Ancient Chinese Divination

Ancient Chinese Divination PDF Author: Stephen Lee Field
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN:
Category : Divination
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book

Book Description
In China, the art of divination (the act of seeking prophetic information to avoid misfortune) had a profound influence on the rise of medicine, science, government, and, most importantly, philosophy and religion. This compact volume begins by explaining how divination evolved in Chinese society from the New Stone Age until the classical period and goes on to discuss how new forms of divination developed directly and indirectly out of the ancient traditions.Comprehensive and up-to-date, "Ancient Chinese Divination" will acquaint readers with not only the origin and evolution of a significant and fascinating traditional Chinese art, but also a sampling of its most important practical applications, some of which, such as feng shui, have achieved a near-universal level of appreciation and relevance.

Ancient Chinese Divination

Ancient Chinese Divination PDF Author: Stephen Lee Field
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN:
Category : Divination
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book

Book Description
In China, the art of divination (the act of seeking prophetic information to avoid misfortune) had a profound influence on the rise of medicine, science, government, and, most importantly, philosophy and religion. This compact volume begins by explaining how divination evolved in Chinese society from the New Stone Age until the classical period and goes on to discuss how new forms of divination developed directly and indirectly out of the ancient traditions.Comprehensive and up-to-date, "Ancient Chinese Divination" will acquaint readers with not only the origin and evolution of a significant and fascinating traditional Chinese art, but also a sampling of its most important practical applications, some of which, such as feng shui, have achieved a near-universal level of appreciation and relevance.

Secrets of Chinese Divination

Secrets of Chinese Divination PDF Author: Sasha Fenton
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
ISBN: 1571747966
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
PBaffled by Chinese astrology? Confused by Feng Shui? Author Sasha Fenton delves into 11 major divination systems based on ancient Chinese practices, providing easily accessible introductions and instructions so the beginner can put these methods to use./PPIncluded are the following:BRULLIChinese astrology/LILIFeng Shui/LILII Ching/LILIChinese hand reading/LILIFace reading/LILILunar oracle/LILIMah Jong reading/LILILo Shu Square/LILIWeighing the bones/LILIYarrow stick divination/LILIFour Pillars of Destiny/LI/UL/P

Fortune-tellers and Philosophers

Fortune-tellers and Philosophers PDF Author: Richard J Smith
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429710755
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Get Book

Book Description
Providing an analysis of Chinese divination as a means of organizing and interpreting reality, Richard Smith examines a wide variety of mantic techniques - from the use of the hallowed Yjing to such popular practices as siting (geomancy), astrology, numerology, physiognomy, the analysis of written characters, meteorological divination, the use of mediums (including spirit-writing), and dream interpretation. As he explains the pervasiveness and tenacity of divination in China, the author explores not only the connections between various mantic techniques but also the relationship between divination and other facets of Chinese culture, including philosophy, science and medicine. He discusses the symbolism of divination, its aesthetics, its ritual aspects, and its psychological and social significance, pointing out that in traditional China divination helped to order the future, just as history helped to order the past, and rituals the present.

Unlocking the Secrets of Chinese Fortune Telling

Unlocking the Secrets of Chinese Fortune Telling PDF Author: Lillian Too
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 9781741800227
Category : Divination
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book

Book Description


Cosmic Coherence

Cosmic Coherence PDF Author: William Matthews
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1800732694
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Get Book

Book Description
Humans are unique in their ability to create systematic accounts of the world – theories based on guiding cosmological principles. This book is about the role of cognition in creating cosmologies, and explores this through the ethnography and history of Yijing divination in China. Diviners explain the cosmos in terms of a single substance, qi, unfolding across scales of increasing complexity to create natural phenomena and human experience. Combined with an understanding of human cognition, it shows how this conception of scale offers a new way for anthropologists and other social scientists to think about cosmology, comparison and cultural difference.

Divination and Prediction in Early China and Ancient Greece

Divination and Prediction in Early China and Ancient Greece PDF Author: Lisa Raphals
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107010756
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 499

Get Book

Book Description
This book compares the intellectual and social history and past and present contexts of mantic practices (divination) in Chinese and Greek antiquity.

Fate Calculation Experts

Fate Calculation Experts PDF Author: Geng Li
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1785339958
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Get Book

Book Description
Having long been stigmatized as an immoral and even illegal “superstition”, the popular practice of divination is experiencing a revival in contemporary China. Fate Calculation Experts explores how diviners attempt to achieve legitimation in a society which identifies strongly with modernity, science, and rationality. As well as associating with modern knowledge production systems, diviners build a positive social image for their occupation via claims to moral authority and appeals to “tradition”. Beyond matters of image management, diviners’ efforts towards legitimation also figure in the social relationships and fundamental cultural values they develop in their practice.

Chinese Character Manipulation in Literature and Divination

Chinese Character Manipulation in Literature and Divination PDF Author: Anne Kathrin Schmiedl
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004422374
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book

Book Description
In Chinese Character Manipulation in Literature and Divination, Anne Schmiedl analyses the historical development and linguistic properties of Chinese character manipulation, focusing on a late imperial work on this subject, the Zichu by Zhou Lianggong (1612–1672).

Fengshui in China

Fengshui in China PDF Author: Ole Bruun
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824826727
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book

Book Description
For well over a century, Chinese fengshui, or "geomancy," has interested Western laymen and scholars. Today, hundreds of popular manuals claim to use its principles in their advice on how people can increase their wealth, happiness, longevity, and so on. This study is quite different, approaching fengshui from an academic angle. The focus is on its significance in China, but the recent history of its reinterpretation in the West is also depicted. The author argues that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge, which is used to explain a range of everyday occurrences in rural areas, such as disease, mental disorders, accidents, and common mischief. The study includes a historical account of fengshui over the last 150 years augmented by the results of anthropological fieldwork on contemporary practices in two Chinese rural areas.

Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China

Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China PDF Author: Michael Loewe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521454667
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Get Book

Book Description
Chinese empires were established by force of arms, but sustained by religious rites and intellectual theory. The four centuries from 206 BC to AD 220 witnessed major changes in the state cults and the concepts of monarchy, while various techniques of divination were used to forecast the future or to solve immediate problems. Michael Loewe examines these changes and the links between religion and statecraft. While both mythology and the traditions nurtured by the learned affected the concept and practice of monarchy throughout the period, the political and social weaknesses of the last century of Han rule bring into question the success that was achieved by the imperial ideal. Nevertheless, that ideal and its institutions were of prime importance for the understanding of Han times and for the influence they exercised on China's later dynasties.