The Celestial Filial Piety Scripture FULL NAME IS
The Xuantian Shangdi Speaks the Scripture of Repaying Parents' Great Kindness
The author is unknown.
In Volume 5 ofDaomen Dingzhi (Customs and Rules of the Taoist School)compiled byTaoist priestLü Yuansu during the Southern Song Dynasty, there is a mention of "one volume ofThe Scripture of the True Martial Lord of Spiritual Responses and True Perception Repaying Parents' Great Kindness," which seems to refer to this very text.
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The present version, consisting of one volume, is included in the Benwen (Original Text) Category of theThe Dongshen SectionwithinThe Daozang.
The first half of the scripture is the main text, purportedly spoken byZhenwu(also known as Xuantian Shangdi), expounding on the hardships parents endure in giving birth to and raising their children, and exhorting the world to cultivateThe Daoand repay their parents' profound kindness. The second half is titled "The Sacred Epithets of Xuantian Shangdi for Repaying Kindness," teaching people to recite sacred names, venerate the sages, pray for blessings, and repay their roots, with wishes such as"May my living parents enjoy prolonged blessings and longevity, and may my deceased parents attain transcendence soon".
The scripture reveres Xuantian Shangdi by the sacred epithet:"The Great Sage, Great Compassionate, Great Benevolent, Great Filial Lord of Eighty-Two Transformations and Teacher of Repaying Kindness; the Protecting Sage True Martial Lord, Ruler of the World and God of Blessings; the Virtual Teacher and Minister, Xuantian Shangdi, the Heavenly Lord Incarnated from the Golden Palace".
Attached at the end of the scripture is a postscript written byTaoist priestZhao Yizhen in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, briefly recounting the myth ofZhenwu—who was originally a prince of the Pure Joy Kingdom—retreating to Taihe Mountain to cultivateThe Dao.
