BUGANG

To work with Fengshui means to help the union of Heaven and Earth, let’s try to do it with the Bugang, an ancient Taoist ritual dance.

Bugang is the name of the ancient Taoist ritual dance which literally means “walking on the Net” with reference to the celestial figure recognizable in the constellation of Ursa Major, composed of Nine Stars, as the current seven were joined by the last two of Bootes, which was circumpolar at that time.

Walking on the Net means to execute a “Terrestrial” sequence, symbolically stepping on the 9 stars with a spiraling labyrinthine path that aims at the union of Heaven and Earth.

The Bugang is also called The Yu Step, with reference to the legendary Yu who brought order to chaos after the Great Flood (in analogy with the Universal Flood of the Bible).

Yu’s dance was used to standardize the measurements of the Earth compared to those of Heaven and therefore to give order, after the Great Flood, to all things. A turtle emerged from the placated Luo river with the famous Lo Shu on her back: Lo Shu was the magic square composed of 9 Numbers that summed along all directions always give 15, demonstrating the perfection of creation. The number 15 is the unit of time and space, as it is the angular measure of the Earth’s rotation in one hour (360 °: 24h).

We have seen a mathematical scheme which suggests an analogy between the celestial scheme of the 9 stars and the magic square Lo Shu, and finally a geographical scheme: the 9 Regions which Yu the Great traces with his “dance” throughout China and draws on the fused 9 Tripods, preserving their spirit and energy.

This is how the circle between Heaven and Earth closes, from the 9 Stars of the Big Dipper to the 9 Regions that create the current China, through the mathematical scheme of the first 9 Numbers.