A study of the latest discovered divining figures of the Western Zhou Dynasty
LI Xue-qin
(Center for Zhouyi & Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Shandong University , Jinan 250100, China )
( Institute of Ideology and Culture, Qinghua University , Beijing 100084, China )
Translated from Chinese by Zhang Wen-zhi
(Center for Zhouyi & Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Shandong University , Jinan 250100, China )
Abstract: The hexagrams made up of figures inscribed in the pottery pats (a device to make the outer wall of an earthenware solid), collected at Village Xiren, Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province, of the Western Zhou Dynasty verifies the opinion that the Text of Zhouyi had come into being in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Reading by the direction of the arrow, we can get, in Collection II from Village Xiren, four groups of divinatory figures, which can be transformed into the hexagrams of Shi (The Army), Bi (Union), Xiao Xu (Small Restraint) and L ü (Treading Carefully) in order. By the partly order from Shi to Lü , and from Ji Ji (Completion) to Wei Ji (Before Completion), it is not difficult to deduce that the order of the hexagrams of Zhouyi used at that time is much similar to that of Zhouyi of the current version, and it can be seen that there had then the concept of “either overturned-ness or changed-ness” for the relationship of two adjoining hexagrams of the 64. The paper also identifies and interprets the characters and divining figures on a bone excavated at Village Qijia, Fu feng County, Shaanxi Province, and the divining figures on a bone unearthed at Village Zhen jiang ying, Fang shan County, Bejing and conjectures the divining methods according to the figures. By analyzing the figures on the bone at Zhen jiang ying and comparing the inscriptional and writing characteristics of the characters on bones at Zhen jiang ying and Zhou yuan respectively, the paper denies the proposition that the smaller characters came into being earlier while the bigger ones later, and raises that the similarity between the inscriptional characteristics of the bones at the two places evidently verifies the correlation of the cultures between the Western Zhou and Yan, one of the Western Zhou's states.
Key words: figure hexagrams; the Western Zhou; Zhouyi ; the order of the hexagrams; overturned hexagrams
Diving figures inscribed in the unearthed cultural relics from the late Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty, i.e. figure hexagrams had turned out to be a hot topic in the studies of the Yi learning in recent years. I had tried to discuss this issue in Zhouyi Jing Zhuan Su Yuan , Tracing Back to the Origin of the Text and Commentaries of Zhouyi 1 (pp. 127-173), and some papers 2 (pp. 390-396). Recently, the archeology circle had in the realm of field archeology discovered some important concrete examples helpful to the discussions of related knotty problems. For this reason, I particularly write this paper to discuss some related issues by some recent archeological discoveries to exchange views with readers.
• The pottery pat collected at Village Xiren of Chang'an County: A verification of the existence of the Text of Zhouyi in the Western Zhou Dynasty
At first let me introduce a very important discovery, i.e. a pottery pat inscribed with figures 3 obtained at Village Xiren, Chang'an County, Shanxi Province in 2001. It was reported that the relics is located at around 200 meters north of the village and occupies around 200, 000 square meters where many (pottery) kilns of the Western Zhou Dynasty were found. The pottery pats with figures was collected in the investigations. There were totally 4 pottery pats collected and they were numbered as CHX collections 1-4 among which Collection 3 was a pat handle with a figure of 六 , whether it was a diving figure could be ascertained, and Collection 4 was a pat handle with a character dissimilar to a figure, and therefore we do not discuss these two here.
What we would like to discuss here are: one is the Collection 2, a gill fungus like pottery pat, the handle of which was slightly damaged, 8 centimeters long 3 . As the facet of the pat faces upward, it can be seen that there inscribed figures around the handle and a vertical line with an arrow-like mark indicating the directions to read the figures. (Some scholars held that the vertical line and arrow-like mark form the character 戈 . This view is incorrect.)
