Page 98 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

58 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM VOL. I

practice of absorbing the pneumas (*qi) of the five directions (Maspero 1981,
506- 13; Eskildsen 1998, 53- 56). In other instances, the macrocosm-microcosm
theory establishes looser analogies between cosmic phenomena and functions
or organs of the human body. Here too, the identification with the cosmos
is not only spatial but also temporal. Several Han texts, for example, indicate
correspondences between the 360,365, or 366 days of the year and the identical
numbers of joints (jie fii'i) in the body.
The human being, moreover, is home to a host of major and minor gods.
The most important among them dwell both in Heaven and within the indi-
vidual, and therefore play a role in connecting the two realms. The gods who
dwell in the three Cinnabar Fields (*dantian) are, according to different texts,
the Three Primes (*sanyuan, which represent original, precosmic pneumas) or
the Three Ones (*sanyi, which represent the three basic levels of the cosmos).
The twenty-four body spirits formed by the three sets of Eight Effulgences
(*bajing) are also related to the three Cinnabar Fields; they correspond to the
twenty-four jieqi jfi*t (energy nodes) of the year, and each set represents
Heaven, Earth, and Humanity within the human being. In another formula-
tion, the main inner gods rule over 18,000 other inner deities; when an adept
meditates on these deities, Heaven "makes 18,000 more divinities descend
to complete the inner body. This makes 36,000 gods altogether, who raise
the whole body and let it ascend to Heaven" (*Wushang biyao, 5.I2b-14b; see
Maspero 1981, 347, and Lagerwey 1981b, 79-80). The inner landscape of divine
beings and their palaces is depicted in the Neijing tu (Chart of the Inner Warp;
see *Neijing tu and Xiuzhen tu, and fig. 19), a representation related to other
pictures that portray the body as a mountain, which in itself is a microcosm
(Lagerwey 1991, 127-42; Oespeux 1994, 194---98).
Macrocosm and microcosm in ritual and alchemy. Taoist ritual represents a complete
time cycle, and its arrangement of altars reproduces the spatial structure of the
cosmos (Lagerwey 1987C, 25-48; see fig. 9). In a manner reminiscent of the body
spirits mentioned above, an altar described in the *Wushang biyao (Supreme
Secret Essentials) has each side measuring twenty-four feet, corresponding to
the twenty-four periods of the year, and is provided with three tables assigned
to the Three Sovereigns (*sanhuang) of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity (49.1a-2a;
Lagerwey 1981b, 152- 53). Spatial correspondences are also apparent in another
altar, which is arranged in such a way as to correspond to the eight trigrams
(*bagua) at its four sides and the four corners, and the twelve Earthly Branches
(dizhi :i1!? 3t; see * ganzhi) along its periphery (Schipper and Wang 1986, 191, fig.
3). The altar, moreover, is a microcosm not only in relation to the cosmos in
its temporal and spatial aspects, but also to the deities who inhabit it. Images
of these deities are painted on scrolls and placed in positions (wei w) to which
their respective gods descend to take part in the ceremony.