Page 690 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

648 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

Highest Clarity; CT 1221, 59.IIa-13b). Here the priest visualizes his Muddy Pellet
(*niwan, the Cinnabar Field or *dantian in the head) as the Three Heavens
(santian; see * santian and liutian), the top of his head as the Nine Heavens and
the Thirty-Six Heavens (*jiutian and *sanshiliu tian), his left eye as the Palace
of the Sun (rigong n 'M), his right eye as the Palace of the Moon (yuegong JJ
8), the seven orifices of his face as the seven stars of the Northern Dipper
(*beidou), the area behind the neck as the Murky and Veiled Remote Tower
(yuluo xiaotai ~flJffif"), the mouth as the Celestial River (tianhe :;( 1i1J), the
trachea as the Twelve-storied Pavilion (shi'er chong Iou !. -~!f!:fl), the heart
as the Fire Palace on the Vermilion Mound (Zhuling huofu * Il& )( w'iJ), the
backbone as the Celestial Staircase (tianjie 7( ~i), the left kidney as the Water
Pond (shuichi IJ<. riE.), the right kidney as the Fire Swamp (huozhao )( ~m, and
the Caudal Funnel (weilii ffi 11'11, a point in the area of the coccyx; see *sanguan)
as the Yin pass. After the priest refines the soul of the deceased in the Water
Pond and the Fire Swamp within his body, divine officers lead the soul to
ascend the Celestial Staircase and enter the Fire Palace. By burning talismans
the priest is said to be able to ensure that the deceased "crosses the bridge"
(see *guoqiao). One of the countless "fire dragons" (huolong )( 1liD within the
Fire Swamp takes the soul-now refined and transformed into an "infant" -on
its back and flies with it up to the Remote Tower to receive rebirth according
to its spiritual rank.
MARUYAMA Hiroshi
m BoltzJ. M. 1983; Lagerwey 1987C, 233-35; Little 2ooob, 178-79; Maruyama
Hiroshi 1994b; Ofuchi Ninji 1983, 554-65; Qing Xitai 1994, 3: 233-39

* lianxing; DEATH AND AFTERLIFE; MEDITATION AND VISUALIZATION; RE-
BIRTH

lianqi

refining breath; refining pneuma

Lianqi designates a technique for purifying the breath (or pneuma) throughout
the body. In the Tang period, the Yanling xiansheng ji xinjiu fuqi jing hlll& 7t
:~J:::j~fJTiUilt~#~ (Scripture on New and Old Methods for the Ingestion of
Breath Collected by the Elder of Yanling) describes the method as follows:
"Harmonize the breath and swallow it. When you do this, you must practice
breath retention (*biqi) for as long as possible. 'Obscure your mind' (mingxin