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80 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM VOL. I

the views outlined above and dismisses others. For instance, it inherits from
traditional medicine the importance of the Control and Function channels
(*dumai and renmai) that play a central role in the circulation of essence (see
*zhoutian); on the other hand, neidan practice as it was codified during the
Song period does not involve visualizing the inner gods.
Neidan, however, is more than a technique, and the importance it gives to
immaterial notions such as inner nature and vital force (*xing and ming), or
inner nature and individual qualities (xing tt and qing 'rR), shows that its focus
is not the physical body. *Li Daochun (fl. 1288-92) explains that the various
notions and practices have multiple "points of application" or "points of opera-
tion" (zuoyong chu fF Jfl Jj,); they take on different meanings at different levels,
from the physical to the spiritual and beyond this distinction (see especially
*Zhonghe ji, 2.15b-17a). An example is the Mysterious Pass (*xuanguan), which
according to different authors is located between the eyebrows, between the
kidneys, in the gallbladder, in the navel, or elsewhere, while other say it has
no precise location in the body. As Li Daochun remarks: "The Mysterious Pass
is the most mysterious and wondrous pivotal pass (jiguan tJ:~ I~f,]). How can it
have a fixed position? If you place it in the body (shen), this is not correct. If
you separate it from the body and search for it outside the body, this is also
not correct" (Zhonghe ji, Ba).

Fabrizio PREGADIO
m Andersen 1995; Despeux 1990, 187-219; Despeux 1994; Despeux 1996;
Engelhardt 2000, 94-100; Ishida Hidemi 1989; Kato Chie 2002; Kohn 199Ib;
Lagerwey 1981b, 77-80; Larre 1982; Levi 1989b; Maspero 1981, 448-59; Robinet
1989b; Rochat de la Vallee n.d.; Sakade Yoshinobu I983b; Saso 1997; Schipper
1978; Schipper 1993; Sivin 1987, 117-167; Sivin 1995; Yamada Toshiaki 1989a;
Yates 1994a

* bianshen; lianxing; BIRTH; DEATH AND AFTERLIFE; INNER DEITIES; MACRO-
COSM AND MICROCOSM; REBIRTH; TRANSCENDENCE AND IMMORTALITY; for
other related entries see the Synoptic Table of Contents, sec. 11.8 (''The Human
Being")

Inner deities

Besides the celestial gods and goddesses who reside in heaven, a veritable
pantheon of Taoist deities also exists within the human being. These deities
fulfill various related functions: they personify abstract notions such as the
I
Dao, Yin and Yang, or the Five Agents (*wuxing); they allow the human being