Book of the Five Talismans (五符經 - wǔ fú jīng): 太上洞玄靈寶五符序

A foundational scripture of LingBao (靈寶) Daoism from 4th century China, it contains the five talismans that are frequently referenced in LingBao and ShangQing (上清) Daoism, and the reader is oriented into an understanding of what they are. All 174 woodblocks of the three scroll scripture are translated here; scroll one is a preface that orients the reader into the perspective of immortality, followed by a biography of the five Emperors and the story of the Chinese flood, to situate the story of the origin of the five talismans; scroll two is a collection of TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine) recipes for various herbs that are meant for the adept as they pursue the path of perfection, and scroll three is a philosophical discussion of the One, the unity of all things as the true identity that the adept is perfected into, in the form of a meeting and discussion between the Yellow Emperor and the "three Ones"."For the disciple who follows along walking his steps with empty hands, his all-embracing talent like that of a new born plant, his whole-body experience employed on every side in universal pervasion, there is an object, thin, exquisite, and wondrous, that is used to prepare and complete into perfection; what is it? the Ling Bao five talismans! who left it? for what purpose? it is a sacred sage's foaming eloquence, an evolving development like the divine play of a star, a stretching inexhaustible appearance of Heaven and Earth's circling performance narrative, elegant text of the five signs, its flowing energy spreading diffuse, announcing like a flurry of dust and light the ten thousand tidings, bright golden flowers of dragon phoenix form extending resplendent, winning the breeze, freely flowing on the expansive wind onto the hundred bamboo slips; the tracks of the assembled eight issue forth from the mountain forest, coming into the day to employ the practice of bringing the deep pool abyss into the wholeness of perfection by making clear the distinct names of all the different kinds of grasses and trees that converge into the clear and warm harmony of peaceful immortality throughout the miraculous and supernatural well, with an understanding of inner nature and destiny that is boundless, conveying a song of subtle things that courses through the victorious sunset of spirit's camp, irrigating with a cleansing profusion an invisible secret beautiful truth that certainly must be the deep home of humanity; with hopeful reflection arriving through the clouds into the perfect mystery of the Dao, its carved words are a precious seal, and the man perfected into truth looks up to gaze at their elegance; the ancient kitchen of the sun and the moon carved the eight diagrams, ah! into the deep and obscure stone, Heaven's silent mystery, the picture portraying the vast as well as the small and few."- Greatest Upper Mysterious Cavern Numinous Treasure Five Talismans with Preface, Lower Scroll Read more