Divination superstition

Divination is divination and divination. Divination existed in ancient China very early. According to historical records, ancient books such as Zhouyi and Shangshu recorded that in the legendary Fuxi and Huangdi times, there was divination, and the original precursor superstition was earlier. Superstition, as a precursor, is an accidental phenomenon in nature and human physiological phenomena, which is considered unusual and strange by ancient Han people. It is listed as a precursor in a wide range of aspects, such as abnormal animals and plants on the ground, strange phenomena of astronomical phenomena, climate and seasons from time to time, human dreams and abnormal human bodies, and so on. The resulting divination forms are: tiger divination, chicken divination, bird divination, animal bone divination, bamboo divination, astrology, wind divination, gas divination, earth divination, dream divination, physiognomy and so on. Among the above phenomena regarded as precursors, animals and plants have the closest relationship with the production and life of ancient Han people, and were first noticed, which is the most developed aspect of precursor superstition in China's early years. Secondly, it should be a dream, because strange dreams are involuntary, sometimes very impressive, unforgettable after a long time, and easily linked to the success or failure of things done in a period of time. In terms of astronomical phenomena, strange phenomena such as meteors, comets, solar eclipses and lunar eclipses are all superstitious as precursors of something.

Superstition about images. This is mainly the abnormal performance of animals and plants. The abnormality of animals is often regarded as an ominous sign. "Shangshu" said, alas, the ancients had summer and there was no disaster. All animals, such as virgins and birds, are the same. How dare they cheat? "(Mozi) Once disaster strikes, even the abnormal performance of the dragon, which is considered as one of the Four Spirits, is superstitious as an ominous sign. Mozi recorded the ominous sign that "the dragon was born in the temple and the dog cried in the city" during the Three Miao Rebellion.

"The Nineteen Years of Zuo Zhuan Zhao Gong": "Zheng Dashui, the dragon is fighting outside the door, and the Chinese people are asking for it." China people demand a sacrificial ceremony, because they think that Dragon Fight is a precursor to greater disaster, and they want to sacrifice Dragon Fight. Zuo Zhuan also recorded two superstitious signs about snakes. One is the fourteenth year of Zhuanggong, "internal and external snakes fight." At the beginning, the inner snake and the outer snake fought at Zhengnanmen, and the inner snake died. " This abnormal phenomenon is considered as a sign of the prosperity of the devil, because "the devil does not deceive himself, but only prospers when people abandon the norms." The other is Wen Gong's sixteen years. "There are snakes out of erotic entry, such as the number of predecessors. Autumn, the sound of ginger, destroys the spring platform. " Ancient Han people had a strong fear of snakes. Cattle are the closest livestock to people, but if there is a slight abnormality, people will also worry about what will happen. Liezi said, "Song people were good pedestrians, and three generations worked tirelessly, so they gave birth to calves for no reason to ask Confucius. Confucius said that this is auspicious. Praise god. After living for a year, his father went blind for no reason. His cow was resurrected, and his father ordered his son to ask Confucius. Confucius said that it is auspicious. Return to religion as a sacrifice. After living for a year, my son went blind for no reason.

Later, Chu attacked Song and besieged its city. People can easily eat it, analyze the bones and cook it. All the brave men were defeated by this city, and most of them died. This man is free from illness for both father and son. All the diseases have been cured. "As for the plants in the ancient precursor superstition, generally speaking, there are more people listed as good omen. Among them, the popular superstition is that "Zhu Cao" was born, "Jiahe" appeared, and "two trees are connected" or "vegetation is connected" is an auspicious sign. Zhu Cao is beautiful, and Jiahe is a beautiful valley with long stems and many ears. This kind of thing itself is a favorite phenomenon and is naturally listed as an auspicious sign. In addition, there are Lan, Huaping, Jieping and Guipu. It is also often regarded as the object of symptom observation.

Superstition about dreams. Dreaming is something that happens to everyone, but it is an incomprehensible phenomenon for ancient Han people. The content of dreams is complicated, and dreams, nightmares and incomprehensible dreams cannot be freely chosen. The mystery of this dream reminds the ancient Han people of what happened after the dream. After summing up, they began to be superstitious about which dreams are auspicious and which dreams are ominous. There is a set of dream-taking theory in ancient Chinese books, which stipulates that it is a good omen or a bad omen only after the dreamer explains it. According to Zhou Li, the analysis of dreams in the Zhou Dynasty has been quite detailed, that is, "when you are old, you should watch the meeting of heaven and earth, distinguish the qi of yin and yang, and take the sun, moon and stars as six good or bad dreams: one is a positive dream, the other is a nightmare, the third is a dream, the fourth is a dream, the fifth is a happy dream, and the sixth is a fear dream." Hire Wang Meng to offer good luck to the king, who worships him. "sprouting in all directions, as a gift of nightmares, this is fate." This shows that the pre-Qin dream omen theory is no longer hard to judge whether the dream is good or bad from the content, but also adds complex factors such as age, astronomical phenomena, yin and yang to make the dream come true.

