The Shangqing Jade Emperor’s Seven Sages Mysterious Record: Scripture of Returning to the Heavens and the Nine Firmaments
The Shangqing Jade Emperor’s Seven Sages Mysterious Record: Scripture of Returning to the Heavens and the Nine Firmaments (Shangqing Yudi Qisheng Xuanji Huitian JiuXiao Jing) is one of the early classics of the Shangqing School, presumably dating back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317–420 CE).
Volume 14 of Zhengao (The True Declarations) quotes from The Seven Sages Mysterious Record; the Catalogue of the Shangqing Great Grottoes Scripture (Shangqing Dadong Jing Mu) records the entry "One Scroll of the Shangqing Seven Sages Mysterious Record: Returning to the Heavens and the Nine Firmaments"—both references refer to this scripture.
The original text consists of one scroll and is included in the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Section of the Daozang (Taoist Canon).
Works such as Wushang Miyao (The Supreme Secret Essentials) and Yunji Qiqian (The Seven Lots of the Cloud Satchel) also extensively quote from this scripture. Falsely attributed to compilation by "High Sages," the text discusses methods of "contemplating and worshipping divine beings, and having one’s name recorded in the celestial bamboo slips."
The entire scripture is divided into four parts:
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The Upper Method of the High Sages: Hidden Contemplation of the Six Harmonies, Fixed Registration, and Becoming an Immortal (Gaosheng Liuhe Yincun Dingjian Ji Xian Shangfa). The method prescribes that on the "Six Harmonies Days" (lihe ri, days aligned with the six directions in Taoist cosmology), practitioners enter a chamber to contemplate and worship deities including the Jade Emperor and the Five Elders Immortal Uncles. This practice is said to invoke divine beings to descend and bestow precious instructions, and have one’s name recorded in the celestial white bamboo slips and plain scrolls; after seven years, one can attain immortality and ascend to heaven.
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The Upper Section of the Inner Text of the High Sages’ Mysterious Record: Attaining the Dao and Concealing One’s Name (Gaosheng Xuanji Dedao Yinming Neiwen Shangpian). It contains seven poems titled "The Seven Sages’ Mysterious Record," in which the precious names of various deities are implicitly embedded. It is claimed that those who obtain this text will have their destiny fixed in the white bamboo slips; through diligent practice, asceticism, prolonged fasting, and contemplating the "True Essence" (zhen) for seven years, auspicious divine signs will descend.
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The Inner Text of the High Sages’ Hidden Book: Golden Names and Jade Characters (Gaosheng Yinshu Jinming Yuzi Neiwen). It includes thirteen sets of talismans, all of which are "hidden script true texts" (yinshu zhenwen) from heaven. By selecting an auspicious day to transcribe, wear, and hold these hidden texts in accordance with the method, while contemplating divine beings and worshipping them, practitioners will have their names recorded in the Emperor’s registry after nine years and ascend to become immortals.
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The Method of the High Sages’ Immortal Prohibitions and Seven Injuries (Gaosheng Xianjin Qishang Zhi Fa). It lists seven transgressions that scholars seeking to have their names recorded in the golden bamboo slips and jade registries must not commit. If one violates these seven prohibitions, they will suffer punishment and ruin—hence the title "Method of the Immortal Prohibitions and Seven Injuries."
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