The “Sanmao Repentance”: A Fasts and Offerings Liturgy of the Shangqing School

Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism

1. The Importance of Taoist Scripture and Repentance Liturgy

Taoism has always attached great importance to the liturgy of fasts and offerings (zhaijiao). The ancients said: “Not scriptures and repentances alone can spread the Great Tao; only liturgy can revive the religion.” Reciting scriptures and performing repentance rites is the most basic knowledge every Taoist should master. Scriptures and repentances are the gateway by which those cultivating the Tao enter it, and the great plan for blessing the nation and welcoming good fortune. By entering through them, one can refine an indestructible body, reach the sages and communicate with the gods, repay the “Four Great Kindnesses” above, and relieve the “suffering of the three evil paths” below. That is why no high Perfected of the religion fails to value these liturgies, and many Taoist scriptures earnestly exhort us to them.

The Taoist Canon (Daozang) says: “Wherever the Taoist community dwells in its temples, it should put the burning of incense, cultivation, and ritual first. The abbot of a temple gathers the community each day to go up to the hall, burn incense, and recite scriptures, to pay court to the Perfected and pay homage to the sages, to light candles and expound the teaching, embodying the heart that serves heaven and upholds the teaching, and thereby exhausting the resolve to cultivate perfection and study the Tao.”

The “Preface” to the Liturgy of Daily Recitation says: “What makes a scripture a scripture is that it is the heart-teaching of the sages of the past; what makes an incantation an incantation is that it is the wondrous method of the immortals of old. When it is recited with sincerity, the scripture becomes clear; when it is practiced with devotion, the method becomes effective. When the scripture is clear, the Tao accords within; when the method is effective, the art shows itself without. When the scripture is clear and the method effective, both are complete, and inner practice and outer conduct are both present.” Reciting and upholding them without slackening can both preserve and nourish primordial harmony and give rise to and strengthen the power of the Tao. Therefore those cultivating perfection should take scriptures, repentances, and liturgy as important parts of their study and practice.

Taoist liturgy developed on the basis of inheriting the national culture and combining it with folk beliefs and customs, evolving into fasts and offerings rites unique to Taoism, and forming fasts and offerings liturgies with many uses. On a large scale, they bless the fortunes of the nation, avert calamity and pestilence, and pray for clear skies or rain; on a small scale, they settle homes and quell the earth, avert calamity and resolve hardship, pray for blessings and longevity, and deliver the dead to rebirth. Nearly everything people wish for has a corresponding method of fasting, offering, and prayer. Present-day Taoist fasts and offerings liturgy basically follows the offering rites compiled in the Ming dynasty, but it has not been copied unchanged; it varies in details according to the practices of each school and region. The ritual services of the Zhengyi school are more regionally varied, while those of the Quanzhen school are largely the same in every public monastery (shifang conglin), though with some small differences. So it is not surprising that the same ritual service is done differently in one place and another.

Fasts and offerings liturgy is divided into rites for the living and rites for the dead, that is, into pure offerings and dark offerings. Pure offerings include rites of praying for blessings and giving thanks for grace, driving away illness and prolonging life, blessing the nation and welcoming good fortune, praying for clear skies or rain, resolving hardship and averting calamity, and birthday blessings and celebrations; they belong to the ritual services of the Great Peace Offering type. Dark offerings include summoning the souls of the dead, bathing them and helping them cross the bridge, breaking the prisons and the blood lake, and refinement, deliverance, and food bestowal; they belong to the fasts and offerings for relieving the dark realm and delivering the dead. Through the secret workings of the high priest (gaogong), the souls are refined and transformed so that they are released into the realms of humans and heaven and rise to the immortal realm. On the new moon and full moon, important festivals, and the sacred birthdays of patriarchs, the Taoist community of the temples holds ceremonies such as birthday blessings and celebrations; these regular observances also all belong to fasts and offerings liturgy.