"Seven Years of Zuo Zhuan Zhao Gong" records that the King of Chu built Zhanghuatai, hoping to hold an inauguration ceremony with the governors. Lu received the invitation, but before he left, he dreamed that the late king ("xianggong") was going to travel for him to sacrifice to the road god (ancestor), that is to say, he had doubts about going. Zishen advocated not going. He was based on the fact that when Xiang Gong went to Chu, he dreamed that the Duke of Zhou sacrificed to the Road God before going. Now I dream of Duke Xiang instead of Duke Zhou, so I'd better not go. Zifu Huibo advocated going. His reason is that because Xiang Gong has never been to Chu State, the Duke of Zhou offered a road god to clear the way for him. Later, Xiang Gong went to Chu State. Now, the late king offered sacrifices to the road god to make way for the king. How can he not go? All three of them revolve around a dream. No matter how different their views are, they all take dreams as the basis of their actions. In their minds, the former's dream of helping Duke Zhou represents the meaning of Duke Zhou; Zhao Gong's dream today also represents the meaning of your predecessor. "Seven Years of Zuo Gong" also records that Wei Qing Kong dreamed that Kang Shu, the ancestor of Wei State, said to him: Liyuan is the king. I dreamed that Kang Shu said to him: I will order Gou Jian to assist Yuan. Because of the coincidence of their dreams, after the death of Duke Xiang of Wei, Kong Liyuan became the monarch, and he was. "Seventeen Years of Zuo Gong" also records that Han dreamed of taking Xun Wu and giving Lu Hun to him, so he decided to let Xun Wu lead the troops. After Xun Wu destroyed Lu Hun, he dedicated prisoners to temples in Jin Wengong. In these two records, the founding monarch Kong He and the life commander Han are also based on dreams. They also believe that what Kang Shu said in his dream was the command of his ancestors; Jin Wengong's activities in his dreams are the wishes of his ancestors. This shows how superstitious they are about dreams.

At that time, the classification of dreams was roughly as follows (according to Zuo Zhuan): The first kind of dreams and dreamers are gods, such as heaven, angels and river gods. There are good dreams and bad dreams. Mu Zi's dream is said to be "the dream of heaven oppresses himself and the king is favored", which seems auspicious; But "the sky is invincible, and winning the sky is unknown." So I was later starved to death by Niu Zhuyu. Yan's dream obviously belongs to Ji's dream. It turned out that Yue Lan was born. Yu Zi's dream, because he ignored the words of the river god, ultimately failed. The second kind of dreams and dreamers are "ghosts". "spectre" means evil ghost. It is said that the ghost of the previous generation is often "Shirley". This kind of dream generally belongs to fierce dreams, and most of the "fierce" dreams are ghosts of the dreamer's enemies. In Jin Hou's dream, "Dali" accused Jin Hou of killing his grandson as the ghost of the ancestors of the deceased, so he took revenge on God. The third kind of dream and dreamer is the spirit of the sages. This kind of dream is the most in Zuo Zhuan. Because the ancestors conveyed good wishes to the dreamer, they are generally auspicious dreams. In the second year of adulthood, Han Jue dreamed that his father and son said to him, "Let's control the left and right.". Tell him not to stand on the left and right sides of the chariot the next day. He stood in the middle, driving a chariot to chase Qi Hou. As a result, the person standing on the left side of the car died under the car and the person standing on the right side of the car died in the car. He not only saved his life, but also won. The fourth dream is the symbolic sun, moon, river, city gate, insects and birds, and the dreamer can be classified as a god. For example, in the sixteenth year of his career, "Lv Kun dreamed of shooting at the moon, hit it and retreated into the mud." It is said that the "moon" in the dream stands for "different surname", so the "shooting the moon" in Lu Yong's dream must be shooting the king of Chu; Being in the mud is a "dead elephant", so Lv Kun will die in the end. It is worth noting that Zuo Zhuan's record of the dreams of princes and generals is completely regarded as important historical facts or materials. The former article recorded the place of dreams, and the latter article will verify it. For example, the dream recorded by Hou in the Jin Dynasty during his ten years in public office was "great and complete". First, the Duke of Jin called the Sangtian witch to dream. The witch said, "It seems that the king can't taste new wheat." Jin Hou was seriously ill and turned to Qin's famous doctor for help. Before the medical aid arrived, Jin Hou dreamed of two more children. He said: "Medical relief is a famous doctor. I'm afraid it will hurt us. Where can we escape? " He said, "Let's stay under the ointment and see what he has done to us."

The doctor came to his senses and said to Jin Hou, "I can't help it if I am sick." Under the ointment, stones can't be used, acupuncture can't get there, and medicine can't get there. "The wheat was ripe in June, and Jin Hou thought that the earlier divination of Sangtian witch was nonsense, so he wanted to taste the new wheat in front of her. However, just about to eat, my stomach swelled, and I fell into the cesspit and died when I entered the toilet. The author took pains to describe the course of the event. What does he want to explain? Obviously, he wants to tell people through these so-called "historical facts" that the good and bad dreams are doomed and no one can resist them. According to the Analects of Confucius, although Confucius claimed to be "silent, strange, strong, chaotic and divine", he was also superstitious about dreams. In his later years, he sighed, "What a pity! I failed! "It's been a long time, and I don't dream of Duke Zhou anymore!" It is the spirit of the Duke of Zhou that no longer gives him dreams and provides new enlightenment. Before he died, Confucius said, "The night before yesterday, the dream sat between two trees." . . I'm dying! "At the funeral of Yin people, the coffin was parked between two rafts. Confucius said, "Qiu is also a Yin. "He dreamed that he was sitting between two trees and saw food, thinking it was a fierce elephant. This also proves that although Confucius didn't dream everything, he was really influenced by the superstition of dreaming.