Page 321 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

chushen

"exteriorization of the spirits"; "egress of the Spirit"

1. Ritual

In Taoist ritual, "exteriorization of the spirits" means summoning forth the
deities from within the body of the priest (*daoshi). As these deities have
features and roles of civil and military officers, chushen is also referred to as
chuguan ill g ("exteriorization of the officials") or qingguan ~IT B ("calling
the officials").
In the Way of the Celestial Masters (*Tianshi dao), and later also in the
*Lingbao *zhai (Retreat) rituals, these deities were called forth during rites
for presenting petitions (zhang '~l). In present-day rituals, it is during the rite
of Lighting the Incense Burner (*falu) that the high priest (gaogong r'SJ J)]; see
* daozhang) asks the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun :f.c...t .;;g tt; see *Laozi
and Laojun) and other gods to summon forth his inner deities. Simultaneously,
he performs the hand movements known as *shoujue. At that time, the civil
and military officers emerge from the Gate of All Wonders (zhongmiao men
JV::flJ>F~) which is located in the priest's Muddy Pellet (*niwan, the Cinnabar
Field or *dantian in the head). They perform various functions to assist the
performance of the ritual, and return to their posts within the priest's body
after the rite of the Extinction of the Incense Burner (fUlu ~ mt; Lagerwey
1987C, 146-47).

MARUYAMA Hiroshi
m Schipper 1993, 55-99

* gongcao; gongde;jiangshen;jiao; zhai; INNER DEITIES

2. Neidan
In *neidan, the term shen in chushen does not refer to deities, but to Spirit. The
"egress of the Spirit" marks the achievement of the third and final stage of the
practice, the return of Spirit to Emptiness (lianshen huanxu £~H$~Ji1[). Once
the Spirit is sublimated into a Yang Spirit (yangshen il&Jf$), with no further
trace of Yin, it is thoroughly free from the workings of the discursive mind and
permanently abides in absolute tranquillity. In this condition, it can leave the
body at will. This experience of physical and mental sublimation is described