The Ritual of Fasting and Repentance to the Three Emperors and Seventy-Two Lords of the Cave Gods
Originally titled "Revised and Finalized by Mr. Guangcheng Du Guangting", this text was adapted by Du Guangting, a Taoist priest in the late Tang Dynasty, based on the Three Emperors’ fasting rituals of Taoism during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
It is a one-volume work included in the Rituals and Ceremonies Section of the Cave Divine Division of the Daozang (Taoist Canon).
This text describes the Taoist ritual where priests erect an altar and hold a sacrificial ceremony to perform the Cave Gods Three Emperors Fasting Ritual, offering sacrifices to the "Seventy-Two Lords" to repent sins on behalf of the emperor, pray for blessings and ward off disasters, so that all soldiers and civilians of the state can share in the auspiciousness and grace. The ritual procedures include declaring to the Seventy-Two Lords, repenting to the Supreme One Lord of the North, and other steps.
The so-called "Seventy-Two Lords" refer to the thirty-six "Imperial Lords of the Four Directions and Nine Heavens" and thirty-six "Supreme Imperial Lords of the Four Directions and Nine Realms", all of whom are the deities governing heaven, earth and the four cardinal directions.
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