I find these materials of Joseph which may be of interest to you.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Divination is not Fortune Telling
Fortune-telling is to predict what exactly will happen at a certain time in a certain space. Divination is to communicate with the Universe of which we are all a part. As a part we can communicate with the whole. Our finger is a part of our body. When it touches a hot surface, a message is sent to the brain and a message is sent back telling certain muscles to contract and withdraw the hand from the hot surface. Of course, this involves a reflex action that does not even go through the brain. This is an example of a part communicating with the whole.
A fortune-teller may tell you that you will have an inappropriate affair with someone and it is very costly. A diviner may tell you that you will face a fatal attraction and only if you can resist the temptation, it is likely you will suffer a lot because of the affair.
Fortune-telling is based on "everything is written on the rocks and cannot be changed".
Divination is to decode the message from the Universe to explain to us the cause and effect, the likelihood of something at present and in the near future. We can change the outcome by appropriate actions although we may not be able to turn everything around.
Thirty-five years ago I did a divination and the Yijing told me to consult a doctor in the SW. It happened that my classmate had a clinic in this direction from my home. He advised me to quit smoking right away or I would be paralyzed in 5 years.
Well, it was like two divinations one following the other. The first divination gave me a direction to consult the doctor. The second diviner was actually the doctor. He explained my problem and the probable outcome. I took the advice and the problem was removed in 15 years after quitting smoking and I am having great health today, 35 years after.
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 2:55 PM 7 comments
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Use of Divination
Divination is a form of communication. It is communication between Man and Heaven. Through communication, human beings get guidance from above. Therefore, in the old days, divination is a means to get guidance about the fortune, misfortune, success and failure of human endeavours. In Chinese it is known as Ji, Xiong, Cheng, Bai 吉凶成敗.
Divination is not to be used lightly. For example, when the emperor asked his imperial diviners about which horse entered the water first, it was, in a way, an abuse of divination. The diviners could not tell the emperor they could not use divination in such meaningless events. They had to give him an answer but they also knew that they had only 50% chance to be correct because Heavenly would simply not give them guidance.
When Lu State was about to attack Yue State, it involved many lives and the glory or humiliation of a country. It was something that needed guidance. What the diviner Zi Gong wanted to know was the Ji/Xiong and Cheng/Bai of the military action. He did not need to ask whether Lu would win the war and within how many months. He did not even need to ask a question. All he needed was to pass his message to Heaven that he was concerned about the Ji/Xiong and Cheng/Bai of the war.
Although there was a popular guessing game known as She Fu 射覆 played in the old days, it should also be considered an abuse of divination. It is just to satisfy the curiosity of people. If is is used with the purpose of practicing and acquiring technique of divination, it is ok but the accuracy is doubtful.
Today, it is not uncommon to use divination to -*test*-('") the stock market. Let us say, you have studied the market and then decide to invest in a certain stock. Well, you want to have guidance from Heaven whether it will be a profitable investment. Then your divination is simply the Ji/Xiong and Cheng/Bai of your investment in that particular stock. You will use your mind to send this message to Heaven to get an answer. No particular way to ask the question is needed and no time frame needs to be set. The divination should display a picture before you to help you decide whether or not you should go ahead. It may also tell you whether or not there will be quick profit and what to expect. The time frame is taken care of automatically.
Of course, if you have no plans to invest in the stock market but you want to know how the market will behave in the coming year, you can also use divination. As long as you pass your message accurately from your mind to Heaven, you will get the answer. The divination will tell you about the Ji/Xiong and Cheng/Bai if you invest in the market.
What about games like horse racing or other sports? I will talk about this later.
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 8:11 PM 10 comments
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Questions in Divination
In almost all books published in the West about divination, emphasis is made on how to ask a question. The question must be clear and there must be a time frame.
Well, this is not so in traditional practice.
Divination is not to answer your question. Divination is to present to you the picture about what is bothering you. Therefore, you do not even need to ask a question.
When you go to a traditional diviner, he will ask you, "What do you want to know?"
You only have to say something like:
My wealth luck 求財
My marriage 姻緣
My health 健康
My father's sickness 問父疾
The well-being of my family 家宅
My general well-being 自身
The divination will show you the whole picture including when something will happen.
No wonder someone said, "To write a book is to copy the mistakes in another book and present them in a different way."
