The Other Yijing: The Book of Changes in Chinese History, Politics, and Everyday Life 9789004500037, 9004500030

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The Other Yijing

Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

Prognostication in History Edited by Michael Lackner (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg) Chia-Feng Chang (Taiwan National University) Klaus Herbers (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg) Alexander Fidora (icrea – Autonomous University of Barcelona)

Series Coordinator Fabrizio Pregadio

volume 8

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/prhi

Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

The Other Yijing The Book of Changes in Chinese History, Politics, and Everyday Life

Edited by

Tze-ki Hon

leiden | boston

Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at https://catalog.loc.gov lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055544

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill‑typeface. issn 2589-4404 isbn 978-90-04-47215-0 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-50003-7 (e-book)

Copyright 2022 by Tze-ki Hon. Published by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink, Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau Verlag and V&R Unipress. Koninklijke Brill nv reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Requests for re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill nv via brill.com or copyright.com. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

This book is dedicated to those who are in transition or trying times. May your lives change for the better.

∵

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Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

Contents A Note on Style ix List of Tables and Illustrations Notes on Contributors xiii

x

Introduction: From “Historical Turn” to “Everyday Life Yijing” Tze-ki hon

1

part 1 The Unique Voice of the Yijing 1

Stalk and Other Divination Traditions prior to the Changes Canon: Views from Newly Discovered Texts 23 Constance A. cook and Andrea bréard

2

The Book of Changes as a Cosmological Manual in Han China zhao Lu

3

Yijing Divination and Religion during the Tang Dynasty Xing wang

69

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part 2 The Yijing Prediction Practices 4

Predicting Success: The Song Literati’s Uses of the Changes in Divination 125 liao Hsien-huei

5

Prediction Based on the Past: Yang Wanli’s (1127–1206) Commentary on the Changes 154 Stéphane feuillas

6

Yijing and Medicine: Discussions of the Gate of Life in Late Imperial China 170 chang Chia-feng

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contents

Hexagrams and Mathematics: Symbolic Approaches to Prediction from the Song to the Qing 192 Andrea bréard

part 3 Yijing and Modernity 8

Predicting a Regime Change: The Politicization of the Yijing in Twentieth-Century China 223 Tze-ki hon

9

Simplified Procedure and Extended Divination Objects: A Study of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology 246 tao Yingna

10

Reducing Uncertainty: Six Lines Prediction in Contemporary China 269 William matthews Index

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A Note on Style Throughout this volume, Book of Changes is used interchangeably with Yijing and Changes. All Chinese characters are transliterated in pinyin. Authors’ names are presented in the Western manner: namely, first name followed by last name but, for authors who prefer to present their names according to the Chinese custom, their family name comes first (in block letters) followed by their given name.

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Tables and Illustrations Tables 9.1 9.2 9.3 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6

Trigram numbers 255 Twelve Earth Branches (year and hour) 255 Properties of the Eight Trigrams 256 Correlates of the twelve Earthly Branches. 276 Governing Phases of the Eight Palaces. 277 Earthly Branches, Phases, and Yongshen referents for the hexagram Qian. 278 The Six Beasts 278 The Stem sequences and ‘empty’ Branches 279 Annotations for the hexagram Fu ䷗ cast on the yihai 乙亥 day of the jiashen 甲 申 month. The Generation and Resonant lines are highlighted. 281 10.7 Annotations for the hexagram Tongren ䷌ cast on the gengchen 庚辰 day of the jiashen 甲申 month. The Generation and Resonant lines are highlighted. 286

Figures 0.1 0.2 1.1

1.2 1.3 1.4

1.5 1.6

Eight Trigrams 14 Sixty-four Hexagrams 15 Item pnm80:7 from the northern area of the Miaopu 苗圃 site, in Yinxu 殷墟. Adapted from fig. 228 in Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo, ed., Yinxu de faxian yu yanjiu, 367. 27 Yinxu plastron, front and back. Adapted from Xiao Nan, “Anyang Yinxu faxian ‘Yi gua’ bujia”, 67, 69, figs 1 and 2. 29 Sipanmo Yinxu bone. Adapted by Alexis May from Cao Dingyun, “Yinxu Sipanmo ‘Yi gua’ bugu yanjiu,” 683, fig. 1. 30 Cowries see from the top, bottom, and side, from Tomb 54, Huayuanzhuang East, Yinxu. Adapted from Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo, Anyang Yinxu Huayuanzhuan dongdi Shang day muzang, 22, fig. 158. 32 Images of handle 1 (a, b), rubbing from handle 2, drawings of handles 3 and 4, adapted from Cao Wei, “Tao pai shang de shuzi gua yanjiu.” 33 From left to right, a clay Han spindle (numbers 1–6), a stone Han token (numbers 4 and 3), an ivory Warring States Qi state 14-sided die (numbers 1–6, with two 1s and 6s, two blanks), a metal 16-sided early Han die from the old Qi area (numbers 1–16). Adapted from Liu Zhangze, “Sichuan Shenfangshi Jiantaicun yizhi chutu Han dai ‘tuoluo’ touzi kao,” 66, figs. 1 and 2. 35

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tables and illustrations

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1.7

Twenty-three wooden dice from a Qin tomb in Wangjiatai, Hubei (twenty-one dice, numbers 1–6; two dice, numbers 1 and 6 twice and two blank sides). Adapted by Alexis May from Jingzhou. 36 1.8 Luoyang clay tureen decorated with numerical gua and a hunting or battle scene. Adapted by Alexis May from Li Rui, “Henan Luoyangshi Tangcheng Huayuan fangtong tao gui shitan,” 30. 36 1.9 Chunhua District, Shaanxi. Adapted from Yao Shengmin, “Chunhuaxian faxian Xi Zhou yi gua fuhao wenzi taoguan,” 56, fig. 2. 37 1.10 Bamboo manual Shifa numbers covering two trigrams from top to bottom: “987,654.” Adapted from Strip 20 in Li Xueqin, ed., Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian, 4:76. 42 6.1 b/Left: The location of mingmen in the body; right: The two kidneys belong to the phase of water. The left kidney is classified as Ying Water ( yingshui 陰水) while the right one is Yang Water ( yangshui 陽水). Mingmen is positioned between the two kidneys. The small black circle on the left of mingmen is True Water (zhenshui 真水); the small white circle on the right of mingmen is Minister of Fire (xianghuo 相火). Two kidneys form the taiji of the body. 175 6.2 b/Taiiji’s relation with mingmen and the two kidneys. 175 7.1 b/Numbers 1 to 9 as arranged in accordance with The Writ of the Luo River. 195 7.2 b/Yang Hui’s “Chart Accumulating [Numbers] around a Nine” (“Zan jiu tu”). 196 7.3 b/Ding Yidong’s Diagram of The Writ of the Luo River with 49 positions which leads to the Great Expansion 50 (“Luoshu sishijiu wei de Dayan wushi shu tu” 洛書四十九位得大衍五十數圖). 197 7.4 b/Ding Yidong’s “Diagram of The Writ of the Luo River with 45 Numbers Extended such that 49 are Used” (“Luoshu sishiwu shu yan sishijiu yong tu” 洛 書四十五數衍四十九用圖). 198 7.5 b/Li Guangdi’s diagram on the “Origins of the Great Expansion in Circle and Square” (“Dayan yuanfang zhi yuan” 大衍圓方之原). 203 7.6 b/Left: Li Guangdi’s diagram on the “Origin of the Great Expansion in Rightangled Triangles” (“Dayan gougu zhi yuan” 大衍句股之原). Right: “Old Yin Number Corresponds to the Right-angled Triangle Rule” (“Laoyin shu he gougu fa” 老陰數合句股法). 204 7.7 b/Jiao Xun, “The Ancient Diagram of the Origins of Root Extraction.” (Gu kaifang benyuan tu 古開方本原圖) 212 7.8 b/Symbolic interpretation of “The Ancient Diagram of the Origins of Root Extraction”. 213 7.9 b/“Précis of Diagrams in The Changes” ( Jiabei bianfa tu 加倍變法圖). 214 10.1 Master Tao’s equipment: three replica Qianlong coins in a bowl he decorated with the taiji symbol and Eight Trigrams, a hollow turtle shell, a Ten Thousand

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Year Calendar (wan nian li 萬年曆), and a folder containing a chart of the Eight Palaces, prediction notes, and a booklet of physiognomic diagrams. Photo © William Matthews. 272 10.2 ‘Generation’ and ‘Resonant’ lines of the hexagram Fu. 274 10.3 Master Tao’s chart of the Eight Palaces, along with the Earthly Branches of each trigram (at the top) and the number of each hexagram’s Generation line (at the lower right of each hexagram name). Photo © William Matthews. 274 10.4 Earthly Branches of the Shi and Bi hexagram 275

Charts 1.1

Illustration of all possible paths leading to the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9 when applying the Da Yan method to 50 stalks (Andrea Bréard). 40 1.2 Percentages of remainders evident in numerical sets, recorded on oracle bones, bronzes, ceramic, bamboo manuals and in records. 41 1.3 Probabilities of obtaining the Yijing numerical lines by applying the Da Yan technique with 50 stalks. 46 1.4 Illustration of all possible paths leading to the numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 when applying the Da Yan method to 58 stalks. 47 1.5 Probabilities of obtaining the Shifa numbers using 58 stalks and five iterations. 48 1.6 Probabilities of obtaining the Shifa numbers derived from dice and stalks or stalks alone. 50 1.7 210 Probabilities of obtaining the Shang numbers found in numerical sets, assuming the use of dice and stalks (1s could only be produced with a die, 6s with both a die and stalks, and 5s, 7s, 8s, and 9s with stalks only). 51 1.8 Probabilities of obtaining the 210 Shang numbers with 1s considered equal to 7s and comparing the use of dice with stalks or stalks alone. 51 1.9 138 Probabilities of obtaining the Late Western Zhou to Early Eastern Zhou numbers in numerical sets. 52 1.10 255 Probabilities of obtaining Early to Middle Western Zhou numbers in numerical sets. 53 1.11 Example of division of 30 stalks into three bunches leading to the number triple “1 1 4.”. 60

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Notes on Contributors Andrea bréard is Alexander von Humboldt-Professor and Chair for Intellectual and Cultural History of China at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (fau). Before joining fau she was Professor for History of Science at the Université Paris-Saclay in Orsay, France. Her research on the history of mathematics in China ranges from early traces of mathematical and statistical practices to their modernization during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On the latter she recently published Nine Chapters on Mathematical Modernity (Springer, 2019) and a French commented translation of Li Shanlan’s number theoretical treatise from 1867, the Duoji bilei 垛積比類, will appear in the collection Bibliothèque Chinoise (Les Belles Lettres, Paris). chang Chia-feng is Professor of History at National Taiwan University. She specializes in Chinese medical history, astronomical and astrological history. Her recent articles include “Politics under the Influence of Astronomy in Ancient China: A Case Study on the Suicide of the Han Prime Minister Chai Fengchin”, Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 20.1 (1990); “Disease and Its Impact on Politics, Diplomacy and the Military: The Case of Smallpox and the Manchus (1613–1795)”, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 57. 2 (2002), and “Even the Yellow Lord Cannot Treat Children: Self-Identity and Social Positioning of Chinese Pediatricians from the Song to the Qing Dynasties,”New History, 24.1 (2013). Constance A. cook is a neh Distinguished Professor at Lehigh University in Chinese studies. She was a fellow in Historical Studies at the Institute for Advance Study in Princeton, NJ (2017–2018) and a fellow at International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, ikgf, Erlangen, Germany (12 months during 2015–2017). Her specialty is the study of paleographical texts. Her books include Dice and Gods on the Silk Road: Chinese Buddhist Dice Divination and Its Transcultural Context (with Brandon Dotson and Zhao Lu, Leiden: Brill, 2021); Birth in Ancient China: A Study of Metaphor and Cultural Identity in Pre-imperial China (with Luo Xinhui. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2017); Stalk Divination: A Newly Discovered Alternative to the I Ching (with Zhao Lu, Oxford University, 2017); Ancestors, Kings, and the Dao (Harvard University Asian Center, 2017); Ancient China: A History (with J. Major, Routledge, 2016); Death in Ancient China: The Tale of One Man’s Journey (Leiden: Brill, 2006).

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notes on contributors

Stéphane feuillas is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris Diderot. His main fields of interest and research are Pre-Qin philosophy, the links between philosophy and literature in Song dynasty China, the Exegesis of the Book of Changes, and the Chinese history of thought, the theories of transformation and change, and the culture of the self. Tze-ki hon is Professor at the Research Centre for History and Culture, Beijing Normal University (Zhuhai). Previously, he taught at Hanover College, (Indiana), State University of New York at Geneseo, and City University of Hong Kong. He wrote three books: The Yijing and Chinese Politics, The Allure of the Nation, and Revolution as Restoration. He coauthored Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes) with Geoffrey Redmond. He edited and co-edited five volumes: The Politics of Historical Production in Late Qing and Republican China, Beyond the May 4th Paradigm, The Decade of the Great War, Confucianism for the Contemporary World and Cold War Cities. His current research projects include the paradigm shifts in the Yijing commentaries, the philosophy of change of Wang Bi (226–249) and the transformation of the Yijng into a world classic since wwi. liao Hsien-huei is an Associate Professor at the Institute of History at National Tsing Hua University. Her research interests include elite culture, popular beliefs, and the social and cultural history in middle period China. In recent years, she has been focusing on the interactions between literati and practitioners of the mantic arts. Her works were published in book Chapters such as Critical Readings on Chinese Religions, Coping with the Future: Theories and Practices of Divination in East Asia, and journals such as Chinese Studies, New History, Journal of Song Yuan Studies, T’oung Pao, etc. William matthews is a Fellow in the Anthropology of China at lse. He is the author of several scholarly articles and book chapters on contemporary Chinese divination and the Yijing, and considers their relationship to cognitive approaches to the study of cosmology in his forthcoming book, Cosmic Coherence: A Cognitive Anthropology through Chinese Divination. His current research includes anthropological approaches to the relationship between cosmology and imperial state formation in Qin and Han China, and the implications of social cognition for developing anthropological comparison.

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xv

tao Yingna received her PhD from the School of Philosophy and Social Development at Shandong University. In 2014–2015, she was a visiting student at the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, University of ErlangenNuremburg, Germany. Xing wang is a Junior Research Fellow at Fudan University in Shanghai. He obtained his doctoral degree from University of Oxford in 2018. He is the author of the book Physiognomy in Ming China: Fortune and the Body (Leiden: Brill, 2020). His research interests include the history and philosophy of Ming and Qing divination, history of the body in traditional China and late-imperial Chinese Buddhism. He is currently working on a funded research project about Pure Land Buddhism in Ming and early Qing dynasties. zhao Lu 趙璐 is an Assistant Professor of Global China Studies, New York University Shanghai; Global Network Assistant Professor, New York University. He earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied Chinese intellectual and cultural history of Early China. He is the author of In Pursuit of the Great Peace: Han Dynasty Classicism and the Making of Early Medieval Literati Culture (suny, 2019) and the co-author of Stalk Divination: A Newly Discovered Alternative to the I Ching (Oxford University Press, 2017) with Constance Cook.

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introduction

From “Historical Turn” to “Everyday Life Yijing” Tze-ki hon

Among Chinese classics, Yijing 易經 (I Ching, Book of Changes, Changes) is known for being difficult to read. This difficulty arises partly due to the text itself. Although the Yijing is commonly considered one single text, in actuality it consists of three distinct layers. The first layer comprises eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams, allegedly drawn by the mythical figure, Fu Xi 伏羲. These graphics, being symbolic and suggestive, are thereby open to different interpretations and creative formulations (see the images in Appendixes 1 and 2). The second layer consists of statements accompanying each hexagram, allegedly written by King Wen 文王 and the Duke of Zhou 周公 during the eleventh century bce. Unlike the first layer, which is abstract and symbolic, the second layer is concrete and specific. It provides an empirical account of the Shang-Zhou transition, and suggests a course of action in a stressful time (see the sixty-four hexagrams in Appendix 3). The third layer is composed of seven pieces of writing from the fifth to second centuries bce. Divided into ten segments (hence, the name “Ten Wings”), the authors of these writings used the hexagrams to discuss cosmic patterns, the relations between humanity and nature, and the complexity of human life (see the titles of the Ten Wings in Appendix 4).1 With three distinct layers, the second difficulty associated with reading the Yijing is finding its true meaning. Since its canonization in 136 bce as one of the Five Confucian classics, Yijing had been a subject of debate regarding what constituted its core text (benjing 本經) and what could best be described as its early commentaries (zhuan 傳). Historical records show that, during the Han period (206bce–220ce), the core text of the Yijing referred strictly to the first two layers of the texts, and consequently the classic was often known as the Zhouyi 周易 (Changes from the Zhou Dynasty) highlighting its link to the Western Zhou period. Toward the end of the Eastern Han, however, three of the Ten Wings—the Tuan 彖, the Xiang 象, and the Wenyan 文言—were added to the

1 For detailed accounts of the textual history of Yijing, see Michael Nylan, The Five “Confucian” Classics, 202–252; Geoffrey Redmond and Tze-ki Hon, Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes), 1–157; Richard J. Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China, 7–56; and Richard J. Smith, The I Ching: A Biography, 1–47.

© Tze-ki Hon, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004500037_002

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core text. The popular Wang Bi’s 王弼 (226–249) commentary, the Zhouyi zhu 周易注 (A Commentary on the Changes from the Zhou Dynasty), followed this new structure of the Yijing text. Since Wang Bi, the distinction between the core text and the Ten Wings has become blurred, giving rise to different commentarial traditions, such as the “Images and Numbers School” (xiangshu 象數) and the “Principle and Meaning School” ( yili 義理).2 The distinction between the core text and the Ten Wings diminished further in the eleventh century, when Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107) added yet another Wing, the Xugua 序卦, to the core text in his Yichuan yizhuan 伊川易傳 (The Yi River Commentary on the Changes). This new formation of the Yijing text became the standard in the fifteenth century, when Emperor Chengzu of the Ming dynasty (r. 1402–1424) ordered a new official commentary, Zhouyi daquan 周 易 大 全 (Compendium on the Changes from the Zhou Dynasty), based on Cheng Yi’s commentary and supplemented by that of Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–1200). The sad irony is that Zhu Xi vehemently rejected the insertion of the Ten Wings into the core text but, in Zhouyi daquan, his attempt to separate the core text from the Ten Wings was aborted. His own commentary, Zhouyi benyi 周易本 義 (The Original Meaning of the Changes from the Zhou Dynasty), was divided into fragments and inserted under each hexagram following Cheng Yi’s commentary.3 In the early twentieth century, this textual debate was further complicated when the Yijing became a focus for defining Chinese modernity. The purpose of the debate was no longer to find the true meaning of the classic but, rather, to demonstrate the fabrication by self-serving imperial officials to promote Confucian orthodoxy. Led by Gu Jiegang 顧詰剛 (1893–1980), the iconoclasts attempted to “return the text to its own time” by dividing the Yijing into two parts: the “Western Zhou text” (the core text) and the “Warring State text” (the Ten Wings). In the former, they found evidence of a primitive agrarian society in which the practice of divination was rampant. In the latter, they found signs of a rational society where the buds of philosophy could be found.4 In the 1980s, this distinction between divination (zhanbu 占卜) and philosophy (zhexue 哲 學) was used to define two different stages of development in early China— a primitive stage, during which the Chinese were superstitious, and a more advanced stage, during which the Chinese engaged in rational thinking. Interestingly, the relationship between the core text and the Ten Wings becomes 2 Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 57–111; Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching, 158–180. 3 For the significance of Zhouyi daquan, see Tze-ki Hon, “A Precarious Balance: Divination and Moral Philosophy in Zhouyi zhuanyi daquan.” 4 Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching, 181–188; Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 195–205.

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from “historical turn” to “everyday life yijing”

reversed in this discourse of Chinese modernity. Whereas the core text may have been closer to the original source, it is now seen as the pre-history of a philosophical Yijing. On the contrary, while the Ten Wings may not have been the original Yijing, they symbolize China’s progress toward rational thinking, bureaucratic organization, and empirical study.5

1

The Historical Turn

Contentious and complicated, the textual debate in China formed the backdrop to a major change in the Yijing studies in the anglophone world. Before 1990, the Yijing studies published in English focused mainly on translation. The three English translations—Thomas McClatchie, A Translation of the Confucian Yi-King (1876), James Legge, The Yi King (1882), and Richard Wilhelm/Cary F. Baynes, The I Ching or Book of Changes (1950)—were based on the official Qing commentary, Zhouyi zhezhong 周易折中 (Balanced Annotations of the Changes from the Zhou Dynasty, 1715), which treated the Yijing as a single text containing three interconnected layers. As a result, the question “Is the Yijing one text or many texts?” never appeared among the early generations of Yijing specialists. Instead, they used the Yijing—a sacred text of the Confucian tradition—as evidence for defining China’s position in the world. For Thomas McClatchie (1814–1885), the Yijing is a pagan text of the ancient world outside Europe. For James Legge (1815–1897), it is an empirical account of early China, showing its development toward building a cohesive social and political order. For Richard Wilhelm (1873–1930) who first translated the Yijing into German, and Cary F. Baynes (1883–1977) who rendered the German text into English, it is world literature, aimed at people around the globe when they are in doubt, distress, or downtrodden.6 Their differences notwithstanding, these translations followed a “book of wisdom” approach, based on three assumptions. First, the Yijing is a single coherent text, despite having been written by four different authors (Fu Xi, King Wen, Duke of Zhou, Confucius) and for different purposes (divination, historical reflection, philosophical inquiry). Second, the discrete aspects of the Yijing are joined together to disclose a sagely wisdom that transcends time and space. Third, the voluminous Yijing commentaries, written after 136 bce, are unimportant except for the fact that they elucidate the original meaning of the Yijing

5 Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching, 188–191. 6 Smith, The I Ching, 170–194; Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching, 192–204.

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text. In Richard Wilhelm’s introduction to I Ching or Book of Changes, particularly, we find a succinct summary of this “book of wisdom” approach: In its judgments, and in interpretations attached to it from the time of Confucius on, the Book of Changes opens to the reader the richest treasure of Chinese wisdom; at the same time it affords him a comprehensive view of the varieties of human experience, enabling him thereby to shape his life of his own sovereign will into an organic whole and so to direct it that it comes into accord with the ultimate tao [the Way] lying at the roots of all that exists.7 For Wilhelm, the Yijing is a single, coherent text, embodying a profound, timeless wisdom. More importantly, the Yijing wisdom may have originated from early China, but it appeals to all humankind because of its transtemporal, transcultural, and transnational value. In the 1990s, a new generation of American scholars rejected this “book of wisdom” approach. The leader of this group was Kidder Smith, who argued that the focus of Yijing studies should shift from the original text to its commentaries. In his preface to Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching (1990), Kidder Smith writes, The I Ching is so protean that over the last three thousand years of Chinese history it has occasioned hundreds of commentaries, thousands of essays, tens of thousands of citations, and, we may surmise, millions of conversations. Sung dynasty (960–1279) I Ching studies are rife and renowned, for that text drew in every important thinker of the eleventh century and many of the twelfth. This book examines how four influential figures of the Sung used the I Ching or Book of Changes to address profound issues of human values.8 By shifting the focus from studying the Yijing text to studying the Yijing commentaries, Kidder Smith asks readers to examine the Yijing as a living document which is constantly being renewed through a “fusion of horizons” between the reader and the text. In so doing, Smith argues, readers will gain a new understanding of Chinese history, seeing it as a series of conscientious attempts to improve the social, political, and cultural systems. As such, Yijing commentaries not only explain the “original” meaning of the classic, but also 7 Richard Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, lvii–lviii. 8 Kidder Smith, et al., Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching, vii.

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reveal the paradigmatic changes that have taken place within China’s social, political, and cultural order. For this reason, Smith calls for a historical study of the Yijing. We study the Book of Changes historically. That is, we demonstrate how each of our subjects brought a set of specific historical questions to bear on the I [Changes]. In doing so, we seek to show how a classic was appropriated by later thinkers, how a single text would be taken to mean many different things, and what it is about the I that made it so significant to literati of the Sung [Song, 960–1279]. Our book is not a history of the Sung I—its schools, commentaries, and texts. Rather it is a study of the I in history.9 The key phrase in the last sentence, “a study of the I [Changes] in history,” encapsulates the fundamental characteristics of what is now known as the “historical turn” of Yijing studies.10 In essence, the historical turn includes three elements. First, rather than finding timeless wisdom, Yijing scholars focus on “specific use by specific people,” tracing the different ways in which the Yijing has been used in different times. Second, instead of pinning down the “real meaning” of the book, the Yijing scholars trace the variety of interpretations, showing how the meaning of the text “varied enormously from user to user.” Third, in analyzing the commentaries, Yijing scholars pay special attention to “why certain interpreters have dominated most of their successors,” thereby highlighting the power relation among Yijing interpreters in determining the “true meaning” of the classic.11

9 10

11

Ibid. Richard John Lynn clarifies the significance of the “historical turn” in his 1997 review of Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching, where he writes: “A significant shift in the way scholars and translators approach the Yijing 易經 (Classic of Changes) has recently become apparent. Instead of viewing the work as a timeless book of wisdom existing outside history, with a single unchanging meaning that can and should be extracted throughout, we are becoming increasingly aware that the Classic of Changes exists in as many versions as there are commentaries on it: its text is so dense and opaque that its meaning depends on how commentaries interpret it” (p. 152). These three characteristics are deduced from a dense passage in Kidder Smith’s preface to Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching, p. ix: “Rather than arguing that [Book of Changes] transcends human culture or contains a timeless wisdom, we have examined its specific use by specific people. Thus we do not speak of the “real meaning” of the book, nor of the intrinsic meaning of a hexagram, as the meaning of each has varied enormously from user to user. At the same time, we are interested in why certain interpreters have dominated

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Three decades later, we cannot but admire Kidder Smith’s courage and boldness in breaking free of the straitjacket of the “book of wisdom” approach. Because of the historical turn, we now realize that the Yijing mirrors its interpreter to such an extent that “[i]nterpreting the Changes was like playing chess: no two games are alike, and there are infinite possibilities.”12 We also know that “[t]o be understood at all, the Changes must be considered in context, that is, in terms of historically and culturally defined values and in the light of clearly identified interpretative communities.”13 As a result, over the last thirty years, we have gained a deeper understanding of the composition of the sixty-four hexagrams in the Western Zhou period, based on new archaeological discoveries;14 we have seen a number of specialized studies of the Yijing commentarial traditions covering the period from the Han to the Qing dynasties;15 and, above all, we can access a substantial number of translations of Yijing commentaries, showing that the meaning of the Yijing changes constantly.16 Together, these studies support Kidder Smith’s suggestion that the Yijing evolves over time by creating new meanings, insights, and modes of thinking in response to the changing needs.

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The Unique Voice of the Yijing

Building on the success of the historical turn, in this volume, we deepen and broaden the scope of the Yijing research. First, we focus on what makes the Yijing attractive to people across time, space, and social strata. We acknowledge

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most of their successors. Our approach is therefore at odds with that of Richard Wilhelm in his translation and studies of the I.” Smith, The I Ching, 6. Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, xi. See Wen Xing, “Hexagram Pictures and Early Yi Schools: Reconsidering the Book of Changes in Light of Excavated Texts”; Edward L. Shaughnessy, I Ching: The Classic of Changes, and Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing (I Ching) and Related Texts. For an overview of the Yijing commentarial traditions, see Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos; Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching. For the commentarial traditions of a particular period, see Bent Nielsen, A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 bce–220 ce) to Song 宋 (960–1279 ce); Tze-ki Hon, The Yijing and Chinese Politics: Classical Commentary and Literati Activism in the Northern Song Period, 960–1127. Richard John Lynn, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi; Cheng Yi, The Yi River Commentary on the Book of Changes; Zhu Xi, The Original Meaning of the Yijing: Commentary on the Scripture of Change.

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that the complex textual body of the Yijing is a major factor, making it a “mirror of man’s mind” that appeals to different groups of readers. At the same time, we reject the idea that the diverse textual body alone can explain the Yijing’s broad appeal. To provide a fuller answer, we carefully examine the Yijing’s call to attention—namely, the profound question that it raises, urging readers to reflect on their surroundings, lives, and the meaning of human existence. To focus on the Yijing’s call to attention, we begin this volume with three chapters on Yijing prediction in ancient and early imperial China. The purpose of beginning the volume in this way is to question the modernist bias against divination, viewing it as a sign of ignorance, primitivism, and savagery. Here, we do not plan to reopen the longstanding debate over whether divination is superstitious or rational.17 Our plan is to underscore the fact that divination— understood as “a deliberate search for understanding of the hidden significance of events in the future, present, or past”18—is the foundation of the Yijing from its sixty-four hexagrams through its Ten Wings to its numerous commentaries. More importantly, we wish to focus on the profound question that the Yijing asks its readers: “Are we able to predict the future?” As Gao Heng 高亨 argued, the question of whether we are able to predict the future is embedded in the Yijing hexagram statements. Words such as “auspicious” ( ji 吉), “without blame” (wujiu 无咎), “calamity” (xiong 凶), “blame” ( jiu 咎), “regret” (hui 悔), and “remorse” (lin 吝) appear in the original oracles.19 These words call attention to our powerlessness to control the course of our life. In some incidents, the wind of luck is on our side; whatever we do seems to go well. But in other situations, we are clearly out of luck: no matter how hard we try, we are doomed to failure. This sensitivity to human finitude is a main theme in the Xici 繋 辭, one of the Ten Wings. To highlight the harsh reality of human existence, the Xici’s authors identify the period in which hexagrams were used in divination. They write: “The Changes came into use in the period of middle antiquity. Those

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For a discussion of the rationality behind divination, see Jean Pierre Vernant, Divination et rationalité. For the rationality behind ancient Chinese prediction practices, see the articles by Redouane Djamouri and other authors in the special issue, “Divination et rationalité en Chine ancienne,” of Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident, edited by Karine Chemla, Donald Harper, and Marc Kalinowski. Lisa Raphals, “Divination in the Han Shu Bibliographic Treatise,” 47. Gao Heng 高亨, Zhouyi gujing jinzhu 周易古經今注 (A Contemporary Commentary on the Ancient Classic, Changes from the Zhou Dynasty), 110–125. See also Li Jingchi 李鏡池, Zhouyi tanyuan 周易探源 (A Study of the Origins of the Changes from the Zhou Dynasty), 7.

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who composed the Changes had fear and anxiety.”20 Here, the Xici’s authors link the popularity of hexagram prediction to the momentous transition, when the mandate of heaven (tianming 天命)—the power to rule China—abruptly passed from the Shang family to the Zhou family. To highlight the importance of prediction in assuaging humans’ sense of powerlessness, the Xici’s authors coined two terms—fear ( you 憂) and anxiety (huan 患)—to describe the different states of human apprehension of uncertainty.21 Whether provoking fear or instilling anxiety, the effect of hexagram prediction is the same. It forces readers to reflect on their arrogance, complacency and self-indulgence. It shocks them into seeking ways to come to terms with contingency and serendipity. Above all, it directs attention to the dark side of human existence, such as disease, deformation, degeneration, and death, that show we are unable to determine the course of our life.22 It is this sensitivity to human finitude that the first three chapters of this volume address. In “Stalk and Other Divination Traditions before the Changes Canon: Views from Newly Discovered Texts,” Constance A. Cook and Andrea Bréard complicate our understanding of the Yijing prediction method, the Great Expansion (Dayan 大衍). In reviewing the complex history of the development of the Great Expansion method, the authors adopt two different yet complementary perspectives: the hard facts from recent archaeological discoveries, and the mathematics of a dyadic symbolic system (including odd and even numbers, male and female, straight and bent lines, and Yin and Yang). By combining these two perspectives, the authors show that the Yijing core text was a mixture of different sources, drawn from an area where people manipulated stalks and dice-like objects to seek guidance in difficult times. Whereas Chapter 1 focuses on the sense of uncertainty among people from various social strata, Chapter 2 focuses on the same sense of uncertainty among the rulers at the top. In the chapter, “The Book of Changes as a Cosmological Manual in Han China,” Zhao Lu discusses the political implications when rulers were anxious about the fate of their empire. If, for ordinary people, anxiety can be a life-and-death issue, the stakes are far higher for the top leaders, whose decisions affect the welfare of tens of thousands of people. For this rea-

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Xici ii: 7; Wilhelm, The I Ching, 345, with modifications. Although connected, fear and anxiety are two different stages of humans’ apprehension of impending danger. Fear emerges as a response to a concrete object, such as a thunderstorm, flood, or famine. By contrast, anxiety has no object. It is a sense of helplessness due to a realization of human finitude. For the difference between fear and anxiety, see Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be, 32–63, especially 35–38. Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching, 128–139.

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son, Zhao Lu argues that, in Han China (206 bce–220 ce), the Yijing became a special kind of oracle. It was not only a manual on divination for predicting the future of ordinary people, but also a political text that predicted the fate of the dynasty, or the “mandate of heaven” (tianming). By matching the sixty-four hexagrams with the cosmic time (e.g., the ten stems and twelves branches), the Han rulers believed they could synchronize what happened in human society with what happened in nature. Of course, their attempt failed miserably when the Han dynasty collapsed in 220 but, for four centuries, they believed that they were able to alleviate their anxiety by mimicking the repeated rhythm of the cosmic order. If the rulers of Han China were able to alleviate their anxiety by following the cosmic rhythm, the educated elite of Tang China (618–907) had even more resources at their disposal in order to soothe their anxiety. Labelled by Valerie Hansen as “China’s golden age,”23 the Tang kingdom formed part of the Silk Road communities extending from East Asia to West Asia. With travelers on camel caravans moving back and forth across deserts, grasslands, plains, and mountain paths, the culture of Tang China was definitely syncretic. In Chapter 3, “Yijing Divination and Religion during the Tang Dynasty,” Xing Wang links this Tang syncretism to a religious dialogue between Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Wang notes that, although the Yijing was a canonized Confucian classic, it appealed to the Daoists through its discussion of the overwhelming power of Dao, and also spoke to the Buddhists through its emphasis on constant changes in life. More importantly, Wang shows that, in Tang China, it was Yijing prediction—the attempt to find a solution or direction in times of distress—that made the classic popular among both political leaders and sensitive souls.

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The Yijing Prediction Practices

In the past three decades, the historical study of the Yijing has benefited greatly from the new archaeological discoveries made in mainland China, including the Mawangdui silk manuscripts, the Fuyang fragments, and the bamboo strips. The research has also become more diversified and concrete through the translations of the Yijing commentaries, such as Wang Bi’s Zhouyi zhu, Cheng Yi’s Yichuan yizhuan, and Zhu Xi’s Zhouyi benyi. Together, these studies portray a clear picture of how the educated elite in China perused the Yijing.

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Valerie Hansen, The Open China: A History of China to 1800, chapter 5.

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The Yijing is not only read, however; it is also put into practice to solve the problems of everyday life. To underscore the practicality of the classic, the authors of Xici repeatedly claim that the Yijing is comprehensive because of not only its coverage of all aspect of life, but also that fact that it serves all walks of life when they are in distress or a quandary. The authors of Xici particularly emphasize the flexibility and creativity regarding the use of the Yijing, such that the “kind man” uses it and calls it “kind,” the “wise man” uses it and calls it “wise,” and the “common people” use it in their daily life and “are unaware of it.”24 In Part 2 of this volume, we include four chapters to demonstrate the variety of ways of applying the Yijing to solve daily life problems. The four cases included are not intended to be exhaustive. They are examples of some of the popular Yijing practices in late imperial China, from roughly the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries. Limited by the sources, the four cases are restricted to the literati—those who grew up within the Confucian tradition, studied classical texts for the civil service examinations, and enjoyed public recognition after joining the imperial bureaucracy. Although they belonged to a privileged group, the literati faced the same problem of not knowing their future. One might argue that their anxiety about the future was even more severe because their career—and life—were determined by their performance in the civil service examinations. More severe still, how they fared in the examinations decided not only their personal fortune, but also that of their family, lineage, village, county, and so on.25 In Part 2, each chapter demonstrates a specific way in which the literati used the Yijing. In her chapter, “Predicting Success: Song Literati’s Uses of the Changes in Divination,” Liao Hsien-huei focuses on the literati of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, who read the Yijing not simply to pass the examinations but also to help them to cope with serendipity in life. Thus, for the Song literati, reading the Yijing aimed to kill two birds with one stone. In public, the literati progressed in their career by passing the examinations and becoming conversant in the Yijing language to join gentile society. In private, they practiced Yijing prediction to gain a better insight into their career and their life by foreseeing disaster or good fortune, poverty or wealth.

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See Xici i: 5; Wilhelm, The I Ching, 298. The original statement reads: “The kind man discovers it and calls it kind. The wise man discovers it and calls it wise. The people use it day by day and are unaware of it, for the way of the superior man is rare.” Tze-ki Hon, “Classical Exegesis and Social Change: The Song School of Yijing Commentaries in Late Imperial China.”

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Similarly, in his chapter, “Prediction Based on the Past: Yang Wanli’s (1127– 1206) Commentary on the Changes,” Stéphane Feuillas shows that the wellknown twelfth century scholar and poet, Yang Wanli, was also deeply interested in predicting the future and minimizing uncertainties through reading the Yijing. On the surface, Yang did not appear to be interested in practicing Yijing prediction. He did not throw the yarrow sticks nor search for appropriate hexagrams, but he did write a unique commentary in which he read the Yijing as a historical text revealing the trajectory of the past. This trajectory— similar to that embedded in the Spring and Autumn Annals—could be applied trans-temporally as a yardstick for determining success or failure in the present. Whereas Liao and Feuillas’ chapters focus on how the literati read the Yijing to ponder about the future, the final two chapters of Part 2 go further by examining how the Yijing could be used in the fields of medicine and mathematics. In her chapter, “Yijing and Medicine: Discussions of the Gate of Life in Late Imperial China,” Chang Chia-Feng focuses on the medical concept, the Gate of Life. Although this concept did not originate from the Yijing, medical thinkers in late imperial China used the Yijing hexagrams to present a different view of the human body. In turn, their new perspective led to a different strategy for treating illness, and a sustained effort to challenge the Neo-Confucian medical tradition. The creative use of the Yijing in the medical field was matched by its creative use in mathematics. In her chapter, “Hexagrams and Mathematics: Symbolic approaches to prediction from the Song to the Qing,” Andrea Bréard discusses the relation between mathematics and the Yijing. She shows how the mathematically-versed scholars saw rational patterns behind the production, counting, and ordering of the sixty-four hexagrams. The mathematical solutions to the problem of ordering the hexagrams, Bréard argues, can be seen as an alternative way to understand Yijing prediction, that differs from and yet complements the two dominant Yijing traditions: the “Images and Numbers School” (xiangshu) and the “Principle and Meaning School” ( yili).

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The Yijing and Modernity

To this day, the historical turn of Yijing studies focuses on imperial China rather than modern or contemporary China. As a result, despite the call to study how the Yijing has evolved historically, scholars regard it mainly as a Confucian classic—a text that might have been intriguing and inspiring during the imperial period when the Confucian orthodoxy dominated, but which has lost its value and appeal in modern times, when science and technology have taken

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command. Alongside the imperial throne in the Forbidden City and the tiny cells in an examination hall, the Yijing is seen as a relic of the past. It is worth studying in order to understand old China, but not recommended to be used to comprehend what is happening in today’s prc. One exception is Richard Smith. In his study of “global Yijing,” he traces the transnational travels of the classic in two directions: one begins in China and moves to East Asia, Europe, and the United States; the other starts from overseas and returns to China.26 By connecting different groups of people across continents, cultural zones, and civilizational regions, Smith demonstrates that Yijing goes around the world and makes the whole world round. More importantly, he shows that the global discourse on the Yijing is based on a common interest among people who are anxious about the future, sensitive to human finitude, and perplexed by the rapidly changing world. In a bid to extend the historical study of the Yijing to contemporary times, we include three chapters in Part 3 that show Yijing’s new life in the rapidly modernizing China. In his chapter, “Predicting a Regime Change: The Politicization of the Yijing in Twentieth Century China,” Tze-ki Hon compares the different strategies that gave the Yijing a new identity in twentieth-century China. He detects a paradox within the re-making of the Yijing. On the one hand, Chinese scholars of the early twentieth century condemned Yijing divination. On the other hand, they worked tirelessly to present the Yijing as a historical document, marking the country’s progress to the Modern Age. In condemning the “superstition” of the Yijing, some modernists separated a primitive past from an enlightened present. In transforming the Yijing into a historical text, they were traditionalists, regarding it as a set of documents that helped to create the modern Chinese nation. Whereas Hon’s chapter focuses on predicting the fate of the modern Chinese nation in the early twentieth century, the last two chapters focus on predicting the fate of individuals within global capitalism since China embraced the market economy in 1980. Together, the last two chapters reveal the hopes and fears, aspirations and frustrations of people living in a fast-growing economy that is drastically altering the urban landscape, the mode of transportation, the communicative network, and the social fabric of a populous nation. In her chapter, “Simplified Procedure and Extended Divination Objects: A Study of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology,” Tao Yingna summarizes, for the first time in English, the steps by which a prediction can be created based on the traditional method: 26

For the outward journey of the Yijing from China to the rest of the world, see Smith, The I Ching, 125–225. For the inbound journey of the Yijing from the rest of the world back to China, see his Fathoming the Cosmos, 195–240.

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Plum Blossom Yi Numerology (Meihua yishu 梅花易數). Tao’s chapter confirms Andrea Bréard’s argument that mathematics and Yijing prediction are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. Tao’s chapter also explains the reason for the popularity of the numerical-based prediction method in contemporary China. As Tao demonstrates, the Plum Blossom Yi Numerology is simple and flexible to use, as well as rational and scientific in calculating the probability of a future outcome. The same simplicity and practicality are found in another popular Yijingbased prediction method: the Six Lines Prediction (liuyao yuce 六 爻 預 測). In his chapter, “Reducing Uncertainty: Six Lines Prediction in Contemporary China,” William Matthews explains how using this method can alleviate fear and anxiety. Unlike other chapters in this volume, Matthews addresses “the Yijing in history” from an anthropological perspective, adding a new dimension to the historical turn. By recounting his ethnographic fieldwork in Hangzhou from 2013 to 2015, Matthews gives us an insider’s view of how a roadside predictor handles the array of questions posed by his customers. Similar to Tao’s chapter, Matthews’ account underscores the tremendous anxiety among many ordinary Chinese people in the rapidly growing economy. The economic growth has certainly improved their material life, but has also made them feel vulnerable due to financial insecurity, job prospects, family cohesion, and health problems. In this context, Matthews argues, the Six Line Prediction is attractive because the predictor uses analogical reasoning to give his customers temporary relief from their burden of life.

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Looking Ahead

Covering the period from early to contemporary China, this volume aims to expand the scope of Yijing studies from the “historical turn” to “everyday life Yijing.” As shown in these ten chapters, regardless of how one views the Yijing, its essence lies in asking the profound question: “Are you able to predict the future?” Of course, no one can predict the future, but this inability does not mean that the Yijing question is meaningless. By posing this daunting (if not devastating) question, the Yijing calls attention to humans’ vulnerability and finitude. More importantly, being unable to know our future does not mean that we completely lack hope. The attractiveness of the Yijing lies in its focus on the grey area between what is uncertain and what is certain. From the core text through the Ten Wings to the voluminous commentaries and different forms of prediction practices, the Yijing constantly emphasizes hope. It highlights humans’

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ability to chart an appropriate course of action in order to turn the unknown into something that is more knowable. In this sense, the Yijing’s answer to the question “Are you able to predict the future?” would be: “Although we are unable to predict the future, we will do our best to create a better future.” Understanding the Yijing in this way, the “historical turn” of Yijing studies should not be limited to “studying the Changes in history,” restricted to a small circle of educated elite in early and imperial China. Rather, it should be as comprehensive as the Xici’s authors suggest, covering not only people from all walks of life but also everything from the past to the present time. Building on the previous studies on the diversity of Yijing writings, it is time to go a step further in diversifying the Yijing studies. As shown in this volume, we should include the prediction practices on the roadside, the medical studies that treat serious illnesses, the mathematical inquiry to line up the hexagrams, and the political imagination of a new nation. In the end, we must remember that, by asking the daunting question “Are we able to predict the future,” the Yijing speaks to anyone, inside or outside China, provided that that person is seeking guidance in a rapidly changing world.

Appendix 1

figure 0.1 Eight Trigrams

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Appendix 2

figure 0.2 Sixty-four Hexagrams

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Appendix 3: Names of the Sixty-four Hexagrams 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38.

Qian 乾 (The Creative) ䷀ Kun 坤 (The Receptive) ䷁ Zhun 屯 (Difficulty at the Beginning) ䷂ Meng 蒙 (Youthful Folly) ䷃ Xu 需 (Waiting) ䷄ Song 訟 (Contention) ䷅ Shi 師 (The Army) ䷆ Bi 比 (Holding Together) ䷇ Xiaoxu 小畜 (Lesser Domestication) ䷈ Lü 履 (Treading) ䷉ Tai 泰 (Peace) ䷊ Pi 否 (Obstruction) ䷋ Tongren 同人 (Fellowship) ䷌ Dayou 大有 (Great Holdings) ䷍ Qian 謙 (Modesty) ䷎ Yu 豫 (Contentment) ䷏ Sui 隨 (Following) ䷐ Gu 蠱 (Ills to Be Cured) ䷑ Lin 臨 (Overseeing) ䷒ Guan 觀 (Viewing) ䷓ Shike 噬嗑 (Bite Together) ䷔ Bi 賁 (Elegance) ䷕ Bo 剝 (Peeling) ䷖ Fu 復 (Return) ䷗ Wuwang 无妄 (No Errancy) ䷘ Daxu 大畜 (Great Domestication) ䷙ Yi 頤 (Nourishment) ䷚ Daguo 大過 (Major Superiority) ䷛ Xikan 習坎 (The Constant Sink Hole) ䷜ Li 離 (Cohesion) ䷝ Xian 咸 (Reciprocity) ䷞ Heng 恆 (Perseverance) ䷟ Dun 遯 (Withdraw) ䷠ Dazhuang 大壯 (Great Strength) ䷡ Jin 晉 (Advance) ䷢ Mingyi 明夷 (Suppression of the Light) ䷣ Jiaren 家人 (The Family) ䷤ Kui 睽 (Contrariety) ䷥

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39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64.

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Jian 蹇 (Adversity) ䷦ Jie 解 (Release) ䷧ Sun 損 (Diminution) ䷨ Yi 益 (Increase) ䷩ Guai 夬 (Resolution) ䷪ Gou 姤 (Encounter) ䷫ Cui 萃 (Gathering) ䷬ Sheng 升 (Climbing) ䷭ Kun 困 (Impasse) ䷮ Jing 井 (The Well) ䷯ Ge 革 (Radical Change) ䷰ Ding 鼎 (The Cauldron) ䷱ Zhen 震 (Quake) ䷲ Gen 艮 (Restraint) ䷳ Jian 漸 (Gradual Advance) ䷴ Guimei 歸妹 (Marrying Maid) ䷵ Feng 豐 (Abundance) ䷶ Lü 旅 (The Wanderer) ䷷ Xun 巽 (Compliance) ䷸ Dui 兌 (Joy) ䷹ Huan 渙 (Dispersion) ䷺ Jie 節 (Control) ䷻ Zhongfu 中孚 (Inner Trust) ䷼ Xiaoguo 小過 (Minor Superiority) ䷽ Jiji 既濟 (Ferrying Complete) ䷾ Weiji 未濟 (Ferrying Incomplete) ䷿

Appendix 4: Ten Wings 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Tuan 彖 (Judgement) i Tuan 彖 (Judgement) ii Xiang 象 (Image) i Xiang 象 (Image) ii Wenyang 文言 (Words of Text) Xici 繫辭 (Great Treatise) i Xici 繫辭 (Great Treatise) ii Xugua 序卦 (Sequence of Hexagrams) Shuogua 說卦 (Discussions of Trigrams) Zagua 雜卦 (Miscellaneous Notes on Hexagrams)

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Bibliography Chemla, Karine, Donald Harper, and Marc Kalinowski, eds. “Divination et rationalité en Chine ancienne.” Special issue of Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident 21 (1999). Cheng Yi. The Yi River Commentary on the Book of Changes. Edited and translated by L. Michael Harrington. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019. Gao Heng 高亨. Zhouyi gujing jinzhu 周易古經今注 (A Contemporary Commentary on the Ancient Classic, Changes from the Zhou Dynasty). Revised edition. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984. Hansen, Valerie. The Open China: A History of China to 1800. Second edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2015. Hon, Tze-ki. “A Precarious Balance: Divination and Moral Philosophy in Zhouyi zhuanyi daquan.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 35.2 (2008): 254–271. Hon, Tze-ki. “Classical Exegesis and Social Change: The Song School of Yijing Commentaries in Late Imperial China.” Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 11.1 (2011): 1–16. Hon, Tze-ki. The Yijing and Chinese Politics: Classical Commentary and Literati Activism in the Northern Song Period, 960–1127. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. Li Jingchi 李鏡池. Zhouyi tanyuan 周易探源 (A Study of the Origins of the Changes from the Zhou Dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1978. Lynn, Richard John. Review of Kidder Smith, Jr., et al., Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching. Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 27 (1997): 152–167. Lynn, Richard John. The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Nielsen, Bent. A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 bce–220 ce) to Song 宋 (960–1279 ce). London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Nylan, Michael. The Five “Confucian” Classics. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Raphals, Lisa. “Divination in the Han Shu Bibliographic Treatise.”Early China 32 (2008– 2009): 45–101. Redmond, Geoffrey, and Tze-ki Hon. Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Shaughnessy, Edward L. I Ching: The Classic of Changes. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996. Shaughnessy, Edward L. Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi jing (I Ching) and Related Texts. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. Smith, Kidder Jr., Peter K. Bol, Joseph A. Adler, and Don J. Wyatt. Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. Smith, Richard J. Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or

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Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Smith, Richard J. The I Ching: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012. Tillich, Paul. The Courage to Be. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952. Vernant, Jean Pierre. Divination et Rationalité. Paris: Seuil, 1974. Wilhelm, Richard. The I Ching or Book of Changes. Translated by Cary F. Baynes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950. Repr. 1977. Xing, Wen. “Hexagram Pictures and Early Yi Schools: Reconsidering the Book of Changes in Light of Excavated Texts.” Monumenta Serica 51 (2003): 571–604. Zhu, Xi. The Original Meaning of the Yijing: Commentary on the Scripture of Change. Translated and edited by Joseph A. Adler. New York: Columbia Press, 2020.

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part 1 The Unique Voice of the Yijing

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chapter 1

Stalk and Other Divination Traditions Prior to the Changes Canon: Views from Newly-Discovered Texts Constance A. cook and Andrea bréard

The transmitted divination text, known as the Yijing 易經 or Book of Changes (hereafter referred to as the Changes), is composed of two basic components: the graphic results of the divination procedure, called a hexagram, and line statements of cryptic meaning, often taken as a source of mystic contemplation. This essay focuses on the earliest graphic results inscribed on a variety of media over the course of a millennium and demonstrates that, contrary to later assumptions, the Changes probably emerged from a world of diverse but related practices that fundamentally shaped it. To understand this, we examine the graphic divination results, generically called gua 卦, from two perspectives: archaeological and mathematical. Hexagrams derived originally from numerical sets. Based on the general assumption that all gua were the result of stalk sortilege and that the Changes was the only text employed to interpret such results, scholars have tended to understand all numerical sets found in archaeological settings as representing cleromancy and possibly ancient evidence of the existence of the Changes. These numerical sets were recorded on a variety of artifacts during the early Bronze Age, from around 1300 to 700bce, and in the bamboo and silk manuals of the late Bronze Age, from the fourth century bce through to the second century bce.1 In a study of the artifacts and the numbers derived using variations of the traditional Changes sortilege method, called Dayan 大衍, we show that ancient diviners employed a variety of methodologies, such as the manipulation of stalks or dice-like objects or a combination thereof since the Shang era.2 The derivation of many of the numerical sets, even very ancient examples, by means of a remainder system suggests the possibility of early, varied versions of the Da Yan stalk sortilege method being codified by Han scholars to produce 1 Although iron was used for tool-making during the latter period, ritual bronzes were still made and revered. 2 Andrea Bréard and Constance A. Cook, “Cracking Bones and Numbers: Solving the Enigma of Numerical Sequences on Ancient Chinese Artifacts.”

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the hexagrams as in the transmitted “Xici” 繫辭 commentary.3 Since the interpretation of the results required a dyadic symbolic system (such as Yin and Yang during the Han), the question is, at what point in time did the numerical series begin to reflect this split that was so fundamental to the interpretation of the Changes. Our results show the emergence of a tendency to dyadic interpretation schemes as early as the late Western Zhou but later a divergence into various schemes of number production of which a simply Yin-and-Yang style interpretation was both late and just one of many types. Excavated materials suggest a variety of ancient dyadic schemes, odd and even numbers, male and female, straight and bent lines, and, by Han times, Yin and Yang. These materials also suggest that ancient diviners had to evaluate the relative influence of many other factors outside the dyadic combinations, such as units of time, space, and spiritual agents. These are not evident in the Changes and may have been deleted during the process of its creation as a text or its transmission.4 In order to understand the historic environment from which the Changes manual and its cleromantic technique derived, we begin with archaeological materials with numerical sets, dating from the late Shang, circa 1300bce up to the early Eastern Zhou, around the sixth century bce. Then, we will examine closely how these sets influenced the creation of manuals and of different types of gua interpretation, from the fourth to the second and first centuries bce.

1

The Issue of Numerical Gua

In 2013, Wang Huaping 王化平 pointed out that most scholars approach the study of the earliest layer of numerical gua (called shuzi gua 數字卦) found on Shang oracle bones through the interpretative tradition of the Changes or Yi-ology (Yixue 易學) rather than through the independent standpoint of divination methodology.5 The Yi approach was an innovation of Zhang Zhenglang 3 The section on the Da Yan method is absent from the second century bce version of the “Xici,” our earliest preserved version. The shorter “Xici” was found with a version of the Zhouyi in the Mawangdui burial, dated to 168 bce; see Edward Shaughnessy, I Ching: The Classic of Changes, 21. For other versions, see Willard Peterson, “Making Connections: ‘Commentary on the Attached Verbalizations’ of the Book of Change.” Unfortunately, he does not note the history of the appearance of the section on the Da Yan method, but suspects that the text was intact by the first century bce (p. 77). 4 For a discussion of the “sublation” of divinatory practice or the transformation of divination into a “idealizing” practice for political legitimation in early China, see Martin Kern, “Early Chinese Divination and Its Rhetoric.” 5 Wang Huaping 王化平, “Cong jiagu bufa kan shuzi gua li” 從甲骨卜法看數字卦例.

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張政烺 in a seminal article published in 1980. This approach relies on apply-

ing the binomial number system used to compose the six lines of each of the sixty-four hexagrams in the Changes, in which 9s represent the supernatural power of Yang and 6s that of Yin, to number series (numerical sets) recorded on bronzes and bones of the late Shang and early Western Zhou periods. In this way, the Changes manual could be both historically authenticated but also used to “read” the sets as gua, providing a context for obscure, essentially mute materials.6 As Wang notes, this method contains a few fundamental flaws. There is no preserved copy of even part of the Zhouyi (used as a reference here for the untransmitted versions of the Changes) until the fourth century bce, and it remains unclear that the earlier peoples interpreted the numbers they recorded as symbolic dyads, a required step for using the Changes. Since the discovery of the fourth century bce bamboo divination manual called the Stalk Divination Method (Shifa 筮法) by scholars at Tsinghua University, where the manuscript is preserved, we now have early proof of a clear dyadic symbolic system. Odd and even numbers determined male and female genders which, in turn, affected how the fortune was read. This double system is a simplification of an even more complex ancient system and represents a step closer to the even simpler Yin and Yang Changes system. A clear indication of change is that, over time, the numbers used to represent the gua (number sets) changed. In the Shifa system, the most startling innovation is the use of the numeral 4, written in the round form (that had been in use for at least a century by that point). The other numbers represented—1, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9—all appear earlier. Strikingly, the Chu used the numeral 1, even when counting 7, when transcribing divination results, but not when numbering the sixty-three strips of the Shifa manual. In the latter case, a distinct numeral 7 was written. Distinct 7 numerals appeared in divinatory results during the Shang period but, during the course of the Zhou period, only numeral 1s were used with increasing frequency, as were numerals that visually appeared broken or bent, 6 For recent examples, see Zhang Peng 張朋, “Shuzi gua de jiedu yiji Yi gua qiyuan” 數字卦的 解讀以及《易》卦起源; Chen Mingyuan 陳明遠 and Jinmin Bin 金岷彬, “Bagua qiyuan yu taoqi shidai de shuzi gua” 八卦起源于陶器時代的數字卦. A useful historical review of the debate over whether or not these numerical sets can be read against the Zhouyi (and whether or not there are various systems of reading them) can be found in Wang Huaping 王 化平 and Zhou Yan 周燕, Wanwu jie you shu: shuzi gua yu xian Qin Yi shi yanjiu 萬物皆有 數：數字卦與先秦易筮研究, 2–19. See, especially, Zhang Zhenglang, “An Interpretation of the Divinatory Inscriptions on Early Zhou Bronzes”; Rao Zongyi 饒宗頤, “Tan jiaguwen (san): Shuzi guaxiang wenti” 談甲骨文（三）: 數字卦象問題; Cao Wei 曹瑋, “Tao pai shang de shuzi gua yanjiu” 陶拍上的數字卦研究; Pu Zaifu 樸載福, Xian Qin bufa yanjiu 先秦卜法研究, 187–197; Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Chutu shuzi cailiao yanjiu zongshu” 出土 數字卦材料研究綜述.

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such as the numerals 6 or 8. The use of 9 varied also, with a possible gap during the early Western Zhou period, during the tenth and ninth centuries bce. All numerals written with parallel lines (like series of 1s, such as 2, 3, and 4) were avoided in numerical sets associated with cleromancy but, recently, a bamboo divination manual dated to the second century bce revealed gua composed precisely of the numbers 1 to 4, all written in linear, non-circular, versions, to depict the actual display of the resulting patterns of divination rods, possibly for use like a Daoist charm, fu 符. This text, the Tricks of Jing ( Jingjue 荊決 (訣)), a bamboo manual preserved by Beijing University, represents a method that was even simpler than that of the Changes. Beginning in the late Western Zhou, after around the ninth century bce, divination results clearly favored numerals that looked like 1s, 6s, or 8s— representing visually a dyadic contrast of straight or bent lines but, even up into the fourth century bce, these sets were often infiltrated with the occasional 5 or 9. The Shifa has a special section of the manual dedicated to interpreting gua, in which the numbers 4, 5, 8, or 9 appear. Their appearance generally represented bad fortune. The fourth century bce manual suggests a strong dyadic interpretative system, but one that has not yet been clearly identified as Yin and Yang, and one that required the variable consideration of many outside factors. The other discovery from Shifa that affects our understanding of the early numerical gua is the importance of trigrams over hexagrams. The focus on trigram divination is important for two reasons. The first is that the eight trigrams in the Shifa were, in fact, also the basic building blocks of all sixty-four hexagrams (composed of all possible combinations of the eight in groups of two) represented in the Changes. This establishes a connection between the fourth century stage of creating numerical gua with the Changes based on the traditional Da Yan interpretative tradition of Yi-ology. It also brings up the idea that, besides the numerical quality of a single line within a gua, the total number of lines composing a gua had ritual significance. A line was called yao 爻 (a graph originally written like two 5s, probably simply for phonetic reasons) in Yi-ology and its rank in the stack of six lines (beginning with the bottom one) affected its interpretation. This was not the case in the Shifa tradition which read three lines at a time, but in the context of four (twelve lines in two stacks of six) gua arranged in differently ordered square patterns. The majority of numerical sets dating from the Shang period consisted of six lines, which could easily be understood to represent two trigrams or one hexagram according to the Shifa or Yi traditions (including a manual with a separate interpretive tradition for hexagrams discovered in a Qin tomb in Wangjiatai 王 家台, Hubei, and identified by scholars as the Guicang 歸藏). The early Bronze Age evidence is complicated by the odd appearance of numerical sets that do

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figure 1.1 Item pnm80:7 from the northern area of the Miaopu 苗圃 site, in Yinxu 殷墟 adapted from fig. 228 in zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, ed., yinxu de faxian yu yanjiu, 367

not fit the pattern of three or six lines, but in fact were recorded in sets of two, four, ten, twelve, or twenty-four. The few inscriptions, mostly on oracle bones, that accompany numerical sets provide contextual evidence that the numbers were, in fact, associated with divination but we have no idea what ritual importance was attached to series that did not consist of three or six lines.7 Typically, the lines of the gua were written as a vertical stack, but there are also occasions when they were written upside down, sideways, along edges of artifacts and in opposing directions.8 Some were inscribed on seemingly ordinary objects, such as the numbers 667668, written along the edge of a whetstone (see fig. 1). 7 Wang Huaping and Zhou Yan, Wanwu jie you shu. A survey of scholarship concerning the debate over different systems and of the available evidence is also found in Bian Xiaobing 邊曉冰, “Chutu shuzi gua ‘liangxi yong shu tixi’ jiashuo yanjiu” 出土數字卦“兩系用數體 系”假說研究. 8 See, for example, the curious late Shang “whetstone” found in 1982 in a tomb near Anyang in

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If we assume that these six numbers represented a gua, then we must understand that even the manufacture or use of a whetstone required cleromancy, or, contrarily, these numerical sets may, in fact, have had nothing to do with divination.

2

Early Bronze Age Examples and the Question of Cleromancy

The typical early examples of numerical gua in the early Bronze Age are not associated with any inscribed texts. The few exceptions provide hints of the ancient contexts of their manufacture, none of which reveal the slightest link with the Changes manual. A turtle plastron discovered at Yinxu 殷墟 in Anyang in the 1970s positioned numerical gua, one, together with a short divinatory statement in the four corners of the plastron, into the side sections of the plastron called the bridges, connected to the hypoplastron (see fig. 2).9 In the upper left-hand corner was the statement (reading vertically from the top): 776766 貞吉: “Tested (the divinatory proposal): Auspicious,” meaning that the result is positive. In the upper right-hand corner was 678968. In the lower left-hand corner, deep into the bridge area, we find the following, of unknown meaning: 双 11 11 11 11 11 (“a pair of hands” above six lines of double track marks that look like Arabic 11s). In the lower right corner was 671879. The back of the plastron is covered with fine carved parallel lines of notches, numbering approximately ninety-three opposing drilled holes for burning (45 visible on each side with three in the upper central patch, the entoplastron). Each bridge had sets of five notches each. It is clear that the shape of the turtle plastron and the spatial positions of the results in the four corners were significant. Sarah Allan has suggested that the cruciform shapes of the turtle plastrons mimicked the shape of the cosmos, called the Four Quadrates (Four Regions or Four Directions, sifang 四方) on the Shang oracle bones and on the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions.10 On the oracle bones, the directions and Four Quadrates were spiritual entities that received sacrificial offerings and prayers.

9 10

Miaopu 苗圃. It has six different sets of numerical gua inscribed on different sides and edges: 766667, 768767, 665768, 811166, 811116, 667668. See Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo Anyang gongzuodui 中 國 社 會 科 學 院 考 古 研 究 所 安 陽 工 作 隊, “1980–1982 nian Anyang Miaopu beidi yizhi fajue jianbao” 1980–1982 年安陽苗圃北地 遺址發掘簡報, 118, fig. 11; Zheng Ruokui 鄭若葵, “Anyang Miaopu beidi xin faxian de Yin dai ke shu shiqi ji xiangguan wenti” 安陽苗圃北地新發現的殷代刻數石器及相關問 題, 49, figs. 2, 3, 4. Xiao Nan 肖楠, “Anyang Yinxu faxian ‘Yi gua’ bujia” 安陽殷墟發現“易卦”卜甲. Sarah Allan, The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China.

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figure 1.2 Yinxu plastron, front and back adapted from xiao nan, “anyang yinxu faxian ‘yi gua’ bujia”, 67, 69, figs 1 and 2

The shape also represented the king’s tomb and could refer to his territory which, like his physical body, could be “afflicted” ( ji 疾) by the invasion of malevolent forces, human or spiritual, that had to be expelled. The divination, then, may have had something to do with sacrifices to the Four Directions or the edges of the Shang cosmic realm. In the 1950s, a broken piece of animal bone was found in a pit in Sipanmo 四盤磨 in Yinxu, at Anyang (see fig. 3). A whetstone, evidence of a kiln, red and grey pots, and a pottery animal head were also found in the pit.11 Three lines of writing were recorded horizontally across one side of the bone while the other side contained two opposing rows of drill marks. The three lines of writing were written in opposing directions. The top line (read left to right) was 757666 曰鬼 (“called Ghost”),12 the central line (read right to left) was 866587, and the bottom line (read left to right) was 787676 曰鬼 (“called Ghost.” Some read gui 鬼 as kui 媿, perhaps a name, a female ghost, or “to lose”). The term “to call,” yue 曰, can also refer to words that the diviner spoke as part of a divinatory act (zhan 占). The intended meaning here is unclear, but it is unlikely that these were the “names” of hexagrams related to the Changes. Because of the other items in the pit, the divination appears to be associated with pottery-making or craftwork of some sort. 11 12

Cao Dingyun 曹定雲, “Yinxu Sipanmo ‘Yi gua’ bugu yanjiu” 殷墟四盤磨‘易卦’卜骨研 究. A gui in ancient China could indicate the presence of a human or other demonic spirit. A gua was also itself a spirit.

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figure 1.3 Sipanmo Yinxu bone adapted by alexis may from cao dingyun, “yinxu sipanmo ‘yi gua’ bugu yanjiu,” 683, fig. 1

Sets of numerical gua were also discovered among early Zhou oracle bone fragments found in a pit in the foundation of a structure in Fengchu 風雛, Qishan District 岐山縣, Shaanxi in 1977. For example, on fragment H11:85 (reading from the top downward from a break in the bone) has 766718 曰其 … (parallel from top break) … 既 魚.13 It is difficult to make much sense of “said: May … already fished,” as the core of the oracular statement is missing, but it appears to be a divination proposal. Negative versions usually included the word qi 其 and can be translated as “may, perhaps.” A complete set of three statements, each written before each numerical gua (rather than following

13

Cao Wei 曹瑋, Zhouyuan jiaguwen 周原甲骨文, 65.

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them), is found on a bone fragment from a Western Zhou burial ground in Qijia Village 齊家村 in Fufeng District 扶風縣 of Shaanxi.14 The bone has six parallel lines (read from top to bottom) on one side of the bone and at least four drill holes in a line on the back. Reading from right to left (and top to bottom): 翌日甲寅其商斯瘳

On the next day, a jiayin day,15 perhaps the performance of shang will enable recovery.

875687 其禱斯有瘳

Perhaps if we pray, then recovery will be enabled.

867688 我既商禱斯有

We already performed shang and prayed and (recovery) was enabled.

876867 The divination clearly involves recovering from illness and consists of two parts. The first two divinations record the proposals tested (whether sacrifice and prayer would enable his recovery) while the third sentence verifies the auspicious results. It seems that every numerical set was interpreted as positive. Prayer and sacrifice, as aids to healing, were performed during the early and later Bronze Ages and are documented in the oracle bones and divination manuals. Typically, illness, like many daily troubles, was perceived as a negative supernatural influence. Supernatural influence might come from any source, human or natural, but generally, by the late Bronze Age, there were two types: those with names and those without. The latter were the most dangerous and most frequently required exorcism in addition to sacrifices. Examples of performing shang, possibly as part of musical dance performances associated with exorcism, occur in the oracle bone inscriptions found in Huayuanzhuang 花園

14 15

Cao Wei 曹瑋, “Zhouyuan xinchu Xi Zhou jiaguwen yanjiu” 周原新出西周甲骨文研究. The transcription is updated. Jiayin (Stem 1 + Branch 3 = Day 51 in the sixty-day cycle) is an auspicious day recorded on late Shang bronze inscriptions, marking the gifts of cowries and dedication of the vessels to deceased fathers (Xiaozi Sheng you 小子省卣, Jicheng 5394 and the Gui (?) Zuo Fu Gui jue

作父癸, Jicheng 9100). In a middle Western Zhou inscription, the Lüfuyu pan 呂

服余盤 ( Jicheng 10169), a jiayin day was selected to reward a man named Lüfuyu with the official regalia for assuming his ancestral position at court. (“Jicheng” is short for Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, ed., Yin Zhou jinwen jicheng 殷周金文集成.) In the later Bronze Age, between the fourth and third centuries

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figure 1.4 Cowries see from the top, bottom, and side, from Tomb 54, Huayuanzhuang East, Yinxu adapted from zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, anyang yinxu huayuanzhuang dongdi shang dai muzang, 22, fig. 158

莊 East burial ground at Anyang.16 In any case, none of these numerical sets, despite including the same number of lines as hexagrams, had any connection to the Changes. Before considering examples of non-bone media with numerical gua, we wish to discuss the idea of the use of cowries as a tool for cleromancy. These were a prestige item, found in many tombs, and objects of value gifted by kings as awards to their officials. They often appear as worked objects, as the tops, which presented a solid surface versus the natural vulva-like split at the bottom, were sometimes carved down or pierced for stringing or perhaps to increase the odds of the cast cowries landing on both sides. These cowries (see fig. 4) look remarkably like the shapes of the notches on the back of the oracle bones (see figs. 2 and 3).

16

bce, Branch days were distinguished as male or female. In both the Chu and Qin systems, Yin was a male day. According to the Shuihudi daybook, a person can only recover on a day of the same gender on which he fell sick. Huayuanzhuang dongdi pit 3 bone numbers 130, 150, 336, 382, 487. Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo, ed. Yinxu Huayuanzhuang dongdi jiagu 殷 墟 花 園 莊 東 地 甲 骨. For an English translation, see, Adam Schwartz, “Huayuanzhuang East i: A Study and Annotated Translation of the Oracle Bone Inscriptions.” Scholar Zhu Fangpu 朱芳圃 imaginatively suggests that the archaic graph for shang looks like a pile of wood (reading the upper element as 辛 for 薪) to be burned in sacrifice upon a platform (he interprets the lower element, 丙), as Jupiter, but proof for this in Western Zhou texts does not exist. See the entry for shang in the Hanyu duogongneng ziku 漢語

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figure 1.5 Images of handle 1 (a, b), rubbing from handle 2, drawings of handles 3 and 4 adapted from cao wei, “tao pai shang de shuzi gua yanjiu”

3

The End of the Early Bronze Age and the Question of Dice

In the late Western Zhou era, the system changed. The graph for the number 7 dropped out or was simply written as 1 from this point onward. There was a proliferation of 1s, 6s, 8s, and the occasional 9 or 5. This suggests a sensitivity to the broken and unbroken visual nature of the written symbols for the numbers 1, 6, and 8. The occasional appearance of the odd numbers 9 and 5 suggests a twolayered divination process. The process of casting two-sided tokens, worked pebbles, bones, or, possibly, cowrie shells with their open and closed sides— popular at Shang and Zhou sites—could result in simple dyadic alternatives. An important question is why 6s and 8s, presumably representing the same broken or even number value, would appear in the same gua. We must also assume that a further procedure, perhaps using divining rods or stalks of some sort, resulted in the appearance of 5s and 9s. In 2001, at a late Western Zhou kiln site in Chang’an, Shaanxi, four pottery “handles,” were found. Two of them were discovered with numerical sets of six 多功能字庫 (http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=商). In the oracle bones, the graph usually represented a name and was sometimes written with a mouth radical: 口.

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numbers (fig. 5). Other remains found at the site included various ceramic vessels, the styles of which date the kiln.17 The numbers are grouped in sets of six and appear in vertical columns, some of which are written sideways. Handle 1 has 616161 and 161616 Handle 2 has (right to left) 886818, 816666, 116111, 111611 Handle 3 has only a 6 and Handle 4 an indecipherable design Cao Wei suggests that these “handles” must record divination that was performed as part of the bronze manufacturing process, perhaps as a way of selecting auspicious days. One question that is essentially impossible to answer is why divination results, which elsewhere were inscribed on the divination medium itself (the bone), would be written on “handles.” Could these so-called “handles,” in fact, be divination spindles of some sort? A brief glance at dice found in the ancient Chinese world would confirm this possibility. Archaeologists discovered the earliest known divination spindle in China in 2015, at a Han period site in Sichuan (see fig. 6). The “pips” numbering 1– 6 connect this device to the four-sided rectangular pāśaka dice, dating from sites as old as the third millennium bce in South Asia and second century bce, and later in ancient Khotan.18 Other divination or gambling tokens with numerical pips are found elsewhere at Han sites in Sichuan, such as the stone token found in a tomb (fig. 6).19 Cubic dice of various sizes and numerical combinations were found in Warring States and Qin period tombs in Shandong and Hubei. Twenty-three cubic wooden dice with Chinese numerals had been placed in the coffin of a Qin official who was buried in Wangjiatai, Hubei, near the ancient Chu metropolis of Ying 郢 in Jiangling 江陵 (see fig. 7), in the same tomb which held the Guicang hexagram manual.20 Nine of the dice were 2.9 cm long per side and fourteen were 2.4cm long per side. The six facets of the dice

17 18

19

20

Cao Wei, “Tao pai shang de shuzi gua yanjiu”; Liao Mingchun 廖名春, “Chang’an Xirencun tao pai shuzi gua jiedu” 長安西仁村陶拍數字卦解讀, 13. See the discussion by Brandon Dotson, “Three Dice, Four Faces, and Sixty-four Omens: Early Tibetan Dice Divination by the Numbers.” For a discussion of the earliest Khoten dice, see Nishida Ai 西 田 愛, “Ko Chibetto-go Saikoro-uranai-monjo no kenkyū” 古 チ ベット語サイコロ占い文書の研究. Tomb 2 in Ba Dong Kongbao 巴 東 孔 包, from Sichuan wenwu 四 川 文 物 2003.6: 6, fig. 6, reproduced in Liu Zhangze 劉章澤, “Sichuan Shenfangshi Jiantaicun yizhi chutu Han dai ‘tuoluo’ touzi kao” 四 川 什 邡 市 箭 台 村 遺 址 出 土 漢 代“陀 螺”骰 子 考, 66, fig. 2. In his coffin were placed legal and divinatory texts, including Qin statutes, a daybook, and

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figure 1.6 From left to right, a clay Han spindle (numbers 1–6), a stone Han token (numbers 4 and 3), an ivory Warring States Qi state 14-sided die (numbers 1–6, with two 1s and 6s, two blanks), a metal 16-sided early Han die from the old Qi area (numbers 1–16) adapted from liu zhangze, “sichuan shenfangshi jiantaicun yizhi chutu han dai ‘tuoluo’ touzi kao,” 66, figs. 1 and 2

contain the numbers 1–6, except for two of the larger dice, which have four sides with numbers, opposing 6s and 1s, and two sides that are blank. Rolling dice that contain blank sides, either separately or together with different combinations of the other dice, may help account for the Western Zhou numerical gua style. First, we see a proliferation of 1s and 6s, dyadic combinations of unbroken and broken lines. Secondly, rolling a blank side may require the diviner to consult other divinatory methods or materials, which could explain the fewer appearances of 5s and 9s in the results. It is unfortunate that the rules for early Chinese dice throwing have not been preserved. Other divinatory materials employed could have included hemerological charts, plastromancy, or other forms of cleromancy with sets of rods, tokens, and other items, such as we see collected together in Qin and later era divinatory game board sets, known as a Liu Bo 六博 or Bo Ju 博局. While we cannot prove that diviners in ancient Shaanxi used dice or even cowries during divination, mathematical studies of the numerical distributions suggest that this could have been the case.21 The repetitions of numerical sets of six numbers, predominately of visually broken or unbroken numerals, are inscribed onto pottery vessels in the late Western Zhou period. Two examples were found in tombs suggesting a ritual context. Neither has text but one, considered a pottery imitation of a ritual

21

a hexagram text now known as the Guicang. A Liu Bo 六博 board was also found. The tomb dates to after the conquest of Ying by the Qin general Bai Qi in 287 bce but before the consolidation of the Qin empire in 221bce. See Bréard and Cook, “Cracking Bones and Numbers.”

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figure 1.7 Twenty-three wooden dice from a Qin tomb in Wangjiatai, Hubei (twenty-one dice, numbers 1–6; two dice, numbers 1 and 6 twice and two blank sides) adapted by alexis may from jingzhou dichu bowuguan, “jiangling wangjiatai 15 hao qin mu,” 42, fig. 14

figure 1.8 Luoyang clay tureen decorated with numerical gua and a hunting or battle scene adapted by alexis may from li rui, “henan luoyangshi tangcheng huayuan fangtong tao gui shitan,” 30

bronze vessel, includes crude drawings of military figures, possibly dancing. This vessel was discovered in Luoyang in 2002 (see fig. 8). The numerical gua are upside down, in a seemingly illiterate hand. Five out of ten of them are transcribed by Li Rui as 118918, 818186, 618189, 181811, 111881. The rest seem to be scribbles.22

22

Li Rui 李銳, “Henan Luoyangshi Tangcheng Huayuan fangtong tao gui shitan” 河南洛陽 市唐城花園倣銅陶簋試探.

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figure 1.9 Chunhua District, Shaanxi adapted from yao shengmin, “chunhuaxian faxian xi zhou yi gua fuhao wenzi taoguan,” 56, fig. 2

In 1987, a 13.5cm tall grey pottery jar, with eleven sets of neatly-inscribed numerical gua with six lines, was discovered in the Chunhua District 淳化縣 of Shaanxi province (fig. 9).23 The gua make up a decorative register around the upper shoulder of what would seem to be an ordinary jar for holding liquids. The sets primarily feature 1s and 6s but occasionally 8s and also a few 5s and 9s: 111111, 611511, 161111, 111688, 116111, 116195, 181611, 811816, 685618, 198111, and 116881.24 There is no text so how this jar is related to divination practices remains unclear. It could relate to artisan work at kilns, as we saw in some earlier examples, or perhaps even represent an early version of the ritualized game of “Casting into the Pot” (Tou Hu 投壺). The performance involved divination, drinking, singing, and the tossing or shooting of arrows from a distance into a vessel that was normally used for storing ale.25 The Ritual Records (Liji 禮記) chapter, “Tou Hu,” has preserved the visual set up of square and round tokens, which scholars believe may represent musical beats on large and small drums.26 The alternation between two drum sounds, visually recorded as a 23

24 25

26

The jar was discovered about 3 meters underground during roadwork. A fragment of a broken sword was found nearby. Yao Shengmin 姚生民, “Chunhuaxian faxian Xi Zhou Yi gua fuhao wenzi taoguan” 淳化縣發現西周易卦符號文字陶罐. Yao Shengmin, “Chunhuaxian faxian,” 56, fig. 3. Mentioned in the Zuozhuan 左傳, Zhao 12, and described in the Liji 禮記, Shiji 史記, and Hou Han shu 後漢書. The Shiji “Huaji liezhuan” 滑稽列傳 notes the playing of the Liu Bo and Tou Hu games together. Sun Xidan 孫希旦 (Qing dyn.), ed., Liji jijie 禮記集解, 56.1383–1397. There is some variation in the patterns of circles and squares for each kind of drum in different versions of

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dyadic system, adds another possible dynamic to divination calculation, which is a relationship to music. This is particularly intriguing if we understand that the interpretative pieces of text, linked to each line of the changes hexagrams (or to the whole gua in the case of the Guicang, Jingjue and other manuals), may have preserved snatches of old songs or invocations. Hexagrams, as musical notes on a 12 note scale, were recorded in the third century bce daybook from Fangmatan 放馬灘, Gansu.27 However, as suggestive as this link may be, at this time, we see no obvious numerical relationship between the sets of 11, 12, 20, and 8 beats recorded, or even mini-patterns of beats (such as ○□○ or ○□□○) and the sets of six numbers recorded on the pot. Drum 鼓：○□○○○□□○□○○□。 Half 半：○□○□○○○□□○□○。 Lu-style Drum 魯鼓。○□○○○□□○□○○□□○□○○□□○。 Half 半：○□○○○□□○。 Pi-style Drum 薛鼓。Take up half or fewer (arrows used in the formal archery ritual) for the Casting in the Pot ritual. Use them all up in the shooting ritual. 取半以下為投壺禮，盡用之為射禮。28 Divination was involved in setting up the Casting into the Pot game. The positions of the shooters were ranked and placed in relation to the pot by a cleromantic process, resulting in 1 to 3 “horses” (ma 馬), an unknown gua-like form or perhaps a reference to cast tokens or pips on a die. The shooters were then each provided with four different “counters” (chou 籌) that the presiding official used to mark the number of arrows successfully shot into the pot. The number of wooden arrows provided to each shooter varied according to their position in relation to the pot: 5 if shooting from the middle of the room, 7 if from the upper hall, and 9 if from the central courtyard. The pot contained beans at the bottom so that the arrow-like counters would stick in place inside the pot. The presiding official counted them in terms of doubles and singles:

27 28

the text (see p. 1397). For example, the Lu drum is ○□○○□□○○ Half: ○□○○ (with the Stone drum version missing the last ○). Then □○○○○□○□○ (with the Da Dai Liji 大戴禮記 version ending with another square and circle). The Pi Drum: ○□○○○○□○□○□○○○□○□○○□○. Half: ○□○□○○○○□○. See the study by Andrea Bréard in Constance A. Cook, “Divination in bce China according to Newly-recovered and Excavated Texts.” The importance of using up all of the arrows (also 4) was emphasized too in the archery ritual recorded on a bronze turtle back dated to the late Shang period. On Archery rituals, see Yuan Junjie 袁俊杰, Liang Zhou sheli yanjiu 兩周射禮研究, 82–93, 377–378.

