San-i Chin.,, lit. “the three ones”; three deities who, according to the Inner Deity Hygiene School of religious Taoism (tao-chiao), guard the three cinnabar fields (tan-t ‘ien) situated respectively in the head, near the heart, and in the abdominal region. The san-i are in turn ruled by the Supreme One (T’ai-i), who dwells in a particular compartment of the upper cinnabar field. The task of the three ones consists in guarding the three cinnabar fields-the focal points of man’s life energy-against ghost and evil breath. They are the enemies of the three worms (san-ch’ung).
The term san-i may also designate the trinity of mind (shen), life force (ch’i), and essence (ching). In Taoist texts from the Han Dynasty the three ones refer to the Celestial One (T’ien-i), the Earthly One (Ti-i), and the Supreme One (T’ai-i).
The idea of the three ones originated with a passage of the Tao-te ching ( chap. 42, Feng & English 1972):
The Tao begot one
one begot two
two begot three
and three begot the ten thousand things.
Due to the tendency of Taoism to personalize abstract concepts, this “one” that arises from the Tao quickly became transformed into a deity, the Supreme One (T’ai-i), who for a long time was the most important deity in religious Taoism. The splitting up of the One into three ones proved necessary as a result of the fusion of two practices, which until then had been independent of each other:
1 ) meditation aimed at becoming one with the Tao, based on the teachings of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, who considered the preservation of shou-i to be indispensable, and
2) the practice of “allowing the breath to circulate” through the cinnabar fields of the body (hsing-ch’i). Since there are three fields and the ultimate principle of the One resides in each of them it became necessary to assume the existence of three ones, which dwell in three different places but nevertheless form a unity.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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