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 8:04 AM 3 comments
Another Divination Story V
While Plum Blossom Divination uses trigrams that build up hexagrams, Wen Wang Gua uses the six yaos that build up the hexagrams. Each line is assigned a stem and branch. One line is assigned the subject with another line the object. Each line will carry certain aspect of life according to the five element interaction. The method is quite complicated but the result is amazingly accurate. Let us see how we can use this method to analyze Zi Gong's divination.
Unfortunately the month and day when Zi Gong did the divination were unknown.
Without the month and day, we lose a lot of details.
Subject Hai water represents Lu.
Object Wei earth represents Yue.
Officer/Ghost holds subject. Indicates that Lu started the war.
Offspring holds object. It indicates that Yue fought back.
Usually we need to compare which is stronger, the subject or the object to see who wins the war.
The lines in between play a very important role in this hexagram.
The moving line You is Wife/Wealth that transfers the energy from Wei earth to Hai water. This can be interpreted as the effort made by Yue was in vain. In fact, it only strengthens the offensive Lu military. How did this happen?
Probably the Lu army was able to capture food and weapons due to the ineffective defense of Yue.
Parents line is missing in this hexagram. It is Mao wood hiding under the first line Chou earth. The parents line represents peace treaty. This is because Parents represents document that controls Offspring and is enforced by Officer/Ghost. The winner of the war Lu urged Yue to accept a treaty to restore peace. When did it happen? Since the hiding spirit controls the flying spirit, it is quick. Probably when the flying spirit is clashed away in the Wei month, the war will end.
If the divination took place in the Mao month, then peace talks would definitely arrive at a settlement. This is because Hai, Mao and Wei form the wood frame confirming the peace between subject and object.
Using the texts of Zhou Yi to interpret the hexagrams can yield different results depending on the intuition and knowledge of the diviner. Using Plum Blossom or Wen Wang Gua, the image is much clearer. However, it takes much time and effort to learn. Unfortunately some people, after reading a few books, think they already know the methods.
I will quote Confucius' words to end this posting:
To learn without thinking leads to confusion.
To think without learning leads to danger.
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 9:35 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Another Divination Story IV
Interpretation of the original hexagram:
Li fire drains Xun wood. This indicates that the war exhausts the Lu State. The country has to spend a lot of money on the war. There will also be loss of lives.
The time of the war was probably spring or early summer. In autumn, there is the danger of the war dragging into winter making the offense difficult. In spring, wood is strong and fire is also ready. Metal and earth are quite weak.
Interpretation of the core hexagram:
In the Hu Gua, both trigrams are metal. Metal goes against wood. It indicates that there was resistance from the Yue State. However, since metal is weak and wood is strong, and metal is also controlled by fire, the resistance was quite weak. It fails to defeat the offensive Lu army. The two trigrams Dui and Qian represent young women and old man. These also indicates that the quality of the Yue army was quite poor.
Interpretation of the future hexagram:
In the future hexagram Gu, the Yong Gua is Gen earth. This is controlled by the strong Xun. The outcome is that the Lu army won the war quickly. Since Xun wood is soft, there was not serious damages to the defeated Yue State.
Confucius could have been developing Xiang Shu Yi Xue but he did not disclose his findings prematurely. Although he might have got the result, he still tried to use the line text to interpret his conclusion. Of course his twisted interpretation is not convincing.
In the next posting I am going to use Wen Wang Gua to interpret this divination. Stay tuned.
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 10:46 PM 8 comments
Another Divination Story III
Some people insist that in divination, there must be a specific question asked. Well, actually, the diviner only needs to be clear about the situation. There is no need of a specified question.
For example, Lu was about to attack Yue. Being a citizen of Lu, Zi Gong was anxious to know the outcome of the war and how it affects his country. This is the situation. He does not need to ask specifically, "Will our country win the war against Yue?"
In fact, some people even say that this question is a "yes" or "no" question and is illegitimate in Yijing Divination. It is also not true. However, the divination may not give you the "yes" or "no" answer. It tells you the whole story.
Now, let us use Plum Blossom Divination technique to see the beauty of the method.
The hexagram was Ding with Line 4 moving to Gu.
The first hexagram is Ding (Li on Xun) that represents the current situation.
The second hexagram is the Core Hexagram that represents the actual happenings.
The third hexagram Gu (Gen on Xun) represents the outcome.
