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#Nourishing the Will by Emulating the Numinous Turtle #Guiguzi #Archaic Wisdom #Spiritual Cultivation #Turtle Culture
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.
References (Pre-Qin Texts)
- Yijing (Book of Changes, including canonical text and commentaries)
- Shangshu (Book of Documents)
- Shijing (Book of Songs)
- Zhouguan / Zhouli (Rites of Zhou)
- Liji (Book of Rites, including the Daxue, Zhongyong, Yueji, Liyun, and Quli chapters)
- Lunyu (Analects)
- Mengzi (Mencius)
- Laozi (Daodejing)
- Zhuangzi
- Guanzi (including the Xinshu, Neiye, and Mumin chapters)
- Guiguzi (including the Seven Chapters of the Root Canon of Hidden Talismans)
- Sunzi Bingfa (Art of War)
- Zuozhuan (Zuo Commentary)
- Chuci, Tianwen (Songs of Chu, Heavenly Questions)
- Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), citations of pre-Qin historical events (Note: Although the Shiji was composed in the Western Han, the pre-Qin historical events and statements of pre-Qin figures it records are largely based on pre-Qin documents and oral tradition; this essay cites the portions concerning the pre-Qin period as corroborating historical cases.)
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Author: Xuanji Editorial Board