, and all their lives attained long life. After thirty million kalpas had come to their end, all were transformed into flying immortals; following the Dao without cease, they too attained the true and real Dao of non-action."
Characters from the Golden Flask of Ink
The Sagely Annals says: the country of Futi offered two men skilled in writing, who were now old, now young; when they hid their form, a shadow-image appeared; when they heard a sound, they concealed their form. At times they brought forth a golden flask four inches across, sealed on top with a five-dragon clasp and closed with blue-green clay. Within the flask was an ink like thick lacquer; sprinkled on wood or stone, it became at once seal-script, clerical script, or tadpole-script characters, recording the beginning of creation and of human relations. Lord Lao composed the scriptures of the Dao, some hundred thousand words in all, all written upon jade tablets, bound with cords of gold, and stored in jade caskets. When the ink of the golden flask was exhausted, the two men of Futi were prepared to cut open their own hearts and let their blood flow, to use in place of the ink.
Gem Tablets
The Golden Tiger Talisman of the Hidden Writ of Jade Clarity says: the Vermilion Text of Yuyi summons the sun toward its chariot; the Yellow Chapter of Jielin dwells together with the moon. The Shangqing Scripture for Dispelling Demons says: opening the cavern gate at the Rarefied Grove, seeking numinous traces at the Cinnabar Grotto, unlocking the vermilion coffer of the Primal Heaven, gazing upon the gem tablets of Shangqing — the mystic writ, once carved upon the jade chapter, and the crimson name, once inscribed at the Numinous Watchtower, one meets the Three Origins four times within the Mystic Palace, and pays visit to the Five Elders six times within the Numinous Chamber.
Purple Graphs
The Scripture of the Eight Simplicities says: the mystic text of the True Scripture of the Eight Simplicities was born within the Great Void, and was revealed upon the Western Tortoise Mountain, above the Dark Garden, on the shadowed side of the Piled Stones. The Sublime Mystic Winged Chapter of the Eight Simplicities says: the numinous text flourishes at the cavern's summit; the purple graphs blaze forth in the gem forest; divine light streams radiance through the Nine Origins; golden sound rings clear and empty through the purple heavens; the text's majesty shines forth resplendent; pneuma spreads through the purple court; the assembled Perfected hold banquet-rites, proclaiming celebration to Shangqing.
Spontaneous Characters
The Mystic Record of the Seven Sages of the Jade Emperor says: thereupon, turning through the Nine Empyreans of Heaven, upon white strips and blue-green registers, the High Sagely Thearch-Lord received, from within the Nine Voids, the spontaneous characters formed of flying mystic purple pneuma — the mystic record of later students' names for attaining the Dao. Numinous sounds joined in rhyme, jade-clear and endowed with the Real, whether by form of character or by hidden sound; the fourfold union above and below all manifested the mystic name born of emptiness, engraved in the Hall of Vast Numinosity.
The old text held a hundred thousand jade words; its characters belonged to no fixed category, its rhymes to no fixed sound — none but the High Sages could grasp its meaning. After seven thousand years had accumulated, in the chamber of Kunlun, at the source of the Northern Cavern, characters a full zhang square, their patterns luxuriant and blazing, radiance hanging from their four corners, arose out of emptiness, dim and hazy, as if existing, as if not. Flowing light and purple pneuma brushed away its impurities; refined gold burnished its text bright; and so, through accumulated kalpas, the form of its characters grew ever clearer.
By the first year of Zhonghuang, on the seventeenth day of the ninth month, the Seven Sages, all together in numinous purity, at the Palace of Lasting Clarity, swore a covenant of gold and blue-green with Heaven, and with a solemn oath declared to the numinous powers that they reverently received the numinous text. The High and Supreme unraveled its knotted obscurities; the Seven Sages penetrated its wondrous sounds, and it was recorded as the chapter of attaining the Dao by turning through the Nine Empyreans of Heaven — engraved on strips of white silver, bound with text of flying blue-green, stored in a bag of cloud-brocade, sealed with the seal that opens the mandate, and entrusted to the Left Immortal Lord of the Five Elders' Immortal Capital, to keep its register in the Gem Palace.
Characters Formed from Four Convergences
The Mystic Record of the Seven Sages of the Jade Emperor says: the mystic record of the Seven Sages, the upper text that turns through Heaven, is formed sometimes by rhyme-union, sometimes by branch-and-category intermingling, sometimes by a fourfold convergence above and below to form the character's sound, sometimes by marking its true taboo-name, sometimes by simple and compound characters combined together — all issued from within the mystic, ancient, hollow void, compiled by High Perfected beings to clarify the numinous text. Among later students, those who bear a mystic name may come to see this text — [the source reads 青空捒初角切名 here, an unclear or corrupted phrase, rendered as literally as possible: "in the azure void, the name's first phonetic marking"] — kept by the Four Offices, and recorded by the Five Thearchs.
