THE PRACTICE OF BUGANG
Poul Andersen
Historical Introduction
I. Origins and Archaic Forms
The topic of this article is the Taoist practice oïbugang #M (or ft), "walking the guideline," that is, the ritual walk or dance following the basic, cosmic
1) This article has been written within the framework of a research project aiming at the preparation of a comprehensive monograph on the practice of bugang, for which I have received the generous support of the Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark. As a part of this project I have spent one year, from April 1986 to March 1987, doing field work in Taiwan and in the People's Republic of China. The major part of this year I spent in Tainan, Taiwan, where I continued work with the Taoist priests of the area begun during a previous one-year stay from March 1978 to February 1979. The classical Taoist priests of the area define themselves as representatives of the £hengyi IE — tradition and will be referred to as such in this article. It should be
Cahiers d'Extrême- Asie 5 (1989-1990): 15-53
