Master Guo Shiwen
1. What Is the Audience Liturgy for the Empress of Heaven?
The Audience Liturgy for the Empress of Heaven (Tianhou Chaoke) is a Taoist liturgical rite held specifically for Mazu (the Empress of Heaven). Its functions show mainly in the following respects: some forms of the liturgy also serve the function of the Yellow Register Fast and can be used for the ritual deliverance of the dead, praying for Mazu to protect the souls of the departed so that they escape the sea of suffering and are reborn on a good path, embodying the compassionate spirit of Taoism in relieving the dead and delivering the departed.
The content of the liturgy includes devout invocation, universal offering, repentance of sins, and praying for blessings and dispelling calamity. Through these rites, believers hope to receive the protection and guidance of the Empress of Heaven.
In addition, the liturgy also reflects Taoism's spirit of compassion and its care for all living beings. It involves many Taoist deities, such as the Most High Heavenly Worthy of the Tao and Its Virtue (Daode Tianzun), the Perfected Guangjiu, the Universally Saving Empress of Heaven, the Divine Kings of the Four Seas, and the Venerable Gods of the Four Rivers. Together these deities make up the divine system of the liturgy.
The liturgy is usually held in a Tianhou Palace (temple of the Empress of Heaven), such as the Tianhou Palace in Tianjin. That temple was first built in the first year of the Taiding era of the Yuan dynasty (1324), rebuilt in the first year of the Yongle era of the Ming (1403), and renamed the Tianhou Palace in the twenty-third year of the Kangxi era of the Qing (1684).
The twenty-third day of the third month of the lunar calendar each year is the birthday of Mazu, the Empress of Heaven, and the Tianhou Palace in Tianjin holds a folk flower fair that draws many visitors. The content and form of the liturgy embody Taoist faith and culture, and also reflect the reverence and worship of the common people for Mazu, the Empress of Heaven.
2. The Text of the Audience Liturgy for the Empress of Heaven
1. Opening Declaration:
Sword and pendants blaze coldly with the light of the Dipper and the Ox; tablet and writ bear the command to sweep away demons.
Her awesome countenance appears and people look up in reverence; her heart moves with compassion, rain and dew fall evenly on all.
2. Pacing the Void:
On her head she wears a crown of golden flowers; on her body a robe of five-colored pheasant plumes.
Holy Empress Sovereign of the Golden Gate, her shelter extends across the four seas.
Intone: Holy Mother, Primordial Sovereign of the Supreme Ultimate
3. Hanging Verses:
Saving the people and protecting the nation, she bestows grace and virtue; averting harm and removing calamity, her blessings flourish.
Her awesome virtue, perfect and complete, reaches the upper realm; bestowing compassion, she descends to the world to deliver all beings.
May the mountains, rivers, and altars of the state be forever secure; may rain come in season and winds be gentle, preserving great peace.
Scattering her image and dividing her radiance through the Three Realms, in the human world and in heaven the sun and moon shine bright.
Incense offering: Holy Mother, Primordial Sovereign of the Supreme Ultimate
4. Merit Text:
Humbly we consider: the Supreme Tao is subtle and faint, primal chaos without sound or color; elusive and obscure, it gives rise to images, to things, and to essence. In the ancestral kalpa of the Primordial, it transformed into and gave birth to the immortal realms of all the heavens; the Five Talismans of Lingbao opened the way to transformation and universally deliver all beings. The Most High handed down the rites and expounded the true text of the Tao and its Virtue. The Celestial Master received the registers, established the teaching, transmitted the methods, and delivered humankind. We pay court with a true heart; without sincerity nothing is reached. Our nature has a numinous light; wherever there is feeling, there is response. In the burner we burn the true incense of clarity and stillness and devoutly make our invocation.
Intone: Heavenly Worthy of the Treasures of the Tao, the Scriptures, and the Masters
5. Raising the Rite:
Bells and drums ring out like jade, resounding to the heavens; the ten directions are purified and all is at peace.
6. Declaration:
Heaven is without foul vapors as we pay court to the Primordial; earth is without demonic dust as we behold the holy countenance.
7. Incense of the Three Treasures:
Bowing my head, I take refuge in the Tao. The Tao lies in the dark and obscure; elusive, it opened the ancestral kalpa; primal chaos, its principle is hard to fathom. I vow to burn the incense of the Treasure of the Tao; may the incense of the Treasure of the Tao be offered in every life, forever.
Bowing my head, I take refuge in the scriptures. The scriptures shine in the eight directions: five thousand and forty-eight scrolls, in phoenix seal script and dragon writing. I vow to burn the incense of the Treasure of the Scriptures; may the incense of the Treasure of the Scriptures be offered in every life, forever.
Bowing my head, I take refuge in the masters. The masters' kindness cannot be measured; they open the way and deliver the lost multitudes, a ship of mercy on the sea of suffering. I vow to burn the incense of the Treasure of the Masters; may the incense of the Treasure of the Masters be offered in every life, forever.
