Oldest Known I Ching-Guicang studies and comment, recent milifoil study

[sunpuerh]

The discovery in 1993 of a new divination manual in a Qin period tomb
near the old capital of Chu in Jiangling, Hubei, has stimulated new
research in ancient Chinese divination?a field once dominated by
studies of Shang period oracle bones and the Yijing (accepted by many
to be of an early Zhou date). This new manual (consisting of 394
bamboo strips and fragments representing two copies), is now
identified as the Guicang mentioned in later texts. Like the earliest
layer of the Yijing, it consists of hexagrams, the names of the 53
different hexagrams, and an omen text. Unlike the transmitted version
of the Yijing, the hexagrams are represented by an ancient numbering
system found also on earlier bone, bronze, and bamboo texts. Even
more startling, the mythological and historical events used as omens
in the text are completely different from those in the Yijing.

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The Structure and Schools of the Guicang

Xing Wen, Peking University

The Guicang, which might be translated as "The Book of Concealment,"
was attributed as a divinatory classic of the Shang Dynasty in early
China, and thus supposedly pre-dated the better known Zhouyi or
Yijing (The Book of Changes). However, the scattered citations of the
Guicang in received tradition which were edited as "reconstituted
redactions" (jiben), have been considered forgeries for centuries.
This misunderstanding ended with the discovery of bamboo slip
versions of the Guicang from a Qin tomb in 1993.


In this article the author states that the reconstituted redactions misrepresented
the true textual structure of the classic. He also analyzes connections
between different schools of the Guicang and the extant Guicang
chapter divisions and hexagram names. Besides exploring textual
characteristics of early Chinese divinatory classics, He discusses
the reconstruction of a critical edition of the Guicang and how best
to read the text.


These abstracts taken from the 2003 papers presented at the AAAS society. Unfortunately the society does not have copies of the complete papers. The Guicang has been considered an earlier version of the I Ching.
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Some Observations on Early Milfoil Divination

Stephen Lee Field, Trinity University

My analysis will begin with a look at a bone inscription dating from
the late Shang or early Zhou, unearthed at the Zhou homeland of
Qishan. It contains a six-digit numerical string, followed by a
sentence of six Chinese characters. Apparently the record of a
milfoil divination, the sentence is most likely either the diviner's
counsel based on the number cast by milfoil, or an omen text cited by
the diviner which corresponds to that particular number. In order to
further anchor this text in the early development of milfoil
divination, I will compare it to fragments of the Guicang found in
the Qin tomb at Wangjiatai.

[val]

Sun...

LiSe's thread on the Guicang may be of interest to you...

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Chi...s/48/689.html?

as well as her important observation as to Mary Halpin's insights into it...

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Chi...html?#POST9842

Love,

Val

[sunpuerh]

Val, thanks very much for the information. I think Lise has done us a great service.

Sun

[midaughter1]

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Chi.../48/1038.html?#POST9842
Dear Val,
In reading these comments at the url above I would like to point out the difference between a scholarly work and commentary. Scholarly works have a narrow focus, relate to concrete findings-artificats, manuscripts, and writings for example. So, for example in interpreting an ancient Chinese manuscript if one mistakes the character for fox for that of the ox, the sun for the moon, or water for plow (just examples) the mistake can be independently verified. Authors of this type include Richard Rutt and David Keightley.
Commentary, on the other hand is an interpretative work. Commentary uses scholarship as scholarly works are fundamental but it also uses the intangibles-experience, insights, intuition and so forth.I write in this vein. Authors of this type include Martin Palmer, Eva Wong

[midaughter1]

Was Lao Tzu influenced by the Guicang rather than the Zhouyi? Chinese thought on the subject:

L£õ Shao-gang

(Institute of Ancient Books, Jilin University, Changchun 130012,
China)

Abstract: This paper points out that the ideology of Lao-zi was originated from Guicang but not from Zhouyi. The author states three
evidences for his viewpoints:

`1.there are more aspects putting the hexagram of¡¡ Kun£¨¡¶À¤&iexcl ;·£©in the first place while putting
¡¡ Qian£¨¡¶Ç¬¡& middot;£©in the second place (which follows the order of the hexagrams' order of¡¡Guicang) in¡¡ Lao-zi, but not in turn (which is in conformity with the hexagrams' order in¡¡Zhouyi). [the Guicang places Hexagram 2 and Hexagram 1-this is called 'putting mother first.']

2. Lao-zi's dialectical thinking mode belongs to a mode different from that
of the ancient Text of the Zhouyi. ¡¡ [dialectical materialism is still a hot topic in China]

3.,¡¡Lao-zi's view on the universe's generating & producing differs from that of¡¡Zhouyi's ancient Text too.¡¡

[midaughter1]

.