Reading around by the direction of the arrow, we could get four groups of diving figures, of which two groups were vertically inscribed and the other two had to be inscribed horizontally to avoid the concave in the handle. The figures are as follows in order:
八八六八一八
八一六六六六
一一六一一一
一一一六一一
The order of figures of each group might be decided by the direction of “ 六 ”. The figure at the bottom of the last group was originally damaged. By the damaged size, only “ 一 ” could be patched.
In the four groups of figures, the number of “ 一 ” is the biggest, then “ 六 ”, and then “ 八 ”. I had once pointed out diving figures at that time reflected two coexisting diving methods and by the first of which “ 六 ” was most easily got, and then “ 七 ”, and then “ 八 ”, but “ 一 ”, “ 五 ”, “ 九 ” were seldom got; and by the other of which “ 一 ” was most easily got, and then “ 六 ” and “ 八 ”, yet “ 五 ” and “ 九 ” were seldom got, and there was no “ 七 ”. “Whether ‘ 七 ' could be got or not is a mark to distinguish the two divining methods.” 1 (p. 170) The divining method of the figures inscribed in the pottery pats was obviously attributed to the second one, coinciding with that of the figures inscribed on the unearthed oracle bone at Fengxi, and Fufeng in Shaanxi Province, and those inscribed on the pottery pots excavated at Chunhua.
According to certain transformational principle, the above-mentioned groups of figures could be transformed into four hexagrams of Shi (The Army), Bi (Union), Xiao Xu (Small Restraint, the 9the hexagram in the current version of Zhouyi ) and L ü (Treading Carefully, the 10 th ) in order.
The other one we would like to discuss is the Collection 1, a gill fungus like pottery pat too, a complete one of 10.5 centimeters long 3 . With the facet of the pat facing upward, two lines of figures were inscribed on the handle. From the right to the left, the figures are:
六一六一六一
一六一六一六
These two groups of figures were undoubtedly obtained through the second diving method. They could be transformed into two hexagrams of Ji Ji (Completion, the 63 rd ) and Wei Ji (Before Completion, the 64 th ).
In the field of the Yi studies, this discovery is surprising.
All those who know the order of the hexagrams of Zhouyi well may find that the order of the hexagrams transformed from the figures of the two pottery pats is identical with the order of the hexagrams of Zhouyi in current transmitting version: the four hexagrams of Shi (The Army, the 7 th ), Bi (Union, the 8 th ), Xiao Xu (Small Restraint) and L ü (Treading Carefully) are the 7 th , 8 th , 9 th , and 10 th hexagram of Zhouyi respectively; the hexagrams of Ji Ji (Completion) to Wei Ji (Before Completion) are the 63 rd and 64 th hexagram respectively. This kind of arrangement of hexagrams' order is difficult to said as a chance.
What which is worthy to be particularly noted is that, Shi (The Army), Bi (Union), Xiao Xu (Small Restraint) and L ü (Treading Carefully) form a specific group in Section One of Zhouyi: Shi (The Army) and Bi (Union) are mutually overturned hexagrams with five Yin (--) lines and one Yang ( — ) line; Xiao Xu (Small Restraint) and L ü (Treading Carefully) are mutually overturned hexagrams with five Yang ( — ) lines and one Yin (--) line. Ji Ji (Completion) and Wei Ji (Before Completion) are also mutually overturned hexagrams with three Yang ( — ) lines and three Yin (--) lines, and form a specific group in Section Two of Zhouuyi. 4 This further demonstrates that the arrangement of the figures on the pats was not a chance.
Although pottery pats are common things unearthed from relics of (pottery) kilns, those inscribed with divining figures are firstly discovered. They are as rare as the divining figures inscribed on the earthen wares and polished stones excavated at the Yi ruins. These figures might be obtained from then the records of divination, but for those inscribed on the pats, the probability of real divination records was much little. Suppose the hexagram of Shi was a practical divination record, the other figure hexagrams might be supplemented according to (the hexagrams' order of) Zhouyi, for it was nearly impossible to get these figure hexagrams at the same time in practical divination.