Carnelian Slips and Calyx Script
The Scripture of the Eight Simplicities says: within the Western Floriate Palace there are carnelian slips and calyx-script; only those who are fit to become Perfected may obtain this text.
The Stone Chest
The Pearl Satchel of the Three Caverns says: the Queen Mother of the West, in the seventh month of the first year of High Sovereign, gave instruction at the Southern Fu Cave-Chamber, and transmitted it to the Perfected Lord Wang of Pure Emptiness, who passed it down to Yu of Xia. Yu sealed the text within a stone casket at the Southern Fu Cave-Chamber. The casket is also sometimes written with a rare character meaning a stone vessel. Hence the Five Talismans says: the numinous writ of the Nine Heavens was likewise sealed within the stone chest — this is the same. On checking the various character categories today, no such character is found. The Jade Instructions, in its latter part, says: the true text of the Five Elders was sealed and inscribed on a jade chest — this too is an example of the same. Kong Lingfu's Record of Kuaiji says: south of Mount Kuaiji is Mount Wanwei; upon it is a stone, commonly called the Stone Hamper. Its cliff-face rises sheer into the clouds, and only by piling up ladders can one reach it. Long ago, when Yu was governing the flood and his labor was not yet complete, he fasted upon this mountain, opened the Stone Hamper, and obtained characters on golden strips, by which he learned the configuration of mountains and rivers; and so he dredged and guided the hundred rivers, each to its proper course.
Instructions for Writing Talismans
Draw the sight inward, turn the hearing back; gather the thoughts and hold to sincerity; let the mind be like the Great Void, pure and bright within and without. Yuanshi is myself; I am Yuanshi. When intent arrives, move the brush — one breath completes the talisman. If the dots and strokes within the talisman differ slightly from copy to copy, one need not cling rigidly to the pattern; what matters is that the brush moves with trust and completes itself, catching the wondrous point where the mind finds its meaning. But within the Clarity-and-Subtlety method of brushwork, water and fire must be distinguished: for praying for rain or snow, working water-refinements, and treating yang ailments, always use the water-brush; for praying for clear skies, raising lightning and thunder, dispelling epidemic pestilence, working fire-refinements, and treating yin conditions, always use the fire-brush. Whether invoking the taboo names of the Three Heavens or of the Five Thearchs, use them as is fitting.
The Five Chapters Bestowed by the Most High
Jade Chapter of the Flying Clouds of Blue-Green Essence — the East
Lord Mugong of Fusang, the Blue-Green Sovereign Lord,
White Origin and Grand Unity, Left Wuying.
Taokang preserves the mandate, guards the root of life,
going in and out of the Flowery Chamber, mingling with the hundred spirits.
The Mystic Center's Grand Sovereign opens the Eight Gates,
turning to ferry across the Five Constants, turning the Wheel of the Law.
Chaos and the Cavern of Emptiness know no measure of kalpas,
whirling winds part and join, planting the numinous spirits.
From the ancestral kalpa, transformation gave birth, the Three Luminaries made bright;
in all the heavens, only the Dao is my body.
Yuluo and Great Existence, the wondrous Brahma-pneuma,
nine harmonies and ten unions reflecting the First Blue-Green.
Universally ferrying gods and men, flying through the Five Households,
transforming spontaneously, rising to Shangqing.
The Blue-Green Thearch guards the souls, formless and traceless,
boundless and without limit, treading the Mystic Efflorescence.
Whistling and chanting in the cavern-view, driving the Great Rosy Clouds,
the Golden Perfected sends forth resounding echo, bright in the cloud-camps.
Gathering pneuma, massing smoke, holding talisman and register,
the dead soul is given living body, distinguished as the Utmost Real.
Governing the flying clouds, nurturing the Nine Pneumas,
looking down to fathom the cavern's grace, the spontaneous spirit.
Jade Chapter of the Condensed Emblem of Vermilion Graphs and Mystic Essence — the South
At Vermilion Ridge and Southern Prosperity there is a Thearch-Perfected,
commanding the earth-spirits to attend, sending off and welcoming.
Receiving the refinement, reborn, one comes forth from the Five Households,
forever leaving the palace of ghosts, the immortal Dao accomplished.