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Two counters make a chun and each chun is taken into account. Single counters make a ji; consequently, they are counted as ji (“odds”). 二算為 純，一純以取，一算為奇。遂以奇算。

Then the official announces: “So-and-so is superior to So-and-so by Xnumber of chun.” If there are odds, the official announces: “Odds” but, in the case of a tie, he announces: “It is equal on both sides.” 告曰某賢於某 若干純。奇則曰奇，鈞則曰左右鈞。

The links between game-playing, gambling, and divination are well-known and the production of symbolic dyadic combinations is perhaps universal.29 We will probably never know whether or not the arrows being shot into the pot had a divinatory relationship to the sets of six numbers inscribed around its edge. However, what relationships we can detect between the texts and numerical sets created in the early Bronze Age suggest that these sets were produced as part of ritual performances. To understand the production of the late Western Zhou style numerical sets, such as those preserved on the pottery examples examined, we can assume that the numbers were produced either by dice or by sorting a prescribed number of dried stalks (X) into sets of a specific number (Y). Each number recorded as a line in the gua is the remainder after one sorting process. The production of six numbers or six lines would require six sortilege sessions. This is the basic tenet behind the traditional Da Yan method, described in Yi-ology. In this traditional version, X was a symbolic 50, that was immediately reduced by 1 to produce 49 stalks, which were then divided into two groups (one with an odd and one with an even number). One of them was reduced by one stalk and then each group counted off by fours (Y = 4). This leaves remainders of a total of either 4 or 8, which are subtracted from the number of stalks in each group. The stalks are recombined into one pack and the process is repeated with either 40 or 44 stalks, depending upon the subtracted remainders. Following two more iterations of this process (where now the remainders from counting off by 4s are either 3 or 7), the total number of remaining stalks would be either 24, 28, 32, or 36. Divided by 4, these produce the numbers 6, 7, 8, or 9 (see chart 1 below).30 Because the Changes numbers are symbolic of Yin (even numbers) and Yang (odd numbers), the four numbers are given relative values. The number 9 is understood as the mature Yang and 6 is the mature Yin. A mature value was on the verge of “change,” or reversing, Dao-like, into its opposite value. This means

29 30

For early China, see Li Ling 李零, Zhongguo fangshu xukao 中國方術續考, 15–20. Cf. Richard Rutt on “The Yarrow-wand Method,” in Zhouyi: The Book of Changes, 158–162.

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chart 1.1

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Illustration of all possible paths leading to the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9 when applying the Da Yan method to 50 stalks andrea bréard

that a new hexagram was produced, allowing the reader to read more textual interpretation to gain a deeper understanding of his issue. On the other hand, lines with remainders of 7 (Yang) or 8 (Yin) did not change. The original gua was called ben gua 本卦 and the derived or changed gua either zhi gua 之卦 or bian gua 變卦. The late Western Zhou numerical sets can also be derived using a simpler version of this method, involving a different number of rods or stalks at the beginning, fewer iterations, and possibly the use of stalks only after certain lines required more clarification, such as after dice tossing. The shifts in the numerical remainders recorded over the early Bronze Age (not limited to 6, 7, 8, and 9) suggest the use of various strategies. Mathematically, if we divide the numerical gua sets, helpfully collected by Bian Xiaobing 邊 曉 冰 in 2016, into three groups dating to the Shang (200

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stalk and other divination traditions chart 1.2

Percentages of remainders evident in numerical sets, recorded on oracle bones, bronzes, ceramic, bamboo manuals and in records

Period

1

Shang Early-middle Western Zhou Late Western-early Eastern Zhou Fourth century bce Shifa Other Chu records

4

5

13.50% 6.00% 24.71% 6.27% 54.86% 3.47% 45.47% 1.02% 1.90% 40.51% 2.25%

6

7

8

9

41.50% 23.50% 14.00% 1.50% 33.73% 15.29% 20.00% 19.44% 19.44% 2.78% 46.20% 0.51% 1.61% 3.65% 50.80% 5.47% 0.96%

numbers), early to middle Western Zhou (255), and Late Western to Early Eastern Zhou (138) periods, and account for the percentage of different numbers recorded, we find a significant change.31 During the Shang period, the numbers 1 (27 times), 5 (12), 6 (83), 7 (47), 8 (28), and 9 (3) were recorded. Numbers 6 (41.50%) and 7 (23.50%) were the most common, followed by 8 (14.00 %), 1 (13.50%), and 5 (6.00%), and 9 the least (1.50%). A more detailed study of variations by site of origin may reveal finer differences but is beyond the bounds of this essay. During the first two centuries of the Western Zhou period (but mostly during the beginning of this period), we find the numbers 1 (63 times), 5 (16) 6 (86), 7 (39), and 8 (49). The majority of the results were 6 (33.73%) and 1 (24.71%), followed by 8 (20.00%), 7 (15%), and 5 (6.27%). We note that, while 6 remained the most frequent, number 1 replaced 7 as the second most frequent. Again, regional variations may account for the continued use of a Shang method producing 7 in some areas but not in others. The number 9 did not appear at all, although it reappears in the later sets. For the late Western Zhou period (into the early Eastern Zhou), we find the numbers 1 (79 times), 5 (5), 6 (28), 8 (28), and 9 (4). Notably, number 1 is now in the majority (54.86 %), followed by 6 (19.44%) and 8 (19.44%), while 5 (4 %) and 9 (2.78%) appear the least often. The number 7 has dropped out completely.32 Although these ratios seem extremely skewed, they nevertheless reveal a common pattern: a high frequency of 6s and 1s, a lower frequency of 8s and

31

32

Bian Xiaobing, “Chutu shuzi gua ‘liangxi yong shu tixi’ jiashuo yanjiu.” The data are also available in Wang Huaping and Zhou Yan, Wanwu jie you shu, 2015. For a full discussion of the data set we base our statistical analysis on, see Bréard and Cook, “Cracking Bones and Numbers,” esp. 323–325. See the discussion by Chen Jie, “Origins of Numbers in Shifa of Tsinghua Bamboo Slip Manuscripts.” He assumes that dice were used to generate the Shifa numbers.

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figure 1.10 Bamboo manual Shifa numbers covering two trigrams from top to bottom: “987,654” adapted from strip 20 in li xueqin, ed., qinghua daxue cang zhanguo zhujian, 4:76

only a few occurrences of 5s, 4s, and 9s. This suggests a basic method (dice) for producing numerological valent 6s and 1s and a follow-up method (stalks) for producing 5s, 4s, and 9s. We find further evidence for this mixed methodology in late Bronze Age materials, particularly in the materials preserved in the Chu region.

4

Gua in Late Bronze Age Divination Records and Manuals

Fourth century bce divination records and manuals reveal a clear transition to the use of numbers in gua as visual representations of broken and unbroken numerals, especially 6 and 1. However, other numbers also appear. Records containing these numbers were preserved in tombs in the region dominated by the state of Chu, the Jiangling region of Hubei, and parts of Henan (Tianxingguan 天星觀, Baoshan 包山, Xincai Geling 新蔡葛陵). They include bamboo records covering the three years prior to the death of the interned Chu officials. They record teams of diviners each specializing in a different divination method (mostly unknown) to identify the spirits afflicting their client and determine the remedy. The numerical gua in these records sometimes included other numbers. The Shifa manual was probably produced in the state of Chu as well and may have been used.33 The Shifa is the only text in which 4s appear. The number 4, up until the Chunqiu period, was written using a series of four lines, but afterwards a rounded, shortened version emerged, making it convenient to use in number series without confusing it with four 1s (it is the round ver-

33

On the application of the Shifa methodology to the Baoshan record of divination and sacrifice, see Ke Heli 柯鶴立, “Shiyong Qinghuajian Shifa jiedu Baoshan zhanbu jilu zhong gua yi” 試用清華簡《筮法》解讀包山占卜記錄中卦義; C.A. Cook, “A Fatal Case of Gu 蠱 Poisoning in the Fourth Century bc?”

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sion of 4 that was used on the Wangjiatai dice). In the Tianxingguan and Xincai Geling records, 9s, 8s, and 5s occasionally appear. In the Baoshan records, there are occasional 8s and 5s. From the Shifa, we now know that the appearance of extraordinary numbers (4s, 5s, 8s, and 9s) represented baleful fortune and were used symbolically to refer to images or omens, possibly encountered in the diviner’s presence, that formed part of the extended divinatory calculation. The images were categorized as even numbers (female) and odd numbers (male). (Interestingly, squares were male and circles female, the reverse of the Han tradition.) It is safe to assume that, by the Warring States period, the numerical sets, at least those recorded in the Chu region, could be deciphered according to rough Yin and Yang-type dichotomies, even if the actual abstract concepts of the terms “Yin” and “Yang” had not yet been solidified. It is also known that these Chu gua, despite being written in two parallel series of six, were actually read as four trigrams (rather than as two hexagrams).34 What is unknown is how these numerical gua were generated, although some scholars assume that dice were involved. One problem with examining the gua listed in manuals for their mathematical properties for hints at their production is that the gua may be idealized for the sake of providing sample interpretations for diviners. The results seen in chart 2, for example, do not seem to represent a random sortilege. It is useful then to compare what are understood to be actual divination results in the Baoshan, Tianxingguan, and Xincai Geling records. If we examine the Xincai Geling numerical sets, for example, and assume that they should be divided, according to Shifa rules, into twelve sets of 48 trigrams, then we find that 29 % of the trigrams represent Kun 坤 ☷ (a female of all even numbers) and only 10% Qian 乾 ☰ (the male mate of Kun, all odd numbers). Other female trigrams also dominate, Li 離 ☲ at 13% and Xun 巽 ☴ at 10 %. The only male trigram that is common is Gen 艮 ☶ (15%) but the others, Kan 坎 ☵ (8 %) and Zhen 震 ☳ (1%), appear only rarely.35 In many sets, certain trigrams appear twice. If we follow the Shifa rule, that a majority of one gender trigrams in the set of four is auspicious, then half of the twelve divination sets are auspicious. Interestingly, eight out of the total of 48 trigrams consist of extraordinary numbers, suggesting balefulness (16%). They are all female trigrams. A similar dominance of female trigrams and female day signs (Branch signs in the Shifa and Qin Shuihudi 睡虎地 daybooks were gendered, but according to different systems) is found in the Baoshan material.

34 35

See Wang Huaping and Zhou Yan, Wanwu jie you shu, 18. Note that Li and Kan have reversed identities in the Changes.

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Similar statistical results occur in the Tianxingguan and Baoshan sets, although the sample sizes are smaller and there are slight differences. Out of the 32 Tianxingguan trigrams in the eight sets of four, Kun is once again in the majority (28%), with Gen (19%, male) close behind. Male trigrams, Qian (16%), and Zhen (13%) occur slightly less often, but Kan is only at 6 %. The remaining female trigrams are less dominant than in the Xincai Geling group, Xun (3%), Li (6%), and Dui (9%). Out of the 32 trigrams, six (19%) contain extraordinary numbers. Six out of the eight sets are auspicious, according to the majority rule of the Shifa, but the genders of the majorities are equally balanced. Other Shifa rules (such as the appearance of husband-and-wife pairs, such as Qian and Kun in adjacent positions) may also apply but this requires further investigation. The Baoshan group consists of six sets of four. Out of the 24 trigrams, the majority are Dui (female, 21%) and Zhen (male, 17%), with Kun, Gen, Li, and Xun (all 13% and female except for Gen) close behind. Qian (8 %) and Kan (4 %) (both male) appear the least often. Every single trigram set can be resolved as auspicious by the majority rule. The first four contain a majority of female trigrams and the last two contain one of male trigrams. Trigrams with extraordinary numbers occupy 29%. All but three of the seven occurrences are female trigrams. One orthographical peculiarity in the Tianxingguan examples may be revealing. In one example, seven numbers are written in one column and five in the other, still totaling twelve numerical lines and four trigrams, but either the copyist made an error or perhaps we should understand that the twelve numbers were produced first and then divided into columns. Many of the columns of numbers in the three texts were written in two lines of six numbers, sometimes with breaks between the trigrams and sometimes without. It is possible that the division of numerical series into groups of six was a secondary process in some cases. This is suggested too by a middle Western Zhou bone with sets of 6, 12, and 24 numbers, including 6s, 8s, 1s, and 5s.36 The Shifa is a divination manual rather than a presumed record of actual divination events. Even so, an examination of the percentages for these model trigram sets is revealing. Out of the total of 228 trigrams, 41 (18 %) include extraordinary numbers. In the overall occurrences of particular trigrams, we

36

Some scholars also read a 9, but a closer examination of the bone suggests that this is an 8 with a scratch over it. See Shaanxi Zhouyuan kaogudui 陝西周原考古隊, “Fufengxian Qijiacun Xi Zhou jiagu fajue jianbao” 扶風縣齊家村西周甲骨發掘簡報; Xu Xitai 徐 錫臺, ed., Zhouyuan jiaguwen zongshu 周原甲骨文綜述, 124–125; Cao Wei, Zhouyuan jiaguwen, 154–155.

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once again see female domination. The female trigrams tend to be the most frequent, with Kun (16.7%), Dui (13.6%), Li (13.6%), and Xun (10.5 %), and the exception of Qian (16.2%, male). The other male trigrams include Zhen (8.8 %), Kan (9.6%) and Gen (11.0%). Curiously, the majority of the trigrams with extraordinary numbers are Qian (male, 33%), followed by the female trigram Li (18%), the male trigram Kan (13%), Gen and Dui (male and female mates, each 10%), and Xun (8%) and Zhen (3%) (female and male mates). Qian’s female mate, Kun, only had 8% of the trigram occurrences with extraordinary numbers. These percentages raise a number of questions. First, assuming that the gua are spiritual entities themselves, why do female spirits predominate? Further attention must be paid to the predominance of male versus female spirits, particularly when issues of bodily affliction are concerned.37 Since the Changes does not retain that type of divinatory concern, we skip this question and ask: how can a random sortilege produce such results? How were the extraordinary numbers derived? Especially suspicious are Shifa sets, such as the two sets of four trigrams found in Section 16 (“War,” zhan 戰). The first set includes 456 189 456 189, and the second one is in reverse 981 654 981 654. In these cases, it seems that the number 1 must represent 7 (as in 456789). Is 7 here an extraordinary number or should all 1s be considered 7s in this and other texts from the late Western Zhou onward?38 How does this relate to the Changes’ tradition of numerical lines: 6, 7, 8, 9? To answer these questions, let us begin by looking at the numbers individually, assuming that the production of each line is a separate event and not dependent on the valence of a previous line. By contrast, the appearance of seemingly non-random gua lines, as with the set in the “War” section, mentioned above, implies an underlying procedure that produces the lines in relation to each other. We see this, in fact, in the technique described in the second 37 38

C.A. Cook, in her study of illness inscriptions during the Shang period, found a similar phenomenon; Divination and the Body in Ancient China, unpublished ms. On 7 and the application (or not) of Dayan methodology to the Shifa, see Cheng Hao 程浩, “Shifa zhanfa yu ‘Dayan zhi shu’ ” 《筮法》占法與“大衍之數”; Ma Nan 馬楠, “Qinghua jian Shifa erti” 清華簡《筮法》二題; Liu Bin 劉彬, “Qinghua jian Shifa shishu de sanzhong keneng yansuan” 清華簡《筮法》筮數的三種可能演算; Lin Zhongjun 林忠軍, “Qinghua jian Shifa shizhanfa tanwei” 清華簡《筮法》筮占法探微. Ultimately, Lin Zhongjun suggests that, while the diviners who produced the Shifa may have referred to the Guicang, as suggested by Li Xueqin and others, it is also likely that they used dice. Zi Ju 子居 pointed out that 4 appears 7 times; 5, 13 times; 6, 323 times; 7, 308 times; 8, 10 times; and 9, 23 times. See the discussion in Xue Miaoqing 雪苗青, “Qinghua jian Shifa de gaojixing: Yuanfu gua he shishu gua—Yu Li Xueqin deng xiansheng shangque” 清華 簡《筮法》的高級性：元符卦和示數卦—與李學勤等先生商榷. Xue also claims that the Shifa includes two types of gua: numerical and symbolic (Yin-Yang).

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chart 1.3

Probabilities of obtaining the Yijing numerical lines by applying the Da Yan technique with 50 stalks

6

7

8

9

5.89%

30.30%

44.12%

19.68%

century bce Tricks of Jing, where the three resulting numbers are dependent on each other.39 We cannot assume a similar underlying procedure for all of the Shang, Zhou and Warring States numerical gua, which have far more irregular patterns. When analyzing the Da Yan technique with 50 stalks, from a probabilistic point of view, it turns out that the chances of obtaining the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 are similarly skewed:40 The percentages and skewed ratios of the different numbers presented thus far (compare charts 2 and 3) suggest the possibility of some sort of Da Yan style sortilege for bce artifacts and manuscripts. The problem remains that numbers other than 6, 7, 8 and 9 appear. It is easy to imagine a stalk procedure that produces the numbers 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, or 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 1, 5, 6, 8, and 9, or even the series 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9, as in the Shifa. Since these numbers are not consecutive and we have few known parameters, it seems reasonable to assume that the numbers 1 and 7 (if they both appear) or just the number 1 (when it appears alone) are considered equivalent in the set. As mentioned elsewhere, the written symbols for 1 and 7 were similar41 and, in the “War” series, mentioned above, 1 is used for 7.

39

40

41

In the Tricks of Jing, the three remaining numbers, r1 , r2 , and r3 , are the remainders when dividing 30 stalks into three packs and counting each off by 4s. Their remainders are interrelated because their sum (Sr = r1 + r2 + r3 ) must be a number which (just like 30), when divided by 4, has a remainder of 2. Thus the sum of the remainders Sr can only be 6 or 10. For an edition of the text, see Beijing Daxue Chutu Wenxian Yanjiusuo 北京 大 學 出土文獻研究所, Beijing Daxue cang Xi Han zhushu 北京大學藏西漢竹書, 5:169– 177. For more technical details on how these and the following probabilities were calculated, see Andrea Bréard, “A Statistical Approach to Numerical Sequences on Ancient Chinese Artifacts.” The number 7 was written as 1 with a very short vertical line through it; it looked like a small cross, much like number 10. It is distinguished as such in the numbering at the bottom of each of the 63 bamboo strips of the Shifa. See Chen Jie, “Origins,” on the evolution of numbers.

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chart 1.4 Illustration of all possible paths leading to the numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 when applying the Da Yan method to 58 stalks

As an example, to produce a number series that contains only the numbers 4, 5, 6, 7(1), 8, and 9, one can consider a Da Yan procedure, but using 58 stalks and five iterations. In this scenario, we end up with either 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, or 36 remaining stalks, which, after division by units of 4, gives us 4, 5, 6, 7(1), 8, and 9 (see chart 4). Again, considering the probabilities of obtaining these numbers, we have: This gives a nice distribution, but since we are still far from producing similar high frequencies of 1s and 6s, we must consider that stalks were not the only device used to produce the numbers. At the end of the Shifa manual (section 30, “The Seventeen Commands,” shiqi ming 十七命), diviners were warned that the

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chart 1.5

4

Probabilities of obtaining the Shifa numbers using 58 stalks and five iterations

5

6

1(7)

8

9

1.38% 10.11% 27.23% 34.77% 21.39% 5.12 %

most precise results would be achieved through sortilege (凡是，各當其卦， 乃扐占之，占之必扐42卦，乃不忒). This suggests that other methods besides stalks were commonly used, such as dice, a possibility supported by archeological finds (fig. 6).43 For example, as mentioned above, in Wangjiatai Tomb 15 where the Guicang was found, were two types of wooden six-sided dice, twenty-one dice containing the numbers 1–6 and two special dice with two sets of 1s opposite 6s and one set of two blanks (fig. 7). The tomb also contained 60 bamboo rods with bone ends.44 In the Chu records mentioned above, five methods are named that scholars associate with stalk methods, although only three involved the recording of gua. The five methods are “Centering Stalks” ( yangshi 央筮), “The Long and the Short” (changxiao 長削), “Uplifting Ascen-

42

43

44

Note the use of le 扐 in the Shushu jiuzhang 數術九章 (Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections, by Qin Jiushao 秦九韶, 1247), juan 1, shang 上. As an example for solving indeterminate problems with a mathematical procedure called Da Yan, Qin states a problem in relation to a modified Da Yan divination technique: four remainders are given when counting off by 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s, and the number of stalks has to be derived. See Ulrich Libbrecht, Chinese Mathematics in the Thirteenth Century: The Shu-shu chiu-chang of Ch’in Chiu-shao, 388–389. See also the chapter on “Hexagrams and Mathematics: Symbolic Approaches to Prediction in Qing China Hexagrams and Mathematics: Symbolic Approaches to Prediction from the Song to the Qing” by Andrea Bréard in this volume. Bone and wooden multifaceted dice have been found in Warring States and Qin tombs. See, for example, the 14-sided bone die with 1–6 written twice and two blank sides (fig. 6 above), Qingzhoushi Bowuguan 青州市博物馆, “Shandong Qingzhou Xixin Zhanguo fajue jianbao” 山東青州西辛戰國發掘簡報, 27, fig. 8, and 29, fig. 67. In this same tomb were found 21 square bone gambling pieces, bone with lacquer paint and a number on one side (unfortunately the report does not specify which numbers were used, see p. 27). For an early discussion based on the Wangjiatai discovery, see Mark E. Lewis, “Dicing and Divination in Early China.” Recently in a Han tomb in Sichuan, a dreidel-like die was found with two small spindle ends sticking out of a rounded six-sided die with the numbers 1–6 indicated by pips (dots) rather than script (see fig. 6 above). Clearly, it was spun. See Liu Zhangze, “Sichuan Shenfangshi Jiantaicun yizhi chutu Han dai ‘tuoluo’ touzi kao.” Jingzhou diqu bowuguan 荊州地區博物館, “Jiangling Wangjiatai 15 hao Qin mu” 江陵 王家台 15 號秦墓, esp. p. 42; Wang Mingqin 王明欽, “Wangjiatai Qin mu zhujian gaishu tiyao” 王家台秦墓竹簡概述提要.

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dance” (chengde 承德), “Red Onion Grass” (tongge 彤茖), and “Respecting Fate” (gongming 共命). The first three of these methods (“Centering Stalks,” “Uplifting Ascendance,” and “Respecting Fate”) each resulted in gua but what distinguished them from the other methods is unclear. Specifically-named diviners specialized in each particular method, crafts that may have been handed down within a lineage.45 A single event involved alternation between shell and stalk, with the shell usually beginning the sessions.46 The general rhetorical format of each record was basically the same, whichever method was recorded. Generally, only auspicious results were recorded, although “concerns” ( you 憂) lingered and omens indicated the reoccurrence of a curse (sui 祟). It seems likely that some of these sortilege methods involved dice, particularly when we consider the frequency of 1s and 6s. Numerous sets of the ancient board game and tool for divination, Liu Bo, have been found that included implements such as chess-like tokens, sticks and dice.47 In the Western Han tomb No. 3 at Mawangdui 馬王堆, Changsha, where a copy of the Zhouyi was discovered, we also find a Liu Bo set in a wooden box containing twelve long and thirty short ivory counters (suan 算, designated as xiao 笑 in the inventory), 22.7cm and 16.4cm in length, respectively, and an eighteen-sided die with the numbers 1–16 engraved in seal-script and the remaining two opposite sides marked with the characters “unrestrained, free, start forward” ( jiao 驕) and “spread out, open” (bai 擺).48 The precise rules of the game49and method of divination related to the board remain obscure.50

45

46

47

48

On whether all 1s in Shifa should be read as 7s, see Wang Huaping and Zhou Yan, Wanwu jie you shu, 18; Ma Nan, “Qinghua jian Shifa erti.” On lineage connections, see C.A. Cook, “Scribes, Cooks, and Artisans: Breaking Zhou Tradition.” C.A. Cook, Death in Ancient China: The Tale of One Man’s Journey, 101, 105–107. See the notes on p. 105 for explanations of loan words and readings. Kalinowski has shown that single diviners recorded in the Zuozhuan resorted to many different methods, “Diviners and Astrologers Under the Eastern Zhou: Transmitted Texts and Recent Archaeological Discoveries,” 371. For his discussion of the Chu records, see pp. 374–385. Li Ling 李零, “Ba Zhongshan mu chutu de Liu Bo: Yu Yinwan ‘Boju zhan’ de sheji bijiao” 跋中山王墓出土的六博棋局：與尹灣《博局占》的設計比較; Li Xueqin 李學勤, “ ‘Boju zhan’ yu guijiwen”《博局占》與規矩紋; Xu Rongsheng 許蓉生, “Jianyi Liu Bo de chansheng, yanbian ji qi yingxiang” 箋議六博的產生、演變及其影響; Pu Chaofu 浦朝府, “Liu Bo zhi zhu, suan yanjiu” 六博之箸、筭研究; Pu Chaofu 浦朝府, “Yinwan Han mu ‘Boju zhan’ ganzhi zhanwei yu Liu Bo qiwei guanxi chutan” 尹灣漢墓《博局 占》干支占位與六博棋位關係初探; Huang Ruxuan 黃儒宣, “Shitu yu shipan” 式圖 與式盤; Liu Liting 劉麗婷, “Han dai Liu Bo ji xiangguan wenti yanjiu” 漢代六博及相關 問題研究. Li Xueqin has read the character bai 擺 as kui 媿, thus obtaining the opposites jiao 驕 and 媿 (to win and to lose). See Xiong Chuanxin 熊傳新, “Tan Mawangdui 3 hao hanmu chutu

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chart 1.6 Probabilities of obtaining the Shifa numbers derived from dice and stalks or stalks alone

p(n)

4

5

6

1(7)

8

9

Actual numbers in the Shifa 1.02% 1.90% 46.20% 45.61% 1.61% 3.65% Calculated (dice and 58 stalks) 0.46% 3.37% 42.41% 44.92% 7.13% 1.71% Calculated (58 stalks only) 1.38% 10.11% 27.23% 34.77% 21.39% 5.12%

Combining archeological evidence about dice in the context of divination, we cannot exclude that dice were used, possibly even in combination with stalks, to produce trigrams and hexagrams. A possible procedure for using a special die with 1s, 6s, and blanks would be as follows: provided that the dice showed a 1 or 6 (each appearing in approximately one third of the throws), the number was recorded. If a blank appeared, the diviner used stalks to produce the extraordinary numbers—including possibly further 1s and 6s. Altogether, in the hypothetical combination of one die and 58 stalks analyzed above, one would obtain the following frequencies as shown in Chart 1.6. The above chart shows that, by assuming a combined dice and stalks procedure, we are qualitatively very close to the frequencies of the numbers listed in the Shifa. Although the Shifa does not seem to contain records of actual divination—its many arrangements in contrasting, parallel, or inverse triples and patterns seem too artificial a construction for this to be the case—, never-

49

50

de Liu Bo” 談馬王堆 3 號西漢墓出土的陸博, esp. 36–37. For illustrations of Liu Bo sets, see Andrew West, “The Lost Game of Liubo,” part 4: “Game Boards and Equipment.” Zhang Chen 張湛 of the Jin dynasty (265–420), in a commentary to the Book of Liezi 列 子, offers an obscure description which mentions the throw of dice called qiong (其擲采 以瓊為之) and the use of counters chou 籌. The Yanshi jiaxun 顏氏家訓, written during the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577), distinguishes between two variants of Liu Bo: the “Greater Bo” 大博 in which six throwing sticks are used, and the “Lesser Bo” 小博, played with two dice called qiong 煢 or 瓊. See Lillian Tseng, “Representation and Appropriation: Rethinking the tlv Mirror in Han China.” Several historians have suggested that the date of the divination (expressed in the sexagenary cycle of days) dictated the position on the board, from which the answer could directly be derived. See Li Xueqin, “ ‘Boju zhan’ yu guijiwen,” and Luo Jianjin 羅見今, “Yinwan Han mu jiandu boju zhantu gouzao kaoshi” 《尹灣漢墓简牍》博局占圖构造考 釋. A manual for Liu Bo was discovered in the first century bce tomb of Liu He 劉賀 in Haihunhou 海昏侯, but is not yet published. See Yang Jun 楊軍, Wang Chuning 王楚 寧, and Xu Changqing 徐長青, “Xi Han Haihunhou Liu He mu chutu Lunyu ‘Zhi Dao’ jian chutan” 西漢海昏侯劉賀墓出土《論語·知道》簡初探.

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stalk and other divination traditions chart 1.7

Probabilities of obtaining the 200 Shang numbers found in numerical sets, assuming the use of dice and stalks (1s could only be produced with a die, 6s with both a die and stalks, and 5s, 7s, 8s, and 9s with stalks only)

p(n)

1

5

6

7

8

9

Shang (actual records) 13.50% 6.00% 41.50% 23.50% 14.00% 1.50% Calculated (dice and 54 stalks) 33.33% 0.95% 39.26% 12.37% 10.74% 3.35%

chart 1.8

Probabilities of obtaining the 200 Shang numbers with 1s considered equal to 7s and comparing the use of dice with stalks or stalks alone

p(n) Shang (actual records) Calculated (dice and 54 stalks) Calculated (54 stalks only) Calculated (dice and 52 stalks) Calculated (52 stalks only)

5

6

7(1)

8

9

6.00% 0.95% 2.86% 2.82% 8.45%

41.50% 39.26% 17.78% 43.34% 30.02%

37.00% 45.70% 37.10% 46.02% 38.06%

14.00% 10.74% 32.22% 6.66% 19.98%

1.50% 3.35% 10.05% 1.16% 3.48%

theless, the fact that not all possible combinations of numerical gua are listed (only an exemplar of 228 out of 1,296 total possibilities) still allows one to argue that the trigrams contained a representative sample of actual results. Also, we have noted that the Shifa series shows the same relative frequencies as the actual Chu divination results, which is an obvious coincidence that can only be explained by assuming a common technique whereby the numbers were actually produced. But what about earlier examples from the Shang and Western Zhou periods? Can we create the same hypothesis about a mixed technique using dice and stalks? The empirical basis here seems less promising, since we must deal with many scattered records and small samples. However, if we can assume that all of the numbers derived from actual divination events and reflect the outcome of a series of random experiments, then we can attempt some statistical analysis. To place the 200 Shang numbers found in sets in an analogous position to ratios derived from the Shifa, we would need to assume that 54, 53, or 52 stalks were used together with a die and that the procedure was performed four times.

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chart 1.9 Probabilities of obtaining the 138 Late Western Zhou to Early Eastern Zhou numbers in numerical sets

p(n)

5

6

7(1)

8

9

Late Western–Early Eastern Zhou 3.47% 19.44% 54.86% 19.44% 2.78% Calculated (dice and 54 stalks) 0.95% 39.26% 45.70% 10.74% 3.35% Calculated (54 stalks only) 2.86% 17.78% 37.10% 32.22% 10.05%

If we assume a random confusion between 1s and 7s, the data further reflect such a combined procedure. The results are closer to the original data than when assuming the use of 54 stalks alone (without the die) but, in the case of 52 stalks, the stalks only procedure shows a better fit:51 If a Dayan style procedure was already in existence from the late Western through to the early Eastern Zhou periods, we would equally need 54 stalks to produce the numbers 5, 6, 7(1), 8, and 9 and four iterations of the Dayan procedure. However, none of the calculated assumed probabilities are as close to the observed frequencies as in the two previous cases. We note that neither hypothesis (a combined method or stalks alone) reflects the relative ranking of appearances. Nothing can be concluded statistically from a comparison of the observed and theoretical frequencies. Based on the archeological evidence, we can assume the use of a different number of stalks and perhaps more than one die,52 but we do not exclude the possibility that there might have been very different techniques at play. Finally, for the early to middle Western Zhou period, it is interesting to note that a scenario of using stalks alone (which would require a Da Yan style procedure using 46 stalks and three iterations) fits the empirical data best, whereas a combination with a die is far from the percentages observed. In summary, we see from a study of the numbers preserved in numerical sets on Shang and Zhou artifacts, as well as in the Chu records and manuals, that the methodologies for the production of the numbers varied over time and region. Probably, the Shang and Chu people used a combination of dice and stalks.

51

52

For more models involving dice and a quantification of the goodness of fit of these different models, see Bréard, “A Statistical Approach.” From a strictly statistical point of view, none of the tested models is satisfactory for the Shang. Other models of combinations of dice and stalks are tested statistically in Bréard and Cook, “Cracking Bones and Numbers,” of which two show a particularly good fit with the actually recorded numbers.

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stalk and other divination traditions chart 1.10 Probabilities of obtaining the 255 Early to Middle Western Zhou numbers in numerical sets

p(n) Early-Middle Western Zhou Calculated (dice and 46 stalks) Calculated (46 stalks only)

5

6

7(1)

8

6.27% 1.95% 5.85%

33.73 % 43.40 % 30.20 %

40.00 % 48.06 % 44.18 %

20.00 % 6.59 % 19.78 %

The Zhou period practice is less clear. Certainly, for the early Zhou period, it seems that diviners may have confined themselves to stalks only but, by the late Western Zhou period, when 1s and 6s proliferated, different methods must have been employed.

5

Dyadic Lines

It is clear from Warring States’ excavated materials that what we later read as Yin and Yang lines emerged from a system of numerical gua. These materials include versions of the Zhouyi and a related text called the Guicang. These two texts are understood to be hexagram divination manuals. They share the names of hexagrams but the accompanying texts are completely different and the Guicang does not have texts for each line. The fact is that many of the number series produced even during the Shang included six numbers, the same number of lines in the hexagrams of the Zhouyi and Guicang.53 However, as we noted above, the earlier number series had no recognizable connection with the hexagrams or an identifiable interpretative system, even though the sortilege techniques may have had some evolutionary relationship.54 Probably,

53

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The Guicang uses the same basic set of hexagram names as the Changes but with different mantic texts associated with each. See Wang Mingqin, “Wangjiatai Qin mu zhujian gaishu”; Edward Shaughnessy, Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing (I Ching) and Related Texts; Cheng Hao 程浩, “Jiben Guicang yuanliu lice” 辑 本《歸藏》源流蠡測. Xing Wen, “Hexagram Pictures and Early Yi Schools: Reconsidering the Book of Changes in Light of Excavated Yi Texts”; Li Zongkun 李宗焜, “Shuzi gua yu yinyang yao” 數字卦與陰 陽爻; Zhang Peng 張朋, “Shuzi gua yu zhanshi: Kaogu faxian zhong de shifa ji xiangguan wenti” 數字卦與占筮：考古發現中的筮法及相關問題; Li Xueqin 李學勤, “Qinghua jian Shifa yu shuzi gua wenti” 清華簡《筮法》與數字卦問題; Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Qinghua jian Shifa yu Chu di shuzi gua yanbian fangfa de tuiqiu” 清華簡《筮法》與

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variations of these techniques were not lost by the Warring States period, as evident by the appearance of extraordinary numbers. We see from the Shifa that these numbers indicated a secondary layer of interpretation; in other words, the numerical patterns (named as male and female trigrams and thus given spiritual agency) helped the diviner (in separate charts) to identify images as well as the malevolent spirit causing problems in an elite person’s life. In general, there is no evidence that manuals on the interpretation of gua existed much before the fourth century bce.55 Newly-recovered texts have complicated our understanding of the formation of the cleromantic divination manuals, the tradition from which the Changes emerged. Recently, another version of a Yi text was found in the tomb of the short-lived Han emperor, Li He 李 賀 (156–87bce). The texts following the hexagram names are completely different and include abundant day signs, which are significant factors in many hemerological manuals and diagrams that were popular during the Qin and Han periods, as well as in the Shifa. This new first century bce version confirms that the Changes with which we are familiar was, in fact, just one version. It seems likely that the Changes as a classic had not been standardized even by the Han period.56

6

Survey of Divination Manuals with Gua

The Shifa has provided a potential key to unlocking one method whereby ancient gua were read. As described above, this manual interprets numerical gua set in an array and interpreted according to both their inter-relationships and external factors, such as gender and time.57 The text, which rolls out like a single sheet composed of 63-bamboo strips (fastened with three strings and a

55 56

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楚地數字卦演算方法的推求; Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Shilun chutu shuzi gua cailiao de yong shu tixi” 試論出土數字卦材料的用數體系; Zhou Xipo 周錫䪖, “Lun ‘guan xiang xi ci’ yu Zhouyi de chengshu: Jian tan ‘shuzi gua’ de wenti” 論“觀象繫辭”與《周易》的 成書：兼談“數字卦”的問題; Chen Jianren 陳建仁, “‘Shuzi gua’ kaobian” “數字卦”考 辨; C.A. Cook and Zhao Lu, Stalk Divination: A Newly Discovered Alternative to the I Ching, 13–19. These have been collated in Pu Maozuo 濮茅佐, Chu zhushu Zhouyi yanjiu 楚竹書《周 易》研究, 496–513. Jiangxisheng Wenwu Kaogu Yanjiusuo 江 西 省 文 物 考 古 研 究 所, Nanchangshi Bowuguan 南昌市博物馆, Nanchangshi Xinjianqu Bowuguan 南昌市新建区博物馆, “Nanchangshi Xi Han Haihun Hou mu” 南昌市西汉海昏侯墓, 61. Other classics, such as the Analects of Confucius (Lunyu 論語), were found with it. C.A. Cook and Zhao Lu, Stalk Divination.

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silk backing) for easy consultation by a mobile diviner, includes sample interpretations for different issues and also contains several charts listing external factors. The issues were those common to the elite married man with a career in the government or military, and also commonly found addressed in daybooks.58 The factors considered included the seasons, stems, branches, images, directions, and potential sources of curses. In a cosmographic diagram in section 24, we find a depiction of the human body surrounded by cosmic identities of time direction, element, and color (exhibiting four out of the five xing 行 “cosmic agents”: Fire, Wood, Water, and Metal, but not Earth). The numerical trigrams mark the inner and out spaces of the body (the inner are female and the outer male) and also encircle the body in what, centuries later, would come to be known as the King Wen Latter Heaven 文 王 後 天 pattern (versus the more commonly used Fu Xi Ur-Heaven 伏羲先天 pattern). The body diagram was probably used for medical diagnosis. Also, since each trigram was correlated to stem names, it is possible that the body diagram could have been used for birthing or other predictions, such as that in the Shuihudi daybook.59 Chu diviners probably used an array of different divination techniques and manuals. For stalk divination, it is possible that they first performed trigram divination and then consulted hexagram texts, including the Changes. Our only proof of this is the fact that both types of manuals circulated among the Chu literati. As mentioned, there are two known hexagram manuals that date to the fourth and third centuries bce, the Zhouyi and the Guicang. Both share roughly the same sixty-four hexagram numbers and names (in variant order and with some locally-written scribal versions) but the corresponding mantic texts, which the diviners interpreted (or possibly used during invocations), were apparently composed of fragments of old songs, sayings, or tales reflecting two different traditions. There is no overlap.60 Unlike the Shifa, which explains,

58 59

60

See Donald Harper and Marc Kalinowski, eds., Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China. However, the Shifa specifies a method of fetal gender predication that is related to the positioning of the four trigrams. See Cook and Zhao, Stalk Divination, 105. For the Shuihudi diagram, see Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian xiao zhengli zu 睡虎弟秦墓竹簡小整理組, ed., Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian 睡虎地秦墓竹簡, 206. The Twelve Branches mark different sections of the external body depending on two seasonal groups: (1) Winter and Fall, and (2) Summer and Spring. In the first group, the first Branch begins with the lower right leg (assuming that the figure faces the viewer) and the sequence moves clockwise around the figure. In the section group, it begins with the right hand. The areas of the outer body marked include the head, shoulders, hands/arms, armpits, feet/legs, and crotch. See Cook and Zhao, Stalk Divination, 163–170.

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however cryptically, how to interpret the divination results, the hexagram texts leave it to the imagination of the diviner. It is unfortunate that the bamboo strips called the Guicang have rotted, their contents being preserved only in the notes of the director of the Jingzhou Museum 荊州博物館.61 Discovered in 1993, over 800 fragments of bamboo texts were discovered in the inner coffin of a relatively small Qin era tomb near Jiangling: Tomb 15 in the burial ground in Wangjiatai.62 The Guicang was identified by comparing the contents with transmitted records of a Guicang discovered along with other texts in King Xiang of Wei’s 魏 襄 王 (r. 318–296 bce) tomb during the third century ce. The Wangjiatai tomb included daybooks, legal statutes, medical texts, prohibitions regarding sacrifices and domestic animals, and a divination text related to disasters and oddities.63 The Guicang remnants seemed to consist of at least two copies, divided into 4,000 pieces. Fifty-four different hexagram names were recovered (with 16 duplicates). The gua, unlike those in the Shifa, had already been reduced to Yin and Yang equivalencies, with number 1 representing Yang (written 一), and 6 representing Yin (written 𠆢).64 Each hexagram was followed by a mantic statement ( yue 曰), which often quoted a divination record of “long ago” (xi 昔) or a line from a song, sometimes linked to the name of the hexagram. The earliest known Zhouyi version dates to the Warring States and may also have emanated from the Chu region. It was one of many bamboo texts rescued by the Shanghai Museum from Hong Kong dealers after their illegal transporta61

62

63

64

Wang Mingqin, “Wangjiatai Qin mu zhujian gaishu”; Wang Mingqin, “Guicang yu Xia Qi de chuanshuo” 《歸藏》與夏啓的傳說. See also C.A. Cook, “Myth and Fragments of a Qin Yi text: A Research Note and Translation”; Ke Heli 柯鶴立, “Zhao yu chuanshuo: guanyi xinchu Guicang jianshu de jidian sikao” 兆與傳說：關於新出《歸藏》簡書 的幾點思考 (Omens and Myth: Thoughts on the Guicang Manuscript). For a discussion of different Guicang schools, see Xing Wen 邢文, “Guicang de fenpian ji qi xuepai” 《歸 藏》的分篇及其學派, 167. For a recent translation and discussion of the entire text in English, see Shaughnessy, Unearthing the Changes. A number of game/divination boards were also found in the tomb, see Ai Lan 艾兰 (Sarah Allan) and Xing Wen 邢文, eds., Xinchu jianbo yanjiu: Xinchu jianbo guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji, 2000 nian 8 yue, Beijing 新出簡帛研究：新出簡帛國際學術研討會文集, 2000 年 8 月, 北京. The 101 strips of the disasters and oddities text are numbered but were found in an extremely fragmented condition. See Wang Mingqin, “Wangjiatai Qin mu,” 47–48. The contents include events like the moon falling from the sky, a horse giving birth to a cow, trees coming to life in winter, wild animals entering the city or perhaps fighting with domestic animals, people dispersing from a city, outsiders entering, etc. Wang Mingqin likened it to several texts by the Han divining specialist Jing Fang 京房 (77–37bce). Many scholars understand 一 as representing 9, as Yang lines are referred to as 9s in the Yijing.

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tion from an unknown tomb in China. Other, slightly later versions have been recovered from Han tombs, such as the Mawangdui silk version and a Fuyang 阜陽 bamboo version, both dating to the second century bce; the former from a tomb in Changsha 長沙, Hunan and the latter from one in Shuanggudi 雙 古 堆, Anhui. There is also the as yet unpublished version from the tomb of Li He, mentioned above, which archaeologists claim differs radically from the received version. The Warring States Shanghai version is incomplete, including only 35 hexagrams, but the basic structure of the hexagram’s image, name, and statement, followed by individual line statements, is largely consistent with the Mawangdui Han silk version, although both the bamboo and silk versions reveal different orders for the hexagrams, some different wording and vocabulary, as well as a few other inconsistencies with the transmitted version.65 Both texts (and the Fuyang version) also feature a visual numerology of broken, Yin (represented by the sign for the number 8 八), and unbroken, Yang (1 一) (although in these and the transmitted version, the Yin lines are referred to as 6s and the Yang lines as 9s). The most unique feature of the Shanghai text is the addition of black and red images formed out of small squares and single square brackets, together or separately (in six different combinations), that are most frequently added after the name of the hexagram, but also occur at the end of the hexagram statement or after the complete entry of the six-line texts (followed by blank space). Scholars have offered various theories regarding their meaning, such as indicating the Yin (black) and Yang (red) values of the hexagram or as a way of ordering the hexagrams, including paired hexagrams.66 Other features of the Shanghai text include the fact that the word zhen 貞 was used with its original meaning of “to test (a proposition)” rather than as a derived abstract concept of moral behavior that is generally accepted for the Changes; in other words, “true, virtuous.”67 This confirms the observation, based on the Fuyang text, that the Zhouyi was originally utilized as a divination manual rather than a source of philosophical speculation. The Fuyang text is too fragmentary to reconstruct, although the introduction of divinatory statements, using the word bu 卜 (“crack-making”), suggests that this version retained features that have been stripped out of the transmitted version.68

65 66 67 68

Pu Maozuo, Chu zhushu Zhouyi yanjiu, 199–234. Id., 8–9, 23–47. Id., 48–50. Edward Shaughnessy, “The Fuyang Zhou Yi and the Making of a Divination Manual”; Pu Maozuo, Chu zhushu Zhouyi yanjiu, 513–546.

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The Mawangdui tomb (Tomb 3) included a number of related texts for interpreting the Changes, only one of which has a transmitted version.69 The Zhouyi is written on two pieces of silk, with the text drawn between red lines (as if copied from a bamboo strip version) and the hexagrams displayed as two clearly separated but stacked trigrams above a black line at the top of the text.70 Notably, the hexagrams are arranged according to their trigram order of Yang and Yin gua; so, for example, all of the variations of hexagrams with Qian gua (written with three Yang lines) on top come first. The order of the Yang gua then proceed in groups of eight, with the gua with a Yang line on top (Gen), the Yang in the middle (Kan), and then on the bottom (Zhen). The order of the bottom gua of each group of eight alternate Yang and Yin pairs is: Qian, Kun (all Yin lines), Gen, Dui (Yin line on top), Kan, Li (Yin line in the middle), Zhen, and Xun (Yin line on the bottom). This method of using the remaining unique line (broken or unbroken) to determine the Yin/Yang female/male values of gua dates back to at least the fourth century bce.71 By comparison, we note that, when all eight trigrams were listed in charts in the Shifa, the order alternated between male and female pairs: Qian and Kun, Gen and Dui, Kan and Li, and Zhen and Xun. An exception to this order is found in the trigram array representing the seasons circulating around the body diagram which, if we begin with the head, ran Kan, Qian, Dui, Kun, Li, Gen, Zhen, and Xun. Alternatively, if we follow the order of the Chu calendar, we would begin with Spring and Zhen. It is clear that the Changes emerged from a time in which there existed many competing ways to produce and interpret the numerical sets. Some of these methods included complex arrays of external factors upon which the ancient diviners could base their readings.

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Conclusion: Divination Methodology Redux

A survey of numerical gua through the ages forces us to acknowledge the possible historicity of the versions of the traditional Da Yan method associated with hexagram production. At the same time, the range of different production methods and likely use of dice or dice-like objects to calculate the numbers also forces us to rethink the veracity of the traditional method as the only stalk 69 70 71

Xing Wen 邢文, Boshu Zhouyi yanjiu 帛書周易研究; Pu Maozuo, Chu zhushu Zhouyi yanjiu, 547–635; see Shaughnessy, I Ching. See Chen Songchang 陳松長, Mawangdui boshu yishu 馬王堆帛書藝術, 14, 190–191. Xing Wen, Boshu Zhouyi yanjiu, 66–75; Pu Maozuo, Chu zhushu Zhouyi yanjiu, 549.

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method. This is particularly true given that the traditional passage outlining the method in the Xici is missing from the Mawangdui version.72 In fact, the earliest mention of how to manipulate stalks is found in a second century bce stalk divination text, rescued from Hong Kong dealers and preserved at Beijing University. The manual is labeled the Tricks of Jing, and is thus associated with Chu culture through the use of the popular name of Jing.73 This method is explained at the beginning: the diviner faces east, holding the manual in his left hand (pointing north) and 30 divining rods in his right hand (pointing south). He divides them randomly into three piles, which he stacks perpendicularly on top of each other (representing the construction of the gua and the charm ( fu) image drawn in the text). Any of the three piles that contains more than four sticks must have four sticks repeatedly subtracted from it until four sticks or fewer remain. In this way, three piles are left at the end, each containing between one and four sticks. These represent the three numbers of a trigram. The manuscript provides all 16 possible outcomes that result from using 30 stalks. The numerical triples, the gua, depicted satisfy the fact that 30 (the number of stalks) has a remainder of two when counted off by fours. If one divides the 30 stalks into three groups and counts each off by 4s, the sum of the three remainders, when counted off by 4s, must produce a remainder of two as well; otherwise, the numerical triple is not a possible solution for the divination technique (see chart 11 for an example).74 The limitation to 16 possible cases of number triples might, of course, result from the observation and recording of actual outcomes, yet the laying out of numbers with sticks in an alternating orientation and the expression of operations in the language of modular arithmetic75 suggest that practices shared with Han mathematical knowledge played a role in the theoretical underpinnings of the Tricks. 72

73

74

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Pu Maozuo, Chu zhushu Zhouyi yanjiu, 596–611; Shaughnessy, I Ching, 20–22 and 188–211, esp. 21. See also Rutt’s explanation based on later commentaries, who argues that this complex process was unlikely to have been used originally, while the derivation of Yin and Yang values 6, 7, 8, 9 remains a mystery (Zhouyi, 158–173). Beijing Daxue Chutu Wenxian Yanjiusuo, Beijing Daxue cang Xi Han zhushu, 5:169–177. The word jing could also refer to a burning poker used in turtle divination, but does not seem relevant here. In fact, the text plays on the Han mystic of the earlier Chu. Zi Ju 子 居 claims that it was the term used by the Qin for Chu; see “Beida jian Jingjue jiexi” 北大 简《荆决》解析. For example: “4 1 1” makes six in total, which has a remainder of two after eliminating four It is thus a possible result of the technique. On the contrary, “2 3 2” adds up to seven, as eliminating four leaves three. When one has 30 stalks, this solution cannot be an outcome of the procedure. All possible results are the permutations of the following number triples: “1 2 3,” “1 1 4,” “2 2 2,” “2 4 4,” and “3 3 4.” The method the counting off is formulated as: 四四再除之 (“repeatedly eliminate by

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chart 1.11 Example of division of 30 stalks into three bunches leading to the number triple “1 1 4”

The connections to the Changes are equally implicit, but not absent from the manual. The 16 numerical triples themselves each represents a “trigram” (depicted as stacked rods) which is named according to 8 Stem and 8 Branch signs,76 possibly as a precursor to the more complex correlative system of hexagram lines and Stem and Branch signs called “inserting the Jia sign” (najia 納 甲), a divination system that appeared in the later Han period. In the Dunhuang collection, similar texts that use this stacked rod method to reproduce trigrams include ones without any Chu cultural affiliation, named Method of Guan Gongming 管公明卜法 and Method of the Duke of Zhou 周公卜法.77 Both of these

76

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fours”), and corresponds to the kind of expression used in the locus classicus of the socalled Chinese remainder theorem, Master Sun’s Mathematical Classic (Sunzi suanjing 孫 子算經) from the fourth century ce, 四四數之. See Andrea Bréard, “On the Transmission of Mathematical Knowledge in Versified Form in China,” 170–171. The expression 不盈者 勿除 “when it cannot be exhausted, don’t eliminate any [further]” is reminiscent of iterative algorithms, such as root extraction, formulated in the Han classic, the Nine Chapters of Mathematical Procedures ( Jiu zhang suan shu 九章算術). See the entries for 不盡, 不 滿, and 除 in the glossary of Karine Chemla and Guo Shuchun, Les Neuf Chapitres, 905, 911. Of the ten possible Stem signs, only eight are used with those representing seven (Geng) and eight (Xin) skipped. The four last Branch signs, out of a total of 12, are skipped. It is unclear if the day sign was relevant to the diviner’s ultimate interpretation. See Marc Kalinowski, “La divination par les nombres,” 57–60, and “Mantic Texts in their Cultural Context,” 116. Guan Gongming (209–256) is a Three Kingdoms period diviner

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manuals, like the Tricks of Jing, begin with descriptions of the method used and include instructions for invocating and interpreting the “songs” (gesong 歌頌) following the gua. After each trigram in the Tricks, there is also a song, which is somewhat similar in structure to the Changes in style, although there is no discussion of the individual lines. There are six basic components of each trigram statement. Following the name and image of the trigram is a poetic mantic image that seems to function much like a xing 興 (initial inspiring image) in the Book of Odes (Shijing 詩經). Many of the images recall those also found in the Shijing, Songs of the South (Chuci 楚辭), the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing 山 海經), the Guicang and Changes to a small degree and the Jiaoshi yilin 焦氏易 林 (correlations and sayings collected by the little-known Jiao Gan 焦贛) to a greater degree. After the image, the text provides an abstract mantic statement that could relate to the condition of the client and serve as a point of departure for the diviner’s advice. This is followed by the general pronouncement of auspiciousness (or lack thereof), along with a list of the potential sources of curses active that day and which rituals the person should either perform or avoid. The list of spirits and demons mentioned include some found in earlier Chu texts, but also some that are either unknown or found only in Qin and Han divination texts.78 The mystique of Chu spirit worship, referred to in Han texts as “lewd rites” ( yinsi 淫祀), seems to have lent an air of magic to the divination rather than having any true connection to earlier Chu-style divination. From the preliminary results of our quantitative analysis of the numbers series found on bones and artifacts from the Shang period onward, the actual practices of producing mantic figures of three or six number lines might be connected to a rather stable Da Yan-style technique, albeit variations in the numbers of stalks and iterations were involved, as well as dice. We conclude that, during the Shang period, the combined use of stalks and dice can explain the actual frequencies to a certain extent but other techniques might also have been at play whereas, from the early to mid-Western Zhou period, only stalks in a Da Yan-style divination method were used; namely, 46 stalks were thrown

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while Zhou Gong is a legendary advisor to early Zhou kings toward the end of the eleventh century bce. In a famous tale preserved in the Shangshu (and a slightly different version preserved in the Qinghua Collection of bamboo texts), Zhou Gong divines regarding the health of the Zhou king. He also appears as a spirit in Confucius’ dreams five centuries later. See the introduction to the early discussions of the Shifa, in Wang Huaping and Zhou Yan, Wanwu jie you shu, 18. Some of the same spirits are indicated in the Dream Divination Book stored at Yuelu, see Pang Zhuangcheng 龐壯城, Yuelu shuyuan zang Qin jian (1): Zhan meng shu yanjiu 《岳 麓書院藏秦簡（壹）：占夢書》研究, 214.

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three times to produce the remainders recorded. By the end of the Western Zhou period, when there was an obvious transition to a greater ratio of 1s and 6s, a combined divination method was used, involving the use of dice together with stalks. This practice continued through the fourth century bce for the Chu divination records. By the second century bce, the Tricks of Jing has appeared, as a simplified, easy-to-remember “tricky” procedure for the more complex Da Yan option. The simplified methodology did not involve multiple iterations and the remainders were significant after the stalks were counted off by 4s only once. The method in the Tricks is very straightforward and, unusually in the case of early divination manuals, is actually explained at the very beginning for use by a nonspecialist. Based on statistical reconstructions, it thus seems likely that there existed variations of the technique known as the canonical Da Yan method, which involved a greater number or fewer stalks and steps which, at times, were combined with the throw of a dice, like the methods found in the Guicang manuscript.

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Peterson, Willard J. “Making Connections: ‘Commentary on the Attached Verbalizations’ of the Book of Change.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 42.1 (1982): 67–116. Pu Chaofu 浦朝府. “Liu Bo zhi zhu, suan yanjiu” 六博之箸、筭研究. Shenzhou 神州 2012.18: 153. Pu Chaofu 浦朝府. “Yinwan Han mu ‘Boju zhan’ ganzhi zhanwei yu Liu Bo qiwei guanxi chutan” 尹 灣 漢 墓 《 博 局 占 》干 支 占 位 與 六 博 棋 位 關 係 初 探. Shenzhou 神 州 2012.20: 183. Pu Maozuo 濮茅佐. Chu zhushu Zhouyi yanjiu 楚竹書《周易》研究. 2 Vols. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2006. Pu Zaifu 樸載福. Xian Qin bufa yanjiu 先秦卜法研究. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2011. (Beijing Daxue Zhendan Gudai Wenming Yanjiu Zhongxin xueshu congshu 北京大學震旦古代文明研究中心學術叢書, 24.) Qin Jiushao 秦九韶. Shushu jiuzhang 數書九章. Yijiatang congshu 宜稼堂叢書, ed., 1842. Qingzhoushi Bowuguan 青州市博物馆. “Shandong Qingzhou Xixin Zhanguo fajue jianbao” 山東青州西辛戰國發掘簡報. Wenwu 文物 2010.7: 27–32. Rao Zongyi 饒宗頤. “Tan jiaguwen (san): Shuzi guaxiang wenti” 談甲骨文（三）：數 字卦象問題. Zhongguo yuwen tongxun 中國語文通訊 1989.6: 1–18. Rutt, Richard. Zhouyi: The Book of Changes. Surrey: Curzon, 1996. Schwartz, Adam. “Huayuanzhuang East i: A Study and Annotated Translation of the Oracle Bone Inscriptions.” Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 2013. Shaanxi Zhouyuan kaogudui 陝 西 周 原 考 古 隊. “Fufengxian Qijiacun Xi Zhou jiagu fajue jianbao” 扶風縣齊家村西周甲骨發掘簡報. Wenwu 文物 1981.9: 1–7. Shaughnessy, Edward L. I Ching: The Classic of Changes. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996. Shaughnessy, Edward L. “The Fuyang Zhou Yi and the Making of a Divination Manual.” Asia Major, third series, 14 (2001) 1: 7–18. Shaughnessy, Edward L. Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi jing (I Ching) and Related Texts. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian xiao zhengli zu 睡虎弟秦墓竹簡小整理組, ed. Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian 睡虎地秦墓竹簡. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990. Sun Xidan 孫希旦 (Qing dyn.), ed. Liji jijie 禮記集解. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1989. Tseng, Lillian. “Representation and Appropriation: Rethinking the tlv Mirror in Han China.” Early China 29 (2004): 161–213. Wang Huaping 王化平. “Cong jiagu bufa kan shuzi gua li” 從甲骨卜法看數字卦例. Yindu xuekan 殷都學刊 2013.1: 21–24. Wang Huaping 王化平 and Zhou Yan 周燕. Wanwu jie you shu: shuzi gua yu xian Qin Yi shi yanjiu 萬物皆有數：數字卦與先秦易筮研究. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2015. Wang Mingqin 王明欽. “Guicang yu Xia Qi de chuanshuo” 《歸藏》與夏啓的傳說. Huaxue 華學 1998.3: 212–226.

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Wang Mingqin 王明欽. “Wangjiatai Qin mu zhujian gaishu” 王家台秦墓竹簡概述. In Xinchu jianbo yanjiu: Xinchu jianbo guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji, 2000 nian 8 yue, Beijing 新出簡帛研究：新出簡帛國際學術研討會文集， 2000 年 8 月，北京, edited by Ai Lan 艾蘭 (Sarah Allan) and Xing Wen 邢文, 26–49. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2004. Wang Mingqin 王明欽. “Wangjiatai Qin mu zhujian gaishu tiyao” 王家台秦墓竹簡 概 述 提 要. http://www.360doc.com/content/11/0829/15/7603602_144261439.shtml. Posted August 29, 2011. Accessed October 17, 2020. West, Andrew. “The Lost Game of Liubo.” Part 4: “Game Boards and Equipment.” BabelStone (1 January 2011). https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Blog/2011/01/lost‑game​ ‑of‑liubo‑part‑4‑game‑boards.html. Accessed October 17, 2020. Xiao Nan 肖楠. “Anyang Yinxu faxian ‘Yi gua’ bujia” 安陽殷墟發現“易卦”卜甲. Kaogu xuebao 考古學報 1989.1: 66–70. Xing Wen 邢文. Boshu Zhouyi yanjiu 帛書周易研究. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1997. Xing Wen 邢文. “Guicang de fenpian ji qi xuepai” 《歸藏》的分篇及其學派. In Xinchu jianbo yanjiu: Xinchu jianbo guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji, 2000 nian 8 yue, Beijing 新 出簡帛研究：新出簡帛國際學術研討會文集， 2000 年 8 月，北京, edited by Ai Lan 艾蘭 (Sarah Allan) and Xing Wen 邢文, 167. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2004. Xing Wen. “Hexagram Pictures and Early Yi Schools: Reconsidering the Book of Changes in Light of Excavated Yi Texts.” Monumenta Serica 51 (2003): 571–560. Xiong Chuanxin 熊傳新. “Tan Mawangdui 3 hao hanmu chutu de Liu Bo” 談馬王堆 3 號西漢墓出土的陸博. Wenwu 文物 1979.4: 35–39. Xu Rongsheng 許蓉生. “Jianyi Liu Bo de chansheng, yanbian ji qi yingxiang” 箋議六博 的產生、演變及其影響. Sichuan wenwu 四川文物 2005.6: 63–66. Xu Xitai 徐錫臺, ed. Zhouyuan jiaguwen zongshu 周原甲骨文綜述. Shaanxi: Sanqin chubanshe, 1987. Xue Miaoqing 雪苗青. “Qinghua jian Shifa de gaojixing: yuanfu gua he shishu gua— Yu Li Xueqin deng xiansheng shangque” 清華簡《筮法》的高級性：元符卦和示數 卦—與李學勤等先生商榷. Zhongzhou xuekan 中州學刊 2017.6: 113–119. Yang Jun 楊軍, Wang Chuning 王楚寧, and Xu Changqing 徐長青. “Xi Han Haihunhou Liu He mu chutu Lunyu ‘Zhi Dao’ jian chutan” 西漢海昏侯劉賀墓出土《論語·知 道》簡初探. Wenwu 文物 2016.12: 72–75, 92. Yao Shengmin 姚生民. “Chunhuaxian faxian Xi Zhou Yi gua fuhao wenzi taoguan” 淳 化縣發現西周易卦符號文字陶罐. Wenbo 文博 1990.3: 56, fig. 3. Yuan Junjie 袁俊杰. Liang Zhou sheli yanjiu 兩周射禮研究. Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2013. Zhang Peng 張朋. “Shuzi gua de jiedu yiji Yi gua qiyuan” 數字卦的解讀以及《易》卦 起源. Zhongzhou xuekan 中州學刊 2010.1: 151–155. Zhang Peng 張 朋. “Shuzi gua yu zhanshi: Kaogu faxian zhong de shifa ji xiangguan wenti” 數字卦與占筮：考古發現中的筮法及相關問題. Zhouyi yanjiu 周易研究 2007.4: 7–12. Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

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Zhang Zhenglang 張政烺. “An Interpretation of the Divinatory Inscriptions on Early Zhou Bronzes.” Translated by H. Huber, R. Yates, et al. Early China 6 (1980–1981): 80– 96. Zheng Ruokui 鄭若葵. “Anyang Miaopu beidi xin faxian de Yin dai ke shu shiqi ji xiangguan wenti” 安陽苗圃北地新發現的殷代刻數石器及相關問題. Wenwu 文物 1986.2: 46–51, 62. Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo 中國社會科學學院考古研究所, ed. Anyang Yinxu Huayuanzhuang dongdi Shang dai muzang 安陽殷墟花園莊東地商 代墓葬. Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2007. Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo 中國社會科學學院考古研究所, ed. Yin Zhou jinwen jicheng 殷周金文集成. 18 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984–1994. Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo 中國社會科學學院考古研究所, ed. Yinxu de faxian yu yanjiu 殷墟的發現與研究. Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1994. Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo 中國社會科學學院考古研究所, ed. Yinxu Huayuanzhuang dongdi jiagu 殷墟花園莊東地甲骨. 6 vols. Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe, 2003. (Archaeology Special Series B, no. 36.) Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo Anyang gongzuodui 中國社會科學院 考古研究所安陽工作隊. “1980–1982 nian Anyang Miaopu beidi yizhi fajue jianbao” 1980–1982 年安陽苗圃北地遺址發掘簡報. Kaogu 考古 1986.2: 112–124, 137, Plates 3 and 4. Zhou Xipo 周錫䪖. “Lun ‘guan xiang xi ci’ yu Zhouyi de chengshu: Jian tan ‘shuzi gua’ de wenti” 論“觀象繫辭”與《周易》的成書： 兼談“數字卦”的問題. Zhonghua wenhua luntan 中華文化論壇 2015.1: 88–94. Zi Ju 子居. “Beida jian Jingjue jiexi” 北大简《荆决》解析. http://zi‑ju.lofter.com/post/​ 1d72bb6a_967796b. Accessed October 17, 2020.

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chapter 2

The Book of Changes as a Cosmological Manual in Han China zhao Lu

In modern times, the Book of Changes (Yijing 易經), more popularly known as the I-Ching, is renowned as a book of wisdom. This reputation is so widespread that the general public does not consider the text a divinatory manual. Similarly, the literati of imperial China often felt comfortable with cosmological elaborations on the Changes, as if the transition from divination to cosmology were only natural.1 Is this actually the case, however? This chapter will examine how the Changes became a cosmological manual for the regulation of human society, a new function that emerged in the mid-first century bce. If we do not teleologically treat the Book of Changes as one of the Five “Confucian” Classics of the second century bce but as a divinatory manual from the fourth century bce or earlier, we can better understand its textual and historical development. The earliest layers of the Changes were originally used for divination during the Western Zhou period (1066–771 bce).2 The binary system, first as the number 1 vs. 6, then later solid (⚊) vs. broken (⚋) lines, constituted the eight trigrams: Qian 乾 ☰, Kun 坤 ☷, Gen 艮 ☶, Kan 坎 ☵, Xun 巽 ☴, Zhen 震 ☳, Li 離 ☲, Dui 兌 ☱. The received version of the Changes contains sixty-four hexagrams, each of which consists of two trigrams.3 Each hexagram indicates a specific statement of auspiciousness down to each line. From the third century onward, diverse elaborations (explications or commentaries) were incorporated into or appended to the earliest layers of the text. There are further clarifications of the hexagram lines and their relatively vague statements, namely, the “Line Commentaries” (Tuan 彖), “Image Commentaries” (Xiang 象), and the “Commentary on Words” (Wenyan 文言), which

1 This seemingly natural turn toward cosmology or intellectual elaboration was initiated by the literati’s writing through imperial China. In contrast, far fewer literati promoted the Changes as a divination text, such as Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200). Richard Smith clearly documents this disproportion in his Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China. 2 See Edward L. Shaughnessy, I Ching: The Classic of Changes, 1–13. 3 See Edward L. Shaughnessy, “I ching 易經 (Chou i 周易),” 217.

© Zhao Lu, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004500037_004

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focuses on the hexagrams Qian and Kun. There are explanations of the hexagrams’ sequences, namely, the “Sequence of the Hexagrams” (Xugua 序卦) and the “Miscellaneous Hexagrams” (Zagua 雜卦). There are elaborations on the moral and cosmological significance of the hexagrams and the Book of Changes divination in general, namely, the “Attached Statements” (“Xici” 繫辭) and the “Explanations of the Trigrams” (Shuogua 說卦). These seven chapters, with ten sections in total, were later called the Ten Wings (Shiyi 十翼).4 In retrospect, the Ten Wings seem to be an organic part of the Book of Changes universe but, historically speaking, they were gradually added to support the earlier layers of the text, providing glossaries, clarifications, or cosmological frameworks. Before the core text plus the Ten Wings became canonized, we can find different elaborations, such as “The Gist” (“Yao” 要) from a Mawangdui manuscript dated to the early Western Han dynasty. Other earlier versions might not include certain parts of the Ten Wings, or merely adjust the evaluation of a hexagram’s auspiciousness regarding daily activities.5 Other divinatory methods underwent a similar process. The excavated Shifa 筮法 (Stalk Divination), dated to the late fourth century bce, contains many layers of elaboration as well. The first half of the manuscript records case studies of this kind of divination; they explain what each pattern, a fourtrigram combination in this case, indicates. For example, they might explain what degree of auspiciousness might be expected regarding certain social occasions, such as marriage, childbirth, illness, etc. The second half of the manuscript contains various appendices, such as the corresponding charts between the trigrams and directions, seasons, or parts of the human body. Moreover, the manuscript introduces not only general technical rules for the divination method, such as “one must use the sortilege method” (zhan zhi bi le 占之必扐), but also cosmological generalizations: “As for the way of Heaven, males trump females, and the multitude trumps the few” (夫天之道，男勝女， 眾勝寡).6 Indeed, the textual layers of the Changes are similar to that of Shifa. Both texts contain core parts to illustrate the divinatory patterns, either hexagrams or combinations of four trigrams; both include supplementary materials to 4 Shaughnessy, “I ching 易經 (Chou i 周易),” 220; Richard J. Smith, The I Ching: A Biography, 5–9 and 19–47. 5 Liu Bin 劉彬, Boshu “Yao” pian jiaoshi 帛書《要》篇校釋, 16. For a comprehensive study on the excavated versions of the Book of Changes from early China, see Edward L. Shaughnessy, Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing (I Ching) and Related Texts. 6 Constance A. Cook and Zhao Lu, Stalk Divination: A Newly Discovered Alternative to the I Ching, 5–13 and 116–145.

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support the illustrations; and, of most importance here, both have a different degree of cosmological elaboration. Compared to two whole chapters in the Changes, the few sentences in the Shifa appear negligible. However, these two cases are qualitatively similar: they show the tendency to explain how the divinatory methods tapped into the cosmological principles of the world and were thus effective. The difference between the two texts is that, by the fourth century bce, the Changes was already well-known, and it gained further popularity in the following centuries. Around the beginning of the third century bce, it was juxtaposed with titles that formed the Five Classics (wujing 五經): The Book of Poetry (Shi 詩), Book of Documents (Shu 書), Rites (Li 禮), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu 春秋).7 By then, the classics served as a textual locus for various literati communities. In 136bce, Emperor Wu (r. 141–87bce) instituted Academician (boshi 博士) positions for each of the classics.8 Alongside the whole corpus, the Changes entered the Han imperial court. However, the Changes was not generally accepted by the imperial literati as guidance for ruling an empire until the mid-first century bce, and it had already undergone a transformation, through which it gained a new set of cosmological functions. As many scholars have argued, the institution of Academicians of the classics by no means indicated an instant increase in these texts’ popularity. Even though the grouping of the “Five Classics” had existed since 300 bce, their reception varied from text to text, and the reading of these texts was multiple and open to debate.9 In the first half of the first century bce, the Changes had gained a new cosmological perspective due to the contemporary intellectual trends and needs.

7 The earliest document in which the six titles are mentioned together came from a tomb in Guodian 郭店, Hubei province. The excavation team dated the tomb to around 300bce at the latest. See “Yu cong yi” 語叢一, in Liu Zhao 劉釗, Guodian Chu jian jiaoshi 郭店楚簡校釋, 191. For a comprehensive summary of the parallelism in the received texts of Early China, see Fukui Shigemasa 福井重雅, Kandai Jukyō no shiteki kenkyū: Jukyō no kangakuka o meguru teisetsu no saikentō 漢代儒教の史的研究：儒教の官學化をめぐる定說の再檢討, 143–144. For a discussion of such parallelisms and the order of the six texts’ names, see Liao Mingchun 廖名春, “ ‘Liu jing’ cixu tanyuan” “六經”次序探源. 8 Ban Gu 班固, Han shu 漢書, 6: 159. 9 See, for example, Fukui Shigemasa 福 井 重 雅, “Jukyō seiritsu shijo no nisan no mondai: Gokyō hakase no secchi to Dō Chūjo no jiseki ni kansuru gigi” 儒教成立史上の二三の 問題：五経博士の設置と董仲舒の事跡に關する疑義; Hirai Masashi 平井正士, “Kandai ni okeru Juka kanryō no kōgesō e no shinjun” 漢代における儒家官僚の公卿層 への浸潤; Michael Nylan, “A Problematic Model: The Han ‘Orthodox Synthesis,’ Then and Now”; Michael Loewe, Dong Zhongshu: A ‘Confucian’ Heritage and the Chunqiu Fanlu, 36–40.

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This chapter will explore the newly-acquired function of the Changes as a cosmological manual for empire building. This function is based on a particular understanding, in which the trigrams and hexagrams signify certain fluctuations between Yin and Yang, two kinds of qi 氣, at certain periods of the year.10 This understanding departs from both the early divinatory tradition and the self-cultivation emphasized in the Confucian tradition.11 We will explore the imperial reception of this understanding of the Changes in the mid-first century bce, as well as the political-intellectual context of its reception. We will see that this reception had less to do with divination, self-cultivation, or nurturing one’s virtues than regulating the cosmos. We will further explain why regulating the cosmos was necessary at that time, a hitherto under-researched topic. In this chapter, I argue that the imperial acceptance of the Changes was due to anxiety that the Han imperial house would soon lose the Mandate of Heaven. In reaction to this anxiety, the literati employed the Changes as a manual for understanding Heaven’s will and regulating the human world based on the regularity of Heaven, especially the seasonal changes. It was in this context that experts on the Changes became active at court. The first section will explore how the anxiety about losing Heaven’s favor grew in the early decades of the last century bce. The second section will examine the literati’s assumptions about

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Hui Dong 惠棟 undertook one of the earliest and most comprehensive studies on this understanding of the Changes. See his Yi Hanxue 易漢學 (Han learning on the Changes) in Hui Dong, Zhouyi shu 周易述, 515–554. During the Western Han dynasty, especially around Emperor Xuan’s time, several scholars used the theory of qi to account for the dynamics of the correspondence: the so-called “hexagram-qi” (guaqi 卦氣) theory. Liang Weixian 梁 韋 弦 notes that the correspondence in the “Shuogua” serves as the basis for this theory. See his Han Yi guaqi xue yanjiu 漢易卦氣學研究, 1–4 and 11. According to this theory, the link between the trigrams or hexagrams and the Twenty-four Solar Periods (ershisi jie qi 二十四節氣) is highlighted. See Michael Nylan and Nathan Sivin, “The First Neo-Confucianism: An Introduction to Yang Hsiung’s ‘Canon of Supreme Mystery’ (T’ai hsüan ching, ca. 4 bce),” 29–30. For a concise survey of the guaqi theory and technical details of guaqi divination, see Bent Nielsen, A Companion to Yi jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han (202bce– 220 ce) to Song (960–1279 ce), 74 and 76–82. For a detailed study of the Han scholars of the Changes and their various guaqi theories, see Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 57– 88. For the early divinatory tradition, see Shaughnessy, I Ching, 7–12. For the emphasis on selfcultivation, see the Mawangdui manuscript “Yao” (The Gist [of the Changes]). The author uses Confucius’ voice to state that virtues and righteousness (de yi 德義) are more important than eulogies and divinations (zhu bu 祝卜) in the Changes. Liu Bin, Boshu “Yao” pian jiaoshi, 16.

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what Heaven wanted from the Han emperors. To many intellectuals of that time, the human imitation of heavenly order was the key to these assumptions. The third and fourth sections will discuss how the Changes, or more specifically, certain literati’s readings of it, met this need.

1

The Mandate of Heaven and the Legitimacy of Rule12

In 78bce, a bizarre incident attracted the court’s attention: a dead willow tree in the imperial garden revived, with words written on its leaves: “Gongsun Bingyi (公孫病已) will be established.”13 A scholar named Sui Meng 眭孟 informed the court of the significance of this omen as follows: The Han house is a descendant of Yao, and it has the fate of having the throne passed down to it. The Han emperor should search in the world to find someone worthy, and abdicate the throne to him. Then he should retire and grant himself a fief of a hundred square li, like the descendants of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, in order to follow the mandate of Heaven.14 The court was outraged by the blunt claim contained in this statement: the mandate of Heaven had moved away from the Han dynasty. This speech was disturbing, particularly because the dynasty was suffering due to the overexpansion that had occurred under the previous emperor (Wu, r. 141–87 bce), and also that fact that the current emperor was a young boy who was being manipulated by Huo Guang 霍光 (?–68bce).15 During this troubling time, the mandate of Heaven was a sensitive issue; for people in the first century bce, a dynasty’s destiny hinged on the favor of Heaven.16 The difficulties of the empire inevitably aroused the literati’s anxiety.

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This and the following two sections expand on the knowledge presented in Chapter 1 of Zhao Lu, In Pursuit of the Great Peace: Han Dynasty Classicism and the Making of Early Medieval Literati, 3–9. Han shu, 75.3153. The original statement reads: 漢家堯後，有傳國之運。漢帝宜誰差天下，求索賢 人，襢以帝位，而退自封百里，如殷周二王後，以承順天命. Han shu, 75.3154. Michael Loewe, The Men Who Governed Han China: Companion to A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods, 441 and 563, and his “The Former Han Dynasty,” 179–197, esp. 104 and 185. David W. Pankenier, “The Cosmo-Political Background of Heaven’s Mandate,” and Herrlee

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This anxiety was particularly reflected in the policy of Emperor Xuan (74– 49bce), who succeeded to the throne after being Huo Guang’s figurehead in 74bce. After the political instability and the backfiring of the previous expansion, Emperor Xuan needed to steer the empire in a different direction.17 However, what this transition would bring to the empire remained unknown. During this transitional period, uncertainty about the future overlapped with that regarding Heaven’s will. What if the Han dynasty was already losing Heaven’s favor, and the new direction would only worsen the situation? As a successor to the Han throne, Emperor Xuan was also anxious about his position. He was the grandson of a crown prince whose princely status had been abolished. In the early years of his reign, like his predecessor, he still acted as a figurehead manipulated by Huo Guang.18 Living up to other people’s expectations of a legitimate emperor was thus also important to him. Emperor Xuan’s sensitivity to omens, both auspicious and inauspicious, expressed his concern about Heaven’s will. His predecessors did mention omens and Heaven’s will,19 but Emperor Xuan raised the significance of omens to another level; he took them as Heaven’s constant evaluation of his rule, and actively responded to them. When auspicious omens, such as phoenixes ( fenghuang 鳳凰) or sweet dew (ganlu 甘露), were reported, he issued edicts pointing out how he had carefully fulfilled his imperial duty as Heaven intended.20 When earthquakes or other disasters occurred, he took these as warnings from Heaven. On one occasion, when an earthquake damaged an ancestral temple of the Han imperial house, Emperor Xuan interpreted this as a warning that he linked specifically to the destiny of the dynasty.21 Since Emperor Xuan was convinced that Heaven was constantly evaluating his government, we might ask what standards he believed Heaven employed. In explaining his faults, he stated that he failed to “harmonize the living” (he qun sheng 和群生), or “did not astutely lead the people” (dao min bu ming 導民 不明).22 He stated his mission in the form of self-blame:

17 18 19 20 21 22

G. Creel, The Origins of Statecraft in China, 81–100. For the view of the Mandate of Heaven in early China in general, see Michael Puett, “Following the Commands of Heaven: The Notion of Ming in Early China.” For more political events that reflect this transition, see Michael Loewe, Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 bc to ad 9, 139–143. Loewe, “The Former Han Dynasty,” 190. Han shu, 5.224, 6.164, 174, 185, 196. Id., 6.253–254, 262, 263. Id., 6.245, 249. Id., 6.245.

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I have been unable to carry forward the grand magnificence of the previous emperors, harmonize and pacify the people, follow Heaven and Earth, or regulate the four seasons.23 He did not stress moral cultivation, but emphasized the regulation of the human order in accordance with Heaven and Earth. Emperor Xuan’s method of gaining Heaven’s favor was not unique. In the next section, we will see how the literati understood the regulation of the cosmological order as a tool of governance.

