Taishang Dongxuan Lingbao Sanyuan Yujing Xuandu Daxian Jing (The Scripture of the Great Offering at the Mysterious Metropolis of Jade Capital of the Three Primes of the Numinous Treasure of the Cavernous Mystery of the Supreme Oneness) is one of the ancient Taoist Lingbao Scriptures, probably compiled during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Xuan Yi, a Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty, stated in his Zhenglun (Treatise on Discrimination and Correction) that this scripture was "composed by Taoist Liu Wudai to imitate the Ullambana Sutra".
The original text consists of one scroll and is included in the Text category of the Cavernous Mystery section of the Daozang (Taoist Canon).
There is also a Tang-dynasty Dunhuang manuscript (S3061) titled Taishang Dongxuan Lingbao Zhongyuan Yujing Xuandu Daxian Jing (The Scripture of the Great Offering at the Mysterious Metropolis of Jade Capital of the Mid-Yuan Festival of the Numinous Treasure of the Cavernous Mystery of the Supreme Oneness). The Daozang version contains annotations, while the Dunhuang manuscript has no notes. The scripture is pseudonymously attributed to dialogues between the Primordial Heavenly Worthy and the Supreme Lord of the Dao, narrating that the souls of hell ghosts and the deceased suffer various torments because they did not encounter the enlightened teaching, did not hear the dharma sounds, and committed evils and crimes in their past lives. To free themselves from suffering, they "must follow the Dharma of the Great Offering at the Mysterious Metropolis": on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the Mid-Yuan Festival, burn incense and lamps day and night, prepare rare and exotic treasures, offer them to the great sages of all directions and Taoist priests, and recite this scripture day and night. By doing so, they can attain liberation and be free from all sufferings. The Heavenly Worthy also exhorts all men and women in the world: on the three prime festival fast days (the 15th day of the first lunar month, the Upper Yuan Festival; the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the Mid-Yuan Festival; and the 15th day of the tenth lunar month, the Lower Yuan Festival), they must preach this scripture, diligently perform obeisance, bathe and keep themselves pure and abstinent, receive the ten precepts, and practice with faith and reverence.
Those who violate the precepts will fall into hell and suffer the calamity of the wind knives.
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