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Luoshu Protection Society & the same legend in Tibetan culture

midaughter

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I posted
this once but it didn't take but I apologize of this message appears twice. Sun


Subject: Luoshu ("Book of Luohe River")-the grass roots society for the protection of


Mysterious heritage protected at grassroots


http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_newupdate/2005-
01/18/content_65029_3.htm

One may find it easy to provide more than one solution to the one-
degree equation "x+y+z=15," with "x," "y" and "z" representing
unknown numbers.

But how about building a 3x3 array of the numbers one through to
nine, in which the numbers in each row, each column and each of the
two diagonals have the same sum of 15?

This is Luoshu ("Book of Luohe River"), the unique perfect magic
square of order three, which appeared in China about 4,000 years ago
according to legends and has since been studied and revered for
its "magical" properties.

Interpreted as a supernatural sign of the power of the universe, it
dominated Chinese cosmological thinking by the 19th century when it
was reduced in status to a mathematical curiosity, said Frank Swetz,
professor of mathematics with the Pennsylvania State University in
his book "Legacy of the Luoshu."

As mathematicians and historians today go on with studies of the
magic square, grassroots intellectuals at its place of origin also
carry out their "research" on Luoshu, in leisure time when they are
not farming, in an effort to preserve the cultural heritage.

Fan Shitou, 71, whose last name means literally "stone," is one of
the farmers fascinated by the 3x3 display at Xichangshui Village,
Changshui Town of Luoning County.

With a determination as firm as his name, Fan has searched for the
meaning of the array for half a century.

He has filled the small brick house of two rooms, where he and his
family live, with related books ranging from those of ancient Chinese
history, to historical documents of the county and the province.

According to Chinese legends, a tortoise emerged from the water
bearing the pattern of Luoshu with the numbers encoded in dots on its
shell as Yu the Great, an early ancestor of the Chinese, stood on the
banks of the Luohe River in Central China about four millennia ago.

Inspired by Luoshu, Yu drew up a constitution named "Hong Fan Jiu
Chou," allegedly the first of its kind in China, to rule the country,
according to early Confucianism literature, the "Collection of
Ancient Texts" (Shang Shu).

It was also recorded in "Book of Changes" (Yijing) that the 3,000-
year-old Chinese literature of philosophy was inspired by the magic
square.

And the part of the Luohe River running by the Xichangshui Village
was arguably where the tortoise and Luoshu made their appearances,
Fan said.

"There's been a tradition at the village to peep into the mystery of
Luoshu. I inherited the historical documents from my father and he
from my grandfather," said the 71-year-old. "I go often to the
county's library and I have copied with a pen more than 200 pages of
documents related to Luoshu," he said.

Fan has been a member of the Luoshu Research Society of the county
since it was established in 1994. He climbs over a hill to the county
seat to attend the regular meeting of the society every month.

"Four of my fellow villagers have become members of the society at my
recommendation, and we often discuss Luoshu with each other," he
said.

Fan said he is most interested in how Luoshu influenced the planning
of ancient Chinese capitals.

"The Luoshu pattern relates to the ancient Chinese ideal of a perfect
world made up of nine divisions, with eight cardinal directions and
the Son of Heaven at the centre. Qi (energy of life) is believed to
flow smoothly in such an arrangement of perfect balance," he said.

"The city of Chang'an, capital of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), was
designed in the shape of a near-perfect square comprised of nine
smaller squares within it - a configuration of Luoshu. The Luoshu
pattern has also impacted on the designs of Luoyang, when it was
built as capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC) and re-
built in the Han (206 BC-AD 220) and Wei (AD 220-265) dynasties," he
added.

When Fan dug into historical files, and his fellow villagers Qu
Maiwang and Qu Shaobo travelled around the area to find relics
related to the magic square.

They sailed upstream along the Luohe River, berthed their small
wooden boat at the foot of a hill about 50 metres tall, and climbed
along its stiff slope as they snapped vines grown along the way.

Over the hill there is a small pond, and on a giant stone beside the
pond is a carved 28-character poem titled "Written on a Visit to the
Den of the Divine Tortoise."

At the end of the poem the writer claimed to be Liu Wucheng who was
born in western Sichuan, but became "a governmental official in
Guangdong."

"With the help of scholars of the county, we find that Liu was a
government official in the Hongzhi Administration (1488-1505) of Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644). He came a long way from Guangdong in the south
of the country to our village to visit the site," Qu Maiwang said
proudly.

Relevant cultural relics at the village also include an ancient
Temple of Yu the Great, and two stone steles at the bank of the Luohe
River.

One of the two, erected in 1724, bear four large characters written
by Zhang Han, then governor of Henan, reading "Luo Chu Shu Chu"
(Where Luoshu Emerged Out of the River).

The other, with only a large character "Luo" on it, was allegedly
erected more than 1,700 years ago, said Fan.

In the past five decades it has been under the protection of Fu
Jianlin, 73, in front of whose house the stele stands.

When villagers were to build a bridge over a stream in 1953, some
suggested that the millennium-old stele would make an excellent
bridge seat, but Fu persuaded them to change that idea.

In 1954, the bridge was completed and some villagers wanted to carve
on the ancient stele names of those who contributed to the
construction of the bridge, and Fu again succeeded in his persuasions
not to do so.

In 1959, when the country was having a "Great Leap" and steel making
furnaces were being built everywhere, Fu protected the stele another
time from being broken into pieces. It would have otherwise
contributed to the construction of a furnace.

For 10 years from 1965, Fu and his wife made a large pile of straw
and tree branches above the stele to hide it in the national movement
to "wipe out the old."

In 2001, he built a wooden hut to protect the stele from erosion by
wind and rain.

Today the county government is having a glass house built for the
stele.

"I heard the old talk about the mystery of Luoshu in my childhood, so
I think I have to keep it intact for people to wonder about in future
years," he said.

While I am on this subject
the Buddhist Myth of the Loushu:

In Tibetan & Chinese lore Fu Hsi was an emanation of Manjushri-the
Buddha of wisdom but also a Starry Being who came to the Kulun Shan
Mountains of northwest China and brought the secrets of divination to
humankind. The story told from the Tibetan point of view goes like
this:
From his own mind Manjushri projected a giant golden tortoise, causing
it to arise from the depths of the primal ocean. From his bow he
unleashed a golden arrow which pierced the side of the tortoise,
impaling it and causing it to roll over onto its back. On its
undershell Manjushri inscribed the pa kua, revealing to mankind the
astrological teachings and prognostications of the myriad destinies
that were to come to pass throughout all future times.

The present and historical abode of Manjushri is still in nortwest
China, the original home of the Fu Hsi clan

There are several drawings of Manjushi and the tortoise whose shell exhibits the pa kua and other things: You can buy a poster of this here:

http://www.dharmapublishing.com/page.cfm?doc=artpage&wikiid=1166&artid=187&size=\
full


As ever,

Sun












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