Taoist liturgy embodies the way Taoist faith is lived out in action. It is also an important means by which Taoist believers receive the teaching of Taoism, strengthen their faith, and cultivate their religious feeling. With the course of history, Taoist liturgies with local characteristics have formed in different regions and different schools. When believers invite Taoist priests to hold rituals for them to dispel calamity and prolong life, or rituals of deliverance, we Taoist priests recite scriptures and perform repentance rites for them, and conduct liturgies such as pacing the stars of the Dipper, breaking the prisons, and presenting memorials, so that the believers' hearts are comforted and their wishes fulfilled.

2. The Representative Scripture-and-Repentance Rite of the Shangqing School: The “Sanmao Repentance”

The “Sanmao Repentance” is also called the “Precious Repentance of the Three Mao Lords for Prolonging Life and Bestowing Blessings” and the “Precious Repentance of the Three Mao Divine Lords.” The “Sanmao Liturgy” is the most representative liturgy of the Shangqing (Highest Clarity) school and consists of “one memorial and one repentance” (the “Sanmao Memorial” and the “Sanmao Repentance”). It is a religious rite unique to the Shangqing school. Its liturgical music preserves the tradition of the Maoshan school's Taoist music while also having distinct regional cultural features, and it has remained relatively stable over its long transmission.

Repentance (chan) is a kind of mysterious religious prophecy, also called repentant awakening. Performing repentance rites means repenting: it is when believers confess their faults before people and gods and pray for tolerance and forgiveness. As the lyrics of “Pacing the Void” in the “Sanmao Repentance” say: “Revealing my faults, I pray to the right of the Perfected; with a quiet heart I move the sages and worthies; devout and reverent, I bow to the precious repentance, wishing to gain long life and many years.”

According to Master Sun Mincai, abbot of Runzhou Taoist Temple, the “Sanmao Repentance” is the foremost teaching of the Maoshan school of Taoism, and performing repentance rites was also the foundation of the “Three Maos” attaining the Tao. Before they attained the Tao, the “Three Maos” had always been promoting goodness and exhorting the world. They came north a thousand li to Mount Mao (Maoshan), gathered herbs and refined elixirs, helped the world and saved people, and finally attained the Tao, each becoming an immortal, the founding patriarchs of the Maoshan school. When later Taoists performed repentance rites, they too washed their hands, burned incense, and reverently presented the precious scrolls. Giving thanks for their faults with such devotion gradually became an established rule.

The “Sanmao Repentance” liturgy consists mainly of incense hymns, lyrics of pacing the void, hymns of praise, and the deeds of the immortals and sages. On the one hand, it calls on believers to follow the example of the patriarchs in following the Tao and turning to goodness; on the other, it relies on the illustrious, awesome spirits of the former sages to protect all beings. As later-generation disciples of the Shangqing school, the Taoist community of Runzhou Taoist Temple holds the scriptures, rites, and teachings of the Shangqing school in high regard: they must not only memorize them thoroughly but also understand their essential meaning deeply, so the “Sanmao Repentance” is a required part of the community's daily liturgy. Believers in the surrounding area, out of reverence for the patriarchs, mostly request the “Sanmao Repentance,” and especially during the annual pilgrimage season, repentance rites at the temple go on in an unbroken stream.

3. The Order of the “Sanmao Repentance” Liturgy

The “Sanmao Repentance” liturgy can be divided into three parts: opening the repentance, performing the repentance, and sending off the repentance.

1. Before the repentance opens, the liturgists, each holding a ritual implement and wearing Taoist crowns and repentance robes, stand in rows on the left and right before the repentance table in the ritual arena, awaiting the signal of the drum master. The musicians stand in the west and the drum master in the east. The ritual masters and those performing the repentance light incense and candles, and the sponsor of the repentance and the believers prostrate themselves before the altar. At this moment the bell and drum sound together, “The Great Opening of the Gate” is played, and all chant the “Incense Hymn.” Amid the regular rhythm of the dang gong, cha cymbals, wooden fish, bell, and drum, a solemn and reverent atmosphere is created in the hall; this is the music for opening the repentance. When the drum master has finished chanting the “Incense Hymn” and “Pacing the Void,” the liturgists kneel before the repentance table and recite scriptures and proclamations until the repentance itself is performed.

