Social and Emotional Dimensions of Divination for Chinese Buddhists
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Scholars have defined Chinese divination as ways to resolve doubts and “disclose the hidden – in past, present, and future” (Lackner 2022, 9-10). This presentation shows how divination can occasionally precipitate and fuel further doubt, creating anxiety rather confidence in one’s present and future. It describes how Ouyi Zhixu’s 藕益智旭 (1599-1655) experience with astrology (zhanxing shu 占星術)—specifically the foretelling of his mother’s early death—prompts him to engage in a series of ritual attempts to counteract such predictions. Ouyi makes vows, writes letters in his own blood, and cuts his arms to try save his mother, and in the wake of her death, experiences an inner turmoil that he describes vividly in poems, votive texts, and other writings. He expresses intense feelings of regret for abandoning his mother, who was widowed when Ouyi was nineteen. This paper discusses these social and emotional dimensions of divination for Chinese Buddhists.
