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JULIAN PAS
(Yin) oracle practice is well documented, there is up to now almost no evidence about the assumed transition from osteomancy to the use of I ching related divination. And yet many authors believe that there was a transition or change from the use of oracle bones to a different, yarrow stalk related type of divination, which ultimately crystallized into the Book of Changes.3 One can, however, with equal or even more probability assume that consultation by means of the dried stalks of yarrow or milfoil had an independent origin and that the I ching type of divination somehow resulted from a combination of scapulomancy and achilleomancy.
That the ancient form of divining from oracle bones was not completely or immediately abolished by the use of milfoil stalks, is evident from texts such as the Shu ching: it is stated there several times that rulers resorted to the double consultation of the tortoise and the milfoil stalks.4 During the Chou, however, the diagrams of the I-ching started to prevail. It is believed that King Wen and the Duke of Chou had a role in the creation of the diagrams, although legend holds that they go back to the mythical ruler Fu-hsi. The origin of the linear patterns is not known. Few researchers have come up with a probable hypothesis concerning the original meaning of the basic diagrams -- and --. Their identification with yin and yang is almost certainly secondary; even their description as "whole", and "broken" or "divided" does not seem to correspond with their origin. In my view, the most plausible theory is to see them as an early expression of number symbolism related to the use of sticks or stalks as counting tools. This is the assumption made by Miyazaki Ichisada, who admits that he does not understand much of the I ching, "the most difficult and the most unintelligible” book among the Confucian classics.5 I agree with him that the figures called kua are the basis of the whole text, and that the later commentaries are philosophical rationalizations of an ancient simple divination technique.
His main argument consists in the etymological analysis of several Chinese characters related to divination: for example the characters chi “good luck, good fortune" and hsiung, “bad luck” actually express an odd and an even number respectively. This indicates that originally the yarrow stick divination proceeded as follows: "a certain number of sticks were placed in a box; one took