The Numinous Treasure Golden Register Consecration Rite 金箓斋启坛仪

Compiled and collated by Du Guangting, a Taoist priest of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period.

It is a single scroll, incorporated into the section of Ritual Norms under the Cavern Mystery Section of The Daozang.

The Golden Register Fasting is one of the six major fasting rituals of the Numinous Treasure tradition in Taoism, adopted to harmonize yin and yang, eliminate calamities and subdue anomalies, as well as to pray for blessings and the prolongation of imperial reign for emperors and sovereigns. Lu Xiujing of the Southern Dynasties already compiled the ritual texts of the Golden Register Fasting, and the rituals were successively revised, abridged and finalized by Du Guangting in the late Tang Dynasty, along with Yang Jie and Zhang Shangying in the Northern Song Dynasty and other Taoist scholars.

This text was compiled by Du Guangting, recording the Ritual for the Consecration of the Altar, which stands as one of the various rituals pertaining to the Golden Register Fasting.

It first elaborates in detail the ritual procedures including the erection of the altar, posting of announcements, preparation of ritual implements, lighting of lamps, and the number of days for cultivating the Dao and performing rituals. It then enumerates the liturgical texts for the fasting ceremony, such as rites of repentance, memorial addresses, benedictory prayers and the True Scripts of the Five Directions.

All its benedictory prayers and memorial addresses offer repentance for sins and pray for blessings on behalf of the emperor, the crown prince, all kings and princesses, as well as civil and military officials; they also wish for the peace and tranquility of imperial ancestral temples, the eternal endurance of the imperial lineage, the longevity of the sage sovereign, and universal peace across the four seas, embodying the profound ritual philosophy of The Dao in reconciling heaven and mortal world.