Jade Books in Heaven
Encyclopedia
Jade Books are described (in several scriptures of the Daoist canon) as existent primordially in the various divine Heavens -- these Jade Books are variously said to be instrumental in creating and maintaining the divine structure of the universe, or as regulating national or personal destiny.
In Muslim mystical lore, the archangel ʼIsrafʼil is owner of a "jewelled tablet of fate".
"The Tablet of Destiny was made out of an immense white pearl, and it has two leaves like those of a door. There are learned men who assert that these leaves are formed out of two red rubies".
In Hellenistic lore, there is the Emerald Tablet
of Hermēs Tris-megistos (Hermēs 'Thrice-Greatest').
- In the Vacuous Cavern primordiumGrotto-heavensGrotto-heavens are a type of sacred Taoist site. Grotto-heavens are usually caves, mountain hollows, or other underground spaces. Because every community was supposed to have access to at least one grotto, there were many of them all over China. They were first organized systematically in the Tang...
, before the separation of heaven-and-earth, there existed, in the primaeval darkness, the "5-Ancients Jade Chapters". The titles of these are :
- Spirit-generating perfection-treasuring stanzas of the Cavern of Profundity
- Heaven-penetrating Southern Clouds Treasure Numinous Writ
- Numinous book of the Nine Heavens of Cavernous Moisture of the Treasure Kalpa
- Subtle chapter of the Bright Cavern of Golden Perfection
- Treasured Bright writ of the perfection-generating Primordial Spirit
- In Highest Clarity heaven are the "Jade Tablets of the Wisdom Manuscript" : parts of these reveal the inner names of the 10,000 spirits. (Compare the esoteric Shin-gon list of 10,000 Buddha-s.)
- In the Azure palace in Highest Clarity heaven are jade tablets registering the names and the nomenclatures of those adepts who are destined to ascend to the asterisms in broad daylight.
Heavenly books composed of other semi-precious stones
In Sumerian lore, "(Nisaba) continually gets advice from a tablet of lapis lazuli. ... Nisaba consults a lapis tablet for advice about the 'star-chart' (mul-an) ... . The subject in our text is also consulting the star chart from a tablet made of a precious stone (giš-nu11-gal)". This subject is Pú-ta ('Foundling'), the demonic scribe.In Muslim mystical lore, the archangel ʼIsrafʼil is owner of a "jewelled tablet of fate".
"The Tablet of Destiny was made out of an immense white pearl, and it has two leaves like those of a door. There are learned men who assert that these leaves are formed out of two red rubies".
In Hellenistic lore, there is the Emerald Tablet
Emerald Tablet
The Emerald Tablet, also known as Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina, or The Secret of Hermes, is a text purporting to reveal the secret of the primordial substance and its transmutations...
of Hermēs Tris-megistos (Hermēs 'Thrice-Greatest').