By what we discussed above, the following conclusions could be attained to:
First, the case that both “ 六 ” and “ 八 ” were used as Yin (--) lines demonstrate it was correct to transform divining figures into hexagrams by the principle of Yang ( — ) being odd while Yin (--) being even. This also displays that the figures got by divination had then been divided into two classes of odd and even, no matter whether there were hexagrams' lines or not, there had existed the same notions.
Second, by the two partly order of hexagrams from Shi to L ü and from JI JI to Wei Ji , it is not difficult to infer that the order of hexagrams of Zhouyi at that time was much similar to that in currently transmitting Zhouyi . In other words, the Zhouyi currently being transmitted had come into being at that time.
Third, by the arrangement of the hexagrams from Shi to L ü on one pat and Ji Ji and Wei Ji on another pat, it can be seen that the principle of “either overturned-ness or changed-ness” for two adjoining hexagrams in Zhouyi had been formed. This had transcended from common divination acts to thinking of Yi -ology.
In short, what the (divining figures on the) pottery pats embodied was a Yi learning certainly developed. In the past when discussing the divining figures 1 (pp.153-160) inscribed on the quadripod during the reign of King Zhao of Zhou, we had pointed out they could be deciphered by and accorded to Zhouyi , and explicated how the images were observed and hexagrams transformed. Its level of Yi -ology just matches the level the divining figures had demonstrated. In future, we should depart from this to analyze and criticize excavated divining figures more deeply. As for the inscriber of the pats, whether he was an erudite recluse or a scholar having experienced miseries, is left to you to imagine.
• Oracle bones excavated at Village Qijia, Fufeng County
In the relics of Zhouyuan at Village Qijia, Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province, inscribed oracle bones of the Western Zhou Dynasty had been discovered many times 5 . What we would like to discuss here is a piece of oracle bone excavated at H90, on north of Village Qijia in 2002 6. 7 . In the end of January, 2003, I went to Shaanxi Province to examine bronze wares then latest excavated in Meixian County, when being indebted to Mr. Cao Wei who works at the Institute of Archeology of Shaanxi Province, I had a chance to see the enlarge photograph of the oracle bone and recognized some characters difficult to be recognized. Here I extend my thanks to him.
There were totally 13 pieces of oracle bones excavated at H90, but only the piece of H90: 70 was inscribed with characters. This was a left side of the middle part of a right scapula. By the convention for oracle bones of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the bones socket faced downward while the other end upward. This could be recognized from the shape of the remnant.
The lateral side had been scraped, and three round holes were drilled with a narrow mortise slightly deviating from the center of the hole near which the signs were manifested through burning. Besides the tree drilled holes, there in the upper fold broken was a smaller hole, which might not be attributed to the same group as the former three.
Corresponding to the three holes, three items of divining figures and remarks. From the lower to the upper, they were:
翌日甲寅其商， 瘳。
八七五六八七
其祷， 又（有）瘳。
八六七六八八
我既商，祷， 又（有）。
八七六八六七
There are some characters needing to be explained in the divining remarks.
辛 , the upper radical of the character “ 商 ” in the inscription was abbreviated as the form of “ 干 ”, which were often seen in the inscriptions on ancient bronze objects from the end of the Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty 8 (pp. 131-132), and the radical “ 八 ” under “ 冂 ” was omitted, and additionally the upper horizontal stroke of the “ 口 ” was inscribed longer than common, thus the character “ 商 ” is not easy to be interpreted out. Here “ 商 ” should be pronounced as similar as “ 禳 ”, Xiang .
“ ” was equal to character “ 思 ”, or written as “ 斯 ”, which was a function word, and its meaning was similar to “ 尚 ”, “then”.
