I just scanned this article that appeared in "Early China" No.7 1981-82. I think it is very interesting and enlightening. I actually track down these journals and books and buy them (many for good money...) I realize not all can do this or have the will to go to great length to find every possible extant detail on the Yijing. For the ones that can't, I share them with great pleasure; enjoy them with my compliments. For the ones that have no will, well, get with the program. Not everything regarding the wealth of the Yi studies is about divining one's life every step of the way.

Some observations about Milfoil Divination based on Shang and Zhou bagua Numerical Symbols

Thanks, Luis! I've started reading. All intriguing and tooth-grindingly frustrating in equal measure. I wonder how many kinds of line these hexagrams have?

What I don't get is why he's sure that these numbers were arrived at with yarrow - except, I suppose, that yarrow's the only ancient divination medium we know of besides scapulae and those long-suffering turtles. (Maybe I skimmed over something crucial on page 1... re-reading now...)

Hi Hilary,

I think you are referring to Shaugnessy as the author of the article and he's not. He's but translating something that was published in China, in 1981, by two professors of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing. Obviously, theirs are conclusions based on very precise approaches to the study of ancient archeological artifacts.

On his own, Shaugnessy doesn't strikes me as someone with a very romanticized view of the Yi and its practical use as a divination tool--perhaps I'm wrong but it is the impression I get. He's more focused in the puzzle of it being what it is and how it developed through the ages. That's why, throughout his articles and books (and his dissertation), he buries you with historical details that are skimmed over by most students of the Yi. Sadly so. I'm deeply grateful, though, that him and scholars like Adler, Richard Smith, Kidder Smith, and others, keep digging these details out of Chinese lore and give them to us in the West. These studies are what keep the balance between an ancient tradition that deserves the most serious respect as a living object of study and the scornful and off-handed treatment that gets in the press as something that is perhaps considered lower that Tarot or Palmistry as a divination tool: The "Old Chinese-Tall-Tales" attitude that still seep into our collective Western mindset...

Now, regarding their conclusion of why the inscriptions must be talking about milfoil and no scapulimancy my bet is that the interpretation of cracks is based on direction and milfoil is numerological (*). What is interesting is that both types of divination were usually done side by side and were, both of them, recorded on the same bones that were cracked and interpreted. The difficulty, for paleographers, was to discern what were characters they could interpret semantically and what were numerals. Once the numerals were identified, the association was that they referred to milfoil.

(*) Take a look at another article I made available a while ago, also from "Early China": An interpretation of the divinatory inscriptions on early Chou bronzes, by Chang Cheng-Lang.

I'm all in favour of historical details and real academic work... not so much as an antidote to the popular view, more as fodder for better divination. (And just because I enjoy it.)

And you're right, I was reading it as if Shaughnessy wrote it, despite seeing the 'translated from' bit at the start. Blush.

Thanks sparhawk ... here is another example with lots of numerical hexagrams posted by Harmen:

http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/attachment.php?attachmentid=402&d=1184505468

What strikes me when reading this and similar articles is, that all authors without arguing state, that the
odd numbers correspond to yang-lines and the even numbers to yin-lines. It's just as possible, that e.g. the
high numbers correspond to yang-lines and the low numbers to yin-lines?

Or maybe two views worked at the same time explaining the origin of the changing lines? An example:

++<x:< 776586 = odd/even !!:!:: and high/low !!::!: = hexagram 53.2.3

At least two divination methods using different numbers were practized according to this article:
http://zhouyi.sdu.edu.cn/english/newsxitong/selectedPapers/20051216182645.htm

The numbers of the 1th method is primarily 5, 6, 7 and 8 (written in Shang-style)
The numbers of the 2th method is primarily 1, 5, 6 and 8 (written in Xia-style)

The Xia numbers are among the 24 signs found in the Xia-capitol Erlitou. Picture of them in this article:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/11/content_280475.htm

lienshan