Bushi Zhengzong · The Orthodox Tradition of Divination

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Bushi Zhengzong · The Orthodox Tradition of Divination Compiled by Wang Hongxu The Secret Purport of Prior Heaven Prefatory Notes to Bushi Zhengzong 1. The way of divination guides the uncomprehending and resolves doubt, teaching people to approach good fortune and avoid misfortune. Once the six lines are established, transformations appear. In all of them there are principles of utmost appropriateness that do not change. Worldly people have no settled understanding within and cannot investigate the refined subtleties. They merely delude the world and deceive the people. How deeply lamentable! This book follows correct principle as its single standard. I dare not cling recklessly to conjectural explanations and mislead later students. For this reason I have named it The Orthodox Tradition. 2. Since Guigu replaced yarrow stalks with coins, the Way of the Changes has undergone a transformation. Its chief points are the Useful Spirit, Source Spirit, Avoided Spirit, Hostile Spirit, Flying and Hidden Spirits, Pursuing and Retreating Spirits, Reversing Chant, Repeating Chant, the Void of the Ten-Day Cycle, Month Break, and similar categories. All are governing principles within the hexagram and must not be passed over carelessly. I have therefore established eighteen discussions. From entering the hall to reaching the inner chamber, nothing falls outside their scope. I ask readers to examine them closely. Reading note: The source here writes 追退, “pursuing and retreating”; its later headings use 进退, “advancing and retreating.” Both wordings are retained in their respective places. “Spirit” translates shen as a technical divination term; the named categories are not merged into the Six Beasts. 3. In discussing Flying and Hidden Spirits, old books speak of Qian and Kun coming and going and exchanging places. Supplement to the Forest of Changes goes further, saying that every line has a hidden and a flying influence. Error has been transmitted as error, becoming habitual without examination. In this book I distinguish each hexagram individually and establish fixed examples for Flying and Hidden Spirits, so that students may understand at a glance and their knot of doubt dissolve of itself. 4. Books on divination such as Rhapsody of Heaven's Mystery, Supplement to the Forest of Changes, Hidden Changes, Probing the Changes, and Augmented and Revised Divination by the Changes each have refined researches and distinctive points. Yet among them there are either fixed partial views or self-contradictions, leaving readers cause for regret. Only Golden Counsels, written by Liu Chengyi, is truly sufficient to elucidate the secret purport of Prior Heaven and serve as a bridge for later students. Its general discussion, the Rhapsody of a Thousand Gold Pieces, is especially extensive and profound in what it contains. Unfortunately, Yao Jilong's commentary has many errors and instead loses the true face of Mount Lu. I have expended considerable pains here and made careful corrections. Whether people understand or condemn me, I can only leave it to them. 5. From childhood I studied the principles of the Changes for many years. Later I met Master Yang Guanghan of Xin'an and thereby gained a full understanding of his learning. Volumes thirteen and fourteen of this book contain eighteen questions. All derive from my teacher's instruction and from the divinations I have tested in experience. Once students are thoroughly familiar with these, they will know how the methods in Essentials for Beginners, the eighteen discussions, and the refutations of errors in other books are integrated through one principle. The hidden secrets between Heaven and Earth are all disclosed here. Reading note: The source's 十八调 is read through the preceding eighteen discussions; the Chinese wording is unchanged. 6. I hang my diviner's curtain in the marketplace, with responses and consultations arriving in a crowd. I had planned someday to return to my native mountains, build a hut among the woods, dismiss all human affairs, and complete a book to store in a stone chamber, unwilling to speak of it to outsiders. Yet those coming to study increased daily. Thus, in the intervals of our discussions, I personally settled this compilation. I may not escape ridicule for measuring the ocean with a shell and looking through a narrow tube. If clear-sighted gentlemen from every direction do not cast it aside and instead offer instruction, I shall be most fortunate. Contents of Bushi Zhengzong Maxims on Divination Essentials for Beginners Verse on the Nayin Assigned Tones of the Sixty Stem-Branch Pairs Affiliations of the Ten Heavenly Stems Affiliations of the Twelve Earthly Branches Diagram of Directions of the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and Eight Trigrams Mutual Generation and Control of the Five Phases Mutual Generation and Control of the Six Relations Combinations of Heavenly Stems Combinations and Clashes of Earthly Branches Order of the Five Phases Reading note: The source repeats the character for ten in the stem heading; the English gives the intended heading without altering the Chinese. Examples of Trigram Images Affiliations of the Eight Palaces Method of Replacing Yarrow Stalks with Coins Names of the Sixty-Four Hexagrams Verse for Assigning Stems to the Hexagram Formula for Placing Self and Response Verse on the Six Beasts Examples for Starting the Six Beasts Formula for Placing the Monthly Hexagram Body Verse on Threefold Combinations Forming Configurations Palm Formula for the Birth Stage Verse on Emolument, Horse, and Yang Blade Formula for the Noble Person Verse on the Three Penalties and Six Harms Things Associated with the Eight Palaces Bodily Correspondences of the Eight Trigrams Verse for Identifying the Intervening Lines Method of Deriving the Month from the Year Method of Deriving the Hour from the Day Method for Determining the Yin Hour Rhapsody on Penetrating the Mysteries Rhapsody of Scattered Gold Formula for the Various Lines