Incense offering: Heavenly Worthy of the Treasures of the Tao, the Scriptures, and the Masters
8. Merit Text
Your servant has heard: the Jade Maiden within the Dipper, her holy virtue matches heaven. By the command of Lord Lao she was born into the human world. Born with numinous insight, she foresaw the fortunes and misfortunes of the living; transformed in compassion, she strove to rescue people from the disasters of the waters. Her divine powers are vast; she follows the voice of those who cry out and saves them from suffering and hardship. Without partiality or favor, she dispels misfortune and faults as the heart wishes. Holy Mother in Heaven, Lady of Blessing of Putian. In passing the incense there is a verse; her holy name is proclaimed.
Intone: Heavenly Worthy Who Conveys Faith on Clouds of Incense
9. Raising the Rite:
Protecting the nation and saving the people without hindrance, she rescues from danger and peril in an instant.
10. Declaration:
Turning ill fortune into good in a snap of the fingers, she bestows blessings and dispels calamity as if wiping away the smallest trace.
11. Incense Invocation Incantation:
The Tao is learned through the heart; the heart relies on incense to convey it. The incense burns in the jade burner; the heart dwells before the Emperor. May the true spirits look down; may the immortal banners come to the terrace. Let your servant's announcement pass straight through to the Three Heavens. (Or: the Six Heavens, the Nine Heavens.)
12. Incantation of Awesome Numinosity:
True Empress, immortal of the Dipper, ranked among the Nine Heavens. Above she assists the Golden Gate; below she reaches to the springs and sources.
Envoy of the Seven Primordials, her Tao is one with what is so of itself. Boundless as vast heaven, she sends down blessings without end.
Her divine powers transform and change; “Shunji” (Smooth Crossing) is her name. As one thinks of her she responds, most holy and most numinous.
Her awesome light shines brilliantly, protecting the nation and sheltering the people. We your servants commit our lives to her; may we forever keep benefit and uprightness.
13. Raising the Rite:
Reverently facing the jasper altar
14. Declaration:
Please state your office
Stating office: ... bowing the head and knocking the head to the ground, burning true incense in the burner, I devoutly make my invocation:
15. Invitation of the Holy Assembly:
We your servants silently offer true incense and devoutly make our invocation: in the Immortal Realm of Grand Clarity, of emptiness and nothingness and what is so of itself, where the holy teaching is expounded—the Heavenly Worthy of the Tao and Its Virtue of the Great Canopy Heaven. Before the seat of the Most High, the Perfected Guangjiu. The Universally Saving Empress of Heaven, Holy Mother, Primordial Sovereign of the Supreme Ultimate. In the hall of the Eastern Sea, the Virtuous King Cangning; in the hall of the Southern Sea, the Hongsheng Relieving King Chi'an; in the hall of the Western Sea, the Moistening King Suqing; in the hall of the Northern Sea, the Beneficent King Huanxun. The Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Huai, and the Ji—the Venerable Gods of the Four Rivers—and the ministers of the eight divisions. On the Purple Cloud Terrace, General Yang the Fourth. Guarding the palace of the sea bureau, the venerable yaksha god. The Marshal of the Yellow Wasp Troops, the White Horse General, the Envoy of Ding and Ren, the Great Sage Chengxiang, the Great God Lord Yan, Thousand-Li Eye and Wind-Following Ear, the Blue-Robed Lad, and the Judge of the Water Ministry. All the venerable gods of the water bureau and the paradise gardens. May all, by this true incense, receive our universal offering.
The declarer reads out the memorial; when finished, the merit officiant begins the sacred proclamation...
16. With Utmost Sincerity I Take Refuge and Pay Homage
United in making with the earth, endowed with the numinous spirit of the lofty peaks. She was born in the immortal palace of Tushita. She holds her rightful seat in the water bureau of springs and sources. Breathing out wind and drawing in rain, she governs the source of the Yangtze, the Huai, the Yellow River, and the seas. Protecting the nation and sheltering the people, she rescues from perils in the northwest and the southeast. She attained fruition at Putuo; she brings radiance to Meizhou Island. Of great compassion and great vows, of great filial piety and great benevolence. By imperial decree enfeoffed as Protector of the Nation and Shelter of the People, Brilliant and Wondrously Numinous, Responsive and Vastly Benevolent, the Universally Saving Empress of Heaven, Holy Mother, Primordial Sovereign of the Supreme Ultimate.
Merit Officer and Earth God, most numinous of the spirits, ascending to heaven and reaching the earth, going out of the dark and entering the underworld: announce this for me and do not delay. On the day of merit, your names will be written in Highest Clarity.
The merit officiant begins the chant, and the sponsor of the fast burns the memorial...
When the rite is completed, this secret incantation and consecrated talisman may be given to the sponsor of the fast.