2. The drum master leads by chanting the first line of the holy text, and the liturgists on the left take it up and make one bow; following the end of that line, the drum master leads the second line, and the liturgists on the right take it up and make one bow. In this way, alternating back and forth, the holy text is completed in the form of the “dragon and tiger bow.”

The repentance begins amid the melodious chant of “With Utmost Sincerity We Pay Court and Homage.” The Taoist community, in two rows on left and right, alternates chanting and bowing, with interludes on the ritual instruments, as they chant the “Sanmao Repentance.” “The Holy Names” is played, its melody serene and graceful; this is the music for performing the repentance.

3. Next the petition is proclaimed, after which the “Sanmao Proclamation” is chanted and “The Close,” the music for sending off the repentance, is struck up. The liturgists on both sides leave the altar one after the other, chanting and burning the petition, and with gongs and drums sounding together, the rite ends amid the harmonious music of sending off the repentance.

Whenever the liturgy is over, for believers and pilgrims whose enthusiasm is not yet spent, the Taoist community often leads everyone in “walking the Eight Trigrams” and “circling the Supreme Ultimate” to lively music, a form much loved and favored by believers.

Rituals for the dead are so called in contrast to rituals for the living. Taoist rituals for the dead can be said to derive from early belief in ghosts and spirits and belief in the immortality of the soul.

Liturgies for the dead are ritual services that repay one's origins and honor distant ancestors, express grief, deliver ancestral spirits, bestow food with refinement and deliverance, and deliver the dead to rebirth. They are an important part of Taoist liturgy for pleasing and petitioning the gods. The aim they seek is just as the Taoist scriptures say: “Above, they can dispel heavenly calamity and protect emperors and kings; below, they can relieve and rescue the souls of the dead, bring light to the long night, and deliver people beyond measure.” The high priest ascends the ritual altar and recites scriptures to deliver the spirits of the dead; through the rite he bestows empowerment on them and relieves the suffering of the dark realm, so that they are reborn in heaven, enjoy bliss forever, and do not fall into the realm of hell.

The transmission and development of the culture of the liturgy of ritual deliverance of the dead at Runzhou Taoist Temple has relied largely on oral teaching and heart-to-heart transmission from masters of high virtue, merged with long-standing local folk customs. It has gradually formed a system of Taoist culture with local characteristics, and this strong local character shows throughout the whole process of the deliverance liturgy.

4. The Flaming Mouth Liturgy of the “Sanmao Repentance”

(1) The Occasions for Holding a Flaming Mouth Ritual

From Taoist temples and monasteries to ordinary households, Flaming Mouth (yankou) rituals are usually held in three situations:

First, the Flaming Mouth held on the Taoist ghost festivals. Taoism designates Qingming, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar each year as ghost festivals. Taoism holds that on each ghost festival, Yama, the Son of Heaven of hell, gives the ghosts a day off; the Gate of Ghosts is then opened so that the ghosts can come to the world of the living to receive offerings from their relatives and friends;

Second, the Flaming Mouth held on the third day after a person's death, the so-called “third-day observance.” Because on the third day the deceased looks back at their hometown from the Terrace of Gazing Homeward, a Flaming Mouth is held to give alms to the soul, so that it can enjoy its last supper of the human world and then report to the underworld without regret;

Third, the Flaming Mouth held at any time at the request of a sponsor of the fast, for the sponsor's parents of nine generations and other spirits of the dead. Therefore, setting up a Flaming Mouth ritual is a very serious and earnest matter; it must be done strictly according to the requirements of the liturgy, without the slightest carelessness.

The Flaming Mouth ritual arena is mainly set up outdoors on a fairly open site, with clean surroundings free of filth. The theme of the arena must both convey the mysterious, ghostly scene of hell and display the solemnity of Taoism and its proud, upward-striving teaching that does not fear the mandate of heaven: “My life is in my own hands, not in heaven's.”

(2) The Arrangement of the Flaming Mouth Ritual Arena

In the middle of the arena is the Flaming Mouth platform, on which an image of the Heavenly Worthy Who Saves from Suffering (Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun) is enshrined, with a spirit tablet of “Patriarch Sa, the Supreme One of the One Origin” set in the very center. On the left is the Orphaned Souls platform, hung with a yellow placard stating the reason for the Flaming Mouth. On the right is the Yama platform, with a painting of Yama, the Ghost King, hung high in the middle, and offerings such as incense, flowers, and fruit set out on the offering table.