Pressing together the hosts of ghosts, striking their register of sins,
following the kalpa's turning wheel, extinguishing the root of evil.
The Officer Han governs the register, following each one who is saved,
all the heavens strictly check and guard the form and soul.
The ancestral kalpa, vast and distant, turns the Great Web of Heaven,
Jade Mountain and White Stone gather at the Upper Capital.
Lord Han, who loves life, extends the count of years,
crossing over calamity, restoring the bones, raising up the dead form.
At the appointed hour one is raised and transferred, transcending the Three Realms,
wandering free and at ease, bowing the head to the Honored Jade Thearch.
Emptiness and the cavern, spontaneous, join with the Brahma-pneuma,
soul and spirit made clear and upright, the body bright with light.
Life and death, all who rely on this are at once delivered,
a hundred million ancestors need suffer no more.
Returning their forms, they wander through the reaches of the Great Void,
receiving transformation, reborn to become honored persons.
The Vermilion Thearch nurtures the pneuma, circulating through defense and camp,
neither born nor destroyed, causing them to abide forever.
The Three Pneumas soar aloft, casting the fire-bell,
the vermilion graphs condense their emblem, gathering the primal essence.
Awakening to principle and forgetting both, the body attains the cavern's truth,
walking alone, soaring aloft, feasting at the Jade Capital.
Jade Chapter of the Flowing Essence and Divine Efflorescence — the West
Flying through Heaven, radiant and bright, matching Heaven's turning wheel,
the bright-shining Primal Elder marshals the Yellow Troops.
The ten thousand thearchs set out their rites, all the heavens intone,
rivers and seas fall silent, the sacred peaks hide their clouds.
Sun and moon halt their turning wheels, joining the Three Luminaries,
the Turning Pearl and Dipper-stars align with the Eight Constants.
The host of demons and ghost-spirits are destroyed, their forms undone,
corpses are turned back, the dead raised up, bones made into men.
Penetrating the mystic, fathoming the subtle, grasping fully its emblem,
flowing radiance stirs and moves the distant divine efflorescence.
The ancestor of the ten thousand paths, the Great Vehicle at ease,
the deep and secluded gem-blossom — its virtue can be overcome by none.
The Golden Watchtower and Jade Capital, chambers of yin and yang,
Yuluo's lofty heights, the treasured terrace bright.
Through corpse-liberation the form returns, fathoming creation to its limit,
the Nine Palaces penetrated through, drawing in the golden primal vapor.
The cavern shines with three colors, blue-green, yellow, and white,
within and without, dense and dark, form, pneuma, and spirit.
The White Thearch attends the earthly-soul, guarding it firm,
the Azure Empyrean hangs its pearl, drawing forth the wondrous perfected.
Restraining dragon and tiger, its awe like an auspicious cloud,
suddenly, silently resounding, it ferries across gods and men.
Those who encounter this scripture's method are all universally saved,
preserving their allotted years, all with a good heart.
Forever delivered from the Three Paths and Five Bitter Sufferings,
passing every barrier of all the heavens, the Demon Kings overthrown.
Overseen and raised up, unbound by the Gate of Heaven's own restraint,
the Three Realms and Five Thearchs proclaim Shangqing.
Jade Chapter of the Purple Register and Dark Obscurity — the North
The Primal Subtlety returns to color, having no more form,
gathering pneuma spreads wide, vast is the Great Mystery.
Its nape bears white light, forming the Nine Images,
the First Blue-Green opens transformation, distant and boundless.
The Lord of Dark Obscurity ferries across the true talisman,
the Primal Lord of Grand Unity governs the ranks of immortals.
Vermilion radiance and crimson auspice, the embryo-immortal dances,
flying carriages of jade splendor shoot light across the mushroom fields.
Nine dragons rear their heads, spitting pearls of fire,
the dark tortoise bursts with flame, spitting forth a golden lotus.
The nation at peace, the people prosperous, rejoicing in Great Peace,
the earth is made of jasper, joined with the Dipper.
Sun, moon, and constellations turn upon the Jade Balance,
the divine wind falls silent, the mountains swallow their mist.
Flying through Heaven, looking down, the chime of gems resounds,
dark wisdom and the celestial perfected join with spontaneity.
Wandering through the Three Realms, entering the Golden Gate,
turning on the wheel, undestroyed, no calamity may touch it.
The Black Thearch opens the blood, flowing through vein and channel,
governing within, the Five Pneumas run through the hundred rivers.
Thirty-five divisions turn back to the Five Constants,
the primal net flows and unfolds, the Winnower and Dipper wheel.
