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A Prophet - Chapter 14 (Part 5)

Chapter 5 - The Six Yao Divination 

Next, Abbess Ruolan of Fujian took the stage. This over-sixty-year-old crone was well-versed in the arts of skin preservation; though advanced in age, her skin was fair, and as she walked to the front of the stage, she brought a lingering, subtle fragrance with her.

Abbess Ruolan's signature specialty was the "Six Yao" divination.

The character "Yao" is pronounced as "yao," in the second tone. Six Yao prediction involves taking three identical copper coins, such as Qianlong Tongbao, placing them in the palm of your hand, closing both hands tightly, and devoutly reciting in your mind the matter you wish to divine, before shaking them back and forth and casting them onto a table. You then observe how many characters face upward and how many emblems face upward once they settle. Each cast is recorded as one yao, and after repeating this six times, the six yao are born.

The copper coins have characters on one side and emblems on the other. When three copper coins are shaken in the hand and cast onto the table, the settled outcome falls into four possible types: all three are emblems, all three are characters, or one is an emblem and two are characters, or one is a character and two are emblems.

Whenever there are three emblems or one emblem and two characters, it is represented by a single unbroken horizontal line: "—". Whenever there are three characters or one character and two emblems, it is represented by two broken horizontal lines "——".

Suppose the coins are cast six times, and in sequential order, the results are: three emblems, three characters, one emblem and two characters, one character and two emblems, three characters, and three emblems. Then, this hexagram is recorded as:

—— (Sixth Yao) ——

(Fifth Yao) ——

(Fourth Yao)

—— (Third Yao) ——

(Second Yao)

—— (First Yao)

The six yao are arranged from bottom to top, with the lowest at the bottom being the first yao, and the sixth yao at the very top. As the saying goes, "To number the past, proceed in natural order; to know the future, proceed in reverse." Six Yao prediction is evaluated by matching the cast hexagram lines with the elemental attributes of the Five Elements, Heavenly Stems, and Earthly Branches.

Grandpa Zu noted that Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had also played with copper coin hexagrams. Legend has it that when Zhu Chongba was a monk in a temple, he felt utterly lost regarding his future, and so he sought out a copper coin to divine for himself. He clasped the copper coin in his palm and silently recited in his heart: "O Heaven, please point out a path for me. If I cast the copper coin and it lands with the character side facing up, I shall stay in the monastery and be a monk; if it lands with the blank side facing up, I shall go and depend upon someone else." As it turned out, the heavens played a massive joke on Zhu Yuanzhang: after the copper coin was cast, it rolled and tumbled before finally getting wedged tightly in a crack, standing bolt upright—neither the character nor the emblem was facing up.

Zhu Yuanzhang was instantly dumbfounded. What was the meaning of this? It neither allowed him to depend on others nor let him remain a monk—could it be that it was telling him to strike out on his own? Thus, Old Zhu truly struck out on his own and eventually unified the entire realm!

Once Abbess Ruolan sat down, she brandished her whisk and said, "Masters, please enlighten me!" She was poised and graceful, exuding an overwhelming aura!

A person in the audience stood up, looking to be around forty years old, wearing her hair in a traditional matriarchal bun. Gentle and refined, she was none other than Mei Xuanzi's wife, the Anhui spirit medium Gai Xia.

"I have long heard that Abbess Ruolan's Six Yao techniques are profoundly deep. I wonder just how advanced the art of Six Yao can truly be?"

Abbess Ruolan looked at Gai Feixian, thinking to herself: Does a junior like you really want to stump me?

"The method of the Six Yao originates from the Great Expansion divination method. The Boundless gives rise to the Supreme Ultimate, the Supreme Ultimate generates the Two Modes, the Two Modes generate the Four Images, and the Four Images generate the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams intertwine with one another to form the sixty-four hexagrams. The method of the Six Yao inherits the numbers of the Great Expansion of heaven and earth, encompassing the Way of heaven and earth. Above, it can divine major affairs of monarchs; below, it can divine the petty affairs of the common folk. All things in heaven and earth are covered by it without exception." After finishing her words, Abbess Ruolan quietly observed Gai Xia.

"Can it divine human life and death?" Gai Xia asked.

"Of course! Infallible without a single error!" Abbess Ruolan said firmly.

Gai Xia gave a cryptic smile. "The method of the Six Yao originated in the Zhou Dynasty, matured in the Han Dynasty, and the one who truly perfected and carried it forward was the Han Dynasty master Jing Fang, is that correct?"

"Yes," Abbess Ruolan replied.

