The Xuandu Lüwen 玄都律文

As one of the important precepts of early Celestial Master Taoism, this text was probably compiled in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, and is suspected to have been edited by Taoist priests at the Xuandu Temple in the imperial capital during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

The original number of scrolls remains unknown. The Comprehensive Catalogue of the Chongwen Library of the Northern Song Dynasty recorded The Compiled Statutes of the Mysterious Metropolis in eight scrolls; the Secret Catalogue of the Southern Song Dynasty listed The Statutes of the Mysterious Metropolis in fifteen scrolls; and the Bibliographical Survey of Literature in Comprehensive Records of the Dynasties documented the same text in twenty-five scrolls.

Only one scroll survives in the current version of the Daoist Canon, which is included in the category of Precept Texts in the Dongzhen Section (the Section of True Grottoes). The fragmentary text compiles Taoist precepts divided into six categories, namely The Statutes of Emptiness and Non-Being, Good and Evil, The Statutes of Precept Odes, The Statutes of a Hundred Remedies, The Statutes of a Hundred Moral Afflictions, The Statutes of Institutions and Regulations, and The Statutes of Memorials and Petitions.

The statutes mainly propagate the concept of karmic retribution for good and evil, exhorting Taoist believers to abide by the rules and regulations of the Taoist school, perform good deeds to benefit the world, and eliminate evil conduct. The so-called “hundred moral afflictions and hundred remedies” mentioned in the text do not refer to ordinary illnesses and medicines, but to moral failings (such as lustfulness and lack of virtue, coveting what others possess, etc.) and the corresponding corrective methods (such as cultivating tranquility and freedom from desires, cherishing life and abhorring killing, refraining from amassing excessive wealth, etc.).

It also asserts that those who perform good deeds will receive divine blessings and protection from heaven, and be reborn as immortals and true beings in their future lives; whereas those who commit evil deeds will be afflicted with disasters and illnesses sent by heaven, and be reduced to the status of servants and concubines in their next lives.

All who violate these statutes shall have their lifespan shortened as a punishment from heaven.

According to quotations in Tang and Song Taoist texts such as The Pearl of the Three Grottoes and Anthology of Essential Rituals, Precepts and Codes, the original version of The Statutes of the Mysterious Metropolis should have contained at least twenty categories, including The Statutes of the Three Assemblies, The Statutes of Creation and Opening, The Statutes of Official Governance, The Statutes of Presenting Memorials to Heaven, The Statutes of Cultivating One’s Conduct and Practicing the Dao, The Statutes of Entering the Governance Center, and so on.

Nearly a hundred articles of the statutes quoted in these two texts are not found in the surviving version of the Daoist Canon.