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Using Cosmology to Cure the State

Since the fourth century bce, generations of literati had emphasized the importance of an orderly cosmos, especially for ruling a state.24 During the mid-first century bce, officials made this issue central to state policy. At Emperor Xuan’s court, many high officials, such as Bing Ji 丙吉 (?–55 bce) and Wei Xiang 魏相 (?–59bce), posited that the human realm formed part of the cosmos.25 They turned to the balance of Yin and Yang and harmony of qi. Bing Ji’s famous story illuminates this point neatly. During a trip, Bing Ji witnessed two events: several people fighting, and a cow sticking out its tongue and gasping for breath. As an Imperial Chancellor, he did not quell the melee, even though it was evidently a crime. Instead, he was concerned about the cow’s bizarre behavior, interpreting it as an omen indicating irregular activity in the cosmos. For Bing Ji, maintaining a balance between Yin and Yang was the responsibility of the highest Han officials.26 Bing Ji did not belittle the importance of laws and regulations, but prioritized the cosmological order above these for running the empire.27 23 24

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The original statement reads: 朕未能章先帝休烈，協寧百姓，承天順地，調序四 時. Han shu, 6.253–254. For studies on the development of the Chinese cosmological synthesis and importance of the cosmological order for government, see Wang Aihe, Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China, 173–209; Michael J. Puett, To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China, 259–286; and Nathan Sivin’s appendix “Evolution of the Chinese Cosmological Synthesis” in G.E.R. Lloyd and Nathan Sivin, The Way and the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece, 253–271. Wei Xiang won his high position due to his success in the political conflicts against the Huo family, the dominant clan from the reign of Emperor Zhao 昭 (87–74bce) to the early reign of Emperor Xuan. See Loewe, Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 131–134. Han shu, 74.3147. Cf. Nishijima Sadao 西嶋定生, Shin Kan teikoku 秦漢帝國, 306–308. For a comprehensive study of the changes made to Imperial Chancellors’ duties during the Western Han,

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Wei Xiang sketched a more specific blueprint when presenting the principles of Yin and Yang: I was fortunate enough to be recruited. However, while occupying my position, I have not done my job and have failed to advocate cultivation and transformation. Now Yin and Yang are out of harmony, and disasters are unceasing. The guilt [for this] lies on us. I have heard from the Changes that “Heaven and Earth act with the right current. Therefore the sun and moon do not behave excessively, and the four seasons are free from error. When sage kings act with the right current, the punishments are clear and the people submit.” The changes in Heaven and Earth always follow Yin and Yang. The division between Yin and Yang takes the sun as its mark. In establishing the order of the Eight Winds and the completion of the myriad of things’ nature, the winter solstice and summer solstice have their regular positions, and are not supposed to interrupt each other.28 Like Emperor Xuan, Wei Xiang points out that, under his governance, Yin and Yang are out of harmony with each other. Quoting from the Changes, he argues that Yin and Yang are the foundation of the changes within Heaven and Earth. That is to say, grasping the principle of Yin and Yang allows people to master the changing processes of the cosmos. He goes on to explain the fundamental role of Yin and Yang for the empire and the human realm: I think Yin and Yang are the basis of the kingly undertaking, and the mandate of the myriad of creatures. Since antiquity, no sage or worthy person has failed to follow it. Purely following Heaven and Earth and observing the previous sages is the duty of the Son of Heaven.29 Echoing Emperor Xuan’s speech, this statement indicates that Yin and Yang form the foundation of the empire and that it was the emperor’s job to maintain their functioning.

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see Kageyama Terukuni 影山輝國, “Kandai ni okeru saii to seiji: Saishō no saii sekinin o chūshin ni” 漢代における災異と政治：宰相の災異責任を中心に. The original statement reads: 臣相幸得備員，奉職不修，不能宣廣教化。陰陽未 和，災害未息，咎在臣等。臣聞《易》曰：“天地以順動，故日月不過，四時 不忒；聖王以順動，故刑罰清而民服。”天地變化，必繇陰陽。陰陽之分，以 日為紀。日冬夏至，則八風之序立，萬物之性成，各有常職，不得相干. Han shu, 74.3139. The original statement reads: 臣愚以為陰陽者，王事之本，群生之命，自古賢聖 未有不繇者也。天子之義，必純取法天地，而觀於先聖. Ibid.

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“Yin and Yang” and “qi,” in Bing Ji and Wei Xiang’s cases, were two oftrepeated concepts within cosmology from the late Warring States period onward. In their understandings of the cosmos, qi, a fluid material substance, permeates the universe. Yin and Yang, the oppositional aspects of qi, form the basic generational process of the cosmos. Human society, the human state, and even the human body, as microcosms, are linked to Heaven and Earth by qi. Correspondingly, they not only are subject to, but also influence, the overall cosmological process and principles.30 Based on this cosmology then, if a state, as an intermediary between Heaven and individuals, is to function well, the various microcosms must be kept in order, together with the cosmos as a whole.31 This cosmology was hardly limited to Wei Xiang and Bing Ji’s time,32 nor were they the first to adopt it as a political philosophy. Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179– 104bce), for example, had already mentioned similar ideas: When the penalty does not hit the target, deviant qi is created. When deviant qi accumulates below, resentment and hatred are amassed33 above. If the above and below are out of harmony, Yin and Yang will be in disorder, and bizarreness and disasters will occur. This is how calamities arise.34

30 31

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See Nathan Sivin, “State, Cosmos, and Body in the Last Three Centuries b.c.,” esp. 14–16 and 16–25. This generalization follows Sivin, “State, Cosmos, and Body in the Last Three Centuries b.c.,” and his Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China: A Partial Translation of Revised Outline of Chinese Medicine (1972), with an Introductory Study on Change in Present Day and Early Medicine, 43–94. Many corpora of texts adopt this cosmology to explain the changing seasons and other meteorological phenomena, such as the “Yue ling” 月令 chapter in the Record of Rites, the “Shize xun” 時則訓 chapter in the Huainanzi 淮南子, and the “Jin shu” 盡數 chapter in the Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋. See Liji zhengyi 禮記正義, j. 16–17, in Ruan Yuan 阮元, ed., Shisan jing zhushu 十三經注疏, 1379–1384; Liu An 劉安, Huainanzi, 379–441; and Lü Buwei 呂不韋, Lüshi chunqiu, 292–308, esp. 292. See also Fung Yu-lan’s survey of cosmology in Huainanzi, A History of Chinese Philosophy, 395–399. The concept of Yin and Yang also permeates military texts excavated from a tomb dating to the reign of Emperor Wu in the Han period, located in Yinqueshan 銀雀山, Shandong province. See Robin D.S. Yates, “The Yin-Yang Texts from Yinqueshan: An Introduction and Partial Reconstruction, with Notes on their Significance in Relation to Huang-Lao Daoism,” esp. 77–80 and 143. Following the commentary of Yan Shigu 顔師古 (581–645), I read chu 畜 as xu 蓄, meaning “to store.” See Han shu, 2501. The original statement reads: 刑罰不中，則生邪氣；邪氣積於下，怨惡畜於上。 上下不和，則陰陽繆盭而妖孽生矣。此災異所緣而起也. Han shu, 56.2500.

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In this case, Dong Zhongshu warns that an imbalance between Yin and Yang will spark bizarre portents that will lead to catastrophes. “Deviant qi,” shaped by the royal abuse of punishment, accumulates and brings hatred to the empire.35 We can see that Wei Xiang employed a similar theory of qi and cosmology to Dong Zhongshu. The link between earthquakes and an unharmonious populace, mentioned in Emperor Xuan’s early edict, reflects a similar cosmology. However, for Dong, the emperor’s virtue is the essential factor that affects the cosmological processes: Therefore, as the ruler, he should rectify his mind in order to rectify the court. He should rectify the court in order to rectify the officials. He should rectify the officials in order to rectify the populace. He should rectify the populace in order to rectify the Four Directions. When the Four Directions are rectified, between the near and the distant, none dare not to be unified by the rectification. Then there will be no deviant qi to wreak havoc in the middle. Therefore, Yin and Yang are regulated, and the wind and rain are in timely order. The creatures are in harmony, and the populace reproduces. The Five Crops are ripe, and grass and trees flourish. [Everything] between Heaven and Earth is filled with nourishment and prospers. Hearing of this grand virtue, [people] within the Four Seas all become subjects. All of these auspicious phenomena and available good omens come to pass. The Kingly Way is then complete.36 Repeating the sentence structure of “do X in order to do Y” in Classical Chinese, Dong argues that achieving a cosmological balance starts with the emperor’s moral reflection. In order to solve the problem of deviant qi and unbalanced Yin and Yang, he does not directly regulate the cosmos. Instead, he considers virtue the solution. In Dong’s case, the balance of the cosmos and harmony of 35

36

Lu Jia 陸賈 offered a similar theory previously: “Bad governance generates bad qi; bad qi generate disasters and bizarreness.” See Lu Jia 陸賈, “Ming jie” 明戒, Xinyu 新語, 155. For Lu Jia and Dong Zhongshu’s philosophies and their similarities, see Paul R. Goldin, “Xunzi and Early Han Philosophy,” 148–151 and 154–156. For Lu Jia’s monistic cosmology, see Puett, To Become a God, 249. The original statement reads: 故為人君者，正心以正朝廷，正朝廷以正百官，正 百官以正萬民，正萬民以正四方。四方正，遠近莫敢不壹於正，而亡有邪氣 奸其間者。是以陰陽調而風雨時，群生和而萬民殖，五穀孰而草木茂，天地 之間被潤澤而大豐美，四海之內聞盛德而皆徠臣，諸福之物，可致之祥，莫 不畢至，而王道終矣. Han shu, 56.2502–2503.

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qi are the result of the ruler’s moral perfection.37 That is to say, for him, virtue, especially that of the ruler, commands the cosmos. In contrast, Wei Xiang does not consider morality useful in harmonizing the cosmos. In his theory, disharmonious qi does not result from the ruler’s failure of moral perfection. It is caused by his failure to manipulate qi so that it follows the correct cosmological order. In this way, what was required was a better understanding of the cosmos and the tools to manage it, instead of moral cultivation. He then offered his advice regarding the recruitment of officials: I hope your majesty will select four people who are enlightened in the classics, and comprehensively understand Yin and Yang, and put one in charge of each of the four seasons. When that season comes around, the one responsible can announce which trigram should be in control in order to harmonize Yin and Yang. All under Heaven would then be very fortunate.38 Wei Xiang provided a solution to Emperor Xuan’s anxiety about regulating the four seasons: to find officials with experience in dealing with Yin and Yang. In helping the emperor to fulfil Heaven’s judgment, Bing Ji and Wei Xiang did not offer any suggestions that might radically change the legal and administrative foundation of the Han dynasty. Instead, they added the cosmological order on top of this foundation. For them, the empire needed to be in tune with the cosmic order, so that the empire could structure and employ the populace in a timely manner. Only then could the empire last for a long time. The two officials’ method resonated with the medical treatment of the human body at that time. In medical texts from the late Warring States period to the early Western Han dynasty, the balance and timely fluctuation of Yin and Yang qi guarantee the human body’s regular functioning. Accordingly, diseases result from irregularity in the qi within the human body. By using tools,

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Scholars have debated the authenticity of the texts attributed to Dong, especially Dong’s memorials in Han shu and Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露. Different groupings of the texts as authentic will yield starkly different understandings of his thought, particularly regarding moral cultivation and cosmology. See Fukui Shigemasa, “Jukyō seiritsu shijo no nisan no mondai: Gokyō hakase no secchi to Dō Chūjo no jiseki ni kansuru gigi”; Dai Junren 戴 君仁, “Dong Zhongshu duice de fenxi” 董仲舒對策的分析; Gary Arbuckle, “Restoring Dong Zhongshu (bce 195–115): An Experiment in Historical and Philosophical Reconstruction,” 315–342; and Sarah Queen, From Chronicle to Canon: The Hermeneutics of the Spring and Autumn, According to Tung Chung-shu, 69–112 and 206–216. The original statement reads: 願陛下選明經通知陰陽者四人，各主一時，時至明 言所職，以和陰陽，天下幸甚！Han shu, 74.3140.

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especially needles, doctors can keep the fluctuation of qi within the normal range. In curing diseases, they need to deal with aberrant situations, including imbalances, blockages, and a loss of qi, in order to restore the body to its proper state.39 In the first half of the first century bce, this understanding of how to cure the body became an allegory for governing the state. During an imperial court debate on the national control of salt and iron in 81 bce, which was compiled retrospectively during Emperor Xuan’s time,40 a censor made such a comparison: The Censor said: If the Minister of Agriculture were to farm personally using the appropriate methods, following the understanding of Houji, the cost of the armies campaigning in four directions could not be sustained. It is wrong [to say] that it is because Heaven’s resources are scant. Is using needles and stones in order to adjust Yin and Yang, balance dearth and plenty, and create a supply where there is insufficiency also wrong?41 The Senior Grand Master and Commandant-in-Chief of the Granaries took charge of the business of the Minister of Agriculture. They used acupuncture to attack the obstructions and open up hundreds of pulse channels. Therefore, a myriad of things circulated and enriched the county offices. At this time, during the pacification of the rebellions from the four directions, billions of coins, including the cost of chariots and armor as well as awards for military successes, all fell under the remit of the Minister of Agriculture. This is the contribution of Bian Que, and the benefit [gained] from salt and iron.42

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See e. g. Taicang Gong’s 太倉公 pathology in Sima Qian 司馬遷, Shiji 史記, 105.2813. For a comprehensive study of the medical theories from the late Warring States period to the Han dynasty, see Nathan Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 43–94. I consider the content in the Discourses on Salt and Iron a retrospective reconstruction rather than a verbatim record of a contemporary debate. However, it does reflect many of the ideas that were popular during the mid-Western Han dynasty. On the authenticity and textual history of this text, see Michael Loewe, “Yen t’ieh lun 鹽鐵論.” Following Wang Liqi, I read the last character ye 也 as the question mark ye 邪. If we read it as ye 也, the sentence would become a statement claiming that using needles and stones is wrong. This would contradict the following sentences, in which the Censor discusses the benefits of using needles and stones. Ye 邪 would solve this contradiction by making the sentence rhetorical. See Yan tie lun jiao zhu 鹽鐵論校注, 187, note 43. Wang suggests that ye 也 in the previous should also be read as ye 邪. This reading, however contradicts the earlier example in the Censor’s speech, where he refers to warring states to indicate that, even during wars, the warring states had sufficient resources. The original statement reads: 御史曰：顧大農等以術體躬稼，則后稷之烈，軍四

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Regarding the controversy over the national monopoly over iron and salt, the advocate of the monopoly uses this medical metaphor to legitimize his stance. The rhetoric implies a comparison: if the health of a person depends on the balance and consistent circulation of Yin and Yang, so does that of the state. In the eyes of the Censor, the officials functioned like doctors, taking care of the state. Similarly, the state became an enlargement of the human body, the normal functions of which needed to be regulated. Wei Xiang and Bing Ji viewed the state in a very similar way. The empire resembles the human body, in which the unobstructed and timely flow of qi enables it to function normally. If the government fails to follow the timely changes in the cosmos, the empire might fall ill. Officials need to use policies, just as doctors using needles, to cure the illness. Although earlier generations of intellectuals had mentioned theories about qi or proposed the regulation of Yin and Yang, this idea of treating the empire, just like the human body, as a part of the cosmological order received little attention or imperial support until Emperor Xuan’s time. It was in this context that the Book of Changes became of interest to the literati at court.

3

Navigating the Cosmos through the Book of Changes

In Wei Xiang’s proposal mentioned above, he outlined his understanding of the four seasons, and how they were crucial for regulating the empire: The deity of the East, Taihao, rides on [the trigram] Zhen ☳, holds a compass, and is in charge of spring. Yandi, the deity of the South, rides on [the trigram] Li ☲, holds a poised scale, and is in charge of summer. Shaohao, the deity of the West, rides on [the trigram] Dui ☱, holds a carpenter’s square, and is in charge of autumn. Zhuanxu, the deity of the North, rides on [the trigram] Kan ☵, holds a weight, and is in charge of winter. The Yellow Emperor, the deity of the center, rides on [the trigram] Kun ☷ and Gen ☶, holds a carpenter’s inkline, and is in charge of the Earth. These five emperors are in charge of their own period. The trigram of the

出而用不繼，非天之財少也。用鍼石，調陰陽，均有無，補不足，亦非也？ 上大夫君與治粟都尉管領大農事，灸刺稽滯，開利百脈，是以萬物流通，而 縣官富實。當此之時，四方征暴亂，車甲之費，克獲之賞，以億萬計，皆贍 大司農。此者扁鵲之力，而鹽、鐵之福也. Huan Kuan, 桓寬 (ca. first century bce), “Qing zhong” 輕重, Yan tie lun 鹽鐵論, Wang Liqi 王利器 ed., Yan tie lun jiao zhu 鹽鐵 論校注, 180.

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east cannot govern the west; the trigram of the south cannot govern the north. When spring begins, there will be famine if one governs with Dui ☱. When autumn begins, there will be blossoms if one governs with Zhen ☳. When winter begins, there will be leakage of qi if one governs with Li ☲. When summer begins, there will be hail if one governs with Kan ☵. The enlightened kings took pains to respect Heaven, and were prudent in nurturing the people. Therefore, they established the position of Xihe (a minister of the legendary ruler Yao 堯) to manage the four seasons, and assigned the populace work in a logical order. The lord is active and quiescent in accord with the Way. He adopts and obeys Yin-Yang; hence, the sun and moon are bright, the wind and rain occur in a logical order, and cold and hot weather are in harmony. When these three things are in order, disasters do not occur. The Five Grains ripen, the flax is complete, grass and trees flourish, birds and beasts reproduce, and the populace does not die young or fall ill. They enjoy a surplus of clothes and food. In that way, the lord is respectful, and the populace is happy. There is no resentment between above and below. The government and teachings are not disobeyed. Rites and humility can be promoted.43 Wei Xiang attaches certain trigrams, namely Zhen 震, Li 離, Dui 兌 and Kan 坎, to North, East, South and West, respectively, which can be found in the “Explicating the Trigrams” (Shuogua) chapter of the Changes.44 The four hexagrams also symbolize winter, spring, summer, and autumn.45 Adding to this corre-

43

44 45

The original statement reads: 東方之神太昊，乘震執規司春；南方之神炎帝，乘 離執衡司夏；西方之神少昊，乘兌執矩司秋；北方之神顓頊，乘坎執權司冬； 中央之神黃帝，乘坤艮執繩司下土。茲五帝所司，各有時也。東方之卦不可 以治西方，南方之卦不可以治北方。春興兌治則飢，秋興震治則華，冬興離 治則泄，夏興坎治則雹。明王謹於尊天，慎于養人，故立羲和之官以乘四時， 節授民事。君動靜以道，奉順陰陽，則日月光明，風雨時節，寒暑調和。三 者得敘，則災害不生，五穀熟，絲麻遂，屮木茂，鳥獸蕃，民不夭疾，衣食 有餘。若是，則君尊民說，上下亡怨，政教不違，禮讓可興. Han shu, 74.3139. “Shuogua,” Yijing zhengyi 易經正義, Ruan Yuan ed., Shisan jing zhushu, 94. Some scholars might call this type of theory “correlative thinking,” such as John B. Henderson, The Development and Decline of Chinese Cosmology, 1–59, esp. 14–18, and A.C. Graham, Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China, 319–370, esp. 358–370. Some even attribute it to the Huang-Lao 黃老 school or thought, such as John S. Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi, 35–38. I do not consider “correlative thinking” as indigenous to Chinese culture. I follow Puett’s systematic critique on this issue in his To Become a God, 145–200. I am also cautious about using the term “Huang-Lao” for, as Sivin points out, it is a vague term with contradictory definitions. See Nathan Sivin, “Old and New Daoisms,” 41–42.

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lation, Wei Xiang further believes that people should use the hexagrams in a logical order, or natural disasters will occur.46 He argues that the ruler should respect Heaven and follow Yin and Yang. When human behavior corresponds to the rhythms of the cosmological process, natural disasters will disappear. Under these conditions, people can prosper. Undoubtedly, Wei Xiang’s theory develops from the correlation between Heaven and human society as elaborated in certain layers of the Changes, especially the Xici (Attached Statements).47 In this chapter, Heaven and Earth change over time, and Heaven produces patterns to show the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness within this constantly changing world; the sage follows the changes of Heaven and Earth, and imitates Heaven’s patterns in order to understand the way of Heaven.48 That is to say, the sage imitates Heaven and Earth’s changes to perfect the correspondence between human beings and Heaven. The sage also created patterns based on natural things, such as the Yellow River and Luo River, as a human artifact of Heaven’s patterns. The patterns and the words he provided to explain Heaven were the tools through which later generations were to understand Heaven’s changes.49 As Willard J. Peterson states, the “Attached Statements” “is an attempt to persuade the audience that they can best deal with the changing world by accepting the guidance of the Changes.” It points out that, by using the Changes, cosmological processes become intelligible, and human beings can thus adjust to these processes in accord with the cosmos.50 During Emperor Xuan’s time, identifying which kind of governance Heaven approved became a central topic of intellectual debate. Naturally, the Changes

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Han shu, 74.3139. It is hard to determine exactly when this text was composed, but the oldest extant version of it was excavated from the Mawangdui site, located in Changsha 長沙, Hunan province. For basic information about the Mawangdui corpus of the Yijing, see Shaughnessy, I Ching: The Classic of Changes, 14–27. Shaughnessy, basing his assessment on the Mawangdui version, dates the text to around 300 bce. See his “Xici zhuan de bianzhuan” 繫辭傳的編 纂, in Gushi guan yi 古史觀異, 294. While a reasonable estimate, Shaughnessy’s date is largely a conjecture. I follow Peterson’s dating of around the beginning of the Western Han dynasty. See Willard J. Peterson, “Making Connections: ‘Commentary on the Attached Verbalizations’ of the Book of Change,” 76. For an introduction to this passage and its dating, authorship, and textual issues, see the same article. Based on the Mawangdui text, Peterson argues that this text existed, and circulated to some degree from the early years of the Western Han dynasty. “Xici shang” 繫辭上, in Yijing zhengyi, Ruan Yuan ed., Shisan jing zhushu, 82. See Puett, To Become a God, 188–196. Puett points out that the “Attached Statements” claims that “cosmology and textual authority are inherently linked.” Op. cit., 195. Peterson, “Making Connections,” 85, 91.

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became an essential tool for understanding Heaven’s will.51 Its unique position as a guide derived from the intimate relationship between its images, especially hexagrams, and Heavenly omens. According to the text, thanks to the ancient sages, we not only can translate Heaven’s language into something we can understand, but also make Heaven’s regulation of the cosmos intelligible. For this reason, the literati increasingly used the Changes to understand the functioning of Heaven during Emperor Xuan’s time.52 It was largely in this context that experts on the Changes, namely Shi Chou 施讎 (fl. 51bce), Liangqiu He 梁丘賀 (fl. 59–48 bce), and Meng Xi 孟喜 (fl. 73–49bce), who all studied under Tian Wangsun 田 王 孫, became important literati at court. They largely monopolized the transmission lines of the Changes at the imperial court. Shi Chou held the Academician position on the Changes during Emperor Xuan’s reign.53 Liangqiu He found favor with Emperor Xuan for his interpretation of omens, and later served as the Chamberlain of Palace Revenues (shaofu 少 府) from 59 to 48 bce, an important imperial position that ranked immediately below the Three Ducal Ministers. By around 51bce, his teaching has been established as an official tradition following an imperial conference on the classics at Shiqu 石渠 Hall.54 Although Meng Xi was not appointed the Academician because he deviated from his master’s teaching, his reading of the Changes was well recognized by his contemporaries, and some of his students occupied this position.55 In fact, Meng Xi’s deviation, in particular, marked a new trend in reading the Changes: Kan ☵ is from due north since, in the graph, it is Yin [represented by the broken lines] surrounding Yang [represented by the unbroken line]. The minor Yang moves underneath. It rises but does not reach its destination. [This situation] reaches its climax in the second month. The frozen qi dis-

51 52

53 54

55

Cf. Ikeda Shūzō 池田秀三, “Ryū Kō no gakumon to shisō” 劉向の學問と思想, 141. As Sivin mentions, “[t]he Han scholars of the Changes were finding in this archaic book the regularities that govern experience of the external world and everything else.” See the appendix “Evolution of the Chinese Cosmological Synthesis” in Lloyd and Sivin, The Way and the Word, 266–269, esp. 268. Han shu, 88.3598. Id., 8.272; 88.3600. The Chamberlain of Palace Revenues oversaw the imperial revenues, and led the biggest group of officials among the Nine Chamberlains ( jiu qing 九 卿). See Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 414–415. Also, An Zuozhang 安作璋 and Xiong Tieji 熊鐵基, Qin Han guanzhi shi gao 秦漢官制史稿, 179–181. Han shu, 88.3599.

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appears, and the movement of Kan then ends. The vernal equinox comes from Zhen ☳. Zhen starts to take over the essence of the myriad of things, and becomes dominant. Therefore, all of the Yin change and follow it. It reaches its climax at due south. It changes from luxuriant to exhausted. The achievement of Zhen ends there. Li ☲ is from due south, since it is Yang surrounding Yin. The minor Yin is born under Earth. It accumulates, but is not yet apparent. In the eighth month, the essence of pattern and brightness decline. The movement of Li ends there. In mid-autumn, Yin forms at Dui ☱. Dui starts to follow the end of the myriad of things, and becomes dominant inside. All of the Yang go down to follow it. It reaches its climax at due north, and the benefits from Heaven are exhausted. The achievement of Dui ends there.56 Like Wei Xiang, Meng uses Kan ☵, Zhen ☳, Li ☲ and Dui ☱ as the four major trigrams that explain the changes of the seasons. He also matches them with the timely fluctuations of Yin and Yang qi.57 Based on his reading, the Changes appears to be a guide to understanding cosmological processes as well. The trigrams of the text, the ebb and flow of Yin and Yang, and the change of seasons correspond with each other. Therefore, for many of Wei Xiang’s contemporaries, commanding the former implied mastery of the other two. Indeed, Wei Xiang or Meng Xi’s understanding of the Changes was based on existing layers of the Changes. However, the emphasis on and appropriation of cosmological processes marked their contemporaries’ perception of

56

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The original statement reads: 坎以陰包陽，故自北正，微陽動於下，升而未達， 極於二月，凝固之氣消，坎運終焉。春分出於震，始據萬物之元，為主於內， 則群陰化而從之，極於南正，而豐大之變窮，震功究焉。離以陽包陰，故自 南正，微陰生於地下，積而未章，至於八月，文明之質衰，離運終焉。仲秋 陰形於兌，始循萬物之末，為主於內，群陽降而承之，極於北正，而天澤之 施窮，兌功究焉. Preserved in Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 and Song Qi 宋祁, “Li zhi shang” 曆 志上, Xin Tangshu 新唐書, 27a.599. Also see Ma Guohan 馬國翰, ed., Yuhan Shanfang jiyi shu 玉函山房輯佚書, 78. In editing their works, Liu Xiang stated that the gist of their works was similar. See Han shu, 88.3601. Moreover, Meng Xi’s disciple’s disciple, Jing Fang 京房 (77–37bce), also shared many premises with Meng Xi. See Liang Weixian, Han Yi guaqi xue yanjiu, 27–36. For Jing Fang’s thought on the Changes, see Takeda Tokimasa 武田時昌, “Kei Bō no saii shisō” 京 房の災異思想, 80–83, and Chen Kanli 陳侃理, “Jing Fang de Yi yinyang zaiyi lun” 京房 的《易》陰陽災異論. Chen Kanli does not agree with Takeda Tokimasa’s view, which is based on Hihara Toshikuni’s 日原利國 earlier argument that the Western Han literati’s theory of omens transformed from “admonition” to “divination.” See Chen, 85. For Hihara Toshikuni’s original argument, see Hihara Toshikuni, Kandai shisō no kenkyū 漢代思想 の研究, 70.

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the Changes in the mid-first century bce. They used the text to understand the will of Heaven. Nevertheless, their method did not seek hints from Heaven, but instead sought to understand and follow Heaven via its patterns. Literati from 50–60bce might still have viewed the Changes as a divination text but one that divined Heaven’s regularity rather than its anomalies. Observing Heaven’s regularity, the Changes, as a cosmological manual, tapped into the long tradition of measuring the seasons and calculating the years. For example, Grand Historians, such as Sima Qian 司馬遷 (145–86 bce) and Ban Gu 班固, knew how to calculate a solar year as well as divide the year seasonally into solar terms ( jieqi 節氣), or literally “the sectional qi.” The cosmological premise underlying this system is the fluctuation of Yin and Yang qi through the annual cycle, where the predominance of Yin qi brings winter, while that of Yang qi summer. Wei Xiang and Meng Xi’s trigrams were directly built on this model of seasonal changes.58 Extending beyond simple observation, Wei Xiang and Meng Xi’s theories emphasize regulation in two senses. On the one hand, according to their theories, the trigram or hexagram signs are not just another set of markers of seasonal changes; they are also reminders to change social activities. The government thus needs to guide the populace’s behaviors. On the other hand, by regulating the populace’s behaviors, society will not produce unseasonal qi that could potentially interfere in the fluctuation of qi throughout the year. In this way, the behaviors of the people would not interrupt the seasonal changes. In other words, by regulating the populace, the Han empire could indirectly regulate the cosmos.

4

The Ramifications of the Cosmological Manual in the Eastern Han

In the last decades of the first century bce, Emperor Xuan’s successors inherited his anxiety about the Mandate of Heaven. From the reign of his son, 58

We find this knowledge of astro-sciences in sections of dynastic histories such as the “Treatise of Heavenly Offices” (“Tianguan shu” 天官書) and the “Treatise of Calendric Calculation” (“Lishu” 曆書) in Sima Qian, Shiji, 26.1255–1288 and 27.1289–1354. For calendric calculation in early imperial China and the experts with the knowledge, see Daniel Patrick Morgan, Astral Sciences in Early Imperial China: Observation, Sagehood and the Individual, 36–48 and 95–138; Christopher Cullen, The Foundations of Celestial Reckoning: Three Ancient Chinese Astronomical Systems, 1–29; Christopher Cullen, Heavenly Numbers: Astronomy and Authority in Early Imperial China. For the calendrical calculation of solar terms, see Astral Sciences in Early Imperial China, 16–20; for its cosmological connotation, see Derk Bodde, “The Chinese Cosmic Magic Known as Watching for the Ethers.”

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Emperor Yuan (r. 48–33bce), onward, the emperors and literati believed that, unless fundamental changes occurred within the empire, Heaven would soon remove the Mandate from the Han dynasty. This sense of crisis drove certain literati to find solutions in the ancient sage kings’ government, for the sage kings had established an ideal society that was approved by Heaven. Accordingly, many literati turned to the Five Classics, believing that these texts recorded the government of the sage kings. They further believed that, if they could revive the ancient sage kings’ institutions, they would be able to restore the ideal state of society in golden antiquity: namely, the Great Peace (taiping 太平).59 In pursuit of the Great Peace, the classics became pivotal for ruling the empire as well as claiming political legitimacy. From 8–23 ce, Wang Mang 王 莽 (45bce–23ce) usurped the Han throne and installed institutions that putatively belonged to the ancient kings’ government, such as the so-called WellField System ( jingtian 井田). Following Wang Mang’s interregnum, China suffered a further decade of civil war. Warlords such as Gongsun Shu 公 孫 述 (?–36ce) and the founder of the Eastern Han (25–220ce) Liu Xiu 劉秀 (5 bce– 57ce) further engaged the classics to support their bid to rule. This competition led Liu Xiu to disseminate the so-called apocrypha (chenwei 讖 緯) in 57 ce, combining the exegesis of the classics with the Mandate of Heaven.60 As the officially-sponsored understanding of the classics, apocrypha reinforced the cosmological manual aspect of the Changes. Relevant apocryphal texts, such as Opening up the Regularities of Qian (Qian Zaodu 乾鑿度), present trigrams and hexagrams based on Meng Xi’s framework, where they indicate the Yin-Yang fluctuation throughout the annual cycle.61 In some cases, the texts go even further and integrate trigrams into the calculation of the calendar over a longer period of time. For example, in the first century ce, the calculation of the calendar involved certain constants based on the least common multiples: 19 years as a Rule Year (Zhangsui 章歲, 19 years being the interval between the conjunction of the solar and lunar cycles), 19× 4 years as an Era (Ji 紀, the interval between the conjunction of the solar cycle, lunar cycle, and the mean solar day), and 19×4×20 years as an Obscuration (Bu 蔀, the interval between

59 60

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Michael Nylan, The Five “Confucian” Classics, 31–51. See the relevant apocryphal texts compiled in Yasui Kōzan 安 居 香 山 and Nakamura Shōhachi 中村璋八, eds., Weishu jicheng 緯書集成, 3–341, esp. 8–10 and 35–36. For the nature of these texts, see Zhao, In Pursuit of the Great Peace, 209–213. Cf. Jack L. Dull, “A Historical Introduction to the Apocryphal (Ch’an-wei) Texts of the Han Dynasty.” For a salient survey of the apocryphal texts related to the Changes, especially Qian zaodu, see Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 77–82.

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the conjunction of the solar year, the lunar cycle, the mean solar day, and the cycle of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches).62 Opening up the Regularities of Qian further introduces the total number of hexagrams (64) as another constant for calculation. In this way, each year on the calendar can also correspond to each of the hexagrams and accordingly acquire certain cosmological characteristics.63 Using all of these numbers and algorithms, the larger goal was to achieve the Great Peace: As for the qi of the eight trigrams from the Book of Changes, if they correspond with the regularities of [the four seasons], then the Yin and Yang are in harmony, the six pitches are adjusted, wind and rain come timely, the five crops ripen, and the people prosper. This is how the sage emperors and enlightened kings achieved the Great Peace.64 In line with the Han literati, the prosperity of human society lies in the favorable natural environment, based on the harmony of qi. The process does not require moral cultivation or the breakdown of social relations. The empire simply needs to adapt to the appropriate qi, and the Changes provides the means to do so. Apocryphal texts further explain the Great Peace as a qi-based state: During the time of the Great Peace, Yin and Yang are in harmony, wind and rain are the same, and the realm is not isolated. [However,] the land has a narrow, high terrain, so the wind can be fast or slow. [Therefore,] even for the government of the Great Peace, there is still something it cannot make even and uniform.65 The wind, which is constituted by qi, brings harmony to the whole empire. In other words, the qi of the Great Peace is virtually the wind, the transporta-

62

63 64

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For more information on the constants, their functions, and how to calculate them, see Cullen, The Foundations of Celestial Reckoning: Three Ancient Chinese Astronomical Systems, 40; Morgan, Astral Sciences in Early Imperial China, 22. Notice that, in the specific apocryphal passage below, the terms Ji and Bu are reversed; in early Chinese procedure texts, Bu often indicates 76 years and Ji 1520 years, instead of vice versa. Qian Zaodu 乾鑿度, in Yasui and Nakamura, eds.,Weishu jicheng, 38. The original statement reads: 凡易八卦之氣，驗應各如其法度，則陰陽和，六律 調，風雨時，五穀成熟，人民取昌，此聖帝明王所以致太平法. Yi wei tonggua yan 易緯通卦驗 in Yasui and Nakamura, op. cit., 207. The original statement reads: 太平時，陰陽和合，風雨咸同，海內不偏。地有阻 險，故風有遲疾。雖太平之政，猶有不能均同也. Yi wei jilan tu 易緯稽覽圖, in Yasui and Nakamura, op. cit., 139.

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tion of which is subject to topology. Like the wind blowing, the permeation of the Great Peace takes time. This cosmology in politics perpetuated the reading of the Changes as a cosmological manual during the first two centuries ce. Accordingly, the honing of the cosmological manual was the main motive in the successive two hundred years. Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127–200 ce) and Xun Shuang 荀爽 (128–190ce) wrote commentaries on the apocryphal texts about the Changes, in which they added further theories, such as linking the six lines of a hexagram with the hours of the day, or the “hour of the line” ( yaochen 爻辰). Similarly, scholars like Yu Fan 虞翻 (164–233 ce) sought to identify the relationship between the images and numbers of the hexagrams as well as how the hexagrams are interrelated.66 The increasing complexity of the theories was driven by a demand for coherence from the Changes as well as the political and cosmic order.

5

Conclusion

In the process of transmission, a more distant and prescriptive intellectual tradition often yielded to, and was transformed by, the immediacy of intellectual and social life. In the case of the Changes, we can clearly see this happening. Emperor Xuan and the literati at court, such as Wei Xiang and Bing Ji, all shared an anxiety about understanding Heaven’s will, especially as it pertained to politics. To soothe this anxiety, they used the Book of Changes as a text that dealt with the relationship between Heaven and humans. In applying the Changes to government, they engaged a contemporary, well-accepted cosmology of qi. As opposed to exclusively emphasizing moral cultivation, in theories like Wei Xiang’s, the Changes is combined with an understanding of the cosmology of qi in order to divine Heaven’s will. This cosmological reading of the Changes enjoyed popularity from the midfirst century bce to the second century ce. Among the literati, Jing Fang’s 京 房 (77–37bce) tradition gained considerable fame. In line with Wei Xiang and Meng Xi, the Jing tradition further extends the Yin-Yang fluctuation to astronomical movements and human interactions. In the first century ce, the Jing

66

Most of the Eastern Han scholars’ works on the Changes are lost, so modern scholars can only glimpse their theories through the surviving fragments of their works. For more information, see Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 82–88. For a compilation of the major Eastern Han scholars’ works with explanations, see Hui Dong 惠棟, Yi Hanxue 易漢學.

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tradition became an official subject of study, together with Meng Xi, Shi Chou, and Liangqiu He’s traditions.67 Furthermore, the Eastern Han (25–220ce) government also promoted a set of heavenly-revealed commentaries on the Classics, later referred to as “apocryphal texts” (chenwei). The commentaries on the Changes went even further and taught how to regulate the qi, the seasons, and, eventually, the cosmos. In contrast to the proliferation of related theories, the application of this cosmological reading was relatively limited. For example, the empire never hired any special officials to watch the trigrams, as Wei Xiang suggested, but relevant Academician positions were added. The imperial court symbolically agreed to move litigation and execution to before the winter solstice, guided by the Changes, but the enforcement of this change is unclear at a local level.68 From the perspective of technology, no new device was invented to detect qi, based on the trigrams. However, from the Eastern Han onward, trigrams did start appearing on board instruments (shi 式) that correlated with directions, constellations, Heavenly Stems, and Earthly Branches. If the board instruments provided people with guidance on time and space, then the trigrams became part of this guidance.69

67 68

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Fan Ye 范曄, Hou Han shu 後漢書, 79a.2545. Hou Han shu, 25.588–590. For a study on the relationship between the Changes and Eastern Han politics, see Bai Xiaoyong 白效詠, “Yixue yu Donghan zhengzhi chutan” 易學 與東漢政治初探. Compared to the Western Han period, excavated texts on legal documents from the Eastern Han are relatively scarce. Therefore, it is harder to measure how certain policies were realized in the local administrations. On the relationship between the classical exegesis and Han law, better known as the “Confucianization of the law,” see Ma Ruofei 馬若斐 (Geoffrey MacCormack), “Chonggu you Han zhi Tang de ‘falü Rujia hua’ ” 重估由漢至唐的“法律儒家化”; Paul R. Goldin, “Han Law and the Regulation of Interpersonal Relations: ‘The Confucianization of the Law’ Revisited.” As Marc Kalinowski has pointed out, the board instruments can be used for divination but are, in fact, multifunctional. For the English-language scholarship on the shi 式, especially its use and the cosmology behind it, see Donald J. Harper, “The Han Cosmic Board (Shih 式)”; Christopher Cullen, “Some Further Points on the ‘Shih’”; Donald J. Harper, “The Han Cosmic Board: A Response to Christopher Cullen”; Christopher Cullen, “The Han Cosmic Model: A Rejoinder to Donald Harper”; Marc Kalinowski, “The Notion of ‘Shi’ 式 and Some Related Terms in Qin-Han Calendrical Astrology.” See also Li Ling 李零, “Shi yu Zhongguo gudai de yuzhou moshi” “式”與中國古代的宇宙模式; Li Yong 李勇, “Dui Zhongguo gudai hengxing fenye he fenye shipan yanjiu” 對中國古代恆星分野和分野式盤研究; Cheng Shaoxuan 程少軒, “Fangmatan jian suojian shizan gu yishu de chubu yanjiu” 放 馬灘簡所見式占古佚書的初步研究; Sun Kizen 孫基然, “Xihan taiyi jiugong shipan zhanfa ji xiangguan wenti” 西漢太一九宮式盤占法及相關問題. For more discoveries on the shi in early China and relevant discussions, see Yan Dunjie 嚴敦傑, “Guanyu Xihan chuqi de shipan he zhanpan” 關於西漢初期的式盤和占盤 and “Shipan zongshu”

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The use of the Changes as a cosmological manual disappeared shortly after the collapse of the Han dynasty. Meng Xi and others’ traditions were replaced by that of Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249ce), which reverted to moral cultivation as a causative agent of change. Eventually, their traditions were lost and are now only preserved in fragments; Wang’s tradition went on to become one of the official commentarial traditions of the Changes throughout the rest of imperial China.70 Over time, this qi-based cosmology of the Changes might still have appealed to certain literati, but was no longer favored by the government as it had been during the Han dynasty.71 There are many reasons why this cosmological reading of the Changes waned. In terms of political legitimacy, this reading did not necessarily highlight how the current dynasty was favored by Heaven, which was the ultimate political concern. In contrast, the theory of the Five Phases (wuxing 五行) was more frequently used to pinpoint why a ruling dynasty was destined to rule.72 However, the most important reason, over the longue durée, was that this reading of the Changes targeted the regulation of the cosmos, which required a state to put it into practice. In this situation, there was hardly any individual agency. In contrast, other readings, no matter whether they interpreted the text as a divinatory manual or moral guide, related the Changes to individuals from various social spectra. The appeal of the Changes relied, and continues to rely, on the fact that it is not just an ineffable compass, but a compass that guides your life.

Bibliography Sources An Zuozhang 安作璋 and Xiong Tieji 熊鐵基. Qin Han guanzhi shi gao 秦漢官制史稿. Ji’nan: Qilu shushe, 2007. Ban Gu 班固. Han shu 漢書. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987.

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式盤綜述; Deng Yiming 鄧益明, “Shipan yanjiu” 式盤研究; Huang Ruxuan 黃儒宣, “Shitu yu shipan” 式圖與式盤. See Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 89–111. This is especially the case for Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077) from the Song dynasty and Hui Dong 惠棟 (1697–1758) from the Qing dynasty. See ibid., 112–139 and 71–94. For in-depth studies on Shao Yong, see, for example, Chu Ping-tzu 祝平次, “The Transmission of Shang Yong’s Yi Learning before Zhu Xi”; Alain Arrault, “Numbers, Models and Sounds: Numerical Speculations of Shao Yong (1012–1077).” For the topic of the Five Phases in the Han dynasty, see Michael Loewe, Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China, 55–60, and The Men Who Governed Han China, 457–521.

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Hui Dong 惠 棟. Zhouyi shu 周 易 述. Edited by Zheng Wangeng 鄭 萬 耕. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2007. Ikeda Shūzō 池田秀三. “Ryū Kō no gakumon to shisō” 劉向の學問と思想. Tōhō gakuhō 東洋學報 50 (1978): 109–190. Kageyama Terukuni 影山輝國. “Kandai ni okeru saii to seiji: Saishō no saii sekinin o chūshin ni” 漢代における災異と政治：宰相の災異責任を中心に. Shigaku zasshi 史學雜誌 90. 8 (1981): 46–68. Kalinowski, Marc. “The Notion of ‘Shi’ 式 and Some Related Terms in Qin-Han Calendrical Astrology.” Early China 35/36 (2012–2013): 331–360. Li Ling 李零. “Shi yu Zhongguo gudai de yuzhou moshi” “式”與中國古代的宇宙模式. Zhongguo wenhua 中國文化 1991.4: 1–30. Li Yong 李勇. “Dui Zhongguo gudai hengxing fenye he fenye shipan yanjiu” 對中國古代 恆星分野和分野式盤研究. Ziran kexueshi yanjiu 自然科學史研究 11.1 (1992): 22–31. Liang Weixian 梁韋弦. Han Yi guaqi xue yanjiu 漢易卦氣學研究. Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2007. Liao Mingchun 廖名春. “‘Liu jing’ cixu tanyuan” “六經”次序探源. Lishi yanjiu 歷史研 究 2002.2: 32–41 Liu Bin 劉彬. Boshu “Yao” pian jiaoshi 帛書《要》篇校釋. Beijing: Guangming ribao, 2009. Liu Zhao 劉釗. Guodian Chu jian jiaoshi 郭店楚簡校釋. Fujian: Fujian renmin chubanshe, 2003. Lloyd, G.E.R. and Nathan Sivin. The Way and the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Loewe, Michael. Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 bc to ad 9. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1974. Loewe, Michael. Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Loewe, Michael. Dong Zhongshu: A ‘Confucian’ Heritage and the Chunqiu Fanlu. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Loewe, Michael, ed. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. University of California, Berkeley, 1993. Loewe, Michael. “The Former Han Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1: The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221b.c.–a.d.220, edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe, 103–222. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Loewe, Michael. The Men Who Governed Han China: Companion to A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods. Leiden: Brill, 2004. Loewe, Michael. “Yen t’ieh lun” 鹽鐵論. In Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, edited by Michael Loewe, 477–482. University of California, Berkeley, 1993. Ma Guohan 馬國翰, ed. Yuhan Shanfang jiyi shu 玉函山房輯佚書. Yangzhou: Guangling shushe, 2005.

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Ma Ruofei 馬若斐 (Geoffrey MacCormack). “Chonggu you Han zhi Tang de ‘falü Rujia hua’” 重估由漢至唐的“法律儒家化”. In Zhongguoshi xinlun: Falüshi fence 中國史新 論：法律史分冊, edited by Liu Liyan 柳立言, 103–140. Taipei: Lianjin chuban gongsi, 2008. Major, John S. Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993. Morgan, Daniel Patrick. Astral Sciences in Early Imperial China: Observation, Sagehood and the Individual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Nielsen, Bent. A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 bce–220 ce) to Song 宋 (960–1279 ce). London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Nishijima Sadao 西嶋定生. Shin Kan teikoku 秦漢帝國. Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 2002. Nylan, Michael. “A Problematic Model: The Han ‘Orthodox Synthesis,’ Then and Now.” In Imagining Boundaries: Changing Confucian Doctrines, Texts, and Hermeneutics, edited by Kai-wing Chow et al., eds., 17–56. Albany: State University of New York, 1999. Nylan, Michael. The Five “Confucian” Classics. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Nylan, Michael, and Nathan Sivin. “The First Neo-Confucianism: An Introduction to Yang Hsiung’s ‘Canon of Supreme Mystery’ (T’ai hsüan ching, ca. 4bce).” In Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections, edited by Nathan Sivin, 1–42. Brookfield, VT: Variorum, 1995. Pankenier, David W. “The Cosmo-Political Background of Heaven’s Mandate.” Early China 20 (1995): 121–176. Peterson, Willard J. “Making Connections: ‘Commentary on the Attached Verbalizations’ of the Book of Change.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 42.1 (1982): 67–116. Puett, Michael. “Following the Commands of Heaven: The Notion of Ming in Early China.” In The Magnitude of Ming: Command, Allotment, and Fate in Chinese Culture, edited by Christopher Lupke, 49–69. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005. Puett, Michael. To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002. Queen, Sarah. From Chronicle to Canon: The Hermeneutics of the Spring and Autumn, According to Tung Chung-shu. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Ruan Yuan 阮元, ed. Shisan jing zhushu 十三經注疏. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980. Shaughnessy, Edward L. Gushi guan yi 古史觀異. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2005. Shaughnessy, Edward L. “I ching” 易經 (“Chou i” 周易). In Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, edited by Michael Loewe, 216–228. University of California, Berkeley, 1993. Shaughnessy, Edward L. I Ching: The Classic of Changes. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.

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Shaughnessy, Edward L. Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing (I Ching) and Related Texts. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. Sivin, Nathan. “Old and New Daoisms.” Religious Studies Review 36 (2010): 31–50. Sivin, Nathan. “State, Cosmos, and Body in the Last Three Centuries b.c.”Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 55.1 (1995): 5–37. Sivin, Nathan. Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China: A Partial Translation of Revised Outline of Chinese Medicine (1972), with an Introductory Study on Change in Present Day and Early Medicine. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1987. Smith, Richard. Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2008. Smith, Richard. The I Ching: A Biography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. Sun Kizen 孫基然. “Xihan taiyi jiugong shipan zhanfa ji xiangguan wenti” 西漢太一九 宮式盤占法及相關問題. Kaogu 考古 2014.4: 82–92 Takeda Tokimasa 武田時昌. “Kei Bō no saii shisō” 京房の災異思想. In Igaku kenkyū ronsō: Yasui Kōzan Hakushi tsuitō 緯學研究論叢：安居香山博士追悼, edited by Nakamura Shōhachi 中村璋八, 66–84. Tokyo: Hirakawa shuppansha, 1993. Wang, Aihe. Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Yan Dunjie 嚴敦傑. “Guanyu Xihan chuqi de shipan he zhanpan” 關於西漢初期的式盤 和占盤. Kaogu 考古 1978.5: 334–337. Yan Dunjie 嚴敦傑. “Shipan zongshu” 式盤綜述. Kaogu xuebao 考古學報 1985.4: 445– 464. Yasui Kōzan 安居香山 and Nakamura Shōhachi 中村璋八, eds. Weishu jicheng 緯書集 成. Shijiazhuang: Hebei renmin chubanshe, 1994. Yates, Robin D.S. “The Yin-Yang Texts from Yinqueshan: An Introduction and Partial Reconstruction, with Notes on their Significance in Relation to Huang-Lao Daoism.” Early China 19 (1994): 74–144. Zhao, Lu. In Pursuit of the Great Peace: Han Dynasty Classicism and the Making of Early Medieval Literati. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2019.

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chapter 3

Yijing Divination and Religion during the Tang Dynasty Xing wang

After a long time of period and political havoc, the Tang dynasty (618–907) embraced a unified government and social stability for centuries, along with its economic development, cosmopolitanism, and flourishing culture. A series of military actions provided the new dynasty with a politically and socially stable environment, with a less threatened border, a unified territory in the northern and southern regions, and more welcoming conditions for the import of foreign commodities and culture. A unified government, whose administrative structure was developed from its predecessor, the Sui dynasty (581–619), created a new imperial order that was different from that of previous dynasties.1 The Tang period was also a time when Buddhism and Daoism reached maturity and received unprecedented imperial patronage, and a diversity of religions contributed to Tang people’s religious life.2 Different religious and intellectual communities started to converse with each other in depth, and a new philosophical discourse emerged from these conversations. The rise of different religions in the Tang period was accompanied by the popularity of various kinds of divination techniques. From the Dunhuang manuscripts, we can see that learning and practicing divination already became common not only for members of the Tang aristocracy and officials but also for people from a lower social station.3 The classic text, the Yijing 易經 (Book of Changes), became an important, indispensable theme and principal tool for divination and religious practices during the Tang dynasty. It is well-known that the Yijing was recognized not only as a philosophical text and one of the Confucian Classics ( jing 經) but also a cosmological

1 For a general introduction to the Tang, a good place to start is Denis C. Twitchett’s “Introduction” in The Cambridge History of China: Sui and T’ang China, 589–906ad, Part One. 2 See Peter N. Gregory and Patricia Buckley Ebrey, “The Religious and Historical Landscape.” Also see Rong Xinjiang 榮新江, “Tangdai zongjiao xinyang yu shehui: Xin wenti yu xin tansuo” 唐代宗教信仰與社會：新問題與新探索. 3 Marc Kalinowski, “Mantic Texts in Their Cultural Context.”

© Xing Wang, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004500037_005

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as well as mantic text in Chinese history.4 During the Tang period, the decline of the study of the Classics resulted in less focus being placed on the philosophical and metaphysical dimension of the Yijing and more emphasis on its cosmological and mantic aspects within the intellectual discourse. These philosophical interpretations of this classic text constituted an effort to relate its philosophy to the political and social practices. This more practical view of the Yijing revived the cosmological and mantic understanding of its symbols and content, that had been understated in the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589). The Tang imperial court showed a greater interest in the divination techniques originating from the Yijing and included these as part of the imperial ritual. As a result, the Yijing was represented in these court ritual texts as a cosmology manual and a book for political prediction. The court interpretation of this text in the Tang dynasty contrasted with the daily use of Yijing divination, which technique was applied to deal with the complexity of Tang people’s daily life. The official representation of the Yijing at court appears to reflect an imperial ideology whereas, for the officials, literati and people from other social stations, the Yijing was used in daily life in a more practical, situation-oriented manner. Anecdotal writings during the Tang period contained many stories of officials and literati who consulted Yijing diviners on various life matters. All of these new intellectual and social landscapes for the Yijing indicate that, during the Tang period, this classic text’s technical and cosmological elements gained more attention than its “Confucian” and metaphysical ones, and were seen as directions for people’s daily life decision-making. This view of the Yijing as a manual for everyday decision-making was, of course, related to its divinatory cosmology. Yet, as we shall see, this view differed from the court representation of the book’s cosmology in that, in the daily use of Yijing divination, less emphasis was placed on the cosmological aspects of the book. Rather, the daily use of Yijing divination forged a direct link between the Yijing symbols and the elements and events in people’s daily life, and even the literati and officials who were expert in this technique also seemed to read the symbols in this manner. The trigrams and hexagrams (gua 卦) in the Yijing were also used as vital indexes for different religious and mantic practices, such as Buddhist meditation and alchemic rituals, physiognomy, and astrology. The fusion between the Yijing and different religious cosmologies and techniques may be regarded as a “syncretic tradition.” However, this “syncretism” merely suggests that there was a tendency, during the Tang period, to use the cos-

4 See Richard J. Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China, 31–56.

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mology and terminology of the Yijing as a common discourse when discussing religious and other types of techniques. This is not to suggest that there had previously existed different, “pure,” enclosed traditions of Buddhism, Daoism, and the Yijing that were subsequently “syncretized,” as indicated in the studies of religious syncretism. The discourse and cosmology of the Yijing is, by its nature, open and fluid. We shall see how the Yijing was, on the one hand, accepted as a shared discourse system in different religious and technical traditions and, on the other, diversified in each of them. This chapter presents how the Yijing was understood and “used” in different religious, mantic, and other forms of practices in the Tang period, as shown in the historical texts. Beyond the philosophical as well as metaphysical understandings of this classical text, it is important to note the alternative use of the Yijing during the Tang dynasty in order fully to comprehend how this book was perceived in China in the past. In other words, the book itself was not only treated as a “canon” for abstract exegesis, but also as a tool for explaining various and diverse issues within daily life as well as within religious techniques. This chapter investigates the attitudes toward the Yijing at the Tang court, together with the social landscape of Yijing divination among the social elites in the Tang, as well as how elements of the Yijing entered different religious and technical spheres at that time. We shall see how the Yanjing, as a cosmological, divinatory text, was received by various social communities and how such a reception shaped the social landscape regarding the understanding of the Yijing.

1

Imperial Rules and Yijing Divination in the Tang Dynasty

The Tang imperial court showed a keen interest in the Yijing. The early Tang imperial scholar, Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574–648), produced a famous commentary on the Yijing, entitled the Correct Meaning of the Zhou Changes (Zhouyi zhengyi 周易正義), as part of a larger imperial project to reinterpret the Confucian classics under Emperor Taizong’s (598–649) command and patronage.5 Scholars noticed that one of the major features of this work was how it relates the cosmology of the Yijing to the moral constructions within human society and the intention to use this classical text as a guide for politics and morality.6 Kong’s framework and ideas in this commentary were highly influenced by, and can be seen as a continuation of, the earlier scholar, Wang Bi’s 王弼 (226–249), 5 See Liu Xu 劉昫, Jiu Tang shu 舊唐書, 73.2601–2602. 6 See Richard Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 104–105, and Tze-ki Hon, “Being and Non-Being: A Comparison of the Yijing Commentaries of Wang Bi, Kong Yingda, Hu Yuan, and Zhang Zai.”

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innovative interpretation of the Yijing in his commentaries on the book. In contrast to most of the Han dynasty scholars’ understanding of the book, Wang Bi explained the trigrams and hexagrams in the Yijing as metaphors for philosophical as well as ethical concepts.7 Wang Bi believed that the symbols and numerology in the Yijing were only a means to an end, an imitation of the movement of the universe and principles of human affairs.8 The trigrams and hexagrams in Wang Bi’s interpretation are symbols of situations and guidelines for human conduct. In this way, Wang Bi’s commentary on the Yijing eliminates the divinatory, numerological nature of the book as constructed by the Han commentaries and highlights, instead, the significance of morality, human agency, and living experience in the Yijing’s teachings.9 That is to say, it is more important to understand what the book says about human beings actively changing their situations rather than taking the hexagrams as signs of a doomed future. Kong also believed that the symbols and numerological system in the Yijing were actually imitations of situations and changes in nature, and that these imitations contained important teachings for predicting and comprehending the development of various human affairs. In this sense, Kong suggested that the numerology in the Yijing originated from the sage’s attempt to reveal the true principles and moral nature of the cosmos.10 In other words, the symbols and numerology used in Yijing divination, according to Kong, form part of the Yijing’s function of moral guidance. This means that, although he agreed with Wang Bi’s idea, Kong took a middle way between the philosophical and numerological understanding of the book. Kong admitted the importance of divination in understanding the Yijing but did not attribute divination as the primary goal of the sages who produced the text. Despite Kong’s recognition of its mantic dimension, he still regarded the Yijing as a philosophical text.11 Just like Wang Bi, Kong, while admitting the mantic dimension of the Yanjing, confirmed the philosophical and ethical nature of this book. Kong’s philosophical commentaries on the Confucian classics under the command of the emperor also became standardized as official interpretations of the classics in the Imperial Examination (keju 科舉) during the Tang dynasty, due to the necessity for examinees to have authoritative guidance on this national official recruitment examination.12 7 8 9 10 11 12

See Richard Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 91–98. See Chen Guying 陳鼓應, “Wang Bi daojia Yixue quanshu” 王弼道家易學詮釋. See Tze-ki Hon, “Human Agency and Change: A Reading of Wang Bi’s Yijing Commentary.” See Kong Yingda 孔穎達, Zhouyi zhengyi 周易正義, “Shuogua” 說卦, 9:1.380–381. See Zhu Bokun 朱伯崑, Yixue zhexue shi 易學哲學史, 1:405–406. See Jiang Longxiang 姜龍翔, “Wujing zhengyi ‘shu bu po zhu’ zhi wenti zaitan” 五經正 義“疏不破注”之問題再探.

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The imperial court of the Tang dynasty also claimed that Yijing divination was one of the few legitimate mantic practices and included it in the regular imperial rituals. Although, with the support of the court, the Yijing was “philosophized” and revived as a Confucian classic by the officials and literati during the Tang period, the Tang court also, at the same time, established Yijing divination as an authoritative divination method. Emperor Taizong enacted an imperial command to prohibit various kinds of mantic practices apart from three legitimate methods of divination: tortoiseshell (gui 龜), Yijing divination ( yi 易), and The Five Omens (wuzhao 五兆).13 The imperial court wished to maintain its control over the mantic practices followed in society and even introduced rules to regulate the range of predictions within these practices. The early Tang document on the rituals and administrative rules issued by the court, the Six Statutes of the Tang Dynasty (Tang liudian 唐六典), clearly states that: For the miscellaneous mantic and Yin-Yang [techniques], [and those that can tell] good and bad luck, and weal and woe, there are nine types [of uses] to solve the doubts [about different matters] for millions of people: the first [matter] is marriage; the second is having child; the third is choosing auspicious dates; the fourth is housing; the fifth is wealth and fortune; the sixth is the attainment of official posts; the seventh is offering sacrifice to ancestors; the eighth is contracting disease; the ninth is funerals and tombs.14 These nine aspects of life were regarded by the court as the nine most important occasions on which legitimate divination methods could be used, including Yijing divination. We cannot presume that this document reflects the actual situation of divination in Tang society, since it is impossible to establish how far these rules were enforced in people’s daily life. Yet this document at least reflects the overall attitude of the Tang government toward mantic practices like Yijing divination: that they are useful and valid but needed to be supervised by the establishment. Divination was also practiced at the imperial court regarding various state affairs and issues related to the royal family. In the same

13 14

See Jiu Tang shu, 2.30. The original statement reads: 凡陰陽雜占，吉兇悔吝，其類有九，決萬民之猶 豫：一曰嫁娶，二曰生產。三曰歷註，四曰屋宅，五曰祿命，六曰拜官，七 曰祠祭，八曰發病，九曰殯葬. See Li Linfu 李林甫, Tang liudian 唐六典, “Taichang si (太常寺),” 14.411–414.

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passage of The Six Statutes of the Tang Dynasty quoted above, in principle, imperial diviners should have been working for each legitimate method of divination for the Administration of Grand Divination (Taibu shu 太卜署), a central government department that oversaw all mantic issues.15 According to this document and other historical records, tortoiseshell divination always comes before Yijing divination and seems to have been more valued.16 Emperor Taizong himself favored tortoiseshell divination and consulted tortoiseshell diviners even before causing the famous rebellion in which he killed his brother and gained the throne.17 Yet, this tortoiseshell method was not completely independent of the divination framework of the Yijing at all. The Six Statutes of the Tang Dynasty records this technique as examining the cracks on burnt tortoiseshell, according to the cosmology of the Five Phases (wuxing 五行) and Yijing hexagrams. In a famous mid-Tang manual on military divination and prediction, called The Grand White Yin Canon of Subjugating the Enemy with Miraculous Mechanism (Shenji zhidi taibai yin jing 神機制敵太白 陰經), preserved at the imperial court, the author used the Chart of the Yellow River and the Writing of the Luo River (Hetu Luoshu 河圖洛書) numerology— a numerology system derived from early Yijing exegesis—to explain particular cracks on a burnt tortoiseshell for the purpose of prognostication.18 Therefore, this most valued method of divination at the Tang court was still operated and interpreted within the framework of the Yijing. The Yijing was also used at court to explain natural phenomena and disasters as a result of the resonances between heaven and the ruler. Regarding the flooding of the Luo River in the year 705, for example, the Right Rider Guard Commander ( youwei qicao 右衛騎曹), Song Wuguang 宋務光, suggested to Emperor Zhongzong (656–710) that this must have been caused by an imbalance in the Five Phases within the Tang sovereign as a sign from heaven warning the ruler of the corruption of his governance, and that this was, according to the Yanjing, an “… image handed down from heaven to show the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness [of the situation]” (tian chuixiang, jian jixiong 天垂 象, 見吉凶).19 Song argued that the emperor’s lack of diligence in making sacrifice to his male ancestors and the excessive power of Empress Wei’s family in the government must have caused this natural disaster. He quoted the Yijing

15 16 17 18 19

See ibid. See Tang liudian, 14.411, and Jiu Tang shu, 44.1876–1877. See Jiu Tang shu, 68.2506. See Li Quan 李筌, Shenji zhidi taibai yin jing 神機制敵太白陰經, 10.301–303. See Jiu Tang shu, 37.1353–1354.

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three times to convince the emperor that natural phenomena are responses to the ruler’s own virtue and ways of ruling. In general, Yijing divination and the cosmological framework represented in this text were based on different mantic practices at the Tang court and regarded as a convincing cosmology to explain the relationship between human affairs and the cosmos. Records of and about the Tang imperial court fail to provide any details about how Yijing divination was practiced on different occasions, but we have seen that, on an official level, the Yijing was recognized as one of the most authoritative divination methods and an important reference to explain political matters cosmologically. This coincided with the re-establishment of the Yijing as a philosophical text and a Confucian classic. The different voices regarding what the Yijing was and how to use it at the Tang imperial court means that there had never been a unanimous definition of the nature of this book. Moreover, beyond this narrative of Yijing divination philosophy at the Tang imperial court, the next questions that arise are how it was practiced and understood in people’s daily life during this period, and who practiced this technique.

2

Yijing Divination in Practice

Unfortunately, completely reconstructing the social landscape of the practice of Yijing divination in people’s daily life during the Tang period is difficult due to the scarcity of written material on the lives of people from other social stations apart from the top. Nonetheless, in the historical texts which mainly recorded the lives of Tang officials, literati and aristocrats, there is sufficient content on the practice of Yijing divination to provide us with a keyhole for understanding the social mechanism of this mantic technique. In both the official histories and anecdotal writings, the efficacy of Yijing divination in predicting daily life events became a significant theme. Stories of effective Yijing diviners’ liaisons with both the local communities and the central government in Tang society demonstrate the popularity of this technique and the complex social network surrounding it. They also display an aspect of the Yijing that contrasts with the imperial court’s construction of it as moral philosophy. Among the literati and local elites, the book, as a manual on divination, was more relevant to their daily life. Although the earlier Yijing commentator, Wang Bi, himself tried to sweep away the understanding of the book as a divination manual in his interpretation, Wang’s idea of treating the hexagrams as representations of real life “situations” rather than simple numerological images and symbols tallies with the Tang divinatory application of the Yijing. Wang Bi emphasized

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that the situations and changes manifested in the hexagram system are linked to real life experiences, flexible, and experiential.20 The divinatory use of the Yijing also regards hexagrams as situational manifestations rather than fixed images of meanings, thereby linking Yijing numerology to everyday life experiences. It may have been common to witness diviners selling their mantic technique on the street during the Tang dynasty, since there exist many stories about how they successfully amazed their customers with their accurate predictions. The story of a mid-Tang fortune-teller, Qian “Knowing the Subtle”21 (Qian Zhiwei 錢 知微), reveals several details about this business: At the end of the Tianbao period (742–756), the diviner (shushi 術士), Qian Knowing the Subtle, arrived in Luoyang city one day. He then placed a banner on the pillar of Tianjin Bridge and [started to] sell [his Yijing] divination. One gua was worth ten bolts of fabric. After a long wait, no one had consulted him [for divination].22 One day, a young nobleman, assuming that Qian must be exceptional, asked [his servants] to take the exact amount of fabric for divination. Qian arranged the yarrow stalks, completed locating the hexagrams, then said: “My hexagram divination can predict the entirety [of a person]. Why do you [just want to] make fun of me?” The young man replied: “What [I want you to] predict is rather important. Why did you, sir, misunderstand [me]?” Qian said: “Please [listen to my] poem: ‘Two ends [of it] touch the earth, and [its] center is vacant and hanging. People step [on it] with their feet, and [it] will not come down to Qian.’”23 The young man’s true intension was to swindle him by selling him this Tianjin Bridge. [Qian’s technique] was as efficacious as such.24

20 21 22 23 24

See Tze-ki Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics: Wang Bi’s Political Philosophy in the Zhouyi zhu.” This is what the name Zhiwei means, so it may have been an alias to demonstrate the accuracy of his technique. Because of the high price. This Qian refers to the fortune-teller himself. Qian described the appearance of a bridge in his poem. The original statement reads: 天寶末，術士錢知微，嘗至洛，遂榜天津橋表柱賣 卜，一卦帛十疋。歷旬，人皆不詣之。一日，有貴公子意其必異，命取帛如 數卜焉。錢命蓍布卦成，曰：予筮可期一生，君何戲焉？ 其人曰：卜事甚 切，先生豈誤乎？ 錢云：請為韻語：兩頭點土，中心虛懸。人足踏跋，不肯 下錢。 其人本意賣天津橋紿之。其精如此. See Duan Chengshi 段成式, Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎, 5.48.

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This story shows how a fortune-teller’s miraculous technique exposed a young nobleman’s prank. The fact that the fortune-teller, Qian, travelled around selling his techniques during the Tianbao period (742–756), and could request fabric as payment for his divination, indicates that it was not unusual to receive payment in exchange for conducting Yijing divination, and that is payment was charged per hexagram that the fortune-teller provided. Qian used yarrow stalks (shi 蓍) to calculate the hexagrams and offered the predictions without asking his customer any specific questions, and this detail is vital to Qian’s detection of the young nobleman’s lie. Qian’s interpretation of the hexagram was flexible and situational in this case, pointing directly to the status quo he was facing at that moment. What shocked the young man was that Qian did not need to ask what his customer’s question was in order to provide an answer. This shows how informative Yijing hexagrams could be for a fortuneteller when reading different situations. The rich information that a hexagram could reveal meant that people like Qian Knowing the Subtle could dismantle the immediate doubts of his customers and reinforce his reputation. Sometimes, Yijing diviners were even famous for their specialty of telling a particular type of fortune, and the way they did so appeared to be the same: During the Xiantian period (712–713) of the Tang dynasty, Du Sheng of Xu prefecture was skilled at [Yijing] yarrow stalk divination. [Whatever he] said about lost [property] and [future] salary and official posts was all as accurate as a deity. A person who had lost a slave visited Du and asked him about this. Du said: “You just look for a post road and go back [via that road]. You’ll encounter a postman on this road with a nice whip. You must kneel down and kowtow in order to beg for it. If he doesn’t [want to] give you [the whip], you must explain your situation and tell him that Mr. Du [also] asked for it. You’ll definitely get it by doing so.” [The person did] what Du said and encountered a postman, as expected. He told [the postman] what Du had said and begged for the whip. The postman was startled by this, and exclaimed: “There’s nothing valuable about my whip, but [if I give it to you], I won’t have anything with which to whip my horse. You can go to the left side of the road and break a branch [off a tree] for me to replace [my whip]. Then I’ll give you my whip.” [The person] quickly went and broke off a branch, and saw his lost slave, creeping about under the tree. [The person] captured the slave and asked [him] about the reason [why he was doing this]. The slave replied: “As I was running along the road, I saw you from far off and, because of this, I just hid [myself] here.”

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…. [Du] made a lot of accurate predictions about people’s [future] official posts and salaries.25 The text proceeds to relate how Du Sheng helped other people to find their lost slaves using Yijing divination. Du’s predictions, based on the hexagrams, were highly specific and related to the immediate situation of his client’s question. Du Sheng’s speciality in this field made him famous in the local area. No details are provided regarding how he practiced his divination but the text states that the information was highly precise. We can imagine that Du must have been well connected with the local rich families because of his technique and that impoverished families would not have owned slaves. The fact that he was good at foretelling people’s lu 祿 (the salary that officials received from the government) and prospects in their official post tells us a lot about what kind of customers Du served in general. Other stories clearly show how Yijing diviners made connections with the elites during the Tang period, and how these diviners became reliable consultants and friends to their official, local elite customers. A well-known blind Yijing diviner called “The Gentleman of the Gourd” (Hulu sheng 胡蘆生) was famous for his technique of predicting people’s political career by “counting the milfoil stalks to give form to the hexagrams” (dieshi chenggua 揲蓍成卦). Students seeking success in the Imperial Examination, high ministers at court, and famous generals all visited Hulu Sheng for divination.26 He even successfully disproved a fortune-teller’s prediction of the death of an unlucky scholar and told this scholar that, within seven days, he would make a good marriage and be promoted.27 The scholar did not believe Hulu sheng’s radical prediction until, seven days later, everything that he had predicted came true, and the scholar rewarded Hulu Sheng with generous gifts. Hulu sheng even became the regular consultant of Ministry Councillor ( yuanwai 員外), Dou Tingzhi’s 竇庭 芝, family.28 Dou treated Hulu Sheng with respect ( jingshi 敬事) and regularly

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The original statement reads: 唐先天中，許州杜生善卜筮，言走失官祿，皆驗如 神。有亡奴者，造杜問之，生曰：汝但尋驛路歸，道逢驛使有好鞭者，叩頭 乞之，彼若不與，以情告云，杜生教乞，如是必得。如其言，果遇驛使，以 杜生語告乞鞭。其使異之曰：鞭吾不惜，然無以撾馬，汝可道左折一枝見代， 予與汝鞭。遂往折之，乃見亡奴伏於樹下，擒之。問其故，奴曰：適循道走， 遙見郎，故潛於斯 … 言人祿位中者至多. See Li Fang 李昉 et al., Taiping guangji 太 平廣記, 77.147. See Taiping guangji, “Hulu sheng,” 77.150. Ibid. See Kang Pian 康駢, Jutan lu 劇談錄, 1.26–30.

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visited to him for divination, and Hulu Sheng once even saved Dou’s whole family from a severe political conspiracy at court. Hulu Sheng’s stories show how deeply Yijing divination was involved in the lives of the Tang elites and politicians, and also reveal the high social positions of certain Yijing diviners within Tang society. The Tang literati and elites’ interest in Yijing divination, and even dependence on the diviners, meant that divination became an indispensable aspect of their daily life and that consulting diviners for predictions of their political career was not an uncommon practice at that time. The officials and literati sometimes even practiced Yijing divination themselves: During the Tianfu period (901–904) of the Tang, Zhang Daogu from Putai county of Cang prefecture29 was elected as the Tribute Scholar and bestowed [the title of] Left Advisor. He was knowledgeable, a maverick and a nonconformist. He was demoted to an assistant post because he presented his Memorial of the Five Dangers and Two Disorders [to the emperor], then he went to Shu. Previously, in the Explanation of the Two Disorders that he presented, it was stated: “Nowadays [figures like] Liu Bei and Sun Quan have already come to this world.” [Zhang] was afraid of what [Liu Bei] the emperor of Shu regretted [would happen again],30 that one had no way to settle down [in a dangerous and chaotic time]. Since the beginning [of his career], [Zhang] had sincerely considered the imperial court’s summon for the recruitment of officials [but] was edged out by [other members of] the court advisory board, and [Zhang] despised [receiving] an official’s salary. In the end, [he] died in a violent manner. [He] used to practice yarrow stalks divination himself, and encountered an inauspicious hexagram. [He] made a cave in advance and wrote an inscription: The Tomb of Zhang Daogu, the Left Advisor of Tang. Later, he was killed and buried as [he] anticipated … [Zhang] wrote a book called Topics on Yijing, which circulates in the world.31

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Now Xinyang city in Shandong province. Here Zhang was actually comparing the life story of famous Shu Emperor Liu Bei 劉備 during the Three Kingdom period to himself, indicating that he might suffer from what Liu Bei had suffered. The original statement reads: 唐天復中，張道古，滄州蒲臺縣人，擢進士第，拜 左補闕，文學甚富，介僻不群。因上《五危二亂表》左授施掾，爾後入蜀。 先是，所陳《二亂疏》云：只今劉備、孫權，已生於世矣。懼為蜀主所憾， 無路棲託。洎逢開創，誠思徵召，為幕僚排擯，卒不齒錄，竟罹非命也。嘗 自筮，遇凶卦，預造一穴，題表云：唐左補闕張道古墓，後果遇害而瘞之 …

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It is a tragic story of how a scholar and official accurately predicted his own miserable death by practicing Yijing divination. Zhang Daogu also wrote his own work on the Yijing, indicating that he was expert at interpreting this classic. Yijing exegesis was already part of the Tribute Scholar Examination ( jinshi ke 進士科) during the Tang dynasty and, as Zhang passed this examination successfully, it is unsurprising that he was capable of understanding and commenting on the Yijing.32 Yet Zhang was also capable of practicing Yijing divination, which certainly did not form part of the examination syllabus. We are not informed about where Zhang learned his technique, but at least we can see that practising Yijing divination was of interest to the officials and literati themselves. The famous mid-Tang official and poet, Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫 (772–842), wrote a piece in prose about his experience of practicing Yijing divination, called “Discriminations on the Changes” (“Bian Yi” 辯易).33 In this essay, he introduced a way of using one’s own hand and five fingers as yarrow stalks to calculate hexagrams. This essay does not tackle the issue of the philosophy of the Yijing at all, but only deals with the technical problems associated with numerology and divination. In a letter that his contemporary official and literatus, Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元 (773–819), sent to Liu Yuxi, discussing the true meanings of the hexagrams in the Yijing, Zongyuan defended Liu Yuxi’s divinatory understanding of the Yijing and criticized those who attacked his interpretation as less philosophical and ignorant of the metaphysical aspect of the classic.34 In Liu Zongyuan’s defense, the Yijing’s divination technique is an indispensable component of its philosophy; he believed that, initially, the sage developed the Yijing’s philosophy based on his practice of divination and found the subtle principle of this technique. Those who denied the technicality of the Yijing were simply ignorant of the wisdom of this classic. The Dunhuang manuscripts also provide us with more information about how people practised Yijing divination during the Tang period. Marc Kalinowski points out that the Dunhuang mantic manuscripts reflect a strong “do-it-yourself” culture, meaning that the local officials and literati wrote and circulated these mantic manuscripts as guidance for their own daily use of

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著書號《易題》數卷，行於世. See Sun Guangxian 孫光憲, Beimeng suoyan 北夢瑣 言, 5.42. For imperial examination syllabus, see Du You 杜佑, Tongdian 通典, 15.141. See Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫, “Bian Yi” 辯易, in Liu Mengde wenji 劉夢得文集, 13.78–80. See Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元, “Yu Liu Yuxi lun Zhouyi jiuliu shu” 與劉禹錫論周易九六書, in Liu Zongyuan ji 柳宗元集, 31.813–814.

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divination.35 One Yijing divination text, the Three Prerequisites of the Changes (Yi sanbei 易三備), combined Yijing divination with geomancy ( fengshui 風 水) and the author applied Yijing numerology to examine the auspiciousness of a person’s residential space and the fortune that such a space entails.36 Huang Zhengjian points out that this text inherits the numerology system of Jing Fang 京 房 (77–37bce), the famous Western Han Yijing scholar, and a further thirty different types of numerology divination, discovered in Dunhuang manuscripts, adopt this particular Yijing system as their main theoretical framework. There are four extant copies of the Three Prerequisites text, and the content is extremely practical and concise. There is no discussion of the philosophy of Yijing, and the calculation of hexagrams is directly related to specific predictions of the auspiciousness of a house or tomb: Dun ䷠ with Gen ☶ underneath and Qian ☰ above. The Qian family changed twice. Dun is the hexagram of the sixth month. The generational line is on the second [line from the top], and the responsive line is on the fifth [line from the top]. [If] the worldly line is settled, then [one] digs into the ground for three chi, and will get peat-like soil. [If] the worldly line moves, then [one] digs into the ground for nine chi, and will get brick-like stones. If [someone] is buried in this place, [it is] terribly inauspicious.37 This technique apparently adopted the Jing Fang system for hexagram calculation. The “generational and responsive line” (shiying yao 世應爻) system is a method for interpreting the different lines in a hexagram according to their correspondences with the Five Phases (wuxing 五行) to locate answers to divination questions in a received hexagram. The locations of these two lines vary in different hexagrams. This technique is often attributed to Jing Fang because it was based on his new calculation system, recorded in Jing’s Commentary on the Changes ( Jingshi yizhuan 京氏易傳).38 Each generational line (shiyao 世爻) is considered dominant and central in each hexagram and provides the primary 35 36

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Marc Kalinowski, “Mantic Texts in Their Cultural Context.” For transcripts of different copies of this text, see Zhang Zhiqing 張志清 and Lin Shitian 林世田, “S.6349 yu P.4924 Yi sanbei xuejuan chuohe zhengli yanjiu” S.6349 與 P.4924《易 三備》寫卷綴合整理研究, and their “S.6015 Yi sanbei chuohe yu jiaolu: Dunhuang ben Yi sanbei yanjiu zhiyi” S.6015《易三備》綴合與校錄: 敦煌本《易三備》研究之一. The original statement reads: 遁艮下乾上。乾家二變。遁，六月卦。世在二，應 在五。世爻定，穿地深三尺，得炭土。世爻動，穿地深九尺，得磚石。葬得 此地，大凶. See Zhang and Lin, “S. 6349 yu P. 4924 Yi sanbei xuejuan chuohe zhengli yanjiu,” 50. See Zhang Wenbo 張文波, “Jing Fang bagong Yixue weitan” 京房八宮易學微探, 13–16.

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answer to different questions in divination, while the responsive line ( yingyao 應爻) provides specific information that helps to explain the generational line. Here, in the Three Prerequisites, the meanings of the generational lines of each hexagram received in the divination process are limited to the geomantic features of a place. Different results in a generational line indicate the different geological situations of a selected piece of land, which features are interpreted in light of geomancy. The details about how the connections between Yijing divination, qualities of land and geomancy were established are not recorded in the main text since these texts served as a quick, handy guide to the practice of divination. Some of the Dunhuang manuals also contain divination methods that involve the use of Yijing hexagrams to inspect natural phenomena for mantic purposes, and this method is generally known as “meteoromancy” (zhanhou 占 候). Originally, Jing Fang’s new Yijing numerology in the Western Han dynasty was deeply-rooted in the idea that natural phenomena and human affairs are in constant mutual resonance with each other and that, by numerologically examining natural phenomena, one can precisely foresee the future military and political affairs of a nation.39 Inspecting natural phenomena in order to predict climate change, natural disasters, political and social upheaval, and so on, had been an important mission for the imperial court since early China, and this tradition continued until the late Qing period.40 Some early Yijing divination masters were believed to be well-versed in meteoromancy as well. The Eastern Han dynasty (25–220) scholar, Lang Yi 郎顗, studied Jing Fang’s Yijing theories in-depth, was also skilled at astrology and meteoromancy, and could tell fortunes by inspecting the weather and qi in the sky.41 In the early Tang collection of divination and astrology books, the Kaiyuan Canon of Divination (Kaiyuan zhanjing 開元占經), numerous items apply Jing Fang’s theories and other Yijing divination systems for the mantic observation of natural phenomena. One chapter is dedicated to thunder and lightning divination, using Jing Fang’s Yijing exegesis to explain how these phenomena can tell the fortune of a nation and the future of a ruler.42 The Dunhuang manuscripts also contain similar techniques, that use hexagrams to examine different sounds from different directions in order to predict the future.43

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See Zhang Shuhao 張書豪, “Jing Fang Yi zaiyi lilun tanwei” 京房《易》災異理論探微. See Huang Yinong, “The Evolution and Decline of the Ancient Chinese Practice of Watching for the Ethers.” See Fan Ye 范曄, Hou Han shu 後漢書, “Lang Yi zhuan” 郎顗傳, 30.1053. See Qutan Xida 瞿曇悉達, Kaiyuan zhanjing 開元占經, 102.1–7. See manuscript P.2610 Bushi shu 卜 筮 書 in Bibliothèque nationale de France (http://​

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The Yijing model dominates many of the different divination methods recorded in the Dunhuang manuscripts, and a number of the techniques were considered variations of Yijing divination.44 We can see that Yijing divination during the Tang dynasty was socialized in certain communities and discourses, being regarded as a common framework for various kinds of divination techniques. Despite the imperial court’s effort to establish the Yijing as a philosophical classic and cosmology manual for state affairs, officials, literati, and common diviners focused on the Yijing’s function of predicting daily life matters and manifesting changes in real life situations. It is perhaps not too irrational to assume that the imperial court’s interpretations of the Yijing hardly affected ordinary people’s daily use of the book. This strong interest in the Yijing’s divinatory elements was shared by people from different social strata during the Tang period. The divinatory aspect of the Yijing was not completely limited to the intellectual discourse of this book.

