Numinous Treasure Limitless Salvation Great Rituals 灵宝无量度人上经大法

The author is unknown.

The phrase “Your subject [Name] now resides in [Village] of the Great Ming Kingdom” appears in the text, which verifies that this book was compiled by Taoist Priest of the Ming Dynasty.

Numinous Treasure Limitless Salvation Great Rituals

Originally consisting of seventy-two volumes, it is included in the Methods category of the Dongzhen Section of The Daozang.

This is a complete compendium of The Lingbao Sect Taoist methods, divided into eighty-eight sections. It collects materials from past dynasties regarding Lingbao scriptural doctrines, fasting and ritual norms, inner cultivation and visualization, prayer and exorcism, refinement and salvation of the deceased, pacing the Dipper and altar establishment, memorial submission and other Taoist practices. All these methods focus on reciting scriptures, contemplating deities, applying talismans and chanting incantations, while also integrating inner alchemical arts.

The compiler proclaims that the Great Lingbao Rite is the ancestral teaching of the Three Caverns and the origin of all methods. It contains "the upper way of cultivating perfection and inner refinement, by which flesh and bones ascend together; the middle method of longevity and transcendence through corpse liberation; the lower teaching of uplifting ancestors and saving the departed spirits".

The volume arrangement, section catalog and content of the entire book are similar to large-scale Taoist works on methods from the Southern Song Dynasty such as Great Rite of Shangqing Lingbao.