Guiguzi's 'Nourishing the Will by Emulating the Numinous Turtle': A Deep Interpretation of Archaic Wisdom

This article undertakes an in-depth exploration of the proposition 'nourishing the will by emulating the numinous turtle' (yang zhi fa ling gui) in the Guiguzi, examining the symbolic significance of the turtle in high antiquity, the wu-xi shamanic tradition, turtle-shell divination culture, ritual status, and longevity philosophy from multiple dimensions, revealing the profound philosophical thought and methodology of spiritual cultivation it embodies, and striving to restore its original meaning within the pre-Qin intellectual context.