The Supreme Salvation through Culture Canon 太上无极总真文昌大洞仙经

Referred to in short as Wenchang Great Cavern Immortal Scripture.

It is one of the transmitted versions of the Taoist classic Great Cavern True Scripture.

According to tradition, this version was imparted by Emperor Wenchang through a spirit-writing altar in the wuzi year of the Qiandao reign period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1168). Hence, it has been known as the Zitong Wenchang Scripture Version or the Sichuan Version in later generations.

The original text consists of five scrolls and is included in the Benwenlei (Scripture Text Category) of the Dongzhenbu (True Grotto Section) in the Daozang (Taoist Canon).

The first two scrolls mainly expound on the life experiences and moral virtues of the Primordial Lord of Rebirth and Eternal Life (i.e., Emperor Wenchang), the origin and evolution of this scripture as well as its fundamental tenets, along with the rituals, praises and relevant contents for reciting and upholding the scripture. Scrolls three to five contain thirty-eight chapters of the "Cavern Scriptures" preached by the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign. The texts and phrases of these chapters are adapted from the thirty-nine chapters of the Shangqing Great Cavern True Scripture and selected sections of the Lingbao Scripture of Delivering Beings, with revisions, additions and deletions made to compile a new scripture.

Originally, the Great Cavern True Scripture was a cultivation text of the Shangqing School of Taoism, whose Taoist methods focused primarily on scripture recitation and contemplation of deities. In contrast, this book takes delivering the living and redeeming the dead, dispelling disasters and prolonging life as its core tenets. It emphasizes that establishing vegetarian altars, reciting scriptures, doing good deeds and accumulating merits are the essentials of cultivation, exhorting people to uphold their inherent duties. In essence, it is one of the Taoist moral-instruction texts produced during the Song and Yuan dynasties.