Yubu, translated as Pace(s) of Yu or Step(s) of Yu, is the basic mystic dance step of religious Daoism. This ancient walking or dancing technique typically involves dragging one foot after another, and is explained in reference to the legendary Yu the Great, who became lame on one side of his body from exerting himself while establishing order in the world after the Great Flood. Daoist religions, especially during the Six Dynasties period (220–589), incorporated Yubu into rituals, such as the Bugang "pace the Big Dipper", in which a Taoist priest would symbolically walk the nine stars of the Beidou "Big Dipper" in order to acquire that constellation's supernatural energy.
Terminology The term Yubu , defined as boxing "limp; walk lame",Hanyu Da Cidian 1993 1.664 compounds two Chinese words.
Yu was the legendary founder of the Xia dynasty (c. 2070 BCE-c. 1600 BCE), and worked so long and hard fighting the mythical Great Flood that he became partially paralyzed. Yu was also called Dayu (with "big; great") or Xiayu (with "Xia dynasty").
The (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi gives the earliest Chinese dictionary definition of yu : "a "bug; reptile", from the "animal trampling tracks" radical, a "pictograph" (). The bronzeware script for depicts a head, legs, and tail. Shuowen commentators interpret this as meaning qu (clarified with the "teeth" radical) "decayed and missing teeth; bad teeth".
Axel Schuessler reconstructs Old Chinese *waʔ "insect; reptile", and gives an etymology from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *was "bee; honey" or Proto-Waic *wak "insect" (cf. Proto-Palaungic *ʋaːk).
Bu means " walk; step; stride; tread; pace (off)". In this Chinese character , the top element is "foot" and the bottom was originally 止 backwards. Early bronzeware and oracle script characters depicted bu as a "left foot" and "right foot".
Schuessler reconstructs Old Chinese *bâh , which has Sino-Tibetan cognates of Mru pak "go; walk" and Lushai vaakF / vaʔL "go; walk". Thus, two millennia ago, the ancient Chinese pronounced Yubu something like *waʔbâh.
Yubu "Yu steps" is related to the words Yuxing "Yu walk" and Wubu "shaman steps" (see the Fayan below). The (3rd century BCE) Confucian classic Xunzi (6) uses the phrase Yuxing er Shunqu "Yu walk and Shun run" to mock the Confucian disciples of Zizhang : "Their caps bent and twisted, their robes billowing and flowing, they move to and fro as thought they were a Yu or a Shun—such are the base Ru of Zizhang's school." The Korean Buddhist monk and scholar Honggi (1822–1881) was also known as Yuxing .
Yu myths
Yu the Great is the subject of many mythological stories. Anne Birrell says, "The myth of Yü and the flood is the greatest in the Chinese tradition. This is not just because the narratives tell how he managed to control the flood, but also because numerous myths, legends, and folk tales became attached to his name. In every case, Yü is depicted as a hero, selflessly working on behalf of humankind, and succeeding in his task."
According to early Chinese mythological and historical texts, a Great Flood inundated China during the reign of Emperor Yao (c. 2356 – c. 2255 BCE). Yao appointed Yu's father Gun to control the flooding, and he spent nine years constructing dikes and dams, which collapsed and killed many people. After reigning for one century, Yao abdicated the throne to Shun, the last of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, who fired or killed (according to version) Gun and appointed Yu to replace his father. Yu the Great devised a successful flood control system through undamming rivers, dredging riverbeds, and constructing irrigation canals. In fighting the floods for thirteen years, Yu sacrificed his body, resulting in thick calluses on his hands and feet, and partial paralysis. Shun abdicated the throne to Yu, who founded the Xia dynasty.
The (c. 3rd century BCE) Daoist classic Zhuangzi quotes philosophical rival Mozi, founder of Mohism, to tell the myth of Yu controlling the flood. Master Mo declared, "Long ago, when Yü was trying to stem the flood waters, he cut channels from the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers and opened communications with the four uncivilized tribes and the nine regions. There were three hundred famous rivers, three thousand branch rivers, and countless smaller ones. Yü personally handled the basket and the shovel, interconnecting the rivers of all under heaven, till there was no down on his calves and no hair on his shins. He was bathed by the pouring rains and combed by the gusting winds as he laid out the myriad states. Yü was a great sage, and he wearied his physical form on behalf of all under heaven like this."
Chinese origin myths have stories about two primordial sage-rulers being divinely inspired by patterns on turtle shells. Fu Xi devised the bagua "eight trigrams" of the Yijing from seeing the Hotu "Yellow River Map" on a turtle (or a dragon-horse), and Yu devised the basic magic square from seeing the Luoshu "Luo River writing" on a giant turtle shell. "The Great Treatise" commentary to the Yijing has an early reference to the Luoshu. Heaven creates divine things; the holy sage takes them as models. Heaven and earth change and transform; the holy sage imitates them. In the heavens hang images that reveal good fortune and misfortune; the holy sage reproduces these. The Yellow River brought forth a map and the Lo River brought forth a writing; the holy men took these as models. The Yijing sub-commentary explains, "The water of the Ho sent forth a dragon horse; on its back there was curly hair, like a map of starry dots. The water of the Lo sent forth a divine tortoise; on its back there were riven veins, like writing of character pictures."
