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sparhawk
January 5th, 2008, 08:58 PM
Fang Shih who also practiced Yixue.

I will be posting some biographies of Fang-shih who practiced Yixue. Here is the first one.

Later Han History

Yang Yu

Yang Yu, styled Ai-hou, was a native of Ch'eng-tu in Shu. As a youth he studied the Book of Changes and augmented that with knowledge of the Celestial Rulers, Primal Pneuma, Wind and Clouds, and Meteorognostics. He served as an official of scholarship at the commandery level.
A flock of wild magpies used to assemble night after night atop the armory tower. The grand protector, Lien Fan, asked Yu about this. Yu explained, "This portends a minor military action, but it will not result in any harm." Slightly more than twenty days later, the Man-i barbarians if Kuang-jou prefecture rebelled, killing the prefectural head and his officials. The commandery sent out a force to punish them.
Later, there arose a wind strong enough to blow sticks around. the grand protector asked Yu about it. Yu explained, "Very soon, someone will present a gift of tree-borne fruit, the color of which will be red-yellow." It was not long after that an official-at-large made a gift to Lien Fan of several bundles of tangerines.
Once Yu was drinking with some companions. He cautioned his driver, "After the third round of drinking, we ought to prepare the chariot to depart." And as soon as that moment arrived, he rushed away. Later that night, in the host's quarters, a fight broke out that resulted in murder. Someone asked Yang Yu how he had anticipated this, and he explained, "Pigeons were squabbling in the tree facing the local altar to the soil god. This is the representation of an armed crime." Yang Yu's predictions were largely verified. He wrote a book of more than ten chapters called the Ch'i-p'ing {The Balanced}. He died in his home.

sparhawk
January 5th, 2008, 10:09 PM
Forgot to attribute the biography!!

Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China: Biographies of Fang-shih
Translated by
Kenneth J. DeWoskin
1983

rosada
January 6th, 2008, 04:56 PM
Interesting that these stories conclude with a reference to how the person died. I once asked the I Ching, "What does it mean to be rich?" and received 17, "At night fall the superior man goes indoors for rest and recouperation." I took this to mean if you sleep well at night you are rich. Now these stories make me think that furthermore, if you can die at home in your own bed you have had a good life.