"Jing Fang was exceedingly brilliant, pushing the method of the Six Yao to its absolute pinnacle. Every calculation he made hit the mark, and he won deep favor with the emperor. Yet precisely this originator of the Six Yao failed to calculate his own life and death, ultimately being executed by the emperor. I wonder if there is something wrong with the Six Yao method, or if there is something wrong with Master Jing Fang's proficiency? Furthermore, how does Abbess Ruolan compare herself to Jing Fang?" With just a few sentences, Gai Xia completely sealed off Abbess Ruolan's retreat routes.

These were all routines and countermeasures privately discussed between Grandpa Zu and Mei Xuanzi.

Abbess Ruolan truly was an old, cunning fox. With a cold hum, she said, "The matter of Master Jing Fang is often treated as a laughingstock by later generations. Technique has nothing to do with life and death; some matters, even if calculated, cannot be evaded. Otherwise, if one could escape whenever encountering a life-and-death disaster, wouldn't humans be able to live forever without dying?"

Gai Xia nodded slightly and said, "Since the ancient sages and worthies could calculate it yet were unable to evade it, then from where does the Abbess's claim of helping people eliminate disasters through the Six Yao method even arise? The Abbess claims to have eliminated countless disasters over the years; could you cite a recent example of disaster elimination so that the rest of us may be convinced from the bottom of our hearts?"

Abbess Ruolan laughed heartily. "The sages created the I Ching precisely to pursue good fortune and avoid misfortune; if it cannot eliminate disasters, what use is it? Some disasters cannot be eliminated, but the vast majority can still be resolved! Since you wish to hear a real-life example, I might as well tell you about a recent case. Several months ago, Wang Wenqing, a renowned tea merchant from southern Fujian, came to seek a divination due to sluggish business. I used the Six Yao method to resolve disasters for him and helped him smoothly weather his crisis. Mr. Wang personally inscribed a plaque to express his gratitude, a matter that caused a sensation throughout the eight prefectures of Fujian. You are entirely welcome to go and verify this!"

Gai Xia smiled and said, "That matter indeed happened, but I wonder how many years a single disaster-relief session by the Abbess remains effective?"

Abbess Ruolan said, "The method of the Supreme Ultimate is so vast that nothing exists outside it, and so minute that nothing exists within it. A single hexagram can peer into an entire lifetime, and can also peer into the minute details of a single year. Mr. Wang sought a ten-year hexagram, and I resolved ten years of disasters for him!"

Gai Xia laughed aloud. "Hehe, the Abbess boasts far too grandly! Either there is something wrong with the Six Yao method, or there is something wrong with the Abbess's techniques. Yesterday, a tea plantation belonging to a Fujian tea merchant caught fire, and several thousand catties of tea were reduced to ashes. The Shanghai Press reported that this tea merchant is precisely the southern Fujian celebrity Wang Wenqing!"

Abbess Ruolan's expression changed abruptly. She truly did not know about this news, because upon coming to the Japanese-occupied zone of Shanghai to participate in the debate conference, the Japanese side had imposed strict secrecy. Once the masters from various factions entered the Japanese-occupied zone, they were forbidden from wandering around and even more strictly prohibited from communicating with the outside world.

Abbess Ruolan said angrily, "Utter nonsense!"

Gai Xia remained completely unruffled and said, "Just now, before entering the venue, I saw several Imperial Japanese soldiers reading a newspaper and casually borrowed a copy..." As she spoke, she reached out and raised a newspaper from the table. "The Abbess can read it for herself!"

This trap had been laid several months prior by Grandpa Zu and Jiang Feiyan together. After Grandpa Zu returned to Shanghai from the Japanese Bureau of Imperial Religion, he talked through the night with Jiang Feiyan, recounting the true situation to her in full detail. Jiang Feiyan's tears soaked the dark night; she could neither stop Grandpa Zu nor persuade him to run away into the distance with her. In the end, she agreed to help Grandpa Zu. The "Crossing Begonia" and the Fujian "Tai Chi Gang" had always maintained close ties, and Grandpa Zu wanted Jiang Feiyan's help to find out Abbess Ruolan's recent activities. At the critical moment, Grandpa Zu instructed the Second Wharf Boss to set a fire, which successfully pulled the rug out from under Abbess Ruolan!

Abbess Ruolan's face flushed with shame, which immediately turned into rage and embarrassment. Pointing at Gai Xia's nose, she roared, "You must have played tricks!"

At this moment, Yoshiko Nishida spoke up: "Abbess Ruolan need not be like this. Today, debate and exchange come first, while victory or defeat comes second. To use a Chinese saying, it is 'valuing harmony above all else.'"

Abbess Ruolan gave her whisk a fierce flick, stepped down from the stage, and sat down in sullen gloom.

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