Miscellaneous Divinations

AnonymousThe Commercial Press · ChinaJun 2024

2.7

Word count: 11K words
Chapters: 9

Summary

In ancient times, the term for divination methods other than the orthodox practices of turtle-shell and yarrow-stalk divination. The "Treatise on Literature" in the History of the Han Dynasty states: "Miscellaneous divination records the images of the hundred affairs and observes the signs of good and evil. The Book of Changes says: 'Divine on affairs to know what is to come.' The various forms of divination are not one; dreams are the greatest, and thus the Zhou had officials for them." The Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, under the ninth year of the Wude era of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, records: "The common people may not recklessly establish妖shrines; apart from the orthodox arts of divination, all other miscellaneous divination is to be strictly prohibited." Liu Shipei's Wen Shuo: Zong Sao observes: "Viewing how his reasoning plumbs the depths of the abstruse and expansive, his arts test miscellaneous divination; he sings of Wu Yang's descending summons and commands Ling Fen to divine auspiciousness; desolate, who can he speak to? Zhan Yin consults the turtle; misfortune and fortune have no gate—Jia Sheng composed the owl poem: this is a tributary of the teachings of the Changes."

Editor's review

This book is a photographic reprint of the Miscellaneous Divination originally published by the Commercial Press in the Republican period; it belongs to the photocopy collation of traditional mantic literature, short in length but high in information density. Its value lies not in offering divinatory formulas that can be directly copied, but in presenting the position of the concept of "miscellaneous divination" within traditional bibliography and political discourse: from the Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi's definition of "recording the images of the hundred affairs and observing the signs of good and evil," to the Tang prohibition recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian against miscellaneous divination other than the "orthodox arts of divination," and further to Liu Shipei's assessment viewing it as a tributary of the teachings of the Changes, the materials layer upon layer, sketching the tension between miscellaneous divination and the orthodox order of knowledge. In reading, one can see how the ancients used divination to discuss politics and how they arranged official posts with "dreams as the greatest," and can also sense the wariness of popular beliefs behind the prohibitions. It is suitable as a supplementary reader for the study of divination culture, folk custom history, and philology from the pre-Qin to the Tang, but it should be read with a critical eye and not treated as a manual of practice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University teachers and students researching divination culture and folk custom history from the pre-Qin to the Tang
Readers interested in the mantic arts section of the Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi and in bibliography
Researchers collecting materials for papers on traditional beliefs and political taboos
Literature and history enthusiasts who enjoy close reading of short historical sources

Not a good fit for

Practical readers hoping to learn specific divination methods
Beginners lacking patience for classical Chinese sources and scholarly annotations
Readers expecting a systematic general history rather than a compilation of fragmentary documents

Reading tips

First read the original passage from the Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi, then return to the passages cited in this book to clarify the bibliographic position of miscellaneous divination.
Compare the record in the Zizhi Tongjian of the prohibition of miscellaneous divination with the political context of the Tang to reflect on the logic of governance behind the ban.
Treat Liu Shipei's remarks in Wen Shuo: Zong Sao as reception-history material and note his intent to encompass miscellaneous divination under the teachings of the Changes.
Keep a copy of the Han Shu or a relevant annotated edition at hand, and check terminology as needed to avoid taking words too literally.

About the publisher

The Commercial Press China · Founded in 1897

"Republic-era Commercial Press Original Editions" refers to original books printed by The Commercial Press during the Republican period, not a separate publishing house. Judging from the 300 titles held in the collection, its publishing focus centers on classical poetry and lyrics, literary appreciation, classic works, military texts, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy. Representative titles include Wang Guowei's Renjian Cihua, Zhong Rong's Shipin, the lyric collections of Xin Qiji and Liu Yong, Sun Wu's The Art of War, and Lü Buwei's Xianshi Lan. Its author resources are mainly classical writers, together with modern scholars such as Li Jingbang and Guo Huaruo, whose collations and annotations are also represented, giving the list a character centered on original texts while attending to annotation and appreciation. Public information on the precise Republican-era catalog and printings is limited; this overview is based only on the titles held in the collection.

版权信息
杂占总序
占日篇第八十二
占月篇第八十三
占五星篇第八十四
占流星篇第八十五
占客星篇第八十六
占妖星篇第八十七
占云气篇第八十八

FAQ

What is the relationship between "miscellaneous divination" and turtle-shell and yarrow-stalk divination?

According to the definition in the Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi, miscellaneous divination comprises divination methods outside turtle-shell and yarrow-stalk divination; its characteristic is "recording the images of the hundred affairs and observing the signs of good and evil," its scope broader than turtle-shell and yarrow-stalk divination, with dream divination as the major part. The Tang prohibition recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian also takes "the orthodox arts of divination" as the boundary and prohibits all other miscellaneous divination together, showing that the two belonged to different levels in traditional knowledge classification.

Is this book a photographic reprint of the original or a newly typeset edition?

According to the publication information, this book is a collated edition of the original Commercial Press publication of the Republican period, published in 2024. Readers may judge from this that its format and textual appearance tend toward preserving the original publication's form; in reading, one must adapt to old-style punctuation and typesetting habits, and when encountering variant characters, identify them by context or reference works.

Can the materials in this book be used directly to study Tang popular beliefs?

The book cites the record in the Zizhi Tongjian of the prohibition of miscellaneous divination in the ninth year of the Wude era of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, which can serve as evidence of official attitudes, but the actual state of popular beliefs still requires cross-verification with notebooks, Dunhuang documents, and other materials. A single prohibition is not sufficient to infer the full picture of popular practice; it is advisable to use it as a sample of policy discourse.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.