Passing through the Wind Marsh and the Adamantine Heaven,
its bond and order nourish and give birth, the ten thousand pneumas made whole.
Nine harmonies and ten unions bring about transformation,
flying at dawn, bowing the head before the Jade Thearch.
Jade Chapter of the Flying Efflorescence and Gathered Clouds — the Center
Condensed essence, flying efflorescence, radiance of eight corners,
dense and vigorous through the Great Void, blazing the chamber of light.
A hundred demons hide their echo, its pneuma the Numinous Treasure,
spontaneously parting and joining, planting yin and yang.
The Non-Being of the Supreme Real is the root of Heaven,
vast and distant through the fathoms of kalpas, as if existing, as if gone.
Its great procession of Brahma-pneuma encircles the ten directions,
its measureless mystery is hard to fathom in full.
The Elder over all the numinous spirits grasps the Five Dippers,
sternly subduing Northern Fengdu, sweeping away the inauspicious.
The primal chaos of Great Brahma sets in motion Vermilion Brightness,
vast and open, Longhan gives way in turn to Yankang.
The thirty-two heavens keep to their measure and season,
and so these Five Chapters were made to guard kings and thearchs.
Governing the ten thousand heavens, its awe the Eight Effulgences,
turning death into life, preserving the utmost yang.
The Three Simplicities' purple mist follows above and below,
the Yellow Thearch, sovereign of the center, summons back the Yellow.
Muddy Pellet and Crimson Palace join with the hundred spirits,
gathering the cloud-soul, returning the earth-soul, free of lingering calamity.
Overseeing all the numinous host, holding the Great Ladle,
the Azure Empyrean's empty song praises the Dharma-King.
All the great sages of the heavens together proclaim it good,
preserving their allotted years, free of untimely harm.
Saving and ferrying across the dying, cut off yet reborn,
transcending and rising beyond form, merging with the Great Sovereign.
The ten thousand immortals lend their wings to accomplish the utmost Dao,
so that fated destiny and karmic bond may at last be fulfilled.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Talismans, Registers, and Star Lords shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The treatise's own topical entries — each headed by a short term and typically grounded in a quoted scripture — are kept as the translation's own subheadings, in their original order; the closing set of five hymns is kept as five titled sections of verse, one English line for each line of the Chinese, with couplet pairing preserved as far as English allows.
Before the claim below was written, a bounded translation-status check was performed. Both local reference bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western translation (Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 Purplecloud survey) were searched for this title, its pinyin, and any DZ number, and neither records an entry for it. Two web searches were then run, for the Chinese title and for the pinyin title together with "translation." These returned a catalogue entry for the text at the Chinese Text Project (no translation), and general scholarly discussion of the wider Sanhuang and talisman-script literature that the text belongs to, but no complete or partial published English translation of this specific text. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Sandong Shenfu Ji. We state this as the limit of our knowledge, not as a certainty; a live, exhaustive search could not be completed at the time of preparation.
Two passages in the source, both flagged above at the point where they occur, appear to be corrupted or garbled in the Wikisource transcription itself — one a short phrase in the opening section, the other in the section "Characters Formed from Four Convergences." Both are rendered as literally as the wording allows, with the difficulty marked rather than smoothed over. The text is also dense with the proper names and epithets of minor star-lords, thearchs, and numinous officials (Taokang, the Officer Han, the Lord of Dark Obscurity, and the like) for which no established English convention was found; these have been translated for their sense rather than treated as fixed technical terms, and a reader consulting other Daoist Canon scholarship may find them rendered differently elsewhere.
Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation and editorial work.
