Zhengyi Rites of the Precept-Instructed Retreat
The author is unknown. Judging from its content, the text was likely compiled during the Southern and Northern Dynasties or the Sui-Tang period.
Consisting of one scroll, it is included in the category of Ritual Texts in the Dongshen Section (the Section of Cave Spirits) of the Daoist Canon.
The Precept-Instructed Retreat was a retreat ritual of early Celestial Master Taoism, originating from the era when the Three Zhangs founded the religion at the end of the Han Dynasty.
The text states: “We respectfully follow the ancient canons of Hanzhong and establish the Precept-Instructed Retreat.”
It was presumably adapted by later generations based on the original retreat rituals of the Three Zhangs. The original text comprises two parts: The Ritual of Evening Declaration and The Ritual of Morning Liturgy. It mainly records the procedures of Zhengyi Taoist priests performing retreat rituals on behalf of laypeople to pray for the dispelling of misfortunes and the bestowal of blessings. The priests would invoke the Supreme Lord, as well as the Heavenly Master, the Successor Master, and the Lineage Master, imploring them to eliminate disasters and grant good fortune.
The ritual procedures include kindling the ritual furnace, paying homage, reciting prayers, expounding ritual protocols, extinguishing the furnace, chanting hymns, and exiting the altar.
The so-called The Ritual of Evening Declaration and The Ritual of Morning Liturgy follow largely similar procedures.
However, the Ritual of Evening Declaration involves consecrating the altar at night, while the Ritual of Morning Liturgy is performed in the early morning. Hence, the Daoist Canon version divides them into two separate sections.
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