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Encyclopaedia of Ancient, Obscure and Esoteric East Asian Religious Practices

Kegare — Pollution

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

This canonical ID (19) currently groups 6 source layers with divergent titles. Milestone-1 migration preserves every layer below without inventing a single merged narrative. Status: needs-review.

Also attested under these titles

Section titled “Also attested under these titles”
  • Pratyutpanna Samādhi
  • Cunshen — Visualizing / Preserving Deities
  • Ōnusa / Haraegushi
  • Shikigami
  • Calling Out Inner Officers / Gods

Research layers

Section titled “Research layers”

Layer 1: Pratyutpanna Samādhi

Section titled “Layer 1: Pratyutpanna Samādhi”

Source file: 01_Buddhism.md

An early Mahāyāna visionary practice associated with sustained recollection of Buddhas, especially Amitābha in later interpretation.

Historical descriptions include intensive, prolonged Buddha-recollection designed to culminate in visionary encounter.

Reliability: A/B.

Layer 2: Cunshen — Visualizing / Preserving Deities

Section titled “Layer 2: Cunshen — Visualizing / Preserving Deities”

Source file: 02_Daoism.md

Chinese: 存神
A major Daoist meditation family in which gods are made present within body and cosmos through visualization.

Belief: Keeping gods present sustains life, spiritual integration and celestial connection.

Reliability: B.

Layer 3: Ōnusa / Haraegushi

Section titled “Layer 3: Ōnusa / Haraegushi”

Source file: 03_Shinto.md

Purification wand waved over people, offerings, vehicles, buildings or objects to remove pollution.

Reliability: A/B.

Layer 4: Shikigami

Section titled “Layer 4: Shikigami”

Source file: 04_Syncretic_Japan.md

Later lore depicts onmyōji commanding familiar spirits called shikigami. Historical sources support spirit-servant concepts, but popular fiction greatly elaborates their appearance and capabilities.

Reliability: B/D.

Layer 5: Calling Out Inner Officers / Gods

Section titled “Layer 5: Calling Out Inner Officers / Gods”

Source file: 08_PRIMARY_SOURCE_PROCEDURE_UPGRADES_v1_7.md

Type: Daoist internal visualization serving public liturgy

Purpose

Section titled “Purpose”

To externalize divine officials residing within the body so they can perform ritual work, including carrying petitions to celestial administrations.

Procedure grammar

Section titled “Procedure grammar”
  1. Purify and establish the altar.
  2. Sit or stand in the posture prescribed for inner visualization.
  3. Concentrate on the bodily palace in which the required officer resides.
  4. Visualize the officer in the exact form given by the manual.
  5. Use conscious breath and the associated sacred formula to “call out” the officer.
  6. Visualize the officer emerging from the body, often in luminous/cloud imagery.
  7. Assign the officer the ritual task: carry memorial, guard altar, summon another deity, etc.
  8. Continue the external rite while maintaining awareness of the dispatched officer.
  9. After completion, recall or reintegrate the officer according to the manual.
  10. Re-establish the gods within their bodily residences and close.

Learning

Section titled “Learning”

This requires mastery of the body-pantheon map. Learn each officer’s location, appearance, title and function before attempting dispatch.

Layer 6: Kegare — Pollution

Section titled “Layer 6: Kegare — Pollution”

Source file: 13_FORBIDDEN_TABOO_RESTRICTED_INDEX_v2_1.md

Class: RITUAL-POLLUTION
Historically connected especially with:

  • death;
  • blood;
  • disease;
  • other disruptive states.

Consequence

Section titled “Consequence”

Pollution can render a person temporarily unfit for kami rites and was believed capable of affecting the wider community.

Repair

Section titled “Repair”

Misogi and/or harae depending context.