Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Taoist methods of prediction draw mainly on the basic Taoist theories of yin and yang, the Five Phases, the eight trigrams of the I Ching (Book of Changes), the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and the heavenly bodies. Their core principles are “the unity of heaven and humanity” and “the mutual resonance of heaven and humanity.” Using particular logical models (such as yin-yang and the Five Phases, the eight trigrams, and the stems and branches) and methods of observation, they relate time, space, and phenomena to human affairs through various media and lines of reasoning, and so foretell good and ill fortune. In broad terms these arts fall into five great classes—“mountain, medicine, destiny, physiognomy, and divination”—which together form a vast and intricate system; of these, “destiny, physiognomy, and divination” are the core of the predictive arts. In addition, Taoism includes a number of auxiliary methods that combine inner vision, outer omens, and communication with the spirit world. Taoist prediction is used mainly to foresee the course and the fortune of specific events, as a reference for making decisions. The main methods can be divided into the following classes:
1. Time-Based Prediction (Based on Time and the Relations of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases)
1. BaZi Prediction (the Four Pillars / the Ziping Method)
This method infers a person's destiny and fortune from the moment of birth, or from yin-yang and the Five Elements. Taking the year, month, day, and hour of birth (eight characters in all) as its basis, it matches them with the ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches to set out the four pillars and eight characters, lays out the Annual Luck and the Major Luck Cycles, and then assigns the Six Relations and the Ten Gods. Taking into account yin and yang and the Five Elements, the relations of generation and control, punishment, clash, combination, and transformation, as well as strength and weakness and the auspicious and inauspicious stars (shensha), it foretells a person's destiny, luck, marriage, career, and fortune over a whole life and in each year.
2. Ziwei Doushu
Ziwei Doushu (Purple Star Astrology) works through the arrangement of stars: taking the heavens at the time of a person's birth, it divides the sky into twelve palaces and, by analyzing the combinations of stars (such as the Ziwei star, the fourteen major stars, and the auxiliary stars), the Four Transformations (Lu, Quan, Ke, and Ji), and the palaces, infers the person's character, fortunes, and good and ill luck. It is regarded as a high-level art of destiny prediction.
3. Astrology (the Seven Governors and Four Remainders / the Five Planets Method)
This method judges a person's destiny by observing the nine heavens, the seven luminaries, the nine stars, and the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions. The seven luminaries are the sun, the moon, and the five planets—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions are divided into the seven mansions of the Azure Dragon in the east, the seven of the Black Tortoise in the north, the seven of the White Tiger in the west, and the seven of the Vermilion Bird in the south. By observing the sun, the moon, and the five planets together with the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and other celestial signs, and analyzing the stars' positions and their annual and periodic cycles, it predicts the destiny of individuals or the fortune of a state.
2. Divination (Based on Hexagrams and Numbers, to Calculate Good and Ill Fortune)
These methods infer the development and fortune of things through particular tools, hexagram images, or numerical principles.
1. I Ching Divination (Six Lines Divination, Najia Divination)
Taking the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching as its theoretical basis, this method makes predictions by combining the Najia (stem-attachment) method with the hexagram images. Three copper coins (or yarrow stalks) are thrown six times to obtain the six lines of a hexagram; then, taking into account the stems and branches of the day of divination, the Six Relations, and the Six Beasts, together with the line statements of the I Ching, one judges good and ill fortune and predicts the fortune and course of a specific event. Its reasoning is rigorous, and it is suited to predicting the details of specific events (such as the result of a job interview or whether an investment will go well).
I Ching divination is notable for its wide range of application: it can be used to predict and analyze all kinds of matters, such as career development, marriage and relationships, health, and safety in travel, offering people reference and guidance in their decisions.
2. Plum Blossom Numerology
Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu) casts a hexagram from random numbers or phenomena—such as the time, a direction, a sound, a mobile phone number, the image of an object, or an observed natural phenomenon. Taking the I Ching as its theoretical basis, it uses the prior heaven trigram numbers to generate the hexagram image, its yin and yang, and its Five Phases, and makes a quick judgment from the relations between the hexagram and the numbers. It is flexible and convenient, suited to quick predictions, and often used to foretell luck and the good or ill outcome of specific events.
