The Body-Mind Practices and New Media Technologies: Two Taiwanese Walking Pilgrimages
Cahiers d Extrême-Asie January 1, 2021 Hsun-Ming Chang
Sacredness during walking pilgrimages arises more from bodily techniques than from material technologies. Drawing on Taiwan's Dajia and Baishatun annual pilgrimages, the article contrasts urban and rural pilgrims' body-mind practices and examines how both pilgrimages use modern media technologies. Bodily techniques—such as walking meditation, mental concentration, sensory sharpening, and mental reset—engender a sense of sacredness through direct bodily experience. Material technologies, including public transport and digital media, do not impede sacredness but play a lesser role. The analysis shows that embodied practices remain central to spiritual experience even in technologically mediated contexts.