Holding Self Formula for Generation, Control, Void, Movement, and Stillness of Self and Response Favorable and Avoided Conditions of the Hexagram Body Verse on Good and Ill in Flying and Hidden Spirits Generating and Controlling Verse against Rigidly Relying on Spirit Stars in Judging the Changes Verse on Six Still Lines Verse on Six Lines Moving in Disorder Verse on the Avoided Spirit The Source Spirit Formula for the Useful Spirit Not Appearing in the Hexagram Formula for the Useful Spirit in the Void Formula for the Useful Spirit Moving Formula for the Day Formula for the Six Relations Moving Verse on Transformations of the Six Relations Judgments in Verse on the Six Beasts Transmitted Signs of the Day and Month Commanders Pairing the Eight Trigrams Examples for Deriving the Voids of the Six Jia Cycles Fixed Rules for Month Break Examples of Images Presented by Hexagrams and Lines, Flying and Hidden Spirits, and the Hexagram Body Eighteen Discussions 1. Fixed Rules for Classifying the Useful Spirit 2. Self and Response in Discussing the Useful Spirit 3. Questions and Answers about the Useful Spirit 4. Discussion of Source, Avoided, and Hostile Spirits 5. Correct Discussion of the Flying Spirit 6. Correct Transmission concerning the Hidden Spirit 7. Evaluation of the Six Beasts 8. Discussion of the Four Birth Positions, Position by Position 9. Discussion of Month Break 10. Discussion of the Void of the Ten-Day Cycle 11. Fixed Examples of Reversing Chant Hexagrams 12. Fixed Examples of Repeating Chant Hexagrams 13. Discussion of Flourishing, Supported, Resting, and Imprisoned Conditions 14. Discussion of Control Contained within Combination 15. Discussion of Clash Encountered within Combination and Combination Encountered within Clash 16. Discussion of Generation Encountered at Extinction and Generation Encountered under Control 17. Discussion of Transformations Producing Advancing and Retreating Spirits 18. Discussion of Hexagrams Proving Accurate or Inaccurate Refuting Errors in Augmented and Revised Divination by the Changes Refuting Errors concerning the Hidden Spirit in Supplement to the Forest of Changes Refuting Errors concerning Nourishment, Decline, and Illness in Supplement to the Forest of Changes Refuting Errors concerning the Self Body in Complete Book of Divination Refuting Errors concerning the Heavenly Physician Star Refuting Reckless Discussions of the Natal Allotment Examining Errors concerning Spirit Stars in Complete Book of Divination Examining Errors concerning Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse Examining the Error of Taking Response as Another Person in Supplement to the Forest of Changes Refuting Errors concerning Month Break and Cycle Void in Supplement to the Forest of Changes Examining Nuclear Hexagrams Refuting Errors concerning Greater and Lesser Lifetime Limits in Supplement to the Forest of Changes Refuting Errors concerning the Household in Supplement to the Forest of Changes Refuting Errors concerning Marriage and Wedding in Supplement to the Forest of Changes Examining Errors in the Various Divinations by Six Lines Direct Explanation of the Rhapsody of a Thousand Gold Pieces, General Judgments of Golden Counsels Written by Liu Chengyi; annotated by Wang Hongxu Weather; the year and seasons; the ruling dynasty; campaigns and warfare; person and destiny; marriage; childbirth; attached divinations for midwives and wet nurses; adding members to a household; symptoms; the condition of illness; medicine; spirits; planting; silkworms and mulberries; the six domestic animals; seeking examination success; official service; seeking wealth; the household; newly added refined distinctions for judging a household by the six lines; graves; seeking a teacher; teaching establishments; litigation; escaping disorder; flight; lost property; newly added pox illnesses; travel; travelers; boats; courtesan houses; the homes of boat people; the How Do We Know chapter; Rhapsody on Strange Portents; Discussion of Searching for Ghosts. Eighteen Questions and Answers Question 1: The Three Transmissions Control the Useful Spirit Answers with five verified hexagram examples Question 2: What Is Called Returning Control? Answers with sixteen verified hexagram examples Question 2: What Generates the Useful Spirit Is the Source Spirit Answers with four verified hexagram examples Reading note: The source repeats “second” here; it is not silently renumbered as third. Question 4: Threefold Combinations of the Eight Trigrams Form Configurations Answers with twelve verified hexagram examples Question 5: Do the Ill Effects of Reversing Chant Have Different Degrees of Severity? Answers with five verified hexagram examples Question 6: Do the Ill Effects of Repeating Chant Have Different Degrees of Severity? Answers with four verified hexagram examples Question 7: A Line Meets Cycle Void Answers with fourteen verified hexagram examples Question 8: A Line Broken by the Month Answers with seven verified hexagram examples Question 9: The Useful Spirit Does Not Appear Answers with six verified hexagram examples Question 10: Advancing and Retreating Spirits Answers with five verified hexagram examples Question 11: Combination Encountered within Clash and Clash Encountered within Combination Answers with eight verified hexagram examples Question 12: The Four Birth Positions, Tomb, and Extinction Answers with thirteen verified hexagram examples Question 13: Six Clashes and Six Combinations Answers with eleven verified hexagram examples Question 14: Three Penalties and Six Harms Answers with four verified hexagram examples Question 15: One Still Line or One Moving Line Answers with seven verified hexagram examples Question 16: The Hexagram Is Entirely Still or Entirely Moving Answers with four verified hexagram examples Question 17: The Useful Spirit Appears More than Once Answers with five verified hexagram examples Question 18: The Questioner Is Sincere and the Interpreter Clear-Sighted, yet the Result Is Inaccurate—Why? Answers with six verified hexagram examples

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