Bugang is a Daoist ritual dance or walk, based upon the "Steps of Yu" tradition, in which a Taoist priest paces through a supernatural pattern, such as stars in the Big Dipper or numbers in the Loshu magic square. Texts from the (4th century) Shangqing School revelations contain the earliest descriptions of , frequently with the practitioner pacing among constellations, especially the Big Dipper's stars. When religious Daoism began during the Six Dynasties period (220–589 CE), the expression became popular.
Terminology "pacing the stars of the Big Dipper" combines two Chinese words, and , and was first recorded in the (c. 3rd century) Records of the Three Kingdoms.Hanyu Da Cidian 1990 5:334.
The variant , which uses a different word , was first recorded in the (c. 1029) anthology of the .Hanyu Da Cidian 1990 5:336.
Several later Daoist scriptures on write it with variant Chinese characters, writing as , and or as . Andersen says that frequently the notions of "walking the guideline, spreading out the guideline, and distributing strength are subtly blended."
The phrase adds the words and .
(lit. "Northern Dipper) is the common Chinese name for the Big Dipper. and (with and ) both mean "Big Dipper; (esp.) handle of the Big Dipper" – and are the second of the 108 Stars of Destiny in the Water Margin.
The Tang dynasty poet Lu Guimeng (d. 881) coined the expression .
Practices is practiced in two basic forms: the Shangqing School walk along the seven stars of the Big Dipper and the Zhengyi School walk through the eight trigrams arranged in the magic square. In both variants of the practice, each step is accompanied by three actions coordinated with the movements of the feet: the inwardly pronounced line of incantation when the priest reaches the star or trigram in question, the visualization of a journey through heaven, and in which the thumb of the left hand represents movement in parallel to the body of the priest. Indeed, the basic patterns followed in the practice of are associated with the concept of the movement through heaven of the high god Taiyi, the Great One, or the Supreme Unity, and the accompanying incantations often make it clear that as the priest performs the walk, he impersonates Taiyi. A powerful theme underlying the practice is that of world-creation and the establishment of order, frequently associated with the construction of the sacred area in the initial part of a ritual. Within the liturgy, however, the characteristic specific functions of are, first, to serve as elements of the purification of the ritual area, and second, to structure the movement of the high priest ( ), as he approaches the point of the transmission of a document to heaven, and the point of his ascent in order to deliver the document to the Most High. The Daoist Lingbao School also performed the ritual.
Shangqing
Shangqing "Supreme/Highest Clarity" School texts, supposedly revealed to Yang Xi from 364 to 370 CE, contain the earliest extant references to along the stars of the Dipper. Early Shangqing texts emphasize that the purpose of is to achieve individual immortality through the ascent to heaven. In the Shangqing texts, where this practice has not yet reached the great complexity that it would acquire later, the adept draws the stars of Ursa Major on a silk ribbon, and, after constructing a sacred enclosure by commanding the planets to take their places around him, he "clothes himself" in the stars of the Dipper and then rises into the constellation. First, he walks around the outer circle of "dark stars", invoking the goddesses who live in them. Only then can he proceed to the male gods of the Dipper, making the resident god appear as he steps on each star in turn, following a strict order.
For instance, the (DZ 1316), which explains itself as the full revelation mentioned in an earlier "excerpted and abbreviated" text, describes the origins and practice of . It states than in 24 BCE, Wang Feng , uncle of Wang Mang who overthrew the Han and founded the brief Xin dynasty, obtained a summary of methods from "practitioner of the Dao" Liu Jing , who in turn had studied them with "teacher in transcendence" Lord Zhang of Handan . Although this time scheme may prove to correspond to the actual history of , Andersen says this story "also gives ample cause for suspicion.". The emphasis on the usurpant emperor Wang Mang may well be a reflection of the (99) story – which does not refer to any walking – that Wang Mang used the Dipper as a cosmic weapon to protect himself against his enemies. "We find ample information in Han dynasty texts on the use of the Dipper as an exorcistic weapon, but I have found no trace of in any of these accounts."
The describes as an ecstatic flight through the stars. he adept is required first to pace back and forth through the stars three times and then to perform a final walk from the first to the ninth star, in all cases skipping the third star, , the Perfected, which is to be avoided, and which is instead saluted by the adept, when he is standing in the ninth star. Generally, each step is accompanied by an incantation which is pronounced by the adept standing in the star and which evokes the image of the deity of the star in question.
The deity Taiyi , translated as the Great One, Great Oneness, Great Monad, and Great Unity, has been viewed as the supreme god of heaven since the late Warring States period. According to Chinese mythology and astronomical tradition, Taiyi, the Emperor of Heaven, resides in the brightest star in the bowl of the "Little Dipper", the large, reddish Kochab or Beta Ursae Minoris (β UMi) near the northern Pole star.
