In Taoism, body gods (shēnshén, 身神), also inner gods or internal gods (nèishén, 内神) are deities situated within the human body. As many as 36,000 inner gods are described, "who raise the whole body and let it ascend to Heaven."[1] Often they appear as "bureaucrats reporting to the stars."[2]
The Taoist conception of the body contains a number of "body residents", including gods, hun and po souls, and disease-causing spirits such as the Three Corpses (sanchong, 三蟲). Meditation can allow the adept to control or manage these entities. The 2nd century Taipingjing describes one such method:
There are ten spirits of spring that look like boys dressed in blue; ten spirits of summer that look like boys dressed in red; ten spirits of fall that appear like boys dressed in white; ten spirits of winter that look like boys dressed in black; twelve spirits of the four seasons that seem to be boys dressed in yellow. These are the gods residing in the inner organs of male adepts. The same numbers of gods [in female form] reside in those of a female. Males best meditate on [the gods] in male form, while females envision them in female form. Each should be [painted] about one chi [roughly one foot] tall. [If] the images are nicely painted and lovable, adepts will feel happy and their spirit souls promptly return to the body.
Inner gods are among the earliest images in Taoism, but literary sources predate any visual iconography.[3] [4] Body gods can be traced to the social and political upheaval of the declining Han dynasty, where a "process of deification" on the microcosmic level supplanted a notion of organs as impersonal storehouses of qi. The body was therefore transformed into the "dwelling place of powerful internal spirits or gods." The "impersonal entities" seen in earlier texts such as the or transitioned to anthropomorphic gods of the body. Anthropomorphism made the visualization of cosmic principles easier and emphasized their "living" or generative functions. The identification of the body with the celestial realm originates in yin-yang cosmology and the wuxing. Meditation "accordingly served to turn the adept’s body into a cosmic body, a 'theater of moving gods.'" The first systematic description of inner gods is found in the, where each organ is designated as a ministry and is managed by a god residing in a palace.
| Heart | Lungs | Liver | Kidneys | Spleen | Gallbladder | ||
| Name | Cinnabar Origin | Brilliant Flower | Dragon Smoke | Dark Abyss | Constant Existence | Dragon Resplendence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Style | Preserving Numina | Achieving the Void | Holding Light | Raising Children | Resting Place of Spirit | Imposing Brightness |
A late 2nd century commentary on the Daodejing, the Master of the Riverbank, contains a description of five spirits inhabiting the liver, lungs, heart, kidney, and spleen. These organs can be emptied of "excessive emotions and desires" to make room for the descent of cosmic deities. The early medieval Laozi zhongjing describes a pantheon of inner gods in a hierarchical arrangement similar to the Eastern Han court, supported by eight-thousand attendants.[5] The Central Scripture describes the lung as a secretary, the liver as a librarian, the heart as a minister of military affairs, the left kidney as a minister of education, and the right kidney as the minister of public works.
See main article: article. The Taipingjing describes Taiyi (太一 "the one"), initially personified as an astral deity at the center of the universe, as an inner god:
On the head, the One is the top;Among the seven orifices, it is found in the eyes;In the center of the body, it is the navel;Among the five orbs, it is the heart;Among the members of the body, it is the hands;Among the bones, it is the spinal column;In the flesh of the body, it is found in the five orbs and the stomach.
The Sanhuangsanyijing opens with a method for moving Taiyi from the Upper Cinnabar Field to the Middle Cinnabar Field, located in the heart, then to the top of the spleen, and finally between the kidneys and below the navel. Taiyi's integration as an internal god situated a state of cosmic unity within the body. Ge Hong's elevates Taiyi above all others, prescribing a practice referred to as "guarding the One" (守一). It describes the One as
0.9 inch[es] in length in the male, and 0.6 inch[es] in the female. Sometimes it is in the lower cinnabar field 1.4 inches beneath the navel. At other times it is in the central cinnabar field, i.e., the golden gate or purple palace, in the heart.
"In another formulation, 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'".
"One of the most popular visual conventions in picturing Daoist body gods is to highlight their physical appearances as bureaucrats reporting to the stars. A good example is the Highest Clarity document on visualization, the Perfect Scripture of the Great Cavern (Dadong zhenjing 大洞真經, DZ 6), collated by the Southern Song patriarch Jiang Zongying 蔣宗瑛 (d. 1281) on Mount Mao (Maoshan 茅山). Composed of stanzas, the scripture is meant to be recited while the adept visualizes body gods and cosmic divinities. It emphasizes the relationship between the divinities residing in the body and those in the heavenly sphere, encouraging the adept to embark on ecstatic journeys, soaring into the sky, absorbing cosmic energies, and merging with the Dao."
"One of the earliest type of imagery recorded in the history of Daoism is the imagery of body gods (shenshen 身神), the divine entities believed to reside in various parts of the body, ranging from major centers such as the head, eyes, and navel to the five inner organs (wuzang 五臟) of the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and spleen [...] Literary sources about body god visualization predate visual documentation."
"According to Daoist traditions documented from around 200 CE, the human being hosts a veritable pantheon of gods."
"Dating from the early medieval period, the text transposes sacred geography and divinities into the human body [...] [t]he body gods here are perceived not only as cosmic divinities but also as officers in a celestial administration mirroring Eastern Han administration [...] This bodily pantheon is further supported by eighteen thousand attendant officers.