Prolegomena to the Pure Brightness Dharma 太上灵宝净明法序
Paul PengProlegomena to the Pure Brightness Dharma
This text is a Taoist scripture of the Jingming Sect from the Song and Yuan dynasties, included in the Methods category of the Dongxuan Section of The Daozang.
It is also collected in Supreme Lord Lingbao Pure Brightness Sect Records, in the Kui section of Essential Collections of the Daozang.
Prolegomena to the Pure Brightness Dharma
The preface proclaims that the Pure Brightness Dharma was taught by the Heavenly Lord to the Perfected Lord of the Sun, the Immortal King of Filial Piety. Later, Perfected Lord Xu received this book from a heavenly sage, who “clarified its essentials and composed thirty-five chapters of Taoist scriptures to circulate in the human world.”
The “thirty-five chapters of Taoist scriptures” mentioned here refer to Supreme Lord Lingbao Pure Brightness Cave Spirit Upper Scripture, also known as Supreme Lord Lingbao Pure Brightness Secret Dharma, an important scripture of the Jingming Sect in the Southern Song Dynasty.
This text serves as the preface to that scripture. Although only a few hundred characters long, it summarizes the origin, transmission, and essential tenets of the Pure Brightness Dharma with clear language and reasoning, making it important material for the study of the Jingming Sect.