Traditional Chinese astronomy calls β UMi the , and locates Ursa Minor within the . Beta Ursae Minoris is described variously as the ladle by which Taiyi pours out the primordial breath and as the chariot in which he moves through the heavens. "The underlying cosmographic concept is that of the Dipper as a pointer — and a conductor — stretching out from the pole of heaven to the belt of the celestial equator and, by its annual movement, like the outer leg of a compass, describing a circle which is the circumference of heaven". In Chinese terms, is the Dipper and is the circle, and their original meanings were semantically extended in , the norms of conduct directed by the emperor. and connect in the constellation , which is one of the 28 at which the Dipper points during the year. The calendrical treatise calls the Dipper , and associates (or ) with the 12-year cycle of Jupiter around the sun, which is related to various calendrical sequences and cycles of time.
Daoist technical vocabulary for contrasts with , referring to the seasonal changes on Earth, activated by the movements in heaven, and conceived as a spatial flow on the circumference of the Earth. "Thus it represents the terrestrial pattern to which the powers emanating from the pole of heaven are transferred by the Dipper performing its annual revolution in the sky".
The and other Shangqing revealed texts describe as either walking across the stars of the Dipper as it appears in the sky or walking around the five planets. It is categorized under the term . The describes the long-term results of these practices. If you constantly tread on emptiness (i.e., the stars), then after one year you will avoid blame, after two years you will avoid weapons, after three years you will avoid death, and after four years you will become a terrestrial immortal. None of the myriad harmful and evil influences will dare act upon you. From then on your blessings will be countless. You cause the gods to arrive, you command the spiritual forces. You ride a chariot yoked with flying dragons. The heaven of the Supreme Pole ( ) presents you with the fungus of immortality. The Jade Emperor ( ) gives you immortal lads . If you practice it for two times seven years, you will become a Perfected of the heaven of Superior Purity (DZ 1316).Translated in . This form of was almost exclusively used for purposes of individual salvation, rather than used within the framework of a larger ritual context, as seen in the Zhengyi tradition.
Zhengyi The Zhengyi Dao "Way of Orthodox Unity" began during the Tang dynasty as a transformation of the earlier Tianshi Dao "Way of the Celestial Masters", and became prominent during the Song dynasty under Emperor Huizong and the 30th Celestial Master Zhang Jixian (1092–1126). The Zhengyi tradition changed the Shangqing practice of from an individual walk through the stars into a liturgical walk through the with the 8 trigrams arranged around the . Zhengyi forms of were incorporated into the general liturgy for purposes of exorcism and purification, an essential part of the , particularly during the initial and final parts of ceremonies.
The (DZ 1294) is the earliest preserved text to record -type dancing following the magic-square pattern. Mark Csikszentmihalyi says, "This text may date from the second to fifth centuries CE, and reflects the integration of ritualized visualization, invocation, and sexual techniques." According to Andersen "It presents a wedding ritual, or perhaps one should rather say a rite of sexual union. In any case, sexual union takes place as a part of the ritual, which also includes certain dances performed by the couple." This text uses the word in or – instead of , which later became the standard term – describing a ritual dance in which the couple each puts one foot in opposing earthly branches and joins their other two feet in the center, then shifting to the next earthly branch, and so on until they have gone through the whole circle. refers specifically to the practice, performed repeatedly during the ritual and in turns by both participants, of "toeing" with one foot the body of the other while lying side by side. The movement starts from the heart and describes a circle in eleven steps, the man moving his left foot clockwise to an end point on the right side of the woman and the woman moving her right foot counter-clockwise to an end point on the left side of the man. In both cases it is clear from the accompanying incantation that the notion of the movement of the four seasons is involved. The practice, which is described also as a form of massage, clearly intends to establish an inner circulation in accordance with the patterns of the universe. This text gives a series of sexually implicit incantations for "inner circulations" uniting the couple's and , in order to reach the .Translated in . The man says, "I wish to mount the Guideline of Heaven and enter the Sequence of Earth. The four seasons and the five elements are each of themselves apposite." The woman says, "I wish to lie on earth and receive heaven, uniting and . The four seasons and the five elements are each of themselves apposite." They both say, "The five breaths — both the dark and the yellow — adhere of their own . They return to my five organs, which glow with light."
The basis of ritual dances in the is referred to as , "The walk of Taiyi through the Nine Palaces" (8 trigrams plus center in the magic square), which represents Taiyi travelling though the Nine Heavens. The couple creates a ritual area by "distributing" the Nine Palaces, by joining fingers or toes so as to give a total number corresponding to each position, and calling out the name and number of the palace in question. The trigrams and gates of the Nine Palaces are further associated with the "nine" stars of the Big Dipper, which has seven visible stars. The number of nine is reached by the addition of two "assistant" stars: (Alcor, 80 Ursae Majoris) and , an invisible star near the handle of the Dipper. These nine stars have a special Daoist nomenclature of: , , , , , , , , and .