從東漢以來的《太平經》、鎮墓瓶文、早期天師道經典來看，我們可以相信它們都是反映及宣揚漢代一般民眾已經接受的，由天曹監察人間善惡的宗教倫理信仰，以及相關的疾病復注原則。這個宗教倫理系統把天上、人間及死後世界（鬼界）連貫起來。在天上的官吏監察下，個人道德善惡的計算不單被記錄下來，構成一己禍福生死、疾病災害，甚至死後更殃及子孫，復注生人。因此，我們相信早期天師道亦是在東漢末一般民眾的宗教信仰處境中發展出來，承繼及宣揚上述宗教性的善惡倫理原則。在現存正史中最早有關早期天師道宗教教導的記載中，與上文所論述的善惡及疾病的倫理思想有密切關係的，是《三國志》卷八〈張魯傳〉引《典略》所記載的「三官手書」之法。一般學者多認為早期天師道行用的「三官手書」，是最芻形的上章儀式。三官手書提出解除罪過的方法是要向天、地、水三官呈上三封手書，給天官的一封放在山上，給地官的一封埋在地下，給水官的一封沉入水中。三官手書上書寫病者願意為所犯罪過懺悔──「說服罪之意」，並請求三官解除罪過，救治疾病。由於只有《典略》記載三官手書，而在其他早期天師道章文卻沒有，因此，許多學者相信到東晉末以後的天師道，就已經不再行用三官手書，代之是千二百官章。因此，在他們的研究裡，早期天師道三官手書及三官思想就會順便間接地被提及。本文的目的旨在重新提出就早期天師道三官手書及三官信仰思想的獨立研究仍然是十分重要的，尤其是它可以幫助我們對早期天師道如何確立它的罪感意識與解罪懺悔的儀式有更深入的理解和說明。過去，許多學者已經注意到早期天師道非常強調「首過」、「思過」等懺悔行為，但是，大都忽略內裡三官信仰的重要位置。透過早期天師道經典的系統分析和比較，本文嘗試指出天地水三官信仰乃是構成天師道一直以來在罪罰考召、請官治病、懺悔思過、死人復連及定期齋戒等複雜信仰思想和儀式中的核心元素。從天師道經典中的三官信仰思想分析，本文同時希望指出：早期天師道在確立和宣揚天地水三官的信仰思想時，正是代表它與漢代流行的民眾宗教的不同之處。

Many of the early Heavenly Masters' system of ideas and religious practices were not new creations but agreed largely with Han-period popular beliefs that are known from the pre-Han/Han funerary cult, apocryphal texts, funerary texts from Han tombs, and also the Taiping jing. In this religious system of the Han people, one's misconduct or evil deeds were morally regarded as sins; illness, misfortune and death were seen as a punishment for such sins meted out by heavenly officials. Not only were subject to the living punishment. The sins of the dead also visited their descendants by afflicting them with suffering and diseases, on the basis of detailed records of misdeeds that were kept and examined by heavenly officials. It is of paramount importance that in this religious system punishment for transgressions was enacted and controlled by the heavenly officials. The idea of a heavenly legal administration essentially provides a religious basis for the attribution of diseases and misfortune to sins. Although the religious ideas of morality and illness held in the Way of the Heavenly Master were shared by Han popular religion, this ＂new＂ religious movement went beyond the thoughts documented in the popular religious texts of the Han. Among many distinctive features of the Way of the Heavenly Master, the belief in the ＂Three Officials of Heaven, Earth and Water＂ (tiandishui sanguan) can be regarded as the core of its religious thought. It acted as a link, or a model, integrating all their ideas of morality, judgment, illness, law, precepts, and salvation into an organic whole. The biography of Zhang Lu in the Dianlüe, an early commentary on the Sanguo zhi, represents the earliest extant historical evidence that mentions the Way of the Heavenly Master's ritual of prayer in the form of so-called ＂Personal Writs to the Three Officials＂. Although similar ideas of reflection upon transgressions and heavenly judgment can be seen in the Taiping jing as well as in Han mortuary texts, there is no doubt that the belief in the Three Officials and the ritual of sending written petitions to the Three Officials are specific to the Way of the Heavenly Master. This paper aims to show the belief of the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth and Water and its deeply theological meaning within the religious context of the Way of the Heavenly Master. Further, this paper contends that when the ritual of sending ＂Personal Writs to the Three Officials＂ was adopted and performed by the Way of the Heavenly Master during the time of Zhang Lu, it was based upon an already established system of theological belief. It is argued that this belief was always transmitted among the adepts of the Heavenly Masters community. In addition, we will see that the idea of the Three Officials is interrelated with the Heavenly Masters' cosmology of ＂Three Heavens＂. Established upon the basic paradigm of the ＂Three Officials of Heaven, Earth and Water,＂ the Heavenly Masters' distinctive concept of sin and judgment was uninterruptedly transmitted into Six Dynasties Taoism and led to the later development of the sanyuan fasts and festivals.