3

Yijing and Religion during the Tang Dynasty

The cosmology of Yijing was not only related to divination but also featured in different kinds of religious and technical practices as a form of cosmological guidance. Religious Daoism had a long tradition of using the book as an important, fundamental “code” for explaining Daoist cultivation, rituals, and other types of techniques. This means that the Yijing was not only understood as a philosophy or divination manual, but also as an open and “convergent” cosmology. This is not to suggest, however, that the multiple interpretations and “practices” of the Yijing in this Tang context were in any sense “syncretic.” Religious syncretism, used to describe the fusion of originally heterogeneous religious traditions in the modern scholarship, entails a dichotomy between an initially “pure,” exclusive religion and its syncretic transformation into something “adulterated” by other religious elements.45 In this sense, syncretic traditions are often received as a “betrayal” of the original. Yet Liu Zhiqing points out that, during the Tang dynasty, the Yijing was never regarded as an ancient

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idp.bl.uk/database/oo_scroll_h.a4d?uid=‑‑204015174113;recnum=59746;index=5, accessed January 18, 2018). Also see Wang Jingbo 王晶波, Dunhuang zhanbu wenxian yu shehui shenghuo 敦煌占卜文獻與社會生活, 147–194. For example, see Marc Kalinowski, “Hémérologie.” See Kurt Rudolph, “Synkretismus: Vom theologischen Scheltwort zum religionswissenschaftlichen Begriff.”

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“pure” tradition at all.46 Rather, the book was seen as an all-encompassing, flexible system of cosmological symbols, with its different interpretations. The Tang dynasty was a “golden age” for religion, a society where both foreign and domestic faiths were welcomed, and powerful religions like Buddhism and Daoism experienced unprecedented transformation and systematization.47 Religious Daoism was established as the only imperial religion and favored and fostered by the Tang imperial court through the specific political agenda of using Daoism to maintain the prestige of the Li family.48 Isabelle Robinet points out that, for Daoism, the Tang dynasty was a time of consolidation and enrichment.49 Various new elements of popular religion and Buddhism were absorbed into the Daoist cosmology, religious rituals, and cultivation techniques. It is well known that, since the beginning of Daoism, the Daoist religious rituals and cosmogony were developed based on a technical as well as a cosmological understanding of Yijing numerology and philosophy.50 This is an understanding of the Yijing that takes the text as a description of the actual process of cosmogony and technical guidance to achieve the Daoist ideal: becoming a celestial being (xian 仙) released from suffering in this world. An early lyrical text, attributed to the legendary Eastern Han Daoist External Alchemy (waidan 外丹) master, Wei Boyang 魏伯陽, The Seal of the Unity of the Three in Agreement with the Book of Change (Zhouyi cantong qi 周易參同契), explains the cosmology of the Yijing as a subtle depiction of the mechanism and techniques of Daoist Alchemy, a method for producing elixirs of long life (dan 丹).51 During the Tang dynasty, the Daoist bodily techniques and cultivation methods started to be textualized and systematically developed. The Daoist techniques began to focus more on cultivating the human body rather than producing elixirs out of metal and stones, and Inner Alchemy (neidan 內丹) emerged as an autonomous, influential technique during the Tang period.52 One of the most authoritative Inner Alchemy texts, the Anthology of the Transmission of the Way from Zhongli to Lü (Zhong-Lü chuandao ji 鍾呂傳道集), is associated 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

See Liu Zhiqing 劉芝慶, Jingshi yu anshen: Zhongguo jinshi sixiang shi lunheng 經世與 安身：中國近世思想史論衡, 27–37. See Paul Copp, “Chinese Religion in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.” See Timothy H. Barrett, Taoism under the T’ang: Religion and Empire during the Golden Age of Chinese History, 11–45. Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, 190–195. See Michael R. Saso, Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal, 45–59. See the “Introduction” in Fabrizio Pregadio, The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir, 53–58. See Shen Wenhua 沈文華, Neidan shengming zhexue yanjiu 內丹生命哲學研究, 17–18.

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with the famous Tang Inner Alchemy master, Lü Dongbin 呂洞賓, the earliest version of which was perhaps produced during the mid-Tang period.53 In this question-and-answer format text, the master, Zhongli Quan 鍾離權, taught his disciple, Lü, the true path of becoming a celestial being, xian, via Inner Alchemy practice, and Yijing cosmology is the core theory of this technique: Zhong said: “The Way of heaven takes [the trigram] Qian ☰ as [its] essence, and Yang as [its] function, [with] the accumulation of qi above. The Way of the earth takes [the trigram] Kun ☷ as its body, and Yin as its function, with the accumulation of water beneath. Heaven takes [this] as its way, because Qian seeks Kun. When it seeks for the first time, it makes the First Son, and the First Son is called Zhen ☳. When it seeks for the second time, it makes the Second Son, and the Second Son is called Kan ☵. When it seeks for the third time, it makes the Third Son, and the Third Son is called Gen ☶. This is [how] heaven [actively] meets the earth, through which the Way of Qian seeks the Way of Kun and [therefore] three Yangs [trigrams] are born.”54 Here, the text explains the process of the changes, represented by the fundamental eight trigrams (bagua 八卦) in the Yijing, in terms of the exchange in energy. Zhong is responding here to Lü’s question about where one should start to cultivate the body. The text proceeds to illustrate the energetic exchanges between Qian and Kun and how they were transformed into different trigrams. Then, the text equates Qian with the “fire of the heart” (xinhuo 心火) in the human body, Kun with the “water of the kidneys” (shenshui 腎 水), and the mechanism of the changes between the two trigrams with the mechanism of the energetic exchange between the two types of organ in the human body. The Book of Change itself was not seen as an exclusive or pure “Classicist” (ru 儒) canon but as a cosmological manual that explained everything in the universe, including the human body. Similar ways of interpreting the Yijing in terms of bodily cultivation are also observed in another Tang Inner Alchemy text, the Record of the Immortals of the

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Gao Liyang 高麗楊, “Zhong Lü chuandao ji yu Xishan qunxian huizhen ji banben kaoshu” 鍾呂傳道集與西山群仙會真記版本考述. The original statement reads: 鍾曰：天道以乾為體，陽為用，積氣在上；地道以 坤為體，陰為用，積水在下。天以行道，以乾索於坤。一索之而為長男，長 男曰震。再索之而為中男，中男曰坎。三索之而為少男，少男曰艮。是此天 交於地，以乾道索坤道而生三陽. See Lü Dongbin 呂洞賓 and Zhongli Quan 鍾離 權, Zhong Lü chuandao ji 鍾呂傳道集, “Lun tiandi disan” 論天地第三, 658.

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Huizhen [Hall] on the Western Mountains (Xishan qunxian huizhen ji 西山群仙 會真記), attributed to a Tang author, Shi Jianwu 施肩吾.55 This text is mainly a collection of different commentaries and further illustrates the texts from a Zhong-Lü Inner Alchemy tradition, offering far more details about various Inner Alchemy processes and how they can transform the human body, which is seen as a “inner laboratory” of alchemy.56 Again, this text explains the Yijing as a guide to Inner Alchemy and uses the cosmological system in this classic to explain the mechanism of the human body. All of the changes and rules in the Yijing are seen as a description of the process of energy and physical/material transformation in both Inner and External Alchemy. The Tang dynasty was a transitional period, during which the Daoist alchemical techniques started to alter the focus from the External Alchemy system to the Inner one, and External Alchemy terminology, used to describe the transformations of real metal and stones during the production of elixirs, was first absorbed into the Daoist bodily techniques.57 The alchemical interpretation of the Yijing, initiated by The Seal of the Unity of the Three, gradually became a bodily interpretation during the Tang dynasty. These new interpretations of alchemy and the Yijing inspired later Song dynasty practitioners and provided them with an existing, sophisticated body technique for further development.58 Similar views emerged within the medical culture of the Tang dynasty as well. The famous early Tang physician, Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (581–682), claimed that no-one could be called a “great physician” (dayi 大 醫) without mastering fortune-telling and Yijing cosmology and divination.59 Sun himself was a well-known physician but also a Daoist practitioner; his medical theories contain strong Daoist influences.60 In the mid-Tang prescription book, Arcane Essentials from the External Terrace (Waitai miyao 外臺秘要), the author Wang Tao 王燾 (670–755) occasionally used sentences from the Yijing to explain the energy imbalance behind certain symptoms.61 Given the extant sources on the Tang medical culture, it is difficult to determine the extent to which the Yijing

55 56 57 58 59 60 61

It is not certain whether this Shi Jianwu and the mid-Tang poet Shi Jianwu (780–861) are the same person or not. For example, see Shi Jianwu 施肩吾, Xishan qunxian huizhen ji 西山群仙會真記, 4.434. See Fabrizio Pregadio and Lowell Skar, “Inner Alchemy (Neidan),” 467. See Louis Komjathy, Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-transformation in Early Quanzhen Daoism (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 174–215. See Sun Simiao 孫思邈, Beiji qianjin yaofang 備急千金要方, “Lun dayi xiye 論大醫習 業,” 1.1. See Ute Engelhardt, “Qi for Life: Longevity in the Tang.” See Wang Tao 王燾, Waitai miyao 外臺秘要, 11.317.

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system was adopted in materia medica at that time, but we can at least see that the connection between the Yijing and medical practices already existed. This also suggests that, as with the use of the book in the field of Inner Alchemy, Sun’s understanding of it implies that the numerology of the Yijing was initially a cosmological system that could be used to explain everything, including medicine and human physiology. Buddhism also experienced its peak of development and transformation in Tang China. The arrival of Indian Tantric Buddhism (mijiao 密教) during the Tang dynasty, the rise of Chan Buddhism (chanzong 禪宗), the emergence of Pure Land Buddhism ( jingtu zong 淨土宗) and the constant translation of Sanskrit scriptures into Chinese made the Tang dynasty one of the most complex and creative stages for Chinese Buddhism.62 Richard Smith discovered that certain Chan Buddhist monks, during the Tang dynasty, already adopted the Yijing cosmology to explain the Buddhist dharma.63 He found that thoughts and symbols from the Yijing were often used in poems written by “enlightened” monks from the Caodong sect (Caodong zong 曹洞宗) during the Tang period. Chen Rongbo believes that a tradition of using indigenous Chinese thought to explain Buddhist philosophy and cosmology had existed since the early stage of Chinese Buddhism, and that the adoption of the Yijing to explain Chan Buddhist thought during the Tang dynasty shows a structural fusion between Buddhism and Chinese thought. However, this fusion still regarded Buddhist teachings and doctrine as the superior, axiomatic “truth,” whereby the nature of the Yijing can be explained.64 This means that, although these adoptions of the Yijing cosmology and thought in Chan Buddhism, as reflected in the texts, are highly technical and innovative in nature, their core agenda is to demonstrate the adaptability and universality of the Buddhist dharma with regard to all kinds of knowledge and theories. In other words, the aim is to show that Buddhist truths could explain everything. Similar endeavors may also be observed in the exegesis of the Flower Garland Sūtra (Huayan jing 華嚴經) by the early Tang Buddhist scholar, Li Tongxuan’s 李通玄 (735–730), where he uses the philosophy and cosmology of the Yijing to explain the miraculous realm of the Buddha and the Bodhisattva’s path to Buddhahood. He interpreted a section of a chapter of the Flower Garland Sūtra, “Sudhanakumāra’s Fifty-three Visits” (“Shancai tongzi wushi sancan” 善

62 63 64

See Erik Zürcher, “Buddhism in China.” For a more detailed description of the history of Buddhism during the Tang dynasty, see Stanley Weinstein, Buddhism under the T’ang. See Richard Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 109–111. See Chen Rongbo 陳榮波, “Yijing Li gua yu Caodong Chan” 易經離卦與曹洞禪.

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財童子五十三參), according to the philosophy of the Yijing.65 In this section,

the talented Bodhisattva Sudhanakumāra was instructed by his teacher, Mañjuśrī (Wenshu 文殊), to visit fifty-five Buddhist masters to seek true wisdom. Li adopted both the sūtra and the Yijing as similar technical guides regarding religious cultivation: In the section, where [Sudhanakumāra] was given directions to where the good, wise masters live, why did [Mañjuśrī] ask him to go to the south? This is because [the sūtra] explicitly uses directions to express dharma since the south is just the [trigram] Li ☲ and [thus] illumination. This is because Li is empty in the middle, and since it is empty in the middle, Li is illumination and [thus] the sun and the nine [levels of] heaven. In the human body, [it] is the head, eyes and heart. [If] the heart becomes empty then, without wisdom, [it will be like] the sun lighting by itself. Therefore [the sūtra] uses the image [of the south] to express its way.66 Li believed that the Flower Garland Sūtra worked just like the Yijing; they both use certain metaphors to express the technical and cosmological information required for religious cultivation. Beyond their similar literary device, their content are even identical according to Li. His series of exegeses of the Flower Garland Sūtra reveals his deep belief that Buddha’s teachings and the Yijing are not only translatable into each other but also essentially say the same thing.67 Here, Li stressed the “sameness” between the traditional Chinese cosmology that the Yijing represented and the Buddhist cosmology, both of which explain the truth of the cosmos in different languages and manners. If both were seen as innately homogeneous to each other, then the Buddhist interpretation of the Yijing can hardly be called “syncretic,” since the two are not alienated and “blended” together syncretically as opposing traditions, but are assimilated into one as homogeneous cosmologies. Tang Tantric Buddhism also include elements of the Yijing cosmology in this manner. The manual, Fantian huoluo jiuyao 梵天火羅九曜 (Brahmadeva Hora Navagraha), is an astrology text, attributed to the Tang Tantric master Yixing 一 65 66

67

For the Chinese translation of this chapter, see Dafang guang fo huayan jing 大方廣佛華 嚴經, T.279, 372–378. The original statement reads: 一示善知識所居方面者，何故令往南方。以明託 方隅而表法，以南為正，為離為明。以離中虛，以中虛故，離為明為日， 為九天。在身為頭為目為心，心達虛無智日自明，故取之象表其道也. See Li Tongxuan 李通玄, Xin huayan jinglun 新華嚴經論, T.1739, 34.54. See Wei Daoru 魏道儒, “Li Tongxuan Huayan xue de hexin neirong jiqi lishi diwei” 李通 玄華嚴學的核心內容及其歷史地位.

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行 (683–727), which contains various rituals for offering sacrifices to star deities in return for blessings and good luck. In this text, the author claims that the methods for offering sacrifices recorded here were based on Yixing’s lectures, yet the authorship of this text remains problematic, since it is possible that it was composed during the late Tang period.68 This text lists several powerful star deities based on the timing of their appearance during the different seasons of the year. The correspondence between the stars and the seasons is marked by the Yijing trigrams.69 The putative author, Yixing, himself was famed for his knowledge of Chinese cosmology and esoteric techniques, such as fortunetelling, and displayed an exceptional talent for understanding of Yijing at a very young age.70 Later in life, Yixing became famous for improving the old Chinese calendar, based on his own interpretation of the Yijing. Given the limited materials about Tang Tantric Buddhism and the other sects and schools, it is difficult to tell to what extent the Yijing became an important element in Buddhist practices, but we can assume that the convergence of the Yijing with the Buddhist teachings had already begun during the Tang period, which resulted in the systematic syncretization of Daoism, the Yijing cosmology, and Buddhism during the Song dynasty. In most of the religious and technical applications of the Yijing during the Tang period, as represented in the texts, this classic text was believed to be able to explain highly technical knowledge in various fields, including body cultivation, religious rituals and practices, and even medicine. Its cosmology and philosophy were seen as practical and “operational,” meaning that its thought could be directly put to practical use. The abstract concepts and symbols in the Yijing were always related to concrete, specific processes and techniques in the Daoist, Buddhist and medical texts. The practical understanding of the Yijing during the Tang dynasty is reflected in these religious and technical applications of the text. The Yijing was received as a flexible, open tool for explaining various kinds of beliefs, cosmologies, and techniques during the Tang period.

4

Conclusion

The philosophical understanding of the Yijing became more practical and cosmological within the Tang dynasty intellectual discourse. Beyond the theoretical and philosophical interests in the Yijing, this classical text was understood 68 69 70

See Jeffrey Kotyk, “Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty,” 200. See Fantian huoluo jiuyao 梵天火羅九曜, T.1311, 459. See Jiu Tang shu, 191.5111.

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to be a manual on divination and cosmology. The imperial court sought to establish an official philosophical interpretation of the text but, at the same time, maintained a strong interest in, supported Yijing divination, making it one of the few legitimate divination techniques, and even institutionalized its practice at court. Other divination and esoteric techniques also adopted the numerology and cosmology of the Yijing as their main framework. It was used as an important tool to explain not only the fortunes of different individuals, but also state affairs and natural phenomena. Yijing divination also attracted the attention of the Tang literati and elites. Many Yijing divination specialist sold their techniques in public during the Tang dynasty, making connections with powerful figures and families. Officials even entrusted their political career and the fate of their whole family to diviners’ miraculous techniques. Certain officials, themselves, practiced sophisticated Yijing divination techniques as well. Famous scholars, like Liu Zongyuan, even criticized other literati, who regarded the Yijing purely as philosophical rather than divinatory, which shows how their ideas about the book might differ from the court’s endeavor to construct it as a philosophical as well as moral text. In the Dunhuang manuscripts, the divinatory system of the Yijing is related to various kinds of techniques, including geomancy and “natural phenomena” divination (meteoromancy), which means that the divinatory aspect of the classic was regarded as a flexible, adaptive framework for many other types of divination. The cosmology of the Yijing was further integrated into the Daoist and Buddhist practices. The system within this book was understood as an open cosmology and as a tool for explaining diverse phenomena within human society and nature. This kind of integration differs from the so-called religious syncretism in modern scholarship, which indicates that an initially pure tradition can be contaminated by other religious traditions. The Yijing was understood as an open, all-encompassing cosmology, ascribed to no single interpretations. The Daoist Inner Alchemy manuals from the Tang period depict in great detail how the Yijing cosmology can be used to explain the mechanism of the human body. The Yijing was thereupon used to explain different symptoms and qualities of herbs in the Tang materia medica. Buddhist adoptions of the Yijing during the Tang period not only contain new technical understandings of the classic but sometimes employed its cosmology as an effective tool for explaining Buddha’s teachings or even equated the Yijing with said teachings. All of this indicates that the Yijing became a highly multifaceted, technical text and began to serve as a vital explanatory tool for all kinds of mantic practices, religions and knowledge systems.

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part 2 The Yijing Prediction Practices

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chapter 4

Predicting Success: The Song Literati’s Uses of the Changes in Divination liao Hsien-huei

The Song dynasty (960–1279) was pivotal in the development of the study of the Book of Changes (or Yijing, from hereon, Changes). Not only did works explicating the Changes appear in great quantities during this three-hundred-year period, but these explications also turned away from the Han-dynasty emphasis on hexagram images and numerology (xiangshu 象數) that deduced the auspicious and inauspicious, the disastrous and fortunate. The purpose of the Song studies of the Changes was to reveal the ultimate foundations of things and the origins of moral values on a philosophical ( yili 義理) level.1 Yet, as the philosophical studies of the Changes became the mainstream intellectual preoccupation, the divinatory bent of the Changes was not abandoned. On the contrary, beginning in the Northern Song, some literati not only defended the divinatory significance of the Changes in their analyses, but even attempted to establish a genealogy of its transmission.2 More importantly, they 1 According to the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 (Annotated Catalog of the Siku quanshu), the schools of thought within the studies of the Changes can be summed up as “two schools and six branches” (liang pai liu zong 兩派六宗). The two schools refer to “principle and meaning” ( yili 義理) and “image and number” (xiangshu 象數), while the six branches refer to prognostication (zhanbu 占卜), omens ( jixiang 禨祥), transformation (zaohua 造化), Laozi and Zhuangzi (Lao Zhuang zong 老莊), Confucian principles (Ru li 儒 理), and historical events (shishi 史事). The first three belong to the “image and number” school, while the latter three belong to the “principle and meaning” school. Yong Rong 永瑢, Ji Yun 紀昀, et al., eds., Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要, “Jingbu zong xu, Yi lei” 經部總敘，易類, 1.2b–3b. Regarding the methods by which the divination and moral philosophy lineages explicated the Changes, see Zhu Hanmin 朱漢民, Xuanxue yu lixue de xueshu sixiang lilu 玄學與理學的學術思想理路, 281–362; Zheng Jixiong 鄭吉雄, “Lun xiangshu quan Yi de xiaoyong yu xianzhi” 論象數詮《易》的效用與限制. There exists plentiful relevant research on Song-dynasty studies of the Changes, such as: Kidder Smith, Jr., et al., Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching; Tze-ki Hon, The Yijing and Chinese Politics: Classical Commentary and Literati Activism in the Northern Song Period, 960–1127; Wang Tie 王鐵, Songdai Yixue shi 宋代易學史; and Gao Huaimin 高懷民, Song Yuan Ming Yixue shi 宋元明易 學史. 2 Douglas Skonicki, “The Life and Legend of Chong Fang: The Journey from Recluse to Imperial Favorite to Master of Yi Learning.”

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frequently practiced divination at critical junctures in their lives in an attempt to seek guidance when making major decisions. In this chapter, I will examine these divinatory practices as a form of mantic arts, demonstrating how the Changes was indeed “not separate from daily practices” (buli yu riyong 不離于 日用)3 of the Song literati. The Changes was closely linked with the lives of the Song literati in many ways. It not only exercised an influence within the official discourses, but also played an important role in the transmission of knowledge and within social networks.4 In particular, following the increased social mobility and escalation in competitive pressure, the Song literati exhibited a strong interest in all kinds of prognostication techniques, and simultaneously developed intimate relationships of mutual exchange with those who engaged in the mantic arts.5 Like other popular forms of augury and prognostication from this period, divination based on the Changes also functioned to foresee disaster and good fortune, poverty and wealth. As shown in collected writings and miscellaneous notes (biji 筆記), divination based on the Changes was an important means whereby the Song literati managed risks, ameliorated anxieties, and, above all, planned their lives.

1

Three Characteristics of Changes Divination

As found in other divination records of the same period, the Song literati often described the place, time, reason, and methods when they engaged with cleromancy. From this trove of information, we can discern that the Changes divination during the Song dynasty appeared to possess the following characteristics: (1) it offered a relatively higher degree of autonomy to diviners in terms of interpreting the results; (2) it could be practiced multiple times in a flexible manner; and (3) it covered a wide scope of matters related to divination. These three characteristics help to explain why, of the various mantic arts, the Song literati thought highly of the Changes as a tool for coping with uncertainties. First, divination based on the Changes offered a higher degree of autonomy because complex skills were not required in order to cast hexagrams and it was relatively easy to ascertain the significance of each hexagram and its

3 Li Gang 李綱, Liangxi ji 梁谿集, “Yi zhuan neipian xu” 易傳內篇序, 134.1289–1291. 4 Hsien-huei Liao 廖咸惠, “Chishiki kara jissen e: Shin Tokushū no Eki kyō katsuyō” 知識から 實踐へ：真德秀の『易經』活用. 5 Hsien-huei Liao, “Critique and Recognition: Mantic Arts and Practitioners in Song Literati’s Writings.”

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constituent lines. In other forms of divination, the literati either accepted the reliability of diviners’ predictions due to the latter’s reputation for efficacy, or rejected the results of a divination based on their own understanding6 and intellectual prowess.7 In Changes divination, the literati clearly felt greater certainty regarding the assessment of the results. This certainty arose from their familiarity with the Changes and its commentaries, which were tested as part of the civil service examinations.8 As a result, whether or not the literati were proficient in performing cleromancy themselves, it is unlikely that they were strangers to the hexagrams and lines obtained from the process. Take, for instance, Su Shi 蘇軾 (1036–1112), who completed and expanded his father’s book, Yi zhuan 易傳 (Commentary on the Changes). Although Su lamented his ignorance of the Changes numerology,9 he obviously had an ability to perform cleromancy himself. Moreover, he was also able to offer a deep analysis of the hexagrams. It is recorded that, in the first year of the Yuanfu 元符 reign of Emperor Zhezong 哲宗 (1098), Su Shi and his younger brother, Su Zhe 蘇轍 (1039–1112), were separately demoted to Leizhou 雷州 (on Hainan Island) and Xunzhou 循州 (in Guangdong). Since he had not heard anything of his younger brother for quite a long time, Su Shi grew worried and performed a divination based on the Changes.10 His analysis of the lines of the hexagram was detailed and exhaustive, deriving “moving” lines and “moving” trigrams from the hexagram that he obtained. In total, there were three instances of moving lines spanning four hexagrams. Because the predictions based on the lines developed positively as the lines moved, and because he recognized that this

6 7 8

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Hsien-huei Liao 廖 咸 惠, “Xiantan, jishi yu duihua: Song ren biji yu shushu zhishi de chuandi” 閒談、紀實與對話：宋人筆記與術數知識的傳遞. Hsien-huei Liao, “Exploring the Mandates of Heaven: Wen Tianxiang’s Concepts of Fate and Mantic Knowledge.” Scholars have pointed out that, after Wang Bi’s 王弼 Zhouyi zhu 周易注 (The Changes annotated) became popular, the Changes gradually came to be seen as a book discussing rulers and their officials, government, ethics, and other related questions. From the Northern Song onward, rulers and their officials promoted this function even further, which facilitated the rise of studies of the Changes. Wang Tie, Songdai yixue shi, preface; Jin Shengyang 金生揚, “Songdai junchen jiang Yi kao” 宋代君臣講《易》考; Zou He 鄒 賀, “Songchao jingyan zhidu yanjiu” 宋朝經筵制度研究; Zhu Ruixi 朱瑞熙, Songchao jingyan zhidu 宋朝經筵制度. Yu Yan 俞琰, Du Yi juyao 讀易舉要, “Lun xiangshu zhi xue” 論象數之學 (Discourse on the Study of Divination), 3.1a–4a; Shao Bo 邵博, Shao shi wenjian houlu 邵氏聞見後錄, 20.143. Su Shi 蘇軾, Dongpo quanji 東坡全集, “Dongpo xiansheng nianpu” 東坡先生年譜, 27– 28 (“Yuanfu yuan nian wuyin” 元符元年戊寅); Su Shi 蘇軾, Dongpo zhi lin 東坡志林 (Dongpo’s Forest of Records), “Ji shigua” 記筮卦 (Recording Divining Hexagrams), 3.71.

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analysis was incisive for his own case, Su Shi described the whole process to his third son, Su Guo 蘇過 (1072–1123), and wrote down and preserved his analysis.11 In this example, the act of divination based on the Changes was wholly conducted by Su Shi himself, and involved no one else.12 There were instances where the act of divination was performed by others. For example, the Southern Song literatus, Zhen Dexiu 真德秀 (1178–1235), analyzed a prediction offered by two diviners. According to his account, a few months after arriving in Tanzhou 潭州 (in Hunan) to take up a position as a prefect in the 15th year of the Jiading 嘉定 era (1222), two educated men, Chen and Sun, successively and independently obtained the following two prognostications related to him: “The nine in the fifth line of the Yi 益 ䷩ hexagram” and “the six in the second line of the Lin 臨 ䷒ hexagram.” Zhen Dexiu analyzed the implications of these two lines and discovered that they both indicated that the government should follow natural, honest principles. He, therefore, felt strongly reassured that these two lines did indeed tally with the position he had undertaken.13 In this case, although we cannot confirm that Zhen Dexiu had the ability to perform divination for himself, there is no doubt that he could understand the interpretive statements because of his familiarity with the Changes. In another case, during the Qingli 慶曆 period (1041–1048), two officials awaiting appointment met an elderly monk in an old temple who was able to prognosticate where they would be salaried. However, when the monk divined the hexagrams Kui 潰 (Breakdown) and San 散 (Disperse), one official immediately expressed doubt that the Changes included two such hexagrams. This also shows that, even if the literati of the time did not necessarily use

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In the process of deriving the “moving” lines of the hexagrams, the sentence “The initial six of the Yi ䷩ hexagram moves to become the Jiaren ䷤ hexagram” (益之初六變為家人) is probably intended to read “The six in the third line of the Yi ䷩ hexagram moves to become the Jiaren ䷤ hexagram” (益之三六變為家人), because the first line of the Yi hexagram is “nine” rather than “six,” and the difference between the Yi and Jiaren hexgrams is in the third line, not the initial line. Once, Su Shi also performed his own divinatory analysis of a hexagram after waking up from dreaming that someone had drawn up a hexagram based on the Changes for him. Because the hexagram signified a good person receiving the help of Heaven ( jiren tianyou 吉人天祐), having loved the Way since he was a child, he decided to write a letter to a reclusive Daoist priest to ask for guidance on the Way, believing that he could attain this person’s approbation. Su Shi 蘇軾, Shu Shi quanji jiaozhu 蘇軾全集校注, “Yu Liu Yiweng shijun shu” 與劉宜翁使君書, 49.5281–5282. Zhen Dexiu 真德秀, Xishan xiansheng Zhen Wenzhong gong wenji 西山先生真文忠公 文集, “Zeng Fuchunzi Sun Shourong xu” 贈富春子孫守榮序, 68.27 (422–423). Regarding Sun Shourong’s prognostication abilities, see also the case of his prognostication for Shi Songzhi 史嵩之, in Wang Hongzhuan 王宏撰, Zhouyi shi shu 周易筮述, 8.72a.

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the Changes to perform divinations for themselves, they would often use their knowledge of the Changes to check the results of the divinations of others.14 Another characteristic of performing Changes divination was that the literati could practice it whenever the need arose, without having to go out to seek the assistance of a professional diviner. For example, according to Lu You 陸游 (1125–1210), when his friend Chao Yongzhi 晁詠之 (dates unknown) took up office in the shipyards at Mingzhou 明州 (in Ningbo), every day at sunrise he would “wear his official robes and burning incense, cast lots for one hexagram” (具衣冠焚香占一卦).15 Although this text does not explain why Chao divined so frequently, it does show that he deeply believed in the prognosticative accuracy of the Changes. Similarly, another literatus living at the transition between the Northern and Southern Song, Wang Sheng 王升 (1054–1132; more about him later), would cast lots every day, predicting the result for each of his act.16 In many cases, literati would cast lots for different reasons including their own deaths. According to Lou Yue 樓鑰 (1137–1213), the Southern Song literatus, Wang Zi 王鎡 (dates unknown), was not only well read, but also proficient regarding the Changes. One day, at the age of forty-three, he cast lots for himself and learned of an augury that he would soon die. Indeed, shortly after informing his family of this, he did pass away.17 As in the example of Chao Yongzhi above, Wang Zi’s motivations for casting lots are not clearly expressed in the text, but the results of the divination show that his analysis indeed tallied with future events. These two examples indicate that the literati who engaged in the practice of casting lots would not necessarily have had a clear-cut or urgent issue in mind. They might have an urge to know what might occur in their daily life. In this kind of situation, where there existed no clear purpose or strong motive, very few people would take the pains to visit a diviner. They would perform a divination by themselves, and the simple procedure of casting lots based on the Changes fitted this need perfectly. In addition, when facing issues that it would be inconvenient to discuss publicly, especially highly sensitive topics related to government, the Song literati were more inclined to adopt the Changes divination, which could be performed quickly and managed independently. A prime example is Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–

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Liu Fu 劉斧, Qingsuo gaoyi 青瑣高議, Houji 後集, “Seng bu ji (Zhang Gui yu Ma Cun wen bu)” 僧卜記（張圭與馬存問卜）, 10.202. Lu You 陸游, Laoxuean biji 老學庵筆記, 1.4. Chen Yuanjing 陳元靚, Suishi guangji 歲時廣記, “Sheshi gua” 揲蓍卦, 12a–13a. Lou Yue 樓鑰, Lou Yue ji 樓鑰集, “Yongningjun furen Sun shi muzhiming” 永寧郡夫人 孫氏墓誌銘, 109.1887–1888.

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1200) response to Han Tuozhou’s 韓侂冑 (1151–1207) treatment of Zhao Ruyu 趙 汝愚 (1140–1196).18 Upon witnessing Zhao Ruyu’s banishment, Zhu Xi believed that he could not remain silent and allow Han Tuozhou and others to continue to cause disaster for the government. He, therefore, clandestinely wrote thousands of lines of text in secret memorials, scrupulously exposing the actions of Han and his ilk as “the devious deceivers’ bringing disaster to the ruler (姦邪 蔽主之禍), which explains the injustices [done to] Ruyu”. Once this book was completed, one after another, his family, teachers, friends, and students tried to dissuade him, believing that this act would certainly cause catastrophe for him. But Zhu Xi did not heed their warnings. It was not until his disciple and close friend, Cai Yuanding 蔡元定 (1135–1198), persuaded Zhu Xi to cast lots to judge the situation that he accepted their advice. The result of the divination was “Dun ䷠ becoming Tongren ䷌” (遯之同人, the first line of the Dun hexagram changes into a Yang line, becoming the Tongren hexagram). The Dun hexagram, the first result, predicts that, in managing one’s affairs, it is appropriate to retreat, not move forward, while the Tongren hexagram signifies seeking common ground but preserving differences, or doing one’s best to get along with others. After this, Zhu Xi seemed to follow the guidance of this hexagram, because he shortly afterward burned the memorials, adopted the alternative name Dunweng 遯翁 (“Old Man Dun”), then claimed illness, asked to resign, and retired from official life.19 Another characteristic of Changes divination is the fact that it covered a broad range of affairs in its predictions. The records show that Song scholars often used the Changes to manage all kinds of situations and problems that they faced in their lives, even if only to satisfy their curiosity. For instance, Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077), who was famous for his expertise in divination based on the Changes,20 once cast lots for Zhang Dun 章惇 (1035–1105). His prediction was said to be exceedingly accurate, “missing not a single character” (不差一

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Although Zhu Xi’s understanding of the Changes was profound, and his exegetical works have been handed down, scholars have discovered only this one piece of extant documentary evidence of his personal divinatory practice. Joseph A. Adler, “Chu Hsi and Divination,” 205. Li Youwu 李幼武, Song mingchen yanxing lu 宋名臣言行錄, Waiji 外集, 12.24a; Zhu Xi 朱熹, Huian xiansheng Zhu Wengong wenji 晦庵先生朱文公文集, Xuji 續集, “Yu Zhang shilang Maoxian” 與章侍郎茂獻, 5.4739–4741; Zhu Xi 朱熹, Huian xiansheng Zhu wengong bieji 晦庵先生朱文公別集, “Liu Dexiu” 劉德脩, 1.4849–4850. For evidence of Shao Yong’s ability to foresee the future, see Lou Yue, Lou Yue ji, “Taifuqing Wang gong muzhiming” 太府卿王公墓誌銘, 109.1876–1880; Chen Liang 陳亮, Longchuan ji 龍川集, “Zeng shuzhe Dai sheng xu” 贈術者戴生序, 15.17b–18b.

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字).21 He also attempted to foretell future political events using the Changes. In the late Renzong period, for example, Shao Yong took fright due to the call of a peacock. He used the Changes to divine its meaning and found that, in twenty years’ time, a southerner would become the governing minister, who would bring it about that “from this point onward the common people would have no peace” (自此蒼生無寧歲).22 In addition, Shao Yong also used the Changes to predict such trivial events as the exact dates of the collapse of certain rooms and the destruction of certain gardens, and was able to verify the accuracy of these predictions within a very short period of time.23 Shao Yong’s precognitive abilities were exhibited by his ability to foresee who would write his biography. Records show that Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007–1072) himself had long since heard of Shao Yong’s reputation, but had unfortunately never had a chance to pay him a formal visit. When his third son, Ouyang Fei 歐陽棐 (1047–1113), was going to pass by the area where Shao Yong lived on his way to taking up his official post, Ouyang Xiu specifically exhorted him to call on Shao and express respect and admiration on his behalf. When Ouyang Fei arrived, Shao Yong not only welcomed him with great warmth and sincerity, but also spoke to him in detail for the entire day of “the people he had met, the studies he had undertaken, and the things he had done in his life, speaking kindly and sincerely without rest” (平生所見人、所從學、所行事，諄諄

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Chen Changfang 陳長方, Bu li ke tan 步里客談, 1.4–5. Zhu Bian 朱弁, Qu Wei jiuwen 曲洧舊聞, 2.20. If this record is to be believed, what Shao Yong’s prediction referred to as a southerner becoming governing minister was probably Wang Anshi 王安石 (1021–1086) of Jiangxi and the problems that his reform created for the governance of society and the livelihood of the people. In Bu li ke tan, Chen Changfang also records this event, but with a slightly different timeline. Chen writes that this affair occurred in the first year of the Xining period (1068), and that the result that Shao Yong divined was “There will be a person who will rise in the southeast and become the governing minister, and who will disorder all under heaven by disseminating culture to the masses. This disaster will not end for sixty years” (將有人起東南為相，以文教亂 天下，此禍非六十年不已). The text also clearly identifies this person as Wang Anshi. Chen Changfang, Bu li ke tan, 1.5. For a further example of using the Changes to prognosticate the future political climate, see Cai Tao 蔡絛, Tiewei shan congtan 鐵圍山叢談, 3.41. After Sima Guang 司馬光 heard Shao’s prediction, he wrote it down. Later, because he had business there, he revisited this place, and went specially to verify the story, discovering that those rooms had all been reduced to debris. It is said that this event was not only witnessed personally by Sima Guang, but also that “the literati of the Luo River region could all speak of it” (洛中士大夫皆能道之). Zhu Bian, Qu Wei jiuwen, 2.21. Zhang Bangji 張 邦基, Mozhuang manlu 墨莊漫錄, “Shao Kangjie lun Yi shu bu chuan” 邵康節論易書 不傳, 2.65.

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不休). Shao Yong followed this by asking Ouyang Fei whether the latter was

able to recall everything that had been said. Although Shao Yong’s actions baffled him, Ouyang Fei listened with humility and respect from beginning to end. It was not until Shao Yong had passed away that Ouyang Fei finally understood why his host had earnestly and patiently narrated all of these things to him, a member of the younger generation whom he had only just met. It was because it would be Ouyang Fei, at that time holding the position of Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, who would be responsible for composing Shao Yong’s biography and the documents granting his posthumous name. The details of their earlier chat were exactly the content that the biography would require.24 To the Song literati, divination based on the Changes was, broadly speaking, compatible with their “pursuit of the Way” (zhidao 至道). For instance, in the daily life of the Southern Song literatus, Lu You, we can clearly observe the multiple features and meanings of divination based on the Changes. The first of these is the relationship between casting lots and improving one’s life. In the poem, “Striving to Study” (“Mian xue” 勉 學), Lu You mentions that studying diligently in pursuit of the Way and divining to resolve uncertainties are foundational experiences that a Confucian should possess.25 Moreover, in “Writing Inspired by Living Humbly” (“Pinju jishi” 貧居即事), the phrase “my Way is that of divining” (wu dao ji shigui 吾道即蓍龜) further equates the Way of Confucianism with divination based on stalks and tortoise shells.26 In his poetry, he mentions the act of stalk divination and its role in daily life. The line, “Exhausted, I groan on the couch in self pity; the report from the stalks discloses getting away from remaining disaster” (倦榻呻吟每自哀，占蓍來告出餘災), reveals that, when sick, one might divine in order to predict the development of one’s condition.27 In addition, the line, “Divination satchel and medicine bag always at my side, every day I again seek answers in divination regarding my illness” (蓍囊藥笈每隨身，問病求占日日新), reveals that he always carried divination stalks and a medicine chest with him. The former could be used to facilitate the performance of divination at any time, while the latter provided for the needs of the illness.28 Aside from this, his poetry sketches out his habit of

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Zhu Bian, Qu Wei jiuwen, 2.20–21. A slightly different version can be found in Li Youwu, Song mingchen yanxing lu, Waiji, 5.11a–12b. Lu You 陸游, Jiannan shi gao jiaozhu 劍南詩稿校注, “Mian xue” 勉學, 60.3464. Lu You, Jiannan shi gao jiaozhu, “Pinju jishi” 貧居即事, 63.3601. Lu You, Jiannan shi gao jiaozhu, “Bing yu” 病癒, 38.2441. Lu You, Jiannan shi gao jiaozhu, “Cunju qianxing” 村居遣興, 58.3391.

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performing divination nearly every morning,29 with the purpose of predicting the length of his life or simply to kill time.30 Yet, the popularity of Changes divination did not mean that the Song literati ceased consulting professional diviners or engaging in other forms of divinations. The reason for this was simple: Song literati were rarely satisfied with the results of a single kind of prediction. Whether the results were auspicious or not, they would often continue to resort to different channels in order to receive repeated confirmation, or attempt to correct a negative result obtained previously. For example, in order to foresee the results of the civil service examinations, the Song literati would often visit a temple to ask for revelations in their dreams. They would pay homage not only at familiar temples in their hometowns, but also to deities known for their efficacy regarding the exams while on their way to the test.31 In addition, many literati would also use all kinds of divination techniques to foresee future developments.32 When they encountered the threat of illness or death, they were even more likely to engage in divination repeatedly,33 or seek out all kinds of divination techniques wherever they went.34

2

Limitations and Challenges Related to Changes Divination

Because the Changes was a canonical text, the literati could not freely use it as a tool of divination. To understand the limitations and challenges of Changes divination, we can examine how the text was read at the time. In the Song dynasty, where explications emphasized morality and largely ignored the mantic arts, the amount of attention that the literati paid to the divinatory aspect of the Changes diminished greatly, and a skeptical attitude developed regarding the practice of performing divination based on the Changes. Even though

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Lu You, Jiannan shi gao jiaozhu, “Yuji zhai shu shi” 玉笈齋書事, “Zishu” 自述, and “Yexing” 野興, 2.180, 50.2997, and 84.4510, respectively. Lu You, Jiannan shi gao jiaozhu, “Chun wan” 春晚 and “Xianju shu shi” 閒居書事, 66.3713 and 16.1274–1275, respectively. Liao Hsien-huei 廖咸惠, “Qiqiu shen qi: Songdai keju kaosheng de chongbai xingwei yu minjian xinyang” 祈求神啟：宋代科舉考生的崇拜行為與民間信仰. Liao Hsien-huei 廖咸惠, “Tiyan ‘xiaodao’: Songdai shiren shenghuo zhong de shushi yu shushu” 體驗「小道」：宋代士人生活中的術士與術數. Liu Kai 柳開, Hedong xiansheng ji 河東先生集, “Song gu Liu xiansheng muzhiming bing xu” 宋故柳先生墓誌銘并序, 14.15b–17b. Zhao Mengjian 趙孟堅, Yi zhai wen bian 彝齋文編, “Ji Chiyao di wen” 記持要弟文, 4.42a–43a.

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philosophical explications of the Changes were the mainstream, there were still literati who, one after another, emphasized the importance of remembering the prognosticative aspects of the Changes or its original divinatory function. For example, Liu Anshi 劉安世 (1048–1125) of the Northern Song once criticized scholars’ separation of moral philosophy from the mantic arts, believing that only by mastering both could one become a true scholar.35 The Southern Song literatus Wu Zeng 吳曾 declared that the mantic arts were the foundation of the Changes, and so these could not be dispensed with lightly.36 However, it was not until Zhu Xi that the divinatory functions of Changes were widely recognized. Even so, Zhu Xi’s affirmation of the divinatory functions of the Changes were limited. While he reaffirmed that the Changes was originally a book of divination, he believed that its ultimate purpose was still to assist users to cultivate their moral character to become a sage.37 In general, for the Song literati, divination’s importance lay in its ability to resolve uncertainties and allow the user to approach the mind of a sage. It did not lie in the prediction and consideration of personal misfortune and eminence. Those who engaged with it would often incur criticism. Take, for instance, Wang Sheng 王升 (1054–1132), a literatus who was proficient in the Changes studies. With the courtesy name, Junyi 君 儀, Wang’s potential talents were discovered at a very early stage by Lu Dian 陸佃 (1042– 1102), whose disciple he became at the age of twenty.38 Despite working hard,

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“He saw those who fully command both “image and number” and “principle and meaning” as those who would gain something from the Changes” (以象數義理之兼通者，為有 得於易). Yu Yan, Du Yi juyao, “Lun xiangshu zhi xue”, 3.3b–4a. The Northern-Song literatus Li Gang 李綱 (1083–1140) also once lamented that, because the scholars of his time had been influenced by Wang Bi’s profound criticism of the study of divination, “they thereupon gave up on images and didn’t discuss them” (遂廢象不談), and therefore “those who lost the meaning of the sages were many” (失聖人之義多矣). Li Gang, Liangxi ji, “Shi xiang xu” 釋象序, 134.1292–1293. “Today, to dispense with Image and Number and discuss the Changes by speaking of its message, this is like cutting away its root and seeking its numerous branches and leaves; how can we do this?” (今捨象數而以言意論《易》，是猶剪其根本而求枝葉之繁， 可乎?). Wu Zeng 吳曾, Neng gai zhai manlu 能改齋漫錄, part 2, “Lun Yi” 論易, 10.27–28. Because he emphasized that, during the process of divination, it was primarily the person performing it who could rely on this to detect omens of changes in things and affairs and the correct method of response. Joseph A. Adler, “Chu Hsi and Divination.” Lu Dian’s appreciation of Wang Sheng emerges clearly in writings. In addition, after Lu Dian became involved in government affairs during the Huizong period, he immediately recommended the appointment of Wang Junyi; from this, we can also see his regard for Wang. Lu Dian 陸佃, Taoshan ji 陶山集, “Zeng Wang Junyi” 贈王君儀, 1.1b–2b; Luo Jun 羅濬 et al., Baoqing si ming zhi 寶慶四明志, 9.5192.

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Wang Sheng had struggled to pass the civil service examinations. It was not until he was forty-nine years old that he took up office due to a recommendation by Lu Dian. Because he carried out astute research into studies of the Changes during the period prior to him taking office, he was recognized by the younger generation primarily for his knowledge of studies of the Changes. Departing from the contemporary trend that emphasized the moral philosophy of the Changes, Wang Sheng paid more attention to its divinatory elements. For example, the Southern Song literatus Lin Zhiqi 林之奇 (1112–1176) described Wang Sheng’s understanding of the Changes as follows: “He mostly discusses images, saying that the Changes is nothing but images” (大抵論象，謂《易》 無非象者).39 In Lu You’s postscript to Wang Sheng’s Yi shuo 易說 (Discussion of the Changes), in addition to tracing its roots in studies of the Changes and its own innovative points, Lu You also raised the real-life example wherein Wang used divination based on the Changes to foresee that the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) armies would certainly not launch their offensive as far as Yanzhou (揚州).40 In his miscellaneous notes, Fang Shao 方勺 (1066–?) also described Wang’s studies as “particularly deep in the Book of Rites and the Changes” (尤深於《禮》、 《易》), and recorded at least four examples of Wang Sheng’s use of divination based on the Changes to make correct predictions.41 Despite the positive views of Wang Sheng’s study of the Changes listed above, Zhu Xi’s evaluation of him betrays a different attitude: Wang Junyi [Sheng] of Yanzhou is able to speak of disaster and good fortune through the Changes. His technique is basically like the teachings of Xu Fu and Lin Yu. With one hexagram responsible for one year, he once said that the emperor’s mother would be returned [to the Song] in 1142, and later it was as he predicted. People asked the reason for this, and he said: “In this year, the hexagram Jin 晉 ䷢ holds sway, and [its description] contains the line statement ‘he will receive this good fortune from his grandmother.’” I consider this a case of a petty technique occasionally getting it right. If we then consider Junyi knowledgeable about the Changes [based on this alone], then I don’t understand his theories at all.42

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Lin Zhiqi 林之奇, Zhuo zhai wenji 拙齋文集, 1.10a–b. Lu You 陸游, Weinan wenji jiaozhu 渭南文集校注, “Ba Wang Junyi daizhi Yi shuo” 跋王 君儀待制易說, 26.163. Fang Shao 方勺, Bozhai bian 泊宅編, 1.1–2. The original reads: 嚴州王君儀能以《易》言禍福，其術略如徐復、林瑀之説， 以一卦直一年。嘗言紹興壬戌太母當還，其後果然。人問其故，則曰是年晉 卦直事，有「受兹介福，于其王母」之文也。予謂此亦小數之偶中耳，若遂

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Zhu Xi’s belittling of Wang manifests itself in several ways. First, Zhu Xi used an example to show that Wang deployed a trivial technique to obtain an auspicious prognostication. Secondly, Zhu Xi further commented that Wang’s occasional success in using the Changes for divination did not prove his mastery of this classic. Thirdly, Zhu Xi’s comparison of Wang’s “ability to speak of disaster and good fortune through the Changes” to Xu Fu 徐復 and Lin Yu 林瑀, both active during the Renzong period (1022–1063), actually contains a note of ridicule. Because Xu Fu and Lin Yu both became well known for their Changes divination, they once received the favor of Emperor Renzong. However, both Lin Yu’s explication and prognostication based on the Changes were opposed by court officials, who believed that “what he speaks of is unconventional” (所 言不經), and moreover “he doesn’t follow or transmit the words of the sages, only cherishing heresies, and tricking his ruler’s ear” (不師聖人之言，專挾邪 說，罔上聽). In the end, he was dismissed from service.43 Although Xu Fu had a reputation for being “a noble and unsullied nature” (性高潔) and “a noble man” (高人也), like Lin Yu, his studies of the Changes were believed to be muddled and impure.44 Zhu Xi’s ridicule of Wang Sheng raises a question about Zhu Xi’s position regarding divination based on the Changes. In a letter to his friend, He Hao 何 鎬 (1128–1175), Zhu Xi mentioned the former disciple of Cheng Yi 程頤, Guo Zhongxiao 郭忠孝 (alternate name, Jianshan shi 兼山氏), who had carried out considerable research on the Changes. Zhu Xi stated that, after reading his book on the Changes, he discovered that Guo “had been far away from Cheng Yi’s teaching because of his preoccupation with the theories of images and numbers” (溺象數之說，去程門甚遠). Moreover, when Cheng Yi fell sick, Guo never asked after Cheng’s illness, and after Cheng died, Guo never went in person to make offerings for his deceased teacher. Zhu Xi believed that, from these events, one can see clearly that his humanity and scholarship both left something to be desired.45 When his own disciples asked about Guo Zhongxiao’s

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以君儀為知《易》，則吾不知其説也。Zhu Xi, Huian xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji, “Ou du man ji” 偶讀謾記, 71.3418. For relevant records, see Li Tao 李燾, Xu Zizhi tongjian changbian 續資治通鑑長編, 135.3223; Wang Anshi 王安石, Wang wengong ji 王文公集, “Zeng sikong jian shizhong Wenyuan Jia Weigong shendao bei” 贈司空兼侍中文元賈魏公神道碑, 83.887–891; Sima Guang 司馬光, Sushui jiwen 涑水記聞, 4.64–65, etc. Li Tao, Xu zizhi tongjian changbian, 131.3116–3117; Sima Guang, Sushui jiwen, 4.64–65; Su Zhe 蘇轍, Longchuan bie zhi 龍川別志, 2.98–99; Tuo Tuo 脫脫 et al., Songshi 宋史, Liezhuan 列傳, “Xu Fu” 徐復, 457.13434. Zhu Xi, Huian xiansheng zhu wengong wenji, “Da He Shujing” 答何叔京, 40.1807–1810; Zhu Jian 朱鑑, Wen gong Yi shuo 文公易說, 20.4b.

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son, Guo Yong 郭雍 (1106–1187), who received considerable training through his family, Zhu Xi’s assessment was more or less the same.46 Zhu Xi’s perspective on these issues, of course, is closely linked to Guo’s affinity for divination.47 So, speaking from Zhu Xi’s position, what, ultimately, was the correct way to study the Changes? The following statement clarifies his stance: “Indeed, I have always thought that studies of the Changes cannot be separated from images and numbers, but to study images and numbers we need [first] to see a general theory [of the Changes], then one can gradually seek further.”48 In other words, although he recognized the importance of divination to the study of the Changes, he thought that only after grasping the essential meaning of moral cultivation in this work could one gradually engage in the investigation and understanding of divination. In fact, Cheng Yi (1033–1107) of the Northern Song had already expressed a similar attitude toward the principles of divination based on the Changes and the relationship between philosophy and divination: First there is a principle; then there are images. After there are images, then there are numbers. The Changes relies upon images to illuminate principles; through images one knows numbers. When one obtains its meaning, then images and numbers are within it. Always desiring to plumb the depths of the meaning of the images, and exhaust the minutia of the numbers, this is to give up the root in search of the minor details. It is what the diviners value; it is not the task of the scholars. This is the learning of Guan Lu and Guo Pu.49 From this text, we can see clearly that, in terms of both their value and order of appearance, Cheng Yi saw moral philosophy as the root and priority of the study of the Changes, and “images and numbers” as mere offshoots and of secondary import. Because a principle (li 理) exists before images (xiang 象) and numbers (shu 數), and because the Changes exposes principles through images and numbers, the focus of the study of the Changes ought to be moral philosophy rather than divination techniques. 46 47 48 49

Zhu Jian 朱鑑, Wen gong Yi shuo 文公易說, 20.4b–5a. Zhu Jian, Wen gong Yi shuo, 20.5a–5b. The original statement is: 愚意亦素謂易學不可離却象數，但象數之學亦須見得 大槩緫領，方可漸次探尋. Zhu Jian, Wen gong Yi shuo, 20.6b. The original reads: 有理而後有象，有象而後有數。易因象以明理，由象而知 數，得其義則象數在其中矣。必欲窮象之隱微，盡數之毫忽，乃尋流逐末， 術家之所尚，非儒者之所務也。管輅、郭璞之學是也。Cheng Yi 程頤 and Cheng Hao 程顥, Er Cheng ji 二程集, “Da Zhang Hongzhong shu” 答張閎中書, 9.615.

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Having analyzed Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi’s stances toward contemporary divination based on the Changes, we can now return to explaining the harsh criticism leveled at Wang Sheng noted above. Because Wang Sheng emphasized the investigation of divination techniques and was unable simultaneously to give equal attention or value to moral philosophy, Zhu Xi, therefore, disparaged his ability regarding divination based on the Changes as a petty technique and did not recognize him as a true authority on this work. Since Wang Sheng was believed only to focus on the deduction of meaning from the divinatory part of the Changes, in Zhu Xi’s eyes, his abilities were exactly as Cheng Yi had described: he was a mere diviner. Zhu, therefore, compared Wang to Xu Fu and Lin Yu who received the favor of Emperor Renzong due to their mastery of divination based on the Changes. From contemporaries’ descriptions of Xu and Lin’s study of the Changes, such as “affairs touching on the apocryphal (事涉圖緯)”,50 “obtaining the Changes of Jing Fang (得京房《易》),” and “messing about with the liuren and dunjia [divinatory methods] (雜以六 壬遁甲),”51 it appears that, although both men had been deeply shaped by NeoConfucianism, their behavior was still equated with that of diviners. Where Cheng Yi used Guan Lu 管輅 and Guo Pu 郭璞 as examples to call attention to diviners’ penchant for divination based on the Changes, Zhu Xi chose Xu and Lin, two literati with whom contemporaries would be more familiar, to clarify Wang Sheng’s orientation as a diviner and, therefore, better delineate his critique. Like Cheng Yi, the primary reason why Zhu Xi criticized Wang Sheng in this way was due to the latter’s Confucian background and intellectual training since, even if divination based on the Changes was often engaged in by diviners to predict someone’s economic or social fate, the Neo-Confucian literati were supposed to rise above the calculation of personal disaster and good fortune, using this technique solely to achieve the cultivation of the self and perfection of one’s moral nature. In Zhu Xi’s eyes, Wang Sheng’s study of the Changes and practice could not attain this standard; as such, Zhu criticized him severely. Studies of the Changes by Shao Yong, who held a key place in the development of Song-dynasty Neo-Confucianism, met a similar unfortunate fate. Although Shao Yong never held office, when he lived in Luoyang, he had close friends among famous contemporaries and held the complete respect of the

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Li Tao, Xu zizhi tongjian changbian, 135.3223. Ye Mengde 葉夢得, Bishu lu hua 避暑錄話, 2.86a–87a. See Ho Peng Yoke, Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching Out to the Stars. The implication of this description of Xu Fu is that he also did not engage in orthodox philosophical studies of the Changes, but mined it for techniques alone.

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official scholarly sphere. According to an account by Shao Yong’s son, Shao Bowen 邵伯溫 (1057–1134), we know that the two Cheng brothers, who were in Luoyang at the same time as Shao Yong, were not only scholars of the generation following Shao, but also often visited his home to ask his advice.52 However, his affinity with Changes divination sparked misgivings among the students of the two Cheng brothers after his death. From the records of Shao Yong’s grandson Shao Bo 邵博 (?–1158, the second son of Shao Bowen), we see that these doubts had much to do with the Chengs’ disciples’ “desire to respect their teachers but to suppress Shao” (欲尊其師而抑邵).53 Although this criticism was probably somewhat motivated by the disciples’ jockeying for position, the doubts that these critics held regarding divination based on the Changes are still worthy of our attention. Under the influence of mainstream exegeses by the school of thought emphasizing philosophy, Shao Yong’s astute analysis of divination based on the Changes became an excuse to criticize him. How to address the doubts raised by Shao Yong’s investigation of divination became a question facing his successors. Firstly, because later people always saw his grandfather’s Huangji jingshi 皇極經世 (The August Ultimate through the Ages) as a book on divination, Shao Bo attempted to contradict the idea that Shao Yong’s work was merely an in-depth study of divination.54 Secondly, when the students of the two Cheng brothers stated their belief that Shao Yong’s studies were studies of divination, Shao Bo responded: “Indeed, how do you know that so-called ‘divination’ isn’t Mr. Yichuan’s [Cheng Yi’s] worthy opinion?” (亦 安知所謂數者，非伊川之雅言？).55 That is to say, he believed that, what Shao and the Chengs discussed did not differ as fundamentally as was later assumed. Shao Bo’s reaction shows that, under contemporary intellectual trends, inves-

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Shao Bowen 邵伯溫, Shao shi wenjian lu 邵氏聞見錄, 15.160–162. Shao Bo, Shao shi wenjian houlu, 5.39–41 and 6.45–46; and “Tiyao” 提要 (Abstract). Chen Guan 陳瓘 (1057–1124) had read the works of Shao Yong, and so debated the teachings of Shao Yong with the two Cheng brothers. In a couple of letters, he mentioned Shao Yong: “Contemporaries saw this man as a deity; those who came later identified his book as intricate divination; Kangjie [Shao Yong] regretted neither of these things” (同時者 目 其 人 為 神 仙 ，後 來 者 名 其 書 為 考 數 ，皆 康 節 之 所 不 憾 也). That is to say, Shao Yong felt comfortable about his own research on divination based on the Changes. However, after thanking Chen Guan, Shao Bo still had revisions regarding this point. He believed that his grandfather would not necessarily have been satisfied with later generations’ understanding of his research as the study of divination: “Since he did not even accept being considered an immortal, would he then be happy to have his book mistaken for a divination study? (神仙且不受也，以為數學可乎？). Shao Bo, Shao shi wenjian houlu, 5.39–41 and 6.45–46. Shao Bo, Shao shi wenjian houlu, 6.45–46.

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tigations into divination based on the Changes probably met with suppression and skepticism, and therefore inspired practices of self-policing and legitimization. What must one do, however, to embody the all-encompassing nature of the Changes, and give due consideration to both its moral philosophical and divinatory elements? While demonstrating that the Changes was originally a book on prognostication, Zhu Xi had already explained that the end goal of the use of prognostication to resolve uncertainties lay in helping to perfect an individual’s virtue. However, what concerned most people was whether or not the practice of using the Changes to foresee disaster and good fortune was legitimate within the context of Zhu Xi’s statement. In the end, in the daily practice of divination based on the Changes, the questions that concerned many literati remained inseparable from personal inauspicious or auspicious circumstances, disaster, and good fortune. Therefore, after an approximate contemporary of Zhu Xi, Cheng Jiong 程 迥 ( jinshi 1163), clearly delimited the problem, later generations continuously copied, transmitted, and repeated his arguments, so his influence was far-reaching. Cheng Jiong wrote: “The Changes tallies virtue and moral principles with disaster and good fortune, it is therefore a book of sages. Masters of Yin and Yang only speak of disaster and good fortune; they do not tally them with virtue and moral principles. Therefore, theirs is just a technique.”56 He means that, because the Changes discusses disaster and good fortune from the perspective of virtue and moral principles, it constitutes, therefore, a book by sages, while the average diviner speaks only of disaster and good fortune, neglecting the virtue and moral principles underlying people’s behavior. It, therefore, can be considered merely a technique. In other words, in addition to the function of resolving uncertainties, divination based on the Changes can also be used to predict disaster and fortune; it is simply that the

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The original reads: 《易》以道義配禍福，故為聖人之書。陰陽家獨言禍福而 不配以道義，故為技術.” This sentence recurs repeatedly in writings discussing Yijing divination, such as Feng Yi 馮椅 (Southern Song), Hou zhai Yi xue 厚齋易學, 5.40a; Hu Yigui 胡一桂 (1247–?), “Li” 理, in Zhouyi qimeng yi zhuan 周易啟蒙翼傳, 3.1a–2b; Wang Hongzhuan, Zhouyi shi shu, “Tuiyan di shiwu” 推驗第十五, 8.82b–83a; Zhu Yizun 朱彝尊 (1629–1709), Jingyi kao 經義考, “Zhouyi” 周易, in 4.12a–12b. Cheng Jiong was from Ningling 寧陵 in Yingtian Prefecture 應天府. After the Jingkang period (1126–1127) he moved to Shaoxing 紹興. He was alone and poor as a child, and only began studying at the age of twenty. Zhu Xi praised him greatly. Not only did he treat him with the deference due a teacher, but he also adopted many of his teachings. Tuo Tuo, Songshi, liezhuan, “Cheng Jiong” 程迥, 437.12949–12952; Zhu Xi, Huian xiansheng Zhu Wengong wenji, “Ba Cheng shasui tie” 跋程沙隨帖, 84.3960–3961; Zhu Xi, Huian xiansheng Zhu Wengong bieji, “Cheng kejiu” 程可久, 3.4876. Wu Cheng 吳澄 (1249–1333), Wu wenzheng ji 吳文正集, 62.3a–3b.

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judgment of auspicious and inauspicious signs must be based on a foundation of virtue and justice. Although this sort of argument is distinct and clear-cut, considerable gray areas remain with regard to how to understand, from examples in the surviving records of divination based on the Changes, whether or not these judgments of good or ill fortune truly tally with virtue and moral principles.57 In addition to the goals of divination based on the Changes, contemporaries also established norms based on historical precedent regarding what to wear, appropriate attitudes, and what time and with what frequency to cast lots. For example, the diviner Sima Jizhu 司馬季主 of the Western Han advocated that, when divining, one must arrange and purify the space where the ceremony will be held and correct the officiant’s appearance: “Diviners clean the [ritual] space and arrange the seating; they straighten their hats and belts; and then begin to speak.”58 Ban Gu 班固 (32–92) warned that, if one lacked reverence, then even if one cast lots, one would fail to obtain a response from the gods: “In eras of decline, [people] are lax in fasting and purifying themselves, and [instead] repeatedly turn to divination. The gods do not reply, so divination becomes debased and does not report a result.”59 While writing the Taixuan jing 太玄經 (Classic of the Great Mystery), in imitation of the literary form of the Changes, Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53bce–18 ce) described in even greater detail four further situations in which one should not prognosticate: “If one is not focused, do not divine; if one has no doubts, do not divine; if one does not have a virtuous manner, do not divine; if one will not follow the result, it

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For example, after this, while Cheng Jiong was lodging in a temple, he once divined, obtaining the Xun 巽 ䷸ hexagram as a result, which implied that there would be “danger of wind and fire, but it will not come to harm” (風火之恐，而不及害). Shortly afterward, a huge fire occurred at the temple, burning down more than ten dormitories, but it did not spread to his lodgings, and the monks who caused the fire were later punished. Because these circumstances tallied exactly with the contents of his prognostication, it was described as “marvelously efficacious” (qiyan 奇驗). In the historical record, aside from the reference to his prognostication’s marvelous efficacy, we have no way of judging how well this sort of behavior matched the virtue and moral principle. Wang Hongzhuan, Zhouyi shi shu, 8.72a–72b. The original statement reads: 夫卜筮者，掃除設坐，正其冠帶，然後乃言事. Sima Qian 司馬遷, Shiji 史記, “Rizhe liezhuan di liushiqi” 日者列傳第六十七, 127.1a–9b; Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping yulan 太平御覽, “Fangshu bu liu, bu shang” 方術部六, 卜上, 725.16a. The original statement reads: 衰世懈於齋戒，而履煩卜筮，神明不應，故筮瀆 不告. Hong Mai 洪邁 (1123–1202) once quoted this, claiming that criticism of diviners as disrespectful had existed since the Han dynasty. Hong Mai 洪邁, Rongzhai wubi 容齋五 筆, “Bushi bu jing” 卜筮不敬, 6.893–894.

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is better to not divine.”60 Although these rules regarding divination based on the Changes appear broadly applicable to all forms of divination, because the author assumes a literatus reader, these restrictions clearly had more power to constrain the literati’s behavior relative to that of the average commercial diviner. Similar norms not only frequently appeared in the Han dynasty, but also continued to be transmitted and promoted by later generations. The Song literati listed even more items addressing situations in which one should not divine. For example, Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019–1086) expanded the list of such situations to six: “If one does not believe, do not divine; if one does not have doubts, do not divine; if one is not upright, do not divine; if one does not follow [the result], do not divine; if one is not pure, do not divine; if one is not sincere, do not divine.”61 Among these, he stressed the last two, “purity” ( juan 蠲) and “sincerity” (cheng 誠), believing that, only if one were a spiritually clean, sincere, and respectful person could one’s divination receive a response from the gods.62 The Southern Song literatus Zhao Rumei 趙汝楳 ( jinshi 1226) further expanded the list of situations where divination was inappropriate to eight: “If one is not focused on one’s career, do not divine; if one’s will is not sincere, do not divine; if one’s plans are not upright, do not divine; if one does not doubt one’s affairs, do not divine; when joyous do not divine; when angry do not divine; if one is greedy, do not divine; if it is not timely, do not divine. If one moves away from these eight things, then one can speak. Otherwise, the gods will not answer.”63 The first four items can be said to extend the arguments of

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The original statement reads: 不精不筮，不疑不筮，不軌不筮，不以其占不若不 筮. Yang Xiong 揚雄, Taixuan jing 太玄經, 8.1b–2a. Lin Xiyi 林希逸 (1193–1271), Zhuxi Yanzhai shiyi gao xuji 竹溪鬳齋十一藁續集, “Taixuan jing yu” 太玄精語, 27.7b. For an explication of this statement, see Ye Ziqi 葉子奇 (Ming dynasty), Taixuan benzhi 太玄本 旨, “Taixuan shu” 太玄數, 8.1a–1b. The original statement reads: 不信不筮、不疑不筮、不正不筮、不順不筮、不蠲 不筮、不誠不筮. Sima Guang 司馬光, Qianxu 潛虛, 36b. Yang Xiong’s works and thought were the subject of attention and controversy among the Northern-Song literati, and exerted a considerable influence on the contemporary intellectual trends. For relevant discussions of this topic, see Liu Chengguo 劉成國, “Lun Tang Song jian de ‘zun Yang’ sichao yu guwen yundong” 論唐宋間的「尊揚」思潮與古 文運動; Li Xiangjun 李祥俊, “Bei Song zhu ru lun Yang Xiong” 北宋諸儒論揚雄; Jin Shengyang 金生楊, “Taixuan yanjiu shi qianlun” 《太玄》研究史淺論; Douglas Skonicki, “Northern Song Discourse on Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing.” The original statement reads: 業不精不筮，志不誠不筮，謀不正不筮，事不疑不 筮，喜不筮，怒不筮，瀆不筮，不時不筮，離此八者而後可言也，不然神亦 不告. Zhao Rumei 趙汝楳, Zhouyi ji wen, Yi ya 周易輯聞，易雅, “Zhan shi di jiu” 占釋 第九, 816–824.

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earlier authors, while the latter four, “joy” (xi 喜), “anger” (nu 怒), “greed” (du 瀆), and “untimeliness” (bu shi 不時), constitute Zhao’s contribution. By carefully examining the elements contained in these norms, that had been passed down from the Han dynasty, we can see clearly that from the suitability of one’s space and clothing, one’s mastery of the techniques, and the reverence of one’s attitude, to the appropriateness of the timing, the stability of one’s spiritual state, and the propriety of the topic being divined, almost everything, from both the inner mental state and external appearance of the individual to the situation one was in and the state of the objects involved, were all included in these norms. In short, when Song Neo-Confucians took advantage of the special characteristics of divination based on the Changes, and were able to perform divination about all kinds of affairs according to its more flexible timing, they still found it necessary to counter the limits and norms associated with the canonical position of the Changes, and even the question of how to legitimize their own behavior.

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Legitimatizing Divination Based on the Changes

Just as the methods of prognostication that the Song literati adopted differed, so too did their methods of legitimizing their practices. Firstly, when casting hexagrams for themselves or with the help of other literati, they tended to face various kinds of skepticism and norms, as addressed in the previous section. Therefore, during the process of divination, many literati endeavored to demonstrate their adherence to the appropriate rituals, appropriate reverence, choice of an appropriate time, and adeptness regarding the procedures of divination based on the Changes. In the existing records, we see that, when literati divined, they “prepared their clothing, and burning incense, cast one hexagram” (具衣冠焚香占一卦),64 and “In the morning they rose and straightened their clothing, and cast a hexagram of the Changes for intensive study” (晨起 整衣冠，熟復《周易》一卦),65 and find descriptions that emphasize that, after divining their hexagram, “their predictions were always verified” (其言 履驗),66 or “their evidence was plentiful” (其驗甚多).67 Moreover, performing divination based on the Changes to resolve problems, such as whether or

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Lu You, Laoxuean biji, 1.4. Yuan Xie 袁燮, Jiezhai ji 絜齋集, “Shufu chengyi lang tongpan changde fu xingzhuang” 叔父承議郎通判常德府行狀, 16.12b–18a. Zhang Lei 張耒, Mingdao zazhi 明道雜誌, 22. Fang Shao, Bozhai bian, 1.1–2.

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not to pursue examination success and official status,68 or whether to leave or remain in government service,69 is aligned with divination based on the Changes to resolve uncertainties and seek appropriate coping measures. An extreme example of the reliance on divination based on the Changes is the Southern Song literatus Bao Hui 包恢 (1182–1268) who, from deciding whether or not his new study could be built, to each decision he faced during its construction, to determining the necessary ceremonies and date on which he could move in after its completion, followed the direction provided by divination based on the Changes and named it the “Abode of the Changes” (Yi zhai 易齋).70 He not only studied the hexagram images, but also adhered to indications from the Changes in every aspect of his life. Clearly his purpose in practicing Changes divination was closer to cultivating his own natural endowments and virtue rather than calculating his lifelong chances regarding poverty or prosperity. There are ample examples in Song collected writings and miscellaneous notes that show the use of Changes divination to discuss moral cultivation. In an autobiographical essay about a pavilion (“The Grass Pavilion,” Cao ting 草 亭) that was built at his home, the literatus Zheng Gangzhong 鄭剛中 (1088– 1154), who lived between the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, mentions that he would read the Changes stalk divinations every morning in his pavilion and use the result to examine his own faults.71 Very few display an intention anxiously to pursue fame and fortune. There might be other reasons why the Song literati rarely asked about their search for fame and fortune in their personal divinations. It is possible that they did not often use Changes divination to foresee their personal welfare, but it seems more like that, since calculating one’s personal fate by divination often became a focus of others’ skepticism, most literati simply chose to evade certain topics in order to avoid the possibility of being criticized or doubted. From the historical record, we see that many literati are described as capable of using the Changes to speak of personal disaster and good fortune, and moreover there are many cases of them predicting the fortune of others, showing that they indeed had such abilities and reputation. Given the degree of Song literati’s

68 69 70 71

Tuo Tuo, Songshi, Liezhuan, “Xu Fu” 徐復, 475.13434. Fang Shao, Bozhai bian, 1.1–2; Huang Gan 黃榦, Mianzhai xiansheng Huang Wensu gong wenji 勉齋先生黃文肅公文集, “Ji dingmao she gua jie” 記丁卯揲卦解, 37.175. Bao Hui 包恢, Bizhou gao lüe 敝帚藁畧, “Yi zhai ji” 易齋記, 4.20b–24b. The original statement reads: 每旦臨之（草亭），閱羲經一爻，閒以蓍草考前愆， 加深省. Zheng Gangzhong 鄭剛中, Beishan ji 北山集, “Caoting ji” 草亭記, 25.12b–13b. A similar account can be seen in Mou Yan 牟巘, Mou shi Lingyang ji 牟氏陵陽集, “Dan xuan ji” 澹軒記, 11.14b–16a.

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infatuation with divination, it is difficult to imagine that they would not have used divination based on the Changes to gain a glimpse of their own personal prospects. Nevertheless, considering that they might incite doubt, even if they performed such activities privately, choosing not to make this public was probably a sound choice.72 The Song literati faced no less skepticism when it came to the practice of seeking prognostications from diviners, because this touched upon not only the pursuit of fame and fortune, but also the problem of the mantic arts’ legitimacy. One way of avoiding external challenges and skepticism was by staunchly defending the Neo-Confucian stance. Wen Tianxiang 文天祥 (1236– 1282) of the late Song is an example. In his communications with diviners, he always emphasized his lack of interest in investigating or controlling his fortune; rather, he wished to glimpse the mechanisms behind disaster and good fortune. He believed that, if he could glimpse the mechanisms of the changing cosmos, then this, in turn, would help him to grasp the will of Heaven.73 However, for the majority of the literati, prying into their own chances at poverty or wealth probably remained their chief concern, and was one of the main reasons for coming into contact with a diviner. Therefore, investigating the will of Heaven often became the best rationale for the necessity of doing so. For example, in order to establish the propriety of the books he annotated and his annotation practices, Shi Tanying 釋曇瑩, a Buddhist monk proficient in the Changes, referred many times to the following adage from the twentieth chapter of the Analects when annotating a divination book:74 “If one does not know Heaven’s will, one cannot be a gentleman” (不知命，無以為君子也).75

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73 74 75

An example is Wang Qingyue 王卿月 as described by Lou Yue. Aside from “in medicine and divination, astronomy and calendrics, he was always meticulous” (醫卜星曆，動 皆 精 詣), Wang also once studied divination based on the Changes with Shao Yong’s descendants, and therefore “[of his] discussions of people’s welfare and lifespan, many were marvelously effective” (論人窮達壽夭，奇驗甚衆). One record of his own divination, however, appears to be more along the lines of a conventional prediction regarding one’s fate during the coming year, and did not intentionally refer to his personal welfare and lifespan. Lou Yue, Lou Yue ji, “Taifuqing Wang gong muzhiming”, 109.1876–1880. Hsien-huei Liao, “Exploring the Mandates of Heaven: Wen Tianxiang’s Concepts of Fate and Mantic Knowledge.” The divination book he explicated is Luoluzi san ming xiaoxi fu 珞琭子三命消息賦. This statement appears in Tanying’s text and the preface that Dong Gongquan 董公權 wrote for him; it can also often be seen in others’ works related to the Changes. Moreover, statements implying that the average person cannot attain the precognition of the sages but need the help of fortune telling and divination books, also often appear in his commentary. For example: “The rise of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, disaster and good fortune, if one is not a sage, then who can know them before they happen?” (吉凶

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Although he did not enjoy the status of a Neo-Confucian literatus, because most his friends were Neo-Confucian literati,76 the content of his annotations also often used the principle of Heaven’s will to interpret the principles of the Changes espoused by Neo-Confucians.77 Therefore we can see that the question of how to avoid skepticism and simultaneously achieve the approbation of the literati was a problem that he needed to solve. In addition, at a time when many of the mantic arts were criticized for deviating from classical divination based on the Changes, the Song literati also often rationalized the existence of these divination techniques and such diviners using the former’s derivative relationship with the Changes and the latter’s background in the study of the Changes. For example, in an essay that he gifted to a diviner, Zhen Dexiu clearly expressed a reason why one should not arbitrarily dismiss these divination techniques: “The prognostication [methods] of Yin and Yang are all tributaries or lesser branches of the Changes. [They are] trivial and are the affairs of the hundred craftsmen; [however] indeed they were truly practiced by the sages. Every [such] skill and each of the six classic arts, none of them are not urgently needed in the world, so how can we sweepingly look down upon them all?”78 In other words, these prognostication techniques and the Changes, as studied by the Neo-Confucians, are related through inheritance, and so the techniques should be respected. Another reason was that the affairs of craftspeople were necessary in the world, and “indeed they were truly practiced by the sages,” so one cannot categorically dismiss them. Scholars continued to employ the concept of the “branches of the Changes” after the Song dynasty as a way of finding a rational space for the existence of all kinds of teachings, like divination based on the Changes, the study of apocryphal texts, mantic arts dealing with Yin and Yang, or even the theories of the cosmic boards (shi 式). Quite a few scholars, in editing works related to studies of the Changes, employed this rationale for including the Han-dynasty divination based on the Changes as practiced by Jing Fang, Jiao Gan 焦贛, Fei Zhi 費直, and others, and

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禍福之興也，非聖人孰能知之於未有之前哉?). Tanying 曇瑩, Luoluzi fu zhu 珞琭 子賦注, “Dong Gongquan xu” 董公權序, 2.25a. For example, he and the Southern Song literatus Hong Mai were close friends who, moreover engaged in numerous discussions on the topic of the Changes. Hong Mai even called him “a monk of the Changes” (Yi seng 《易》僧). Hong Mai 洪邁, Rongzhai suibi 容齋隨 筆, “Kun dong ye gang” 坤動也剛, 1.10; Rongzhai xubi 容齋續筆, “Yili zhi shuo wuqiong” 義理之說無窮, 2.237–238. Tanying, Luoluzi fu zhu, “Tiyao” 提要 (Abstract). The original statement reads: 陰陽卜筮皆《易》之支流餘裔，微而百工之事，亦 聖人實為之。一能一藝，莫非世用所急，而一切薄陋之，可乎？ Liao Hsienhuei, “Chishiki kara jissen e: Shin Tokushū no Eki kyō katsuyō.”

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even Shao Yong’s Huangji jingshi.79 During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the officials of the Office of the Four Treasuries (Siku guan 四庫館) also often used this as a reason for including and editing works relevant to the mantic arts.80 We can gain a better understanding of Song literati’s deep interest in Changes divination by examining the guige 軌革 and guaying 卦影 divination, that enjoyed great popularity at that time. Based on current research, we know that people of the Song probably had no way of telling when the guige and guaying techniques were first produced, and that the methods of their execution changed over time. In particular, the simultaneous use of guige and guaying gradually evolved into methods that primarily used guaying and, later, methods that omitted illustrations entirely and directly used text to explain the results.81 However, from Song records, we can still see how they understood this technique. Basically, the Song scholars believed that this technique could be divided into two parts: guige “takes a person’s date of birth, its years, months, days, and hours, and makes it into hexagrams” (取人生、年、月、日、時成 卦);82 while guaying involves “stalk divination with the Changes, using red and green paints to represent the auspicious and inauspicious” (筮易，以丹青寓 吉凶).83 That is, after producing the hexagram, they would draw up a diagram based on its meaning and sometimes add an explanatory text. Because both the language and images produced were often difficult to understand, one usually had to wait for the results before one could finally confirm its meaning and accuracy. For example, during the Xining period (1068–1077) Tang Jiong 唐埛, who held a position in the Remonstrance Bureau, incurred the wrath of Wang Anshi over a trivial matter, and so asked a diviner for a guaying reading. He received a pictorial prophesy of “one person wearing the gold and purple of an official, holding a bow and arrow and shooting down a chicken” (一人衣 金紫，持弓箭，射落一雞). After obtaining this, Tang Jiong believed that he himself was the official holding the bow, and that he would successfully expose Wang Anshi’s crimes and cause him to lose his position. However, in the end, he merely incited the emperor’s fury and was demoted and exiled. Tang did not 79 80

81 82 83

Such as, Hu Yigui, “Yuan xu” 原序, in Zhouyi qimeng yi zhuan, 4.1a–2b, and its “Tiyao” 提 要 (Abstract). Yong Rong, Ji Yun, et al., eds., Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao, “Zibu shiba shushu lei yi” 子部 十八術數類一, 108.1a–2a; Zhang Xingcheng 張行成, Yi tong bian 易通變, “Tiyao” 提要 (Abstract); Hu Xu 胡煦, Zhouyi hanshu yue cun 周易函書約存, “Taiyi” 太乙, 15.23b–26b, and Zhouyi hanshu bieji 周易函書別集, “Yi jie bianyi” 易解辨異, 4.9a–9b. Rui Shiming 芮詩茗, “Songdai guige guaying qiantan” 宋代軌革卦影淺探. Zhang Shizheng, Kuoyi zhi, Buyi 補遺 (Supplement), 71; Zeng Zao 曾慥, Lei shuo jiaozhu 類說校注, “Fei Xiaoxian fanwei” 費孝先範圍, 24.744. Zhu Yu 朱彧, Pingzhou ke tan 萍洲可談, 3.7a–8a.