There was in character “ 瘳 ” a “ 羽 ” ， which was identical to the Collection of Inscriptions on Tortoise Shells or Animal Bones 13861 of the Yi ruins. The shape of “ 羽 ”, which was identified as “ 羽 ” or “ 彗 ”, was actually the original shape of “ ” and was often seen in the inscriptions on tortoise shells or animal bones of the Yin ruins, and many of them should be interpreted as “ 瘳 ”, being cured. For instance, it was recorded in Yin Xu Shu Qi Qian Bian , the First Compilation of Inscriptions of the Yin Ruins 6, 17, 7: “ 旬亡祟。王疾首，中日羽 ( 瘳 ) ”, meaning that the headache of the king was cured till noon. It was also recorded in the He Ji , One-volume Collection (of Inscriptions on Tortoise Shells or Animal Bones): “ 侑妣庚，有羽 ( 瘳 ) 。其侑于妣庚，亡 ( 无 ) 其羽 ( 瘳 ) 。 ” in which “ 有瘳 ” was seen in Zhuang zi · Ren jian Shi , Human World in Zhuang zi and “ 无瘳 ” was seen in the seventh year under the reign of Duke Zhao of the State of Lu in Zuo Zhuan , Zuo's Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals.
It could also be verified that the character like the shape of “ 羽 ” refers to “ 瘳 ” by the configuration of some inscriptions on tortoise shells or animal bones. For example, the character composed of the figurations of “ 羽 ” and “ 肉 ” in the One-volume Collection 353 could be recognized as “ 膠 ” and that composed of the configurations of “ 羽 ” and “ 系 ” in the One-volume Collection 3406 could be interpreted as “ 缪 ”. Both of “ 膠 ” and “ 缪 ” could be found in Shuo Wen, the Origin of Chinese Characters (the earliest Chinese dictionary by Xu Shen ( 许慎 , c. 58-c.147) of the Eastern Han Dynasty).
The right half structural part of the character of “ 祷 ” was slightly sloppy. Being scrutinize, it was not “ 申 ” but “ ”. By recognition and interpretation of the above-mentioned characters, the meaning of the piece of divination is clear so far. By the divining words, the first question inquired was whether the disease could be cured on the day of Jia (the first of the ten Heaven Stems) Yin (the third of the twelve Earthly Branches) if holding sacrifices to keep off evil. The second inquiry was whether the disease could be cured if praying, and the last inquiry was whether the disease could be cured if praying after having held sacrifices to keep off evil. It was well known that there were in Zhou Li · Da Bu (Rituals of Zhou · Great Divinations) “eight inquiries” of which the eighth was to prognosticate the result of diseases. So, to prognosticate the result of diseases was one of the commonest inquiries in divination. What the oracle bone recorded was a concrete example.
As for the diving figures inscribed on the bone was concerned, because then divination by burning bones and by figures simultaneously as the annotation of ZHENG in the Diviners in Zhou Li , Rituals of Zhou recorded “carrying out diving by figures before burning bones”, the figures were recorded beside the symbols of bones burned as references. 1 (p. 136)
In the figures on the bone, there were one “ 五 ”, five “ 六 ”, five “ 七 ”, and seven “ 八 ”, belonging to the first kind of divining method. I have pointed that the figures on the oracular bones unearthed at Fufeng, such as Collection: 108 at Fufeng was attributed the second diving method, while these figures belong to the other one.
The three groups of diving figures, if being transformed into forms of hexagrams of Zhouyi, were Shui (Following), Xiao Xu (Small Restraint), and Ding (The Caldron) in order, which could be determined as concrete divinations.
• Oracular bones excavated at Fang-shan-ying
The Institute for Cultural Relics of Beijing held excavations at Zhen-jiang-ying, Fangshan District, Beijing City , from 1986 to 1990. The report is available in the book of Zhen-jiang-ying Yu Ta Zhao (Zhen-jiang-ying and the Pictures of Temples) edited by the institute. A piece of oracular bones with characters (figures), the number of which was FZT0226 ⑥ , was collected. It was unearthed from the layer of the culture of Yan, one of the states of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the time was around the mid and a little late of the Western Zhou Dynasty 10 . (See Figure 226, the Documents 10,) Thanks to the help of the researches of the institute, I had examined the original bone carefully.
