Esoteric Arts of the Grand Clarity Jade Bureau 太清玉司左院秘要上法

Compiled by Xiaying, a hermit of the Dongzhen Mountain in the Southern Song Dynasty. Consisting of one volume, it is included in the Zhengyi Section of the The Daozang.

Esoteric Arts of the Grand Clarity Jade Bureau

The volume opens with the author's preface, which states that the methods of the Pure Clear Jade Department govern worldly illnesses, fire and water disasters, natural calamities, human affairs, and ghosts and gods, and are the methods of the Pure Clear Immortals. These methods were transmitted by the Pure Clear Immortal Earl to Pure Clear Baozhen, who then passed them down to True Lord Wang of the Eastern Flower Mountain. After attaining the Dao and passing away, True Lord Wang became the Left Minister of the Taiji; in his time, he used the methods of the Pure Clear Jade Department to protect the world and save the people. The author was presumably a disciple of True Lord Wang, and thus compiled this book to pass on to the Wang clan's descendants, enabling them to serve as hereditary masters for generations and practice the methods of the Pure Clear Jade Department.

The "methods of the Pure Clear Jade Department" described in the book center on the visualization of the Yellow Old Lord. On the Jiazi and Gengshen days, or other auspicious days for cultivating the Dao, practitioners visualize the Yellow Old Lord guarding the Niwan Palace, Dantian, and other parts of the body in accordance with the methods, and also visualize the Yellow Old Lord bestowing jade seals, talismans, and incantations upon them. It is said that wearing the talismans and reciting the incantations will bring the protection of all deities to one's person. The book contains illustrations of jade seals and talismans, as well as explanations of the methods for writing talismanic scripts.