Chapter 2 The Divination of Maheśvara and Chinese Numerical Trigram Divination
In: Dice and Gods on the Silk RoadSearch for other papers by Brandon Dotson in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Constance A. Cook in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Zhao Lu in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
Chapter two places the Divination of Maheśvara in the context of Chinese traditions of divining with numbers and with dice going back to the early first millennium BCE. It explores the material culture of Chinese numerical trigram divination, particularly the use of stalks and counting rods, but also dice and objects similar to dice. In the process it reveals continuities and discontinuities with the Divination of Maheśvara and its ritual assumptions. In its subchapters it explores the fourth-century-BCE bamboo manuscript known as the Stalk Divination (Shifa), as well as the Baoshan divination record; the third-century Empowered Draughtsmen Divination Method (Lingqi bufa), and the late-sixth-century Sutra for the Prognostication of Good and Evil (Zhancha shan‘e yebao jing). The longest subchapter is a case study that investigates the development of one specific form of stalk divination as represented in three separate texts, the Tricks of Jing, the Duke of Zhou Divination Method (Zhougong bufa), and the Guan Gongming Divination Method (Guan Gongming bufa). Their divergences and developments with regard to both poetics and pantheons make for an interesting case study parallel to that of the Divination of Maheśvara and its Indic antecedents. The chapter ends with a discussion of poetics, and of the relationship between divination and talismans.