The Jade Register Requiem Preliminary Rite 玉箓资度宿启仪

The compiler remains anonymous.

According to textual research, it was presumably compiled from the late Northern Song Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty.

It is incorporated into the Ritual Norms Section of the Cavern Mystery Division of The Daozang.

The Jade Register Fasting ranks among the Three Registers and Seven Grades of Taoist fasting rites, dedicated to the salvation and deliverance of deceased spirits. This fasting method was already mentioned in The Profound Meaning of the Daoist School, a text compiled from the late Northern and Southern Dynasties to the early Tang Dynasty. Nevertheless, the eight extant rituals of the Jade Register Fasting preserved in The Daozang were restructured and adapted by later Taoists after the Golden Register Fasting rituals, an evolution that took place between the compilation of the Golden Register Fasting rites by Yang Jie in the late Northern Song Dynasty and the imperial commission for holding the Grand Jade Register Sacrificial Ceremony by Zhang Yuchu in the 16th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (1383). The Ritual of the Vigil Invocation recorded herein is one of the Jade Register Fasting rites, performed as a preparatory ceremony prior to the commencement of the grand fasting ritual.

This ritual was conducted to repent sins on behalf of the emperor, the crown prince, all imperial princes, dukes, marquises and the people across the realm, to invoke and declare to the divine spirits including the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Emperor, and to affirm the aspiration of holding the Grand Jade Register Fasting for the salvation of deceased spirits. Rooted in the cosmic ontology of Taiji and the core tenets of traditional Taoism, this observance embodies the mercy of redeeming all living beings and praying for universal peace.

Its core ritual proceedings mainly include reciting divine incantations of the Five Directions, paying homage to the cardinal directions with repentance of sins, the Three Invocations and Three Homages, and proclaiming talismanic scrolls and bamboo slips, among other liturgical observances.