Inner Gods as Petition Messengers
Overview
Section titled “Overview”This canonical ID (73) currently groups 2 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”- Ryōkai Mandara — Two-Realm Maṇḍalas
Research layers
Section titled “Research layers”Layer 1: Ryōkai Mandara — Two-Realm Maṇḍalas
Section titled “Layer 1: Ryōkai Mandara — Two-Realm Maṇḍalas”Source file:
01_Buddhism.md
The paired Womb and Diamond Realm maṇḍalas express complementary aspects of Mahāvairocana’s enlightenment and provide the principal spatial grammar of Shingon ritual.
Reliability: A/B.
Layer 2: Inner Gods as Petition Messengers
Section titled “Layer 2: Inner Gods as Petition Messengers”Source file:
02_Daoism.md
Setting: Lingbao and later liturgy
Type: internal visualization + celestial bureaucracy
A striking ritual mechanism survives from medieval Daoism into later liturgy: the priest summons gods within his own body and dispatches them to submit petitions to superior celestial deities.
Ritual grammar
Section titled “Ritual grammar”- Officiant purifies and establishes his ritual body.
- Internal gods are visualized in their bodily offices.
- The written memorial is ritually prepared and authenticated.
- Inner gods/messengers are summoned and commissioned.
- The officiant visualizes their departure through the body/cosmos toward the celestial court.
- The memorial is physically dispatched, commonly through burning in appropriate rites.
- Messengers are ritually recalled or the audience is formally closed.
Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Religious Daoism,” §§3.3, 5.3.
Reliability: A/B.