Zhengyi Scripture of Methods: Ritual of Transmitting the Dudugan Tablet
Author unknown.
Compiled approximately during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Originally one of the fragmentary scrolls of Zhengyi Scripture of Methods—a classic text of Celestial Master Daoism—the book expounds the alliance and confirmation rituals for transmitting the Dudugan Tablet Text.
The so-called “Dudugan Tablet Text” refers essentially to the official appointment document issued to Zhengyi Daoist priests when they assume or are promoted to official positions in the Twenty-Four Sees. It is written in cinnabar ink on tablets made of silver-wood, pagoda tree or catalpa wood.
The tablet text records details such as a priest’s name, age, native place, merits and virtues accumulated in cultivating the Dao, as well as the official position he deserves to be appointed to based on his merits.
It is stated that descendants of the Celestial Master may be appointed to the position of Grand Dudugan of Yangping See, while those who are not descendants can only be assigned to positions in other Sees.
Such regulations are believed to have existed prior to Kou Qianzhi’s reforms of Celestial Master Daoism.
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