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• Title: Divination/Fortune Telling (Zhan Bu/Xianming): Chinese Cultural Praxis and Worldview (Report)
• Author : China Media Research
• Release Date : January 01, 2011
• Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 224 KB

Description

Divination is a ritual practiced in many different cultures such as the Chinese, ancient Greek (e.g., Johnston, 2008), Roman (Wildfang&Isager, 2000), Aztec (e.g., Miller, 2007) and African (e.g., Peek, 1991). Divination is not only related to prophetic information but also linked to literature, philosophy and traditional medicine (as performed by African and Native American healers). The diviners seek to ascertain insight into a future event or situation by participating in a specific ritual, using systematic methods, and interpreting signs or omens. The ancient Romans believed that natural phenomena such as meteorological disturbances or flights of birds could be perceived as signs sent by gods (Wildfang&Isager, 2000). These signs affected every sphere of ancient Roman daily life, from decisions to go to war, to whether to sign a peace treaty, to dealing with public crises. Wildfang and Isager asserted that Roman divinatory techniques were an integral part of ancient Roman society and were often used in literary contexts. The connection between divination and Greek philosophy can be best represented by the discussion of Socrates in Plato's Apology (see also Nightingale, 2004). In the first part of the Apology, Socrates mentions his use of divination to predict when he is going to die. The Apology recounts the story of Socrates' friend, Chaerephon, who goes to the Oracle at Delphi and later tells Socrates that the god revealed to him that no one is wiser than Socrates. Plato states in the Apology that Socrates had been assigned a mission by the oracle to improve Athenians' souls (30a-b, see also Nails, 2011). For Chinese, divination is omnipresent and an important aspect of ancient Chinese history. The history of Chinese divination and magic already existed around 1600 BC (see for example, Wilkins, 2011). In ancient Chinese Shang dynasty (around 1300BC), a diviner (who may be the ruler or the king) would consult the oracle first before deciding whether to launch a war and if so, when. The king did so by writing the question on the oracle bones, which were often made of tortoise shell. The divination questions carved on the oracle bones then become the conclusive archeological evidence of early Chinese scripts. As Field (2008) stated, in Chinese society, the art of divination had a profound impact on Chinese traditional medicine, science, governance, and most specifically, philosophy and religion.

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