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Source Text: 三洞神符記
Classical Chinese text of the Daoist Canon, in the Chinese Wikisource transcription. Presented complete for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
說三元八會六書之法
《道門大論》曰：一者陰陽初分，有三元五德八會之氣，以成飛天之書，後撰為八龍雲篆明光之章。陸先生解三才，謂之三元。三元既立，五行咸具。以五行為五位，三五和合，謂之八會，為眾書之文。又有八龍雲篆明光之章，自然飛玄之氣，結空成文，字方一丈，肇於諸天之內，生立一切也。按《真誥》紫微夫人說，三元八會之書，建文章之祖，八龍雲篆，是根宗所起，有書之始也。又云：八會是三才五行，形在既判之後。亦書云：靈寶赤書五篇真文，出於元始之先。即此而論，三元應非三才，五德應非五行也。此正應是三寶丈人之三氣。三氣自非五德耳。故《九天生神章》云：天地萬化，自非三元所育，九氣所導，莫能生也。又曰：三氣為天地之尊，九氣為萬物之根。故知此呂兀，在天地未開，三才未生之前也。宋法師解八會祗是三氣五德。三元者，一曰混洞太無元高上玉皇之氣，二曰赤混太無元無上玉清之氣，三曰冥寂玄通元無上玉虛之氣。五德者，即三元所有三五會，即陰陽和，陰有少陰、太陰，陽有少陽、太陽，就和中之和，為五德也。篆者，撰也，撰集雲書，謂之雲篆。此即三元八會之文、八龍雲篆之章。皆是天書，三元八會之例是也。雲篆明光，則五符五勝之例是也。八會本文凡一千一百九字。其篇真文，合六百六十 · 八字。是三才之元根，生立天地，開化人神，萬物之由。故云有天道、地道、神道、人道，此之謂也。《玉訣》云：修用此法，五篇皆分字數，各有四條：
一者，主召九天上帝，校神仙圖籙，求仙致真之法。二者，主召天宿星宮，正天分度，保國寧民之道。三者，攝制酆都六天之氣。四者，勑命水帝，制召龍鳥也。其諸天內音，一天有八字，三十二天合二百五十六字。論諸天度數期會，大聖真仙，名諱位號，所治官府，臺城處所，神仙變化，升降品次，眾魔種類，人鬼生死轉輪因緣。其十三字是五方元精名號，服御求仙、鍊神化形、白日騰空之法。餘一百二十二字闕元音解。
二者，演八會為龍鳳之文，謂之龍書。此下皆玄聖所述，以寫天文也。
三者，軒轅之時，蒼頡傍龍鳳之勢，採鳥跡為古文，以代結繩，即古體也。
四者，周時史籀變古文為大篆。
五者，秦時程邈變大篆為小篆。
六者，秦後吁陽變小篆為隸書。又云：漢謂隸書曰佐書。或言程邈獄中所造，出於徒隸，故以隸為名。此即為六書也。
雲篆
又有雲篆明光之章，為順形梵書，文別為六十四種，播于三十六天。今經書相傅，皆以隸字解天書，相雜而行也。
八體六書六文
一曰大篆，二曰小篆，三曰刻符，四曰蟲書，五曰摹印，六曰署書，七曰殳書，八日隸書。王莽時使司徒甄豐校定文字，復有六書：一曰古文，孔子壁中書，二曰奇字，古文異書，三曰篆書，四曰佐書，即隸書，五日繆篆，所以摹印，六曰鳥篆，翻言也。倉頡始書，已應有筆。《詩》云彤管，則是筆也。而言蒙恬造筆者，蓋恬為秦將，三世有名，制削筆精，能獨擅名也。漢和帝時蔡倫始造紙爾。前唯書簡牒。牒者，詮牒語事也。簡者，在簡而不繁也。但知本是天書金簡，餘地書已下，八體六文，皆從真出外，學者自更詳之。又未知何時書於此經在紙作卷。今謂劫初已自有筆，太真所書，何言無也？及以八體六文等耶？以天尊造化，具一切法也。後人承用，自有前後耳。六文，一曰像形，日月是也，二曰指事，上下是也，三曰形聲，河海是也，四曰會意，武信是也，五曰轉注，考老是也，六曰假借，令長是也。
符字
