龜策列傳

The Grand Historian says: Since antiquity, whenever sage-kings founded states, received the Mandate, and launched great enterprises, have they ever failed to treasure divination by tortoise and yarrow to assist their good works? Before the ages of Yao and Shun, the record is lost. But with the rise of the Three Dynasties, each relied upon auspicious omens: the omen at Mount Tu was favorable and the Xia was established under Qi; the divination of the swallow was auspicious and so the Yin arose; the yarrow-stalk consultation about the hundred grains was favorable and so the Zhou kings reigned. For rulers to resolve all doubts by consulting divination and deciding by yarrow and tortoise is an unchanging principle.

Even the Man, Yi, Di, and Qiang barbarians, though they lack the hierarchies of ruler and minister, possess their own forms of divination to resolve uncertainty. Some use metal and stone, others plants and wood — customs differ from state to state. Yet all can be applied to warfare, military operations, and campaigns. Each people trusts its own spirits to learn of things to come.

In the second year of King Yuan of Song, a divine turtle was dispatched as an envoy from the Yangtze River to the Yellow River. When it reached Quanyang, a fisherman named Yuqie cast his net and captured it, placing it in a cage. At midnight, the turtle appeared in a dream to King Yuan of Song, saying: 'I am an envoy from the Yangtze to the Yellow River, but a net blocked my path. Yuqie of Quanyang captured me and I cannot escape. I am trapped in distress with no one to tell. Because Your Majesty possesses virtue and righteousness, I have come to appeal to you.' King Yuan awoke with a start. He summoned the court scholar Wei Ping and asked: 'I dreamed of a man with an elongated neck and long head, wearing robes of dark embroidery and riding in a covered carriage. He appeared in my dream saying: "I am an envoy from the Yangtze to the Yellow River, but a net blocked my path. Yuqie of Quanyang captured me and I cannot escape. I am trapped in distress with no one to tell. Because Your Majesty possesses virtue and righteousness, I have come to appeal to you." What manner of being is this?'

Wei Ping replied: 'The turtle is the treasure of the realm. Whoever first obtains such a turtle becomes Son of Heaven. Its pronouncements are always fulfilled in ten out of ten cases; its battles are won in ten out of ten engagements. Born in the deep abyss, raised in the yellow earth. It knows the Way of Heaven and understands high antiquity. It roams for three thousand years without leaving its domain. Peaceful, calm, still, and upright, it moves without exertion. Its lifespan rivals Heaven and Earth, and no one knows its limit. It transforms with all things, changing color with the four seasons. At rest it hides itself; when dormant it does not eat. In spring it is green-blue, in summer yellow, in autumn white, in winter black. It is illuminated in the principles of yin and yang, discerning in matters of punishment and virtue. It foreknows benefit and harm, perceives fortune and misfortune. Its words always prove true; its battles always result in victory. If Your Majesty treasures it, the feudal lords will all submit. Do not release it — use it to secure the altars of state.'

Thus it is said: the turtle's spirit was powerful enough to send a dream to King Yuan, yet it could not free itself from a fisherman's cage. It could make ten pronouncements and be right in all ten, yet could not complete its mission to the Yellow River or report back to the Yangtze. Its wisdom could lead men to victory in battle and conquest, yet it could not save itself from the blade or escape being split and scraped. Its sacred foresight was matchless, yet it could not silence Wei Ping's persuasion. Perfect in pronouncing on all affairs, yet helpless when it came to its own body — when the moment turns against you, of what use is wisdom!

The divination prohibitions state: On the days zi, hai, and xu, one must not divine or kill a turtle. At noon, after eating, one may divine. At dusk and twilight — this is the turtle's boundary time — one must not divine. On geng and xin days, one may kill the turtle and drill it. The turtle should always be ritually purified at the beginning of each month: first wash it with clean water, purify it with an egg, then take up the turtle and consecrate it, treating it always with the reverence due an ancestor.

The general principles state: The outer side represents other people; the inner side represents oneself. The outer represents the female; the inner represents the male. When the head inclines downward, it portends worry. The main line represents the body; the minor lines represent the limbs. The fundamental rules: for illness — when the foot-crack closes (肣), the patient lives; when the foot-crack opens, the patient dies. For travel — when the foot-crack opens, the traveler arrives; when it closes, the traveler does not arrive. For departure — when the foot-crack closes, one does not depart; when it opens, one departs. For seeking something — when the foot-crack opens, one obtains it; when it closes, one does not. For prisoners — when the foot-crack closes, one does not go free; when it opens, one goes free.