The Flaming Mouth platform has seats for the three principal officiants: the high priest, the rite raiser, and the declarer. On the table in front of the platform the Flaming Mouth ritual implements are set out: the hu tablet—all the incantations recited by the three ritual masters are borne on this tablet up to the heavenly court and down to hell; the command tablet—the implement with which the high priest summons and commands divine generals and drives away demons and goblins; the ritual seal—only talismans and incantations stamped with the ritual seal take effect; the ritual ruler—used to measure the good and evil conduct of the ghosts; the spirit banner—with which the ritual master shows the ghosts the path to turn misfortune into blessing; the water bowl and rice bowl—vessels holding the holy water and ritual food used to relieve and deliver the ghosts; the willow branch—the implement with which the high priest scatters ritual food and holy water to relieve the hungry ghosts; and lamps—to open up the darkness for the ghosts and light the road out of the sea of suffering. Other offerings set out include fresh flowers, fruit, and so on.

5. The Order of the Flaming Mouth

1. The High Priest Pays Homage to the Officials

Specifically, the three ritual masters—the high priest, the declarer, and the rite raiser—put on their ritual robes and crowns and lead the whole Taoist community taking part in the rite to stand and recite together texts such as the sacred proclamation of Patriarch Sa. The Taoist community then strikes the instruments in their hands and circles the altar three times.

2. The High Priest States His Office

This means that the high priest must report his own rank, stating that he is a disciple of the Mysterious Gate who has cultivated the Tao for years, has received the Limitless Great Tao, and carries out the liturgy of sacrifice and refinement, and reverently inviting the Heavenly Worthy to extend compassion, grant the light of grace in abundance, and bestow food for universal deliverance. The high priest says of himself: “Your servant, together with those below the altar who cultivate goodness and deliver the lingering souls of the dark, in sincere trepidation and awe, bowing the head and knocking the head to the ground, gazes afar toward the steps of heaven and with all sincerity makes this petition.” After this comes the content of the petition stating his office. Then he pays homage to the officials, offers incense, and reads the memorial. Finally the Taoist community loudly sings the hanging verse: “All manner of ignorance is the root of suffering; when the root of suffering is removed, the root of goodness remains. Relying only on the awesome divine power of the sword of wisdom, one leaps out of the cycle of rebirth and through the gate of the five sufferings.” Amid the sounds of the ritual arena, the curtain rises on the Taoist Flaming Mouth.

3. The High Priest Comes to the Altar and Invites the Holy Ones

That is, he recites scriptures, sincerely inviting the immortals of every quarter to descend to the Flaming Mouth assembly, to hear the true proclamations and secret texts, to taste the delicacies of the fast banquet, and together to deliver the spirits of the underworld.

In Patriarch Sa's Iron Pot Flaming Mouth liturgy, the deities invoked to descend to the ritual assembly include: the Three Pure Ones and the Four Sovereigns; the Most High Heavenly Worthy of Numinous Treasure (Lingbao Tianzun): “This incense goes straight to the Vermilion Mound Bureau, announcing to the Worthy of Numinous Treasure of the Ten Directions”; the Heavenly Worthy Who Saves from Suffering: “Bowing my head, I take refuge with the first stick of incense; the incense smoke winds through the ten directions; this incense goes straight to the Qinghua Bureau, announcing to the Worthy Taiyi Who Saves from Suffering”; the other deities: “This incense goes straight to the Yellow Register Bureau, announcing to all the gods of the ritual arena”; and the Heavenly Worthy of the Treasure of the Tao, the Heavenly Worthy of the Sunken, the Heavenly Worthy Who Conveys Faith, the Heavenly Worthy Who Receives and Guides, the Heavenly Worthy Who Frees from Sin, and others. The purpose of invoking the deities is for the high priest to preach the dharma and chant incantations on behalf of the immortals of every quarter, universally delivering all beings: “After the ritual drum sounds three times, the bell's tone shakes the ten directions; we invite the master to ascend the precious seat and preach the dharma to deliver the spirits of the dark.”

