Cosmological Construction and Rational Essence of the Original Functions of the *Book of Changes* Based on Divination Tracing

Chapter 1: Tracing the Origin of "Shi" — The Structural Mystery in Oracle Bone Script

Section 1.1: "Shi" and "Bu" — Two Characters, Two Paths

To understand the original function of the Zhouyi, we must first clarify an extremely crucial conceptual distinction: "Bu" (卜) and "Shi" (筮) have never been the same thing.

The character "Bu" (卜), in oracle bone script, resembles the pattern of cracks on a tortoise shell after being heated. Its original meaning is to heat tortoise shells and observe the cracks to determine good or ill fortune. This was the most crucial divination method of the Shang Dynasty, directly serving royal decision-making—for conquests, sacrifices, hunts, and illnesses, no detail was too small to be inquired about through divination. The over 100,000 pieces of oracle bones unearthed at Yin Xu (殷墟) are the most solid proof of this tradition.

However, the character "Shi" (筮) is entirely different.

The structure of the oracle bone script for "Shi" (筮) has "zhu" (竹, bamboo) or "cao" (艸, grass) at the top and "wu" (巫, shaman) at the bottom. The construction of this character itself implies an important message: Shi, is primarily a shamanic act related to grass (yarrow)—but the original meaning of "Wu" (巫) is not equivalent to "divination."

Why is this point so crucial$5 Because in the semantic field of ancient Chinese, the original meaning of "Wu" (巫) is a mediator who communicates between Heaven and humanity, and harmonizes all things, not merely a "predictor." Although Shuowen Jiezi (说文解字, an ancient dictionary) is a later text, the semantic information it preserves from the pre-Qin period is still of reference value. Here, we should pay more attention to the actual function of "Wu" in pre-Qin texts. The Guoyu (国语, Discourses of the States), in the "Chuyu Xia" (楚语下) section, records the words of Guan Shefu (观射父):

"In antiquity, the people and spirits were not separate. Those whose minds were clear and unwavering, and who were able to be reverent, pure, sincere, and upright... If so, the enlightened spirits would descend; among men they were called xi (觋), and among women, wu (巫)."

This passage is extremely critical. It tells us: the core function of "Wu" (巫) in antiquity was "to prevent the commingling of people and spirits"—that is, to maintain the order and communication between Heaven, humanity, and spirits. The work of a wu was not to predict the future, but to harmonize the relationship among Heaven, Earth, and humanity. This was an organizational and ritualistic function, not a predictive one.

So, the question arises: If the original meaning of "Wu" (巫) in the character "Shi" (筮) was an order harmonizer, not a fortune teller, then was the original meaning of the act of "shi" also not what we later understood as "divination"$6

Section 1.2: The "Number" of Yarrow and the "Image" of Tortoise Shell — A Fundamental Difference in Cognitive Methods

Between "Bu" and "Shi," there exists an even deeper epistemological divergence.

The core of tortoise divination is "image" (象)—the cracks produced by heating the tortoise shell are uncontrollable in form, completely reliant on external random forces. What the diviner does is to "read" these randomly generated symbolic signs and associate them with specific meanings of good or ill fortune. This is a passive reception type of cognition: humans ask questions of the spirits, and the spirits "answer" through the cracks on the tortoise shell.

Shi divination is entirely different. The Xici Zhuan (Appended Sayings) meticulously records the operational process of the "Dayan Shi" (大衍之数, Great Elaboration of Numbers) method:

"The numbers for the Great Elaboration are fifty; forty-nine are used. Divide them into two to symbolize Yin and Yang; hang one to symbolize Three; count them in fours to symbolize the Four Seasons; return the remainder to the bracket to symbolize the intercalary month. Five years have two intercalary months, hence two brackets are made before hanging."

This passage reveals an astonishing fact: Every step of the Shi divination operation has a clear cosmological correspondence. "Divide them into two to symbolize Yin and Yang"—symbolizing Heaven and Earth (Yin and Yang); "hang one to symbolize Three"—symbolizing man standing between Heaven and Earth; "count them in fours to symbolize the Four Seasons"—symbolizing the passage of the four seasons; "return the remainder to the bracket to symbolize the intercalary month"—symbolizing the adjustment of leap months in the calendar.

This is not "randomly generating a number to ask about good or ill fortune," but simulating the fundamental structure of the cosmos through strict mathematical operations.

Why "simulate" the cosmic structure$7 If the sole purpose were to divine good or ill fortune, why go to such lengths to assign cosmological significance from astronomy and the calendar to each step$8 Wouldn't simply rolling dice, drawing lots, or observing bird flight be more convenient$9

This precisely indicates that the original purpose of Shi divination was not "prediction," but "understanding"—understanding the laws of Heaven and Earth's operation, understanding man's position in the cosmos, understanding the rhythm and regularity of change itself.

The Xici Zhuan continues:

"Therefore, the four operations complete the Yi, and eighteen changes form a hexagram."

The phrase "complete the Yi" (成易) is profoundly meaningful. Not "complete the divination" (成占), not "complete the prediction" (成卜), but "complete the Yi." What is accomplished by each Shi divination operation is not a divinatory result, but "Yi" itself—a concrete unfolding of the Way of Change.

Section 1.3: The Absence of "Shi" in Oracle Bone Divinatory Records — A Remarkable Silence

There is another extremely thought-provoking phenomenon worth our deep consideration: In the vast number of oracle bone divinatory records unearthed at Yin Xu, the character "Shi" (筮) appears very rarely, and content directly corresponding to the sixty-four hexagrams of the Zhouyi is almost entirely absent.

What does this mean$10

In the Shang Dynasty, tortoise divination was the absolute mainstream of the national divination system. The "Shi" method and its associated hexagram system, on the other hand, may not have been incorporated into the official divination system during the Shang Dynasty, or rather, it did not originally belong to the divination system.

The Rites of Zhou (周礼), in the "Chun Guan · Da Bu" (春官·大卜) section, states:

"The Great Diviner is in charge of the methods of the three omens... and is in charge of the methods of the Three Yi: one is Lian Shan, two is Guicang, and three is Zhouyi."

This passage juxtaposes "zhao" (兆, cracks from tortoise divination) with "Yi" (易, the methods of the Three Yi) rather than conflating them, precisely indicating that "Bu" and "Yi" were originally two separate systems in the ancient official system. "Zhao" was a divination method, but what was "Yi"$11 It was called the "method of Yi"—the principle of change.

We cannot help but ask: If the original function of "Yi" was divination, why establish a separate system when a mature tortoise divination system already existed$12 If the functions were the same, why duplicate$13 The only reasonable explanation is: the function of Yi is different from Bu. Bu is asking spirits, while Yi is thoroughly investigating principles.