Ancient divination was written on tortoise shells or animal bones. What is the reason?

In ancient China, "foresight" means observation, and "divination" means burning animal bones or tortoise shells. It is believed that the shape of cracks can predict good luck or bad luck. According to the Book of Rites Quli, "tortoise is divination, glutinous rice is divination", "divination" is a method to predict bad luck by burning tortoise shell and "glutinous rice" is a method to predict fortune by yarrow. This is a common divination method in ancient China. The ancients thought that "small things are embarrassing, and big things are not good." If you encounter something bigger, you have to use both methods.

Then how to use tortoise shells for divination? Generally, Oracle Bone Inscriptions is burned on tortoise shells, and then roasted with fire, which will make a crackling sound. This kind of voice is usually understood as God conveying his will. When the bone is heated, there will be cracks on the front with a bang. In the eyes of fortune tellers, it is full of infinite mystery. The above-mentioned words on Oracle Bone Inscriptions are simple notes for divining fate and judging good and bad luck, so they are also called Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

In Shang dynasty, the royal family used tortoise shell divination to decide their behavior, and almost everything was predicted. The Book of Changes said: "It is nothing more than a turtle that decides the good or bad luck in the world and becomes the best in the world." Why did the ancients use tortoise shells for divination? The Book of Rites says that "the forest, phoenix, turtle and dragon are called the four spirits." In ancient times, turtles were juxtaposed with legendary magical animals such as Kirin, Phoenix and Dragonfly, showing their high status. "The Book of Rites Quli" quoted Liu Xiang as saying, "A turtle's words are long. The tortoise is a thousand-year-old spirit and a hundred-year-old god. Because of its long life, it can distinguish between good and bad. " Therefore, in the Spring and Autumn Period, there was also a saying that "the tortoise is long and short", and it was believed that the ghost elephant was long and divination was more effective.

However, the tortoise divination method has long been lost, while the curse method has been handed down, as evidenced by the written records of books such as Zhouyi and Zhouli. Jin Zhanghua's Natural History said: "When you are a thousand years old and have three hundred stems, you are already old, so you know good or bad." The ancients thought that Kuaichitose was born with 300 stems, which was round and divine, so it was regarded as the most ideal calculation tool, and "the emperor is nine feet, the vassal is seven feet, the doctor is five feet, and the scholar is three feet."