The Northern Dipper Scripture: The Perfected Scripture of the Upmost Profoundly Numinous Northern Dipper That Prolongs Life and Affects Fundamental Destiny.

This text - as with the Daoist Morning and Evening Altar Recitations - is an invaluable resource to any English language speakers interested in practicing the living Daoist tradition. The text provides an excellent translation, very useful annotations, and is followed by the characters and pinyin with tones. A rare and helpful combination for the practitioner.

Josh Paynter, Jack Schaefer and Ross Rosen of Parting Clouds Daoist Temple have yet again done a phenomenal job with their translation of The Beidou Jing(北斗經) or The Perfected Scripture of the Upmost Profoundly Numinous Northern Dipper That Prolongs Life and Affects Fundamental Destiny (Taishang Xuanling Beidou Benming Yansheng Zhenjing 太上玄靈北斗本命延生真經). This along with their translations of the Morning & Evening Altar Recitation (Xuanmen Zaowan Tan Gongke Jing玄門早晚壇功課經 ) and the Noon Altar Recitation (Sanguan Jing 三官經) comprise the four most common liturgical texts of the daily and monthly liturgy of most Quanzhen Longmen Daoist temples.This scripture is said to be a revelation from Laojun 老君 to Zhang Daoling 張道陵 and focusing on the Big Dipper (beidou 北斗) constellation. As discussed in the introduction this text provides the us with the complexities of Daoist metaphysics, including time and space with the concept of cause and effect (ganying感應) along with the various repercussions surrounding one’s astrology, and how this corresponds to one’s karmic destiny. However we are not bound by this but have the opportunity to change this situation and change our destiny through these recitations, and adhere to the doctrines in cultivating virtuous conduct to help to unwind the debts we have accrued and try to lengthen ones life or at least live up to what we have been allotted.This text like their others provides with a wonderful English translation with detailed footnotes, which further explains the essential concepts discussed and assist the reader understanding of the text. They also include the traditional Chinese characters along with the Pinyin allowing for easy utilization and reading by novice/non-Chinese speakers.Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to the Daoist community!