4. The High Priest Summons Ghosts of Every Kind to Take Part in the Food Bestowal

Once the immortals of every quarter have been invited and are in place, the high priest must call the ghosts of every kind to come to the ritual assembly. The high priest goes before the Orphaned Souls platform and reads out the talismanic command for breaking hell: “The law of the Patriarch of the Tao is transmitted, bringing light to the long night and universally delivering the spirits of the dark. The true talisman is sent down by proclamation; the officials of the underworld halt their punishments; the iron walls of Fengdu are broken at once; the suffering souls of hell are transformed and born in all the heavens; the suffering of the three evil paths is released in a single moment. Swiftly remove the registers of sin, let the roots of evil fall away and be destroyed; they may not be detained or forced to join the hosts of ghosts. By the talismanic command of the Primordial, they are raised up at once. Great is the merit of delivering people; carry this out with the speed of a shooting star.”

The Taoists taking part in the scripture and repentance rite chant in response: “The distant jade water clock is silent without a sound; the myriad phenomena stand arrayed, the night air pure. In the pools of water and ponds of fire the hun and po souls lie hidden; the jade hare and golden crow nourish qi and essence. Five-colored lotuses spring up from the ground wherever one goes; a pair of white cranes come from heaven to meet them. Souls of the dead, quickly prepare your steps to the cloudy empyrean, and go straight to the Court of Flowing Fire in the Cinnabar Heaven.”

After that, the high priest calls out to the ghosts: “Emperors and kings of all dynasties, rulers of former ages; the honored empresses and consorts, and below them the concubines and palace ladies,” as well as people of every trade and every social level, for example: “Heroes of a thousand ages, generals and commanders of all dynasties; those who led the troops at the army gate, soldiers who marched in battle array; scholars of the examination halls, Confucian students in the sea of learning; men of the nine schools, practitioners of the various arts; fishermen on the rivers, old anglers by the streams; tillers of the fields, farmers and merchants; traders by river and road, peddlers of the rivers and lakes; cooks and butchers, slaughterers of every sort,” and even “wanderers in the streets, idlers of the marketplace; actors and musicians, jesters and courtesans; streetwalkers and market performers, entertainers of every skill from north and south.” There are also Buddhists, Taoists, hermits, and Manichaeans, for example: “Feathered scholars of the true shrines, yellow caps of the jade halls; recluses of mountain and forest, hidden ones of cliff and valley; female Taoists of the temples, nuns of the Buddhist monasteries,” and even “those who abstained from meat, followers of vegetarian diets,” and so on. Whatever their rank in the world of the living, honored or humble, noble or base, in the rite they are all equally spirits of the dead and orphaned souls, all sunk in hunger, thirst, and darkness, and all should equally enjoy the ritual food and, through the resolving power of scriptures, talismans, and incantations, ascend to the immortal realm.

Patriarch Sa's liturgy says that at this point the high priest “transforms in spirit and form, turning himself into the Heavenly Worthy Who Saves from Suffering. In his left hand he holds the bowl of sweet dew; in his right hand he holds the willow branch. His divine power manifests; his eyes shine with golden light; with his tongue he writes the Patriarch's sacred name. He puts down the jade wheel key, lifts the thousand-pound lock, opens the road through the dark underworld, and moves the Three Passes; from the eighteen levels of hell in the underworld, all the souls of the dark come out through the earth's gate.” Then the high priest calls: “This very night, come to the ritual assembly; the flowered banner summons you, and we look for your coming.” These twenty-two classes of those summoned cover all the hungry ghosts, spirits of the dead, and orphaned souls sunk in the “three paths and five sufferings.” Under the high priest's guidance, they break out of the eighteen levels of hell, cross mountains and seas, and hasten to the ritual assembly.

