Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
The Preface to the Morning and Evening Liturgy of Daily Recitation of the Mysterious Gate of the Most High says: “The golden books and jade satchels are the gate and walls for entering the Tao. Chanting scriptures and reciting incantations is the path for cultivating immortality. Having found the gate to the Tao, one can enter the nature of the Primordial Beginning. Having found the path of cultivating immortality, one can understand the heart of what is so of itself.”
It also says: “Liturgy (gongke) means examining one’s work (kegong). To examine one’s own work is to cultivate the Tao in oneself, relying on the canons of the former sages. By reciting the golden books and jade proclamations of the high sages, one illuminates one’s own original nature and true heart. Without ritual teaching, the Great Tao cannot be spread; without liturgical recitation, primordial harmony cannot be preserved and nourished. The scriptures as scriptures are the heart-lineage of the former sages; the incantations as incantations are the wondrous methods of the ancient immortals. Recite them with sincerity and the scriptures become clear; practice them with devotion and the methods prove effective. When the scriptures are clear, the Tao is united within; when the methods prove effective, the arts are manifest without. Clear scriptures and effective methods are both complete; inner work and outer practice are both present.”
These two passages lay out the essentials of scripture recitation in full, explaining its important role and meaning. That is why, since ancient times, all who first enter the Tao have taken scripture recitation as the practice with which to begin.