一切萬物，莫不以精氣為用。故二儀三景，皆以精氣行乎其中。萬物既有，亦以精氣行乎其中也。是則五行六物，莫不有精氣者也。以道之精氣布之簡墨，會物之精氣，以卻邪偽，輔助正真，召會羣靈，制御生死，保持劫運，安鎮五方。然此符本於結空，太真仰寫天文，分置方位，區別圖像符書之異。符者，通取雲物星辰之勢；書者，別析音句詮量之旨；圖者，畫取靈變之狀。然符中有書，參似圖像。書中有圖，形聲並用。故有八體六文，更相發顯。
八顯
八顯者，一曰天書，八會是也，二曰神書，雲篆是也，三曰地書，龍鳳之像也，四曰內書，龜龍魚鳥所吐者也，五曰外書，鱗甲羽毛所載也，六曰鬼書，雜體微昧，非人所解者也，七曰中夏書，草藝雲篆是也，八曰戎夷書，類於蜫蟲者也。此六文八體，或今字同古，或古字同今，符彩交加，共成一法，合為一用，故同異無定也。此依宋法師所說，未見正文。而三洞經中，符有字者，如古文《尚書》中有古字，與今同者耳。
玉字訣
太上道君於南丹洞陽上綰，為學士王龍賜說此靈文玉字之訣。但未知定是何世所注。學者尋之。又說諸修行符醮五方思存禳災等法，然正是解訣八會之文，而就本文理中復明理，如解真文中更明感通之理。《定志經》又云：出思微之義？事中復有事，如《玉訣》中復明傳經及盟授威儀之事。然諸經中凡有解訣，皆通謂之《玉訣》也。
皇文帝書
《三皇經》云：皇文帝書，皆出自然虛無，空中結氣成字，無祖無先，無窮無極，隨運隱見，綿綿常存。
天書
《諸天內音經》云：忽有天書，字方一丈，自然見空，其上文彩煥爛，八角垂芒，精光亂眼，不可得看。天真皇人曰：斯文尊妙，不譬於常。是故開大有之始，而閉天光明。以寶其道，而尊其文。其字宛奧，非凡書之體。蓋貴其妙象而隱其至真也。
龍章
《靈寶經》云：赤明開圖，運度自然，元始安鎮，敷落五篇，赤書玉字，八威龍文，保制劫運，使天長存。此之龍章也。
鳳文
《紫鳳赤書經》云：此經舊文，藏在太上六合紫房之內，有六頭獅子巨獸夾墻，玉童玉女侍衛鳳文。
玉牒金書
三元布經，皆刻金丹之書，盛以自然雲錦之囊，封以三元寶神之章，藏於九天之上大有之官，謂之玉牒金書。又云：以紫玉為簡，生金為文，編以金縷，纏以青絲。《太上太真科》云：玉牒金書，七寶為簡，又名紫簡。
石字
《本行經》云：道言：昔禪黎世界隊王有女字絓音，生仍不言，年至十四，主怪之焉，乃棄女於南浮長桑之阿空山之中。女行山周市，忽與神人會於丹陵之舍栢林之下。神執絓音右手，題赤石之上，語桂音曰：汝雖不能言，可憶此也。天為其感，愍其疾，遣朱宮靈童下教絓音治身之衛，授其赤書八字。絓音於是能言。《靈寶玉訣經》云：道告阿丘曾曰：汝前生與南極尊神同在禪黎世界，於丹陵之舍栢林之下同發道意，爾時南極姓皇字度明，執汝右手，俱題赤石，以記姓名，南宮即書汝筆跡題於南軒，今猶尚在，石字亦存，汝憶之不？丘曾心悟，舉目即見南極所主，南壁刻書云：太甲歲七月一日皇度明王阿丘曾同於丹陵栢林下發願，合二十三字，字甚分明。
題素
《五符經》云：五符一通，書以南和之繒，南和，赤色繒也。封以金英之函，印以玄都之章，付震水洞玄之君。《仙公請問經》云：《道德上下經》及《洞真玄經》、《三皇、天文》、上清眾篇詠等，皆是太上所撰，而為文書於南和之繒，故曰題素也。
玉字
《內音玉字經》云：天真皇人曰：諸天內音自然玉字，字方一丈，自然而見空玄之上，八角垂芒，精光亂眼，靈書八會，字無正形，其趣宛奧，難可尋詳，皆諸天之中大梵隱語，結飛玄之氣，合和五方之音，生於元始之上，出於空洞之中，隨運開度，普成天地之功。
天尊命天真皇人注解其正音，使皇道清暢，澤被十方。皇人不敢違命，按筆注解之曰：形魂頓喪，率我所見，聊注其文五合之義，其道足以開度天人也。和合五方，無量之音，以成諸天內音，故曰五合之義也。
文生東
《太平經》云：文者生於東，明於南，故天文生東北，故書出東北而天見其象。虎有文章，家在寅。龍有文章，家在辰。文者生於東，盛於南，是知真文初出在東北也。
