RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572
41

etym, (variant); } = cracks; 1= || scapula !) (K. 1192) enquire by divination; auspicious, good, virtuous; firm, solid; and !! diviner's fee?) { Kui (K. 462) tortoise, divination by aid of the cracks in heated tortoise shell to draw lots; a lot [this character is a strange mixture; enclosure or “border prairie” with possibly 2 sets of stalks on top of a tortoise: 2 types of divination mixed together] * (K. 894; M. 5763) to divine by stalks of milfoil; (from K magic and " bamboo-stalks) * shih (M. 5801) milfoil (“achillée”) [the character suggests a plant, and elder person, and a mouth: oracle of old sage?]

Characters derived from 4: A hands manipulating divining sticks on a table to perceive name of king, Kao, a diviner to learn to teach (to learn + whipping)

NOTES

1 The Chinese text of this oracle is found in Sheng-ch'ien chu-chieh (see bibliography)

2 While this article was already in press, I obtained new information stating that there is a still older example of Chinese oracles, dating from the 5th century A.D: “The earliest example of a Buddhist oracle-sequence can be dated to the middle of the fifth century, and is found in the printed Buddhist Canon. It forms the tenth book in a work entitled The Book of Consecration (Kuan-ting ching, T. 1331).” Although this text is not necessarily a temple oracle, yet it is so far the earliest book containing 100 oracle stanzas in a style similar to the later temple oracles. (Michel Strickmann, “Chinese Oracles in Buddhist Vestments”, p. 27 of an unpublished paper delivered at the Berkeley Conference on Chinese Divination and Portent-lore, June 20-July 2, 1983).

3 See for example L. Vandermeersch, "De la Tortue à l'Achillée", p. 46. Fung Yu-lan, in his History of Chinese Philosophy, vol. 1 (1952), pp. 27-28: quotes the Ch'ien Han Shu, which in its turn refers to the Shuching. “The divina-tion plant (shih ) and the tortoise shell (kuei #k) are used by the Sages. The Shu says: "when you have doubts about any great matter, consult the tortoise shell and divination stalks'. . . .

** See also J. Needham, Science & Civilization in China, vol. 2 (1956), pp. 347-349. On page 348 there is a reproduction of a drawing dating from the late Ch'ing dynasty, which shows the legendary emperor Shun and his ministers consulting the oracles of the tortoise-shell and the milfoil.

7 & Miyazaki Ichisada (1966), p. 161.

8 Miyazaki (1966), p. 162.

9 Webster's New 20th century Dictionary of the English Language (1979), p. 765.

10 Andree Richard (1906).
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572
45

3. GERNET, Jacques, "Petits Ecarts et Grands Ecarts", pp. 52-69, in J. P. Vernant, a.o., Divination et Rationalité, Paris: Ed. du Seuil, 1974.

4. JORDAN, David K., "Taiwanese Poe Divination; Statistical Awareness and Religious Belief", JSSR, 21 (1982), 114-118.

5. KALTENMARK, Max & NGO van XUYET, "La Divination dans la Chine Ancienne", pp. 333-356, in vol. 1 of A. Caquot & M. Leibovici, Eds., La Divination, 2 vols., Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1968.

6. KARLGREN, Bernhard, Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese. Taipei: Ch'eng-wen reprint, 1973 (original edition: Paris, 1923).

7. LENORMANT, Francois, La Divination et la Science des Présages chez les Chaldéens, (Les Sciences Occultes en Asie). Paris: Maisonneuve, 1875.

8. LOEWE, Michael & BLACKER, Carmen eds., Oracles and Divination, Boulder: Shambhala, 1981 ("China" by M. Loewe, pp. 38-62).

9. MATHEWS, R. H., Chinese-English Dictionary. Shanghai, 1931. Revised edition: 1974.

10. MIYAZAKI, Ichisada, "Le Développement de l'Idee de Divination en Chine", pp. 161-165, in Mélanges de Sinologie offerts à Monsieur Paul Demiéville (Bibliothèque de l'Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, vol. 20), Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1966.

11. NEEDHAM, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1956.

12. RICHARD, André, "Scapulimantia", pp. 143-165, in Boas Anniversary Volume. Anthropological Papers written in honor of Franz Boas. New York: G.E. Stechert & Co., 1906.

13. VANDERMEERSCH, Léon, "De la Tortue à l'Achillée", pp. 29-51 in J. P. VERNANT, a.o., Divination et Rationalité, Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1974.

14. NGO van XUYET, Divination, Magie et Politique dans la Chine Ancienne (Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Sciences Religieuses, vol. 78). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1976.

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