5. The High Priest Bestows Ritual Food in the Name of the Heavenly Worthy Who Saves from Suffering

After the high priest has broken open hell for the twenty-two classes of ghosts, the ghosts gather at the Flaming Mouth arena to receive the food bestowal and rise early to heaven. But the ghosts have long been in the gloom of hell, and their hunger and thirst are unbearable. The hosts of the hungry ghost realm in particular find that any food they see turns to burning charcoal and any water turns to pus and blood, so they cannot swallow at all. At this point, in his mind, the high priest himself is the Heavenly Worthy Who Saves from Suffering. He must use the true qi of nine yang to send down a rain of dharma before the altar, sprinkling it over all the spirits of the dark, gathering the souls to refine and deliver them into form, healing their ailments, and opening their throats. Then he chants the incantation: “Still we are concerned for you, all you immortal children, who since leaving the world of the living have long dwelt in the underworld, your spirits scattered and your essences flown, your throats blocked so that food and drink cannot pass. The teaching has a numinous stanza for opening the throat, which we will recite before you all.” The spirits of the dark and the hungry ghosts are then all able to receive the holy water and ritual food. At the same time, the ghosts are exhorted to take refuge in the Three Treasures: “The Mysterious Primordial opened transformation through the Tao, the scriptures, and the masters, universally delivering humans and gods to pay court to the Great Void. If the spirits of the dead wish to rise to the immortal realm, let them sweep the altar, bow their heads, and pay homage in taking refuge. The first refuge: in the supreme Treasure of the Tao, not to fall into hell; the second refuge: in the supreme Treasure of the Scriptures, not to fall among hungry ghosts; the third refuge: in the supreme Treasure of the Masters, not to fall among animals.”

The Taoist scriptures describe the effects of the food bestowal in detail: “In visualization the high priest sees the Three Pure Ones, the Four Emperors, the Five Elders, the Six Bureaus, and the Seven Primordials all in the sky. Within the golden light, the Heavenly Worthy Who Saves from Suffering appears clearly, holding a willow branch and sprinkling sweet dew everywhere, transforming the food into mountains that fill the world. From all the regions of the nine provinces under heaven, the ten classes of orphaned souls come like fine rain and thick mist, receive and partake of the ritual food, and each is fed and warmed. They forget all their affairs, their grievances and enmities are reconciled and released, they illuminate their hearts and see their nature, hear the dharma and are reborn, free and joyful; all receive the power of the Tao, and each ascends to the immortal realm.”

6. The Perfect Sending-Off and the Close of the Ritual

With social change and the quickening pace of life, the Flaming Mouth is now mostly completed in a single day. The ritual begins at around six in the evening and ends at eleven at night. This is because the ghosts' daily mealtime falls between six and eleven in the evening; after that, ghosts can no longer eat. In a few cases, a three-day ritual is held. In either case, when the ritual comes to its perfect close, the spirit tablets offered by the sponsor of the fast and all the paper figures are burned. The red, blazing fire brings light and warmth to both the realms of yin and yang, reflecting that hell is merciless but the human world has love; the ghosts attain release, and human filial piety is made manifest. The ritual scatters the candies used as offerings inside and outside the arena for the onlookers to scramble for, as a sign that the merit is complete.

Finally, all the Taoists who performed the scripture and repentance rite with the high priest recite together the proclamation of salvation from suffering: “The compassionate Worthy of the Eastern Pole sends forth auspicious light to receive and guide; the Queen Mother of the West at the Jasper Pool points out the cloud road for rising upward. In the three thousand golden worlds of the Land of the Tao, there is constant peace and constant joy; in the million jade towers and terraces of the heavenly palaces, there are places to love and dwell. A thousand rivers have water, and a thousand rivers hold the moon; ten thousand li without clouds, ten thousand li of sky. This night we receive the power of merit, and in time to come the fruit repays good causes and conditions.” With this, the Flaming Mouth comes to its perfect close.

Taoist liturgies are many and varied. Above they can reach the world of the immortals, and below they can reach the dark realm; all of them can establish communication among gods, humans, and ghosts, so that the prayers and wishes of Taoist believers can reach the highest point of the heavenly realm and also the deepest point of the dark realm. It is clear that Taoist liturgy can move gods and ghosts, bringing people good fortune and comfort, or helping the ghosts of the dark realm to be delivered and rise upward, or to attain the Tao and ascend to the immortal realm.