玉籙
《玉清隱書》有帝簡金書、玄玉籙籍，可以傳玄羽玉經也。又云：自非帝圖玉籙者，不得聞見上皇玉慧玉清之隱書、金玄隱玄之羽經也。
玉篇
《眾篇序》 云：元始命太真按筆，玉妃拂筵，鑄金為簡，刻書玉篇，五老掌錄，祕於九靈仙都之宮，雲蘊而授葛仙公之經也。
玉札
《金根經》云：太上大道君以大洞真經付上相青童君，掌錄於東華青宮，使傳後聖，應為真人者。此金簡玉札，出自太上靈都之宮，刻玉為之。
丹書墨籙
《太真科》云：丹簡者，乃朱漆之簡，明火主陽也。墨籙者，以墨書文，明水主陰也。人學長生，遵之不死。故名丹簡墨籙，祕不妄傳。
玉策
天皇手執飛仙玉策，人皇手執上皇保命玉策，地皇手執元皇定錄玉策。
福連之書
《三十九章經》曰：太上有瓊羽之門，合延為胎，命之王玄，一為三氣之尊，元老為上帝之賓，並扶兆身，神臺刊名於福連之簡。又曰：太上金簡玉札，為福連之書。
琅蚪瓊文
《飛行羽經》云：金書玉籙，乃琅蚪瓊文也。
白銀之編
《金房度命經》云：太常靈神都宮中，有金房度命迴年之訣，皆鑄金為簡，刻白銀之編，紫筆書文也。
赤書
《玉訣經》云：元始赤書五篇真文，置以五帝，導以陰陽，轉輪九天之紐，運明五星之光也。
火鍊真文
《本相經》曰：吾昔赤明元年與高上大聖玉帝於此土中鍊其真文，以火瑩發字形爾。時真文火漏，餘處氣生，化為七寶林，是以枝葉成紫書金地銀鏤玉文，其中及諸龍禽猛獸一切神蟲，常食林露，真氣入身，命皆得長壽，三千萬劫當終之後，皆轉化為飛仙，從道不輟，亦得正真無為之道。
金壺墨汁字
《聖紀》云：浮提國獻善書二人，乍老乍少，隱形則出影，聞聲則藏形，時出金壺四寸，上有五龍之檢，封以青泥，壺中有墨汁，若淳漆，灑木石皆成篆隸科斗之字，記造化人倫之始。老君撰道經垂十萬言，皆寫以玉牒，編以金繩，貯以玉函。及金壺汁盡，浮提二人乃欲刳心瀝血，以代墨焉。
瓊札
《玉清隱書金虎符》云：鬱儀赤文，招日向輿，結璘黃章，與月共居。《上清消魔經》：啟洞門於希林，尋靈跡於丹穴，發元天之朱匱，望上清之瓊札，玄書既刻於玉章，絳名始刊於靈闕，四遇三元於玄宮，六造五老於靈室。
紫字
《八素經》云：八素真經玄文生於太空之內，見於西龜之山，玄圃之上，積石之陰。《八素高玄羽章》：靈文鬱乎洞標，紫字煥乎瓊林，神光流輝於九元，金音虛朗於紫天，文威煥赫；氣布紫庭，眾真晏禮，稱慶上清。
自然之字
《玉帝七聖玄記》云：爾乃迴天九霄，白簡青錄，上聖帝君受於九空，結飛玄紫氣自然之字，玄記後學得道之名，靈音韻合，玉朗稟真，或以字體，或以隱音，上下四會，皆表玄名空生，刻書廣靈之堂。舊文有十萬玉言，字無正類，韻無正音，自非上聖，莫能意通。積七千年而後，崑崙之室，北洞之源，字方一丈，文蔚煥爛，四合垂芒，虛生晻藹，若存若亡。流光紫氣拂其穢，黃金冶鍊瑩其文，遂經累劫，字體鮮明。至中皇元年九月十七日，七聖齊靈清齊長宮，金青盟天，脆誓告靈，奉受靈文。高上解其曲滯，七聖通其妙音，記為迴天九霄得道之篇，刻以白銀之簡，結以飛青之文，藏於雲錦之囊，封以啟命之章，付於五老仙都左仙公掌錄瓊宮也。
四會成字
《玉帝七聖玄記》云：七聖玄記，迴天上文，或以韻合，或以支類相參，或上下四會以成字音，或標其正諱，或單復相兼，皆出玄古空洞之中，高真撰集，以明靈文。後學之人，若有玄名者，得見此文，青空捒初角切名，四司所保，五帝記名也。
琅簡蘂書
《八素經》云：西華宮有琅簡蘂書，當為真人者，乃得此文。
石碽
《三洞珠囊》云：西王母以上皇元年七月於南浮洞室下教，以授清虛真人王君，傳於夏禹，禹封文於南浮洞室石櫃之中。櫃亦有作此碽者。故《五符》云：九天靈書，猶封於石碽是也。今檢諸字類，無此碽字也。《玉訣》下云：五老真文，封題玉碽。亦其例也。孔靈符《會稽記》云：會稽山南有宛委山，其上有石，俗呼為石簣。壁立干雲，累梯然後至焉。昔禹治洪水，厥功未就，齋於此山，發石簣，得金簡字，以知山河體勢，於是疏導百川，各盡其宜也。
