Page 121 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

OVERVIEW 81

to communicate with the major-and in several cases corresponding-gods
of the outer pantheon; they act as officers in the bureaucratic system that
manages the whole body; they perform healing tasks by supporting the bal-
ance of the body's functions; and they are objects of meditation. The basic
purpose of visualizing them is to "maintain" them (*cun) in their proper loca-
tions, nourish them with one's inner pneumas and essences, and invoke them
so that in turn they provide protection and sustenance. This is said to ensure
health, longevity, or immortality, and to defend one from calamities caused
by demons and other noxious entities.

Gods of the head and viscera. The *Taipingjing (Scripture of Great Peace) is the
earliest text containing references to the gods of the five viscera (*wuzang, i.e.,
heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen). Each is represented wearing a single
garment the color of the current season, or three layers of clothing related to
the pneuma (*qi) of the current season and the next two seasons (Robinet 1993,
64-66). Visualization of the gods of the viscera is also mentioned in a related
text, the Taipingjing shengjun bizhi 1;:. ']I ~~~;g W §' (Secret Directions of the
Holy Lord on the Scripture of Great Peace; CT II02, 3a; Kohn 1993b, 196).
Systematic descriptions of the inner gods are first found in the "Inner"
("Nei" i*J) version of the *Huangtingjing (Scripture of the Yellow Court). In
particular, this source mentions the gods of the head and the inner organs. The
deities of the head (sec. 8) reside in the hair, brain, eyes, nose, ears, tongue,
and teeth. Their actions are governed by the Muddy Pellet (*niwan, the upper
Cinnabar Field or *dantian) which in turn hosts nine more gods, the Nine Real
Men (jiuzhen :fL~), in its nine rooms (see dantian).
The gods of the inner organs (sec. 9-14) include those of the five viscera
and of the gallbladder (dan iWi), an organ that represents all "six receptacles"
(liufo /\ Mf; see *wuzang) in the Huangting jing and other texts. Each of these
organs is called a "department" or a "ministry" (bu $) and is managed by a
god who resides in a "palace" (gong '8) within that organ. The various gods
are identified by their names and the colors of their garments (for instance,
the god of the liver wears "a wrapping gown of green brocade," the god of
the spleen "a yellow gown," and so forth, based on the wuxing associations);
by the function that they supervise in the body (regulating breath, digesting
food, etc.); and by the corresponding part of the face on which they rule
(eyes, nose, etc.). Other prominent gods mentioned in the Huangtingjing are
the Great One, who resides in the upper dantian; Blossomless (Wuying 1ll€~)
and White Prime (Baiyuan B ft) , in the upper dantian; and the Peach Child
(Taohai fJU$<, also known as Peach Vigor or Taokang tltm!o' in the lower
dantian (sec. 9, II, 15, 17, and 20; for illustrations of these gods in the *Dadong
zhenjing, see fig. 14).