The Zhoujiatai Occult Manuscripts (周家臺的數術簡)

Abstract

Bamboo-slip manuscripts from Zhoujiatai tomb 30, Hubei (burial dated ca. 209 b.c.e.), provide important evidence of ancient Chinese occult manuscripts belonging to a man of modest status. One manuscript, identified as a rishu “day book” by the modern editors of the Zhoujiatai manuscripts, treats of hemerology and astrology and is the focus of this study. The bamboo slips of a calendar for years corresponding to 211–210 b.c.e. can be associated with the rishu and may have formed one manuscript unit. The contents of the rishu include two large-size diagrams related to hemerological and astro-calendrical systems. The first diagram involves calculations based on the position of the handle of the Dipper constellation and the second diagram is notable for reference to one of the years (211 b.c.e.) of the associated calendar. A third diagram, for which the title rong liri “rong calendar day [divination]” is written on the manuscript, has a slightly different form in a second occurrence on the manuscript. Both forms of the diagram show thirty lines arranged in a vertical column, corresponding to the thirty days of the ideal month, with some lines enclosed in boxes. Days of the month are counted in the sequence of lines on the diagram in order to determine the lucky and unlucky aspects of a given day. A related hemerological system is attested in a manuscript from Mawangdui tomb 3, Hunan (burial dated 168 b.c.e.), and in medieval occult manuscripts from Dunhuang. 湖北省周家臺30號墓簡(約公元前209年)提供了關於古代中國一名低級官吏所擁有的數術簡的寶貴資料。本文主要研究其中由整理者认定为《日書》的簡文及其涉及的擇日、星象等內容。同墓出土的暦譜(公元前211–210年)與《日書》相關,可能本來屬於同一卷簡冊。《日書》包括兩幅大圖,一個與擇日有關,一個與星象曆法體系有關。第一圖講基於北斗七星斗柄指向的算法,第二圖因爲涉及到暦譜記載公元前211年的內容而受到矚目。另外第三幅圖簡文記述其名曰“戎磿日”,存在兩個稍微不同的版本。兩個版本的圖都是由縱向排列的三十條橫綫構成,代表一个月的理想天数三十,並和周圍的綫條組成方框。按照圖中橫綫的順序判斷每個月中相應的那一天是否吉利。與此相關的擇日法也在湖南馬王堆3號墓(約公元前168年)與中古時期敦煌的數術文獻中出現。