The Luoshu is a 3x3 grid of dots representing the numbers 1-9, with the sum in each of the rows, columns, and diagonals equal to 15 (which is the number of days in each of the 24 solar terms in the traditional Chinese calendar). The Luoshu, also known as the Jiugongtu "Nine Halls Diagram", is central to Chinese fortune telling and Fengshui. Yu supposedly used the Luoshu to divide ancient China into Nine Provinces; Michael Saso says the "Steps of Yu" dance is thought to ritually imitate Yu's lamely walking throughout the Nine Provinces, stopping the floods, and restoring the order and blessing of nature.
Andersen describes the symbolic relation between Yubu, Steps of Yu, and legends about Yu. In Chinese mythology Yu is known first of all as the one who regulated the waters after the great flood, a fact he accomplished by walking through the world. His steps provide the exemplary model for the ritual form of Yubu. The flood may be equated with primordial chaos or, in a more synchronic mode of thought, the chaos underlying the existing state of order. And the cosmic order established by Yu may be identified with the societal order instituted by the emperor in accordance with the patterns of the universe.
Thus, one explanation for the Yubu is as a ritual reenactment in imitation of Yu's gait as the lamed flood-hero. An alternative origin myth for the Yu Pace is that Yu himself invented it, inspired by the movements of a divine bird; and, that when Yu assembled the gods together, he used this dance.
Donald Harper says, "Forms of magic related to Yu , the flood hero and legendary founder of Xia, indicate his importance in Warring States magico-religious and occult traditions. Yu's legendary circumambulation and pacification of a world in chaos appear to have made Yu the archetypal pacifier of the spirit world that continued to exist alongside mankind."
Classical texts The Chinese classics provide important information about Yubu "Paces of Yu".
Shizi The (c. 3rd-4th century CE) Shizi "Writings of Master Shi", which is attributed to the Syncretist philosopher Shi Jiao (c. 390–330 BCE) could contain one of the first references to Yubu. The "Ruler's Governance" chapter says, Formerly, (when) the Longmen (Mountains) were not yet opened up (for crossing), and the Lüliang (Mountains) were not yet tunneled through, the (Huang) river emerged from high in the Mengmen (Mountains). (It) greatly overflowed (until it) backed up, (until) there were no hills or mounds (left unsubmerged), (until even) tall hillocks were destroyed by it: (this was) called the flood. Yu thereupon dredged the Huang and Jiang rivers, and for ten years did not (even) glance at his home. (He worked so hard that his) hands had no nails and (his) lower legs had no hair. (He) contracted a partial-paralysis sickness, (such that when he) walked (one foot could) not step past the other, which people (thereafter) called the "Pace of Yu". [] Yu had a long neck and a (mouth like a) bird’s beak, and (his) face was likewise ugly, (but) the world followed him and considered him a worthy and enjoyed learning (from him). Fischer calls this "one of the most famous stories in all of Chinese mythology", and notes the "'Pace of Yu' would go on to have an important place in early medicine and later Daoist ritual."
This descriptive term is Chinese pianku "paralyzed on one side, hemiplegia".
Fayan The Exemplary Sayings (Fa yan ) by Yang Xiong mentions Yu (using his surname, Sishi "Mr. Si) and the early physician Bian Que (d. 310 BCE) as examples of falsely borrowing names. In the past, Yu controlled the waters flooding the land, and now shamans dance the many Steps of Yu. Bian Qiao was a man of Lu, and now many healers and called men of Lu. Those who want to sell what is fake inevitably borrow from the genuine. [] (10) Since the original literally reads "[wubu ] "shaman's steps" many Yu", an alternate translation is: "Formerly Sishi (i.e., Yu) regulated the waters and the earth, and the steps of shamans in many cases are those of Yu".
The French sinologist Marcel Granet hypothesized that Yubu dancing, which enabled Daoist priests to achieve a state of trance and become the instrument of a spirit, derived from ancient Wu (shaman) techniques of ecstasy, such as tiaoshen (lit. "jump spirit") "perform a shaman's trance-dance".
Baopuzi
Ge Hong's (c. 320 CE) Daoist classic Baopuzi contains some of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the Paces of Yu, in which "each pace comprises three steps, and the movement thus appears like the waddle of a three-legged creature". The three paces of Yubu were associated with the performer's movement through the three levels of the cosmos, the Santai "Three Steps; stars within Ursa Major" (ι UMa through 61 UMa) in Chinese astronomy, and the Three Steps of Vishnu across earth, air, and heaven in the Rigveda. The fact that already in the early Han dynasty, the steps seem to have been connected with the three pairs of stars that are situated under the Northern Dipper and referred to as the Three Steps (santai ), or the Celestial Staircase (tianjie ), would seem to support this. It would appear, in other words, that even in this early period the Paces of Yu constituted a close parallel to the three Strides Viṣṇu in early Vedic mythology, which are thought to have taken the god through the three levels of the cosmos (thereby establishing the universe), and which indeed, just like the Paces of Yu in Taoist ritual, are known to have been imitated by Vedic priests as they approached the altar—and in the same form as the Paces of Yu, that is, dragging one foot after the other.
The Big Dipper had central importance in Han cosmology, and was seen as the instrument of the emperor of heaven, Taiyi , who resides in the bright, reddish star Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris) near the pole of heaven. In the so-called "apocryphal texts" or weishu "glosses on the classics that allege esoteric meanings", the Big Dipper or Shendou "Divine Dipper" is described as, "the throat and tongue of heaven", which "contains the primordial breath and dispenses it by means of the Dipper".