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The second day of ritual begins-with a short- ceremony to re-invite the spirits, and is followed immediately by the

Pi first of the three audiences, the Tsao Ohhao. The Tsao C h {ao or morning audience is supposed to begin between the Yen and the Mao hours, that is, between 3 and 5 in the morning. It is especially dedicated to an audience with the first of- the Three Pure Ones, that is, the Primordial Heavenly Worthy'.

As in other K1o-i ritual, described above, the Taoist

first builds the mandala of the heavenly spirits around himself concentrating upon the spirits of the ten heavenly directions. In the elite meditation performed by the high priest, a green-. blue vapor is seen coming,..out' of the east, and corresponding to it a green-blue vapor arises from the kidney. The vapors

fill the whole T1 an area, and in their midst the Taoist

envisions rows of blue' dragons, and awesometlion-1ike creatures

who wait as guardi;ans i>ef ore the. presence . of ■ the Primordial Heavenly Worthy. Tlie' Taoist ’and.' the .people" in the area'are

purified- by the vapors iintopan?ure gbid substance, due to the ' primordial vapor which has. filled all present, during the

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audience with, the.Primordial Heavenly Worthy.

Tlie Morning. Audience t h e n tcontinues with: a lengthy ■

offering of incense to the ten directions, a stately ritual

dance, and the offering of a small blue piece'of ri c e .paper o n ■

>' ' ■ ' ft^

which are written the petitions' of the community. ^ The Red­ head Taoists often do not follow the orthodox rules, and use

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a large piece of red paper, with all the names of the .villagers on it, to satisfy, the demands of the people, hot knowing the more elite'meditative ritual, the Red-heads offer the. Morning Audience as a rite to the spirits of the ten directions.

As on the "first day, the morning and afternoon of the second day is-filled with the reading of canonical texts for repentance and merit. The noon offering' of nine items for the

spirits is performed again, and the duties - outside the temple

are attended to by a special team of Taoists, who^visit and bless the homes of. the villagers, and look after the offerings . of food and -incense in 'lhe various- T T an structures housing ■ the visiting deities around the village. ^

Meanwhile inside the temple the Taoists prepare for the second of- the three audiences, called Wu Ch ?ao , or Foon

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Audience. The Foon Audience Is traditionally supposed to

begin between the Ssu. and the Wu hours, that is, between

9 and 11 in the morning. It Is an audience with the Tao

under the aspect of the Ling-pao Heavenly Worthy, the god. of the liaison between heaven and earth. In the elite, meditative'* sense, the preceding Morning Audience was a celebration of the uniting of wood and fire. The joining'of wood and fire

( or..the numbers "2” and t?3ir as described in chapter 3 ? page

7 9 above )add up to the five of center, and the, color yellow.

The meditative color of the second audience Is therefore

Yellow, and the audience taking place within the microcosm of the Taoist!s .body is with the Lord of Earth, the Ling-pao

87 Heavenly Worthy.

■ As in the Morning Audience, the Taoist high priest meditates In the center of the area, seeing a yellow vapor coming from his spleen, and filling the sacred T *an area.

The Ling-pao Heavenly Worthy is summoned for a solemn audience, and fills,the Taoist and all present with revivifying primordial

breath,. To the ordinary popular Taoist, the Red-heads, however,

the Noon Audience is a conglomeration of many things, in which the gods of the five earthly directions have audience with the T ao, as-the focal point of the ritual.

The Red-heads■of Hsinchu, and north Taiwan^ begin the Noon Audience with thejCeremony-called TRClling^up-the screen” , described above. Thereupon they b u m talismans in the five

directions, as desoribe&flh;the Su G h Ti ritual above, and

quickly follow this rite with the ”Sounding of b e l l ■and chime” ; all of these ceremonies were performed by the Black-hea.d' Taoists

on the evening of the first day. finally, the Red-heads do a

frenzied though graceful -rite called ”dancing the steps of the 28 heavenly constellations.” In the rite, they place a rattan mat in front of -the central altar, and then turn the mat over,

symbolizing that heaven has come down Into the area. A-. Taoist then steps onto the mat,,and to the accompaniment of an Intri­ cate rhythm on the drums, dances a series of ritual steps imi- .tating the shape and order of the heavenly constellations.

The rite demonstrates the basic difference between the Red-head or Shen-hsiao order of Taoists, and the Black-head or Yti-fu order.-' The Red-heads of ,Taipei, T Tao™yuah, and Hsinchu