The Scripture of Great Peace: Daoist Foundation and the Cosmic Order

The Scripture of Great Peace (Taiping Jing) stands as the first canonical text of pre-Qin Daoism, establishing its theological system with core concepts such as divine immortality and the presence of deities within the human body. Grounded in yin-yang and Five Phases theory, it adopts Huang-Lao’s governance principle of “action through inaction,” emphasizing the unity of heaven and humanity and proposing that human affairs influence cosmic order. The scripture systematically articulates practices like “Guarding the One” for spiritual cultivation, alongside techniques involving talismans, breath regulation, herbal medicine, and sexual arts. It introduces a distinctive moral perspective of “inheritance and retribution,” linking ancestral deeds to the fortunes of descendants. Profoundly influential during the Eastern Han dynasty, The Scripture of Great Peace laid a solid theoretical and practical foundation for the later formal establishment of Daoism, with its recorded methods of healing through ritual water and incantations shaping Daoist traditions of salvation and care.