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accuse the guaying reading of inaccuracy, but rather blamed himself for interpreting the image incorrectly.84 In reality, aside from their high degree of accuracy, the close connection between the guige and guaying techniques and the Changes may have been a further reason why the literati were drawn to them. In his book of miscellaneous notes, Dongpo zhi lin 東坡志林 (Dongpo’s Forest of Records), Su Shi once touched on the development of guige and guaying divination during the Song and its origins in the Changes. In the second year of the Zhihe period of Emperor Renzong’s reign (1055), when Fei Xiaoxian 費孝先 of Chengdu traveled to Meishan 眉 山, he encountered an elderly person with precognitive abilities: “he inherited the techniques of guige and guaying divination of the Changes” (受以《易》軌革卦影之術).85 In the text, he unnecessarily rounds off his description of the guige and guaying techniques by labeling them as part of the Changes to demonstrate their subordinate relationship to it, or even their equivalency. This sort of description clearly connects these techniques with the authority of the Classics. Later, Shao Bo describes the relationship between the two, guaying and the Changes, in greater detail: “Today’s common view is that guaying divination is indeed the study of the images in the Changes” (今世俗 為卦影者，亦《易》之象學也).86 In other words, guaying techniques formed part of the study of divination based on the Changes.

4

Conclusion

From the above, we can appreciate that Song literati, whether divining for themselves based on the Changes, or using other mantic arts to predict the future, would probably have faced ridicule and skepticism from adherents to the Confucian position. In attempting to legitimize their practices of performing divination through the casting of lots and calculating fortunes, the Song literati not only made efforts to display the required attire, ritual, sincerity, and skills for the occasion, but also invoked the Neo-Confucian principle of “understanding the will of Heaven” (zhiming 知命) as the power behind good or ill fortune; they even employed the canonical position of the Changes to raise the status of all kinds of mantic arts. It appears impossible to measure with any precision the degree to which these efforts relieved the pressures and criticisms associated with attempting to foresee one’s good or ill fortune. However, we can 84 85 86

Wei Tai 魏泰, Dongxuan bilu 東軒筆錄, 11.129. Su Shi, Dongpo zhi lin, “Fei Xiaoxian guaying” 費孝先卦影, 3.71–72. Shao Bo, Shao shi wenjian houlu, 29.227–228.

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be certain that the appeal of Changes divination and other mantic arts did not appear to diminish as a result, and the different methods were not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Acknowledgements I originally wrote this chapter in Chinese. I thank Sarah Basham for translating the chapter into English, and also Tze-ki Hon for editing the English translation.

Bibliography Abbreviations qsbj: Quan Song biji 全宋筆記. Zhengzhou: Daxiang chubanshe, 2003–2018. skqs: Siku quanshu 四庫全書. Repr. Yingyin Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景印文淵閣四 庫全書. Taipei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1983.

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Gao Huaimin 高懷民. Song Yuan Ming Yixue shi 宋元明易學史. Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2007. Ho, Peng Yoke. Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching Out to the Stars. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Hon, Tze-ki. The Yijing and Chinese Politics: Classical Commentary and Literati Activism in the Northern Song Period, 960–1127. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. Jin Shengyang 金生揚. “Songdai junchen jiang Yi kao” 宋代君臣講《易》考. Zhouyi yanjiu 周易研究 2004.6: 32–39. Jin Shengyang 金生楊. “Taixuan yanjiu shi qianlun” 《太玄》研究史淺論. Xihua daxue xuebao (Zhexue shehui kexue ban) 西華大學學報（哲學社會科學版） 27.1 (2008): 16–18, 27. Li Xiangjun 李祥俊. “Bei Song zhu ru lun Yang Xiong” 北宋諸儒論揚雄. Chongqing shehui kexue 重慶社會科學 2005.12: 31–34. Liao Hsien-huei 廖咸惠. “Chishiki kara jissen e: Shin Tokushū no Eki kyō katsuyō” 知識 から實踐へ：真德秀の『易經』活用. In Chūgoku dentō e no shikaku 中國傳統へ の視角, edited by Sōdaishi kenkyūkai, 宋代史研究會, Sōdaishi kenkyūkai kenkyū hōkoku shū daijū shū 宋代史研究會研究報告集第十集, 191–234. Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 2015. Liao, Hsien-huei. “Critique and Recognition: Mantic Arts and Practitioners in Song Literati’s Writings.” Forthcoming in Handbook of Prognostication and Prediction in China, edited by Michael Lackner and Zhao Lu, vol. 1. Leiden: Brill. Liao, Hsien-huei. “Exploring the Mandates of Heaven: Wen Tianxiang’s Concepts of Fate and Mantic Knowledge.” In Coping with the Future: Theories and Practices of Divination in East Asia, edited by Michael Lackner, 299–344. Leiden: Brill, 2018. Liao Hsien-huei 廖咸惠. “Qiqiu shen qi: Songdai keju kaosheng de chongbai xingwei yu minjian xinyang” 祈求神啟：宋代科舉考生的崇拜行為與民間信仰. Xin shixue 新史學 15.4 (2004): 41–92. Liao Hsien-huei 廖咸惠. “Tiyan ‘xiaodao’: Songdai shiren shenghuo zhong de shushi yu shushu” 體驗「小道」：宋代士人生活中的術士與術數. Xin shixue 新史學 20.4 (2009): 1–58. Liao Hsien-huei 廖咸惠. “Xiantan, jishi yu duihua: Song ren biji yu shushu zhishi de chuandi” 閒談、紀實與對話：宋人筆記與術數知識的傳遞. Qinghua xuebao 清華 學報, Xin 新 48.2 (2018): 387–418. Liu Chengguo 劉成國. “Lun Tang Song jian de ‘zun Yang’ sichao yu guwen yundong” 論 唐宋間的「尊揚」思潮與古文運動. Wenxue yichan 文學遺產 2011.2: 68–81. Rui Shiming 芮詩茗. “Songdai guige guaying qiantan” 宋代軌革卦影淺探. Zhouyi yanjiu 周易研究 2009, no. 1: 76–81. Skonicki, Douglas. “Northern Song Discourse on Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing.” Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, n.s., 44.4 (2014): 541–587.

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Skonicki, Douglas. “The Life and Legend of Chong Fang: The Journey from Recluse to Imperial Favorite to Master of Yi Learning.” Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, n.s., 48.2 (2018): 287–326. Smith, Kidder Jr., Peter K. Bol, Joseph A. Adler, and Don J. Wyatt. Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. Wang Tie 王鐵. Songdai Yixue shi 宋代易學史. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2005. Zheng Jixiong 鄭吉雄. “Lun xiangshu quan Yi de xiaoyong yu xianzhi” 論象數詮《易》 的效用與限制. Zhongguo wen zhe yanjiu qikan 中國文哲研究期刊 2006.29: 205–236. Zhu Hanmin 朱漢民. Xuanxue yu lixue de xueshu sixiang lilu 玄學與理學的學術思想 理路. Taipei: Taida chuban zhongxin, 2011. Zhu Ruixi 朱瑞熙. Songchao jingyan zhidu 宋朝經筵制度. In Zhonghua wenshi luncong 中華文史論叢, vol. 55. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1996. Zou He 鄒賀. “Songchao jingyan zhidu yanjiu” 宋朝經筵制度研究. Ph.D. diss., Shaanxi Shifan Daxue 陝西師範大學, 2010.

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chapter 5

Prediction Based on the Past: Yang Wanli’s (1127–1206) Commentary on the Changes Stéphane feuillas

This chapter examines how the literati in the Northern Song Dynasty (960– 1127) read the Book of Changes (or Yijing) as a historical text in order to promote a political agenda. The main question it addresses is, in fact, a simple one: in imperial China, history had long been used as a way to warn rulers of the potentially disastrous consequences of their personal and political misconduct, and the title of Sima Guang’s 司馬光 (1019–1086) historical compendium, the Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑒 (A Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), clearly highlighted the edifying value of historical writing. Why, then, was it necessary for some scholars of the Southern Song dynasty to intertwine historical events with explanations of the various hexagrams and lines from the Book of Changes? To answer the question, I will focus on the Yijing commentary of Yang Wanli 楊萬里 (1127–1206), the Chengzhai Yizhuan 誠齋易傳 (Commentary on the Changes from the Studio of Authenticity).

1

Yang Wanli and His Commentary

Born in 1127 in Jishui 吉水 county of Jiangxi province into a poor family with no record of holding high office, Yang Wanli first passed his jinshi examination in 1154 and served in several minor local posts until 1170.1 As far as his political activities were concerned, the most important event that occurred during those years was his meeting, in 1162, with famed general Zhang Jun 張浚 (1097– 1164), who was then living in retirement, in disgrace due to his opposition to the appeasement policies of Emperor Gaozong 高宗 (1127–1162). However, in 1163, when Gaozong abdicated in favor of Xiaozong 孝宗 (r. 1162–1189), Zhang Jun was recalled as prime minister and recommended Yang, who agreed with him regarding the necessity to adopt an aggressive policy toward the Jin Tar-

1 I use here the short biographical account of Yang Wanli by J.D. Schmidt, in his article “Ch’an, Illusion, and Sudden Enlightenment in the Poetry of Yang Wan-li,” 234ff.

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tars, for a central government post. However, due to his father’s death, Yang did not enter the capital until 1170. He thereafter became considered as an exemplary Confucian scholar, known for his various, distinguished memorials he sent to Xiaozong from 1070 onward which displayed the political and military weaknesses of the imperial court. He was subsequently appointed to various minor posts in the provinces (as far as modern Guangzhou) and, in 1084, was resummoned to court, where he recommended Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200). He was demoted to a minor post in 1087 for having angered Xiaozong, before being recalled by Emperor Guangzong 光宗 (1189–1194) on Xiaozong’s abdication in 1089. Having been demoted two years later, he retired from public life in 1093 and never resumed public service. Yang is best known as a poet and his political career is quite shallow compared to his achievements in terms of his poetical and literary writings. Having composed more than 2,400 poems, being celebrated as one of the four masters of the Southern Song, together with Lu You 陸游 (1125–1210), Fan Chengda 范 成大 (1126–1193), and You Mao 尤袤 (1127–1194). In addition to writing literary prose and memoirs, Yang composed. In addition to two important texts that may stand as his personal accomplishment regarding more theoretical topics: the Yongyan 庸言, Ordinary Words or Words for Practical Use, and a commentary on the Book of Changes, the Chengzhai Yizhuan, whose title is linked to his appellaton, “Studio of Authenticity.” The first work may be considered a kind of yulu 語錄 (“collection of sayings”) as it is written in refined classical Chinese; it considers various questions that had been previously explored by the Cheng 程 brothers and others thinkers of the Northern Song dynasty. By writing it, Yang proves himself an honest, loyal heir of the eleventh century Daoxue 道學 movement, through his praise of the Cheng brothers, Zhang Zai 張載 (1020– 1078), and Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073). The Chengzhai Yizhuan was completed on August 25 1188 following, according Yang Wanli’s son, Yang Changru 楊 長 孺 (1157–1236), seventeen years of ongoing efforts.2 Yang had long been trained in the Changes since childhood, for his father was a well-known expert on the book. Yang also was partly educated under the guidance and friendship of Hu Quan 胡銓 (1102–1180). As the Annotated Catalog of the Complete Imperial Library (Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要) states:

2 See Yang Changru 楊長孺, “Shen guan Yizhuan zhuang” 申關易傳狀, in Yang Wanli 楊萬 里, Chengzhai Yizhuan 誠齋易傳.

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Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249) entirely rejected images and numbers and explained [the Zhouyi] by using the Laozi and the Zhuangzi. One change occurred and Hu Yuan 胡瑗 (993–1059) and Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107) started to clearly outline the Confucian principles. After a second change, Li Guang 李光 (1078–1159) and Yang Wanli once more verified and proved it with historical events. The Changes then attracted attention day after day and the two schools and six branches were then fighting and contradicting each other.3 In this general account, the editors of the Siku quanshu drew a distinction, at the end of the eighteenth century, between the main interpretative lines in commentaries on the Changes: with images and numbers, on the one hand, and moral principles, on the other. Among the second line, Yang Wanli and Li Guang—who wrote an extant commentary entitled Detailed Explanations while Reading the Changes (Du Yi xiangshuo 讀易詳説)—are labeled as the best representatives of a “branch” that was mainly concerned with drawing connections between sentences attached to hexagrams or lines and historical facts. Although this trend of interpretation was despised by the editors of the Song Yuan xuean 宋元學案 as “a small or minor branch” (xiaozong 小宗), it nevertheless attracted many followers in the commentarial history of the Changes: great thinkers, such as Wang Fuzhi 王夫之 (1619–1692), for instance, developed the same hermeneutical line in many comments on his Zhouyi waizhuan. Since the mid-1980s, many attempts have been made to provide more space and value regarding that kind of blending of the Changes with historical events, as shown by a chapter entirely devoted to the Chengzhai Yizhuan in Zhu Bokun’s 朱伯昆 Yixue zhexueshi 易學哲學史 (Philosophical History of Yi Learning).4 The Chengzhai yizhuan was initally called Zhouyi waizhuan 周易外傳, An External Commentary on the Book of Changes, and this first title could be interpreted in two different ways: first, the book may be considered a parallel work that does not deal exclusively with an explanation of the Changes as a whole but aims, rather, to deliver thoughts inspired by various principles found in the canon; second, it could refer to the secondary status of this work in comparison to the commentary of Cheng Yi. As Yang Wanli repeatedly writes in his book,

3 Yong Rong 永瑢, Ji Yun 紀昀, et al., eds., Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要, Jingbu 經部, juan 1, “Yilei xiaoxu” 易類小序. The original statement is: 王弼盡黜象數，說 以老莊。一變而胡瑗、程子，始闡明儒理，再變而李光、楊萬里，又參証史事， 《易》遂日啟其論端。此兩派六宗，已互相攻駁. 4 Yixue zhexueshi 易學哲學史, 2:361–380. See also Lü Shaogang 呂紹綱, Yixue yu shixue 易 學與史學, 321–334.

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the achievement of Cheng Yi’s Yichuan Yizhuan 伊川易傳 (The Yi River Commentary on The Changes) is such that it could barely be surpassed in terms of clarity, simplicity, or accuracy. In this sense, wai 外 “external” should be more precisely translated as “outer,” meaning that nothing in the general outline need be added to Cheng Yi’s work apart from illustrative examples reaffirming the theoretical frame of the yili tradition. In fact, at the end of the Song dynasty and in Yuan times, the circulation of Yang Wanli’s commentary matched that of Cheng Yi’s commentary, and printers and book-sellers even edited a book called Cheng Yang yizhuan 程楊易傳, or A Commentary on The Changes by Cheng [Yi] and Yang [Wanli]. In the general preface to his commentary, written on August 25 1188, Yang Wanli begins by characterizing what The Changes is. As a book, it speaks only of modifications whose scope ranges from natural change (from the “Great Limit,” Taiji 太極, to the Yin and Yang polarity, to the Five Agents) to humankind and the myriad of things, and to human affairs. This general movement of change, modification, and transformation is infinite and has never varied from the antiquity to the present times. Bian 變, “modification,” could mean visible change, instead of hua 化, “continuous and invisible change,” “a change of nature” from Yang to Yin and vice-versa, or even, more generally, simply change. Yang Wanli then adds: When [a change] appears, gain and loss alternate and, at its end, good order and disorder alternate. The Sages were worried and therefore reflected in the invisible its continuous trend and traced back the source of its intent. That is the reason for producing The Changes … The Changes was made for speaking of modifications. The Changes is a book where the Sages fully understood the modifications. When they explored completely the principle and developed to the utmost their nature, when they harmonized their family and managed the State, when they were in a visible position or from old in poverty, when they resided in constancy or encountered modifications, when they formed a triad with Heaven and Earth, fused in unity with ghosts and spirits, as soon as a change in the myriad of affairs occurred, the beginning of the modification and its continuous trend was first established. Modifications occur here and there5 and, if its beginning is found, the fool can be turned into a wise person, bad people can be purified, the sick can grow prosperous, danger can be turned into peace, disorder into order, a person can develop him/herself

5 “A change here is a change there.”

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to become a sage or worthy person, and the generations can achieve harmony, as easily as one is turning back one’s hand.6 Two elements should be emphasized here. Firstly, the book as a whole states that everything is uncertain and subject to alteration. Change occurs everywhere, constantly. Secondly, at the same time, everything may be modified: bad things can always be turned to the contrary as soon as the source of each peculiar change has been identified and perceived in its inchoative movement. The way to achieve such a reversal is, according to Yang Wanli, the “way of centrality and uprightness” (zhongzheng 中正之道), referring here to the virtues of the second line and the fifth hexagram which, lying as they do at the center of the two trigrams, provide a comprehensive understanding of the implied situation and also of the correctness of the position of the lines (Yang nature in an odd position, Yin nature in an even one). Nothing seems to be new in this general outline of The Changes. Most of the elements noted here have been developed since the commentary of Wang Bi and elaborated upon by the hermeneutical principles of the Daoxue movement. Nevertheless, these ideas of the yili-oriented trend of interpretation should be placed within the general context of the twelfth century. Yang Wanli is one of the few commentators of his time who rejected the principles proposed by Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077),7 whose influence was most significant regarding the divinatory and theoretical practices associated with The Book of Changes. Although, in the postscript, Yang failed to explain why he included mass historical facts to explain the hexagrams, it is clear that he avoided indulging in philosophical speculation as far as possible.8 He also attempted

6 Yang Wanli, Chengzhai Yizhuan, “Original Preface” (“Yuanxu” 原序), 3a–b. The original statement reads: 其作也，一得一失，而其究也，一治一亂。聖人有憂焉，於是幽觀其 通而逆紬其圖，易之所以作也。… 易之為言變也。易者聖人通變之書也。其窮理 盡性，其正心修身，其齊家治國，其處顯，其傃窮，其居常，其遭變，其參天 地，合鬼神，萬事之變方來，而變通之道先立。變在彼，變在此，得其道者，蚩 可哲，慝可淑，眚可福，危可安，亂可治，致身聖賢而躋世泰和，猶反手也. 7 On this point, see the Song Yuan xue’an 宋元學案, “Zhao Zhang zhuru xue’an” 趙張諸儒學 案, 44.1426. 8 See the “Original Preface,” 3a–b: “Only centrality is able to hit at the center what is not centered in the world; only uprightness is able to set right what is not right in the world. When centrality and uprightness are established, the myriad of changes operate by circulating. This is the sage order of the two emperors [Yao and Shun] and of the three kings [of the first dynasties], this is the sage doctrine of Confucius and of [his disciple] Yan Hui. The subsequent generations either, thinking that the change of things could not disturb our minds, took these [two virtues] and rejected them in the void, thereby bringing disorder to the world under heaven, or, thinking that those changes were insufficient to abide in our art, took them

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to follow in Cheng Yi’s footsteps and read The Changes from the perspective of moral cultivation and political affairs.

2

Using Historical Events to Elucidate The Book of Changes

Based on the above discussion, it is, therefore, necessary to turn to the actual reading of Yang’s commentary to examine the use and value of history regarding the interpretation of The Changes. Most modern scholars have noted that the use of historical events to illustrate certain aspects of the hexagrams may be traced back to The Changes. First of all, the “Xici” 繫辭 describes the composition of the book in the transition between the Shang and Zhou dynasties and traces the development of human civilization through a set of hexagrams, beginning from the time of Fuxi 伏羲 until Yao 堯 and Shun 舜.9 Historical characters are mentioned in certain hexagrams, such as Di Yi 帝乙 of the Shang dynasty and his minister Jizi 箕子 in the Mingyi 明夷 ䷣ hexagram (no. 36),10 or King Wu of the Zhou dynasty in the Ge 革 ䷰ hexagram (no. 49). Even the silk manuscripts of The Changes at Mawangdui, and more precisely the “Muhe” 繆 和 (“Joyful harmony”) text, mention regarding the Kun 困 ䷮ hexagram (no. 47) a sequence of historical events. Examples may be found in the interpretations of Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127–200), Yu Fan 虞翻 (164–233), and Gan Bao 干寶 (286– 336).11 A tradition had, therefore, been established long before Yang Wanli, and even some Northern Song scholars like Hu Yuan and Cheng Yi from time to time resort to historical events to illustrate a difficult point in the interpretation of a line. What differentiates commentators like Li Guang and Yang Wanli from this casual, incidental recourse to history is their extended use of it: around four hundred examples can be found in the Chengzhai Yizhuan, taken from historical sources, beginning with the Classics (especially the Shangshu 尚書) until the Song dynasty.

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firmly in hand through cunning and trickery, thereby bringing more disorder to the world.” 唯中為能中天下之不中，唯正為能正天下之不正，中正立而萬變通，此二帝 三王之聖治，孔子顏孟之聖學也。後世或以事物之變為不足以攖吾心，舉而 捐之於空虛者，是亂天下者也，不然以為不足以遁吾術，挈而持之以權譎者， 是愈亂天下者也. See “Xici,” ii.2 and ii.7. See Gu Jiegang 顧頡剛, “Zhouyi gua yao ci zhong de gushi” 周易卦爻辭中的故事 (Events as Expressed in the Oracular Sentences of the Book of Changes), in Gushi bian 古史辨 (Evaluations of Ancient Historiography), 1–42. These examples were recorded in the commentary compiled by Li Dingzuo 李鼎祚 (ca. eighth century), the Zhouyi jijie 周易集解.

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Generally speaking, Yang Wanli uses historical facts to elucidate The Changes and, at the same time, the principles of The Changes to explain history. The first example of this occurs at the very beginning of the text, when Yang Wanli comments on the first line of the first hexagram, Qian 乾 ䷀ “the Creative”: “Nine at the beginning: Hidden dragon. Not to be put into use”: Nine at the beginning is the beginning of the lines of the “Creative” and its position is the lowest. Therefore, it is described as a hidden dragon. Because it is already stated that it is hidden, even if one wished to use it, how could it be so? That is why [the Yi] says: “Not to be put into use.” The word wu 勿 means to be stopped. Gan Bao pretended that this is the line of King Wen being imprisoned in Youli. This is incorrect. In Youli, the Sage encountered misfortune; he was not hidden. Master Cheng rightly states that “Shun was in a low position.”12 Somebody asked: Shun was poor and of low rank, he never wanted to gain employment; [on the contrary], when Master Kong was in the same situation, he never wanted to remain unemployed. Why is this so? I answered: when order prevails, the Sage embodies constant practices; when disorder prevails, the Sage adapts to change. If Shun and Master Kong could have swapped places, [they would have reacted in] the same way.13 Immediately prior to this comment, Yang had stated that the dragon is an image of spiritual power, that of Heaven and Earth, which is unfathomable. If we examine closely these explanations and the place of historical events in Yang’s comment, we notice that he first produces a relatively common, didactic commentary on the position of the line, while he glosses over the exact wording of the Yi, assuming that the use of language in The Changes has been deliberately and accurately reflected upon by King Wen and the Duke of Zhou. Yang then proceeds to dispel an historical example provided by Gan Bao and recorded in the Li Dingzuo’s 李鼎祚 Zhouyi jijie 周易集解 (Collected Explanations on the Book of Changes). Historical examples must then be accurate and precise, such as that proposed by Cheng Yi, quoting the Book of Documents. The response to

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Quoting The Book of Documents (Shujing 書 經), “Shun dian” 舜 典 (“Canon of Shun”): Yushun ce wei 虞舜側微。 Yang Wanli, Chengzhai Yizhuan, 1.7a–b. The original statement reads: 初九，乾爻之始， 而位之最下者也。故為龍之潛，既曰潛矣，雖欲用之，於何用之？故曰勿用。 勿云者，止之也。干寶謂文王在羑里之爻，非也。羑里聖人之不幸也，非潛 也。程子謂舜之側微是也。或曰舜窮而在下，未嘗欲自用，孔子窮而在下， 未嘗欲勿用，何也？曰：治則聖體其常，亂則聖通其變。舜、孔子易地皆然.

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a final objection intends to solve a problem that might trouble those new to the study of The Changes. Shun and Master Kong were both sages: why then did they adopt different attitudes and behaviors? The answer lies, not in their position (both were low), but in the time and situation, and so not exactly in their attitude. As noted before, Yang’s commentary is similar to that of Cheng Yi. It starts with glosses and explanations of the principles underlying the line. Only then does the historical proof appear as not only an illustration but also a development of the principle. The second comment on the third line of the same hexagram reads: Nine in the third place: All day long, the superior person is creatively active. At nightfall, his mind is still beset with cares. Danger. No blame. (九三，君子終日乾乾，夕惕若，厲无咎.)14 Yang remarks: All six lines of the creative possess the power of the dragon; therefore it is stated [later]: “the six dragons.” Why is the third line not referred to as a dragon but as an accomplished man? In speaking of the dragon, the sentence refers to its unfathomable power, obtained after its brightness; in speaking of an accomplished person, the sentence refers to the brightness that arises from its unfathomable power; but both have the virtue of a ruler. The third line occupies with this virtue the upper position of the lower trigram; the honorable and low positions are not yet fixed and there is no greater danger; hence, the word li 厲, meaning perilous. Things being so, the sage warns of a danger which has not come close and allows one to avoid being blamed. Why may it come? In such a situation, there is a way: to be active and creative all day long without cease and, when night falls, to remain anxious, zealous in the pursuit of virtue and apprehensive about one’s position; then danger recedes and what blame can there be? Master Cheng refers here to the time where the obscure power of Shun grew and became visible. Qianqian 乾乾 indicates “active and vigorous.” Nevertheless, if it is certain that the third line encounters danger but no blame, there are also cases where there exists both danger and blame! I would say that Chiyou [the enemy of the Yellow Emperor], Houyi [the 14

I use here the translation by Richard Wilhelm, rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes, in The I Ching or Book of Changes, 8. Unless otherwise specified, all translations from the classic are drawn from this book.

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mythical archer], Wang Mang (45 bce–23), and Zhuo, when they were in a high position, were haughty toward their inferiors and, when they were in a low position, anxious not to attain a higher one. Arrogance leads to laziness: is that to be zealous in the progress of virtue? Anxiety leads to greed: is that fearing one’s position? Therefore, in the end, they should die. One asked: And what about Cao Cao (155–220) and Sima Yi (179–261)? I answered: The Han dynasty faced a radical change and became the Wei so, according to me, even after three generations, their expectations were not forgotten; the Wei encountered another radical change and became the Jin and, even after two generations, their expectations were not forgotten either. If the Wei and Jin dynasty were not sufficient proof, the warning of the third line would be pointless.15 The structure of the argumentation in this passage is highly similar to the previous one. Historical events, presented as proofs of the meaning of the lines, are always found at the end in two parts: a positive one (here the case of Shun) and a negative one (the case of Cao Cao and Sima Yi). In between, Yang answers a possible objection by providing examples of feudal rulers or ministers who exceeded their limited powers, forgot their actual position, and failed to anticipate the consequences of their misbehavior. The historical illustration is grounded on certain basic assumptions which are not clearly stated here, but are explicit in other texts by Yang Wanli. Most examples concern the relation15

Yang Wanli, Chengzhai Yizhuan, 1.8a–b. The original statement reads: 乾之六爻皆龍德 也，故曰六龍。九三不言龍而曰君子何也？言龍者明而神，言君子者神而明， 皆君德也。九三以君人之德，處下位之上，尊卑未定，危莫大焉。故曰厲， 厲危也。然聖人戒以厲之未幾而許以无咎之可必何也？於此有道，終日乾乾 然而無息，至夕猶惕惕若而自懼，勤於德而懼於位，則危者安矣。何咎之有？ 程子謂此爻舜之玄德升聞時也。乾乾者，猶曰健健云耳。雖然，九三危而无 咎，信矣，亦有危而有咎者乎！曰有蚩尤、后羿、莽、卓在上而驕其下，在 下而憂其不為上。驕則有懈心，何德之勤？憂則有覦心，何位之懼？故終亦 必亡而已矣。或曰：不有操、懿乎？曰：漢一變而為魏，蓋三世希不失矣， 魏一變而為晉，蓋再世希不失矣，使魏晉不足徵，則乾乾夕惕之戒妄矣。乾 之六爻皆龍德也，故曰六龍。九三不言龍而曰君子何也？言龍者明而神，言 君子者神而明，皆君德也。九三以君人之德，處下位之上，尊卑未定，危莫 大焉。故曰厲，厲危也。然聖人戒以厲之未幾而許以无咎之可必何也？於此 有道，終日乾乾然而無息，至夕猶惕惕若而自懼，勤於德而懼於位，則危者 安矣。何咎之有？程子謂此爻舜之玄德升聞時也。乾乾者，猶曰健健云耳。 雖然，九三危而无咎，信矣，亦有危而有咎者乎！曰有蚩尤、后羿、莽、卓 在上而驕其下，在下而憂其不為上。驕則有懈心，何德之勤？憂則有覦心， 何位之懼？故終亦必亡而已矣。或曰：不有操、懿乎？曰：漢一變而為魏， 蓋三世希不失矣，魏一變而為晉，蓋再世希不失矣，使魏晉不足徵，則乾乾 夕惕之戒妄矣.

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ship between ruler and minister, the jun-chen 君臣 complex. History is also read according to a general hermeneutic principle; namely, the idea that each trend should be understood in parallel with the deciphering of the hexagrams in terms of the balance of power between several forces, sometimes agonistic and sometimes collaborating. Finally, as this example clearly hints, history is a “psychological” history, enlightening the human passions and the degree of self-cultivation of their protagonists. As Yang Wanli regularly affirms in poems and other texts, if history could mirror actual situations and serve as a tool for the government in the present time, people from all times could share constant feelings (chang qing 常情). “What the people in olden times did is also what people can do” (guren ye ren de zuo 古人也人得作).16 Thus, the rationality and intelligibility of history is to be found in The Changes. For instance, when commenting on the “Judgement” (Tuan 彖) of the third hexagram, Zhun 屯 ䷂, “Difficulty in the beginning”: Difficulty in the beginning causes supreme success, furthering through perseverance. Nothing should be undertaken. It furthers one to appoint helpers. (屯，元亨利貞，勿用有攸往，利建侯.)17 Yang Wanli starts by defining the character zhun: When breaths begin to merge without being already cleared, when things stand upright without having unfolded, when there exist multiple difficulties in the word without yet harmony, this is called Zhun: difficulty in the beginning.18 He then proceeds to outline his own understanding of the method encapsulated in the hexagram: Things in the state of “difficulty at the beginning” search to expand themselves, and times in the same state also search to expand themselves. Things being so, when times in the state of “difficulty at the beginning”

16

17 18

Xin Gengru 辛更儒, Yang Wanli ji jianjiao 楊萬里集箋校, juan 38, p. 1954. See also ibid., juan 10: “Modern people only mock the silly people of olden times/but these people laugh at you and you don’t even know it” ( jinren zhi xiao guren chi, guren xiao jun jun bu zhi 今 人隻笑古人癡，古人笑君君不知). Literally, “It is beneficial to establish feudal lords”. Wilhelm, The I Ching, 16. Yang Wanli, Chengzhai Yizhuan, 2.1a (氣始交未暘曰屯，物句萌未舒曰屯，世多難 未泰曰屯).

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search to expand themselves, there is a threefold way [to achieve development]. Only the utmost uprightness is able to rectify what is wrong in the world, which is why [the Classic] states: “It is beneficial to be correct”; only by not being in a rush is one able to succeed rapidly; that is why the Classic states: “Nothing should be undertaken”; only with many helpers is one able to defeat little helpers, which is why the Classic says: “It is beneficial to establish feudal lords.”19 Having clarified the field of application of the hexagram, which describes natural events, things and affairs, and political times, Yang Wanli interprets the divinatory formulae attached to the sign in a tripartite manner: in such a political situation, one must ponder one’s position, the course and speed of one’s action, and the balance of powers, exemplified here by the helpers and feudal lords. As in Cheng Yi’s commentary, the three sentences of the “Judgment” are understood as a sequence, building a proper method. Then arises the historical embodiment of this method that can transcend difficulties related to the creation of a new reality. Unsurprisingly, he refers to the strengthening of the power of Gaozu 高祖 in the incipient building of the Han dynasty: When Gaodi of the Han (Liu Bang 劉邦, 256–195 bce) pacified the disorder of the Qin and that created by Xiang Yu (232–202bce), he suppressed the Qin’s harsh laws, and expressed his condolences to the usurping emperor: he obtained the beneficial integrity of the hexagram. When he was called King not in Guanzhong but in Shu-Han, he silently yearned to build his country but did not dare to hurry: he obtained [the second way of Zhun]: Nothing should be undertaken. During the meeting of Guling20 (202), the feudal lords failed to arrive, so he hastily abandoned the Qi and the Liang countries, and it was only by making Han Xin 韓信 (231– 196bce) and Peng Yue 彭越 (?–196bce) kings that he obtained important helpers. The two emperors [Yao and Shun] and the Three Kings [of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties] [embodied] the “unfolding” required in “difficulties at the beginning”; although Gaodi failed to attain this virtue, he obtained his goal. What would have happened had he reached it?21

19

20 21

Ibid., 2.1a–b. The original statement reads: 物屯求亨，時屯亦求亨。然時屯求亨， 其道有三，惟至正為能正天下之不正，故曰利貞；惟不欲速為能成功之速， 故曰勿用有攸往；惟多助為能克寡助，故曰利建侯. In present-day Henan, south of Taikang 太康. Yang Wanli, Chengzhai Yizhuan, 2.1b. The original statement reads: 漢高帝平秦項之亂， 除秦苛法，為義帝發喪，得屯之利貞；不王之關中而王之蜀漢，隱忍就國而

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As many of the sentences in this passage show, Yang Wanli is using the narrative written by Sima Qian 司馬遷 (ca. 145–90 bce) in the Historical Records and provides reasons for the success of Liu Bang as the founder of a new dynastic regime. He also provides elements for evaluating the accomplishment of Gaozu. In this way, this commentary functions almost like a zan 讚, a eulogy or praise that historians place at the end of a biography. We might also detect here, as elsewhere in Yang’s commentary, an implicit warning about the actual situation in twelfth-century China, as he faced difficulties in establishing his own power over the persistent threat from the northern kingdoms.

3

History and Prediction of the Future: Some Concluding Remarks

Yang Wanli was not an historian, nor was he commissioned to write historical records of the former and present emperors of his time. He was never appointed to the Bureau of Historiography. As we have shown in the above examples, history is mainly used in his commentary to illustrate the political principles enclosed in the sentences attached to the lines and signs; they provide concrete images of what one should consider when engaging in a definite course of action, of which the parameters should be taken into account, and also of the general mood or state of consciousness of the one who attempts to put changes in practice. In fact, historical events are evaluated on the basis of the two main principles developed in The Changes according to Yang: the “centrality” and “uprightness” of the position. Although we have only touched briefly on certain characteristics through providing three examples, the same reasoning applies when a ruler is implied or a minister involved in a specific course of action. The Changes, then, explains history, illuminates the motives of the actors in the historical narrative, helps to characterize their “sagehood,” their failure and achievement to cultivate themselves, and unites all of the inner forces that should be taken into account under one historical trend. On the other hand, history explains The Changes by providing concrete, tangible access to the principles. The movement is then circular. The Book of Changes provides a whole rationale for interpreting human conduct in the social and political field. This idea is based on the traditional, basic assumption that human feelings do not change and that, as Yang Wanli puts it, 不敢校，得屯之勿用有攸往；會固陵而諸侯不至，亟捐齊梁，以王信越得屯 之利建侯。二帝三王，亨屯之三道，高帝未及也，而亨屯之功如此，而況及 之者乎.

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The past is the mirror of the present and the present times are the ground of the future.22 This means not only that time is a continuum and there is no discontinuity in either time and history but also that, if we take The Changes for granted, what started in the invisible and the barely perceptible has consequences nowadays, that the present is an inflated past and that the future is a growing and evolving present. One of the most difficult sentences in the “Shuogua” 說 卦 commentary reads: Counting that which is going into the past depends on a forward movement. Knowing that which is to come depends on a backward movement. This is why The Book of Changes has backward-moving numbers. (數往者 順，知來者逆，是故易逆數也.)23 Yang explains this as follows: What is called knowing in advance is the Way of The Changes, and it does not specially designate knowing the future by practicing divination. Divination is just one of the several aspects of The Changes. The Way of The Changes is merely this: because toward the gain and losses of the past one remembers and follows their [fixed] numbers, toward the coming gains and losses one looks back and knows in advance. By seeing somebody trading on frost, one will know that solid ice must arrive24 because, in the imperceptible, already past, one knows the manifest which is to come. By seeing the light of the sun, one knows that skewed rays of the sun will bring misfortune because, in the past prosperity, one knows the coming decay. In addition, by knowing the future through the past, it is always possible to foresee it. “When a part of the flesh presented in sacrifice was not sent to him, Master Kong departed.”25 “When the sweet wine was no 22 23 24

25

In Xin Gengru, Yang Wanli ji jianjiao, 88.3484 (古者今之鏡；今者以後之柢). Wilhelm, The I Ching, 265. The image is taken from the second hexagram of the Changes, the Receptive (Kun 坤 ䷁), line 1: “Six at the beginning means: When there is hoarfrost underfoot, solid ice is not far off.” (初六，履霜，堅冰至). Ibid., p. 13. A quotation from Mengzi 孟子, “Gaozi” 告子, B.26: “When Confucius was Chief Minister of Justice in Lu, the prince began to ignore his counsels. Shortly afterward, there was a solstitial sacrifice and, when a part of the flesh from the sacrifice was not sent to him, he departed, without even removing his ceremonial cap. Those who did not know him sup-

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longer served, Mu Sheng left.”26 […] therefore the [“Shuogua”] says: “The Changes has backward-moving numbers.”27 The statement is clear: the Changes is not primarily a divinatory book. Divination is just one aspect of it and more important are the principles that it encapsulates. Although I have followed Wilhelm’s translation of shu 數 as “numbers,” this term should be understood as a definite set of conditions that allows one to see the propensity of a situation. All of the examples provided by Yang— Confucius as a Minister of Justice being no longer followed by the ruler of Lu 魯, Mu Sheng the counsellor of Lu praised by the King of Chu and progressively discarded by his successor—show signs of the future that are to be properly interpreted in order to inspire a new course of action. By meditating on the past through the general principles deciphered in The Changes, one then, according to Yang Wanli, is able not only to read history (that is, understand historical events in their course and their fading) but also to anticipate situations and adjust one’s conduct accordingly. This conclusion may sound obvious to readers familiar with the yili trend of interpretation, as conceived first by Wang Bi and elaborated upon by the Daoxue thinkers. Nevertheless, what is still original in the Chengzhai Yizhuan is the systematic use of historical situations and the new status given to the classic. As a methodological manual for reading history and mirroring it in the present time, The Book of Changes should be paired with the Chunqiu 春秋. As Yang Wanli writes in his Ordinary Words (Yongyan):

26

27

posed that this was on account of the flesh. Those who knew him supposed that it was on account of the neglect of the usual ceremony. The fact was that Confucius wished to depart on the occasion of some small offense, not wishing to do so without some apparent cause. All people cannot be expected to understand the conduct of a superior person” (trans. James Legge, The Works of Mencius, 434–435). (孔子為魯司寇，不用，從而祭， 燔肉不至，不稅冕而行。不知者以為為肉也。其知者以為為無禮也。乃孔子 則欲以微罪行，不欲為苟去。君子之所為，眾人固不識也.) This derives from the Han shu 漢 書, 36.1932, “Chu Yuan wang [Liu Jiao (?–178bce)] zhuan,” “Biography of the King of Chu yuan, Liu Jiao” (楚元王劉交傳：初，元王敬 禮申公等，穆生不耆酒，元王每置酒，常為穆生設醴。及王戊即位，常設， 後忘設焉。 穆生退曰：可以逝矣！醴酒不設，王之意怠，不去，楚人將鉗我 於市). Yang Wanli, Chengzhai Yizhuan, 19.6a. The original statement reads: 所謂前知者，易之 道也，非特占事知來之謂也。占特易之一端而已。易之道无它，其於已往之 得失吉凶，既旋觀而順數，故其於方來之得失吉凶，亦逆睹而前知。見履霜 而知堅冰之必至，以已往之微，知方來之著也；見離明而知日昃之必凶，以 已往之盛，知方來之衰也。且以往知來，未有不可逆知者。膰肉不至，孔子 行；醴酒不設，穆生去；[…]？故曰易逆數也.

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Master Yang said: The Changes is [comparable to] the laws and decrees of Xiao He (?–193bce); the Annals are the decision-making of the Emperor Wu of the Han (141–87bce). The Changes warn about what ought to be; the Annals judge what has been done. The admonishment of the sages cannot be opposed; the decisions of the sages cannot be attacked. That is why, among the six classics, only The Changes and The Annals are like the front and back of the same piece of cloth.28 As it has been said before, Yang Wanli’s commentary on the Book of Changes is following the hermeneutical devices highlighted by Cheng Yi but his emphasis on historical events is somehow completing the philosophical and moral biaised interpretation of the Daoxue Thinkers. By enhancing an historical reading of the classic, Yang Wanli is more concerned with the political issues concealed in the book and by pairing it with the Annals is making clear that the Book of Changes is not only aimed solely at providing elements for the culture of the self of the gentlemen but also (and maybe above all) at deciphering the nature of historical change and therefore at helping in his own time the Dynasty to be conscious of its political dangers as well as engaging literati in political activism.

Bibliography Sources Ban Gu 班固. Han shu 漢書 (History of the Han Dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987. Huang Zongxi 黄宗羲 (1610–1695) et al. Song Yuan xue’an 宋元學案 (Scholarly Annals of Song and Yuan Period [Confucians]). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982. Xin Gengru 辛更儒, ed. Yang Wanli ji jianjiao 楊萬里集箋校 (Annotated Edition of Yang Wanli’s Collected Works). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2007. Yang Wanli 楊 萬 里 (1127–1206). Chengzhai Yizhuan 誠 齋 易 傳 (Commentary to the Changes from the Studio of Authenticity). In Siku quanshu 四 庫 全 書, ed. Repr. Yingyin Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景 印 文 淵 閣 四 庫 全 書, vol. 14. Taipei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1983. Yong Rong 永瑢 (1744–1790), Ji Yun 紀昀 (1724–1805), et al., eds. Siku quanshu zongmu

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Xin Gengru, Yang Wanli ji jianjiao, 91.3567. The original statement reads: 楊子曰: 易者， 蕭何之律令。春秋者，漢武之决事也。易戒其所當然，春秋斷其所已然。聖 人之戒不可違，聖人之斷不可犯。故六經惟易、春秋相表裏.

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tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 (Annotated Catalog of the Siku quanshu). Taipei: Tauwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1983. Zhu Xi朱熹 (1130–1200), Sishu zhangju jizhu 四書章句集注 (Collected Annotations in Interlinear Analysis of the Four Books). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2016.

Studies Gu Jiegang 顧頡剛. “Zhouyi gua yao ci zhong de gushi” 周易卦爻辭中的故事 (Events as Expressed in the Oracular Sentences of the Book of Changes). In Gushibian 古史辨 (Evaluations of Ancient Historiography), volume 3: 1–42. Hankou: Hainan chubanshe, [1929] 2005. Legge, James. The Works of Mencius. The Chinese Classics 2. Second revised edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895. Lü Shaogang 呂紹綱. “Yixue yu shixue” 易學與史學 (Studies in the Book of Changes and Historiography). In Zhu Bokun 朱 伯 崑, ed., Guoji yixue yanjiu 國 際 易 學 研 究 (International Researches on the Book of Changes), volume 3: 321–334. Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 1997. Schmidt, J.D. “Ch’an, Illusion, and Sudden Enlightenment in the Poetry of Yang Wan-li.” T’oung Pao 60 (1974): 230–281. Wilhelm, Richard. The I Ching or Book of Changes. Translated by Cary F. Baynes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967. Zhu Bokun 朱伯昆. Yixue zhexueshi 易學哲學史 (Philosophical History of Yi learning). Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 1995.

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chapter 6

Yijing and Medicine: Discussions of the Gate of Life in Late Imperial China chang Chia-feng

The chapter “Discourse on the Hidden Canons in the Numinous Orchid Chambers” (“Linglan midian lun” 靈 蘭 秘 典 論) in The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor: Basic Questions (Huangdi neijing suwen 黃帝內經素問) states that “the heart is the official function as ruler” (心 者 ，君 主 之 官).1 Most exegeses, therefore, argue that the heart is the most important of the twelve visceral “offices.”2 However, Zhao Xianke 趙獻可 (1573–1664?) discovered that, although the heart is the “official function as ruler,” its status is actually equal to that of the other eleven visceral systems, and, in fact, “the human body has another ruler” (人身別有一主). Thereupon, based on discussions and descriptions of the body’s internal structure, he concluded that the Gate of Life (mingmen 命 門) was actually the “ruler of the twelve essential systems” (十二經之主).3 To Zhao Xianke, the Gate of Life was both “the root of qi and blood, the juncture between life and death” (氣血之根，生死之關) and also “the underlying principle of the twelve essential systems” (十二經之綱維). Moreover, it was the part of the human body that is first formed in the period between conception and birth. As such, both for maintaining health and the clinical treatment of disease, whether it was nurturing the body with rest and food and curbing sexual desire, or treating disease by nurturing the body’s qi with “warming” medicines (wenyang 溫養),4 one always needed to consider the central tenet

1 With the exception of the title of the text, translations from The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi neijing 黃帝內經) are based on or borrowed from An Annotated Translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic: Basic Questions, trans. Paul U. Unschuld, Hermann Tessenow, and Zheng Jinsheng. 2 Translation of shi’er guan 十二官 as the “twelve visceral offices” follows Nathan Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China: A Partial Translation of Revised Outline of Chinese Medicine (1972), With an Introductory Study on Change in Present Day and Early Medicine, 126. 3 Manfred Porkert translates of shi’er jing 十二經 as “12 sinarteriae cardinales.” The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine: Systems of Correspondence, 203. 4 Wenyang 溫 養 refers to treating a disease with a medicine categorized as a “warming” medicine. Usually, this is used to supplement the “orthopathic qi,” which “maintains and renews the measured, orderly changes that comprise the body’s normal processes.” See Sivin,

© Chang Chia-feng, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004500037_008

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that the Gate of Life was the governing fire of the body, the “True sovereign” (zhen junzhu 真君主). Once the Gate of Life was nurtured, the body’s twelve essential systems followed it and functioned normally.5 Zhao Xianke’s emphasis on the importance of the Gate of Life challenged and subverted the Neo-Confucian tradition wherein the heart was supreme. The majority of the support for this new medical cosmology originated from the ancient classics, particularly The Book of Changes (Yijing 易 經) and The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi neijing 黃帝內經), the former of which was considered most crucial. In this chapter, I will assess the significance of this new medical cosmology by examining Zhao’s argument and his critics’ views. I will also analyze the main stream of the doctrine on the Gate of Life during the Jin, Yuan and Ming periods.

1

The Gate of Life

Zhao Xianke explained that the Gate of Life is positioned between the two kidneys. The small aperture on its left is the True Yin (zhenyin 真陰)6 or “True Water qi” (zhenshui qi 真水氣), while the small aperture on its right is the “triple jiao system” (sanjiao 三焦), also called the “Ministerial Fire” (xianghuo 相火).7 The relationship between the Gate of Life, True Yin, and the triple jiao system, Zhao argues, is like the Kan 坎 ☵ trigram, “one Yang inserted between two Yin” (一陽陷於兩陰之中); extending this a step further, this establishes that the Gate of Life belongs to the phase of Fire.

Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 49, which, in turn, cites Porkert, The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 172. 5 Zhao Xianke 趙 獻 可, Yiguan 醫 貫 (The thread of medicine), juan 1, 3–10. According to the annotator, Chen Yongping 陳永萍, although the date of the first edition of Yiguan was unknown, more than 30 versions were extant in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). 6 Zhenyin 真陰 is translated here as “True Yin,” but Sivin translates it as “Realized Yin” or renal Water (i.e. the Water of the kidneys). See Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 394. Throughout this article, the use of “True” for zhen 真 draws on Sivin and Manfred Porkert’s translations of a similarly constructed zhenqi 真氣 “true qi.” See Sivin, op. cit., 237, and Porkert, The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 171. “Realized” is dispensed with here in order to avoid implying that zhenyin or zhenshui qi possess a fully “realized” material form. 7 Sivin discusses the triple jiao system at length, if only to point out how little agreement exists between modern physicians and historical sources regarding its “anatomical substratum” or “configuration and function.” It is one of the six Yang visceral systems, and associated with nutrient absorption and waste. See Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 125 and 229– 230. The translation of xianghuo is based on Sivin, op. cit., 373.

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Secondly, in order to refute those following the theory of Li Gao 李杲 (1180– 1251), in which the spleen and stomach alone were the rulers of the body, Zhao Xianke proposed that they accepted this theory due to ignorance that “the Earth trigram Kun ☷ (i.e., the spleen) is that which is born of the Fire trigram Li ☲, and the Earth trigram Gen ☶ (i.e., the stomach) belongs to the Water trigram Kan ☵” (坤土（脾）是離火所生，而艮土（胃）又屬坎水). In other words, Zhao Xianke, following the logic of The Book of Changes, believed that the spleen and the stomach came from the Gate of Life, and that the Fire trigram Li and Water trigram Kan, associated with the Gate of Life, gave rise to the Earth trigrams (Kun and Gen, respectively) of the spleen and the stomach. The Gate of Life was, therefore, naturally more important than the stomach and the spleen, as it was the first of offices to develop. Third, Zhao Xianke believed that the Gate of Life lies at the exact center of the human body, and is the true ruler of the body, “the Great Ultimate (taiji 太 極) of the body” (乃一身之太極). At the same time, the Gate of Life is positioned between the formless “True Water qi” and the formless Ministerial Fire, “day and night flowing invisibly without cease” (日夜潛行不息). Together with the two kidneys, which are Water that has an “acquired” (houtian 後天) form, “these combine in the human body to form a single Great Ultimate” (在人身中 合成一太極). “Innate” (xiantian 先天) and “acquired” are important concepts within Song-dynasty Neo-Confucian studies of the Great Ultimate.8 Pursuing this slightly further back, the concepts “innate,” “acquired,” and “the Great Ultimate” all originate in The Book of Changes. Fourth, Zhao Xianke relies on The Book of Changes and Chen Tuan’s 陳摶 (alternative name, Xiyi 希夷, 871–989) Yin Yang xiaoxi lun 陰陽消息論 (Discourse on the rise and fall of Yin and Yang) to explicate the foundational theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Phases in greater detail. Based on these, he demonstrates that the Gate of Life possesses the characteristics of both Water and Fire,

8 Lu Shaogang 呂 紹 綱, ed., Zhouyi cidian 周 易 辭 典 (Dictionary of The Changes of Zhou) defines xiantian and houtian as follows: “The early-Song Daoist, Chen Tuan, created the ‘Illustration of the Innate’ (Xiantian tu 先天圖). ‘The Innate’ is a phrase borrowed from the Yi zhuan [the Ten Wings commentaries on The Changes] by Daoist alchemists. It means one’s inborn constitution. ‘The acquired’ (houtian 後天) refers to cultivated knowledge” (宋初道 士陳摶作〈先天圖〉，其所謂先天，是道教煉丹家對《易傳》先天一語之借用， 意謂人生來固有的自然體質，後天則指人為修煉知識). See Lu Shaogang, Zhouyi cidian, 413. Xiantian and houtian are often translated differently in other contexts, but “innate” and “acquired” work best when discussing the origins of human life and the human body. Others use the more literal “pre-heaven” and “post-heaven.” See Leslie de Vries, “The Authentic Person as Ideal for the Late Ming Dynasty Physician: Daoist Inner Alchemy in Zhang Jiebin’s Commentary on the Huangdi neijing.”

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and further demonstrates its relationship with disease and clinical medicine. He suggests treatment with the Eight Flavors Pill (bawei wan 八味丸), which can simultaneously supplement the Earth qi of the stomach and the Fire qi of the cardiac system, as well as the Earth of the spleen and the Ministerial Fire. The reason why the Eight Flavors Pill is effective is precisely because it adheres to the principle found in The Book of Changes where “combining water and fire creates the Jiji ䷾ hexagram” (he shuihuo jiji 合水火既濟), which signifies completion or success.9 To support his argument, Zhao Xianke emulates Zhou Dunyi’s 周敦頤 (1017– 1073) elaboration on the statement from Xici 繫辭 (The Great Treatise), “The Changes has the Great Ultimate, which produced the two elementary forms” (《易》有太極，是生兩儀), and also emulates Zhou Dunyi’s illustrations of the Great Ultimate, drawing three “illustrations of forms” (xingxiang tu 形象 圖) based on illustrations of ancient, bronze medical models:10 In addition to presenting in detail Zhao’s theory of the Gate of Life, understanding of the origins of the human body and life, and medical cosmology, these illustrations also demonstrate that The Book of Changes was the classical basis for developing the theories discussed above. Several physicians critiqued Zhao Xianke’s stance, which bestowed upon the Gate of Life a highly prominent position with regard to the origins of life and the body. For example, Feng Zhaozhang 馮兆張 of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties believed: Although the ancient sages and worthies all saw the heart as the ruler [of the body], Mr. Zhao alone honors the Gate of Life as the ruler, and wishes to place the rule outside the heart. Physicians and Confucians, in the end, follow two different paths. Seeing this, I could not [help] but adopt a

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For a general discussion of the Jiji hexagram, see Zhouyi cidian: “Jiji 既濟 is the name of a hexagram. It has the Li ☲ trigram at the bottom and the Kan ☵ trigram at the top,” and “It is the 63rd of the 64 hexagrams. On the meaning of Jiji, the ‘Commentary on Miscellaneous Hexagrams’ states, ‘Jiji means stable.’ Kong Yingda’s (574–648) Zhouyi zhengyi states, ‘[The second] ji (濟), means to rescue; [the first] ji (既) means to complete everything. The myriad of things are all saved, and therefore Jiji is its name.’ Zhu Xi’s Zhouyi benyi states: ‘Jiji is when affairs are entirely completed.’” (既濟，卦名。為卦離下坎 上」，「六十四卦的第六十三卦。既濟的意義，《雜卦傳》：『既濟，定也』，孔 穎達《周易正義》：『濟者，濟渡之名，既者皆盡之稱。萬事皆濟，故以既 濟為名』。朱熹《周易本義》：『既濟，事之既成也.) Lu Shaogang, Zhouyi cidian, 69. Accordingly, the Jiji hexagram signifies that the myriad of things and affairs will all be completed. Zhao Xianke, Yiguan, juan 1. 8–9.

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[humble] opinion about this, for the ancient sages and worthies who saw the heart as the ruler came from a position [that sought to] cultivate the self and establish good behavior. Mr. Zhao, in seeing the Gate of Life as the ruler, comes from a position [that seeks to] respect life and prolong one’s days. This is certainly Mr. Zhao’s troubled heart, always seeking to rescue the world, forcefully leading and ruling him. It must be that humanity is the most intelligent of the myriad of things, [that a man could] harbor such a heart. Thus, the [Inner] Canon [of the Yellow Emperor] states, “The heart is the official functioning as ruler; the spirit originates from it.”11 In reality, Zhao Xianke had already predicted this criticism.12 In his work, Yi guan 醫貫 (The Thread of Medicine), he attempted to accommodate the traditional Neo-Confucian view wherein the greatest importance is attached to the heart. Based on the statement regarding the heart from The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor, “the spirit originates from it,” Zhao Xianke emphasized, “that which [the heart] is connected to is also important; how can it be without function?!” (所繫亦重矣，豈為無用哉). He further employs the example of the imperial palace (huanggong 皇宮), pointing out that the audience hall in the palace is “that which the lord of primordial Yang uses to respond to things and affairs” (元陽君主之所以為應接事物之用者); this is why some consider the heart the ruler of the body.13 However, that which “rests unseen, nurtures original nature, and is the root of ceaseless change, hiding alone between the two kidneys” (棲息養真而為生生化化之根者，獨藏於兩腎之中) is the Gate of Life. 11

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Feng Zhaozhang 馮兆張, Fengshi jinnang milu 馮氏錦囊秘錄 (Mr Feng’s tips and secret records, 1694), 78. The original statement reads: 但古聖賢俱以心爲主，趙氏獨尊命 門爲君主，而欲外乎心，醫與儒竟二途矣。鄙見於此，不無竊有議焉。蓋古 聖賢，以心爲主者，以脩身立行起見也。趙氏以命門爲主者，以尊生立命起 見也，此正趙氏之濟世一片苦心，強引之而主之。蓋人爲萬物之靈者，伏此 心也。故《經》曰：君主之官，神明出焉. The translation here is modified from An Annotated Translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic, 155. The last sentence of this passage is a quotation from Huangdi neijing. Xu Dachun 徐 大 椿 (1693–1771) critiqued Zhao: “in order to finish off all the diseases of the world, [he] exclusively uses the Eight Flavor Pill to plan for this, thus arguing for the unification of the three teachings: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism,” which is the “deviant Way.” Xu Dachun 徐大椿, Yiguan bian 醫貫砭 (Critique of The Thread of Medicine; 1741), 1.7. The “Yang” of yuanyang 元 陽 is here understood to refer to Yang qi. Manfred Porkert defines “primordial qi” as “still undifferentiated structive potential.” “Structive,” in Porkert, usually refers to Yin qi but, in this case, we might conceptualize yuanyang as the undifferentiated, Yang aspect of primordial qi. See Porkert, The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 12–14 and 173.

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figure 6.1 Left: The location of mingmen in the body. Right: The two kidneys belong to the phase of water. The left kidney is classified as Ying Water ( yingshui 陰水) while the right one is Yang Water ( yangshui 陽水). Mingmen is positioned between the two kidneys. The small black circle on the left of mingmen is True Water (zhenshui 真 水); the small white circle on the right of mingmen is Minister of Fire (xianghuo 相火). Two kidneys form the taiji of the body

figure 6.2 Taiiji’s relation with mingmen and the two kidneys

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Discussions of the Gate of Life in Late Imperial China

Although Zhao Xianke’s theory revering only the Gate of Life failed to attract widespread approval in the medical world, and although most other physicians rejected it, his use of The Book of Changes as a basis for discussing the Gate of Life was prevalent amongst physicians of the Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Physicians of these periods often used the statement “one Yang inserted between two Yin” or “one Yang residing between two Yin” to explain the relationship between the Gate of Life and the kidneys. That is to say, the Water hexagram, Kan ☵, a trigram positioned in the north in the post-Heaven (houtian) arrangement, can be matched with the Water phase of the kidneys, also associated with the north.14 The Gate of Life possesses characteristics of both Water and Fire, and so may also be paired with the hexagram Jiji ䷾, which is composed of a Water trigram (Kan ☵) on top and a Fire trigram (Li ☲) at the bottom. For example, as Zhang Chang 張昶 (fl. sixteenth century) believed: “The gentleman sees the image of Kan, and knows there is the Way of both Water and Fire in the kidneys” (君 子 觀 象 於 坎 ，而 知 腎 具 水 火 之 道 焉).15 Moreover, as Zhang Jiebin 張介賓 (1563–1640) argued, the Gate of Life “portends Fire within Water” (象火在水中), which Fire “is thus pre-Heaven qi of the True One, hiding within [the trigram] Kan” (乃先天真一之氣，藏於坎 中).16 Therefore, at the point where Water and Fire mix, “the myriad of things are born therein” (萬物生焉). That is to say, the state when the embryo first forms is exactly like the mixing of Water and Fire; Water and Fire mix and give birth to the Gate of Life. After the Gate of Life appears, other parts of

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Here, “post-Heaven” (houtian 後天) refers to the categorization of eight trigrams into preHeaven and post-Heaven orders. The “pre-Heaven” ordering of the trigrams is associated with the mythical figure Fu Xi 伏羲. In it, the trigrams Qian 乾 ☰, Kun 坤 ☷, Kan 坎 ☵, and Li 離 ☲ are associated with the four cardinal directions. The “post-Heaven” ordering of the trigrams is associated with King Wen 文王. In it, the trigrams Kan 坎 ☵, Li 離 ☲, Zhen 震 ☳, and Dui 兌 ☱ are associated with the four cardinal directions. See Lu Shaogang, Zhouyi cidian, 413–414. For a discussion of the relationship of these concepts and the trigrams to cosmogony, see Fabrizio Pregadio, “The Representation of Time in the Zhouyi cantong qi,” 157–160. Zhang Chang 張昶, Baibing wendu bianyi 百病問對辨疑 (Resolution and dialogue on hundreds of disorders; 1581), 18. Livia Kohn defines the “True One” according to Baopuzi 抱 朴 子 (The master Who embraces spontaneous nature): “Realizing the True One, the original unity and primordial oneness of all, meant placing oneself at the center of the universe, identifying one’s physical organs with constellations in the stars.” See Livia Kohn, The Taoist Experience: An Anthology, 197.

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the body follow and are born—this is what is meant by “the myriad of things are born therein.” Why did physicians particularly emphasize the Five Phases with which the Gate of Life was associated? Why did they rely upon The Book of Changes to legitimize the idea that the Gate of Life held attributes of both the Water and Fire phases? If we wish to unravel this problem, we must begin by discussing the nature and function of the Gate of Life. The term “the Gate of Life” first appears in the classical medical texts The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor: Basic Questions, The Canon of Problems (Nanjing 難經), and The Divine Pivot (Lingshu jing 靈樞經). At times it refers to the eyes, at other times to the place where males store semen or where the female womb is attached. The “Thirty-sixth Problem” in The Canon of Problems provides the following detailed explanation regarding the second of those meanings: There is only one of each of the viscera; only the kidneys are two. Why is this so? The two kidneys are not both kidneys. The one on the left is a kidney; the one on the right is the Gate of Life. The Gate of Life is where the vitalities and spirits abide; it is that to which original qi connects, and so, in men, it is used to preserve seminal essence and, in women, to attach the womb.17 The Canon of Problems differentiates between the left and right kidneys as a kidney and the Gate of Life, respectively, specifying that the Gate of Life is both where the vitalities and spirit ( jingshen 精神) and original qi ( yuanqi 原 氣) dwell, and also the place where males store seminal essence and women’s wombs are attached.18 It is related to the foundations of life and reproductive functioning of both sexes. Physicians from the Jin and Yuan dynasties (roughly 1115–1368) onward conducted even more analyses targeting this view. Their discussions about the Gate of Life were also far more passionate than those of the past. One of the major drivers of this trend was the theory of the Great Ultimate, which Song Neo-Confucians employed to explore the origins of the universe.

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The original statement reads: 藏各有一耳，腎獨有兩者，何也？然腎兩者，非皆 腎也。其左為腎，右者為命門。命門者，謂精神之所舍，原氣之所繫，故男 子以藏精，女子以繫胞. Tamba Motoyasu 丹波元簡 (1755–1810), Nankei soshō 難經 疏證 (Explanations and exegesis of The Canon of Problems; 1819), 986–987. These terms are borrowed from Sivin and Porkert, respectively. See Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 206, and Porkert, The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 172.

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From the Jin and Yuan dynasties onwards, in addition to following The Canon of Problems in understanding the Gate of Life as the source of the transformations that govern the reproductive system, physicians went a step further, believing that the Gate of Life was the point of origin of the body and life. That is to say, it was the first body part that the embryo formed when the father’s seminal essence and mother’s blood initially united. Based on this principle, the Gate of Life was not only the point of origin of the body and life, it was also the source that conceived and carried the next generation. It was both “the gate that received life” (shou ming zhi men 受命之門) and “the gate that established life” (li ming zhi men 立命之門). As Zhang Jiebin put it: “The so-called ‘Gate of Life,’ the pre-Heaven thing which gives life to me, from this it is received; the post-Heaven things to which I give life, from this they are planted.”19 Some physicians even believed that the location of the Gate of Life dictated the sex of the fetus. If the Gate of Life were in the right kidney, the fetus would be male; if in the left, female.20 The Gate of Life served the functions of conceiving and carrying the next generation as well as creating new life, and was the key to deciding the sex of a child. Its importance is self-evident. Inspired by Neo-Confucians’ cosmological theory of the Great Ultimate, physicians established a medical theory regarding the origins of the body and life that was centered upon the Gate of Life. Adhering to the Neo-Confucian view, whereby the universe came into being from “the Non-Ultimate” (wuji 無 極) and became “the Great Ultimate” (taiji 太極), they explained the process whereby the body develops from nothing into something.21 Among such theories, Zhou Dunyi’s Taiji tu shuo 太極圖說 (Illustrations and Explanations of the Chart of the Great Ultimate) was highly influential because it was a foundational text on the Song study of principles (lixue 理學, or Neo-Confucianism). Alongside the development of the “study of principles,” the cosmological system in this work became one of the major components of Song-dynasty thought. Among the main projects of Taiji tushuo was the search for the metaphysical basis for the origins of life while paying attention to the fundamental mechanisms of the transformation and creation of the universe, humanity, and the myriad of things. It is worth noting that Zhou Dunyi’s thought was heavily influenced by the Daoist Chen Tuan and also deeply-rooted in conversations within

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The original statement reads: 所謂命門者，先天之生我者，由此而受，而後天 之我生者，由此而栽. Zhang Jiebin 張介賓, Leijing fuyi 類經附翼 (Classified classics with appendices), 3.16. Zhu Su 朱橚 (?–1425), Puji fang 普濟方 (Formulae for far-reaching aid), 1.1–2. In translating taiji and wuji, I consulted Joseph A. Adler, “Zhu Xi’s Spiritual Practice as the Basis of His Central Philosophical Concepts.”

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Daoist circles.22 Chen Tuan was the first to use the Great Nothing (wuji) and the Great Ultimate (taiji) simultaneously, as the loftiest categories of Daoist philosophy, to explain the origins of the universe and connect them to the reality of human life, thereby solving the problem of human existence. From the Song dynasty onward, Daoist philosophy was reified in accordance with this cosmology, which deeply pervaded the Daoist theories about the achievement of immorality. To this end, Daoism was also deeply concerned with theoretical investigations of the problem of the origins of heaven, earth, and human life. Situated in a zeitgeist in which Neo-Confucianism and Daoism throve, melded with, and influenced each another, Jin-, Yuan-, and Ming-dynasty physicians were galvanized by the content and thought patterns of these mainstream ideologies and expended their energies in investigating the origins of life and the body to establish a medical cosmology. In the early Ming dynasty, during the Hongwu reign period (1368–1399), Zhu Su 朱橚 (?–1425) wrote the following in his Puji fang 普濟方 (Formulae for far-reaching aid): The human body is indeed the same as Heaven and Earth. A human life receives qi in nothingness; movement and rest come and go, and then it comes into being. When father and mother first join together in intercourse, and the Yang seminal essence and Yin blood have yet to arrive, this is “the Great Nothing.” [Once] Yin and Yang are wed, Yang bestows, Yin receives. This is “the Great Ultimate.”23 When it comes into being, the macro-universe of Heaven and Earth develops from nothing into something; that is, from “the Great Nothing” into “the Great Ultimate.” When the micro-universe of the human body comes into being, it adheres to that same principle. Before the father’s seminal essence and the mother’s blood combine, there is no “life;” rather, this is the state of “the Great Nothing.” Once these two fluids combine, the fetus receives qi from the Great Nothing and enters the stage of “the Great Ultimate;” thereafter, life and the body develop.

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Ren Jiyu 任繼愈, Zhongguo daojiao shi 中國道教史 (History of Chinese Daoism), 613– 616; Qing Xitai 卿希泰, Daojiao yu Zhongguo chuantong wenhua 道教與中國傳統文化, 144; Chen Hanming 陳寒鳴, “Zhou Dunyi Taiji tu yuanyuan shitan” 周敦頤《太極圖》 淵源試探 (Probing the source of Zhou Dunyi’s Taiji tu). The original statement reads: 人身亦與天地同，人之生是受氣於無，動靜往來然 後為有，父母交合之始，陽精陰血未至之時，此無極也，陰陽交媾，陽施陰 受，此太極也. Zhu Su, Puji fang, 43.4–5.

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Sun Yikui 孫一奎 (fl. sixteenth century) was deeply influenced by The Book of Changes and the Taiji tu shuo. He borrowed the latter to explain the process whereby nothing develops into something, from the moment a male and a female first have intercourse to the conception of a new life, as well as the key role that the Gate of Life plays in this process: The essences of the Five Phases and Yin and Yang subtly combine and coagulate. When the fetus’s sex has yet to be determined, first the two kidneys are born, as when beans or fruit poke out of the earth and their two petals open. And the root that is born between them holds inside it a small particle of true qi, which is the mechanism whereby they create life endlessly. It is called “active qi” or “original qi.” It is endowed at the moment when life begins, [developing] from nothing into something. This “original qi” is the foundation of taiji. What is named active qi [is so named] because, once it moves, it gives life [to things]; this is also the movement of Yang. This is how the effects of the Great Ultimate are implemented. The two kidneys are motionless objects. When they are still, they then transform. This is the stillness of Yin. This is how the substance of the Great Ultimate is established. Motion and stillness [exist] in the midst of nothing. Yang changes, and Yin unites [with it]; they give birth to Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth. Is this not what is called the Gate of Life! …… [which] is thus the hinge of creation and transformation, the root of Yin and Yang, the pre-Heaven Great Ultimate. The Five Phases are born from it; through it, the viscera follow and are completed.24 Sun’s arguments tally with Zhou Dunyi’s views, such as: The Great Ultimate moves and begets Yang; once it has moved to its maximum extent, it becomes still. Once still, it begets Yin. When its stillness is at its maximum, it moves once again;

24

The original statement reads: 夫二五之精，妙合而凝，男女未判，而先生此二 腎，如豆子果實，出土時兩瓣分開，而中間所生之根蒂，內含一點真氣，以 為生生不息之機，命曰動氣，又曰原氣，稟於有生之初，從無而有。此原氣 者，即太極之本體也。名動氣者，蓋動則生，亦陽之動也，此太極之用所以 行也。兩腎，靜物也，靜則化，亦陰之靜也，此太極之體所以立也。動靜無 間，陽變陰合而生水火木金土也。其斯命門之謂歟！… …（命門）乃造化之 樞紐，陰陽之根蒂，即先天之太極，五行由此而生，臟腑以繼而成. Sun Yikui 孫一奎, Yizhi xuyu 醫旨緒餘 (Leftover silk of the medical essentials), in Sun Yikui yixue quanshu 孫一奎醫學全書 (Complete medical works of Sun Yikui, 1584), 1:649–650.

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and Yang changes, and Yin unites [with it]; they give birth to Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth. These five qi then smoothly disperse, and the four seasons move therein.25 Both regard the Gate of Life as the pre-Heaven or “innate” Great Ultimate; the Five Phases and visceral systems are born from it. It provides the foundation for Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, and creation. In both the origins of the human body and life, the Gate of Life plays the most important role. The opinions of Zhang Jiebin and Sun Yikui are similar. Zhang believed that the process whereby the body manifests itself from the Great Ultimate and then gradually takes form differs from, but is analogous to, the process whereby the Great Ultimate separates into Yin and Yang. Regarding the latter, Taiji tu shuo states: “[The Great Ultimate] now moves, now becomes still; together, these form its root; [it is] divided into Yin and Yang; these two elementary forms are established therein” (一動一靜，互為其根，分陰分陽，兩儀立焉). The Gate of Life, for Zhang, is the Great Ultimate of the human body: The Gate of Life abides between the two kidneys. It is the Great Ultimate of the human body. From the Great Ultimate are born the two elementary forms [Yin and Yang,] and Water and Fire both exist therein. They increase and decrease therein, and so this is the beginning of incarnation, the foundation of [inner] nature and life.26 Zhou Dunyi’s Taiji tu shuo explains the principles of the origin of the universe simply and exhaustively. Physicians not only employed them to explain the origins of life and the human body, but moreover expanded this theory of origins to include animals. For example, Li Shizhen’s 李時珍 (1518–1593?) Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 (Systematic materia medica) notes that animals also have a Gate of Life. Using pigs as an example, he argues that the Gate of Life is located between a pig’s two kidneys, and that its function is similar to that of the Gate of Life in humans:

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The original statement reads: 太極動而生陽，動極而靜，靜而生陰，靜極復動 … … 陽變陰合而生水火木金土，五氣順布，四時行焉. Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073), Zhou Yuangong ji 周元公集 (Compiled works of Sir Zhou Dunyi), 1:1–2. The original statement reads: 命門居兩腎之中，即人身之太極，由太極以生兩 儀，而水火具焉，消長繫焉，故為受生之初，為性命之本. Zhang Jiebin, Leijing fuyi, 3.20.

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[A pig’s pancreas], also called a pig’s fat, is born between the two kidneys. It is like fat, but is not fat; like meat, but is not meat. It is where the Gate of Life and Triple Jiao originate in humans and animals.27 Inspired by Neo-Confucian cosmology, numerous physicians understood the Gate of Life as being central to the origins of the human body and life. The most important implication of the theory they developed lay in positing that the fundamental natures of the macro-universe of Heaven and Earth and the micro-universe of the human body were alike. The details of these two universes correspond with one another, and moreover tally with one another even from their very origins.

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The Development of the Human Body

If the Gate of Life is the noumenon of the Great Ultimate and the hinge upon which creation swings, then how did physicians explain the detail that the Gate of Life “resembles the Earth of the trigram Kun [as it] gives rise to the myriad of things?” (象坤土之生萬物). That is to say, how did physicians describe the sequence of events through which the body comes into being? Physicians often borrowed the numbers associated with the Chart of the Yellow River (Hetu 河 圖) to explicate this. These numbers featured among the bases and justifications for the pre-modern Chinese understanding of the sequence in which the universe came into being.28 They were also the com-

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The original statement reads: （豬胰）一名豬脂，生兩腎中間，似脂非脂，似 肉非肉，乃人物之命門、三焦發原處也. Li Shizhen 李時珍 (1518–1593?), Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 (Systematic materia medica; 1552–1578), 50, part 1, 13. The Zhouyi cidian, 353, explains that the Hetu and Luoshu 洛書 diagrams were integral to the study of The Changes in the Song dynasty, particularly the idea that The Book of Changes derived from these diagrams. It continues: “In order to explain why there were 55 Heavenly and Earthly numbers associated with The Book of Changes, people of the Song dynasty created two diagrams consisting of these numbers …… These two diagrams emerged from the early Northern-Song Daoist Chen Tuan’s Longtu 龍圖 (Dragon diagram) … … Coauthored by Zhu Xi and Cai Yuanding of the Southern Song, the book Yixue qimeng 易學啟蒙 (Primer for the Study of The Changes) identified the Diagram of the Birth and Completion of the Five Phases (Wuxing sheng cheng tu 五行生成圖) as the Diagram of the Yellow River, and the Nine Palaces Diagram ( Jiu gong tu 九宮圖) as the Luoshu Diagram. Zhu Xi’s Zhouyi benyi 周易本義 (The Original Meaning of The Changes) includes nine diagrams in the front of the book; among them are the Diagram of the Yellow River and the Luoshu Diagram. Many members of the later generations used their theories concerning these diagrams. The Diagram of the Yellow River (i.e. the Diagram of the Birth

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mon principle underlying the order in which the macro-universe of Heaven and Earth, the micro-universe of the human body, and the myriad of things came into being. Physicians employed the theory of the numbers of the Diagram of the Yellow River, in which “The heavenly 1 begets Water” (天一生水), for the sequence in which the human body comes into being. Therefore the kidneys, belonging to the Water phase, become the body’s first visceral systems to take form,29 and the Gate of Life, whether considered as one of the two kidneys or the object lying between them, is therefore the part of the embryo that appears first after the father’s seminal essence and the mother’s blood have coalesced.30 However, Ming-dynasty physicians were not of one mind regarding the sequence of viscera formation during gestation. Some advocated relying upon the Five Phases’ order of “mutual conquering” (xiangke 相剋), according to which, the order of development would be the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, and then the kidneys.31 Others believed that, with regard to the generation and conquering sequences of the Five Phases, one should follow the order in which each of the phases generates its opposite. In this case, the sequence in which the five visceral systems of the body would come into being is: the kidneys,

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and Completion of the Five Phases) includes five Heavenly numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9), and five Earthly numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10). Together, these ten numbers make 55. Matching them with the Five Phases, at the bottom (northern) side of the diagram, the Heavenly 1 begets Water, and the Earthly 6 completes it; on the top (southern) side of the diagram, the Earthly 2 begets Fire, and the Heavenly 7 completes it; on the left (eastern) side of diagram, the Heavenly 3 begets Wood, and the Earthly 8 completes it; on the right (western) side of the diagram, the Heavenly 4 begets Metal, and the Earthly 9 completes it; in the center, the Heavenly 5 begets Earth, and the Earthly 10 completes it. The Luoshu Diagram (i.e. the Nine Palace Diagram) has the five Heavenly numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) and the four Earthly numbers (2, 4, 6, 8), making a total of nine numbers in total. Together, they make 45. In this diagram, 5 sits in the center, and the other Heavenly numbers, 1, 3, 7 and 9, are distributed to the northern, eastern, western, and southern cardinal positions, respectively. The four Earthly numbers, 2, 4, 6, and 8, are distributed to the southwestern, southeastern, northwestern, and northeastern corners, respectively. Vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines connecting any three numbers all give the result 15.” Lu Shaogang, Zhouyi cidian, 445–446. Chen Yan 陳言 (Southern Song dynasty), Sanyin jiyi bingyuan lun cui 三因極一病源論 粹 (Essence of the three terraces and one ultimate theory of disease; 1174), 5.8; Yu Tuan 虞 摶 (1438–1517?), Yixue zhengzhuan 醫學正傳 (The orthodox transmission of medicine; 1515), 1.14; Sun Wenyin 孫文胤 (Ming dynasty), Dantai yu’an 丹臺玉案 (Jade cases from the altar of elixirs; 1636), 5.63. Yu Tuan, Yixue zhengzhuan, 1.11; Zhai Liang 翟良 (Ming dynasty), Jingluo huibian 經絡匯 編 (Edited compilation of the circulation tract system; 1628), in Jingluo quanshuo 經絡 全書 (Complete works on the circulation tract system), 98–236. Tu Shen 涂紳 (Ming dynasty), Baidai yizong 百代醫宗 (One hundred generations of medical lineages, 1607), 2.37; Zhang Ming 張明 (Ming dynasty), Jingluo tushuo 經略圖說 (Illustrated explanations of the circulation tract system; 1630), unpaginated.

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spleen, liver, lungs, and then the heart.32 Via the model of the numbers of the Diagram of the Yellow River, physicians rationalized that the Gate of Life was the first in the sequence during the creation of the human body, incorporating the concept of the unification of Heaven and humans (tian ren he yi 天人合一) into traditional Chinese medicine. However, as stated above, physicians held that the Gate of Life possessed the characteristics of both Water and Fire, just as the Jiji hexagram is composed of the Kan trigram (Water) on top and the Li trigram (Fire) at the bottom. Did this conflict with the theory from the Chart of the Yellow River in which “Heaven first begets Water?” Moreover, Neo-Confucians believed at all times that the heart was the most critical organ, guiding both thought and behavior. In Song dynasty Neo-Confucians’ discussions of the principles of Heaven and human desires, the heart’s position became even further elevated. However, physicians truly believed that the Gate of Life governed life’s origins as well as its perpetuation. In this entirely new medical cosmology, how would the relationship between the heart and the Gate of Life be clarified? In the pre-modern Chinese theory of the “five circulatory phases and six seasonal influences” (wuyuan liuqi 五運六氣), in order to reconcile the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) with the six climatic influences of Heaven and Earth (wind, heat, fire, moisture, drought, and cold), which allowed the investigation of the norms of the natural world’s climactic changes and the prevention and cure of disease in the human body, the “Fire” of the Five Phases was divided into two.33 Accordingly, a distinction was drawn between Sovereign Fire ( junhuo 君火) and Ministerial Fire (xianghuo 相火).34 In general, traditional Chinese medicine associated each of the body’s five visceral systems with one of the Five Phases. When Fire was divided into two, the heart, which

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Zhai Liang, Jingluo huibian, in Jingluo quanshu, 198–199. Regarding the theory of the “five circulatory phases and six seasonal influences,” see Paul Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas, 170–172; Nathan Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 70–80 and 275–285; Quan Yijing 權依經 and Li Minting 李民聽, Wuyun liuqi xiangjie yu yunyong 五運六氣詳解與運用 (A detailed explanation of the five circulatory phases and six seasonal influences and their application); Wang Qi 王琦 et al., Yunqi xueshuo de yanjiu yu kaocha 運氣學說的研究與考察 (Researches and investigations regarding the theory of the phases and influences); Catherine Despeux, “The System of the Five Circulatory Phases and the Six Seasonal Influences (wuyun liuqi): A Source of Innovation in Medicine under the Song (960–1279).” [Translator’s note:] The translation used here is from Despeux. [Translator’s note:] “Sovereign Fire” and “Ministerial Fire” are Porkert’s translations. Sivin also uses “Ministerial Fire.” See Porkert, The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 87.

