Stalk divination : a newly discovered alternative to the I ching PDF
Preview Stalk divination : a newly discovered alternative to the I ching
i STALK DIVINATION ii iii STALK DIVINATION A Newly Discovered Alternative to the I Ching Edited and Translated by Constance A. Cook AND Zhao Lu 趙璐 1 iv 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress ISBN 978– 0– 19– 064845– 9 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America v CONTENTS Preface ix List of Charts and Illustrations xiii Introduction 1 The Cultural Milieu of Fourth- Century bce China 2 The Shifa Text 5 Contextualizing the Shifa and Its Use 13 Stalk Divination 18 Features of the Manuscript 26 1. General Principles of Shifa Interpretation 29 Relative Positioning 35 Fixed Positioning 38 The Use and Nature of Extraordinary Numbers 40 The Application of the Extraordinary Numbers in the Reading 42 The Rules: Applications and Implications 44 vi Contents 2. Traces of Shifa- Style Divination 47 3. Transcription and Translation 53 Section 1. “Life and Death” 死生 71 Section 2. “Obtaining” 得 77 Section 3. “Presenting Offerings” 享 86 Section 4. “Change” 變 90 Section 5. “Arrival” 至 92 Section 6. “Marrying a Wife” 娶妻 94 Section 7. “Negotiation” 讎 96 Section 8. “Meeting” 見 98 Section 9. “Spiritual Blame” 咎 100 Section 10. “Healing” 瘳 102 Section 11. “Rainy and Clear Weather” 雨旱 103 Section 12. “Male or Female” 男女 105 Section 13. “Travel” 行 106 Section 14. “Prognosticating on Husbands and Women” 貞丈夫女子 107 Section 15. “Minor Attainments” 小得 109 Section 16. “War” 戰 112 Section 17. “Completing” 成 114 Section 18. “Intended Service” 志事 116 Section 19. “Intended Service, Military Troops” 志事 、軍旅 117 Section 20. “The Four Position Chart” 四位表 119 Section 21. “Auspiciousness and Inauspiciousness According to the Four Seasons” 四季吉凶 122 Section 22. “The Cycle of Qian and Kun” 乾坤運轉 126 vi vii Contents Section 23. “Results” 果 128 Section 24. “Pictures of the Trigram Array and Human Body” 卦位圖、人身圖 131 Section 25. “Heavenly Stems and Trigrams” 天干與卦 134 Section 26. “Curses” 祟 136 Section 27. “Earthly Stems and Trigrams” 地支與卦 140 Section 28. “Earthly Stems and Line Numbers” 地支與爻 142 Section 29. “Line Number Images” 爻象 143 Section 30. “The Seventeen Commands” 十七命 145 Glossary 147 Chart of All Shifa and Some Shuogua Correlations 155 Table of Hexagram Correlations in the Zhouyi and Guicang 159 Summary Content of Zhouyi and Wangjiatai (Guicang) Hexagram Texts 163 Notes 171 Bibliography 181 Index 191 vii viii ix PREFACE This book presents for the first time a full translation and analy- sis of a newly discovered bamboo divination text from preimperial China, called the Shifa 筮法. The manual presents a completely new way of reading the results of stalk divination, which traditionally is done in terms of hexagrams according to a tradition and text popu- larly known as the I Ching (otherwise known as the Book of Changes, Yijing, or Zhouyi). The Shifa divination method is focused on the eight trigrams, which make up the fundamental building blocks of the 64 hexagrams, as seen in the Zhouyi, but the method of their interpre- tation in the Shifa is unlike anything in the Changes tradition. The authors of this book have translated this new text and “cracked the code” of its methodology. This new divination methodology will gen- erate a reevaluation of all pre-Q in divinatory results and bring new light to Zhouyi studies. The original text is short (only 63 bamboo strips which roll out sort of like a placemat), but it is complete, including 18 sections of sample trigram pattern readings and 21 tables or diagrams of factors (parts of the body, seasons, calendar signs, lists of mantic numbers, curses, etc.) that had to be considered by the diviner when interpret- ing the trigram patterns (hexagrams are never mentioned). This book ix
The list of books you might like