In the first hexagram, the lower trigram has no moving line. It is known as the Body Trigram (Ti Gua 體卦). It will represent the Lu State.
The upper trigram that has a moving line is known as the Application Trigram (Yong Gua 用卦). It represents the war.
Note that we do not use the yong gua to represent the enemy Yue State as most people would. This is because what is in Zi Gong's mind was how the war would affect his mother country. It was not someone who was curious to know who would win the war. In divination, we want to know the fortune or misfortune (Ji Xiong 吉凶) of a situation.
The second hexagram is known as the Mutual Hexagram (Hu Gua 互卦). It is the core of the events. It affects the current situation and brings it to the future outcome. Each trigram of the Hu Gua is considered a Yong Gua. We study its influence on the Ti Gua.
In the third hexagram, the Ti Gua is unchanged. The Yong Gua is changed. It will tell us the outcome of the war.
Stay tuned for the next episode.
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 10:51 AM 1 comments
Monday, November 26, 2007
Another Divination Story (Part II)
Confucius was right - Lu conquered Yue without much resistance.
In one book I read, the author said, "Confucius based on the fact that Lu invaded Yue by boat and not on land. His interpretation was really brilliant."
In another book, the author said, "It was the Yue people who lived by the water. Lu people were not strong in battle in water. The army had still to advance by foot. Probably Confucius just wanted to comfort his own people by saying that they would win the battle despite a disadvantageous hexagram. It was the positive thinking of the people that helped Lu to win the war."
There is no record of Confucius using what we know as Wen Wang Gua. This method of divination using the hexagrams without consulting the hexagram and line texts of the Yijing was supposed to be the invention of Jing Fang in the Han Dynasty, many hundred years after Confucius time. It is not impossible that Confucius had already had the idea of using a more mathematical method to do divination. In my next posting, I will talk about this method.
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 10:51 AM 1 comments
Friday, November 23, 2007
Another Divination Story
When Lu State 魯國 was about to invade Yue State 越國, Zi Gong 子貢, a disciple of Confucius who was good at divination, did a Yijing Divination. He got the hexagram Ding 鼎 with Line 4 moving to hexagram Gu 蠱.
Nine at 4: The feet of the caldron are broken. The food prepared for the duke has spilled over. The scene is messy. Evil.
九四 鼎折足 覆公餗 其形渥 凶
Zi Gong said, “Our army marches to the Yue State. Since the feet are broken, the image is evil.”
Confucius said, “The Yue people live by the water. They travel by boat, not by feet. Therefore, it is fortunate.”
Lu conquered Yue. Confucius was right.
What do you think?
Posted by Joseph Yu at 2:31 PM 7 comments
Monday, November 19, 2007
A Divination Story Part II
I read the story about 40 years ago. At that time I thought, "I am going to learn how to divine. This is fascinating. I will also learn how to be humble, especially when people praise my achievement."
10 years later I read the same story and I thought, "Famous diviners are just human. They are not right all the time."
Another 10 years later, I thought, "Li Chun Feng was really clever (cunning). He made sure that one of them was right and the emperor would be satisfied. He was sure to make it a win-win situation."
Today I have doubts about the story. It could have been made up altogether. The story can be used in different ways to suit different situations. If the intention is good, why bother?
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 4:52 PM 5 comments
Saturday, November 17, 2007
A Divination Story
During the reign of Tang Tai Zong 唐太宗, there were two famous diviners - Yuan Tian Gang 袁天罡 and Li Chun Feng 李淳風. One day, the emperor strolled along the river side with these two diviners keeping him company. They saw one black horse and one red horse walking slowly towards the river.
The emperor asked, “Which horse do you think will enter the river first?”
Yuan said, “I got the hexagram Li. Since Li is fire, the red horse will enter the river first.”
Li said, “ Using your hexagram Li, I think the black horse will enter the river first.”
The emperor did not understand and asked him why.
“Well,” Li smiled, “We see smoke before we see fire. Smoke is black. Therefore it is the black horse that will enter the river first.”
Li was right. The black horse entered the river first.
Yuan said graciously to Li, “I admire your divination skill. It is definitely superior.”
Li said, “Without the hexagram Li you obtained correctly, I would not have the accurate prediction. Therefore, your skill is superior.”
The emperor said, “You both are superb.”
What do you think?
JY
Posted by Joseph Yu at 9:52 PM 7 comments