Body god

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]^[3]

^ Pregadio 2011, p. 58: "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'".
^ Huang 2015, p. 29: "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."
^ Pregadio 2011, p. 79.

[1] Pregadio 2011, p. 58: "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'".

[2] Huang 2015, p. 29: "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."

[FOOTNOTEPregadio201179-3] Pregadio 2011, p. 79.

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