Shangqing Correct Rites of the Heart of Heaven 上清天心正法

Compiled by Deng Yougong of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Tongzhi · Bibliographic Treatise records it in three volumes, without attribution of the compiler.

The current text in The Daozang consists of seven volumes, included in the Methods category of the Dongxuan Section.

Shangqing Correct Rites of the Heart of Heaven

At the beginning of the compilation is a preface by Deng Yougong, stating that in the fifth year of the Chunhua reign of the Northern Song Dynasty (994), Rao Dongtian unearthed a text of the Heavenly Heart Orthodox Dharma. After five generations of transmission, it was edited and revised by Deng Yougong to produce this book.

The first two volumes contain methods for invoking and absorbing the Three Luminaries Orthodox Qi, healing with talismans, refining and transforming the body into a great spirit, walking the Big Dipper in practice, distant concealment, near concealment, and the Great Total Truth Incantation. Its main principle is the use of talismans and incantations to summon gods, command ghosts, expel evil, and cure illnesses.

The last five volumes contain dozens of talismans and incantations. Among them, the “Three Orthodox Talismans” (the Tiangang Talisman, the Black Subjugation Talisman, and the Three Luminaries Talisman) are the three primary talismans of the Heavenly Heart Orthodox Dharma. Most of the other talismans and incantations are derived from Daoist scriptures of the Zhengyi and Supreme Clarity schools. They were the methods used by Daoists at that time to expel evil, exorcise specters, heal the sick, and save people, which the preface refers to as “the talismanic scripts of the Northern Emperor”.

This book serves as important material for the study of the Daoist methods of the Song and Yuan Heavenly Heart Sect.