3. Qimen Dunjia
Qimen Dunjia sets up a chart by combining time (year, month, day, and hour), direction (space, the nine palaces and eight trigrams), the eight trigrams, the Five Phases, the Eight Gates (Life, Death, Harm, Block, View, Fright, Open, and Rest), the Nine Stars, the Eight Deities, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and the Three Wonders and Six Ceremonies. By laying out the chart and analyzing the timing of heaven, the advantages of the terrain, and the harmony of people, it plans across time and space and predicts good and ill fortune, directions, and timing. It is mostly used to predict complex events and is considered one of the most profound methods of prediction. Qimen Dunjia is called “the learning of emperors”; it is suited to predicting major events, strategic decisions, broad trends (such as war, business strategy, or the fortunes of a nation), and the fortune of human affairs, and it emphasizes a comprehensive analysis of “the timing of heaven, the advantages of the terrain, and the harmony of people.”
4. Taiyi Shenshu (Also Called Taiyi Numbers)
The origins of Taiyi Shenshu go back to high antiquity; tradition holds that the Yellow Emperor ordered his minister Feng Hou to create it, and it took initial shape in the Han dynasty. It is a high-level ancient science of prediction. Centered on the Taiyi star and combining the three powers of heaven, earth, and humanity, Taiyi Shenshu analyzes the laws of long cycles called “eras” (such as thirty-year cycles). Specifically, it forms its figures from the ten Heavenly Stems, the twelve Earthly Branches, the eight trigrams, and the nine palaces, and by working through the Taiyi board it analyzes the star spirits and chart patterns. Blending astronomy, calendrical science, the principles of the Changes, and the thought of yin-yang and the Five Phases, it aims—through rigorous numerical logic, models of time and space, and the figures of the twelve cycles—to work out the laws of change in heaven and earth, military decisions, the political destiny and fortune of states, and the broad patterns of historical development.
Taiyi Shenshu is used mainly for large-scale prediction, such as foretelling the fortunes of a nation, natural disasters, economic cycles, and broad trends, and it stresses “seeing the great trend and avoiding great dangers.”
5. Da Liuren
Da Liuren, also called “the Liuren Divine Lesson,” is used mainly to divine the hundred affairs of daily life. Based on the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, it raises a lesson through the “Nine Methods,” analyzes the Heaven Plate, the Earth Plate, the Four Lessons, and the Three Transmissions, and, using the divination board and combining stems and branches, the Five Phases, the nine palaces, and other elements, builds the lesson's configuration; then, by specific formulas, it calculates the omens of good and ill fortune concerning time, direction, persons, events, and trends. The Liuren Divine Lesson (Da Liuren) has a complex predictive system and is fairly accurate; it can analyze in fine detail the course of things and their final fortune, and is praised as “the most efficacious divine lesson.” It is used mainly for affairs of state, military decisions, predicting wars, and decisions on major matters, though it can of course also offer in-depth guidance for individuals on life planning, career development, relationships, and marriage.
6. Xiao Liuren
Xiao Liuren, also called “the Horse-Front Lesson” or “casting a lesson by the hour,” is a simple ancient Chinese method of prediction (divination). Its accuracy is relatively low; it mainly gives a general indication of good or ill fortune and is applied mostly to the small matters of daily life—short-term judgments such as whether a trip will go smoothly, whether a lost item can be found, how one's luck will be that day, or whether a relationship will lead to marriage. Because it is worked out simply by “counting on the fingers” and is easy to learn, it has spread widely among the people, and its users are mainly ordinary folk. At its core, it follows set rules to turn the time (month, day, and hour) into a landing place among the “Six Spirits,” so that one can quickly judge whether the matter asked about is auspicious or inauspicious. A result can be reached within minutes, which is why it is so widely used.
3. Physiognomy (Prediction Based on the Human Form and the Environment, Revealing Fortune and Misfortune)
These methods infer good and ill fortune by observing the outward appearance, form, and color of things, or the environment.
1. Reading People (Face Reading, Palm Reading, Bone Reading)
By observing physical signs such as the lines and complexion of the face, the lines of the hand, the shape of the bones, and the shape, position, and color of moles, and combining them with the theories of the eight trigrams, the stems and branches, and yin and yang, this method infers a person's fortune and misfortune, health, and destiny.
2. Reading the Land (Feng Shui / Kanyu)
By observing the geographical environment (such as the lie of the mountains, the way water flows, and orientation), the layout of buildings (dwellings for the living and graves for the dead), and the veins of mountains and rivers, this method analyzes how the pattern of the environment affects the fortune of those who live there or of their descendants, so as to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune.