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originally belonged to Fire, was appointed “Sovereign Fire” and, because there were two kidneys, these were separately identified as a kidney and the Gate of Life. From this, physicians assigned the kidney to Water, and the Gate of Life to “Ministerial Fire.”35 The Gate of Life’s Ministerial Fire and the heart’s Sovereign Fire together formed the mutually complementary relationship of ruler and prime minister, above and below, superior and subordinate. From the Song dynasty onward, the theory of the five circulatory phases and six seasonal influences gradually gained recognition. As early as the Northern Song, there were physicians who identified the Gate of Life as Ministerial Fire.36 One of the “Four Great Experts” (Si da jia 四大家) of the Jin and Yuan dynasties, Liu Wansu 劉 完 素, vociferously discussed the illness mechanism of heat heteropathy (excess heat, huore 火热), using this theory as a foundation.37 He argued that the Gate of Life abides in the human body’s right kidney and “belongs to Fire, not Water” (屬火，不屬水).38 Again, citing “the heart is Sovereign Fire; the kidney is Ministerial Fire,” from Xian Jing 仙經 (Classic of immortals), Liu concluded that the Gate of Life belonged to Ministerial Fire.39 An approximate contemporary of Liu, Zhang Yuansu 張元素, maintained the same position.40 From this point onward, the school of thought equating the Gate of Life with Ministerial Fire became widely accepted in the medical world. Another of the “Four Great Experts” of the Jin and Yuan, the aforementioned Li Gao 李杲 (1180–1251), attached great importance to Ministerial Fire. He believed that primordial qi ( yuanqi 元氣) and Yin Fire mutually restrict one another. The loss of balance in the relationship between primordial qi

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Physicians held different ideas about the location of mingmen in the body, but the majority of them believed it was the right kidney. Chang Chia-feng 張嘉鳳, “Shenhua shi yuan yu liming zhi men: Jin Yuan Ming yixue zhong de mingmen shitan 生化之源與立命之 門：金元明醫學中的「命門」試探 (The gate of life: the conceptions of “mingmen” in traditional Chinese medicine in the Jin, Yuan, and Ming periods),” Xinshixue 新史學 (New History Journal), 9.3: 3–13. Hua Boren 滑伯仁 (alternative name Shou 壽, Yuan dynasty), Nanjing benyi 難經本義 (Orthodox meaning of the Canon of Problems), 1.51–52. Hua Boren cited his source from Yu Shu 虞庶, a medical expert in Northern Song dynasty. [Translator’s note:] On huore, see Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 275 and 279. Liu Wansu 劉完素 (Jin dynasty, 1120–1200?), Shanghan zhige fang 傷寒直格方 (Straight grid formulae for cold damage), 1.2–3 and 15–16. Liu Wansu 劉完素, Suwen xuanji yuan bingshi 素問玄機原病式 (Deducing illness conditions with the marvelous mechanisms in the Basic questions), 41–42. The author and date of Xian Jing is unknown. Zhang Yuansu 張元素 (Jin dynasty), Bingji qiyi baoming ji 病機氣宜保命集 (Collection of mechanisms regarding illness, adapting qi, and preserving life), 1.25.

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and Yin Fire causes internal pathological disturbance (neishang 內傷).41 Based on this understanding, Li Gao proposed the famous theory whereby “in Fire’s relationship to qi, the two cannot both stand” (火之與氣，勢不兩立), seeing Ministerial Fire as “the thief of primordial qi” ( yuanqi zhi zei 元氣之賊).42 Zhu Zhenheng 朱震亨 (1281–1358) of the Yuan dynasty propagated this theory of Fire even more forcefully, especially in the two essays, “Discourse on Ministerial Fire” (Xianghuo lun 相火論) and “Discourse on the frequent overabundance of Yang and insufficient Yin” (Yang chang youyu Yin buzu lun 陽常有 餘陰不足論), both found in his Gezhi yu lun 格致餘論 (Additional discourses on investigating things and extending knowledge).43 Zhu believed that the Fire of the Five Phases was divided into two kinds: Sovereign Fire and Ministerial Fire. He relied upon the movement of the Great Ultimate to analogize Ministerial Fire. “Movement” is the intrinsic nature of Ministerial Fire, and Ministerial Fire, moreover, is the basic force that facilitates “human existence and perpetuates [it] in movement” (人 有 此 生 而 恆 於 動). “Without this Fire, humans cannot have life” (人 非 此 火 不 能 有 生); thus Fire is truly necessary for the human body. However, it can endanger the body at any time. If one’s desires cannot be mastered, Ministerial Fire would then rise, move impulsively, and consume True Yin: “If Yin is depleted, one falls ill; if Yin has gone entirely, one dies” (陰虛則病，陰絕則死). Therefore, Zhu Zhenheng concluded that the qi of Ministerial Fire “is more [important] than Sovereign Fire” (有甚於君火 者也), echoing Li Gao’s stance that Ministerial Fire is the “thief of primordial qi.”44 When physicians separated one Fire into two, the Fire of the Gate of Life was Ministerial Fire, ranked under the Sovereign Fire (the Fire of the heart), and therefore subject to it. Up to this point, although the Gate of Life governed the mechanisms of life and reproduction, the Fire of the Gate of life had to obey orders issued by the Sovereign Fire of the heart. Physicians believed that inciting male and female sexual desire was a necessary condition for reproduction, and the Fire that incites sexual desire comes from Ministerial Fire. Only by relying upon the regulation of Sovereign Fire can Ministerial Fire avoid impulsive movement. This enabled the body to avoid the decline of the Fire of the Gate

41 42 43 44

For this translation of neishang, see Sivin, Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, 333 and 363. Li Gao 李杲 (1180–1251), Pi wei lun 脾胃論 (Discourse on the spleen and stomach), 2.3–4. For this translation of gezhi, see Benjamin Elman, On Their Own Terms: Science in China 1550–1900, 6. Zhu Zhenheng 朱震亨, Gezhi yu lun 格致餘論, in his Danxi yiji 丹溪醫集 (Medical compilation of Danxi), 10 and 38–40.

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of Life and the subsequent negative consequences for one’s health, enabling it to conceive and bear healthy children. This sort of understanding affirmed the heart’s position and preeminence as ruler of the body, and mediated the tense relationship existing between the Gate of Life and the heart. At the same time, it also accorded with the principle of Neo-Confucianism wherein the heart moderated the relationship between the Heavenly principle and human desire.

4

Conclusion

Through using The Book of Changes as an analogy, physicians of late imperial China used the Kun ☷ trigram to draw out the character and function of the Gate of Life in a conspicuous manner. They further used the Kan ☵ (Water) and Li ☲ (Fire) trigrams and the hexagram Jiji ䷾ (Kan on top and Li at the bottom) to analogize the relationship between the Gate of Life and the kidneys. They thus established the transformative and reproductive functions of the Gate of Life. After physicians confirmed the subordinate relationship between the Gate of Life’s Ministerial Fire and the heart’s Sovereign Fire, they established the basic content of a medical cosmology and theory of the origins of the human body. They also resolved the tension existing between their understanding of the heart, and that of Neo-Confucians. In this way, from the Song dynasty onward, inspired by and under the influence of both Neo-Confucians and Daoists, physicians devised an entirely new medical cosmology and theory of the origin of the body, centering on the Gate of Life. The Book of Changes constituted the classical evidence supporting and rationalizing this new cosmology and understanding of the body. Its importance to the field of medicine can be seen in the following two comments by the Ming dynasty physician Sun Yikui: “Those who don’t know The Changes are not equipped to speak of the theory of the Great Ultimate in medicine” (不 知《易》者，不足以言太醫論); and “Those who are deeply [learned] in The Changes are always good with medicine; those skilled at medicine, it is always because they master the Changes” (深於《易》者，必善於醫；精於醫者，必 由於通《易》).45 For many physicians in late imperial China, Yijing was not only a manual of divination and a philosophical text on moral-metaphysics, but also a foundational text for medical cosmology and a theory of the origins of the human body.46

45 46

Sun Yikui, Yizhi xuyu, 1:648. Sun Yikui succinctly summarized the significance of the Yijing on medicine as follows way:

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Acknowledgements This chapter was originally written in Chinese. I thank Sarah Basham for translating it into English. I also thank Tze-ki Hon for editing the English translation.

Bibliography Abbreviation skqs: Siku quanshu 四庫全書. Repr. Yingyin Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景印文淵閣四 庫全書. Taipei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1983.

Sources Chen Yan 陳言 (Southern Song dynasty). Sanyin jiyi bingyuan lun cui 三因極一病源 論粹 (Essence of the three factors and one ultimate theory of disease; 1174). Taipei: Tailian guofeng chubanshe, 1978. Feng Zhaozhang 馮兆張 (late Ming dynasty). Fengshi jinnang milu 馮氏錦囊秘錄 (Mr Feng’s tips and secret records, 1694). Beijing: Zhongguo zhongyiyao chubanshe, 1996. Hua Boren 滑伯仁 (alternative name: Shou 壽, Yuan dynasty). Nanjing benyi 難經本義 (Orthodox meaning of the Canon of Problems). skqs, vol. 733. Li Gao 李杲 (1180–1251). Pi wei lun 脾胃論 (Discourse on the spleen and stomach). skqs, vol. 745. Li Shizhen 李時珍 (1518–1593?). Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 (Systematic materia medica; 1552–1578). skqs, vol. 774. Liu Wansu 劉完素 (1120–1200?). Shanghan zhige fang 傷寒直格方 (Straight grid formulas for cold damage). skqs, vol. 744. Liu Wansu 劉完素 (1120–1200?). Suwen xuanji yuan bingshi 素問玄機原病式 (Deducing illness conditions with the marvelous mechanisms in the Basic questions). skqs, vol. 744. Sun Wenyin 孫文胤 (Ming dynasty). Dantai yu’an 丹臺玉案 (Jade cases from the altar of elixirs; 1636). Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe, 1984. Sun Yikui 孫一奎 (fl. sixteenth century). Yizhi xuyu 醫旨緒餘 (Leftover silk of the med-

“One who knows only medicine but does not know The Changes, this is inflexible learning, a shallow view. Those who see medicine as a lesser Way or The Changes only as divination, this is indeed knowledge, limited as a ladle compared to the sea, a view that only sees one stripe of the leopard” (彼知醫而不知《易》者，拘方之學，一隅之見也。以小道 視醫，以卜筮視《易》者，亦蠡測之識，窺豹之觀也). See Sun Yikui, Yizhi xuyu, 1.648.

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ical essentials). In Sun Yikui yixue quanshu 孫一奎醫學全書 (Complete medical works of Sun Yikui; 1584). Beijing: Zhongguo Zhongyiyao chubanshe, 1999. Tamba Motoyasu 丹波元簡 (1755–1810). Nankei soshō 難經疏證 (Explanations and exegesis of the Canon of Problems; 1819). Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1984. Tu Shen 涂紳 (Ming dynasty). Baidai yizong 百代醫宗 (One hundred generations of medical lineages; 1607). Beijing: Zhongyi guji chubanshe, 1993. Xu Dachun 徐大椿 (1693–1771). Yiguan bian 醫貫砭 (Critique of the thread of medicine; 1741). In Siku quanshu cunmu congshu 四庫全書存目叢書, Zibu 子部, vol. 53. Tainan: Zhuangyan wenhua chuban shiye gongsi, 1995. Yu Tuan 虞摶 (1438–1517?). Yixue zhengzhuan 醫學正傳 (The orthodox transmission of medicine; 1515). Reprint of the Wanli 萬曆 (1572–1620) edition. Taipei: Xinwenfeng chuban youxian gongsi, 1981. Zhai Liang 翟良 (Ming dynasty). Jingluo huibian 經絡匯編 (Edited compilation on the circulation tract system; 1628). In Jingluo quanshuo 經絡全書 (Complete works on the circulation tract system), edited by You Sheng 尤乘 (1688). Beijing: Zhongyi guji chubanshe, 1994. Zhang Chang 張 昶 (Ming dynasty). Baibing wendu bianyi 百 病 問 對 辨 疑 (Resolution and dialogue on hundreds of disorders; 1581). Beijing: Zhongyi guji chubanshe, 1994. Zhang Jiebin 張介賓 (1563–1640). Leijing fuyi 類經附翼 (Classified classics with appendices). skqs, vol. 776. Zhang Ming 張明 (Ming dynasty). Jingluo tushuo 經略圖說 (Illustrated explanations of the circulation tract system; 1630). Beijing: Zhongyi guji chubanshe, 1993. Zhang Yuansu 張元素 (Jin dynasty). Bingji qiyi baoming ji 病機氣宜保命集 (Collection on mechanisms of illness, adapting qi, and preserving life). skqs, vol. 745. Zhao Xianke 趙獻可 (1573–1664?). Yiguan 醫貫 (The thread of medicine). Edited and annotated by Chen Yongping 陳永萍. Beijing: Xueyuan chubanshe, 1996. Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073). Zhou Yuangong ji 周元公集 (Compiled works of Sir Zhou Dunyi). skqs, vol. 1101. Zhu Su 朱橚 (?–1425). Puji fang 普濟方 (Formulas for far-reaching aid). skqs, vols. 747– 761. Zhu Zhenheng 朱震亨 (1281–1358). Gezhi yu lun 格致餘論 (Additional discourses on investigating things and extending knowledge). In his Danxi yiji 丹溪醫集 (Medical compilation of Danxi). Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1993.

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(The gate of life: the conceptions of “mingmen” in traditional Chinese medicine in the Jin, Yuan, and Ming periods). Xinshixue 新史學 (New History Journal) 9.3 (1999): 1–48. Chen Hanming 陳寒鳴, “Zhou Dunyi Taiji tu yuanyuan shitan” 周敦頤《太極圖》淵 源試探 (Probing the source of Zhou Dunyi’s Taiji tu). In Lixue yu Zhongguo wenhua 理學與中國文化 (The study of principle and Chinese culture), edited by Jiang Guanghui 姜廣輝, 59–72. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1995. de Vries, Leslie. “The Authentic Person as Ideal for the Late Ming Dynasty Physician: Daoist Inner Alchemy in Zhang Jiebin’s Commentary on the Huangdi neijing.” Synthesis philosophica 29.1 (2014): 63–82. Despeux, Catherine. “The System of the Five Circulatory Phases and the Six Seasonal Influences (wuyun liuqi): A Source of Innovation in Medicine under the Song (960– 1279).” Translated by Janet Lloyd. In Innovation in Chinese Medicine, edited by Elisabeth Hsu, 121–165. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Elman, Benjamin. On Their Own Terms: Science in China 1550–1900. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. Kohn, Livia. The Taoist Experience: An Anthology. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1993. Lu Shaogang 呂紹綱, ed. Zhouyi cidian 周易辭典. Changchun: Jilin Daxue chubanshe, 1992. Porkert, Manfred. The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine: Systems of Correspondence. Cambridge, MA, and London: The mit Press, 1978. Pregadio, Fabrizio. “The Representation of Time in the Zhouyi cantong qi.” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 8 (1995): 155–173. Qing Xitai 卿希泰. Daojiao yu Zhongguo chuantong wenhua 道教與中國傳統文化. Fujian: Fujian renmin chubanshe, 1992. Quan Yijing 權依經 and Li Minting 李民聽. Wuyun liuqi xiangjie yu yunyong 五運六氣 詳解與運用 (A detailed explanation of the five circulatory phases and six seasonal influences and their application). Lanzhou: Gansu kexue jishu chubanshe, 1988. Ren Jiyu 任繼愈. Zhongguo daojiao shi 中國道教史 (History of Chinese Daoism). Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1990. Sivin, Nathan. Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China: A Partial Translation of Revised Outline of Chinese Medicine (1972), With an Introductory Study on Change in Present Day and Early Medicine. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1987. Unschuld, Paul. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Unschuld, Paul U., Hermann Tessenow, and Zheng Jinsheng, trans. An Annotated Translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic: Basic Questions. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2011.

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Wang Qi 王琦, Wang Shufen 王樹芬, Zhou Mingxin 周銘心, and Yan Yanli 閻艷麗. Yunqi xueshuo de yanjiu yu kaocha 運氣學說的研究與考察 (Researches and investigations regarding the theory of the phases and influences). Beijing: Zhishi chubanshe, 1989.

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chapter 7

Hexagrams and Mathematics: Symbolic Approaches to Prediction from the Song to the Qing Andrea bréard

As for The Changes, it is like with Heaven. Heaven, we cannot know, but we know it through actual measurements. The Seven Planets and fixed stars, they are not stable but alternate and combine, and they do not go beyond the 360 degrees of the meridian and parallel lines. Mountains, marshes, water, and fire, they are not stable but alternate and combine, and they do not go beyond the 384 changes of the lines. Basing oneself upon the actual measurements of the movements, one can gradually understand heaven. Basing oneself upon the actual measurements of the classical text, one can also gradually understand The Changes. It is impossible to penetrate [heaven] with void principles, it is impossible to weigh [The Changes] with an absent mind.1 This is how Jiao Xun 焦循 (1763–1820) sees the connection between mathematical astronomy and The Changes (also Book or Classic of Changes, or Yijing). It is through the lens of a shared methodology that he proposes an understanding of several much-debated key concepts found in The Changes, the classical text and its commentaries alike. Among the kinds of operations performed with the hexagrams, there were three methods that particularly caught the eye of mathematically-versed Confucian scholars: the production, counting, and ordering of the sixty-four mantic figures. For these scholars, the rational explanations and interpretations of the sixty-four hexagrams represent an alternative, disenchanting vision of the realm of divination, focusing on technicalities rather than meaning. Such approaches became a legitimizing discourse in the

1 Translated from Jiao Xun’s “Preface” (“Xumu” 敘目) to Yitu lüe 易圖略 (Précis of Diagrams in the Changes), 1a. The original statement reads: 夫易，猶天也，天不可知，以實測而 知。七政恒星，錯綜不齊，而不出乎三百六十度之經緯。山澤水火，錯綜不齊， 而不出乎三百八十四爻之變化。本行度而實測之，天以漸而明。本經文而實測 之，易亦以漸而明。非可以虛理盡，非可以外心衡也.

© Andrea Bré a rd, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004500037_009

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Republican era, when the scientificity of divination came to the defense against the critique of the long-standing traditions of prognostication. This chapter analyzes the motivations and solutions of several Song to Qing dynasty scholars (from approximately the tenth to the nineteenth centuries) to connect mathematical considerations with the procedural and structural aspects of The Changes. Here, I understand “mathematical considerations” as the number theoretical practices rather than “numerology” (or shuxue 數學, learning about numbers), that was commonly used in China.2 This chapter, therefore, is not about correlative cosmology and the numerological readings concerned with the polysemantics of numbers but, rather, about theories from the Chinese mathematical tradition that are modified from, mapped onto, or juxtaposed with The Changes tradition. The distinction drawn here is mainly analytical and does not imply that a strict social boundary existed between numerological and mathematical practices. Actors such as Jiang Yong 江 永 (1681–1762), for example, worked in both compartments but considered them epistemologically related.3 His Quintessence of the River [Chart] and the Luo [Writing] (He Luo jingyun 河洛 精蘊, preface 1759) is very different in nature from his Learning about Numbers (Shuxue 數學), the latter being a work of mathematical astronomy while the former reveals his commitment to the numerological debates, both of which he entirely grounds in The Chart of the Yellow River and The Writ of the Luo River. The first section of this chapter discusses the Dayan 大衍 method for yarrow stalks described in the “Great Commentary” (“Xici” 繫辭) and the kind of mathematical explanations offered during the Song dynasty before Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–1200) reading became the orthodox interpretation. In the second section, I discuss the counting of mantic figures in the context of mathematical combinatorics in Qing China (1644–1911). In the final section, I examine the mathematical solutions to the problem of ordering the hexagrams, and assess the mathematical approaches to The Changes as an alternative to those that emphasized either images and numbers (xiangshu 象數) or moral principles (li 理).

2 See, for example, the numerological books classified under the Shuxue 數學 branch in the Shushu 數術 category of the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 (Annotated Catalog of the Siku quanshu). See Marc Kalinowski, “Typology and Classification of the Mantic Arts in Ancient China.” 3 On Jiang Yong, see Richard J. Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China, 184: “a wholehearted supporter of Jesuit astronomy and mathematics, he was also a loyal follower of Zhu Xi (although a critic of Zhu’s rudimentary math and science).”

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Producing Gua: The Problem of “Dayan 50 Use 49”

The so-called number of the Great Expansion (Dayan) appears in the “Great Commentary” to The Changes at the beginning of an account of the divination procedure using yarrow sticks and producing numbers for the generation of hexagram lines: The number of the Great Expansion is fifty; of these forty-nine are used.4 A legion of commentaries on the number fifty, the subtracted unit, and the resulting number forty-nine were written over the centuries until the Song dynasty. As for the Dayan number more specifically, explanations were often presented in additive or multiplicative numerical terms.5 As early as the “Treatise on Pitchpipes and Calendar” (“Lüli zhi” 律暦志) of the History of the Han Dynasty (Han shu 漢書), we find that: For the primordial beginning, there is the image of unity, for spring and autumn there is the two, for the Triple Concordance [calendar] (Santong [li] 三統[曆]) there is the three, and for the four seasons there is the four. Together, they make ten [1+2+3+4=10], constituting five bodies. Multiplying ten by five, this is the number of the Great Expansion. Because the Way removes one of them, the remaining forty-nine are the ones that should be used.6

4 The original statement reads: 大 衍 之 数 五 十 ，其 用 四 十 有 九. Han Kangbo 韓 康 伯, Zhouyi Xici 周易繫辭, 7:7a. For a complete translation of the passage describing the yarrow stalks operations, see, for example, Bent Nielsen, A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 bce–220 ce) to Song 宋 (960–1279 ce), 39–41; Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World, 26–27; Richard Rutt, The Book of Changes (Zhouyi): A Bronze Age Document, 158. 5 For example, see Han Kangbo, Zhouyi Xici, 7:7a: “Wang Bi says: What is relied upon among the numbers calculated for Heaven and Earth, makes fifty” (演天地之数所賴者五十也). Note that the sum of the five odd Heaven’s numbers (1+3+5+7+9) and the sum of the five even Earth’s numbers (2+4+6+8+10) are 55. By excluding the central number 5, one arrives at a sum of 50. In his Zhouyi Zhengyi 周易正義, Kong Yingda 孔穎達 quotes Jing Fang 京房 (78–37 bce) who obtained the following sum of fifty by enumeration: “What here is fifty means the ten days, the twelve two-hour periods of the day, and the twenty-eight lunar mansions” (五 十者謂十日十二辰二十八宿也). See Kong Yingda, Zhouyi Zhengyi 7.12a. 6 Ban Gu 班固, Han shu, 4.983. A different translation can be found in Nielsen, A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology, 42.

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figure 7.1 Numbers 1 to 9 as arranged in accordance with The Writ of the Luo River

By the time Zhu Xi wrote his influential book, the Primer of Yi Study (Yixue qimeng 易學啟蒙, 1186),7 in which he provides an interpretation of the stalk procedure that became the standard practice until today, reflections upon the origin of the number fifty were connected to The Chart of the Yelllow River (Hetu 河圖) and The Writ of the Luo River (Luoshu 洛書). The latter is, mathematically speaking, a true magic square, with the numbers 1 to 9 arranged such that all horizontal, vertical, and diagonal sums are equal. The Song dynasty mathematician Yang Hui 楊輝 (1238–1298) was interested not only in such square layouts of n2 numbers, but also in circular arrangements.8 In his “Chart Accumulating [Numbers] around a Nine” (“Zan jiu tu” 攢 九圖), he arranges the natural numbers from 1 to 33 in four concentric circles, with 9 at its center and the eight numbers on each circle distributed such that all diameters sum up to 147 (see fig. 2).9 The same sum is obtained for each circle plus the central 9 (e.g. 28+27+20+33+12+4+6+8+9=147). Based on the half diameters without the central 9, they all add up to 69. In a similar mathematical vein, Ding Yidong 丁易東 ( jinshi 1286),10 another Song dynasty mathematician, contemporary to Yang Hui, set out to explain the “Dayan 50 use 49” paradigm by extending the diagrams in The Chart of the Yellow River and The Writ of the Luo River. His starting point is a quote from the “Great Commentary”:

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Zhu Xi’s Primer was complemented by disccussions and many diagrams by Li Guangdi 李 光地 (1642–1718). See Li’s Qimeng fulun 啓蒙附論 (Primer with Appended Discussions) in Zhu Xi 朱熹, Yixue qimeng 易學啟蒙, 21 (repr. 38.521–553). Included in the Selection of Curious Mathematical Methods in Continuation of the Ancients (Xugu zhaiji suanfa 續 古 摘 奇 算 法) of Yang Hui’s Mathematical Methods (Yang Hui suanfa 楊輝算法, ca. 1275), but only partially edited in Yijiatang congshu 宜稼堂叢書 from 1842. For an analysis, see Lam Lay Yong, A Critical Study of the Yang Hui Suanfa: A Thirteenth-Century Chinese Mathematical Treatise, 2.293–322. Adapted from Yang Hui 楊輝, “Xugu zhaiji suanfa” 續古摘奇算法, 1.1099. See Wang Rongbin 王榮彬, “Ding Yidong dui zonghengtu de yanjiu” 丁易東對從橫圖 的研究, 74.

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figure 7.2 Yang Hui’s “Chart Accumulating [Numbers] around a Nine” (“Zan jiu tu”).

The [Book of ] Changes states: “The River gave forth the Chart, the Luo gave forth the Writing, and the sages took [both of] them as models.” I used them to understand the number of the Great Expansion.11 In his “Diagram of The Writ of the Luo River with 49 Positions which Leads to the Great Expansion 50” (“Luoshu sishijiu wei de Dayan wushi shu tu” 洛書四 十九位得大衍五十數圖) Ding distributes the numbers 1 to 49 in six concentric circles around a central cell containing the number 25 (fig. 3).12 The arrangement here is in extension of The Writ of the Luo River (fig. 1), with its cells ai (ai = i, where 0 < i < 10) each multiplied by 5 to form the inner circle around the central number 9 and then continuing with The Writ of the Luo River numbers in decimal sequence in opposing orders along the outer lines. Any of the resulting circles then has a sum of 200,13 any two opposite numbers with respect to

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The original reads: 易曰: 河出圖，洛出書，聖人則之。吾於大衍之數與用知之 矣. Ding Yidong 丁易東, Dayan suoyin 大衍索隱, 2.6a. Quote from Han Kangbo, Zhouyi Xici, 7.10a. Cf. the translation in James Legge, The Yî King, 374: “The Ho gave forth the map, and the Lo the writing, of (both of) which the sages took advantage.” Ding Yidong, Dayan suoyin, 2.6a (806.340 in the skqs page numbering). For example, the inner circle has a sum of 45+10+35+30+5+40+15+20 = 200.

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figure 7.3 Ding Yidong’s Diagram of The Writ of the Luo River with 49 positions which leads to the Great Expansion 50 (“Luoshu sishijiu wei de Dayan wushi shu tu” 洛書四 十九位得大衍五十數圖).

the central numbers have a sum of 50,14 and any straight line passing through the center has a sum of 325.15 The arrangement thus not only satisfies the constraints of a “magic circle” but also relates to the “Dayan 50 use 49” problem: “Although there are 49 positions in this [diagram], the numbers of opposing positions all form 50.” Another one of Ding’s “magic squares” is a grid-shaped figure with The Writ of the Luo River numbers lying at the intersections and all of the numbers adding

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As for 43+7 = 50. This follows from the above, since 6 × 50+25 = 325.

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figure 7.4 Ding Yidong’s “Diagram of The Writ of the Luo River with 45 Numbers Extended such that 49 are Used” (“Luoshu sishiwu shu yan sishijiu yong tu” 洛書四十五數衍四十九用圖).

up to 195 horizontally and vertically (see fig. 4). Here, Ding arranges only 45 of the numbers 1 to 49, the remaining four, he says, are the imagined four multiples of ten (10, 20, 30, 40) that reside in the empty inner spaces of the squares.16 Again, as in the above diagram, the number layout is based upon the model of The Writ of the Luo River and extended such that it echoes the numerical situation of the 50 viz. 49 yarrow stalks. Another mathematical field, where the “Great Expansion” played a significant role, was a procedure for solving systems of linear congruences, the socalled Great Expansion Procedure (Dayan shu 大衍術). Yet, it failed to provide a quantitative explanation regarding the number of stalks that were used and why precisely so many of these were involved in the stalks sorting method. As applied in Qin Jiushao’s 秦九韶 (1208–1261) Mathematical Book in Nine Chapters (Shushu jiuzhang 數書九章), his mathematical procedure rather allowed 16

Ding Yidong, Dayan suoyin, 2.2b (806.338 in the skqs page numbering): 洛書九位之裝， 以五衍之，雖止得四十五位，然以數合之，則實成四十有九。盖虛包四位之 十於其中故也. Cf. id. 2.3b: 所謂虛包者盖前有數引後有數從.

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the solution to an inverse question: how many stalks does the diviner hold in his hand if the remainders in the process of counting off the stalks are such and such. The numbers 50 and 49 merely appear in the course of the calculation as the sums of certain parameters. Additionally, Qin has a reading of the stalks procedure that differs considerably from that of Zhu Xi. As Ulrich Libbrecht noted, “in the I-ching divination technique used here, the fourty-nine stalks of the milfoil are divided into two arbitrary heaps, of which the right-hand heap is counted off by fours, threes, twos, and ones. In the original technique of the Iching there is only a counting off by fours.”17 In fact, since counting off by ones always produces a remainder of 1, Qin Jiushao only considers three operations of counting off: by twos, by threes, and by fours. This leads him to an alternative interpretation of the “three” and the “eighteen changes.” For him, these are not the outcome of three iterations of the same procedure that only counts off by fours, but: The meaning of my procedure that says “counting off by twos, counting off by threes, counting off by fours” is that, altogether, we do count off in three stages, repeatedly from the beginning number, [as in the example] thirty-three. For this reason [The Changes] states: “Three changes constitute one line.” Since each gua has six lines, one has to perform eighteen changes. For this reason, [The Changes] states: “Eighteen changes constitute one gua.”18 The general mathematical problem in Qin’s book, thus, aimed to find the unknown N which satisfies four linear congruences for the given remainders ri : N≡r1 (mod 1)≡r2 (mod 2)≡r3 (mod 3)≡r4 (mod 4).19

Nevertheless, N, being the number of stalks held in one hand by the diviner, is neither 50 nor 49. The latter two numbers only appear in the course of the

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Ulrich Libbrecht, Chinese Mathematics in the Thirteenth Century: The Shu-shu chiu-chang of Ch’in Chiu-shao, 388. Translated from Qin Jiushao 秦九韶, Shushu jiuzhang 數書九章, 1.8b (repr. 1.447). The original statement reads: 術意謂揲二揲三揲四者，凡三度復以三十三。從頭數揲 之，故曰三變而成爻。既卦有六爻，必一十八變，故日十有八變而成卦。 In Qin’s numerical example, one solution for the remainders r1 = 1, r2 = 1, r3 = 3 and r4 = 1 is N = 33. Other solutions are N = 9, 21, 45, …, or generally N = 9 + 12i where i = 0, 1, 2, ….

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problem solution as the sum of what Qin calls the “expansion numbers” and the “numbers used.” These names for the mathematical variables bring his general algorithm for solving linear congruence problems terminologically close to The Changes. The very first problem in the first scroll of Qin’s Mathematical Book in Nine Chapters in a series of “Dayan kind” problems (Dayan lei 大衍類) reads as follows: Question: The [Book of ] Changes states: “The number of the Great Expansion is 50; of that we use 49.” It also states: “Divide them and make two heaps to represent the two; take one to represent the three. Count them off by fours to represent the four seasons. Change three times and you complete a line; change eighteen times and you complete a hexagram.” We wish to know the procedures of the expansion and the values of each of their numbers. The answer states: the extension denominator is 12, the extension divisor is 3. The expansion number of the first element is 24. the expansion number of the second element is 12. The expansion number of the third element is 8. the expansion number of the fourth element is 6. The above four positions add up to 50. The number used when counting off by ones is 12. The number used when counting off by twos is 24. The number used when counting off by threes is 4. The number used when counting off by fours is 9. The above four positions add up to 49.20 問易曰大衍之數五十其用四十有九又曰分而為二以象兩掛一以象三揲 之以四以象四時三變而成爻十有八變而成卦欲知所衍之術及其數各幾 何

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In Qin’s numerical example, one solution for the remainders r1 = 1, r2 = 1, r3 = 3 and r4 = 1is N = 33. Other solutions are 9, 21, 33, or 45.

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hexagrams and mathematics 荅曰衍母一十二 一元衍數二十四 三元衍數八 己上四位衍數計五十 一揲用數一十二 三揲用數四 己上四位用數計四十九

衍法三 二元衍數一十二 四元衍數六 二揲用數二十四 四揲用數九

Other problems and a general solution algorithm, the Great Expansion Procedure, follow this first problem without making any explicit reference to The Changes. It is noteworthy that, for the first problem, Qin Jiushao had to modify the general algorithm in several ways to obtain the numbers 50 and 49 at the end and thus conform numerically to the passage from the “Great Commentary” on milfoil divination. Had Qin strictly applied the Great Expansion Procedure, he would have obtained 12+12+4+9=37 as the sum of the “numbers used,” but not the desired 49. Libbrecht states that “this gives the impression that Ch’in tried to explain the magic numbers 49 and 50 of the I-ching in a mathematical way.”21 This was indeed the case, since he concludes, for example, that: by summing up the four positions of the expansion numbers in the left column, one obtains a total of fifty. For this reason, The Changes states: “The Great Expansion number is 50.” Yet, according to mathematical principles, it is impossible to use these fifty. When dividing them into two, one will either have [two] odd or [two] even numbers in the left and right hands and never manage to expose the hidden numbers of Yin and Yang.22 I would argue, however, that Qin does more here than simply “explain” mathematically what he finds in The Changes: he proposes an alternative interpretation of the procedure of milfoil divination that corresponds to the mathematical layout of linear congruence problems and thus contributes to the rapprochement of mathematical theory and divination techniques. By “alternative,” I have in mind Zhu Xi’s reading of the milfoil procedure. This dates from

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Libbrecht, Chinese Mathematics, 389. Qin Jiushao, Shushu jiuzhang, 1.4b (repr. 1.445). The original statement reads: 乃併左行 衍數，四位共計五十，故易日大衍之數五十。算理不可以此五十為用，蓋分 之為二，則左右手之數奇偶，不司見陰陽之伏數。

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nearly a century earlier than Qin’s work, yet it is unclear whether Qin Jiushao has read Zhu Xi’s Primer of Yi Study in which it is exposed. Zhu Xi’s “mathematics” therein was certainly of little interest to Qin, and it was only in Li Guangdi’s 李光地 (1642–1718) commented edition of the Primer that a more substantial connection to mathematics was added.23 It is unsurprising that, during the Kangxi era (1661–1722), the kind of knowledge that was mobilized by Li Guangdi stemmed from the Chinese mathematical tradition—a frequent recourse in reaction to the introduction of Western mathematical knowledge through the Jesuits since the late Ming. In the specific case of searching for the origins of the numbers 50 and 49, Li relied, among others, on two themes from the Han dynasty mathematical classic, The Gnomon of the Zhou (Zhoubi suanjing 周髀算經): the juxtaposition of the circle and square, and right-angled triangles.24 Li Guangdi’s diagram on the Origins of the Great Expansion in circle and square (Dayan yuanfang zhi yuan 大 衍 圓 方 之 原) illustrates a circle with a diameter of 7 inscribed in a square (see fig. 5). The latter thus has a surface of 49 and a circumference of 28, whereas the circle, by adopting the approximation for π proposed by Zu Zongchi 祖冲之 (429–500), π = 227 , has a circumference of 22. Through a simple calculation, Li finds that: Adding 28 and 22 together makes 50. This is the number of the Great Expansion. It contains the two circumferences of a square and a circle with equal diameters.25 In addition, Li relates the number 50 to the sum of the squares of a rightangled triangle with sides equal to 3, 4, and 5.26 Since 50 itself is not a perfect

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See fn. 7. According to Smith (Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World, 178), this was “the most important official monument to Yijing scholarship in the Kangxi reign and perhaps the entire Qing period.” Both were of cosmological and astronomical importance. The circle and square represented heaven and earth, respectively, and right-angled triangles were important for measuring the distance to stars. For an annotated translation of The Gnomon of the Zhou, see Christopher Cullen, Astronomy and Mathematics in ancient China: the Zhoubi suanjing, 1996. The original statement reads: 合二十八與二十二，共五十，是大衍之數，函方圓 同徑兩周數. See Li Guangdi, Qimeng fulun, 21:51a (repr. 38:546). See fig. 6 from id., 21.51b and 21.53b (repr. 38.546 and 38.547). His illustration to the left of fig. 6 is reminiscent of Euclid’s diagram to proposition i.47, the Pythagorean theorem, translated into Chinese by Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi 徐光啓 in 1607, whereas the diagram to the right of fig. 6 is similar to the layout in the Zhoubi suanjing edition from the

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figure 7.5 Li Guangdi’s diagram on the “Origins of the Great Expansion in Circle and Square” (“Dayan yuanfang zhi yuan” 大衍圓方之原).

square, but 49 is, this accounts, for him, for the one unit or stalk that needs to be removed from 50 before one embarks on the Dayan stalk procedure.27 Altogether, Li Guangdi’s commentary to Zhu Xi’s Primer introduces elements from the Chinese—and to a lesser extent the Western—mathematical tradition, that adds a historical layer to Song dynasty numerical speculations. His efforts can best be understood against the cultural background of the Kangxi era, combined with Kangxi’s personal interest in The Classic of Changes.

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Song. The figure to the left is reproduced by Jiang Yong 江永 in his Quintessence of the River [Chart] and the Luo [Writing] (He Luo jingyun 河洛精蘊) 6.1b (repr. 叁輯 23.339), yet, without a numerical reference to the Great Expansion number. Jiang merely points out the myriad uses of right-angled triangles, among which he lists, without specification, The Changes: “How could those who study The Changes have possibly failed to explore this thoroughly! (學易者何可不深究乎).” See Jiang Yong, He Luo jingyun, 6.2b. See Li Guangdi, Qimeng fulun, 21.52a (repr. 38.547): 論勾股之合積亦五十，此大衍之 體也。因而開方，則不盡一數。而止於四十九，此大衍之用也。開方而不盡 一數，則蓍策之虛一者是已。

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figure 7.6 Left: Li Guangdi’s diagram on the “Origin of the Great Expansion in Right-angled Triangles” (“Dayan gougu zhi yuan” 大衍句股之原). Right: “Old Yin Number Corresponds to the Right-angled Triangle Rule” (“Laoyin shu he gougu fa” 老陰數合 句股法).

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Counting the Gua: 64 and More …

Another important topo of mathematicians related to The Changes was of a combinatorial nature: how many gua of n lines can one produce with a continuous and a broken line? Chen Houyao 陳厚耀 (1648–1722),28 in his Meaning of Methods for Alternation and Combination (Cuozong fayi 錯綜法義), answers this question from a purely mathematical perspective, regardless of the unrealistic nature of his thought experiment. Chen’s essay deals systematically with problems of permutation and combination in the case of divination with trigrams, the formation of hexagrams or names with several characters, combinations of the ten heavenly stems (tiangan 天 干), and the twelve earthly branches (dizhi 地 支) to form the astronomical sexagesimal cycles. Games of chance, such as dice-throwing and card games, equally serve as a model for discussing the use of algorithms to calculate combinations and permutations with or without repetition.29 In the

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Chen Houyao was a jinshi under the Kangxi 康熙 reign (1706) and became an important scholar and astronomer, in close contact with the emperor. For a more detailed account of the content and a translation of the divination problems in Chen Houyao’s manuscript, see Andrea Bréard, “Inductive Arguments in the Midst of Smoke.” A general survey of the history of combinatorics in China can be found in Andrea Bréard, “China.”

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foreword to his treatise, Chen Houyao stresses the originality of his contribution to the mathematical tradition in China and explicitly links the expression “alternation and combination” (cuozong 錯綜) in the title of his treatise to The Changes: The Nine Chapters30 have entirely provided all [mathematical] methods, but they lack any type of method for alternations and combinations. The Changes states: “By three, by five, through the transformations; alternating and combining [cuozong] the numbers.”31 By “alternating and combining,” one forms the numbers themselves from heaven and earth; by, for example, mutually alternating pairs of even and odd, one forms the hexagrams; by mutually alternating the stems and branches, one forms the calendar; by mutually alternating the colors, one forms the brocade; by mutually alternating the five sounds, one forms the melodies. When one extends this, increasing to myriads and accumulating hundreds of millions, there is not one that would not, as a consequence of alternation, have the charm of the inexhaustible.32 The very first problem that Chen describes in his text employs the hexagrams as an abstract model for combinatorial considerations. He presents two methods for calculating the possible numbers of combinations in configurations 30

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A reference to The Nine Chapters on Mathematical Procedures ( Jiu zhang suan shu 九章 算術), the foundational and canonical work of mathematics in ancient China, compiled around the first century ce. On the cultural significance of this text, its exegetic traditions, and convoluted history, see Karine Chemla and Guo Shuchun, Les Neuf Chapitres, 43–70. See Legge, The Yî King, 369–370: “[The stalks] are manipulated by threes and fives to determine [one] change; they are laid on opposite sides, and placed one up, one down, to make sure of their numbers; and the [three necessary] changes are applied in this way, until they form the figures pertaining to heaven or earth. Their numbers are exactly determined, and the emblems of (all things) under the sky are fixed.” Translated from Chen Houyao 陳厚耀, Cuozong fayi 錯綜法義, 4:685. The last sentence in the original reads: 推而衍之。盈萬累億。無非因錯而後有不窮之妙。A similar idea occurs in Zhu Xi’s commentary to a prominent sentence from the “Great Commentary”: “ ‘In The Changes is the Supreme Ultimate, it generates the two modes [Yin and Yang], the two modes generate the four images [broken and unbroken lines in sets of two], the four images generate the eight trigrams.’ […] Therefore, by pushing this further, because of four there are eight, because of eight there are sixteen, because of sixteen, there are thirty-two, because of thirty-two there are sixty-four, thus approaching to become hundreds, thousands, myriads, hundreds of millions, so many as to lack a limit.” 易有太極， 是生兩儀，兩儀生四象，四象生八卦。[…] 自是而推之，由四而八，由八而十 六，由十六而三十二，由三十二而六十四，以至於百千萬億之無窮。See Zhu Xi 朱熹, Yixue qimeng 易學啟蒙, 19. 16a–b (repr. 38.476).

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with an arbitrary number of lines. Both methods relate constructively to the hexagrams: 1. One can either superpose one line after the other, and the number of configurations with n lines then is calculated as 2n . In the case of the hexagrams, i.e., a configuration made up of six lines, each either broken or unbroken, he underlines that the calculation of all possible combinations (with repetition) can either be obtained by successive multiplication of the two possibilities: Number of configurations consisting of 2 lines = 2·2 = 4 Number of configurations consisting of 3 lines = 4·2 = 8 … Number of configurations consisting of 6 lines = 32·2 = 64 2. or one can superpose repeatedly, say n times, entire trigrams (of which there are eight). In this case, one finds the total number of possibilities by considering 8n . Here is Chen’s problem-answer-procedure text: Let us suppose that the odd line is the Yang, and that the even line is the Yin. One even or one odd, one superposes until one obtains six lines. How many mantic figures (gua 卦) does one obtain? [The answer] states: Sixtyfour gua. The method states: One even, one odd, by counting this makes two. If one multiplies two by two, one obtains the four gua with two lines. If one multiplies this again by two, one obtains the eight diagrams of three lines. If one multiplies this again by two, one obtains the sixteen gua of four lines. If one multiplies this again by two, one obtains the thirty-two gua of five lines. If one multiplies this again by two, one obtains the sixty-four gua of six lines. If one superposes up to seven lines or more, one obtains the result equally by successively multiplying by two. Alternatively, if one multiplies by itself the eight gua of three lines, one obtains the sixty-four gua of six lines. It is by multiplying by itself the said number obtained that one saves half of the multiplications. Let us suppose that we have the eight trigrams (ba gua 八卦) Qian 乾, Dui 兌, Li 離, Zhen 震, Xun 巽, Kan 坎, Gen 艮, and Kun 坤. By multiplying and superposing them, how many gua should we get? By superposing once more, again, how many gua should we get? The answer states: When superposing at first, 64 gua; when superposing once more, 512 gua. The explanation states: Gua originally do not have three characters [i.e., three trigrams, thus nine lines]. Now, we wish to explore the numbers

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of its superpositions, which his why we repeatedly add on to infer (tui 推) them. Each time one adds one character [of three lines], one should also repeatedly multiply (lei cheng 累乘) this [the number from the previous configuration] by eight. This gives the result.33 Even more abstract than Chen Houyao is another late Qing dynasty text by Wang Lai 汪萊 (1768–1813), The Mathematical Principles of Sequential Combinations (Dijian shuli 遞兼數理).34 Its structure differs significantly from Chen’s text since it is not written as a collection of problems. Wang, as he states, intends to make apparent the underlying—mathematical rather than moral— “principles” (li 理) of two general procedures for solving the following two combinatorial questions: 1. When choosing k objects without repetition from a set of n, how many combinations Cnk are there? n 2. What is the sum Sn = ∑k=1 Cnk of all these combinations Cnk for k = 1, 2, … n?35 Following his general theoretical considerations, Wang provides only a single example to illustrate these two problems. He draws on divination with hexagrams, asking how many transformations of lines are possible, when we start from a certain hexagram (the answer is 63). A closer examinatoin of the structure of The Mathematical Principles of Sequential Combinations reveals Wang Lai’s preoccupation with bringing procedure, diagrams, and explanations to the forefront, and complementing these elements by a paradigmatic numerical example drawn from the realm of divination.36 In Wang’s example, a shaman performing yarrow stalks divination (shigua 筮卦) produces a hexagram, a configuration consisting of up to six lines (liuyao 六爻). Wang is first interested in the total number of possible transformations 33 34

35

36

Ibid. Completed in 1799, the text was published in the second half of scroll 4 of his collected writings, precisely where Horng Wann-Sheng 洪萬生, “Qingdai shuxuejia Wang Lai de lishi dingwei” 清代數學家汪萊的歷史定位, locates the watershed between the QianJia school, eighteenth-century Chinese mathematics, and Wang Lai’s studies that led Chinese mathematicians, like Li Shanlan, into the nineteenth century. See also Li Zhaohua 李 兆華, “Wang Lai Dijian shuli, Sanliang suanjing lüelun” 汪萊《遞兼數理》,《參兩算 經》略論 (A short discussion of the Mathematical Principles of Sequential Combinations and the Mathematical Classic of Two and Three by Wang Lai) and Andrea Bréard, “What Diagrams Argue in Late Imperial Chinese Combinatorial Texts,” 245–257. To justify the procedures for solving these two questions, Wang relies on diagrams with a separate explanatory discourse using (incomplete) induction. See Bréard, “Inductive Arguments in the Midst of Smoke,” 242–260. For a complete English translation of Wang Lai’s text, see id., 267–273.

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of the one to six lines that one can produce with a hexagram. Mathematically, this corresponds to finding the sum of: C61 + C62 + C63 + C64 + C65 + C66

He calculates his result, not by summing up C6k , but by using a recursive method that he had introduced at the beginning of his essay to calculate the “total number of sequential combinations.” He proceeds by doubling successively the minimum number of lines in such a configuration and then adding a unit. Wang Lai remarks that five (i.e. the maximum number of lines that one can obtain minus one) iterations give the total number of possible configurations. With five iterations, he calculates the result as follows: 2⋅1+1=3 2·3+1=7 2 ⋅ 7 + 1 = 15 2 · 15 + 1 = 31 2 · 31 + 1 = 63

In a second step, Wang Lai calculates the possibility of muting one to six lines of a given hexagram, which mathematically corresponds to calculating the combinations of C6k : Furthermore, one takes the number of six lines, which is the number of hexagrams with mutations of one line, which is equal to the number of configurations with mutations of five lines.37 From these six lines, one subtracts the number one and obtains five as the basis for a plane triangular pile.38 One uses the method for plane triangular piles to deduce the result of 15 as the product number. This is the number of configurations with mutations of two lines, which is equal to the number of configurations with mutations of four lines.39 From the previous base-number, one subtracts one and obtains four as the basis of a solid triangular pile. One uses the method for solid triangular piles to deduce the result of 20 as the product number. This is the number of configurations with mutations of

37 38 39

C61 = C65 = 6. Wang Lai recognizes the general symmetry Cnk = Cnn−k . The idea here is to consider a triangle composed of unit pebbles, with 5 at the base, 4 in the next layer, etc. One thus will accumulate 5+4+3+2+1=15 units. 5 C62 = C64 = 15 = 5(52+1) = ∑k=1 k.

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three lines.40 Six lines combined together give one,41 which is the number of configurations with mutations of all six lines.42 Based upon Chen Houyao and Wang Lai’s text, it seems that the knowledge and practices related to the sixty-four hexagrams, including considerations of the mutations of lines, were not only a starting point for mathematical reflections but also a paradigmatic model for combinatorial algorithms in Qing China. The above examples show that numerical aspects in divinatory contexts were abstracted mathematically and transformed into fruitful models for number theoretic considerations. The integration of problems related to The Changes in mathematical writings reveals an epistemological proximity that became an entire research program for other Qing scholars, like Jiao Xun, who systematically brought mathematical concepts close to conceptualizations of hexagram transformations.

3

Ordering the Gua: A Symbolic Algebra

Jiao Xun was one of the major mathematicians during the Qianlong-Jiaqing period (1736–1820) and a member of the so-called Qian-Jia School (Qian Jia xuepai 乾 嘉 學 派), which devoted philological research to textual criticism (kaozheng xue 考證學). The leading scholars of the school played a major role in promoting mathematical studies for comprehending more technical passages of the classics.43 Jiao Xun was particularly interested in applying concepts from the Nine Chapters and Song dynasty algebra to reinterpret the system of divinatory hexagrams in The Changes: If one does not understand equalization and harmonization, and proportions, [which are concepts] from Nine [Chapters on] Mathematical [Procedures], it is impossible to comprehend the line movements in the hexagrams.44

40 41 42 43 44

C63 = (5−1)25⋅3(5+1) = 20. C66 = 1. Translated from Wang Lai 汪萊, Dijian shuli 遞兼數理, 7a–12b (repr. 4:1512–1515). See Horng, “Chinese Mathematics at the Turn of the 19th Century.” Translated after a quote in Chen Juyuan 陈居渊, Jiao Xun ruxue sixiang yu Yixue yanjiu 焦循儒学思想与易学研究, 237, modified with respect to Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, 181. The original statement reads: 非明九數之齊同，比例不足以知掛畫之 行.

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In his preface to the Précis of Diagrams in The Changes (Yitu lüe 易圖略), Jiao Xun points out that he treats three significant topics related to line movements: When I studied The Changes, there were three things that I understood: the first is lateral linkages (pangtong), the second is mutual interchanges (xiangcuo), and the third is temporary movements (shixing). All three of these forms part of Confucius’ words. Confucius based them on Fu Xi, King Wen, and the Duke of Zhou’s [terms].45 Jiao theorizes these three kinds of line operations, by packing them into a theory of proportions (bili 比例),46 i.e., a theory of equality of ratios,47 thus establishing not only interpretative but also logical relations between the hexagrams and their transforms. Jiao felt certain that mathematical or astronomical phenomena and The Changes can be studied using the same analytic framework; namely, numerical measurement, as already shown by the quote at the beginning of this chapter. In his Explanation of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division ( Jiajian chengchu shi 加減乘除釋, 1797), Jiao goes even further by abstracting from the cosmological implications of the hexagrams, and links the transformations of lines in a hexagram to the arithmetic triangle, also known in English as the Pascal Triangle. It first appeared in China in a chapter on algorithms for root extraction, in Yang Hui’s Detailed Explanations of The Nine Chapters on Mathematical Methods (Xiangjie jiu zhang suanfa 詳解九章算法, completed in 1261), but we know that it must have been in circulation a century earlier. The fact that

45

46

47

Translated from Jiao Xun’s 焦循 “Preface” (“Xumu” 敘目) to Yitu lüe 易圖略, 1a. The original statement reads: 余學易所悟得者三一曰旁通二曰相錯三曰時行此三者皆孔 子之言也孔子所以贊伏羲文王周公者也. I do not follow here Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World, 188–189, in translating bili as a theory of “analogues,” since I see a strong connection to the mathematical tradition and prefer to use its proper terminology. See also the following footnote. The theory of proportions is essential to Euclid’s Elements from Book v onward, where it is applied to plane geometry. It is doubtful that this is what Jiao Xun had in mind, although Books v and vi of the Elements had been translated into Chinese by that time. Jiao was probably, rather, inspired by the Chinese mathematical tradition, particularly the Nine Chapters (see footnote 35) with Liu Hui’s 劉徽 commentary from the year 263 on finding the lowest common denominator and on methods for ensuring proportional distribution according to certain ratios. Jiao also refers explicitly to Li Ye’s Sea Mirror of Circle Measurements (Ceyuan haijing 測圓海鏡, 1248). See Jiao Xun, Yitu lüe: 比例圖第五: 余既悟得 旁通之旨，又悟得比例之法，用以求經，用以求傳，而經傳之微言奧義，乃 可得而窺其萬一。既撰《通釋》以闡明之，復仿李仁卿 [style name of Li Ye] 識 別，列為此圖。

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Jiao’s diagram ends with the sixth power of a binomial (see the coefficients 1, 6, 15, 20, 15, 6 and 1, whose sum is 64, in the bottom line of fig. 7)48 is explained by Jiao Xun as follows: That it ends with the fifth square-multiplication (wu chengfang 五乘方)49 is to carry the signification of hexagrams which end with sixty-four.50 Jiao Xun then uses the arithmetic triangle to generate a new order for the hexagrams, but only goes that far in manuscript form.51 He reads the binomial as: (a + b)6 = 1a6 + 6a5 b + 15a4 b2 + 20a3 b3 + 15a2 b4 + 6ab5 + 1b6

in terms of possible mutations of the two types of lines of a hexagram.52 The underlying idea is indicated in the arithmetic triangle shown in fig. 7, where the two symbols jia 甲 and yi 乙53 can also be interpreted as the two continuous and interrupted lines respectively—but again, Jiao reads the symbols in terms of lines only in an unpublished treatise.54 The symbols are used here to represent each cell of the triangle (in fig. 7) as a combination of jias and yis. Jiao illustrates, in particular, all sixty-four cases from the bottom line of the triangle, with the two symbols jia and yi following the order of the coefficients in the last line of the arithmetic triangle from right to left. Starting from the hexagram containing six jia lines (to the very right of fig. 8),55 it is also the one

48 49 50 51 52

53 54

55

Jiao Xun 焦循, “Jiajian chengchu shi,” in Litang xuesuan ji wu zhong 里堂學算記五種, 2.17a (repr. 1045: 248). In Chinese algebra, the “n-th square multiplication” of say x corresponds to xn+1. Jiao Xun, Litang xuesuan ji wu zhong 里堂學算記五種, 2.18b (repr. 1045: 248). For a reproduction of this interpretation in manuscript form, see Jiao Xun, Yitu lüe, juan 6 of the manuscript version (repr., 1:328–329). See Chen Juyuan, Jiao Xun ruxue sixiang yu Yixue yanjiu, 242. Jiao actually only does so for forty-five hexagrams, and the remaining nineteen are reconstructed analogically. See id., 243–244. The same denotative letters were used in the Jesuit translation of Euclid’s Elements to represent, for example, α and β in geometric diagrams. See Ricci and Xu, Jihe yuanben. Had Jiao read the symbols as the numbers 0 and 1, he would have found the same interpretation of the hexagrams as did Leibniz with his binary arithmetic. See Andrea Bréard, “Leibniz und Tschina—ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kombinatorik?” Jiao Xun, “Jiajian chengchu shi,” in Litang xuesuan ji wu zhong 里堂學算記五種, 2.27b– 28a (repr. 1045.253).

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figure 7.7 Jiao Xun, “The Ancient Diagram of the Origins of Root Extraction.” (Gu kaifang benyuan tu 古開方本原圖)

possibility (cf. 1a6 ) that arises when muting zero lines, and there are six possibilities (cf. 6a5 b) of muting one line out of six in a hexagram. When we mute two lines, there are fifteen possibilities (cf. 15a4 b2 ) leading to hexagrams with four jia and two yi lines, etc. In spite of this high degree of symbolic abstraction, Jiao’s arithmetic triangle should not be understood as an illustration of “pure” mathematics. The significance of the operation cheng 乘 in the legend on the left goes beyond multipli-

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figure 7.8 Symbolic interpretation of “The Ancient Diagram of the Origins of Root Extraction”

cation as one of the four arithmetic operations.56 Its polyvalent mathematical meaning, rather, reflects Jiao’s general interest in stable numerical patterns of transformation. These also lie at the heart of the conceptualizations of the divinatory diagrams of The Changes and allowed authors like Jiao Xun to connect mathematical concepts found in the newly-rediscovered literature with divinatory practices.57 As Jiao recalls, “it was in the fifty-second year of Qianlong’s reign [ca. 1787] that I began to practice the Nine-Nine procedures [for multiplication] in order to understand the Nine Chapters. Also, I obtained Qin Jiushao’s and Li Ye’s books …”58 Having studied earlier mathematical writings, Jiao Xun devoted much of his research to uncovering the analogies between arithmetic structures and the hexagrams: Reading the words of King Wen and the Duke of Zhou is like reading the detailed calculation sketches of “Nine Inscriptions from the Dongyuan School” (Dongyuan jiu rong 洞 淵 九 容).59 The detailed calculation 56 57

58 59

For more details, see Andrea Bréard, Nine Chapters on Mathematical Modernity, chap. 6, 154–155. Jiao Xun’s ideas on mathematics may also have been reshaped by his reading of the Elements and Xu Guangqi’s other mathematical works. Wann-Sheng Horng, in “The Influence of Euclid’s Elements,” 388–396, also considers the extent to which his stress on the principles (li) underlying general algorithms and mathematical methods (shu) was due to Jiao Xun’s familiarity with Mei Wending’s works. Jiao Xun, Yitu lüe, 5.12b–13a. A reference to a method for solving mathematical problems whereby one figure is inscribed in another. Li Ye was a representative of this methodology, that was ascribed to

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figure 7.9 “Diagram showing the Method of Changes in Augmented Duplications” ( Jiabei bianfa tu 加倍變法圖)

sketches serve to elucidate the method of the “celestial element” (tianyuan 天元); the interpretations of the divinatory trigrams and their lines serve to elucidate the transformations of the hexagrams. They [the calculations and hexagrams] can be mutually observed and compared to each other.60 By adopting this novel, interdisciplinary approach, Jiao Xun made a revolutionary discovery; too revolutionary perhaps, since he failed to publish his new ordering of the hexagrams, which he generated following the mathematical patterns of the coefficients in the sixth line of the arithmetic triangle. As noted earlier, this remained a partial sketch in his manuscript version of the Précis of Diagrams in The Changes. The association of the arithmetic triangle with the lines of the hexagrams was, in fact, not entirely new. Li Guangdi, in his Appended Discussions to Zhu

60

a Daoist group. For more details, see Li Yaqing 李雅清, “Jiao Xun Yi xue zhi shuli siwei” 焦 循《易》學之數理思維, chap. 2. Jiao Xun, Yitu lüe, 6.11b.

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Xi’s Primer had already recognized the numerical values in the cells of the bottom line (fig. 9)61 as the number of different hexagrams with a certain number of Yin and Yang lines. Li explains why the algebraic meaning of the coefficients is “in close connection with the principles of hexagram formation (於成卦之 理亦相肖合),”62 but does not go as far as Jiao Xun in deducing a new sequence of the hexagrams based on this connection.

4

Conclusion

Judging from the few mathematical sources available, it seems that the formation and transformation of the lines in a hexagram were the paradigmatic model from which number theoretic patterns were developed inductively and independently of cosmological considerations. This went as far as considering diagrams with more than six lines or bringing the broken and unbroken lines to such level of abstraction, so that an alternative ordering of the sixty-four hexagrams emerged from their purely mathematical interpretation. As disenchanting as the approaches described above might seem, the rationality of the mathematical visions of The Changes pleased some scholars, such as Wang Yinzhi 王引之 (1766–1834), a Qing dynasty philologist, who appreciated Jiao Xun’s theoretical framework for its structural clarity: I am in receipt of your discussion of The Changes. It is similar to the instantaneous dissolution of all chaos and confusion, or the dispelling of all fog and mist. One might say it is a crack military force that cuts down all opposition. Every interpretation has been carefully formulated, and each is most detailed and most authentic. The book’s basic principle can be summarized by the expression bili [proportions].63 Some authors ascribe to Jiao Xun’s era the birth of the so-called “Science of Yijing Learning” (Yijing kexue 易經科學)64 due to the rapprochement between mathematical theory and the numerical aspects of Yijing divination. More explicit efforts to prove the scientific character of the cosmological basis of traditional divination techniques were undertaken in the early Republican period.

61 62 63 64

Li Guangdi, Zhouyi zhezhong, 21.63a. Li Guangdi, Zhouyi zhezhong, 21.63b. Quoted from Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World, 189. See, for example, Dong Guangbi 董光壁, Yixue kexue shigang 易學科學史綱 (A brief history of the Yijing learning science).

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These efforts developed in defense of fortune-telling, when popular and ritual practices, including their theoretical underpinnings, came under harsh attack from the Republican government’s anti-superstition campaigns. One possible strategy for coping with the state’s modernist ideology was to show that the theories on which divination techniques were based were scientific and, hence, modern.65 What characterizes earlier “Science of Yijing Learning” authors and their precursors was their connection to philosophical debates about “principles” (li 理), both moral and mathematical. Zhu Xi was particularly remembered for being the first to unite two formerly separate approaches to The Changes, which had divided Yijing commentators into two strands: the numerological “images and numbers” (xiangshu 象數) approach and the “moral principles” ( yili 易 理, also tianli 天理) approach.66 The above analyzed mathematically versed authors explicitly claim a similar project; namely, the exploration of “numbers and principles,” shuli 數理.67 While this is related to the wider philosophical context, I would argue that it provides an alternative to the established bipartite commentarial tradition. Whether explicitly stated in the titles of their writings, the prefaces, or as an argumentative trope, their “numbers and principles” offers a rational approach to the numerical aspects of divination, that claims its validity on the basis of a long-standing mathematical tradition.

65

66

67

An actor who devised one such innovative approach was Yuan Shushan 袁樹珊 (1881– 1968), a famous fortune-teller from Shanghai, who had studied sociology in Japan and made his living from medical and divinatory practice. See Lang Mixie 朗宓榭 (Michael Lackner), “Bielei de kexue: Minguo shiqi de Zhongguo chuantong xiangshu yu xixue” 别 类的科学: 民国时期的中国传统相术与西学 (Another kind of Science: Traditional Physiognomy and Western learning in Republican China), 266, and Bréard, Nine Chapters on Mathematical Modernity, chap. 6, 155–164. See the synopsis (tiyao 提要) to Li Guangdi’s Zhouyi zhezhong: 「我聖祖仁皇帝，別 擇群言。於數則納甲飛伏之謬必斥，於理則老莊空虛之旨必破。觸類引伸， 罔非精義。至二經十翼次序，悉還本義之舊。蓋理數之說，至朱子而合。朱 子之傳，至是書而大備云。」See also Li’s preface: 「易學之廣大悉備，秦漢而 後，無復得其精微矣！至有宋以來，周邵程張，闡發其奧，唯朱子兼象數天 理，違眾而定之，五百餘年無復同異。」On the distinction between the xiangshu approach and yili approach, see Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World, 178. Also: suanli 算理, as in the case of Qin Jiushao. After the Jesuits’ arrival, shuli is also understood as referring to the “mathematical principles” in order to construct deductive proofs. See Jim-Hong Su and Ying Jia-Ming, “What did they mean by ‘Calculation Principles’? Revisiting Argumentative Styles in Late Ming to Mid-Qing Chinese Mathematics.”

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Bibliography Abbreviations skqs: Siku quanshu 四庫全書. Repr. Yingyin Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景印文淵閣四 庫全書. Taipei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1983. ssjzs: Ruan Yuan 阮元 (1764–1849), comp. Shisan jing zhushu 十三經注疏 (Commentaries and Explanations to the Thirteen Classics). Sibu beiyao 四部備要 ed. Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1936.

Sources Ban Gu 班固. Han shu 漢書. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987. Chen Houyao 陳 厚 耀 (late seventeenth century). Cuozong fayi 錯 綜 法 義. Repr. in Zhongguo kexue jishu dianji tonghui: Shuxue juan 中國科學技術典籍通彙: 數學卷, edited by Guo Shuchun 郭書春 et al., 4:685–688. Zhengzhou: Henan jiaoyu chubanshe, 1993. Ding Yidong 丁易東 (Song dyn.). Dayan suoyin 大衍索隱, 3 vols. 三卷. skqs “Zi bu” 子 部 7, 806:313–375. Han Kangbo 韓康伯 (d. ca. 385). Zhouyi Xici 周易繫辭. In Wang Bi 王弼 (Wei dyn.) comm. Zhouyi 周易, 卷 7 & 8, Shanghai Hanfenlou Song dynasty ed. 上海涵芬樓藏 宋刊本. Repr. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1989 (Sibu congkan chubian ed. 四部叢 刊初編, 中, 1–2). Jiang Yong 江永 (1681–1762). He luo jingyun 河洛精蘊, 9 vols. 九卷. Xiaoxi shanfang 小 酉山房 ed., 1774. Repr. In Siku weishou shu jikan 四庫未收書輯刊, 三輯 23.239–389. Beijing: Beijing chubanshe. Jiao Xun 焦循 (1763–1820). Litang xuesuan ji wu zhong 里堂學算記五種. Jiangdu 江都: Diaogulou 雕菰樓 ed., 1799. Repr. In Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書, 子部 天文 算法類 1045:221–448. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995. Jiao Xun 焦循 (1763–1820). Yitu lüe 易圖略, 8 vols. 八卷. Repr. in Xuxiu siku quanshu 續 修四庫全書, “Jing bu Yi lei” 經部 易類 27:473–535. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995. Jiao Xun 焦循 (1763–1820). Yitu lüe 易圖略. Xuehai tang 學海堂 ed., Guangzhou, 1829. Manuscript version in Diaogulou jingxue congshu si shi er juan 雕菰樓經學叢書. Repr. Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1974. (Qingdai gaoben bai zhong huikan 淸代稿本 百種彙刊, “Jing bu” 經部 21.) Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574–648). Zhouyi Zhengyi 周易正義, 14 vols. 十四卷, with commentaries by Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249) and Han Kangbo 韓康伯 (d. ca. 385). ssjzs ed. Li Guangdi 李光地 (1642–1718). Qimeng fulun 啓蒙附論 (Primer with Appended Discussions). In [Yuzuan] Zhouyi zhezhong 〔御纂〕周易折中, edited by Li Guangdi, juan 21. skqs, “Jing bu” 經部 38: 521–553.

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Qin Jiushao 秦九韶 (1208–1261). Shushu jiuzhang 數書九章. Yijiatang congshu 宜稼堂 叢書 ed., 1842. Repr. in Zhongguo kexue jishu dianji tonghui: Shuxue juan 中國科學技 術典籍通彙；數學卷, edited by Guo Shuchun 郭書春 et al., 1:439–724. Zhengzhou: Henan jiaoyu chubanshe, 1993. Ricci, Matteo and Xu Guangqi 徐光啟. Jihe yuanben 幾何原本. Beijing, [n.p.], 1607. Wang Lai 汪萊 (1768–1813). Dijian shuli 遞兼數理. In Hengzhai suanxue 衡齋算學, 4.6b– 12b. Jiashu tang ed., 1854. Repr. in Zhongguo kexue jishu dianji tonghui: Shuxue juan 中國科學技術典籍通彙；數學卷, edited by Guo Shuchun 郭書春 et al., 4:1512–1516. Zhengzhou: Henan jiaoyu chubanshe, 1993. Yang Hui 楊輝 (1238–1298). Xugu zhaiji suanfa 續古摘奇算法. In Yang Hui suanfa 楊輝 算法, undated manuscript. Repr. in Zhongguo kexue jishu dianji tonghui: Shuxue juan 中國科學技術典籍通彙；數學卷, edited by Guo Shuchun 郭書春 et al., 1:1095–1117. Zhengzhou: Henan jiaoyu chubanshe, 1993. Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200). Yixue qimeng 易學啟蒙. In [Yuzuan] Zhouyi zhezhong 〔御 纂〕周易折中, juan 卷 19–20 (上, 下), 21 (啟蒙附論) edited by Li Guangdi 李光地 (1642–1718). skqs, “Jing bu” 經部 38:468–553.

Studies Bréard, Andrea. “China.” In Combinatorics: Ancient and Modern, edited by Robin J. Wilson and John J. Watkins, 64–81. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Bréard, Andrea. “Inductive Arguments in the Midst of Smoke: ‘Proving’ Rhetorically and Visually that Algorithms Work.” In Standards of Validity in Late Imperial China, edited by M. Hofmann, J. Kurtz, and A.D. Levine, 234–276. Leiden: Brill, 2020. Bréard, Andrea. “Leibniz und Tschina—ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kombinatorik?” In Kosmos und Zahl: Beiträge zur Mathematik- und Astronomiegeschichte, zu Alexander von Humboldt und Leibniz, edited by H. Hecht et al., 59–70. Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag, 2008. (Boethius, 58.) Bréard, Andrea. Nine Chapters on Mathematical Modernity: Essays on the Global Historical Entanglements of the Science of Numbers in China. Heidelberg: Springer, 2019. (Transcultural Research—Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context.) Bréard, Andrea. “What Diagrams Argue in Late Imperial Chinese Combinatorial Texts.” Early Science and Medicine 20.3 (2015): 241–264. Chemla, Karine and Guo Shuchun. Les Neuf Chapitres: Le Classique mathématique de la Chine ancienne et ses commentaires. Paris: Dunod, 2004. Chen Juyuan 陈居渊. Jiao Xun ruxue sixiang yu Yixue yanjiu 焦循儒学思想与易学研 究. Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2000. Cullen, Christopher. Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient China: the Zhoubi suanjing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996

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Dong Guangbi 董光壁. Yixue kexue shigang 易學科學史綱 (A brief history of the Yijing learning science). Wuhan: Wuhan chubanshe, 1993. Elman, Benjamin. From Philosophy to Philology: Intellectual and Social Aspects of Change in Late Imperial China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984. Horng, Wann-Sheng. “Chinese Mathematics at the Turn of the 19th Century: Jiao Xun, Wang Lai and Li Rui.” In Philosophy and Conceptual History of Science in Taiwan, edited by Lin, Cheng-Hung and Fu, Daiwie, 167–208. Springer Netherlands, 1993. (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 141.) Horng Wann-Sheng 洪萬生. “Qingdai shuxuejia Wang Lai de lishi dingwei” 清代數學 家汪萊的歷史定位. Xin shixue 新史學 (New History Journal) 11 (2000): 1–16. Horng, Wann-Sheng. “The Influence of Euclid’s Elements on Xu Guangqi and his Successors.” In Statecraft and Intellectual Renewal in Late Ming China: The Cross-Cultural Synthesis of Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), edited by Catherine Jami, Peter Engelfriet, and Gregory Blue, 380–397. Leiden: Brill, 2001. Kalinowski, Marc. “Typology and Classification of the Mantic Arts in Ancient China.” Forthcoming in Handbook of Prognostication and Prediction in Chinese Civilization, edited by Michael Lackner. Leiden: Brill. Lam, Lay Yong. A Critical Study of the Yang Hui Suanfa: A Thirteenth-Century Chinese Mathematical Treatise. 2 vols. Singapore University Press, 1977. Lang Mixie 朗宓榭 (Michael Lackner). “Bielei de kexue: Minguo shiqi de Zhongguo chuantong xiangshu yu xixue” 别 类 的 科 学: 民 国 时 期 的 中 国 传 统 相 术 与 西 学 (Another kind of Science: Traditional Physiognomy and Western learning in Republican China). In Lang Mixie Hanxue wenji 朗宓榭汉学文集, edited by Xu Yan 徐艳, 263–271. Shanghai: Fudan Daxue chubanshe, 2013. Legge, James, trans. The Yî King. Oxford: Clarendon, 1882. (Sacred Books of the East, 16.) Li Zhaohua 李 兆 華. “Wang Lai Dijian shuli, Sanliang suanjing lüelun” 汪 萊 《 遞 兼 數理》,《參兩算經》略論 (A short discussion of the Mathematical Principles of Sequential Combinations and the Mathematical Classic of Two and Three by Wang Lai). In Zhongguo shuxueshi lunwenji 中國數學史 論文集, edited by Wu Wenjun 吳 文俊, 2:65–78. Jinan: Shandong jiaoyu chubanshe, 1986. Li Yaqing 李雅清. “Jiao Xun Yixue zhi shuli siwei” 焦循《易》學之數理思維. Master’s thesis (Advisor: Dong Jinyu 董金裕), Guoli Zhengzhi Daxue Zhongguo Wenxuexi 國 立政治大学中國文學系, 2002. Libbrecht, Ulrich. Chinese Mathematics in the Thirteenth Century: The Shu-shu chiuchang of Ch’in Chiu-shao. Cambridge, MA.: mit Press, 1973. Nielsen, Bent. A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 bce–220 ce) to Song 宋 (960–1279 ce). London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Rutt, Richard. The Book of Changes (Zhouyi): A Bronze Age Document. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1996.

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Smith, Richard J. Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and its Evolution in China. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2008. Su, Jim-Hong and Ying Jia-Ming. “What Did They Mean by ‘Calculation Principles’? Revisiting Argumentative Styles in Late Ming to Mid-Qing Chinese Mathematics.” The Korean Journal for the History of Science 38.2 (2016): 351–376. Wang Rongbin 王榮彬. “Ding Yidong dui zonghengtu de yanjiu” 丁易東對從橫圖的研 究. Shuxueshi yanjiu wenji 數學史研究文集 1 (1990): 74–82.

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part 3 Yijing and Modernity

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chapter 8

Predicting a Regime Change: The Politicization of the Yijing in Twentieth-Century China Tze-ki hon

Originally a collection of oracles for divination, the Yijing 易經 (I Ching, Book of Changes) was inextricably tied to the imperial system after being canonized as a Confucian classic in 136bce. Supported by the literati and sustained through voluminous commentaries, the Yijing became a pillar of imperial orthodoxy that justified the authoritarian rule of the emperors, the domination of the scholar-officials, and the supremacy of the patrilineal family structure. From the tenth to the nineteenth centuries, the link between the Yijing and imperial authority became even stronger when the classic was included as part of the civil service examinations. For a millennium, studying the Yijing was a way to gain fame, wealth, and power.1 This link between the Yijing and the imperial authority ended abruptly, however, in the early twentieth century. Two events marked this drastic change. The first was the abolition of the civil service examinations in 1905, that de-coupled the study of Confucian classics from the literati’s ladder of success. The second event was the 1911 Revolution, that ended the imperial system and the authority of the Confucian classical tradition. As Richard Smith writes, after 1911, the Yijing “lost virtually all of its institutionally reinforced canonical and cosmological authority.”2 Along with other artifacts of the imperial system (such as the Forbidden City and the tiny examination cells), the Yijing became a relic of the past. To reinvent the Yijing in the post-imperial age, Chinese scholars in the twentieth century gave the book a new identity. On the one hand, they condemned the “superstition” associated with Yijing divination, particularly the practices of fortune-telling using hexagrams. On the other hand, they worked 1 For the development of the Yijing commentarial tradition, see Richard Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China, 57–195. See also Tze-ki Hon, “Classical Exegesis and Social Change: The Song School of Yijing Commentaries in Late Imperial China.” For the significance of the Yijing in the civil service examinations of imperial China, see Peter Bol, “This Culture of Ours”: Intellectual Transition in T’ang and Sung China, 148–125; Benjamin Elman, Civil Examination and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China, 13–94. 2 Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 199.

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tirelessly to present the Yijing as a historical document, marking the country’s progress toward the modern age. Rather than being regarded as an outmoded classic, supporting the imperial authority, the Yijing became a blueprint for modernizing China.3 In this chapter, I will examine this transformation that fundamentally changed the nature of the Yijing. To highlight the magnitude of this transformation, I will begin by discussing the politicization of the Yijing at the turn of the twentieth century, when Chinese intellectuals—divided into the reform and the revolutionary camps—fervently debated whether to preserve the imperial system or to build a nation-state. From today’s perspective, this debate is significant for two reasons. First, it reveals the Chinese intellectuals’ strong belief in social Darwinism, seeing a steady progress of humanity from hunter-gathering through agricultural production to industrialization. These developments correspondingly led to the birth of the socio-political order, evolving from a tribal society through an agrarian empire to a nation-state. Whether supporting or rejecting the imperial system, both camps of Chinese intellectuals shared the view that China must become a nation-state to survive in the modern age. Their main difference lay in the political structure of the new Chinese nationstate: whether it would be led by a constitutional monarch, as in Meiji Japan, or be based on a republican system, like France or the USA. Yet, they shared the view that the Yijing (particularly its hexagram sequence) was suitable for supporting a linear progressive view that justified the founding of the Chinese nation-state. Later in this chapter, I will compare the early twentieth century readings of the Yijing with those from the 1940s and 50s, demonstrating a continuing interest in politicizing the classic as the Chinese were building their nation-state. Unlike their predecessors in the early twentieth century, the mid-twentieth century scholars (e.g., Xiong Shili 熊十力) were less keen to match the sequence of the hexagrams with the linear progression. Rather, they discussed the political meanings of selected hexagrams, taking seriously the value of the Yijing as a political text.4 3 For a summary of the twentieth-century studies of the Yijing, see Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 195–217; Geoffrey Redmond and Tze-ki Hon, Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes), 181–191. 4 Although originally a divination manual, the Yijing discusses the radical political changes at length. For instance, the authors of the Xici 繋辭 (Commentary on the Appended Phrases), one of the Ten Wings, used the Shang-Zhou transition to mark the Yijing’s transformation from a manual of divination to a philosophical text, highlighting the danger and serendipity of human existence. The Xici authors write: “The rise of the Changes, was it not just at the end of Yin [Shang] era when the virtue of the Zhou had begun to flourish, just at the time when the

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In retrospect, these attempts to transform the Yijing into a political text did not prove entirely successful. Despite sustained efforts, the political readings of the Yijing failed to provide a coherent interpretation of the classic. As greater efforts were made to transform the Yijing into a blueprint for China’s political modernization, the more the Yijing became an implicit critique of modernization, especially its two ideological pillars—linear progression and the nationstate. In the end, the new interpretations failed to make the Yijing a symbol of Chinese modernity; on the contrary, they turned the Yijing into a “book of wisdom” that reminds us of the plurality and ambiguity of human life.5

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Radical Confucian Reformism

To assess the achievements and limitations of the politicization of the Yijing, we look first to late Qing China (roughly 1860–1911). Having seen China being repeatedly defeated since 1840, the late Qing scholars took for granted the notion of linear progression. To explain China’s downfall and the rise of Europe, they believed that the countries in the world must follow a universal path of evolution, developing from a lower to a higher stage. Countries in a lower stage were deemed “primitive,” while those in a higher stage were considered “civilized.” According to this view, the universal law of progression denoted a clear path to modernity, separating the countries (mostly in Europe) that had developed successfully from others (such as China) that were stuck in the past.6 At the turn of the twentieth century—starting with the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and continuing into the New Policies (1901–1911), in China, there were two prominent thinkers who articulated this linear progressive view incident between King Wen and King Zhou was taking place? This is why King Wen’s phrases [i.e., the Judgements] are concerned with danger” (Richard John Lynn, The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 93). The original statement is from Xici, part 2, verse 11. It says: 《易經》之興也，其當殷之末世，周之盛德邪？當文王 與紂之事邪？是故，其辭危。 5 Richard Wilhelm (1873–1930), who translated the Yijing into German, described it as a “book of Wisdom” (Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, liv–lvii). For Wilhelm, the essence of the Yijing is its “philosophy of change,” embedded in the hexagrams. The “Yijing fever” in mainland China during the last two decades confirms Wilhelm’s observation. As China becomes more economically robust, the Yijing becomes more popular as a divination tool, self-help manual, and guidebook for psychotherapy. See Chapters 9 and 10 of this volume and Richard Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos, 208–237. 6 This historical view of linear progression had been popular in China since the late nineteenth century. For the origin of this view, see Benjamin Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West.