Greatly cut and polished into a form of scalene triangle, this was a right scapula of an ox, with the socket faced downward while the other end upward too. Having been damaged, the socket had become unrecognizable and might have been treated. There were two round holes drilled near the bone neck of the other side. Though only a half was left, a narrow mortise could be seen in the hole, similar to the oracular bone discovered in Fufeng mentioned above. There was another shallow drill, 13.1 centimeters long and 9.5 wide in the biggest width, in the upper right fold broken of the observe side.
Another oracular bone with drills on the observe side had once been seen in the bone unearthed at Village Qijia, Fufeng County: T23:2. 11 (See Document 11, Diagram 10, and Figural Table 4:4)
In the left lower part of the bone at Zhen-jiang-ying inscribed two groups of diving figures as small as maize:
六六六六七七
七六八六五八
Turned into hexagrams of Zhouyi , they could be understood as the hexagram Lin (Approach, the 19 th ) transforming into Meng (Obscurity, the 4 th ) with the third line changed, resulted from the first diving method.
In discussing the oracular bones excavated at Zhouyuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty, scholars inclined to acknowledge that the smaller inscriptions came into being earlier while the bigger ones later. But the bone unearthed at Zhen jiang ying demonstrated that the tradition of this kind of tiny inscriptions remained till fairly late times. The cutting and polishing level of the oracular bone of Zhen jiang ying was close to that of the collection 108 at Village Qijia of Fufeng 5 (pp.154-155), while the characters of the later were mixed with smaller and bigger inscriptions, demonstrating that the former was not a relic of the earlier period.
The vertical stroke of the figures of “ 七七 ” on the bone of Zhen jiang ying was connected, this style was also seen in the inscriptions on the bone of H11:91 unearthed at Fengchu of Qishan in Zhouyuan 5 (p. 67), an obvious evident of the cultural correlation between the Western Zhou Dynasty and its duke state of Yan.
Notes and references:
1. LI Xue-qin. Tracing back to the Origin of the Text & Commentaries of Zhouyi [M]. Changchun : Changchun Publishing House, 1992.
2. LI Xue-qin. Rewrite the History of Learning [M]. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Educational Press, 2002.
3. CAO Wei. A study of the figure hexagrams on the pottery pat [J]. Cultural Relics, 2002, (11).
4. LI Shang-xin. A Study on the 64 Hexagrams' Order in Zhouyi of Current Version [D]. Jinan: Shandong University, 1999.
5. CAO Wei. Inscriptions on Tortoise Shells or Animal Bones Unearthed at Zhouyuan [M]. Beijing: World Books Publication Corporation, 2002.
6. CAO Wei. A study on the latest discovered inscriptions on tortoise shells or animal bones excavated at Zhouyuan [J]. Archaeology & Cultural Relics, 2003, (4).
7. National Department of Cultural Relics of China. Important Archaeological Discoveries in 2002 in China [M]. Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2003. pp. 39-40.
8. RONG Geng. A Compilation of the Inscriptions on Ancient Bronze Objects [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Publishing House, 1985.
9. LI Xue-qin and WANG Yu-xin. Interpretations of selected oracular remarks excavated at Zhouyuan [A]. Ancient Characters Studies: Volume 4 [C]. Beijing : Zhonghua Publishing House. 1981.
10. Cultural Relics Institute of Beijing City . Zheng jiang ying and Photos of Temples [M]. Beijing Archaeological Collections [Z]. Beijing : Beijing Publishing House, 2000.
11. LUO Xi-zhang and WANG Jun-xian. A tentative research on the tortoise shells or animal bones of the Western Zhou Dynasty excavated at Fufeng in Zhouyuan [J]. Cultural Relics, 1987, (2).