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Bushi Zhengzong · The Orthodox Tradition of Divination
Eighteen Discussions · The Useful Spirit
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
Eighteen Discussions
1. Fixed Examples for Classifying the Useful Spirit
Parents line: In every divination about grandparents, parents, teachers and elders, the head of a household, paternal uncles, paternal or maternal aunts, people of the same generation as one's parents, or relatives and friends of approximately their age; and about city walls, houses, boats and vehicles, clothing, rain gear, seeking rain, silk, cloth and felt goods, memorials and written compositions, or halls and rooms: take the Parents line as the Useful Spirit.
Officer and Ghost line: In every divination about rank and reputation, government offices, thunder and lightning, ghosts and spirits, a husband, his brothers and others of his generation, his associates and friends, rebellious ministers, robbers, malign influences, worry and doubt, illness, corpses, or contrary winds: take the Officer and Ghost line as the Useful Spirit.
Brothers line: In every divination about brothers, sisters, sisters' husbands, one's wife's brothers, brothers through established family ties, sworn associates and colleagues, or intimate friends: take the Brothers line as the Useful Spirit.
Wife and Wealth line: In every divination about an elder brother's wife, a younger brother's wife, one's own wife or concubines, a friend's wife or concubines, maidservants and servants, prices, money and wealth, pearls and precious things, gold and silver, storehouse funds and grain, miscellaneous possessions or utensils; and in inquiries about weather, clear and bright conditions: take the Wife and Wealth line as the Useful Spirit.
Descendants line: In every divination about sons and daughters, grandchildren, nephews and nieces, sons-in-law, pupils, loyal ministers, capable generals, medicinal materials, Buddhist or Daoist clergy, the six kinds of domestic animals, birds, favorable winds, relieving worry or avoiding misfortune; and in inquiries about weather, the sun, moon and stars: take the Descendants line as the Useful Spirit.
2. Discussion of Self and Response as Useful Spirits
In every hexagram, of the two lines Self and Response, Self represents oneself and Response represents another person. If Self and Response generate or combine with one another, host and guest accord. If they control or clash with one another, their feelings are not harmonious.
In divining about one's own illness, asking about lifespan, asking whether a journey will be favorable or unfavorable, and every matter that benefits or injures oneself, take the Self line as the Useful Spirit.
For divinations concerning people without a designated senior or junior relationship, friends with whom one has not formed a close association, practitioners of the various arts, enemies, a hostile state, a particular place on the ground, this mountain or that watercourse, this temple or that altar, and similar matters: take the Response line as the Useful Spirit.
If one owns a plot and asks whether a grave may be made there, Self is the burial site and Response the facing landform. If one is about to buy another person's land for a grave and asks whether burial there will benefit one's household, Response is the burial site and Self is one's household.
3. Questions and Answers on the Useful Spirit
Someone asked: When a servant divines about the master, the Parents line is the Useful Spirit. When a master divines about a servant, why is the Descendants line not the Useful Spirit?
Answer: For everything that nurtures, shelters or protects me, take the Parents line as the Useful Spirit. City walls, houses, boats, vehicles, clothing and similar things are examples. For gold and silver objects, maidservants and servants, and everything put to one's service, take the Wealth line as the Useful Spirit.
Again: For a brother's wife or a wife's sisters, Wealth is used. For a husband's brothers, why is Officer used?
Answer: A brother's wife and a wife's sisters are people of the wife's generation. Since a husband divining about his wife uses Wealth, all these use Wealth. A husband's brothers are people of the husband's generation. Since divining about a husband requires Officer, all these use Officer.
Again: Old books all record Brothers as wind and clouds. Why now take Officer and Ghost for a contrary wind, and Descendants for a favorable wind?
Answer: A person of rank takes Officer as the star of office; an ordinary person takes Ghost as misfortune. A person of high rank takes the Descendants line as a harmful influence; an ordinary person takes it as the Spirit of Blessing. Officer is the star of restraint; Ghost is the mansion of worry, doubt and obstruction. If wind and rain continue for days, or one meets a contrary wind, entangling illness, harassment by lawsuits, or anxiety about robbers, how could the mind be at ease? The Spirit of Blessing can control Officer and Ghost and is good at relieving sorrow; therefore it is used.
Reading note: The source's compressed 金銀對象 is rendered as gold and silver objects within the list of possessions; no new category of Useful Spirit is introduced.
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