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with profound clarity. The first was Kang Youwei 康有為 (1858–1927), who creatively reinterpreted Confucian classics to spread social Darwinism. Described by Peter Zarrow as a “radical Confucian reformist,” Kang turned the classic, the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu 春秋), into an account of the evolution of the “Three Ages”: The Age of Disorder, the Age of Approaching Peace, and the Age of Universal Peace.7 With each age being marked by a distinct socio-political structure, Kang presented a steady progress, from monarchical dictatorship (the Age of Disorder) through constitutional monarchy (the Age of Approaching Peace) to a republican system protecting citizens’ equal rights (the Age of Universal Peace). He also reinterpreted the “Liyun” 禮運 chapter of the Book of Rites (Liji 禮記) to draw attention to another sequence of evolution: the progress from the period of “Lesser Peace” (xiaokang 小康) to the period of “Great Harmony” (datong 大同). As a supporter of constitutional monarchy, Kang Youwei argued that China was only transitioning into the Age of Emerging Peace. Hence, he opposed the staging of a revolution to topple the Manchu dynasty, insisting that China should develop a nation-state, led by the Manchu emperor, as had happened in Japan since the Meiji Restoration. He called this imperial nation-state both “a constitutional monarchy” ( junzhu lixian 君主立憲) and “a republic led by a shadow emperor” (xujun gonghe 虛君共和).8 By the mid–1900s, Kang’s argument had been marginalized by the revolutionaries who advocated a double revolution—a racial revolution against the Manchus and a political revolution to end the imperial system. Even so, as Kung-chuan Hsiao observes, Kang Youwei “gave a cosmopolitan or universal meaning to Confucianism and thus extended the scope of its ethical and political doctrine.”9 For this reason, Hsiao called Kang’s attempt “the fourth stage of the development of Confucianism” after classical Confucianism before 221, state Confucianism in the Han dynasty (206bce–220ce), and the Neo-Confucianism of the Song-Ming period (960– 1368).10 For our purposes, Kang’s radical Confucian reformism is significant not because it was persuasive, but because he demonstrated that Confucian classics could be reinterpreted in order to illuminate the fate of modern China. 7 8

9 10

Peter Zarrow, After Empire: The Conceptual Transformation of the Chinese State, 1885–1924, 46–48. Kung-chuan Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World: Kang Yu-wei, Reformer and Utopian, 193–262; Gan Chunsong 干春松, Kang Youwei yu rujia de xinshi 康有为与儒家的新世, 132–139. Hsiao, A Modern China, 125. Hsiao, A Modern China, 125. The same argument is found in Gan Chunsong, Kang Youwei, 113–176.

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Although he failed to set the course for China’s political changes in the twentieth century, he set an example for discussing China’s modernization based on Confucian classics. Following in his footsteps, the early twentieth century scholars (including the revolutionaries themselves) used the Yijing—the first of the Five Confucian classics—to discuss radical political change.

2

The Temporality of China’s Development

Another prominent thinker at the turn of the twentieth century was Yan Fu 嚴 復 (1854–1921). Rather than discussing China’s modernization based on Confucian classics, Yan Fu did so it by translating Western writings into Chinese. For instance, in Tianyan lun 天演論 (On Natural Selection), a translation of Thomas Henry Huxley’s (1825–1895) Evolution and Ethics, Yan Fu introduced the concept of evolution ( jinhua 進化) based on the Yijing cosmology.11 More importantly, in Shehui tongquan 社會通詮 (Principles of Society, 1904), Yan presented Edward Jenks’ (1861–1939) view on the development of government, society, and the economy. According to Jenks, since the dawn of human history, humankind has passed through three stages of evolution—tribalism, feudalism, and the nation-state. In each stage, there is a direct correspondence between the economic and socio-political structures. In tribalism, the economy is hunter-gatherer, and the socio-political structure is a network of small matriarchal communities.12 In feudalism, the economy is agriculture, and the socio-political structure is a confederation of large patriarchal clans.13 In the age of the nation-states, the economy is industrial, and the socio-political structure is a complex, highly mobile system dominated by professionals and skilled laborers.14 To Chinese readers at the turn of the twentieth century, Jenks’ three-stage evolution was not new. Kang Youwei expressed a similar view (although with a different emphasis) in his reading of the Spring and Autumn Annals and the “Liyun” chapter of the Book of Rites. Yan Fu himself discussed the same view in his earlier translations, particularly those of Adam Smith’s Wealth

11

12 13 14

Qian Jibo 錢基博, Zhouyi jitie yuqi dufa 周易解題與其讀法 (The meaning of Zhouyi and its method of reading), 56. See also Wang Hui 汪暉, Xiandai zhongguo sixiang de xingqi 現代中國思想的興起 (The rise of modern Chinese thought), 2:852–876. Yan Fu 嚴復, Shehui tongquan 社會通詮 (Principles of Society), 6–13. Ibid., 14–64. Ibid., 65–159.

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of Nations, John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, and Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws.15 What was new in Shehui tongquan 社會通詮 (Principles of Society) was “the law of social evolution” that connects the seemingly random changes in government, society and the economy into a clear pattern of linear progression. Furthermore, in each of Jenks’ three stages of evolution, the political, social, and economic structures reinforce one another, forming a highly integrated system that reveals the level of human development. In a tribal society, for instance, a mobile lifestyle and matriarchal family structure are created to serve the hunter-gatherer economy. Conversely, the hunter-gatherers flourish only when they are able to pack up and move quickly from one place to another. Similarly, the settled lifestyle and patrilineal family structure that characterize a feudal society are derived from an agrarian economy. At the same time, agricultural production will never flourish until farmers can settle permanently in one place and pass their property on down the generations. In a nation-state, the existence of a complex system of skilled laborers is a result of the rationalization and commercialization of an industrial economy, but an industrial economy will never flourish unless there is a constant supply of skilled workers who are professionally trained. In short, Jenks’ contribution lies in his insight into the interdependence of the political, social, and economic realms, which allowed him to compare and rank different societies. In the preface to Shehui tongquan, Yan Fu carefully applied Jenks’ law of progression to the history of China. The result of this intellectual exercise was a stunning revelation of China’s past, present, and future: Alas! Chinese society is indeed strange. There are many forms of human groupings in this world, and yet, if we examine them based on the stages of evolution, they begin as primitive tribes, become feudal states, and finally turn into nation-states … The sequence of this development is as reliable as the four seasons. When comparing [this three-stage sequence] to the human body, it is like a child turning into an adolescent, an adolescent turning into an adult, and an adult turning into an old person. These changes may take longer or less time to complete. Nevertheless, they never deviate from this broad pattern.16

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For the impact of these Yan Fu’s translations on the Chinese intellectuals, see Xiong Yuezhi 熊月之, Xixue dongjian yu wanqing shehui 西學東漸與晚清社會 (The rise of Western Learning and late Qing society), 687–700. Yan Fu, Shehui tongquan, ix. The original sentences reads: 異哉！吾中國之社會也。 夫天下之群，眾矣，夷考進化之階級，莫不始于圖騰，繼以宗法，而成于國

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In summarizing Jenks’ argument, Yan Fu followed strictly his formula of a three-stage evolution. Writing like an ardent supporter of the scientistic view of natural selection, he emphasized the inevitability of the three-stage evolution by comparing it to the four seasons and the four stages of human life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age). As with the weather and the cycle of human life, human beings had to accept the three-stage evolution as a given. While sounding like a strong believer of the immutable law of nature, Yan Fu quietly inserted a hint of human agency by mentioning that, although the general pattern of the three-stage evolution was not transmutable, the length of time required to complete a particular stage varied from place to place due to the specific circumstances. Sometimes, a stage of evolution might last longer in one place than in another. Although, here, Yan Fu did not identify the reasons for the differences in evolution, he subtly registered the possibility of different implementations and trajectories in completing the immutable law of evolution. At the end of his “translator’s preface,” this blending of the scientistic and humanistic views of natural selection became clearer when Yan Fu discussed the different temporalities of China and Europe regarding passing through the three-stage evolution. In this comparison, Yan Fu went beyond Jenks by converting what was originally a general law of evolution into a historical perspective for cultural comparison. He argued that China “started fast” (shi zhou 始 驟) when transforming from tribalism to feudalism. The transition was complete prior to the Xia dynasty and, throughout the early period of antiquity known to the Chinese as the “three dynasties” sandai 三代 (the Xia, Shang, and Zhou), China flourished under feudalism with advanced agricultural production and a sophisticated patrilineal family system. By 221 bce, when the First Emperor of the Qin unified China under a new “county-district system” ( junxian zhi 郡縣制), Yan Fu argued, China reached the critical threshold of being ready to transform into a nation-state. Back in the second century bce, China could have been the first country in the world to reach the pinnacle of human evolution,17 yet it failed to make the critical leap and the transformation never materialized. For two millennia, from the second century bce to the nineteenth century ce, Yan Fu lamented, China was locked in the stage of advanced feudalism and was uanble to move forward to forming a nation-state. As a result, China “fell behind in the end” (zhong chi 終遲) and was surpassed by European countries. In contrast, Yan Fu pointed out that Europe “began late” (shi chi 始

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家。… 此其為序之信，若天之四時，若人身之童少壯老，期有遲速，而不可 或少紊者也。 Yan Fu, Shehui tongquan, ix.

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遲) in transitioning from tribalism to feudalism but picked up speed after 1500

and led humankind into the age of the nation-states. Being “fast in the end” (zhong zhou 終驟), Europe surpassed China in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with regard to the political, social, and economic systems.18 To summarize the lesson from the different temporalities in China and Europe, Yan Fu informed his readers that there was hope for China despite the defeats and humiliation in recent decades. Yan’s optimism was based on the observation that, in ancient antiquity, China led the world in transitioning from tribalism to feudalism. These achievements, despite having taken place two thousand years ago, would form the basis for China’s current transformation in the twentieth century. Another source of Yan Fu’s optimism was the European experience. Yan Fu directed his readers’ attention to Europe’s miraculous rise after centuries of lagging behind in terms of evolution. Speaking like a supporter of the humanistic view of natural selection, Yan Fu called on his readers to learn from the Europeans, and to help China to come up from behind.19

3

The Hexagram Sequence and Linear Progress

Given the complex textual body of the Yijing, Chinese scholars in the early twentieth century found ample opportunities to discuss the founding of the nation-state. Of the various parts of the Yijing text, they focused on Xugua 序 卦 (Providing the Sequence of the Hexagrams). Compared to the other Wings, Xugua is unique because it gives the sequence of the sixty-four hexagrams a special meaning. The initial lines of Xugua reads: Only after there were Heaven [“Qian,” Pure Yang, hexagram 1] and Earth [“Kun,” Pure Yin, hexagram 2] were the myriad of beings produced from them. What fills Heaven and Earth is nothing other than the myriad of things. This is why “Qian” and “Kun” are followed by “Zhun” [Birth Throes, hexagram 3]. “Zhun” here signifies repletion. “Zhun” is when things are newborn. When things begin life, they are sure to be covered. This is why “Zhun” is followed by “Meng” [Juvenile Ignorance, hexagram 4]. “Meng”

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Ibid. Ibid., x. The original sentences read: 嗟乎！歐、亞之地雖異名，其實一洲而已，殊 類異化并生其中，苟溯之邃古之初，又同種也，乃世變之遷流，在彼則始遲 而終驟，在此則始驟而終遲，因知天演之事，以萬期為须臾，然而二者相差 之致，又不能為無因之果，而又不能不為吾群近日之利害，亦已明矣。

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here indicates juvenile ignorance; that is, the immature state of things. When things are in an immature state, one cannot fail to nourish them. This is why “Meng” is followed by “Xu” [Waiting, hexagram 5]. “Xu” here indicates the dao of food and drink. Food and drink necessarily involve “Song” [Contention, hexagram 6]. This is why “Xu” is followed by “Song.” When there is contention, there is sure to be an arising of the masses. This is why “Song” is followed by “Shi” [The Army, hexagram 7]. An army as such is a mass of people. A mass of people necessarily involves closeness. This is why “Shi” is followed by “Bi” [Closeness, hexagram 8]. Closeness, as such, means “a bringing together.” Bringing together has to involve domestication. This is why “Bi” is followed by “Xiaoxu” [Lesser Domestication, hexagram 9] …20 In matching the sequence of the sixty-four hexagrams with key moments within social evolution, the Xugua authors elucidate the complex process of building a human community. This process begins by satisfying basic human needs (such as food, shelter and security) and continues with the founding of a patrilineal family structure based on gender distinctions (nannü 男女) and matrimony ( fuqi 夫 妻).21 Later, the patrilineal family structure is expanded into a complex socio-political system based on the distinction between kings and officials ( junchen 君臣) and rulers and ruled (shangxia 上下).22

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This is Richard John Lynn’s translation of the opening lines of Xugua. See Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 103–104, with slight modifications. The original statement reads: 有天地， 然後萬物生焉，盈天地之間者唯萬物，故受之以〈屯〉。屯者，盈也。屯者， 物之始生也。物生必蒙，故受之以〈蒙〉。蒙者，蒙也，物之穉也。物穉不可 不養業，故受之以〈需〉。需者，飲食之道也。飲食必有訟，故受之以〈訟〉。 訟比有眾起，故受之以〈師〉。師者，眾也。眾必有所比，故受之以〈比〉。 比者，比也。比必有所畜，故受之以〈小畜〉. The second half of the Xugua discusses the establishment of the family system. The initial lines read: 有天地，然後有萬物；有萬物，然後有男女；有男女，然後有 夫妻; 有夫妻，然後有父子. Richard John Lynn’s translation reads: “Only after there were Heaven and Earth were there the myriad of things. Only after there were the myriad of things were there male and female. Only after there were male and female were there husband and wife. Only after there were husband and wife were there father and child” (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 106). The Xugua continues: 有父子，然後有君臣，有君臣，然後有上下，有上下， 然後禮義有所錯. Richard John Lynn’s translation reads: “Only after there were father and child were there sovereign and minister. Only after there were sovereign and minister were there superiors and subordinates. Only after there were superiors and subordinates did propriety and righteousness have a medium in which to operate” (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 106).

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While this process of development seems inevitable, occasionally, the Xugua’s authors call attention to the challenges and obstacles associated with creating a stable community. They identify moments where the socio-political order is corrupt (“Kui” 睽, no. 38 and “Jian” 蹇, no. 39)23 or disintegrates (“Huan” 渙, no. 59).24 Because of the danger of corruption and disintegration, the Xugua’s authors stress the need to renew the system by replacing the corrupt leaders (“Ge” 革, no. 49) and re-structuring the entire system (“Ding” 鼎, no. 50),25 yet occasional interruptions do not interfere with the steady progress of humanity; rather, they highlight the need for vigilance and constant renewal. For this reason, the Xugua’s authors argue that the sixty-four hexagrams must end with “Weiji” 未濟 (Ferrying Incomplete) because that hexagram symbolizes “things that cannot be exhausted” (wu bukeyi qiongye 物不可以窮也).26 For Chinese scholars in the twentieth century, Xugua was an important source of inspiration because it outlines a clear path to Chinese modernization. Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 (1868–1936), for instance, referred to the Xugua many times when discussing his plan for creating a Chinese nation-state.27 Follow-

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The Xugua reads: 家道窮必乖，故受之以〈睽〉。睽者，乖也。乖必有難，故受 之以〈蹇〉。蹇者，難也. Richard John Lynn’s translation reads: “When the Dao of the family is completely exhausted, there is sure to be discord. This is why “Jiaren” is followed by “Kui” [contrariety, hexagram 38]. “Kui” here means ‘discord.’ When there is contrariety, there is sure to be adversity. This is why “Kui” is followed by “Jian” [Adversity, hexagram 39]. “Jian” here means ‘trouble’ ” (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 107–108.) The Xugua reads: 兌者，說[悅]也。說而後散之，故受之以〈渙〉. Richard John Lynn’s translation reads: “Dui” here means ‘delight.’ Having found such delight, one now disperses it. This is why “Dui” is followed by “Huan” [Dispersion, hexagram 59] (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 109). The Xugua reads: 井道不可不革。，故受之以〈革〉。革物者莫若鼎，故受之 以 〈 鼎 〉. Richard John Lynn’s translation reads: “The Dao of wells cannot help but involve radical change. This is why “Jing” is followed by “Ge” [Radical Change, hexagram 49].” For effecting a radical change in things, there is nothing as good as a caldron. That is why “Ge” is followed by “Ding” [The Caldron, hexagram 50] (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 108). The Xugua reads: 有過物者必濟，故受之以〈既濟〉。物不可以窮也，故受之 以〈未濟〉終焉. Richard John Lynn’s translation reads: “Once there is superiority over creatures [the masses, i.e., ‘subjects’], one is sure to ferry them [across troubles, i.e., ‘rescue them’]. This is why “Xiaoguo” is followed by “Jiji” [Ferrying Complete, hexagram 63]. Creatures {the masses, i.e., ‘subjects’} must never be hard-pressed. This is why “Jiji” is followed by “Weiji” [Ferrying Incomplete, hexagram 64], with which the hexagrams come to an end” (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 110). See the following articles in Zhang Taiyan’s Jian lun 檢論 (Discussion on selected topics): “Yuan ren 原人” (On Human Beings), “Xu zhongxing shang 序種姓上” (The Genealogy of Race and Family Names, Part 1), “Xu zhongxing xia 序種姓下” (The Genealogy of Race and Family Names, Part 2), “Yuan bian 原變” (On Change), and “Yi lun 易論” (A Study of

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ing Yan Fu’s argument, Zhang Taiyan believed that ancient China had moved faster than other countries in transitioning from a tribal society into a vast agrarian empire but, since the establishment of the imperial system in 221 bce, China had been stuck in a long “middle ages,” during which the Chinese were only interested in perfecting the imperial system rather than moving forward to build a nation-state. Hence, a revolution against the Qing was necessary to release China from the vicious circle of imperial dynasty.28 To make his point, Zhang Taiyan identified Xugua as a true record of human evolution. He stressed that, in addition to explaining the sequence of the sixtyfour hexagrams, Xugua inspires its readers “to reflect on the past and to plan for the future” (zhangwan er chalai 彰往而察來) by providing a succinct summary of China’s socio-political development from the perspective of the universal law of human evolution. To support his argument, he focused on nine hexagrams: “Zhun” 屯 (Birth Throes, no. 3), “Meng” 蒙 (Juvenile Ignorance, no. 4), “Xu” 需 (Waiting, no. 5), “Song” 訟 (Contention, no. 6), “Shi” 師 (The Army, no. 7), “Bi” 比 (Closeness, no. 8), “Lü” 履 (Treading, no. 10), “Pi” 否 (Obstruction, no. 12), and “Tongren” 同人 (Fellowship, no. 13). He argued that these nine hexagrams—immediately following the creation of the universe by the fusion of the Yang force (“Qian” 乾, Pure Yang, no. 1) and the Yin force (“Kun” 坤, Pure Yin, no. 2)—represent the steps that the Chinese took to create a stable, stainable community.29 The first step was nomadism in ancient antiquity. Following Edward Jenks’ law of human evolution, Zhang identified the beginning of Chinese civilization as nomadic tribes moving from place to place, seeking food and shelter (“Zhun” and “Meng”) but, after adopting agriculture as their mode of production (“Xu”), the early Chinese settled and built agrarian communities with a standing army (“Song”) and a social hierarchy (“Bi”). The agrarian communities later united to form a land-based empire led by a powerful leader known as di 帝 (emperor) (“Lü”) who oversaw a huge bureaucracy (“Tai” and “Bi”). In the end, the Chinese agrarian empire reached its zenth under the Qin and Han dynasties, when it became a well-organized, militarized, smoothly-run political structure (“Tongren”).

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the Yijing). These articles can be found in Zhang Taiyan quanji 章太炎全集 (The Complete Works of Zhang Taiyan), 3:356–386. For Zhang Taiyan’s critique of Kang Youwei from the perspective of launching a nationalistic revolution against the Qing dynasty, see Viren Murthy, The Political Philosophy of Zhang Taiyan: The Resistance of Consciousness, 51–88. See Zhang Taiyan, “Yi lun” 易論, in Zhang Taiyan quanji, 380–381. I follow Richard John Lynn’s translation of the hexagram names. See Lynn, The Classic of Changes.

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Zhang’s problem is that he was unable to match the path of Chinese development with the entire sixty-four hexagrams. On the one hand, he adopted Yan Fu’s view that, upon reaching the Qin-Han period, China was ready to transition into a nation-state. For him, the first nine hexagrams after “Qian” and “Kun” symbolized China’s rapid transformation from a hunter-gatherer economy to agriculture. On the other hand, he was unable to figure out how the other fifty-four hexagrams would reflect China’s slow development during the long imperial age from the Qin to the Qing. In passing, he mentioned seven hexagrams—“Bi” 比 (Closeness, no. 8), “Yu” 豫 (Contentment, no. 16), “Guan” 觀 (Viewing, no. 20), “Shike” 噬嗑 (Bite Together, no. 21), “Fu” 復 (Return, no. 24), “Wuwang” 无妄 (No Errancy, no. 25), and “Huan” 渙 (Dispersion, no. 59)—that, to him, signified China’s efforts to improve the imperial system by eliminating the feudal lords, the worship of imperial deities, capital punishment, the public fields and so on.30 Nevertheless, Zhang was never able to trace, step by step, China’s transition from the imperial system into a nation-state. Skipping many hexagrams, Zhang Taiyan ended his meditation on China’s progress by discussing the last two hexagrams: “Jiji” 既濟 ䷾ (Ferrying Complete, no. 63) and “Weiji” 未濟 ䷿ (Ferrying Incomplete, no. 64). Shifting the discussion from imperial China to the 1911 Revolution, Zhang drew attention to the ambiguous ending of the Yijing. Through these two hexagrams, he issued a warning to his fellow revolutionaries. For him, the Yijing’s authors deliberately end the book with “Weiji” to underscore “worry and anxiety” ( youhuan 憂患), when the old regime has been toppled but the new government not yet firmly established. He feared that, unless the transition of power after the revolution was done properly, there would be mass killing, indiscriminate destruction, and the breakdown of law and order.31

4

“Tongren” as a Symbol of Political Breakthrough

In the 1910s, another revolutionary leader, Hang Xinzhai 杭辛齋 (1869–1942), also used the Xugua to discuss the path of China’s political modernization. Unlike Zhang Taiyan, who used the Yijing selectively when discussing radical political change, Hang spent several years studying the Yijing, after experiencing a spiritual awakening while in prison in 1916.32 On his release from prison, 30 31 32

Zhang Taiyan, op. cit., 386. Ibid., 390. In Zhouyi gushi guan 周易古史觀 (The Discussion of Ancient History in Zhouyi), Hu Pu’an 胡樸安 (1878–1947) reported that Hang Xinzhai, a veteran of the 1911 Revolution,

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he wrote several books about the Yijing, explaining its links to modern science and modern political philosophy,33 yet he shared Zhang’s view that the sequence of sixty-four hexagrams clearly elucidates the universal law of social evolution. Like Zhang, Hang paid special attention to the Xugua, particularly its discussion of the special meaning of the order of the sixty-four hexagrams. In his writings, Hang situated the Xugua in the broader context of the Yijing, as a text about linear progression. In addition to the Xugua, Hang considered the Xici 繋辭 (The Appended Commentary)—another piece of writing within the Ten Wings—as a document about the evolution of Chinese society. Citing Xici ii, he identified Fu Xi 伏羲 (the alleged creator of eight trigrams and sixtyfour hexagrams) as the progenitor of the original Chinese community, engaged in hunter-gathering, Shen Nong 神農 (the alleged inventor of agriculture), as the leader who introduced agrarian production into China, and Huang Di 黄帝, Yao 堯, and Shun 順 as leaders who established the land-based empire along the bands of the Yellow River.34 Applying this narrative of progressive development to the sixty-four hexagrams, Hang argued that the entire Yijing (consisting of both the original text and the Ten Wings) was a vivid account of early China. He urged twentieth century readers to examine this account of early China more closely because it elucidated the trajectory of human evolution from a global perspective. Of the sixty-four hexagrams, Hang focused particularly on seventeen hexagrams:35 “Qian” 乾 (Pure Yang, no. 1), “Kun” 坤 (Pure Yin, no. 2), “Zhun” 屯 (Birth Throes, no. 3), “Meng” 蒙 (Juvenile Ignorance, no. 4), “Xu” 需 (Waiting, no. 5), “Song” 訟 (Contention, no. 6), “Shi” 師 (The Army, no. 7), “Bi” 比 (Closeness, no. 8), “Lü” 履 (Treading, no. 10), “Pi” 否 (Obstruction, no. 12), “Tongren” 同 人 (Fellowship, no. 13), “Dayou” 大有 (Great Holdings, no. 14), “Qian” 謙 (Mod-

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was jailed in 1916 by Yuan Shikai. While in prison, he underwent a spiritual awakening after reading the Yijing. After his release, he returned to Guangzhou, where he started a discussion group on the Yijing. See Zhouyi gushi guan, “Preface” (“Zixu” 自序), 2. See Hang Xinzhai 杭 辛 齋, “Jinhou shijie zhiyi 今 後 世 界 之 《 易 》” (The Yijing in the present and the future world) in Xueyi bitan chuji 學易筆談初集 (The first collection of notes from learning the Yijing), and “Gua xiang Jinhua zhi xu 卦象進化之序” (The sequence in the evolution of hexagram images) in Xueyi biban erji 學易筆談二集 (The second collection of notes from learning the Yijing). Both articles can be found in Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi 学易笔谈，读易杂识 (Notes from learning the Yijing, Random thoughts from reading the Yijing), 20–21, 227–234. Hang Xinzhai 杭辛齋, “Yijing yu jinhua lun 易經與進化論” (Yijing and Evolution), in Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi, 9–10. Hang restated his argument in “Jinhua xinlun 進化新論” (New Views on Evolution), in Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi, 164–167. Hang Xinzhai, “Jinhou shijie zhi Yi” 今後世界之《易》 (The Yijing in the Future World), in Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi, 20.

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esty, no. 15), “Yu” 豫 (Contentment, no. 16), and “Sui” 隨 (Following, no. 17).36 Although he included eight more hexagrams than Zhang, Hang basically told the same story about China’s early transition from a hunter-gatherer society into an agrarian empire, and its long-delayed entry into the modern system of nation-states. But the addition of a few more hexagrams helped Hang to extend the story of evolution to the twentieth century. For instance, he identified “Tongren” as a breaking point where the old imperial system collapsed and the constitutional monarchy was established. He also saw “Dayou” 大有 (Great Holdings, no. 14) as a symbol of the new Chinese nation-state, and “Qian” 謙 (Modesty, no. 15) and “Yu” 豫 (Contentment, no. 16) as symbols of socialism. In the end, Hang anticipated that the nation-state system would eventually disappear with the rise of anarchism (“Sui” 隨 [Following, no. 17]). It is worth noting that both Zhang and Hang viewed the hexagram “Tongren” 同人 (Fellowship, no. 12) as a turning point in China’s transition from an agrarian empire into a nation-state. In Zhang, the transition was more suggested than realized, given the long “middle age” in China, from the Qin to the Qing dynasties. Hang ignored the long temporal gap from the Qin to the Qing and, instead, fast-forwarded from the Qin to the 1911 Revolution, as if the long Middle Ages did not exist. Nevertheless, the hexagram image of “Tongren” ䷌ was significant to both commentators. With one Yin broken line in the second position (counting from the bottom) and five Yang straight lines, “Tongren” refers to a situation where a minority (the Yin line) leads the majority (the five Yang lines). More importantly, the leadership of the Yin line is built on compromise and negotiation due to its humble position: the chief line of the lower trigram “Li” ☲ and the second line (i.e., the subordinate) of the hexagram serving the fifth line (i.e., the ruler). Precisely because it is the only Yin line in the hexagram, the second line is easier to link as a partner to any of the five Yang lines, which have no choice but to cooperate with it. Even the fifth Yang line—the most powerful line in the hexagram—must work with the second line. In this way, “Tongren” symbolizes a responsive government which is willing to listen to the views of different political constituents and unite all in the service of the country.37 In addition, Hang Xinzhai went a step further than Zhang Taiyan by identifying “Tongren” ䷌ as a symbol of constitutional monarchy ( junzhu lixian 君 主立憲)—a partnership among equals, led by a weak monarch whose power is heavily circumscribed. Again, Hang bases his argument on the hexagram image. Consisting of two trigrams (a “Qian” 乾 trigram ☰ in the top and a “Li” 36 37

Hang Xinzhai, “Gua xiang jinhua zhixu” 卦象進化之序 (The Sequence of Evolution in the Hexagrams), in Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi, 227–233. Hang Xinzhai, Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi, 231.

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離 trigram ☲ in the bottom), Hang sees hexagram “Tongren” as a Yang hexagram, anchored by the fifth Yang line (an emperor), but the fifth Yang line plays merely a ceremonial role due to its heavy reliance on its subordinate (the second Yin line) to run the country. As the ceremonial head of state, the fifth line is given a grandiose title, “the commander of the navy and army” (hailujun dayuanshuai 海陸軍大元帥), who frequently travels abroad to represent the country but lacks any real power at home.38 For Hang, the establishment of a constitutional monarchy (as represented in “Tongren”) is pivotal to China’s political development in the twentieth century. It is a crucial moment because China finally breaks free from the vicious circle of the imperial system—its rise, decline, revitalization, downfall, and rise again. Over two thousand years, the dynasty came and went as the “mandate of heaven” (tianming 天命) changed hands, but the socio-political structure of China remained the same, privileging the emperors, literati, and patriarchs. By contrast, “Tongren” signifies a genuine revolution—geming 革命, in the modern sense.39 Rather than passing “the mandate of heaven” from one imperial family to another, “Tongren” shows that the top-down imperial dictatorship has ended, and an open, equal partnership of different constituents emerges. In this sense, Hang argues, “Tongren” truly “separates the contemporary from the past, the modern and the ancient” ( jingu zhibie xiandai gudai de fenshuiling 今 古之別, 現代古代的分水嶺).40 “Tongren” ushers in a new era in China, where political changes will take place to create an equal, open, fair system. Their earnest attempts notwithstanding, Zhang Taiyan and Hang Xinzhai were unable to make the sixty-four hexagrams completely fit the trajectory of social evolution. Of the two scholars, Hang was more skilled because he included more hexagrams in his analysis and offered more extensive details about political changes. He also used “Tongren” to mark the critical transition from imperial monarchy to modern nation-state. Nevertheless, like Zhang,

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Ibid. In the Yijing, hexagrams “Ge” 革 (Radical Change, no. 49) and “Ding” 鼎 (The Cauldron, no. 50) explicitly discuss “the change in the mandate of heaven” (geming 革命) from the Shang to the Zhou dynasties. Geming 革命, a term used in the late Qing and Republican period to refer to revolution, came from the Tuan 彖 (Commentary on the Judgements) of hexagram “Ge,” which reads: 天地革而四時成，湯武革命，順乎天而應乎人，革 之時大矣哉. Richard John Lynn translates the Tuan statement as follows: “Just as Heaven and Earth make use of Radical Change so that the four seasons come to pass, so did Tang and Wu bring about Radical Change in the mandate to rule in compliance with the will of Heaven and in accordance with the wishes of mankind. A time of Radical Change is indeed great!” (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 445.) Hang Xinzhai, Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi, 231.

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Hang was only able to use a small number of hexagrams to discuss China’s political modernization. In the end, he also failed to turn the sixty-four hexagrams into a convincing story of China’s political development from ancient antiquity to contemporary times. By the early 1940s, as China was plunged deep into war against the Japanese, the efforts to match the sequence of Yijing hexagrams with the rise of the nation-state came to an end. Ironically, it was Hu Pu’an 胡樸安 (1876–1947)— an ardent follower of Zhang Taiyan and Hang Xinzhai—who signaled the retreat from matching the Yijing hexagrams with Edward Jenkin’s universal law of social evolution. As a young man, Hu was influenced by Zhang Taiyan and Hang Xinzhai’s quests to mold the Yijing into an account of China’s social progression. He was particularly impressed by the two scholars’ attempt to match the hexagrams with the stages of Chinese development.41 But, in his magnum opus, Zhouyi gushi guan 周易古史觀 (The Discussion of Ancient History in the Yi of the Zhou Dynasty; 1942), Hu deliberately narrowed the scope of his study. Unlike Zhang and Hang, he did not cover the whole Chinese history, from ancient antiquity to the twentieth century. Rather, he focused solely on the three early dynasties (the Xia, Shang, and Zhou), thereby making the Yijing truly the Zhouyi—a narrative of the historic changes in China from the beginning to the Zhou dynasty. Following strictly the conventional division of the Yijing, he read the first thirty hexagrams of the Yijing—from “Qian” 乾 (The Aggressive, no. 1) to “Li” 離 (Cohesion, no. 30)—as a saga of nomadic tribes gradually incorporated into the two earliest land-based empires in China: the Xia and Shang dynasties.42 Then, he interpreted the last 34 hexagrams—from “Xian” 咸 (Reciprocity, no. 31) to “Weiji” 未濟 (Ferrying Incomplete, no. 64)—as the history of the Zhou dynasty when the three early Zhou leaders (King Wen, King Wu, and King Cheng) established the patrilineal family structure, a ritual system, and a bureaucracy to govern a huge, land-based empire.43

41 42 43

See Hu Pu’an, Zhouyi gushi guan, “Preface” (“Zixu” 自序), 2–7, 9–13. Hu Pu’an, Zhouyi gushi guan, 11–130. Ibid, 131–268. Hu’s reading of the hexagrams as a history of the Zhou dynasty paralleled the “Doubting Antiquity Movement” of the mid-1920s. Led by the historian Gu Jiegang 顧頡剛 (1893–1980), the movement reexamined ancient texts to critique the imperial tradition. Its goal was to show the hypocrisy of imperial officials who fabricated textual evidence to support the imperial orthodoxy. In 1931, Gu and his cohorts published essays about the Yijing in the third volume of Gushi bian 古史辨 (A Symposium on Ancient History)—the flagship publication of the “Doubting Antiquity Movement”—but Hu differed significantly from this movement in one aspect. Unlike the doubters, Hu firmly believed the integrity of the Yijing text as a true record of early China.

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To a great extent, Hu’s narrowing of the temporal scope of the Yijing was a tacit acceptance of its limitation. As Zhang and Hang had argued, a strength of the Yijing was that the sequence of the hexagrams was compatible with Jenkins’ three-folded transformation of human society—hunter-gathering, agriculture, and industrialization. At the same time, a weakness of the Yijing was that the sixty-four hexagrams were full of twists and turns that were hard to incorporate into the narrative of a linear progression. As shown in Hu’s Zhouyi gushi guan), it is easier to fit the sixty-four hexagrams with the transformation from nomadic tribes to an agrarian empire, than with one from an agrarian empire to a nation-state. In this sense, Zhang and Hang were clearly too ambiguous in modernizing the Yijing.

5

“Qian” as a Symbol of Great Harmony

Whereas Zhang and Hang’s readings of the Yijing show that the sequence of hexagrams may not have helped to predict the founding of the Chinese nationstate, they also demonstrate that individual hexagrams (e.g., “Tongren”) can be read as metaphors for the pivotal breakthrough in China’s political transformation. We find the continuation of this search for metaphors in the Yijing in Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885–1968). In his Qiankun yan 乾坤衍 (Explaining the Meaning of Hexagrams “Qian” and “Kun,” 1962), Xiong Shili identifies “Qian” 乾 ䷀ (Pure Yang, no. 1) and “Kun” 坤 ䷁ (Pure Yin, no. 2) as the symbols of democratic government. Before discussing Qiankun yan, a note of caution is warranted. Xiong Shili completed this work in 1962, half a century after Zhang Taiyan and Hang Xinzhai’s commentaries on the Xugua appeared. In terms of time, it seems anachronistic to compare Xiong with Zhang and Hang but, in terms of content, Xiong directly responded to Kang Youwei and Yan Fu in Qiankan yan. More importantly, like Zhang and Hang, Xiong was serious about transforming the Yijing into a blueprint for China’s political modernization. He might disagree with Zhang and Hang regarding what the new Chinese political system should look like, but he followed their train of thought that the structure of the modern Chinese nation-state could be found in the symbolism of Yijing hexagrams. Structurally Qiankun yan is divided into two parts. In part one, Xiong Shili criticizes Kang Youwei for misreading the Confucian classics. Instead of reading the Confucian classics (such as the Spring and Autumn Annals) as a defense of imperial autocracy, Xiong argues that they were written after Confucius reached the age of fifty and realized that the imperial system was exploitative

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and that a revolution was necessary to allow the masses to rule themselves.44 Thus, for Xiong, Confucius’ goal in writing the classics was to achieve four goals: (1) to abolish a socio-political hierarchy, (2) to end the imperial system, (3) to establish a new government based on equality, and finally (4) to create a global system of nation-states based on multilateral consultation.45 In other words, Xiong went a step further than Kang Youwei in remaking the image of Confucius. Rather than viewing Confucius as a reformer (as Kang had done in his Kongzi gaizhi kao 孔子改制考 [Confucius as a Reformer, 1898]), Xiong considered him as a prophet of radical political change. To match Kang Youwei’s “Three Ages,” Xiong identifies the Spring and Autumn Annals as the classic about the Age of Disorder, the “Zhou Guan” 周官 and “Liyun” 禮運 chapters of the Book of Rites as the classics about the Age of Emerging Peace, and the Yijing as the classic about the Age of Universal Peace.46 Furthermore, Xiong identifies two steps in preparing the masses for these momentous changes. The first step is to train them to be “sages internally” (neisheng 内聖) who can control their behavior after years of moral cultivation; the second step is to train them to be “kings externally” (waiwang 外王) who can make informed decisions in governance after years of training in politics.47 The double roles of “a sage internally” and “a king externally” resemble Plato’s notion of a “philosopher-king” who undergoes decades of training in order to become a philosopher in thinking and a king in administering the Kallipolis. For Xiong, only when everyone becomes “a sage internally” and “a king outwardly” will it become possible to achieve the Great Harmony (datong 大同)—the same term that Kang Youwei discovered in the “Liyun” chapter of the Book of Rites. According to Xiong, the Great Harmony refers to a utopian situation where there is no national boundary, no racial distinction, no possession and no difference in education and social status.48 It is a complete reverse

44

45 46 47 48

Xiong Shili 熊十力 names the first half of Qiankun yan as Bianwei 辨偽 (Distinguish [the truth from] the false). In the first half, he argues that Confucius underwent a major change in thought at around the age of fifty. Before that, he supported the hierarchical order but, after that point, advocated the founding of an equal society. For a summary of Xiong’s argument, see Qiankun yan 乾坤衍 (Explaining the Meaning of Hexagrams “Qian” and “Kun”), 1–2; see also Yuan ru 原儒 (The True Confucianism), 525–584. Xiong Shili, Qiankun yan, 11–66. Ibid., 73–132. Ibid., 171–175, 231–243. Ibid., 38. Xiong describes the Great Harmony (datong) as follows: 大同者，無國界，無 種界，乃至無有智愚，賢不肖種種差別，更無有自我和他人等畛域，是謂 大同 (By the “Great Harmony,” I mean a situation where there is no national boundary, no racial distinction, even no difference between being intelligent or foolish, and a differ-

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of the Small Peace (xiaokang 小康)—another term that Kang discovered in the “Liyun” chapter—where boundaries, distinctions, and hierarchies are rigorously enforced.49 This distinction between the Great Harmony and the Small Peace is crucial to Xiong’s interpretation of hexagrams “Qian” 乾 and “Kun” 坤. For him, these two hexagrams encapsulate the spirit of the Great Harmony.50 For instance, in hexagram “Qian,” Xiong finds a fleet of dragons in different positions: a “hidden dragon” in line one at the bottom, an “emerging dragon” in line two, a “wavering dragon” in line four, a “flying dragon” in line five, and an “arrogant dragon” in line six at the top. The line statements of “Qian” suggest a correspondence between the dragon’s position and the best course of action: the “hidden dragon” should avoid taking aggressive action (wuyong 勿用), the “emerging dragon” and “flying dragon” should seek help from “a great man” (lijian daren 利見大人), the “wavering dragon” should take flight despite the danger and apparent risks (houyue zaiyuan 或躍在淵), and the “arrogant dragon” will regret being stubborn and overconfident (kanglong youhui 亢龍有悔)51. But, as a hexagram, “Qian” is ambiguous. On the one hand, in five of its six lines, the tone appears upbeat, projecting an impression of an incessant progress from a hidden dragon to an emerging dragon, and from a wavering dragon to a flying dragon. On the other hand, this progress is abruptly cut short by the downfall of an arrogant dragon. Like a Greek tragedy, the rapid fall of the arrogant dragon suggests hubris, highlighting the danger of excessive human pride in making strenuous efforts to pull oneself up. Preoccupied with linear progression, Xiong focuses on the continuous progression from “the hidden dragon” to “the flying dragon” (the first to the fifth line) while ignoring “the arrogant dragon” (the sixth line). This selective reading allows Xiong to provide three interrelated readings of hexagram “Qian.” The first reading concerns cosmology. Xiong describes the five dragons as a continuous expansion of the Yang 陽 masculine force. The Yang force first creates the material world and the myriad of things; then it generates the spiritual world and human consciousness; finally, it reaches optimum development by combining the material and spiritual worlds.52 This reading excludes the sixth line

49 50 51 52

ence between being sagely and uninitiated. Furthermore, there is no distinction between oneself and other. These are the characteristics of the Great Harmony). Ibid., 11–13. Ibid., 269–275. For a full translation of hexagram “Qian,” see Wilhelm, The I Ching, 369–385; Richard John Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 129–142. Xiong Shili, Qiankun yan, 359–364.

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(the arrogant dragon), which Xiong sees as irrelevant because it questions “the continuous development of the human spirit” (xinling zhiyuan qiyou jinhu 心靈 之運，豈有盡乎).53 The second reading concerns ontology. Hexagram “Qian” shows that the Yang masculine force produces both the material and spiritual worlds, proving that the human mind (xin 心) and material objects (wu 物) are ontologically inseparable. Given this inseparability of subject and object, mind and matter, Xiong asserts that the cosmos is real, and that it renews itself constantly.54 Based on this creative cosmology, moreover, Xiong rejects the Buddhist concept of Emptiness. The third reading concerns politics. Xiong describes the five dragons of “Qian” as a series of steps to launch a revolution. The process begins with the masses being suppressed (the hidden dragon), who are gradually awakened to their plight (the emerging dragon) and start organizing protests and revolts (the wavering dragon) before finally toppling their oppressors and establishing a new government (the flying dragon).55 Xiong finds further support for this revolution of the masses from the statement of the fifth line of hexagram “Kun,” which reads: “A yellow lower garment means fundamental good fortune” (huangchang yuanji 黃裳，元吉). Xiong argues that the “yellow lower garment” refers to the masses (i.e., the lower) being able to wear the imperial color (i.e., yellow garment). Hence, the line statement affirms the “good fortune” of the revolution of the masses.56 The goal of revolution, Xiong contends, is not merely to topple oppressors but, rather, to pave the way for reaching the Great Harmony—the utopian state of no boundaries, distinctions, or hierarchy. Xiong finds this utopian state vividly described in the “All Use Yang Lines” ( yongjiu 用九) statement of “Qian,” which reads: “When one sees a flight of dragons without a leader, it is good fortune” (qunlong wushou ji 群 龍 无 首 ，吉).57 Xiong sees “a flight of dragons without a leader” as a concrete depiction of the Great Harmony, where people from different backgrounds are united based on the mutual recognition of equal rights and freedom. For Xiong, the beauty of the Great Harmony is that the dragons remain dragons in their own way, and yet are united, 53 54 55 56 57

Ibid. Ibid., 371–376. Ibid., 430–434. Ibid., 434. Both Richard Wilhelm and Richard John Lynn translate qunlong wushou 群龍无首 as “a flight of dragons without heads” (see Wilhelm, The I Ching, 10; Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 139). This translation suggests that the dragons are headless, because either their heads have been chopped off or they have lost their minds. Here, shou 首 can mean “head” or “a leader” (as in shouling 首領). Xiong, meanwhile, reads the line as a group of strongwilled, independent-minded people working together without an overt leader.

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without an overt leader, like a well-trained chamber orchestra performing without a conductor.58 To ensure that his readers fully understand his point, Xiong evokes the Tuan 彖 (Commentary on the Judgement) of hexagram “Qian,” which ends with an exhortation: “So one stands with one’s head above the multitude, and the myriad of states are all at peace” (shouchu shuwu wanguo xianning 首出庶物，萬國 咸寧). For Xiong, the exhortation calls attention to the significance of “a flight of dragons without a leader” when the citizens of a nation-state, or countries in a harmonious global system, can act freely and independently without the fear of coercion and domination. This is indeed the best possible world!

6

Conclusion

Like Zhang Taiyan and Hang Xinzhai, Xiong Shili’s reading of the Yijing is highly selective. Even if we accept Xiong’s argument that the essence of the Yijing lies in its first two hexagrams, he is unable to explain all twelves lines of the two hexagrams. Most glaring in his inability to explain the sixth line of “Qian” (the arrogant dragon), which clearly calls into question his narrative of continuous progression. A similar problem is found regarding his interpretation of “Kun,” where only the fifth line is useful to support his seamless progressive narrative. Yet, like “Tongren” in Zhang and Hang’s readings, “Qian” is given a new meaning in Xiong’s quest for China’s political modernization. Rather than being a hexagram about the Yang masculine force (as found in many commentaries from the imperial period), Xiong sees it as a blueprint for a populous revolution, as well as a roadmap for establishing a more equal political order. As Xiong repeatedly states, Confucius’ goal in writing the classics was to plant a vision “to change the world” (gaizao shijie 改造世界).59 From this perspective, although Xiong’s attempt to reinvent the Yijing falls short, he succeeds in inspiring thoughts about changing the world. One may even say that, despite their shortcomings, all three writers—Zhang, Hang and Xiong—demonstrate that the Yijing can be read creatively to address contemporary questions. In reading the Yijing to predict a regime change, the three thinkers call attention to the problems of racism, ultra-nationalism, economic inequality, and social injustice, that continue to plague us today. More importantly, if we examine carefully the gaps and slippages in their narrative of

58 59

Xiong Shili, Qiankun yan, 375. Ibid., 432.

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human progress, it is clear that these three thinkers were acutely aware of the ambiguity and uncertainty within our modern life. Ironically, it is in their failure to provide a convincing reading of the Yijing that enables us to understand more deeply its value in the twenty-first century. Its complex textual body, polyphony in visual symbolism, and polysemy in written statements jointly call attention to the diversity and plurality of the peoples of our times.

Bibliography Bol, Peter. “This Culture of Ours”: Intellectual Transition in T’ang and Sung China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992. Elman, Benjamin. Civil Examination and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013. Gan Chunsong 干春松. Kang Youwei yu rujia de xinshi 康有为与儒家的新世 (Kang Youwei and the New Age of Confucianism). Shanghai: Huadong Shifan Daxue chubanshe, 2015. Hang Xinzhai 杭辛齋. Xueyi bitan, duyi zashi 学易笔谈，读易杂识 (Notes from learning the Yijing, Random thoughts from reading the Yijing). First published in 1919. Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 1997. Hon, Tze-ki. “Classical Exegesis and Social Change: The Song School of Yijing Commentaries in Late Imperial China.” Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 11.1 (2011): 1–16. Hsiao, Kung-chuan. A Modern China and a New World: Kang Yu-wei, Reformer and Utopian, 1858–1927. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975. Hu Pu’an 胡樸安. Zhouyi gushi guan 周易古史觀 (The Discussion of Ancient History in the Yi of the Zhou Dynasty). First published in 1942. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1986. Lynn, Richard John. The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Murthy, Viren. The Political Philosophy of Zhang Taiyan: The Resistance of Consciousness. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Qian Jibo 錢基博. Zhouyi jitie yuqi dufa 周易解題與其讀法 (The meaning of Zhouyi and its method of reading). Taipei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, [1933] 1965. Redmond, Geoffrey, and Tze-ki Hon. Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Schwartz, Benjamin. In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press, 1964. Smith, Richard. Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2008.

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Wang Hui 汪暉. Xiandai zhongguo sixiang de xingqi 現代中國思想的興起 (The rise of modern Chinese thought). Beijing: Sanlian shuju, 2004. Wilhelm, Richard. The I Ching or Book of Changes. Translated by Cary F. Baynes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967. Xiong Shili 熊十力. Qiankun yan 乾坤衍 (Explaining the Meaning of Hexagrams “Qian” and “Kun”). Taipei: Taiwan xuesheng chubanshe, 1987. Xiong Shili 熊十力. Yuan ru 原儒 (The True Confucianism). Taipei: Mingwen shuju, 1988. Xiong Yuezhi 熊月之. Xixue dongjian yu wanqing shehui 西學東漸與晚清社會 (The rise of Western Learning and late Qing society). Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe 1994. Yan Fu 嚴復. Shehui tongquan 社會通詮 (Principles of Society). First published in 1904. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1981. Zarrow, Peter. After Empire: The Conceptual Transformation of the Chinese State, 1885– 1924. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012. Zhang Taiyan 章太炎. Zhang Taiyan quanji 章太炎全集 (The complete work of Zhang Taiyan). Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1984.

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chapter 9

Simplified Procedure and Extended Divination Objects: A Study of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology tao Yingna

Today, many forms of Yijing 易經 writings—ranging from divination and geomancy to medical health and self-help—are popular items in the publishing market. Spurred by the continuous archaeological discoveries of the Yijing texts and the increasing demand to cope with the uncertainty and alienation arising from the market economy, the Yijing regains its former glory as an ancient classic that dispenses wisdom and guidance to those puzzled or burdened by the harsh reality of everyday life. The continuous popularity of the Yijing shows that, after a century of cultural iconoclasm that aimed to discredit the Confucian tradition, the Yijing has become a modern text in two senses. First, it is a hybrid text that transcends such conventional categories as Confucianism, Daoism, alchemy, astronomy, cosmology, divination, geomancy, and medicine. The modern Yijing is a composite text that addresses a wide variety of issues related to our contemporary life, including the body, gender, longevity, and environmental sustainability. Second, the Yijing is modern because it encourages suspicion of our contemporary lifestyle which is increasingly driven by competition, commodification, and multi-tasking. Constantly calling our attention to accidents and serendipity in our daily lives, the Yijing stresses the need for “worry and anxiety” ( youhuang 憂患), highlighting the fact that we are increasingly helpless when our lives are greatly dependent on planning, defined goals, tangible outcomes, and deadlines. Despite its different levels of meaning, the Yijing remains to this day a manual of divination. As Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) stated, the Yijing was originally a book of divination.1 From the Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn era (roughly 1046–476bce), one of the notable uses of Yijing was to predict the future. The divination instances recorded in the Commentary of Zuo (Zuozhuan 左傳) and the Discourses of the States (Guoyu 國語) are the earliest relevant

1 See Zhu Xi’s discussion about the Yijing in Zhuzi yulei 朱子語類 (Classified Conversations of Zhu Xi), 5:1620–1622.

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historical records of divinatory practices.2 Since then, hundreds of commentaries have been written to explain the lessons in the classics. Meanwhile, many Yi-related mantic techniques have been developed to perfect the art of divination. A passage in the Great Commentary (Dazhuan 大傳) of the Yijing describes how to cast lots by counting yarrow stalks. Commonly known as Dayan shifa 大 衍筮法 (Great Expansion Divination), this passage formed the basis of many Yi-related divinations. In Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes’s translation, the passage reads as follows: The number of the total is fifty. Of these, forty-nine are used. They are divided into two portions, to represent the two primal forces. Hereupon one is set apart, to represent the three powers. They are counted through by fours, to represent the four seasons. The remainder is put aside, to represent the intercalary month. There are two intercalary months in five years, therefore putting aside is repeated, and this gives us the whole. The numbers that yield the creative total 216; those which yield the receptive total 144, making in all 360. They correspond to the days of the year. The numbers of the stalks in the two parts amount to 11,520, which corresponds with the number of the ten thousand things. Therefore four operations are required to produce a change; eighteen mutations yield a hexagram. The eight signs constitute each a small completion. When we continue and go further and add to the situation all their transitions, all possible situations on earth are encompassed.3 In other words, this method involves several steps. The first is the separation of 50 stalks, setting aside one stalk and no longer using it. The remaining 49 stalks are divided into two groups then, for each group, one stalk is placed between two fingers and then each group is counted off in fours. The remainders of each group and the first stalk in the fingers are combined and removed, after which the same process is repeated twice (the whole procedure must be repeated three times). The total number of stalks in the remainder group will be 9 or 5 at the first count. Subtracting 9 or 5 stalks from the total number of 49, the remainder must be 40 or 44. The number for the second count must be 40, 36 or 32 and that for the last count will be 36, 32, 28, or 24. Dividing the numbers by 4, one obtains 9, 8, 7, or 6, which represent the numbers of the first line of a

2 Kidder Smith, Jr., “Zhouyi Interpretation from Accounts in the Zuozhuan.” 3 Richard Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, 310–313.

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hexagram. The entire procedure is repeated several times to generate six lines of one hexagram.4 Like other mantic arts, the Yi-related divinations took many forms and followed different methods (including numerology and the throwing of coins). In this chapter, I will examine a Yi-related divination technique known as Plum Blossom Yi Numerology (Meihua yishu 梅花易數). This method is popular in contemporary China and attracts a lot of attention. As will be shown in this chapter, this method is simple and inclusive, so much so that it resembles a conversation between a diviner and a client. The conversation—involving finding an appropriate hexagram, decoding the meaning of the hexagram, and developing a prognostication based on the available information—leads the client into a self-searching, self-reflective exercise, in which the past is linked to the present, and the present is linked to the future. In the end, the diviner’s prognostication—a recommendation for action to deal with the challenges at hand—gives the client the hope and courage to come to terms with the contingencies and serendipity of everyday life. This method fits the zeitgeist of a fast-growing China, where changes happen quickly and life is full of uncertainty.

1

Background

Plum Blossom Yi Numerology is a method of numerological calculation based on the Yijing. Its author is said to have been Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077) (style Kangjie 康節), a famous Neo-Confucian thinker of the Song dynasty and one of the leaders of the Numerology School.5 According to the preface of the book Master Shao Kangjie’s Plum Blossom Yi Numerology from the Perspective of the Mind School of Yijing (Shao Kangjie xiansheng xinyi meihua shu 邵康節先生心 易梅花數), Shao Yong obtained a Yi divination book from a mysterious old man who had predicted Shao Yong’s visit.6 Shao then worked hard and mastered this divination technique, which was named Plum Blossom Yi Numerology.

4 For another account of this method, see Richard Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China, 27. 5 Zhu Bokun 朱 伯 崑, Yixue zhexue shi 易 學 哲 學 史 (History of the Philosophy of The Changes), 2:129. 6 Shao Yong’s preface is found in an edition of Meihua yishu preserved in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). See Mingchao zhenben meihua yishu 明朝珍本梅花易數 (Rare Editions of Meihua yishu of the Ming Dynasty).

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The authenticity of this story is questionable, however. We cannot find any reference to the book or the divination technique in the History of the Song Dynasty (Songshi 宋史), even though the creation of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology must have been a major invention in Song China (960–1279). Nor can we find any evidence in Shao Yong’s works, such as Huangji jingshi 皇 極 經 世, Yichuan jirang ji 伊川擊壤集, Guanwu neipian 觀物內篇, and Guanwu waipian 觀物外篇, that indicates Shao Yong’s involvement in the creation of this divination technique. Nevertheless, while it is highly likely that the story was invented in order to link Plum Blossom Yi Numerology to Song Neo-Confucianism, it is clear that the technique, key concepts, and prognosticating principles of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology were influenced by Shao Yong.7 The earliest written record about the technique was found in Supplementary Records to Four Masters’ Consent on Yi-learning (易學四同別錄) by Ji Ben 季本 (1485–1563), a scholar of the Mind School of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism. The book Master Shao Kangjie’s Plum Blossom Yi Numerology from the Perspective of the Mind School of Yijing was also mentioned in the Book Catalogue of Mr. Chao’s Baowentang (晁氏寶文堂書目), written by the bibliographer Chao Li 晁瑮 (?– 1560). Based on these two sources, the technique may have first developed in the mid-sixteenth century ce. Judging by its contents, Master Shao Kangjie’s Plum Blossom Yi Numerology from the Perspective of the Mind School of Yijing can be roughly dated to the mid or late Ming dynasty (roughly 1500–1644). In fact, there are three series of mainstream versions of the book. The first is the current version (in three chapters), based on an edition compiled by Huang Zongxi 黄宗羲 (1690–1695).8 In this version, a large section of the original book is devoted to the technique of casting hexagrams, ten divination cases, the properties of the eight trigrams, and the methods of prognostication. The second type is the version that is alleged to have been inherited by the Shao family. Usually, this version is titled Master Shao Kangjie’s Plum Blossom Yi Numerology from the Perspective of the Mind School of Yijing, sometimes with the addition of the phrase “family inherited” to indicate its authenticity. Compared to the previous version, this one is more structured and focused. It also offers a different way of casting hexagrams. A few editions of this version were published in the 1630’s, which may be the earliest editions available (now kept in Korean and Japanese libraries). The third type is the supplementary version; that is, the complete collection of the new engraving of Shao Kangjie’s writings held in the Forbidden City in Beijing. In

7 The details will be presented in the following part. 8 According to the preface to this version, the whole book was edited by Huang Zongxi.

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this version, there are additional materials about divination based on Chinese characters. This method is easier to learn, especially for those who need advice quickly in order to make difficult decisions. For this reason, this method is popular in modern China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

2

The Simplified Procedure

As mentioned earlier, the conventional Yi mantic technique is called Dayan shifa 大衍筮法 (Great Expansion Divination), found in the “Great Commentary” (“Xici zhuan” 繋 辭 傳) of the Yijing. The procedure includes forty-nine yarrow stalks, which are counted several times to produce one hexagram line. Later, a simpler technique was developed, known as Huozhu lin 火珠林 (The Forest of Fire Pearls), in which three coins are used to obtain a hexagram. The coin method is somewhat simpler. A hexagram line is found after coins are tossed and the number of heads and tails is counted. After repeating the procedure six times, a hexagram is found. Unlike the yarrow stalk method and the coin method, no special tool is needed according to Plum Blossom Yi Numerology. In general, there are two ways to find a hexagram. The first uses dates or objects, while the second involves factors such as the surroundings, or a specific situation. Either way, there is a specific rule for determining the changing lines of a hexagram. Therefore, one can cast hexagrams flexibly by using any kind of numbers or images. This means that hexagrams can be obtained from anything available, thereby providing the practitioner with a great deal of flexibility regarding divination.9 The first way to obtain a hexagram is based on numbers. Known as the preheaven (xiantian 先天) method, numbers are believed to have existed prior to hexagrams. That is to say, it is numbers that make hexagrams rather than vice versa. As mentioned above, the number refers to the relevant date or the number that relates to the surroundings. The date means the hour, day, month, and year. The surrounding means the objects, characters, and sounds that can be identified, like the number of strokes in a Chinese character, the number of objects surrounding the client, the number of sounds in the place where the consultation occurs, and so on. To obtain a hexagram, these numbers must be calculated. The calculation steps are as follows. If the numbers of the date are used, the upper trigram is determined by adding the numbers of the year,

9 Trigrams or hexagrams can be associated with a lot of objects or images in the universe. Thus, they can be used as symbols of everything on this earth.

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month, and day. If the sum is over 8, it is divided by 8 and the remainder is the upper trigram. The sum of the year, month, day, and hour is the lower trigram. Again, if the sum is over 8, it is divided by 8 and the remainder is the lower trigram. For the changing line, it is the sum of the year, month, day, and hour. If the number is over 6, it is divided by 6 and the remainder is the changing line. In other cases, the larger number forms the upper trigram and the smaller number forms the lower trigram. If the number is 8 or less, one must find a trigram corresponding to this number. If the number is over 8, then it is necessary to divide it by 8 and to use the remainder to find a trigram corresponding to this number.10 The changing line is determined by the sum of the two trigrams and the number of the hour. If this is over 6, it is divided by 6 and the remainder is the changing line. Taking 10:30 on June 7 2017 as an example: (1) (2) (3) (4)

10 (2017 is the you 酉 year, which is the 10th of the twelve branches) 5 (the 5th month according to the Chinese traditional calendar) 13 (the 13th month according to the Chinese traditional calendar) 6 (10:30 is the hour of si 巳 which is the 6th of the twelve branches)

Using this information, one can determine an upper trigram by adding (1), (2) and (3). 10 + 5 + 13 = 28 (this means Year + Month + Day) 28 / 8 = 3…4 The trigram corresponding to number 4 is Zhen ☳ (The Arousing). After that, we can determine the lower trigram by adding the number of the upper trigram number and 4. 28 + 6 = 34 (Upper Trigram Number + Hour) 34 / 8 = 4…2 The trigram corresponding to number 2 is Dui ☱ (The Joyous) is 2 Then, we can proceed to determine the changing line number by adding (1), (2), (3) and (4)

10

The corresponding trigrams chart is presented in the appendix. From one to eight, there are eight trigrams corresponding to them.

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10 + 5 + 13 + 6 = 34 (Year + Month + Day + Hour) 34 / 6 = 5…4 Thus, line 4 is the changing line. Therefore, Zhen ☳ (The Gentle) forms the upper trigram Dui ☱ (The Joyous) forms the lower trigram Together, the Zhen and Dui trigrams form hexagram 54, Guimei ䷵ (The Marrying Maiden), with a changing line at the 4th position (counting from the bottom). The second way to obtain a hexagram is based on images. Known as the postheaven method (houtian 後天), hexagrams are first obtained based on images or situations, then the number is assigned to determine which line is the changing line. The practitioner must observe and select a factor related to the client or event, and then finds a corresponding trigram to match the images. Here, the term “image” (xiang 象) has a broad meaning. It may mean trigrams or various things and phenomena. For instance, an elder is Qian ☰ (The Creative) and a girl is Dui ☱ (Joyous), green clothing is Zhen ☳ (The Arousing) and red tiles and square objects are Kun ☷ (The Receptive). All of these phenomena can be translated into trigrams and hexagrams for further analysis. Directions are also taken into consideration. For instance, eight trigrams in the post-heaven sequence (houtian guaxu 後天卦序) are arranged as follows: Li ☲ (The Clinging) is located in the south, Kun ☷ (The Receptive) in the southwest, Dui ☱ (The Joyous) in the west, Qian ☰ (The Creative) in the northwest, Kan ☵ (The Abysmal) in the north, Gen ☶ (Keeping Still) in the northeast, Zhen ☳ (The Arousing) in the east, and Xun ☴ (The Gentle) in the southeast. For the changing line, it is the sum of the numbers of the two trigrams and the number of the hour. If this is over 6, then it is divided by 6 and the remainder is the changing line. The judgment or prediction is derived from the hexagram and its changing line. The basic principle is the relationship between the two trigrams in terms of the Five Elements. The changing line foretells how things will evolve in the future. The following is an account in Master Shao Kangjie’s Plum Blossom Yi Numerology from the Perspective of the Mind School of Yijing, where a divination was performed at the wu hour (午時, 11–13) on a renshen day (壬申日). According to this account, a smiling teenager came from the south. The master asked the teenager why he was happy and received no answer. Then the master performed a divination. The situation of the teenager could be understood as

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the combination of Gen ☶ (Keeping Still) on the top and Li ☲ (The Clinging) on the bottom, hence forming hexagram Bi ䷕ (Elegance, no. 22). According to Appendices 1 and 2, Gen is 7, Li is 3, and the wu hour is 7. 7 + 3 + 7 = 17 (upper trigram number + lower trigram number + hour number) The changing line is 17 + 6 = 2…5 So the fifth line of hexagram Bi (Elegance) is the changing line.

3

Prognostication Principles

Another characteristic of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology is that it covers almost every aspect of human life, from heaven to earth, humans to animals, birth to death, health to disease, and so on. This makes Plum Blossom Yi Numerology a popular tool for predicting the future. The table of properties of eight trigrams in appendix 3 shows the more symbolic correlations explaining the trigrams. It lists eighteen aspects, such as the weather, geographical environment, figure, temperament, body parts, season, animals, still life, seeking prosperity, transaction, benefits, travel, visiting, illness, official litigation, grave, direction, color, name, number, and flavor. These eighteen events or objects heavily shape one’s life, hence determining success and failure in one’s lifetime. From this list, a practitioner is able to make prediction about a variety of categories. After practitioners cast a hexagram using either the number-based or image-based method, they will be able to make a prognostication. A simple way to make a prognostication is to check the list below and identify to which aspect the client’s question belongs. These images or properties of the eight trigrams enable the practitioner to offer advice or suggestions in response to a wide variety of questions. The advice or suggestions, accurate or not, help the clients to identify the problems that they are facing and, more importantly, allow them to develop strategies or methods for coping with the harsh reality. In the end, the prognostication and prediction not only help people to reflect on the present, but also empower them to chart a proper course for their future and to come to terms with the uncertainty and serendipity of life.

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Conclusion

Based on the above, the advantage of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology is that, in order to derive a hexagram, no complicated or sophisticated tools are required, like yarrow stalks, bamboo sticks, coins, or dice. In fact, no special tool is needed at all. What is required is simply number calculation and the identification of appropriate images based on the situation or specific needs of the clients. Due to the inclusivity of the method, the practitioner is able to provide a quick answer about any special need or unique situation in one’s life. What practitioners do is to link the client’s situation to a system of signs, such as two birds fighting and falling off a tree, a sad old man approaching from a certain direction, a neighbor borrowing something at midnight, and so on. All of these signs are easily translated into Yijing hexagrams, giving the practitioners additional materials with which to analyze the client’s situation. With this simple yet inclusive method, the practitioner is completely free to choose whichever associations he considers suitable for obtaining trigrams and hexagrams. As if performing a miracle, the practitioner can provide quick answers to a client, based on a number or image. In essence, the purpose of Plum Blossom Yi Numerology is to develop a dialogue between a diviner and a client. It is a conversation between two parties, in which information is shared, trigrams and hexagrams are cast, and a prognostication is made. Through this process, the diviner leads the client in a self-searching, self-reflective exercise, in which the past is linked to the present, and the present is linked to the future. The final outcome of this dialogue is the diviner’s prognostication—a recommendation for action—that helps the client to come to terms with the harsh reality of everyday life.

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Appendix 1 table 9.1

Trigram numbers

Number

1

Trigrams

Five elements

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

離

震

巽

坎

艮

坤

乾

兌

The Creative

The Joyous

☰

☱

☲

☳

☴

☵

☶

☷

Metal

Metal

Fire

Wood

Wood

Water

Soil

Soil

金

金

火

火

木

水

土

土

The Keeping The The The The Receptive Still Clinging Arousing Gentle Abysmal

Appendix 2 table 9.2

Twelve Earth Branches (year and hour)

Number Year and hour Earth branches 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Rat 鼠 Ox 牛 Tiger 虎 Rabbit 兔 Dragon 龍 Snake 蛇 Horse 馬 Goat 羊 Monkey 猴 Rooster 雞 Dog 狗 / 犬 Pig 猪

(子) (Fixed Element Water) (丑) (Fixed Element Soil) (寅) (Fixed Element Wood) (卯) (Fixed Element Wood) (辰) (Fixed Element Soil) (巳) (Fixed Element Fire) (午) (Fixed Element Fire) (未) (Fixed Element Soil) 申 (Fixed Element Metal) 酉 (Fixed Element Metal) (戌) (Fixed Element Soil) 亥 (Fixed Element Water)

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Appendix 3 table 9.3

Properties of the Eight Trigrams 乾☰ The Creative

兑☱ The Joyous

離☲ The Clinging

乾䷀ 姤䷫ 遁䷠ 否䷋ 觀䷓ 剝䷖ 晉䷢ 大有 ䷍

兌䷹ 困䷮ 萃䷬ 咸䷞ 蹇䷦ 謙䷎ 小過 ䷽ 歸妹 ䷵

離䷝ 旅䷷ 鼎䷱ 未濟 ䷿ 蒙䷃ 渙䷺ 訟䷅ 同人 ䷌

Climate

sky ice hail graupel

rain new moon star

sun lightning rainbow secondary rainbow rosy clouds

Geography

Northwest Capital Big country Superior geographical location High place

Marsh Waterside Destroyed pool Abandoned well Cracked mountain Brackish alkaline land

South Dry high land Kiln stove Furnace and smelting house Dry land Sunward land

Character

Monarch Father Great man The aged Elder Government official Celebrity Government people

Young daughter Concubine Performer, Actor or actress Translator Wizard

Middle daughter Literati Big belly People with eye diseases Warrior in armor

Personality

Strong Brave Resolute Active Smooth and evasive

Joy Mouth Calumny Slander Diet

Writing and painting, Smart and talented Modesty Book-related

Body

Head Bone Lung

Tongue Mouth Lung Sputum Saliva

Eye Heart Upper energizer

Eight palaces

Properties of eight palaces

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震☳ The Arousing

巽☴ The Gentle

坎☵ The Abysmal

艮☶ Keeping Still

坤☷ The Receptive

震䷲ 豫䷏ 解䷧ 恆䷟ 升䷭ 井䷯ 大過 ䷛ 隨䷐

巽䷸ 小畜 ䷈ 家人 ䷤ 益䷩ 無妄 ䷘ 噬嗑 ䷔ 頤䷚ 蠱䷑

坎䷜ 節䷻ 屯䷂ 既濟 ䷾ 革䷰ 豐䷶ 明夷 ䷣ 師䷆

艮䷳ 賁䷕ 大畜 ䷙ 損䷨ 睽䷥ 履䷉ 中孚 ䷼ 漸䷴

坤䷁ 復䷗ 臨䷒ 泰䷊ 大壯 ䷡ 夬䷪ 需䷄ 比䷇

thunder

wind

moon rain snow frost dew

cloud fog clouds and mists on the mountains

dark clouds mist

East Vegetation Downtown Big way Bamboo forest Lush land

Southeast Lush spot Garden

North Rivers and lakes Mountain stream Spring well Wet land (gutter, pond, water land)

Mountain path Town near the hill Hill Gravy Northeast

Field Countryside Plain land Southwest

First son

First daughter Excellent person Widow Celestial on mountains and in forests

Middle son People underworld Boatman Thief

Young son Idler Mountain people

Old mother Stepmother Farmer Country people Folk People with a big belly

Movement Anger False alarm Restlessness Active and less static

Gentle Indefinite Inspiration Hesitant

Insidious Soft outside and lure inside Lead a wandering life Follow the crowd

Barrier Keep still Indecisive Violation Stop Not seeing

Stingy Meek Coward Numerous

Feet Liver Hair Sound

Humerus Leg Breathing

Ear Blood Kidney

Finger Bone Nose Back

Belly Spleen Stomach Flesh

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table 9.3

Properties of the Eight Trigrams (cont.) 乾☰ The Creative

Eight palaces

Properties of eight palaces

兑☱ The Joyous

離☲ The Clinging

Timing

Autumn August in Autumn At the end of Septem- When the year, ber and beginning month, day and of October time is You The When the year, number of month month, day and and day is two, time is Xu or Hai four or nine. The number of year, month, day and time is one, four or nine.

May in Summer When the year, month, day and time is Wu The number of day is three, two or seven

Animal

Horse Swan Lion Elephant

Goat Animal in marsh

Pheasant Tortoise Turtle Crab Spiral shell Mussel

Still life

Gold and jade Jewelry Round object Fruit Hard object Crown Mirror

Golden knife Golden object Musical instrument Waste Incomplete object

Fire Book Article Armor Arms Withered clothes Dry object Scarlet object

House

Government office Building Hall with high ceiling Mansion Post House toward northwest

House toward west House near marsh Destroyed wall Damaged house

House toward south Sunny house Bright window Empty room

Home

Prosperous home in Autumn divination Misfortune in Summer divination Desolate in Winter divination Auspicious in Spring divination

Disturbed Preventing quarrel Joy in Autumn divination Misfortune in Summer divination

Safe and stable Peace and goodness Disturbed in Winter divination Overcoming the body Fire disaster

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坎☵ The Abysmal

震☳ The Arousing

巽☴ The Gentle

March in Spring When the year, month, day and time is Mao The number of month and day is four, three or eight.

At the end of spring November in Winter and the beginWhen the year, ning of summer month, day and When the month, time is Zi day and time is The number of Chen or Si month and day is The number of one or six month, day and time is three, five or eight

Month of Winter Month of Chen, Xu, and Spring Chou or Wei December When the year, When the year, month, day and month, day and time is Wei or time is Chou, Tu Shen or Yin The number of The number of month and day is month and day is eight, five or ten seven, five or ten

Dragon Snake

Chicken Hundred birds Birds in mountain and forest Insect

Pig Fish Aquatic creature

Tiger Dog Mouse Hundred beasts Black and pecking birds

Cow Hundred beasts Mare

Bamboo wood Reed Musical instrument (wooden) Flower and grass

Wood incense Rope Straight object Long object Bamboo wood Craft

Object with nucleus Wheel Flexible object Wine vessel Water appliance

Earth and rock Melon and fruit Yellow object Object under earth

Square object Soft object Cloth and silk Silk and cotton textiles Food crops Cart and kettle Pottery

House toward east House on mountains and in forests Pavilion

House toward southeast Temple and Pavilion House on mountains and in forests

House near north House near water Water pavilion River house Wet spot in house

House toward northeast Mountain house near rock House near road

House toward southwest Countryside house Farm house Low house Earth step Ware house

Safe and stable Everything is blocked. Family disharmony Disturbed in Spring divination

Safe and stable More negative breathing Disturbed family in Spring divination

False alarm time to Safe and stable Disturbed time at home Auspicious in Spring Dark Auspicious in Spring divination Guard against theft and Winter divDisturbed in ination Autumn divInauspicious in ination Autumn divination

艮☶ Keeping Still

259

坤☷ The Receptive

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table 9.3

Properties of the Eight Trigrams (cont.) 乾☰ The Creative

兑☱ The Joyous

離☲ The Clinging

Marriage

Dependents of officials Family with reputation Success in Autumn divination Unfortunate in Winter and Summer divination

Unsuccessful Success in Autumn divination Expecting Getting married Better for young daughter Unlucky in Summer divination

Unsuccessful Better for middle daughter Success in Summer divination Unlucky in Winter divination

Diet

Horsemeat Delicacies Bony Liver and lung Dried meat Fruit Head of all things Round object Spicy things

Lamb Things in marsh Overnight taste Spicy taste

Pheasant meat Fried Grilled food Dried meat Hot meat

Birth

Easy birth Get a son in Autumn divination Damage in Summer divination Sitting toward northwest

Unlucky Malformed fetus or a daughter Unlucky in Summer divination Sitting toward west

Easy birth Get middle daughter Unlucky in Winter divination Sitting toward south

Pursuit of fame

Get official rank Hold the post in court Criminal official Military official Be in power Emperor’s envoy Post official Better in northwest

Difficult Damage from fame Better in west Criminal official Military official Musical Officials Translation officer

Get official rank Better in south Civil official Official in furnace and high field

Eight palaces

Properties of eight palaces

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震☳ The Arousing

巽☴ The Gentle

坎☵ The Abysmal

艮☶ Keeping Still

坤☷ The Receptive

Workable Success Family with reputation Marry with the first son Not suitable for marriage in Autumn divination

Success Better for the first daughter Unlucky in Autumn divination

Better for the middle son Better marriage with people in North Not marring in Month Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei

Unsuccessful with barrier Late even it works Better for young son Unlucky in Spring divination Appropriate marriage with fellow villager

Conducive to marriage Better marry to one with tax production, villager or widow’s family. Unlucky in Spring divination

Hoof Meat Wild animals Fresh meat Sour taste Vegetables

Chicken Mountain animals Fruit and vegetable sour

Pork Liquor Cold taste Seafood soup Sour Overnight food Fish Blood Food with seed Aquatic life Bone

Taste of food in soil The flesh of beasts Bamboo shoots by the grave Wild animals

Beef Food in soil Sweet taste Wild animals Grain taste Bamboo shoots and taro Viscera

False alarm Fetal movement makes distress The first born must be son. Sitting toward east Damage in Autumn divination

Easy birth The first born is daughter Damage to fetal in Autumn divination Sitting toward southeast

Dystocia Secondary child is better a middle son. Damage in Month Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei. Toward north

Difficult to birth Danger Toward northeast Damage in Spring divination

Easy birth Dystocia in Spring divination Damage or bad for mother Sitting toward southwest

Get official rank Better in east Official of issuing order Criminal official Official charging bamboo, tea and wood taxes Or official charging busy streets and goods

Get official rank Civil official Official charging conduct, discipline and law Official charging fruit, bamboo and wood taxes Better in southeast

Difficult Catastrophe Better in north Official charging fishing, salt and river

No official rank because of barrier Better in northeast Official in local system or mountain city

Get official rank Better in southwest Drillmaster or agricultural official Inflated reputation in Spring divination

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table 9.3

Properties of the Eight Trigrams (cont.) 乾☰ The Creative

兑☱ The Joyous

離☲ The Clinging

Seeking prosperity

Success Favorable to government offices Profits in movement Failure in Summer divination More plans and less profits in Winter divination

Unsuccessful Loss Hope in Autumn divination Failure in Summer divination

Workable Better paper book

Transaction

Gold and jade Jewelry Precious goods Easy Unfavorable in Summer divination

Difficult to get profits Defends of trouble Competition with others Unfavorable in Summer divination Profits in Autumn divination

Workable Transaction of paper book

Profit

Make profits Profits of gold and jade Profits from government Great profits in Autumn divination Loss in Summer divination No profits in Winter divination

No profits Loss Make money Quarrel Profits in Autumn divination Financial loss in Summer divination

Seeking profits in south Profits of book Loss in Winter divination

Travel

Favorable Better to capital Favorable toward northwest Unfavorable in Summer divination

Not suitable for travel Prevention from quarrel Loss Toward west Favorable in Autumn divination

Workable Toward south Travel for documents Not suitable in Winter divination Not suitable for boating

Eight palaces

Properties of eight palaces

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震☳ The Arousing

巽☴ The Gentle

坎☵ The Abysmal

艮☶ Keeping Still

坤☷ The Receptive

Be prosper Available Seeking in movement Failure in Autumn divination

Workable Succeed in seeking profits More plans and less success in Autumn divination

Unfavorable Unsuccessful Seeking prosperity in Autumn and Winter divination

Unsuccessful due to barrier In hesitation

Favorable to seeking Seeking in countryside Seeking in stillness Less success in Spring divination Seeking from women

Favorable to succeed Difficult to succeed in Autumn divination Workable in movement Profits of mountain and forest, bamboo, wood and tea goods

Workable Different in back and forth Transaction of mountain and forest goods Profits of mountain and forest, wood and tea goods

Unfavorable to succeed Probably collapse Transaction by waterside Transaction of fish and salt

Difficult to succeed Transaction of mountain, forest and farmland Loss in Spring divination

Favorable Transaction of farmland Profits of grains Cheap goods Heavy object Cloth and silk Profits in stillness Unfavorable in Spring divination

Profits from mountain, forest, bamboo, and wood Seeking profits in movement Profits from bamboo, wood and tea goods

Triple profits Profits from mountain and forest Unfavorable in Autumn divination Profits from bamboo and woody goods

Financial loss Barrier for seeking Profits by waterside profits Probably collapse Profits from mounProfits from fish, salt tain and forest and wine Unfavorable in Prevention from loss Spring divinaand thief tion Loss

Make profits Profits from earth Profits from cheap goods and heavy objects Profits in stillness No profits in Spring divination Profits from variety goods

Favorable Toward east Good for people of mountains and forests Not suitable in Autumn divination False alarm

Workable Profit from access and exit Toward southeast unfavorable in Autumn divination

Not suitable for long Not suitable for long distance travel distance travel Better boating Blocked Toward north Better travel nearby Prevention of thief in land Probably in danger

Workable Toward southwest Travel to countryside Travel in land Unfavorable in Spring divination

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table 9.3

Properties of the Eight Trigrams (cont.) 乾☰ The Creative

兑☱ The Joyous

離☲ The Clinging

Visit

Favorable to visit noble and virtuous person Favorable to visit official Workable

Favorable in west Cursed if visit

Suitable to visit southern people Unlucky in Winter divination Suitable to visit civil official

Disease

Disease of head and face Lung disease Achy pain of sinews and bones Disease in the upper Jiao Disturbed in Summer divination

Disease of mouth, tongue, throat and teeth Asthma and Respiratory disease Bad appetite

Eyes disease Heart disease Heat in the upper Jiao Heat stroke in Summer divination

Official litigation

Litigiousness Help from noble Victory in Autumn divination Unjustifiable in Summer divination

Endless litigation Unsettled merits and demerits Damage from ligation Defense of punishment Victory in Autumn divination

Easy to fall apart Change of documents Discernment in lawsuit

Grave

Better toward northwest Better in the direction of Qian Qi Tomb on the peak of mountains Tomb in high land Getting noble in autumn divination Inauspicious in summer divination

Better toward west Prevention of water in tomb Tomb near marsh Inauspicious in summer divination Probably burning in abandoned tomb

Toward south Place with no vegetation Positive (Yang) tomb Getting literati in summer divination Unlucky in winter divination

Direction

Northwest

West

South

Eight palaces

Properties of eight palaces

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艮☶ Keeping Still

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震☳ The Arousing

巽☴ The Gentle

Workable People on mountains and in forests Suitable to visit people with reputation

Workable Difficult to meet Infeasible Workable Favorable to visit Suitable to visit peo- Blocked Favorable to visit people on mounple underworld Suitable to visit fellow of the tains and in People’s name with people on mounsame village forests water tains and in Suitable to visit relFavorable to visit forests atives, friends or literati female Not suitable in Spring

Foot disease Liver disease Frightened

Illness of arms and legs Wind stroke Bowel disease Get cold

Pain of ear Heart disease Cold Kidney disease Cold stomach Diarrhea Cold disease Blood disease

Litigiousness False alarm Repeat

Reconciliation Bear legal responsibility

Unfavorable Blocked by noble In danger Unsolved official Damage litigation Fall into enemy’s Implicated and hands because of unsettled lawsuit

Finger disease Disease of kidney and stomach

坤☷ The Receptive

Belly disease Disease of kidney and stomach Anorexia Poor digestion

Smoothly Get the crowd’s supports Litigation should be dissolved

Toward east Toward southeast Toward north Tomb on mountains Tomb on mountains Tomb near water and in forests and in forests Inauspicious burial Unlucky in autumn Wooded Unlucky in divination autumn divination

Tomb in northeast Tomb on mountains Inauspicious in spring divination Tomb near road Rocky

Toward southwest Tomb on plain land Near field Better in lower land No burial in spring

East

Northeast

Southwest

South east

North

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table 9.3

Properties of the Eight Trigrams (cont.) 乾☰ The Creative

兑☱ The Joyous

離☲ The Clinging

Color

Positive scarlet Black

White

Scarlet Purple Red

Name

Character with gold Pronunciation based on Shang

Pronunciation based on Shang The family name with gold and mouth

Pronunciation based on Hui The family name with people

Number

One Four Nine

Four Two Nine

Three Two Seven

Flavor

Spicy

Spicy

Bitter

Eight palaces

Properties of eight palaces

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simplified procedure and extended divination objects

震☳ The Arousing

巽☴ The Gentle

坎☵ The Abysmal

艮☶ Keeping Still

坤☷ The Receptive

Blue Green Bluish-green

Blue Green Bluish-green White

Black

Yellow

Yellow l Black

Pronunciation based on Jiao The family name with wood

Pronunciation based on Jiao The family name with wood and grass

Pronunciation based on Yu The family name with water

Pronunciation based on Gong The family name with earth

Pronunciation based on Gong The family name with earth

Four Eight Three

Five Three Eight

One Six

Five Seven Ten

Eight Five Ten

Sweet Sour

Sour

Salty Sour

Sweet

Sweet

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tao

Acknowledgements I wish to thank Tze-ki Hon for editing the early drafts of this chapter.

