Guarding Gengshen: An Important Taoist Festival

  Guarding Gengshen means "controlling the Three Corpses" or "beheading the Three Corpses". In ancient times, the days were recorded by the Jiazi cycle, and every sixty days completed a cycle, so there was a Gengshen day every sixty days. Guarding Gengshen involves staying awake and sitting in meditation throughout the night on the Gengshen day to eliminate the "Three Corpses". According to Taoist legends, for practitioners to achieve success in their cultivation, they must get rid of the Three Corpses.

The Three Corpses are also called the Three Worms. The Shangqing School of Taoism believes that there are deities in various parts of the human body, and the Three Corpses exist respectively in the head, abdomen, and feet of the human body. Each of the Three Corpses has a name, but according to different Taoist scriptures, the names of the Three Corpses are different. "The Central Scripture of the Three Corpses of the Supreme Purity" states that the upper corpse is named Peng Ju and is in the human head. The middle corpse is named Peng Zhi and is in the human abdomen. The lower corpse is named Peng Jiao and is in the human feet. However, "The Scripture of Absorbing Qi from the Jade Cabinet of Zhongshan" claims that the upper corpse is named Qing Gu, the middle corpse is named Bai Gu, and the lower corpse is named Xue Gu. The upper corpse, Qing Gu, attacks people's eyes; the middle corpse, Bai Gu, attacks people's five internal organs; the lower corpse, Xue Gu, attacks people's stomach and life.

Although the names are inconsistent, the functions of the Three Corpses are roughly the same. The upper corpse causes people's eyes to dim, hair to fall out, breath to stink, face to wrinkle, and teeth to fall out, using every trick to make people age rapidly. The middle corpse makes people short of breath, forgetful, and prone to doing bad things. The lower corpse makes people's five emotions surge with lust and evil, unable to control themselves. Taoists say that the Three Corpses are like ghosts and spirits. In short, the Three Corpses regard the human body as their shackles and do everything possible to make people die quickly in order to escape as soon as possible.

Therefore, Taoism claims that the Three Corpses and the Nine Worms are great harms to people. Although the Three Corpses cannot often leave the human body, they are allowed to report to the Heavenly Emperor on the Gengshen day. The Three Corpses Worms will reveal all the faults and sins of a person during this period. Their aim is to revoke a person's life registration, reduce their lifespan, and make them die quickly.

To deal with this situation, many Taoists racked their brains to study methods to deal with the Three Corpses. The three treasures of Taoists are talismans, qi, and medicine. Therefore, the main Taoist practices such as absorbing qi, using talismans, and taking medicine are all effective methods to expel the Three Worms. However, these methods are rather laborious. In order to deal with the Three Corpses easily, Taoists also invented a method called guarding Gengshen.

Because as long as people do not fall into deep sleep, the Three Corpses Worms cannot leave the human body. So on the Gengshen day, practitioners stay awake throughout the night. This is called "guarding Gengshen", similar to the well-known "staying up on New Year's Eve". And the effect of passing the Gengshen day is excellent. It is said that "guarding three Gengshen days will make the Three Corpses tremble with fear; guarding seven Gengshen days will completely eliminate the Three Corpses." Calculated like this, in just over a year, the effect of beheading the Three Corpses can be achieved.

The theory of the Three Corpses was prevalent within Taoism, and all those who studied Taoism believed in it. However, there were exceptions. In the late Tang Dynasty, during the guarding Gengshen ceremony at the Taiji Temple in Zhongnan Mountain, a Taoist priest named Cheng Zixiao opposed it. He said, "How can there be any Three Corpses? This was just fabricated by the predecessors of Taoism to warn people not to do evil!"

Cheng Zixiao's view was correct. At the beginning of the establishment of Taoism, its fundamental pillar was the theory of retribution, that doing evil or good was influenced by the previous five generations of ancestors and would also affect the next five generations of descendants. This could certainly persuade people to abandon evil and do good, but it also contradicted the Taoist concept of "my fate is controlled by me, not by heaven". This is how the concept of the Three Corpses was invented. Taoism has long had the concept of gods who supervise people's faults. These gods would, according to the severity of people's transgressions, take away their lifespan. The Three Corpses are a kind of god who supervises faults.

Therefore, the essence of guarding Gengshen is actually to guard the upright heart and the right path. As the saying goes, if one does no evil deeds, one need not fear the knock of ghosts at midnight. In fact, there is no need to guard Gengshen. One only needs to maintain simplicity and purity, have few desires and little selfishness, and this will completely eliminate the Three Corpses. Tao follows nature. Every day like this is like guarding Gengshen.