The Collected Illustrations of the Three Realms

Portraits, Volume 11

Page 4

...so that the laws and prohibitions would no longer be violated This continues the divine instructions from the previous page regarding the restoration of moral and spiritual order.. In the renwu year of Emperor Shun's reign 142 CE, LaojunOriginal: "老君" (The Supreme Lord Lao); the deified form of Laozi, the legendary author of the Tao Te Ching. bestowed upon him the Secret Register of the Orthodox One Covenant with the Powers, along with 930 volumes of various scriptures of the Three Pure Ones The "Three Pure Ones" (Sanqing) are the highest deities in the Taoist pantheon., 72 volumes of secret instructions for talismans, registers, and alchemical furnaces, two swords—one male and one female—and the Seal of the Capital Administrator.

Once the Perfected OneOriginal: "真人" (Zhenren); a term for a high-level Taoist immortal who has achieved transcendence. had received these items, he spent his days contemplating the secret texts and cultivating his practice according to the sacred methods. At that time, there were eight divisions of ghost-commanders, each leading armies of spirits to violently slaughter the common people. The Perfected One, acting upon the divine decree of the Supreme Lord Lao, wore the Secret Register of the Covenant with the Powers; upon seeing it, the shadows of the many ghosts vanished as they fled in terror.

He then moved to Mount Heming Literally "Crane Cry Mountain," located in modern-day Sichuan Province., for there were demons in that place that needed to be eliminated. He wrote a talisman which transformed into a Golden-Winged BirdOriginal: "金翅鳥" (Jinchi niao); also known as the Garuda, a mythical bird-like creature from Indian tradition adopted into Taoist lore as a subjugator of dragons and evil spirits. that circled above a deep pool. Terrified, a poisonous dragon abandoned the pool and fled. In its place, a salt spring was discovered. Twelve goddesses each emerged and offered a jade ring to him. The Perfected One threw these rings into a well; the goddesses vied with one another, disrobing and entering the well to retrieve the rings. The Perfected One then sealed the well, and to this day, the people no longer suffer from the harm of these goddesses.

The Most High Primordial Celestial Worthy Original: "太上元始天尊" (Taishang Yuanshi Tianzun); the first of the Three Pure Ones, representing the beginning of the universe. then instructed the Perfected One in the methods of the Orthodox One Covenant with the Powers, commanding that they be proclaimed from generation to generation as...