The Daoist Ritual Orthopraxy 洞玄灵宝道学科仪

Taoist Ritual Protocols of the Cavern Mystery and Numinous Treasure It was originally attributed to the Perfect Man of Supreme Utmost Emptiness, a divine immortal appellation in Taoism.

Judging from its textual content and linguistic style, it bears an extremely close resemblance to Regulations and Precepts for Upholding the Dao in the Three Caverns, leading scholars to conjecture that it was composed by Taoist practitioners in the Northern and Southern Dynasties or the Sui and Tang dynasties.

In two volumes, the text is included in the Taiping Section of The Daozang.

Divided into thirty-five fascicles, this scripture elaborates in detail on the disciplinary rules and ritual protocols that Taoist monks shall observe and abide by in monastic cultivation and daily life. It sets down specific regulations for all major and minor matters, including speech and demeanor, sitting, lying and daily living, attire and diet, monastic initiation and devotion to the Dao, crafting of ritual instruments, recitation of sacred scriptures, holding fasting ceremonies and sacrificial rituals, burning incense and lighting lamps, submitting Taoist memorials and praying for divine favors, paying visits to one’s parents, providing for father and mother, observing mourning rituals for one’s master, funeral and interment rites after death, and the disposition of personal relics, all prescribed with explicit disciplinary articles and norms.

As a typical canonical text of Taoist disciplinary codes in the early ages, it is affiliated to the core category of The Dongxuan Section，and its ritual norms share the same origin with the disciplinary classics preserved in The Dongshen Section.