Page 96 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM VOL . T

Macrocosm and microcosm

Like several other cultures, China has developed the macrocosm-microcosm
theory in different forms. Taoism has borrowed some of them and elaborated
others. These multiple formulations are not restricted to the universe and the
human being, as other components come into play The first is the state: the
human community with its codes, hierarchies, and physical seats of power
ideally mirrors the configuration and order of Heaven; reciprocally, Heaven
is an administrative system managed through bureaucratic procedures simi-
lar to those performed at court and in government offices. The second is the
ritual area, whose altars (tan J:fi) correspond to the cosmos and its temporal
and spatial configurations. Other environments and surroundings, including
gardens and gourds, are also said to represent a "cosmos in miniature."
Cosmos, human being, society, and ritual area are analogically related
to each other, so that an event or an action that occurs within any of these
domains can be relevant for the others; this is determined by the principle
of "resonance" (ganying Si!, lit. "impulse and response"), by which things
belonging to the same class or category (lei JiJ'i) influence each other. Ritual,
for instance, reestablishes the original bond between humans and gods, and a
Real Man (*zhenren) or a Saint (*shengren) benefits the whole human commu-
nity in which he lives by aligning himself with the forces that rule the cosmos.
On the other hand, a ruler who ignores Heaven's omens brings about natural
calamities and social disturbances.
In many cases, the conduits linking each domain to the others are the ab-
stract emblems of correlative cosmology, or the gods of the outer and inner
pantheons. Emblems and gods are related to each other, as several divinities
correspond to cosmological notions. Symbolic numbers (see *NUMEROLOGY)
and images (*xiang) play a central role in establishing these relationships. In
Taoism, however, numbers and images also perform an even more important
function, as they serve to express both the emanation from Dao to macrocosm,
and the reverse process of return to the Dao (*fan), which is often performed
with the support of a microcosmic framework.
Cosmos, gods, and the human body. The macrocosm-microcosm theory lies at
the core of correlative cosmology. The pattern of the Five Agents (*wuxing) in
particular forges relations among various sets of entities and phenomena, such
as numbers, colors, spatial directions, seasons, planets, musical notes, and so
forth. Within these sets, the relation of the five viscera (*wuzang) to the seasons
and directions aligns the human microcosm to the macrocosmic categories of
space and time. An example of the adaptation of this theory in Taoism is the