The Celestial Monastic Initiation 太上出家传度仪

Compiled and compiled by Jia Shanxiang, a Taoist priest of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In one volume, it is included in the Zhengyi Section of The Daozang.

This treatise elaborates in detail on the ritual ceremonies for Taoist practitioners to renounce secular life and receive precepts.

It first expounds on two meanings of renouncing secular life: the first is abandoning glory and prosperity, leaving one’s family to enter the Dao, which is called "first departing from the family of love and affection"; the second is upholding fasting and observing precepts after entering the Dao, diligently learning and practicing asceticism to attain the Dao and become a true immortal, and transcending the Three Realms, which is termed "departing from the family of all conditioned existences". Those who have just entered the Dao must resolve to practice asceticism with sincere aspiration, aiming to depart from the family of all conditioned existences. The book enumerates the rituals and etiquettes for disciples to enter the Dao and receive precepts, including numerous procedures such as burning incense to offer sacrifices to the gods, paying homage to emperors, expressing gratitude to ancestors, taking leave of parents, relatives and friends, receiving the Ten Precepts, reciting the Three Treasures, repaying the Four Kindnesses, and paying homage to the Three Teachers.

Its canonical disciplinary norms inherit the ritual system of the Tang Dynasty Taoist precept transmission, and are consistent with the ascetic tradition preserved in The Dongshen Section; its textual pedigree also echoes the precept observation doctrines compiled in the mid-the Tang Dynasty.