3. Reading Names (Analyzing Personal Names, Shop Names, or Company Names)
From the strokes, sounds, and Five Elements attributes of the inquirer's personal name, or of a shop or company name, combined with the person's BaZi (Four Pillars of Destiny), this method infers good and ill fortune and the direction of development.
4. Omens and Oracle Prediction (Inferring from Immediate Phenomena)
These methods predict through inner vision, communication with the spirit world, or by catching immediate responses from the outside world.
1. Prediction by Outer Omens (Signs and Direct Judgment)
Without casting a hexagram, this method directly judges good or ill fortune from phenomena of the moment (such as something breaking, a telephone ringing, a sudden sound, or an unexpected incident). Holding that “like sounds answer one another, and like qi seek one another,” it reads good and ill fortune from the “outer response” of immediate phenomena.
2. Oracle Lot Divination (Drawing Lots)
In a Taoist temple, one sincerely draws an oracle lot, and from the verse or text written on the lot, together with the circumstances in which it was drawn, one receives the guidance or answer of the gods and infers the fortune or misfortune of the matter asked about.
5. Spirit Communication and Inner-Vision Prediction (Prediction Based on Resonance and Intuition, Communicating Through Supernatural Abilities)
1. Divine Light Divination
By pressing on both eyes in a dark place, one produces visual images of “divine light,” and from the color of the light (red, yellow, green, white, or black) and its shape (round or not round), one infers good and ill fortune (for example, red and yellow are auspicious, and black is inauspicious).
2. The Art of the Round Light
This is a form of spirit communication by “external projection”: through a particular method of opening the spiritual faculties, images appear on a screen of light (such as the palm of the hand or a wall), and they are used to look into matters, diagnose illness, and see the past and the future.
3. Communication Through Talismans and Incantations
By writing talismans, reciting scriptures and incantations, inviting the gods, or spirit writing, one communicates with “supernatural” powers to obtain hidden information about a person's destiny or an event.
Prediction by outer omens (direct judgment): without casting a hexagram, one relies directly on phenomena sensed in the outside world at that moment—such as something breaking, a telephone ringing, the sound of vehicles, or a sudden situation—and matches the good or ill character of the phenomenon directly to the good or ill fortune of the event.
6. Other Auxiliary Methods of Prediction
1. Character Divination
The inquirer writes a Chinese character at random at the time of the reading, and by analyzing the character's meaning, strokes, brushwork, and form, the diviner infers good or ill fortune for the inquirer.
2. Dream Divination
This method infers the future, or good and ill fortune, by interpreting the content of dreams.
7. Observe the Taoist Principle of the “Three Cases Not to Divine”
When using any of the Taoist methods of prediction, one should observe the Taoist principle of the “three cases not to divine”: “do not divine without sincerity, do not divine without doubt, and do not divine for what is unrighteous.”
1. Do Not Divine Without Sincerity
Both the diviner and the inquirer must be sincere and reverent in heart. As the saying goes, “with a sincere heart, there is a response,” and belief is especially important; otherwise the information will be disturbed and the prediction will be inaccurate.
“Insincerity” here refers not only to insincerity toward the art of divination itself and toward the gods, but above all to insincerity about the matter being divined. If the diviner's motives regarding the matter are impure and the intention insincere, then even if the result is highly auspicious, the protection of the gods will not be granted.
2. Do Not Divine Without Doubt
The I Ching is chiefly about change, and it is one of the ways to give direction in life to those who are perplexed. If there is no doubt in one's heart, there is no need to divine; divination must not be treated as a game to be played over and over.
3. Do Not Divine for What Is Unrighteous
If the matter sought is not a proper one, one must not divine about it. The matters divined must be proper ones, such as one's finances, health, or personal relationships.
8. Treat Taoist Prediction Rationally
There are many kinds of Taoist methods of prediction, and each school has its own lineage. Some methods (such as the Round Light and Divine Light divination) carry a strong religious and spirit-communication character, while others (such as BaZi and Six Lines) lean toward logical deduction; they should be understood in light of the specific school and the actual situation.
In essence, Taoist prediction is an ancient “management of uncertainty” and an “empirical predictive model.” Through logical reasoning and psychological suggestion, it helps people sort out their thinking, ease their anxiety, and make decisions when information is incomplete. In modern use it should be regarded as a cultural heritage and a reference for decision-making, so one should treat it rationally—believing without being superstitious.