書符訣
收視反聽，攝念存誠，心若太虛，內外貞白，元始即我，我即元始，意到運筆，一炁成符。若符中點畫微有不同，不必拘泥，貴乎信筆而成，心中得意妙處也。但清微中抹筆之法，須分水火。如祈雨雪，行水鍊，治陽病，悉用水筆。祈晴、起電動雷、袪殟、行火鍊、治陰證，悉用火筆。或三天諱，或五帝諱，隨宜用之。
太上敷落五篇
東方蒼精飛雲玉篇
木公扶桑蒼皇君，白元太一左無英。
桃康保命衛生根，出入華房混百神。
玄中太皇開八門，回度五常運法輪。
混沌洞虛無期劫，徊風離合植神靈。
祖劫化生明三景，諸天唯道為我身。
鬱羅大有妙梵氣，九和十合映始青。
普度天人飛五戶，變化自然升上清。
青帝護魂無形影，無窮無極蹈玄英。
洞景嘯咏馭太霞，金真流響朗雲營。
攝氣聚煙執符籙，死魂生身別至真。
統御飛雲育九氣，俯研洞惠自然神。
南方赤字玄精凝章玉篇
朱陵南昌有帝真，勑制地祇侍送迎。
受鍊更生出五戶，永離鬼宮仙道成。
逼合鬼羣除罪簿，隨劫輪轉滅惡根。
韓司主錄隨所度，諸天嚴校衛形魂。
祖劫渺渺運大羅，玉山白石會上京。
好生韓君延壽筭，度厄迴骸起死形。
時刻升遷超三界，逍遙稽首玉帝尊。
空洞自然合梵氣，魂神澄正身光明。
生死受賴皆即度，億曾萬祖苦不經。
反形遊行太空際，受化更生為貴人。
赤帝養氣通營衛，不生不滅使長存。
三氣飛騰擲火鈴，赤字凝章聚元精。
悟理兼忘體洞真，獨步飛升宴玉京。
西方流精神英玉篇
飛天煒燦齊天鈞，皓景元老攝黃兵。
萬帝設禮諸天唱，河海靜默嶽藏雲。
日月停輪合三景，璇璣星斗齊八經。
羣魔鬼精滅形爽，迴尸起死骨成人。
通玄究微悉其章，流輝感激渺神英。
萬道宗祖大乘逸，窈窕瓊華德可勝。
金闕玉京陰陽室，鬱羅蕭仞寶臺明。
尸解返形窮造化，九宮通徹噏金涬。
洞煥三色青黃白，內外蓊冥形氣神。
白帝侍魄營固守，碧落懸珠引妙真。
禁制龍虎威慶雲，倏欻寂響度天人。
遇值經法普得濟，全其本年咸善心。
永度三塗五苦難，歷關諸天魔王傾。
監舉無拘天門制，三界五帝言上清。
北方紫冊玄冥玉篇
元眇復色無復形，總氣彌羅浩太玄。
項負白光成九象，始青開化杳無邊。
玄冥公子度真符，太一元君掌列仙。
彤輝絳瑞舞胎仙，飛軿玉彩射芝田。
九龍驟首吐火珠，玄龜炎迸吐金蓮。
國安民富欣太平，土作碧玉與斗連。
日月星宿旋玉衡，神風靜默山吞煙。
飛天下觀琳琅響，冥慧天真合自然。
遊行三界入金門，輪轉不滅灾不干。
黑帝通血流脉津，中理五氣貫百川。
三十五分回五常，元綱流演箕斗旋。
歷度風澤金剛天，綱紀滋生萬氣全。
九和十合能變化，飛晨稽首玉帝前。
中央飛英總雲玉篇
結精飛英八角芒，鬱勃太空煥景房。
百魔隱韻氣靈寶，自然離合植陰陽。
無無上真為天根，渺渺劫仞若存亡。
大行梵氣周十方，無量玄奧難可詳。
總靈上老握五斗，嚴攝北酆掃不祥。
溟涬大梵運赤明，遼廓龍漢紀延康。
三十二天按節度，故作五篇鎮帝王。
統御萬天威八景，回死作生保至陽。
三素紫煙循上下，黃帝中主招迴黃。
泥丸絳宮合百神，攝魂還魄無滯殃。
總監眾靈掌大魁，碧落空歌讚法王。
諸天大聖同稱善，全其本年無中傷。
濟度垂死絕而生，超凌無色混太皇。
萬仙輔翼成至道，宿命因緣始可當。
Source Colophon
The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this text (article 三洞神符記, revision of 2 March 2018), 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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