Bibliography Sources Mingchao zhenben meihua yishu 明朝珍本梅花易數 (Rare Editions of Meihua yishu of the Ming Dynasty). Beijing: Jiuzhou chubanshe, 2013. Zhu Xi 朱 熹. Zhuzi yulei 朱 子 語 類 (Classified Conversations of Zhu Xi). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986.

Studies Smith, Kidder Jr. “Zhouyi Interpretation from Accounts in the Zuozhuan.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 49 (1989): 421–463. Smith, Richard. Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Wilhelm, Richard. The I Ching or Book of Changes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967. Zhu Bokun 朱伯崑. Yixue zhexue shi 易學哲學史 (A History of the philosophy of the Changes). Beijing: Kunlun chubanshe, 2005.

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chapter 10

Reducing Uncertainty: Six Lines Prediction in Contemporary China William matthews

I originally selected Hangzhou as a field site as I had planned to research the relationship between tea culture and self-cultivation. However, shortly after arriving, I encountered the diviner Master Tao, and became curious about his work; he offered to teach me, and confirmed my nagging suspicion that the cosmology of divination might make for a more personally rewarding project. In fact, it proved especially (and appropriately) serendipitous. The revival of traditional practices in Hangzhou, a city of great historical and cultural importance, as elsewhere in China, extends to a renewed interest in divination. This rapidly modernizing city also provides an ideal context for exploring the role of a traditional form of knowledge and epistemological method. Hangzhou’s blend of economic prosperity and a consciousness of its own history is reflected in the renovated historical streets along the Grand Canal, where Master Tao practices. These are replete with restaurants, cafes, upmarket teahouses, and porcelain shops, alongside historical buildings, a major Buddhist temple, and diviners and vendors of religious wares at the roadsides. There is a strong pride in “traditional Chinese culture” (Zhongguo chuantong wenhua 中國傳統文化), that is voiced by shop-owners, passers-by, diviners and their clients. In this chapter, I discuss the method of Six Lines Prediction (liuyao yuce 六 爻預測) used by a roadside diviner in Hangzhou, Master Tao, and his students. Six Lines Prediction is a widespread form of Yijing divination in contemporary China, often offered by roadside practitioners. The account I present here is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Hangzhou between 2013 and 2014, and again in 2015, here focusing on the diviner’s perspective and process of reasoning as assessed through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and general conversations and interactions. I will first provide an overview of the context of my field site and the methods used for Six Lines Prediction, then describe some of the cosmological principles directly relevant to it and frequently employed in hexagram interpretation. This is followed by a discussion of how the predictor uses analogical reasoning to reduce uncertainty in hexagram interpretation, and the effect this has of externalizing blame from the situation being considered by the diviner.

© William Matthews, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004500037_012

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The Revival of Yijing Divination

Although the focus of this chapter is on the processes of reasoning involved in prediction, it is worth briefly mentioning the context of the revival of Yijing divination. Six Lines Prediction is practiced across China, and represents a contemporary mobilization of traditional knowledge and forms of reasoning to understand an uncertain modern present and future. However, the fact that it remains strongly continuous with its pre-modern practice in terms of its method and key cosmological ideas, and is considered “traditional,” does not mean that the practice is not changing. Like Hangzhou itself, Master Tao’s Six Lines Prediction brings together the traditional and the modern. Clients approach him with questions about exams, business opportunities, infidelity, and moving house, for example, and he and his students devote a great deal of thought to establishing prediction as “scientific.”1 He has even considered how homosexuality and transsexuality can be understood in terms of Six Lines Prediction’s Confucian framework of gender relations. In fact, the revival of divination, alongside popular religion, since the 1980s can be understood in terms of a need for some form of cosmological framework to anchor experience since the passing of Maoism. Long suppressed as “superstition” (mixin 迷信), since the 1980s such practices have become increasingly tolerated by the state, although they are still condemned in such terms. Coupled with a burgeoning print market, there has been a massive proliferation of popular works on the Yijing, frequently exploring its practical application to modern life and business, accompanied by a surge of academic interest;2 this phenomenon became known as “Yijing fever” (Zhouyi re 周易熱) in the 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, state discourse and popular perception maintain a strong dichotomy between illegitimate and potentially harmful “superstition” and legitimate, modern “science” (kexue 科學). However, these terms are subject to continual negotiation, and Yijing divination is frequently compared to science, as has been the case since the large-scale introduction of Western science into China in the late nineteenth century. This often involves making detailed comparisons between Yijing cosmology and physics, and an understanding of the principles of qi-based cosmology as being akin to physical laws.3

1 William Matthews, “Making ‘Science’ from ‘Superstition’: Conceptions of Knowledge Legitimacy among Contemporary Yijing Diviners.” 2 Geoffrey Redmond and Tze-Ki Hon, Teaching the I Ching, 188–190. 3 William Matthews, “Ontology with Chinese Characteristics: Homology as a Mode of Identification.”

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Hence, diviners and clients’ presentation of divination as a “scientific” practice helps to define it as the opposite of “superstition” while simultaneously reflecting a genuine respect for scientific knowledge alongside Chinese tradition as part of a specifically Chinese modern practice.4 In fact, analogously to science, the methods of Six Lines Prediction rely on the application of constant cosmological principles to understand the cosmos in a particular space and time. Six Lines Prediction relies on deriving hexagrams, which are understood by practitioners in terms of the concept of the qifield (qichang 氣場), which refers to the configuration of qi in each of the Five Phases at a particular spatiotemporal point. The qi-fields of different objects, thoughts, emotions, and situations can affect one another by virtue of their proximity; a Water object will have a “conquering” effect on a Fire object, for example. Hexagrams are derived by tossing three coins six times, once for each hexagram line. The way in which the coins fall is held to be determined by the local qi-field. As such, tossing the coins provides a means of determining the qi-configuration of the cosmos at a given spatiotemporal point, and this is expressed as a hexagram. The Yijing text is not physically referred to during prediction—in fact, it is perfectly possible to conduct predictions based on a familiarity with the hexagrams and their correlates and cosmology alone, acquired from a teacher or popular manual. Indeed, Master Tao criticized simple consultation of the text as too vague and difficult to interpret—as will be seen, Six Lines Prediction is capable of yielding far more specific predictions. My informant Master Tao described his method to me as follows: 用中国清朝乾隆钱三只，用双手握住摇动丢下，有满文的为准，一 个满文为一点，二个为两点，三个为一圈，三个都是“乾隆通宝”者为 一X，一点为阳，二点为阴。一圈为阳，一X为阴，一圈为阳动，主过 去之事，一X为阴，主未来之事，每一卦为六次称为六爻。前三次为 下卦，后三次为上卦，然后上、下两卦点出卦名。

Use three Chinese Qianlong coins. Using both hands, shake the coins and drop them. Take the Manchu script as the standard. One Manchu [side] gives one dot [‘], two give two dots [‘’], three give a circle [o], all three reading Qianlong tongbao 乾隆通宝 [in Chinese characters] give an X. One dot is Yang, two dots are Yin, a circle is Yang, an X is Yin. A circle is Yang moving [i.e., old Yang changing to young Yin], and governs past events. An X is

4 Matthews, “Making ‘Science’ from ‘Superstition’.”

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figure 10.1

Master Tao’s equipment: three replica Qianlong coins in a bowl he decorated with the taiji symbol and Eight Trigrams, a hollow turtle shell, a folder containing a chart of the Eight Palaces, prediction notes, and a booklet of physiognomic diagrams photo © william matthews

Yin [old Yin changing to young Yang], governing future events. Each hexagram (gua 卦) constitutes [this being done] six times, and this is called the six lines ( yao 爻). The first three times are the lower trigram (gua 卦), the second three times are the upper trigram. Then the upper and lower trigram marks yield the hexagram name. Typically interpretation began with a general statement about the hexagram, such as its name or a notable feature of the line correlates, or Master Tao suggesting the topic of the enquiry. Occasionally, the hexagram would reveal several potential issues, in which case he would ask the client directly what the enquiry concerned. He would often ask for a client’s year of birth, as this provides a broad indication of their fate (ming 命) and in certain cases calculate a client’s Eight Characters (bazi 八字, usually a separate service).

2

The Basic Principles of Six Line Prediction

Before turning to specific examples of predictions in order to examine the process of reasoning involved, it is first necessary to introduce some of the most important features of Six Lines Prediction.

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The following principles are integral to the methods of Eight Trigrams Prediction known as “Added Stem Divination” (najia shifa 納甲筮法), one of which is Six Lines Prediction, and which can be traced back ultimately to the work of the early Han scholar-official Jing Fang 京 房 (77–37 bce). The principles illustrated here are those which Master Tao referenced most frequently during his consultations, and which he explained to me in detail. There are many more principles of interpretation based on the relationships between Earthly Branches, hexagram lines, the calendrical system, and so on. 2.1 The Eight Palaces Six Lines Prediction organizes the Yi Jing’s sixty-four hexagrams into eight groups, known as the Eight Palaces (bagong 八 宫). According to the Eight Palaces system, each Palace is headed by a “pure” hexagram (chungua 純卦); these are simply the eight hexagrams created by doubling the trigrams, so Qian ䷀ (Qian ☰ above and below), Kun ䷁ (Kun ☷ above and below) and so on. The hexagrams of each Palace are arranged according to which line in the hexagram is the Generation line (shiyao 世爻),5 which represents ego (benren 本人, i.e., the client). This is complemented by a Resonant line ( yingyao 應爻), which occupies the same relative position in the other component trigram. The Resonant line represents, according to Master Tao, “the subject of the enquiry” (suo wen de shiqing 所問的事情) or the “opposite party” (duifang 對方). For example, in the hexagram Fu ䷗, the first (bottom) line is the Generation line, and the fourth is the Resonant line as shown in fig. 10.2. Fig. 10.3 below shows Master Tao’s own chart of the Eight Palaces, along with their associated Earthly Branches, which are discussed in the next section. 2.2 The Earthly Branches The Twelve Earthly Branches (shi’er dizhi 十二地支) are integral to the system of correspondences used for hexagram interpretation. Each line in a hexagram is associated with a fixed Earthly Branch—these are set for each component trigram, depending on whether it is the inner (nei 內, i.e., bottom) or outer (wai 外, i.e., top) trigram. Examples of this are given in fig. 10.4 for the hexagrams Shi 師 ䷆ and Bi 比 ䷇. Despite sharing constituent trigrams, the two hexagrams have completely different Earthly Branches because their positions are reversed. The correlates of the Earthly Branches are illustrated below in table 10.1. These correlates are crucial for making predictions, as will be shown.

5 Translation following Nielsen, B., A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 bce–220ce) to Song 宋 (960–1279ce), 211.

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figure 10.2

figure 10.3

‘Generation’ and ‘Resonant’ lines of the hexagram Fu

Master Tao’s chart of the Eight Palaces, along with the Earthly Branches of each trigram (at the top) and the number of each hexagram’s Generation line (at the lower right of each hexagram name) photo © william matthews

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figure 10.4

275

Earthly Branches of the Shi and Bi hexagram

2.3 The Yongshen Referents In Six Lines Prediction, five types of relationship are identified as being interpretable from a hexagram, each line concerning one of them (thus a hexagram may contain two lines dealing with the same aspect). These are termed the yongshen 用神, and are expressed by the following terms: “Father and Mother” ( fumu 父母), “Sons and Grandsons” (zisun 子孫), “Officials and Ghosts” (guangui 官 鬼),6 “Wives and Wealth” (qicai 妻 財), and “Brothers” (xiongdi 兄 弟). What is referred to by each is by no means limited to the content of these terms; rather, these terms serve as metonyms for ego’s relationships with any given person, entity, or situation. The character of the relationship in question is derived from the classical Confucian hierarchy, hence the androcentric emphasis on sons, grandsons, and brothers. Thus, for example, if ego is female, “Officials and Ghosts” also designates her husband or male partner, as in Confucian ethics a wife should be subservient to her husband just as a commoner is to an official or, in today’s usage, an employee is to her employer. The link with “Ghosts” derives from the fact that both officials and ghosts are capable of exerting power and thus can potentially harm ego. If ego is male, then his wife

6 Note that, despite the name of this referent, “ghosts” and other supernatural entities never figure in Six Lines Prediction as practiced by Master Tao.

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正月

zheng yue 1 3a.m.– 5a.m.

十二月

shi’er yue 12 1a.m.– 3a.m.

Lunar month 十一月 shiyi yue 11 Time 11 p.m.– 1a.m.

dongbei Northeast

dongbei Northeast

东北

Hu Tiger

虎

东北

Niu Ox

mu wood

木

yin

寅

zhengbei True North

牛

Shu Mouse

tu earth

鼠

土

shui water

chou

zi

水

丑

子

正北

Direction

Animal

Phase

Branch

er yue 2 5a.m.– 7a.m.

二月

zhengdong True East

正东

Tu Rabbit

兔

mu wood

木

Mao

卯

table 10.1 Correlates of the twelve Earthly Branches

san yue 3 7a.m.– 9a.m.

三月

dongnan Southeast

东南

Long Dragon

龍

tu earth

土

chen

辰

si yue 4 9a.m.– 11a.m.

四月

dongnan Southeast

东南

She Snake

蛇

huo fire

火

si

巳

wu yue 5 11a.m.– 1p.m.

五月

zhengnan True South

正南

Ma Horse

馬

huo fire

火

wu

午

liu yue 6 1p.m.– 3p.m.

六月

xinan Southwest

西南

Yang Sheep

羊

tu earth

土

wei

未

雞

jin metal

金

You

酉

狗

tu earth

土

xu

戌

qi yue 7 3p.m.– 5p.m.

七月

xinan Southwest

西南

ba yue 8 5p.m.– 7p.m.

八月

zhengxi True West

正西

jiu yue 9 7p.m.– 9p.m.

九月

xibei Northwest

西北

Hou Ji Gou Monkey Chicken Dog

猴

jin metal

金

shen

申

shi yue 10 9p.m.– 11p.m.

十月

xibei Northwest

西北

Zhu Pig

豬

shui water

水

hai

亥

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reducing uncertainty table 10.2 Governing Phases of the Eight Palaces

Palace Qian 宮 gong 乾

Kan

Zhen

Gen

Xun

Li

Kun

Dui

坎

震

艮

巽

離

坤

兌

Phase 行 xing

Water Wood 水 shui 木 mu

Earth 土 tu

Wood 木 mu

Fire 火 huo

Earth 土 tu

Metal 金 jin

Metal 金 jin

or female partner will be denoted by “Wives and Wealth,” both of which occupy a similar relation to him in this system. Which hexagram line corresponds to which referent depends on the Phase of the hexagram and the Phases of its constituent lines. The hexagram Phase is derived from that of the Pure Hexagram of its Palace in the Eight Palaces categorization. These are shown in table 10.2. The particular aspect discernible from a given hexagram line is a direct function of the Phase relationship between that line’s Earthly Branch and the Palace to which the entire hexagram belongs. The relationships were described to me by Master Tao as follows: 生我者為父母， 我生者為子孫， 克我者為官鬼， 我克者為妻財， 比我者為兄弟。

That which produces [the Palace Phase] is Father and Mother, That which [the Palace Phase] produces is Sons and Grandsons, That which conquers [the Palace Phase] is Officials and Ghosts, That which [the Palace Phase] conquers is Wives and Wealth, That which is comparable with [the Palace Phase] is Brothers. This is demonstrated below for the Hexagram Qian 乾 ䷀, the Palace Phase of which is Metal. 2.4 The Six Beasts The “Six Beasts” (liushou 六獸) are a further set of correlates which are instrumental in determining the auspiciousness of a prediction. According to Master Tao, they have an “auxiliary function” ( fuzhu de zuoyong 輔助的作用) in interpretation, allowing the determination of particular aspects of the client’s life

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table 10.3 Earthly Branches, Phases, and Yongshen referents for the hexagram Qian

Earthly branch

Phase

戌 xu 申 shen 午 wu 辰 chen 寅 yin 子 zi

土 tu 金 jin 火 huo 土 tu 木 mu 水 shui

Yongshen referent Earth Metal Fire Earth Wood Water

父母 fumu 兄弟 xiongdi 官鬼 guangui 父母 fumu 妻財 qicai 子孫 zisun

Father and Mother Brothers Officials and Ghosts Father and Mother Wives and Wealth Sons and Grandsons

table 10.4 The Six Beasts

Sequence (from the Beast bottom to the top of the hexagram)

Days on which it begins the sequence, designated by the heavenly stem

1 2 3 4 5 6

jia, yi 甲乙 bing, ding 丙丁 wu 戊 ji 己 geng, xin 庚辛 ren, gui 壬癸

qinglong 青龍 Green Dragon zhuque 朱雀 Vermillion Bird gouchen 勾陳 Qilin tengshe 騰蛇 Winged Snake baihu 白虎 White Tiger xuanwu 玄武 Dark Tortoise

which are especially problematic or prosperous. The Six Beasts correspond to each line of the hexagram, beginning at the bottom and progressing in a fixed sequence, but the Beast which begins the sequence varies based on the day’s Heavenly Stem, illustrated in table 4. Of these, the Green Dragon is, generally speaking, especially auspicious and the White Tiger inauspicious. These are not always referred to during prediction, but are noted, as every situation involves these effects. 2.5 Calendrics The calendric cycles of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches play a limiting role in terms of the scope of predictions. This is because in each cycle of Heavenly Stems, there will be two Earthly Branches which do not form a pair. When this occurs during the sixty-day cycle, such days are considered “empty” (kong 空), as a result of which, if their Earthly Branches appear in a hexagram as

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reducing uncertainty table 10.5 The Stem sequences and ‘empty’ Branches

Stem sequence (name of the sequence is highlighted, i.e. jiazi, jiaxu, jiashen etc.) Stem Branch Stem Branch Stem Branch

Empty branch

甲

乙

丙

丁

戊

己

庚

辛

壬

癸

jia

yi

bing

ding

wu

ji

geng

xin

ren

gui

子

丑

寅

卯

辰

巳

午

未

申

酉

戌

亥

zi

chou

yin

mao

chen

si

wu

wei

shen

you

xu

hai

甲

乙

丙

丁

戊

己

庚

辛

壬

癸

jia

yi

bing

ding

wu

ji

geng

xin

ren

gui

戌

亥

子

丑

寅

卯

辰

巳

午

未

申

酉

xu

hai

zi

chou

yin

mao

chen

si

wu

wei

shen you

甲

乙

丙

丁

戊

己

庚

辛

壬

癸

jia

yi

bing

ding

wu

ji

geng

xin

ren

gui

申

酉

戌

亥

子

丑

寅

卯

辰

巳

午

未

xu

hai

zi

chou

yin

mao

chen

si

wu

wei

shen you

lines, those lines could be considered irrelevant (the issue is more complicated, but this explanation will suffice for the examples discussed below). The Heavenly Stems are taken as the standard of the cycle, as shown in table 5 below. This is based on the cycle of days in which the prediction occurs.

3

Six Lines Prediction in Practice: Two Cases

In this section, I will illustrate how these principles play out in practice. The primary focus is on Master Tao’s interpretation and the cognitive operations involved in drawing conclusions from hexagrams. These examples are based on notes taken whilst observing casting and interpretation, along with postprediction discussions with Master Tao. Predictions typically last no more than twenty minutes or so, the time being limited by the client’s satisfaction with the information provided, or Master Tao’s willingness to provide further details. This massively limits the amount of information divulged, meaning that the majority of correlations and their details go unremarked, the emphasis being on the most salient. Example One presents a relatively general prediction based on a broad question concerning a financial dispute. Example Two illustrates the great degree of complexity involved in providing specific answers to specific queries; in this case, selecting a date for a hospital appointment. In both

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cases, as is typical, Master Tao annotated the hexagram, thus gaining some insight into the clients’ situations, prior to them explaining their concerns. Both examples give a flavor of the kind of operations Master Tao conducts when interpreting hexagrams.

4

Example One: A Question of Personal Wealth

The first of these cases comprises a prediction given to a passer-by, a woman accompanied by her young son. Master Tao’s clients include many such oneoff visitors (I do not know if she subsequently returned), some of whom have particular issues they wish to deal with, but also many who are interested in the Yijing or Eight Trigrams Prediction themselves, or are simply curious. The interpretation that Master Tao offered here can be considered primarily diagnostic in nature, using the hexagram to describe the dynamics of the current state of affairs, following the distinction between diagnostic and predictive divinatory modes made by David Zeitlyn.7 The hexagram she cast was Fu ䷗. Having obtained the hexagram via the method described above and annotated it, Master Tao wrote down the hexagram’s name together with the lunar date of the prediction, in this case the yihai 乙亥 day of the jiashen 甲申 month. As this is part of the jiashen cycle of days, the Earthly Branches shen 申 and you 酉 lack a unique Heavenly Stem pairing, and are thus “empty” (kong)—here, this means that any hexagram lines corresponding with shen or you, along with their metonymic referents, are irrelevant to the client’s concerns. Line six (at the top) is you 酉, and denotes Sons and Grandsons; anything existing in the Sons and Grandsons relationship to the client is thus irrelevant to this enquiry. The prediction notation is annotated and expanded in table 10.6 below. Along with recording the hexagram, Master Tao asked for the client’s year of birth. In this case, it was 1977, the year of the Snake, dingsi 丁巳 in the sexagenary cycle. This means that her fate, from the perspective of the year, is “Earth in the Sand Fate” (sha zhong tu ming 沙中土命). Among other things, this knowledge allowed Master Tao to assess which recent and upcoming years would be auspicious or inauspicious. In interpretation, particular attention is paid to the Generation and Resonant lines, in this case the first (bottom) line and the fourth line. Hence, the client’s question in this instance concerned wealth in relation to “Brothers.” Attention is also paid to the second line, as this is adjacent to ego. As such, the

7 David Zeitlyn, “Divinatory Logics: Diagnoses and Predictions Mediating Outcomes.”

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table 10.6 Annotations for the hexagram Fu ䷗ cast on the yihai 乙亥 day of the jiashen 甲申 month. The Generation and Resonant lines are highlighted Notation and Line symbol

Six beasts

Referent of six Phase Relationship beasts with palace phase

Sons and You 酉 Grandsons

‘’ ⚋

Dark Tortoise

Thieves and Bandits 盜賊 daozei

Wives and Hai 亥 Wealth

‘’ ⚋

Yongshen referent

Earthly branch

Empty 空 kong

Metal

Earth produces Metal

White Tiger Inauspicious and Harmful 凶傷 xiongshang

Water Earth conquers Water

Winged Snake

False Alarm 虛驚 xujing

Earth

Comparable

Brothers

Chou 丑

‘’ ⚋

Brothers

Chen 辰

‘’ ⚋

Qilin

Worry/Anxiety Earth 憂慮 youlü

Comparable

Officials Yin 寅 and Ghosts

‘’ ⚋

Vermillion Bird

Quarrel 口舌 koushe

Wood

Wood conquers Earth

Wives and Zi 子 Wealth

‘⚊

Auspicious 吉祥 jixiang

Water Earth conquers Water

Resonant 應 ying

Generation Green 世 shi Dragon

hexagram is also concerned strongly with the “Officials and Ghosts” Yongshen referent. Regarding the latter, Master Tao interpreted the second line as revealing a health issue, illness ( jibing 疾病) being part of the “Officials and Ghosts” category of relationships. Specifically, in this instance the client should “pay attention to the situation of her liver and gall bladder” (zhuyi gan dan fangmian 注意肝膽方面). This is indicated by the fact that line two is in the Wood Phase, Wood conquers Earth (the fate Phase of the client—the fact that it is also the hexagram’s Palace Phase is not relevant here), and in terms of organs, Wood metonymically classifies the liver and gall bladder (hence these are likely to cause problems). In terms of the qi-field, this means that the client is characterized by qi in the Earth Phase, which is detrimentally affected by the Wood Phase qi of these organs. Moreover, line two is associated with the Vermillion Bird, which has the moderately negative effect of “Quarrels” (koushe 口舌), indicating an aspect of the client’s current “Officials and Ghosts” relationships. The main question, however, concerned the client’s personal wealth (cai 財), as this is the subject of the Generation line. This is because line one is

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the Earthly Branch zi 子, metonymic with Water, and Water is conquered by Earth, the Palace Phase of the hexagram; hence, in this hexagram, it refers metonymically to wealth. The Resonant line, meanwhile, indicates the issue of concern—the Brothers relationship. Master Tao explained that “the Brothers [relationship] indicates the people contesting [the client’s] wealth” (xiongdi wei zhengcai de ren 兄弟為爭財的人). From the information gleaned from the Generation and Resonant lines—Earth, the Resonant line, conquers Water, the Generation line—Master Tao drew the conclusion that “[the client’s] wealth is currently not flourishing” (xianzai tade cai shi bu wang de 現 在 她 的 財 是 不 旺 的). However, the client did not currently harbor negative feelings toward her competitors—in fact, her “disposition” toward them was “calm and decent” (xintai shi pingjing shanliang de 心態是平靜善良的). This is because the Earthly Branches of the Generation and Resonant lines, zi子 and chou 丑 respectively, were “in accordance” (he 合) based on the system of Six Accordances. Having established the details of the client’s current situation, Tao moved on to suggest a time-frame for the resolution of her concerns. In this case, this was based on her year of birth. The years 2016–2018 would be auspicious, as they would be Fire years, and Fire produces Earth (her fate), thus having a nurturing effect. However, she would need to pay close attention to the issues raised by the hexagram in 2019—a Wood year, because Wood conquers Earth. Moreover, this year would be sihai 巳亥 in terms of the Sexagenary Cycle, and the Earthly Branch hai 亥 appears in the hexagram as metonymic with the White Tiger (line five), indicating inauspiciousness and harm. Likewise, Master Tao surmised that 2013 had been a relatively bad year as it was Water, and Earth conquers Water, producing conflict (though not as serious as that brought about by Wood, which conquers Earth).

5

Analogical Transfer and the Creation of Cosmic Intimacy8

In practice, hexagrams are used as a means of encompassing and incorporating novel phenomena into existing cosmological categories. In the case of Six Lines Prediction, this is not confined to the hexagram as a whole but exists as a potential of each line, granting access to an interpretive system of stagger8 Aspects of this argument were discussed in my paper, “Cosmic Intimacy: Metaphor, Metonym, and the Relevance of Physics to Chinese Divination,” presented at easa 2016. I thank the panel participants and audience for the comments and suggestions which contributed to its refinement here.

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ing complexity and apparent coherence. Hexagrams considered as symbols for manipulation thus contain lines as symbols, and hexagrams considered as realworld types of phenomena likewise contain within themselves phenomena belonging to line types. In prediction, the hexagram symbol and the symbols of the lines are substituted—or used as metaphors—for the situation presented by the client. This allows its metonymic incorporation—its incorporation in a relationship of the part to the whole as a member of a category—and is thus the first step toward understanding the situation. Following linguistic anthropologists Durham and Fernandez’s description of metaphoric substitution and metonymic incorporation as a form of analogical reasoning that renders an unknown or target subject “intimate” or knowable,9 from Master Tao’s perspective the act of prediction or diagnosis renders the client’s situation knowable according to cosmic principles—it creates cosmic intimacy. Here it is worth briefly considering some aspects of analogical reasoning, particularly as they relate to the experience and expertise of the predictor. In Example One, Master Tao is first presented with an unknown: the client’s situation. The subject of her enquiry remains unknown until after the hexagram has been derived and annotated. Hence, apart from his expectations based on previous predictions and his knowledge of the limits of Six Lines Prediction, all Master Tao has to go on is his structural knowledge of the hexagram. Recording each line as the coins are tossed, the hexagram-as-symbol is substituted for the client’s situation, an operation of analogical transfer in which its structure is mapped onto that of the client’s situation. As the cognitive psychologist Novick has shown,10 experts at certain forms of problem-solving demonstrate more effective abilities of analogical transfer to similar problems than do novices—that is, they are more capable of applying insights from problems they have previously solved in order to solve new analogous problems. Experts’ mental representations of a problem “include abstract, solution-relevant (structural) features of a problem”11—that is, mental schemas which facilitate transfer more readily than direct analogue-toanalogue mapping.12 In the case of this prediction, Master Tao does not generate his own analogies but rather works with a given repertoire of structural relations in the form of established hexagram correlates.

9 10 11 12

Deborah Durham and James W. Fernandez, “Tropical Dominions: The Figurative Struggle over Domains of Belonging and Apartness in Africa.” L.R. Novick, “Analogical Transfer, Problem Similarity, and Expertise.” Id., 511. Mary L. Gick and Keith J. Holyoak, “Schema Induction and Analogical Transfer.”

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Master Tao’s expertise allows him to efficiently employ an abstract representation of the hexagram, the hexagram-as-symbol, to interpret the (initially) separate domain of the client’s situation. In this process, the superficial dissimilarities between the hexagram as a correlative model and the human minutiae of any situation about which a client may enquire are ignored. What is important is the structure of the hexagram as consisting of six elements positioned in specific relation to one another. It is this which is recorded by Master Tao, a written representation of the hexagram-as-symbol. By mapping the structure onto the client’s situation, Master Tao represents that situation as a metonymic whole comprising six elements, each defined as a class of objects of a specific Yongshen referent, related to one another in various ways determined by the interaction of various Phases of qi. Hence, in Example One the client’s financial competitors and wealth are understood via a direct mapping of the relationship of conquest between the hexagram-as-symbol’s Resonant and Generation lines. As Boyer points out, “the application of a causal schema to any singular event or state of affairs presupposes the identification of those singular objects as belonging to certain types.”13 In this case, via analogical transfer, the client’s situation is presupposed to belong to the same type as the referent of the hexagram-as-symbol; it is referred to an existing conceptual classification.14 This is the natural category of hexagram Fu ䷗, of which the client’s situation is now understood to constitute one instance. This natural category of qi configurations is thus expanded to accommodate this instance, classified via the creation of cosmic intimacy. This has a determinative effect on the subsequent diagnoses and predictions drawn concerning the situation, cosmic intimacy functioning as a classificatory schema which dictates and excludes certain associations.15

6

Example Two: Buying a New Shop and Making a Hospital Appointment

The following example is a prediction for a returning client. She had consulted Master Tao over six months earlier, and he recognized her but could not recall exactly who she was. However, he has a very good memory for predictions and

13 14 15

Pascal Boyer, “Causal Thinking and Its Anthropological Misrepresentation,” 202. Katherine Swancutt, “Representational vs Conjectural Divination: Innovating Out of Nothing in Mongolia.” James W. Fernandez, “The Mission of Metaphor in Expressive Culture,” 44.

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I suspect that he thus considered this client’s previous prediction when interpreting this hexagram. Master Tao had advised the client to visit him again around the Spring Festival or Qingming festival; she explained she had not had time until now (September, or the seventh lunar month), but returned because he was a good fortune-teller. She asked about two issues—what to do about leaving her current shop and buying a new one, and when to schedule an operation. This example thus reveals two kinds of question, one simply of what will happen (would she secure a new shop?), and another concerning the optimum time for action (when to schedule the hospital appointment). The latter question, of course, depends on knowing what will happen (there will be an appointment), but the purpose of the hexagram is not to determine whether this will be the case but rather to align it auspiciously with cosmic processes. A greater emphasis on the predictive mode16 is evident here than in Example One. The client’s hexagram is detailed in table 7 below. The hexagram she cast was Tongren 同人 ䷌ (Fellowship), belonging to the Li 離 Palace, thus being of the Fire Phase. In this hexagram, the object of the enquiry or the “opposite party” (duifang 對 方) is the client’s shop, represented by the Resonant Line, which may be taken as specifically representing the “boss” (laoban 老闆). The Resonant line is considered in relation to the Generation line, which represents the client. The Phase relationship of these two lines forms the basis of the interpretation (the Palace Phase relationships serve simply to elucidate the relationships identified by the different lines, but in this case the fact that the Resonant Line represents the object of inquiry supersedes the fact that the line’s Palace Phase points to Sons and Grandsons relationships, under which the client’s relationship to the shop’s boss would not be classified). Similarly, the Phase relationship between the client and opposite party, as manifest in their fate, is not of primary relevance here. Rather, Master Tao’s interpretation is based on the relationship between the two lines’ Earthly Branches and corresponding Phases. Here, the Generation line, representing the client, is hai 亥 and Water, whereas the Resonant line, representing the opposite party, is xu 戌 and Earth. Earth “conquers” Water, and therefore “the boss and [the client] are mutually destructive” (laoban dui ta shi xiangke de 老闆對她是相剋的). Master Tao’s advice to the client was that she could safely abandon the old shop—she had been concerned that she was worrying too much about it. Moreover, he advised her to refrain from discussing buying the new shop for the next fifty days, as the owners, also counting as an “opposite party,” were in a similarly potentially

16

Zeitlyn, “Divinatory Logics.”

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table 10.7 Annotations for the hexagram Tongren ䷌ cast on the gengchen 庚辰 day of the jiashen 甲申 month. The Generation and Resonant lines are highlighted Notation and Line symbol

Six beasts

Sons and Xu 戌 Grandsons

‘⚊

Resonant 应 ying

Winged Snake

Wives and Shen 申 Wealth

‘⚊

Empty 空 kong

Qilin

Worry/Anxiety Metal 憂慮 youlü

Fire conquers Metal

Vermillion Bird

Quarrel 口舌 koushe

Fire

Comparable

Green Dragon

Auspicious 吉祥 jixiang

Water Water conquers Fire

Yongshen referent

Earthly branch

Referent of six Phase Relationship beasts with palace phase False Alarm Earth Fire produces 虛驚 xujing Earth

Wu 午

‘⚊

Officials Hai 亥 and Ghosts

‘⚊

Sons and Chou 丑 Grandsons

‘’ ⚋

Dark Tortoise

Thieves and Bandits 盜賊 daozei

Earth

Fire produces Earth

Father and Mao 卯 Mother

‘⚊

White Tiger Inauspicious and Harmful 凶傷 xiongshang

Wood

Wood produces Fire

Brothers

Generation世 shi

destructive relationship with her. She should wait until business calmed down, and “absolutely not worry, that shop is [hers]” (qianwan bu yao zhaoji, zhe ge dian shi nide 千萬不要著急，這個店是你的). The client’s second question concerned selecting an auspicious date for an operation during the eighth month (a time-frame presumably designated by her doctor). Master Tao subsequently told me that in his experience, the combination of the Earthly Branches mao 卯 and xu 戌 (lines one and six) often indicates that the client is suffering from a tumor or cancer. In selecting the date for the operation, the same logic operates temporally, as when determining the specifics of the situation above. The reasoning here is complex, and involves an assessment of various Phase characteristics of the situation in question in order to select an auspicious date. In the hexagram, the fact that an operation will take place is revealed by the first line (at bottom), concerning the Father and Mother Yongshen referent. The logic here is that operations occur in hospitals which, as bureaucratic institutions, require the signing of forms in order for an operation to proceed. As such, the crucial factor is Written Language

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(wenzi 文字), which exists in the same Yongshen category as Father and Mother (and hence in homologous relation to ego).17 Moreover, in this hexagram on this day, the first line is identified with the White Tiger, suggesting something inauspicious and harmful, fitting the need for an operation. Master Tao advised the client to pay attention to this aspect, as the period from 8th September to 8th October (dinghai 丁亥 of the seventh month and dingsi 丁巳 of the eighth month), would involve “disputes” (koujiao 口角) regarding wealth—i.e., having to pay a hospital bill (the Brothers Yongshen, associated with financial transactions, appears here with the Vermillion Bird, indicating quarrels). In the eighth lunar month, the seventeenth is the day bingshen 丙申 in the Sexagenary Cycle, and is relevant to the enquiry as a possible date for a hospital appointment. On this day, financial loss (chong cai 沖財) will occur and, given the nature of the enquiry, this will involve the payment of a hospital fee. The reasoning here extends several levels of complexity beyond what has been laid out in this chapter, but proceeds as follows. The hexagram shown in Table 10.7 was cast on a chen 辰 day; chen, according to the principle of Six Conflicts, conflicts with the Resonant line, xu 戌. When the day Branch conflicts with a line Branch, this is known as “hidden movement” (andong 暗动), which causes the affected line to influence other lines.18 In this case, chen on line six accords with mao 卯 on line one, the line denoting hospital bureaucracy, which has the effect of producing Fire. Fire, in turn, conquers line five (Metal, shen 申), which here denotes wealth. Hence, on a shen day, money will be lost, making it appropriate for the appointment. Meanwhile, for the Generation line to “move” (dong 動), i.e., for what it denotes to occur, a day is required with a destructive relationship with its Earthly Branch, hai 亥 (Water), such as si 巳 days, which conflict with hai but accord with shen (line five). The Generation line should be “produced” (sheng) in the seventh or eighth lunar months. The fact that this line “faces” (lin 臨) the Green Dragon indicates that this will bring a “happy event” (xiqing zhi shi 喜 慶之事). As such, the Generation line may change on the guisi 癸巳 day. The Resonant line (subject to “hidden movement”) is caused to move on the day of consultation, which in combination with line one produces Fire, indicating a conflict with line five (wealth). As such, a shen day will have the effect of finan-

17

18

Note that Master Tao did not relate it to Officials and Ghosts, which would typically be identified with the “illness” ( jibing) itself rather than the bureaucracy associated with a medical procedure. Wang Bingzhong 王炳中, Huanben guizong: Liuyao yuce zhinan 还本归宗：六爻预测 指南 (Going back to the roots and returning to the origin: A compass for six lines prediction), 214–215.

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cial loss (a hospital payment), so the most appropriate day for the operation is bingshen. As such, the optimum period selected for the operation to take place is between the guisi and bingshen days of the eighth lunar month. In its capacity to refer to written language and thus the bureaucratic aspect of a hospital appointment, line one is crucial in determining the date. Its Earthly Branch, mao 卯, conflicts with that of the Eighth Month, you 酉, which is inauspicious. Here, however, a compromise had to be made because the operation would inevitably occur during the eighth month. Thus, although in theory shen and you are both suitable times for operations, as the fact that they belong to the Metal Phase matches them with the Phase of the surgeon’s scalpel, the conflict between mao and you is here best minimized. Whilst the client will have the operation in the eighth ( you) month, the effect may be mitigated by selecting a shen day.

7

Contingency and Reduction

It should be evident that the potential quantity of information derivable from a hexagram is vast—and far beyond what would be practically manageable, certainly in the context of relatively brief roadside predictions. The effect of this is that in practice, whilst highly specific diagnoses and predictions are made, some degree of ambiguity invariably remains. That is, a hexagram presents an excess of interpretive potential, in which various possibilities may still be entertained. This may appear superficially similar to the idea of an “excess of meaning” in magic and divination systems, allowing for a range of interpretations19—although the complexity generated by this metonymic system is subject to constant laws and a great deal of potential meaning has already been excluded by identifying the correlates of each hexagram line. Therefore, Six Lines Prediction hinges not on generating an excess of meaning but on reducing interpretive potential to a very narrow range of highly specific empirical diagnoses or predictions.20 This involves reducing the interpretive potential of the hexagram by taking account of contingent variables, most of which are temporal. Reduction of interpretive potential thus requires the introduction of additional information.

19

20

E. g. Martin Holbraad, Truth in Motion: The Recursive Anthropology of Cuban Divination, 191; David Sneath, “Reading the Signs by Lenin’s Light: Development, Divination and Metonymic Fields in Mongolia,” 87. Cf. Richard P. Werbner, “The Superabundance of Understanding: Kalanga Rhetoric and Domestic Divination.”

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In practice, the degree to which excessive interpretive potential is reduced is limited by the time devoted to a prediction and the interests of the client. Master Tao’s predictions typically take ten to twenty minutes, but on more than one occasion he explained to me that a detailed prediction could potentially take many hours; indeed, just before I returned from Hangzhou in September 2015, he kindly carried out an extremely detailed prediction for me, which took considerably longer than usual and yielded far more, and more specific, information than most that he conducts for clients. The more information provided, the further interpretive potential can be reduced and the more specific a prediction can be made; indeed, Master Tao explained that the best predictors will take into account very small details of the situation in which a hexagram is cast, such as a bird calling at the moment the coins are tossed. For the most part, however, reducing interpretive potential is done in three ways, which I explore here: via the hexagram itself, via the use of contingent variables to different degrees, and via the direct elicitation of specific information from the client. The limits imposed by the hexagram have largely been covered. A hexagram’s constituent lines are fixed, and therefore their interpretive potential is limited, including by the types of Yongshen relationships involved and the position of ego and the “opposite party”—a hexagram cannot mean whatever one wishes. Moreover, any temporal predictions made through the hexagram are necessarily limited by that referred to by the hexagram. Two contingent variables are always noted by Master Tao: the date according to the Sexagenary Cycle (including the “empty” Branches discussed above), and the Six Beasts. Occasionally, a third contingent variable is noted in the form of the client’s fate, which operates similarly to the date with respect to categorization. I will discuss the Six Beasts first.

8

The Six Beasts

The Six Beasts are relative with respect to hexagrams, as they depend entirely on the Sexagenary date. As such, they constitute one means of accounting for temporal variation between hexagrams of the same type, and, although Master Tao never remarked upon this, increase the number of different situations knowable via the Six Lines system to 24,576 (4,096 hexagrams and hexagram changes x Six Beasts). One consequence of this is that it becomes highly unlikely that any client will meet another who obtained exactly the same hexagram and date combination. When the full details of the Sexagenary date and the client’s fate are accounted for, this number is multiplied by further orders of magnitude, reducing the likelihood of even the predictor encountering the

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same result twice. Thus, in common with cognate Chinese numerological systems of prediction, Six Lines Prediction restricts the number of possible interpretations (there is, at least in theory, a “correct” answer), but also disaggregates those events from all others and, in doing so, as Stafford argues,21 disaggregates the client’s fortune as independent from that of the social collective, making it uniquely relevant. Whilst the Six Beasts are relative to the hexagrams, they are absolute in terms of the effects they reveal. In Example One, Master Tao was thus able to inform the client that her health problems would be associated with “disputes” (koushe) as line two corresponded to the Vermillion Bird in the Six Beasts sequence. The Vermillion Bird substitutes metaphorically for its effect, “disputes,” but the effect is read as part of the real-world phenomenon designated by line two. As such, the effect is metonymically encompassed as a correlate of the Earthly Branch chou 丑, the Wood Phase, and the “Officials and Ghosts” Yongshen. However, the relationship between the Lines and the Six Beasts is more complex than that between, say, Earthly Branches and Phases, since it is not merely correlative as a result of a common qi configuration, but implicitly causal—a dispute will arise as a product of the client’s health concerns. In Example One, Line Five, the Earthly Branch hai 亥, “is” (shi 是) the White Tiger, indicating harm, on the basis of which Master Tao predicted that 2019, a hai year, would be inauspicious. This indicates an incorporation of harm as a correlate of the Earthly Branch hai in terms of this hexagram and the situations with which it is concerned. In Example Two, the White Tiger occurs in line one, with the Yongshen relationship “Father and Mother,” here expressing “Written Language.” Master Tao’s conclusion was that the harm expressed metaphorically by the White Tiger indicated the need for an operation, rather than a consequence of it. However, Master Tao also advised the client to pay attention to issues concerning the payment of hospital bills, which may also be related to the presence of the White Tiger. In general, members of cosmological categories are manifestations of a common configuration of qi—but as such they are correlates. Chou is a manifestation of Wood qi on a particular scale—it is not “caused” by Wood qi as such. Causation is rather attributed to the interaction of categories. Thus a Six Beasts effect is generated by the interaction of the line’s category and the date’s Heavenly Stem category.

21

Charles Stafford, “Numbers and the Natural History of Imagining the Self in Taiwan and China,” 118.

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291

The Client’s Fate

In addition to the role of the Six Beasts, the client’s fate introduces a further contingent variable, as we saw in Example One. Recall that in that instance, line two referred to illness and belonged to the category of the Earthly Branch chou and the Wood Phase. Knowledge of the client’s fate being in the Earth Phase allowed Master Tao to specify the most likely type of disorder she would face. As such, the broad category of “illness” was reduced to two possible organs. The provision of information external to the hexagram thus has the effect of reducing the interpretive potential of the hexagram. This example also demonstrates a conception of causation as the result of interaction between categories (there is no causative relationships within such categories although there is one of co-occurrence)—the category of the Wood Phase (line two) is positioned in a relationship of “conquest” with the category of the Earth Phase (the client’s fate), causing a change to occur in the form of the illness. Here, the vocabulary of the Phases, Branches, and so forth as symbols stands metaphorically for the phenomenal relationships predicted to occur in the client’s qi-field; in turn, this particular qi-field configuration is subsumed into the broad natural category “Fu ䷗ line two”. It is highly unlikely that the exact circumstances of this hexagram have been predicted by Master Tao before, so now, for him, they form a real member of this category rather than simply a potential member. Interpretive potential is thus reduced by the same process of substitution and metonymic incorporation as occurs for the hexagram as a whole during interpretation. It should be noted, though, that whilst “Fu line two”-as-phenomenon constitutes a category based on a shared configuration of qi, each instance within that category, whilst contiguous, will differ slightly from the others so, in fact, the reduction of interpretive potential renders the metonymic category of the hexagram line, in itself, insufficient to account for all aspects of the situation. For members of this category, the configuration of qi is common but is modified by the spatiotemporal environment in the form of contingent variables. The result is a nested taxonomy of potential situations sharing various degrees of metonymic contiguity (from vague to specific: Fu-as-phenomenon—“Fu line two”-as-phenomenon—“Fu line two meaning Illness”-as-phenomenon—“Fu line two meaning Illness interacting with Earth fate”-as-phenomenon—“Fu line two meaning Illness interacting with Earth fate on the yihai day of the jiashen month”-as-phenomenon, etc.). What is true for fate as a contingent variable is also true for the date on which a hexagram is cast—an additional correlate is added to that hexagram’s category, thereby increasing the specificity of the prediction.

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Eliciting Information from the Client

Finally, it should be noted that the interpretive potential of a hexagram is invariably reduced by direct elicitation and volunteering of information from the client. Although Master Tao instructs clients to say nothing about their questions prior to or during the casting of the hexagram, once he has finished annotating it, he and the client will converse, sometimes at length, about the latter’s specific questions and how to deal with them. This type of information is generally easily categorized into the five Yongshen referents, which, as shown above, allows Tao to identify the most relevant lines and their effects. Whilst it is theoretically possible to identify exactly what the problem is from a hexagram, in practice the specifics beyond the Yongshen referent may be unclear. In general, however, the modification of a prediction using client-provided information follows the same overall pattern. Lines, for example, metaphorically substitute for real phenomena (a new shop, a hospital form, financial rivals), but thereby incorporate these phenomena into metonymic categories. This process is generally explicit, and expressed by the verb shi 是 (“to be”)—a line is ego, is the opposite party, and is the client’s wealth during the process of hexagram interpretation. Master Tao will generally describe the salient aspects of a prediction or suggest an issue of concern to the client after annotating the hexagram; otherwise, he will ask the client directly what the issue is, and explain what the hexagram says about it. This may involve an explicit process of elimination, which does not appear to detract in any way from the efficacy of the specific prediction or the method as a whole. For example, during my return visit to Hangzhou, I became mildly ill and cast a hexagram with Master Tao to determine when it would pass. Having annotated the hexagram, he turned to me and said with great confidence that my question concerned wealth—the hexagram’s Generation line was Wealth, as was the adjacent fourth line. When I replied that my question did not concern wealth, he asked if it concerned “emotional aspects” (ganqing fangmian 感情方面) or “friends” (pengyou 朋友), as the hexagram’s Resonant line was Brothers, as was line two, adjacent to the Generation line. However, when I explained I was asking about a health issue, he was easily able to determine what it was and gave a reasonable prediction about recovery, demonstrating the interpretive potential of the hexagram as well as the productivity of reducing it. Having limited the interpretive potential of the hexagram to health issues, Master Tao concluded that, because the Earthly Branch of the Generation line was chen 辰, of the Earth Phase, the problem concerned (correctly) the digestive system (piwei dao 脾胃道), which is governed by Earth. Moreover, given the situation, the fact that the Resonant line was Brothers indi-

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cated a financial exchange (recall Example One above), here the purchase of medicine, itself indicated by line five, Sons and Grandsons (medicine operates in this relation to ego). This Line’s Earthly Branch was si 巳, Fire, indicating medicine which could “remove cold qi” (ba hanqi qudiao 把寒氣去掉), which was the source of my complaint. This ought to be Western medicine (xiyao 西 藥), as this is governed by Fire, as opposed to Chinese medicine’s Water. Here we can see clearly the process by which interpretive potential decreases as the amount of information, and thus predictive specificity, increases. Contingent variables based on the principles of correlative cosmology allow highly specific predictions and suggestions to be made. This is seen particularly in the identification of auspicious times for certain actions, as we saw in Example Two. This process of reasoning is essentially a continuation of that by which the date and fate are accounted for in interpretation. The limits of a hexagram’s inherent interpretive potential, combined with the further limits imposed by contingent variables, in turn necessarily constrain the range of times which may be considered auspicious for action. Of course, the same cosmological principles apply to the future as to the present and past, and change continues to be the product of interactions between metonymic categories of phenomena. As shown in Example Two, the selection of an auspicious date may be extremely complicated, especially if the client requires the predicted time to fall within a certain range or have a certain degree of specificity (it is considerably simpler to derive predictions for months than days and hours, which introduce extra fractal sets of Earthly Branches).

11

Relevance and Responsibility

Six Lines Prediction thus relies on reducing interpretive possibilities by accounting for contingent variables. One question, however, remains—and that concerns the process by which Master Tao selects lines and correlates in order to arrive at specific diagnoses and predictions. To account for this, I turn to relevance theory, as formulated and elaborated by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson.22 In particular, I follow their “cognitive principle of relevance” that “[h]uman cognition tends to be geared towards the maximization of relevance,”23 meaning simply that “cognitive resources tend to be allocated to the

22 23

Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, Relevance: Communication and Cognition; Deirdre Wilson and Dan Sperber, eds., Meaning and Relevance. Sperber and Wilson, Relevance: Communication and Cognition, 260.

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processing of the most relevant inputs available, whether from internal or external sources.”24 This is fundamentally a cognitive means of discriminating between inputs, which is hypothesized to have evolved under selection for cognitive efficiency. An input is considered relevant when it produces a “positive cognitive effect”—that is, a contextual effect which “contributes positively to the fulfillment of cognitive functions or goals.”25 In the context of Six Lines Prediction, this may be described as follows. Having completed the operation of analogical transfer and incorporated the client’s situation into the causal schema of the hexagram-as-symbol, the predictor’s first action is to select relevant inputs. Typically, this is done by focusing on the Generation and Resonant lines, as in Example One, and their specific Yongshen referents—in general, these lines and their correlates provide a relevant starting point from which interpretive potential can begin to be reduced. As my experience of prediction outline above shows, however, the correlates of these lines are not necessarily relevant to the client’s enquiry. Thus, further inputs are elicited, in this case by directly asking about the subject of enquiry. Once it has been established that my question was related to my health, Master Tao was able to revise his assessment of which information from the hexagram was relevant. The problem of finding a suitable date for a hospital appointment in Example Two clearly illustrates how a wide range of contingent variables influence which inputs are relevant. First, a line is selected based on its relevance to the problem—in this case, line one, the relevant correlates of which are the Yongshen referent “Father and Mother” and the White Tiger. In selecting a day, the imposition of a specific time-frame on the part of the client required the introduction of additional principles in order for relevant inputs to be presented. Moreover, the selection of an auspicious date relied on assessing the relevance of the indicated phenomena not directly invoking a medical procedure—such as identifying a likely occasion of financial loss. As such, the entire process of hexagram interpretation, from analogical transfer to the reduction of interpretive potential, constitutes an exercise in maximizing relevance with respect to addressing the client’s enquiry. As a final point, it should also be pointed out that this maximization of relevance nowhere explicitly deals with moral questions involved in a client’s situation. Anthropologist Martin Holbraad asks whether divination, via its concerns with normativity, might “[rescind] the distinction between morality and

24 25

Id., 261. Id., 265.

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cosmos.”26 Holbraad argues that the moral character of divination presents a problem analogous to that of “truth” in divination. He describes both the truth and morality of Cuban Ifá divination as inherent properties of it—a genuine divinatory verdict is inevitably true and moral, and therefore, so his argument goes, no distinction is made between the realms of cosmology and morality. No such conflation exists in Six Lines Prediction and, as I have shown, consultations yield sets of auspicious dates, directions, and so on which may be acted upon in order to optimize the situation in question. Moral pronouncements never form part of the predictive process and any misfortune is attributed to impersonal, amoral, and constant cosmic forces; morality and ethics come into play only in the prior and post-hoc evaluations of the client and predictor. Any attribution of moral responsibility is absent from the prediction itself; even if a client is the victim of behavior regarded as morally bad, this behavior is explained in terms of amoral cosmic principles, something true also of fengshui.27 In this sense, blame is actively externalized from the situation, recalling Laidlaw’s comments regarding the capacity of institutions and practices to “expand and distribute agency,”28 in this case to the amoral purview of cosmic forces. We can see this in the context of an ethnographic example concerning a client’s marital difficulties. He had gone with his female cousin to visit Master Tao, as the client had concerns regarding his marriage and how this was affecting his family and work. On this occasion, although the consultation took place in a secluded courtyard rather than in the usual roadside spot, Master Tao was joined by a local friend and keen amateur cosmologist, Mr Shu, who freely pitched in with advice whenever he felt this was required. From the cast hexagram, Master Tao concluded that the client’s house was positioned against him in a relationship of “mutual destructiveness” (xiang ke 相剋), and that he and his wife were also poorly matched, which disadvantaged the children. These factors, stemming from the hexagram, constitute statements relating to the nature of the cosmos in relation to the client. Taking care to emphasize that his statements were based on the hexagram rather than the “attitude” (xintai 心態) of the client, Master Tao explained that whilst the client’s wife was beautiful, she was also given to gathering “peach

26 27 28

Martin Holbraad, “Afterword—Of Ises and Oughts: An Endnote on Divinatory Obligation,” 268. Stephan Feuchtwang, An Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy, 223; Maurice Freedman, “Chinese Geomancy: Some Observations in Hong Kong,” 211. James Laidlaw, “Agency and Responsibility: Perhaps You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing,” 159.

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blossoms outside the walls” (qiang wai taohua 墻外桃花), a euphemism for sexual promiscuity. Notably, the emphasis on this information coming directly from the hexagram, alongside details about the Eight Characters pertaining to the fate of the client and his wife, couched these statements in entirely cosmic terms. The client’s marital difficulties were presented as a cosmological problem, not an ethical one. Moreover, the client’s response was to suggest possible solutions, including moving house and moving in with his parents-in-law, rather than express explicit ethical concerns (or emotional ones, despite his visible distress). Master Tao, keeping to the question of efficacious solutions, simply stated that these options would not help the situation, because a major problem revealed by the hexagram was that the client and his wife “do not help each other” (meiyou huxiang bangzhu 沒有互相幫助). It was only after the client had left that Master Tao explained to me that the client’s wife was in fact seeing another man, but once again this information was presented purely in terms of the hexagram content (when the client pressed for details about what might happen, Master Tao had been evasive, simply stating that the situation was “very complicated,” hen fuza 很複雜). Examples like this demonstrate that, for Master Tao, clients’ situations present epistemological problems—the key question is what can be determined about a client’s circumstances via cosmological principles. The problem for the client is epistemological too, but for him there does exist an ethical element in terms of a desire to know how to act. This ethical dimension, however, is external to the consultation, within which the question is rather “what actions will produce a given outcome?,” the answer to which is purely cosmological and emphatically not moral. This, though, is precisely the point—having been presented with a cosmological explanation, the client was left blameless, and his wife’s shortcomings were ascribed to cosmic forces rather than her own moral badness. Moral judgements on the part of the predictor are made outside the context of client consultation, and are justified by drawing an analogy between distinct and professionally separate domains of morality on the one hand and objective cosmic principles on the other (for example, the idea that Confucian gender relations are morally correct because cosmologically they produce harmonious qi flows). This does not imply that the conduct of Eight Trigrams Prediction is not itself subject to moral scrutiny or unrelated to questions of ethical behavior, but simply indicates that such questions of value are not answerable in the same way as predictive questions; that is, they are not accessible via predictive epistemology. The purview of Six Lines Prediction remains what does, rather than what should, happen. Nonetheless, moral judgements and ethical behavior remain explicable in cosmological terms; whilst in aggregate the cosmos makes no moral judgements, insofar as humans constitute part of that cosmos

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and both their capacity for moral judgement and the cognitive processes of making such judgements are functions of the transformation of qi, the human component or scale of the cosmos is moral on the level of individuals’ perspectives.

12

Conclusions

In Six Lines Prediction, the predictor’s processes of reasoning are best understood in terms of cognitive operations of classification via analogical transfer, guided by continual re-assessment of the relevance of the hexagram’s structural features. Analogical transfer involves the predictor, an expert in this form of reasoning within these contexts, mapping the abstract structure of a hexagram-as-symbol onto an unknown domain, the client’s situation, which is thus identified as an instance of a natural category of phenomenon, a specific type of qi configuration—the unknown situation is rendered cosmically intimate. Diagnoses and predictions can then be made regarding the client’s enquiry. Proceeding from the correlates of the Generation and Resonant lines, inputs from the hexagram-as-symbol are used to arrive at solutions that are relevant to the client. For any hexagram, myriad interpretations are possible; this means that whilst predictions may be incredibly specific, whatever subject is enquired into may be dealt with by using any given hexagram. The process of making a diagnosis or prediction hence becomes one of excluding potential interpretations. This is done by accounting for contingent variables, which themselves operate according to the same categories as the hexagram lines (and hence may influence prediction), but which for all interpretive intents and purposes arise independently of the hexagram cast (although theoretically, of course, they are not independent but, along with all other cosmic phenomena, influence its casting). This is true also of phenomena which are not generally spoken of in the language of cosmological theory—that is, the information provided by the client. However, as cosmological rules are held to be universal and constant, all such information may also be translated into such terms and thus interpreted in terms of the hexagram. Classification of a client’s situation is thus followed by an exercise of reducing the possible number of interpretations through the accrual of additional contextual information. A relevant diagnosis or prediction is one which is able to parse the cosmological data yielded by the hexagram as accurately as possible for the circumstances in question. In this way, Six Lines Prediction relies on a cognitive process perhaps more akin to that found in predictive practices such as meteorology than in many forms of divination;

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it was in fact to meteorology, as a form of “prediction” ( yuce), that Master Tao likened his craft. Likewise, even though Master Tao, like other Eight Trigrams cosmologists, links moral principles to cosmic situations that promote harmony, such a connection is not derivable from a hexagram. Whilst states that promote harmony and disharmony are invariably explicable in terms of cosmological principles, the ascription of moral value to such states does not logically follow from the cosmological principles of Six Lines Prediction, even though the value itself, a function of an individual’s capacity, ultimately derives from those principles. Indeed, moral and ethical concerns are absent from the predictive process itself. The result is a predictive practice which maximizes relevance to the client whilst at the same time ascribing their situation to amoral cosmic principles, externalizing blame from the situation and allowing it to be assessed objectively in terms of solutions to cosmological problems. It is tempting to see in this individual tailoring of predictions and externalization of individual blame a reason for the post-Reform resurgence of divination in mainland Chinese society; as the examples above show, Six Lines prediction gives clients a means of understanding their own experience of widespread contemporary problems (such as medical appointments and business difficulties) as unique to themselves as individuals, providing a map for their solution but also one which explains their occurrence as a product of the environment. As noted in the introduction, the resurgence of divination occurs alongside the revival of popular religion and other traditional practices, due in large part to the relaxation of state interference in the private sphere and a widespread desire to seek a guiding ideology in the vacuum left behind by Maoism and what many see as the rampant consumerism that has spread in its wake. Indeed, under Xi Jinping’s administration, the state has redoubled its efforts to fill this void with a form of cultural nationalism, celebrating Confucian tradition and Chinese religion, and even redefining Five Phases cosmology as “science” (kexue 科學) in certain instances29—although divination continues to be regarded officially as “superstition” (mixin 迷信).30 This has occurred in what is, in some respects, an increasingly individualized31 and uncertain32 society, and the subjects of clients’ enquiries—moving house, marriage, infidelity, promotion, job security, and so on—indicate strong individual

29 30 31 32

Xu Bei 徐蓓, “Tingjiang: Yinyang wuxing weishenme neng bei xieru” 听講：陰陽五行’為 什麼能被寫入. Matthews, “Making ‘Science’ from ‘Superstition’.” Yunxiang Yan, The Individualization of Chinese Society. John Osburg, Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality Among China’s New Rich.

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concerns about the present and future security of their own and their families’ life chances within this environment. As such, divination can be seen as reflecting social uncertainty and concerns about transient fortune, but it should be noted that these concerns are not limited to contemporary China. It would thus be premature to attribute the general desire to reduce uncertainty through revived divination practices to something unique about China’s current circumstances. Divination, after all, has developed continuously in parallel in Taiwan33 and Hong Kong through quite different economic, political, and social transformations, and the desire to reduce uncertainty through divination or similar practices is found in all societies; indeed, it provides the first historical records of Chinese civilization. Rather, the contemporary enthusiasm for divination is better seen as the return of a social practice that was repressed, though never vanquished, under Mao; the practice of divination has, of course, evolved but not in a way that was qualitatively different from its evolution over the past few millennia. The details of client enquiries change over time to reflect socioeconomic circumstances, but they broadly address perennial human concerns; what examining a practice like Six Lines Prediction grants is an understanding of how these universal phenomena are instantiated at a particular point in history and in the case of the examples presented here, the cognitive processes involved in identifying an individual situation as unique and soluble.

Bibliography Boyer, Pascal. “Causal Thinking and Its Anthropological Misrepresentation.”Philosophy of the Social Sciences 22.2 (1992): 187–213. Durham, Deborah, and James W. Fernandez. “Tropical Dominions: The Figurative Struggle over Domains of Belonging and Apartness in Africa.” In Beyond Metaphor: The Theory of Tropes in Anthropology, edited by James W. Fernandez, 190–210. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991. Fernandez, James W. “The Mission of Metaphor in Expressive Culture.” In Persuasions and Performances: The Play of Tropes in Culture, 28–70. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986. Feuchtwang, Stephan. An Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy. Taipei: Southern Materials Center, 1974.

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Stéphanie Homola, “Pursue Good Fortune and Avoid Calamity: The Practice and Status of Divination in Contemporary Taiwan.”

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Freedman, Maurice. “Chinese Geomancy: Some Observations in Hong Kong.” In The Study of Chinese Society: Essays, edited by George William Skinner, 189–211. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1979. Gick, Mary L., and Keith J. Holyoak. “Schema Induction and Analogical Transfer.” Cognitive Psychology 15.1 (1983): 1–38. Holbraad, Martin. “Afterword—Of Ises and Oughts: An Endnote on Divinatory Obligation.” In Divination: Perspectives for a New Millennium, edited by Patrick Curry, 265–274. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2010. Holbraad, Martin. Truth in Motion: The Recursive Anthropology of Cuban Divination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. Homola, Stéphanie. “Pursue Good Fortune and Avoid Calamity: The Practice and Status of Divination in Contemporary Taiwan.” Journal of Chinese Religions 41.2 (2013): 124–147. Laidlaw, James. “Agency and Responsibility: Perhaps You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing.” In Ordinary Ethics: Anthropology, Language and Action, edited by Michael Lambek, 143–164. New York: Fordham University Press, 2010. Matthews, William. “Cosmic Intimacy: Metaphor, Metonym, and the Relevance of Physics to Chinese Divination.” Paper presented on the panel “Cognitive Anthropology and Cultural Transmission: Legacies and Futures” at the meeting of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, 2016. Matthews, William. “Making ‘Science’ from ‘Superstition’: Conceptions of Knowledge Legitimacy among Contemporary Yijing Diviners.” Journal of Chinese Religions 45.2 (2017): 173–196. Matthews, William. “Ontology with Chinese Characteristics: Homology as a Mode of Identification.” hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7.1 (2017): 265–285. Nielsen, Bent. A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 bce–220 ce) to Song 宋 (960–1279 ce). London and New York: Routledge, 2003. Novick, L.R. “Analogical Transfer, Problem Similarity, and Expertise.” Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition 14.3 (1988): 510–520. Osburg, John. Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality Among China’s New Rich. Stanford University Press, 2013. Redmond, Geoffrey, and Tze-ki Hon. Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Sneath, David. “Reading the Signs by Lenin’s Light: Development, Divination and Metonymic Fields in Mongolia.” Ethnos 74.1 (2009): 72–90. Sperber, Dan, and Deirdre Wilson. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1995. Stafford, Charles. “Numbers and the Natural History of Imagining the Self in Taiwan and China.” Ethnos 74.1 (2009): 110–126. Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

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Swancutt, Katherine. “Representational vs Conjectural Divination: Innovating Out of Nothing in Mongolia.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 12.2 (2006): 331– 353. Wang Bingzhong 王炳中. Huanben guizong: Liuyao yuce zhinan 还本归宗：六爻预测 指南 (Going back to the roots and returning to the origin: A compass for six lines prediction). Beijing: Zhongguo shangye chubanshe, 2010. Werbner, Richard P. “The Superabundance of Understanding: Kalanga Rhetoric and Domestic Divination.” American Anthropologist 75.5 (1973): 1414–1440. Wilson, Deirdre, and Dan Sperber, eds. Meaning and Relevance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Xu Bei 徐蓓. “Tingjiang: Yinyang wuxing weishenme neng bei xieru Zhongguo gongmin kexue suzhi jizhun” 听講：陰陽五行’為什麼能被寫入.中國公民科學素質基 準 (Listen to a Talk: Why Yinyang and Wuxing Can be Included in the Chinese Citizen Science Quality Benchmark). Sohu 搜狐, June 12, 2017. http://www.sohu.com/a/​ 148073229_119707. Yan, Yunxiang. The Individualization of Chinese Society. Oxford: Berg, 2009. Zeitlyn, David. “Divinatory Logics: Diagnoses and Predictions Mediating Outcomes.” Current Anthropology 53.5 (2012): 525–546.

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Index alchemy 112–114 analogical reasoning 269, 282–284, 294, 297 In moral reasoning 296–297 bian 變 (modification) 157 bili 比例 210 Bo Ju 博局 see Liu Bo board instruments 90 Brahmadeva Hora Navagraha

116

Cai Yungding g 蔡元定 (1135–1198) 130 Calendrics 273, 278–279, 280, 282, 287–289 Caodong zong 115 Changes see Yijing and Yijng Divination Charm, Daoist ( fu 符) 26, 59 Chen Houyao 陳厚耀 (1648–1722) 204 Cheng Jiong 程迥 (jinshi 1163) 140 and Zhu Xi 140n56 practice of Changes divination 141n57 view on Changes divination 140 Cheng Yang yizhuan 程楊易傳 157 Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107) 2, 136–139, 155– 161, 164 comments on Changes divination 137 disciple of 136 Chengzhai Yizhuan 誠齋易傳 154, 155, 156, 159, 167 Chu 楚 (as a region and a cultural system) 25, 34–35, 42–48, 51–62 classification 281, 284–285, 287, 289–293, 297 cognition 279, 293–294, 297, 299 see also analogical reasoning Confucian Five Classics 71, 97–98, 100, 223– 224 Confucius 1, 160, 161, 166 cosmic intimacy 283–284 cosmology 269–271, 282, 290, 293, 295–298 cosmos 75 formation of 77 regulation of 72, 78, 81, 86, 89 Cuozong 錯綜 205–209 Cuozong fayi 錯綜法義 204–209 Daoism 112, 117

Dayan (or Da Yan) 大衍 23–24, 193–204, 250 dayi 114 dice divination 28–42 Ding Yidong 丁易東 ( jinshi 1286) 195 divination see also diviner, hexagrams, mantic arts, Six Lines Prediction, Yijing divination method of Duke of Zhou 周公卜法 60 method of Guan Gongming 管公明卜法 60 with charm 26, 59 with counters or tokens 33–38, 49 with curse 49, 55, 61 with diseases or illness 31, 45 with dice 28–42 with dyadic alternative lines 24, 53–54 with hexagrams 42–62 with prayers 28–31 with sacrifices 29–42 with stalk 24–28, 55 with supernatural influence 31 diviner 23–62, 73–89, 99–111, 143–148, 246– 254, 269–299 Dizhi 地支 204 Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179–104bce) 77– 78 Du Yi xiangshuo 讀易詳説 156 Dunhuang 97, 108, 110 Earthly branches (dizhi 地支) 273–282, 285–291 Eight Trigrams (bagua 八卦) 69, 81, 172– 173, 176, 182, 184, 187 Eight Palaces (bagong 八宮) 272–273, 277, 281–282, 285–286 elixirs 112 epistemology 296 Fate 272, 280–282, 285, 289–291, 293, 296 fengshui 109 Five Elements (Wuxing 五行) 102, 109, 252 Five Phases see Five Elements see also Qi, Phases of Four Quadrates (sifang 四方) 24

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304 Gan Bao 干寶 (286–336), 159, 160 Gate of Life (mingmen 命門) 170–173, 175– 178, 180–187 Great Expansion see Dayan Guicang 歸藏 38, 48, 53, 55–56, 61–62 Guige 軌革 and guaying卦影 147–148 description of 148 relations with the Changes 148 technique of 147 Guo Zhongxiao 郭忠孝 (active in Northern Song) 136–137 Zhu Xi’s criticism of 136 Great Harmony (taiping 太平) 239–243 Great Ultimate (taiji 太極) 172, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181 Hang Xinzhai 杭辛·齋 (1869–1942) 234– 230, 244 Hangzhou 杭州 269–270, 289, 292 He Luo jingyun 河洛精蘊 193 He tu 河圖 102, 195 Hexagrams Adding and subtracting 210–215 As symbols 128, 130, 135, 141, 143–144, 147, 163–164, 173, 176, 187, 239–244, 282–284 As Great Harmony 239–244 As political breakthrough 234 bili 比例 210 Calendar made of 87 Classification of 271–280 Counting method of 204–215 Cuozong 錯綜 method of 205–209 Divination of 42–62 Image(s) and number(s) tradition of 125, 125n1, 134n35, n36, 135, 136, 137, 137n48, n49 Interpretation of 269, 280–297 see also interpretive potential Numerical hexagrams (shuzigua 數 字 卦) 24–25, 27, 33–34, 41, 53– 54 Possible instances of 289–290 Pure (zhungua) see also Eight Palaces Six lines prediction 269–283 Houtian (後天, post-heaven) method 252 Hu Pu’an 胡樸安 (1876–1947) 238–239

index Hu Yuan 胡瑗 (993–1059) 156, 159 hua 化 (continuous and invisible change) 157 Huang Zongxi 黄宗羲 (1690–1695) 249 Huayan jing 華嚴經 115 Imperial Examination 100 interpretive potential 288–289, 291– 294 Jenks, Edward (1861–1939) 228–229, 233, 238–239 Jiajian chengchu shi 加減乘除釋 210– 215 Jiao Xun 焦循 (1763–1820) 192, 209–215 Jiang Yong 江永 (1681–1762) 193 Jiaoshi yilin 焦氏易林 61 “Jiji” 既濟 (Crossing Completed, hexagram 63) 173, 176, 187 Jing Fang 京房 (77–37bce) 85, 109 Jingjue 荆决 (Tricks of the Jing) 59, 62 Jingshi yizhuan 京氏易傳 109 jinshi 進士 108 jixiong 吉凶 102 Kaiyuan zhanjing 開元占經 110 “Kan” trigram 171, 172, 173, 176, 184, 187 Kang Youwei 康有爲 (1858–1927) 226–227, 239–240 Kong Yingda孔穎達 (574–648) 99–100 “Kun” trigram 172, 182 “Kun” 坤 (Pure Yin, hexagram 2) 242 Li Dingzuo 李鼎祚 (active in Tang Dynasty) 160 Li Guang 李光 (1078–1159) 156, 159 Li Guangdi 李光地 (1642–1718) 202 Li Tongxuan 李通玄 (735–730) 115 “Li” trigram 172–173, 176, 184, 187 Lin Yu 林瑀 (active in Northern Song) 135, 136, 138 Liu Bo 六博，35–37， 49–50 Lu You陸游 (1125–1210) 129, 132–133, 135 on Chao Yongzhi’s 晁詠之 practice of Changes divination 129 postscript to Wang Sheng’s Yi Shuo 135 practice of Changes divination 132–133 Luo shu 洛書 102, 195

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index

Mandate of Heaven 73 see also Will of Heaven Mantic arts 100–101, 126, 133, 134, 145–149 see also Yijing divination criticism of 146 legitimacy of 145 relation with moral philosophy by Liu Anshi 134 relation with the Changes by Wu Zeng 134 Master Kong (Confucius) 160, 161, 166 materia medica 115 Meng Xi 孟喜 (fl. 73–49 bce) 83–85 metaphor 283, 290–292 meteoromancy 110 method of Duke of Zhou 周公卜法 60 method of Guan Gongming 管公明卜法 60 metonymy 275, 280–284, 288, 290–293 “Ministerial Fire” (xianghuo 相火) 171, 175, 184–186 morality 294–297, 298 Neidan 内丹 112 Numerical hexagrams (shuzigua 數字卦) 24–25, 27, 33–34, 41, 53–54 Numerology see Plum Blossom Yi Numerology Plum Blossom Yi Numerology 梅花易數 248–266 Principle and meaning 125, 125n1, 134n35 relation with images and numbers 125, 134n35, n36 prognostication principles 253–254 Qi 氣 72, 75, 77–79, 84, 89, 270, 290–291, 293, 296–297 Qi-field 271, 281, 291 Phases of 271, 276–278, 281–282, 284– 286, 288, 290–292, 298 trigrams 84 “Qian” 乾 (Pure Yang or the Creative, hexagram 1) as a symbol of Great Harmony 239–244 meaning 160, 161 Qiankun yan 乾坤衍 239–244 see also Xiong Shili

radical Confucian Reformism 225–227 relevance theory 293–295, 297–298 sage 100, 108 science 270–271, 298 Shao Bowen 邵伯溫 (1057–1134) 139 defense against criticisms of Shao Yong’s divination 139, 139n54 view on the relationship between guaying and the Changes 148 Shao Bowen 邵伯溫 (1057–1134) 139 Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077) 130–132, 139, 147, 158, 248–249 and Ouyang Fei 131–132 and the Cheng brothers 139 and Sima Guang 131n23 cast lots for Zhang Dun 130 Huangji jingshi 139, 147 precognition 130–132, 131n22 Shenji zhidi taibai yin jing 神機制敵太白 陰 經 102 Shi Jianwu施肩吾 (active in Tang period) 114 Shifa 筮法 see stalk divination method shiyao 世爻 (generational hexagram line) 109 shiying yao 世 應 爻 (generational and responsive hexagram line) 109 Shu Shi蘇軾 (1036–1112) 127–128, 148 on guige and guaying 148 performance and analysis of Changes divination 127–128, 128n12 “Shuogua” 說卦 166 Shuzigua 數字卦 see numerical hexagrams sifang 四方(Four Quadrates) 24 Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019–1086) 154 Six Beasts (liushou 六獸) 277–278, 281, 286, 289–291 Six lines prediction 269–283 In comparison with meteorology 297– 298 Methods of 271–272 Organisation of hexagrams see Eight Palaces (bagong) Origins of 273 Revival in contemporary China 269–270 Role of ghosts, in 275n Types of questions asked 270, 298–299

Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

306 Social Darwinism 224–230 Sovereign Fire ( junhuo 君火) 184, 186 Stalk divination method (shifa 筮法) 24– 28, 55 Sun Simiao孫思邈 (581–682) 114 superstition 270–271, 298 Taibu shu 太卜署 102 Taiji tu shuo 太極圖説 178, 180, 181 Tang liudian 唐六典 101 Tantric Buddhism 115 Tiangan 天干 204 “Tongren” 同人 (hexagram 12) 234 “Tricks of the Jing” 荆决 59, 62 Trigrams 252–253 Waidan 外丹 112 Waitai miyao 外臺秘要 114 Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249) 2, 90, 99–100, 103, 156, 167 Wang Lai 汪萊 (1768–1813) 207–209 Wang Sheng王升 (1054–1132) 129, 134–136, 138 attention to Changes divination 135 Fang Shao’s description of 135 Lin Zhiqi’s description of 135 Lu You’s postscript to Yi Shuo of 135 practice of Changes divination 129 Zhu Xi’s criticism of 135–136, 138 Wang Yinzhi 王引之 (1766–1834) 215 Zhong-Lü chuandao ji 鍾呂傳道集 112 Wei Xiang 魏相 (?–59 bce) 75–80, 89 Will of Heaven 145, 146, 148 see also Mandate of Heaven rationale for divination by Shi Tanying 146, 146n75 way to grasp by Wen Tianxiang 145 Wuxing 五行 (Five Elements) 102, 109, 252 Xiantian (先天 pre-heaven) method 250– 252 Xishan qunxian huizhen ji 西山群仙 會真記 114 Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885–1968) 239–244 Xu Fu 徐復 (active in the Northern Song) 135, 136, 138n51 “Xugua” 序卦 230–232 Yan Fu 嚴復 (1858–1921) 227–230, 234–235

index Yang Hui 楊輝 (1238–1298) 195 Yang Wanli 楊萬里 (1127–1206) 154–157, 159, 161–163, 165, 167–168 Yi-otogy (Yijing studies) see Yijing, Yijing divination Yijing (Book of Changes) Academician position of 84 Branches of the Changes 146 Book of wisdom approach 3–4 Contemporary use 246 Hexagram counting method 204–215 Historical turn in Western scholarship 4–6 Global circulation 1–2 in Imperial China 223–224 Links to mathematics 193–216 Political text in modern time 223–244 Symbol of modernity 11–14 Scientific use 215–216 Text & transmission 1–3, 23–24, 25, 49, 53, 55–59, 70, 83, 89, 246–248 Yijing divination see also mantic arts characteristics 7–8, 10–11, 125–133, 247– 248 Cheng Jiong’s view on 140 Cheng Yi’s comments on 137 hexagram divination 42–53 Houtian (後天, post-heaven) method 252 legitimatization of 143–148 limits of and challenges to 133–143 method of Dayan (or Da Yan) 大衍 23– 24, 250 numerology 248–266 practices 85, 101–103, 116, 125–134, 142– 149 prognostication principles 253–254 rationale for mantic arts 146–147 revival of in contemporary China 270– 272 Six lines prediction 269, 280 “scientific” tool 270–271 Xiantian (先 天pre-heaven) method 250–252 Yarrow stalks, use of 105, 247–248 Zhen Dexiu’s view on divination techniques 146 Zhu Xi’s view on 134–138, 140 yin and yang 75–79, 82, 85

Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7

index Yitu lüe易圖略 210–215 Yongshen 用神 275, 278, 281, 284, 286–287, 289–290, 292, 294 Yongyan 庸言 155, 167, 168 Yu Fan 虞翻 (164–233) 159 Zhang Jun 張浚 (1097–1164) 154 Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 (1858–1936) 232–234, 236–239, 244 Zhao Xianke趙獻可 (1573–1664?) 170–174, 176 Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127–200) 159 Zhong-Lü chuandao ji 鍾呂傳道集 112 Zhou Dunyi’s 周敦頤 (1017–1073) 173, 178 Zhouyi 周易 see Yijing Zhouyi cantong qi 周易參同契 112

307 Zhouyi jijie 周易集解 160 Zhouyi Zhengyi 周易正義 99 Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) 2, 134–138, 140, 155, 193, 195, 246 affirmation of Changes divination 134 and Cheng Jiong 140n56 criticism of Guo Zhongxiao’s studies of the Changes 136 criticism of Wang Sheng’s studies of the Changes 135–136, 138 divination based on the Changes 130 goal of Changes divination 140 on Changes divination 134–138 Zhun 屯 (Difficulty in the beginning, hexagram 4) 163–164 Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑒 154

Tze-ki Hon - 978-90-04-50003-7