The numerous interpretative layers of Tai Ji Men’s Dragon Dance underscore the cultural-anthropological meanings of enacting the creation and re-creation of the universe.
by Márk Nemes*
*A paper presented at the webinar “The UN, the Two Covenants, and the Tai Ji Men Case,” co-organized by CESNUR and Human Rights Without Frontiers on October 24, 2024, United Nations Day.
An article already published in Bitter Winter on October 29th, 2024.
Legally established as a Qigong academy in Taiwan in 1966, Tai Ji Men is a school dedicated to qigong, martial arts, and self-cultivation, drawing from 6,000 years of Taoist wisdom. Its primary goal is to achieve harmony among the dualities of existence: yin and yang, heaven and earth, and body and spirit. In 1999, its current leader—or Shifu—Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, proclaimed that the time had arrived to elevate humanity from suffering, urging his disciples—the dizi—to share his teachings with the world.
This announcement sparked several cultural initiatives, including the ringing of the Bell of World Peace and Love (which began in 2000) and the global tours of cultural performances, including the Dragon Dance. The late PierLuigi Zoccatelli, former deputy director of CESNUR, had already explored the multifaceted meanings behind the ringing of the Bell in 2022. Building on his insights, I aim to provide my brief interpretation of the Dragon Dance. Unnecessary to say, mine is the interpretation of an outside observer, and does not necessarily coincide with how the dizi themselves may perceive the sacred performance.
For the untrained eye, Tai Ji Men’s Dragon Dance might appear to be merely a cultural showcase. It is undoubtedly a colorful and vibrant performance of Chinese cultural heritage, which is made possible by hand-crafting artisanal dragon heads and sometimes dozens of meters-long dragon bodies. This massive mythical creature is then brought to life by syncretizing the movements of the dizi, who are led by the dragon ball, before the creature’s head.
For scholars of religion, however, the arduous preparation process and the practice of the Dragon Dance also unveil further interpretative layers. To dissect these in an orderly manner, I will utilize the Scottish scholar Ninian Smart’s phenomenological-morphological approach and examine the Dragon Dance from the interconnected angles of the ritual and material dimensions.
Smart states that rituals are, in their essence, strictly regulated bodily acts. He says, and I quote: “Ritual is as an act [bodily activity] involving performative uses of language [which involves] a formal pattern of behavior [that is] either closely or more loosely followed.”
Furthermore, in the Chinese tradition rites are parts of the greater category of “li” or “orderly behavior.” From a functionalist perspective, rituals, therefore, aim to re-enact (or perform) previously narratively established extraordinary events rooted in mythical time and space—”illud tempus” and “illud spatium.” The performative usage of language and physical acts are also particularly important, as these postulate a sense of cohesion—typically established through repetition and procedurality. Everyone involved must understand the general purpose and meanings of the conveyed acts and words during the ritual and follow these “as mutual signals of participation.”
Neither the language nor the acts have any “excessive” or “purposeless” parts; everything must be part of a greater mechanism. The “orderly” nature of rituals also entails connotations with mimesis: the individual depicts (or finds) structural similarities between his life and actions or the meanings that the ritual carries. In these contexts, if the transcendent is shown as merciful, so shall the devotee be one. If the entity is vengeful, so shall the worshipper be. In the case of Tai Ji Men, the conveyed meanings by the Dragon are compassion, courage, justice, and wisdom.
Upon further dissection, one may see that by re-enacting times before history, rituals aim to restart the cycle (or linearity—depending on the religious tradition) of creation. To achieve this, however, preparation and sufficient ritual purity are essential. Carried out alongside procedural and strict rules, limiting the available materials and manufacturing methods, in the case of Tai Ji Men, one may see the creation of the Dragon as one such act. The dizi must adhere to traditional craftsmanship rules, making everything by hand and supplying materials only from fitting sources—in this case, the sacred mountain bamboo forests of Miaoli County.
Furthermore, while enacting the Dragon Dance, Tai Ji Men dizi stay in synchronicity—stepping and jumping in an orderly manner while following the dragon ball’s movement toward left and right. Besides depicting the aimed unity of the world, the auspicious Dragon’s slithering movement and the unison of the dizi carry yet another meaning. While practicing the Dragon Dance, those involved dissolve into a unified creature, actually embodying the auspicious Dragon. In this state, the transcendent or mythical creature manifests itself in front of the eyes of the audience; parallelly, the involved dizi become part of something greater than themselves. They are the Dragon, unifying their own body with the dragon mask and long cover they built and decorated. As Smart notes: “The material dimension is a reinforcement of ritual, and with that, a reinforcement of cosmology. The impressiveness of the institution is registered through vestments, relics, jewels, glittering divinities, glorious statues, and soaring buildings. In effect, the material dimension is both congealed ritual and conceptual hardware.”
Lastly, for a phenomenologist, the Ouroboros nature of the dragon unveils a final layer of possible cosmological meaning, as the Dance is also a re-enactment of creation. The involved actively take part in bringing “illud tempus” and “illud spatium” to the eyes of the audience, who can experience the process of creation firsthand. As the divine dragon—one of the four auspicious beasts in Eastern philosophy—wakes and circulates in the available space, it also outlines the borders of existence and creates a protective barrier from chaos with its own body.
While deconstructing the phenomenon of the Dragon Dance, I outlined that those involved re-create their own cosmos and enact—and for a while effectively become—transcendent creatures. Taking up their outlined nature means that these bodily acts also strengthen the collective ethical and social meanings of Taoist self-cultivation.
As such, in line with the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Tai Ji Men’s activities and performances can be regarded as more than valuable forms of artistic and cultural expression and, as such, deserve protection and preservation even in times of conflict. Others in this seminar will deal with how this protection was unjustly denied to Tai Ji Men, thus violating the United Nations Human Rights Covenants that we celebrate today on United Nations day.