Page 124 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM VOL. I

Drawing from an anonymous text, *Ge Hong provides a short description of
the features of the One and his multiple locations. According to this passage
(see under *dantian), the One alternately resides in each of the three Cinnabar
Fields, and takes different names and vestments at each of these loci.
*Shangqing Taoism later developed this view of the One dwelling at dif-
ferent times in the Cinnabar Fields into the notion of the Three Ones, each
of whom permanently resides in its own Field. A well-known Shangqing
visualization method based on the Three Ones is described in the *Sulingjing
(CT 1314, 27a-38b; see under *sanyi).

Later history. Visualization practices such as those described above appear to
have fallen into disuse by the Tang period, replaced first by the *neiguan type
of meditation, based on inner contemplation and awareness of mind, and then
by *neidan practices, focused on the refining of one's inner essence, pneuma,
and spirit (*jing, qi, and shen). Neither practice is based on visualization of
gods, although the Neiguanjing pg IDl~~ (Scripture of Inner Observation; CT
641; trans. Kohn 1989b) mentions several major inner deities in its model of
the "perfected body."
Visualizing the inner gods continued to play an important role in liturgy,
however, where the priest summons his inner gods and dispatches them to
submit petitions in Heaven (for details, see under *bianshen, *chushen, and
*liandu). This function is attested from medieval times (Bokenkamp 1996c)
to the present day (Lagerwey 1987C, 121-23; Schipper 1993, 96--97). Neidan has
preserved visible traces of earlier practices in both of its best-known charts of
the inner body, the *Neijing tu and Xiuzhen tu. The Neijing tu includes several
divine beings in its representation of the "inner landscape," and the Xiuzhen tu
explicates its visual map of the inner alchemical process with passages related
to the Huangtingjing (Despeux 1994, 51-64 and passim).
Fabrizio PREGADIO

m Andersen 1979; BoltzJ. M. 1983; Despeux 1994; Kakiuchi Tomoyuki 1998;
Kato Chie 1996; Kato Chie 2002, 61-73; Kohn 1989a; Kominami Ichiro 1992;
Lagerwey 1981b, 79-80; Maspero 1981, 272-86, 346--64, 364-72, and 431-41;
Pregadio 2006a; Robinet 1989C; Robinet 1993; Schipper 1979a; Schipper 1993,
108-I2; Schipper 1995C; Yamada Toshiaki 1989a

* MEDITATION AND VISUALIZATION; TAOIST VIEWS OF THE HUMAN BODY