"Later texts who called the Guicang "Return to Womb and Tomb," "Concealment, " or simply "Return." the original text was said to be less than five hundred characters. Since Chinese texts are entitled after the first line of the writing, we can speculate that the Guicang begins with Hexagram twenty-four, Return. " Taken from the 'new texts' page of midaughtersiching.

Based on these two sentences, Lise finds my entire website to be 'wrong'. What is wrong with these sentences, first of all? If Lise is thinking of becoming an I Ching critic I would say, don't give up your day job. Sorry, but sometimes its appropriate to say something when someone is being spectacularly unfair. No one leaped up to say her site was 'wrong' when it was the book of the returning moon.

[heylise]

Uff, I cannot find back the post with the context of this remark.

I did not say it was 'wrong', based on these two sentences. I said many things were not facts, and on your website it is (or was then) not clear what was fact and what was your own idea. This remark was just an example, and maybe not a good one.

'Own ideas' are great, and that was one of the reasons I also said your website was beautiful and interesting. I just wanted to warn people not to take everything for granted.
If you make clear what is your own idea, and what you have from other sources, then there is no problem at all. And there is no need to do so for every single item, just somewhere visible for the visitors, so they know what they can expect.

But if you don't, everything is fine too of course, but then some people might make remarks like I did.

Hope you go on with your beautiful and interesting website, because that's what it is.

LiSe

[hilary]

Someone should maybe say that... actually when LiSe's site was the Book of the Moon, someone did leap up to tell her it was wrong, or something along those lines. She changed it.

In Yi-land, where we all get so passionately involved in our personal theories, I think this is something a bit out of the ordinary.

[midaughter1]

Dear Lise, Val, Hilary, et al.:
Thanks for your kind comments, Lise-perhaps I took the wrong meaning. Commentary by its definition contains speculation, interpretation, and theory. Formal scholarship, by its terms, is limited to concrete evidence-authentic historical writings, characters as in Chinese characters,ancient tables of eclipses and archeological findings carefully interpreted.

The theory that the female diviner clans (there are direct quotes from K. C. Chang, a formidable scholar now deceased) that these distaff clans existed during the Shang Dynasty and I have placed a long quote by him on my site. I placed this clan in the I Ching via Tui because of the association of Tui with the White Tiger and the West in WB, the old commentaries symbols they both use plus other uncanny parallels of the WB text and the record of the life of Consort Hao. It didn't too far fetched to theorize that line 5 of Hexagram 63 might relate to her ( Hexagram 63 iscalled the 'Wu Ting hexagram'-Wu Ting was her husband)

I really don't know what type of concrete evidence would ever be found. Surely there is no Roseatta stone of the ancient I Ching. It would be a wonderful discovery to find a chart saying each and every ancient personage who is written about and has contributed to the I CHing but not very likely. I have divined the matter and so it stands.

Today in the I Ching world ancient women are still to be discovered, their contributions acknowledged. If there were ancient woman diviner clans as both KC Chang (and Joseph Needham also said in 1966) the idea more likely should be WHERE do they fit into the I Ching not IF.

My site has many more theories (such as Lao Tzu being descended from this lineage). But who can be offended by a theory? There was one self-styled critic who said I should make it clear where it was a theory. I thought the suggestion reasonable so I put more if's on the site he then criticized me for saying there were too many if's. This type of criticism is not sincere just meant for audience, meant to say the critic is so much better than the person he denigrates.

Only time will tell and we can hope further discoveries will shed some light on things. To simply deny the ancient women of the I CHing out of hand is close-minded.

I think more important on my site is the association of the I CHing with both esoteric Taoism and Buddhism that needed to be explored by someone with experience . The oldest explanation for the orgins of divination have always been attributed to the nagas-the holy beings from another galaxy had only been mentioned in passing by Master Ni. In studying with the Tibetans I found much more to add on this subject. In popular lore the nagas became dragons but the original legend-that Fu Hsi and Nu Wa were nagas had never been articulated.

Hilary I think Book of the Moon became the Sun a very long time after the site was published. I believe SM showed LISE the character for Return. I knew myself (by just reading HExagram 24) it was the sun and not the moon-I felt that she would eventually as part of an unfolding process figure it out for herself. What is need for angry finger-pointing?
I appreciate her approach to the I Ching-elegant and artistic.

I did notice in arguments over my site that a couple of guys decided to pretend they didn't they didn't know the difference between formal scholarship and commentary in order to be offended-I think there is among a few fellows out there a lot of jockeying for position and status, basically pack behavior and more than a little fear of strong women-all that mushiness! that untrustworthy intuition! cheekiness yet! there won't be any women in the I Ching until WE say so!

[hilary]

A small thing: there's no sun or moon in #24 (only feet and things): this is about the character for Yi itself - possibly my favourite part of Steve's book (which is indeed younger than LiSe's site).

I think it's time I revisited your site