Deciphering Dreams: How Glyphomancy Worked in Late Ming Dream Encyclopedic Divination

Abstract

Both the 1562 dream encyclopedia Mengzhan yizhi 夢占逸旨 (Guidelines for Dream Divination) and the 1636 dream encyclopedia Menglin xuanjie 夢林玄解 (An Explication of the Profundities in the Forest of Dreams) consisted of individual examples of accurately divined dream interpretations whose cumulative weight proved that the divination techniques worked consistently and should be used. The content of the dream encyclopedias revealed the specific nature of the techniques. In the dream encyclopedias, individuals’ dreamed problems were solved using glyphomancy (the dissection of Chinese characters), demonstrating the importance of written Chinese characters in dream divination. I show that glyphomancy not only revealed divinatory answers, but in some instances, accurately predicted the timing of life's events.

Keywords:

• dreams
• divination
• glyphomancy
• encyclopedia
• Ming
• Chinese characters

Acknowledgement

My work benefitted from time spent at Academia Sinica. Thanks to Pey-Yi Chu, Benjamin Elman, Yulia Frumer, Marta Hanson, Philip Kafalas, Chao-heng Liao, Tobie Meyer-Fong, Lynn Struve, Lyman Van Slyke, Ya Zuo, members of the Early Faculty Research Group at Lawrence University, the Women's History Writing Group at Lawrence University, and anonymous reviewers for reading and commenting on this article at various stages.

Notes

1 The ruler is said to be from an unidentified Song state (ca. 771 BCE-286 BCE). Following the collapse of the Zhou dynasty after the seizure of its capital in 771 BCE, royal power vanished and the fiefs in the Yellow River Valley were left as independent states. The Zhou was preserved as a figurehead of these remaining city-states. The state of Song, one of these city-states, was located in the flood plain of the Yellow River. See M. E. Lewis, ‘The City-State in Spring-and-Autumn China,’ in A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures, ed. by M.H. Hansen (Historisk-filosofiske Skrifter 21. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 2000).

2 宋主夢河中水涸。(⟪玉海⟫曰：宋主有疾。夜夢河中水乾。憂形於色,以爲人君龍象。今河無水是龍不獲水居矣。時有占夢者曰：河無水乃可字，主君之疾當痊可。帝欣然，疾果愈。) Unmodified by the adjective huang 黃 for ‘yellow,’ the river in the above example most likely referred to the Yellow River because this was where the Song state was based. See footnote 1 for further explanation. The first line is quoted in He Dongru 何棟如, Meng lin xuanjie 夢林玄解 (An Explication of the Profundities in the Forest of Dreams; preface date 1636), in Xuxiu siku quan shu 續修四庫全書 zi bu 子部 shu shu lei 術數類, Vol. 1064 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji chubanshe, 2002), 329. All Forest of Dreams citations are from the photographic reprint of the late Ming edition [1636] of Forest of Dreams housed in the Shanghai Lexicographical Library reprinted by the Shanghai Guji chubanshe in 2002. The late Ming original published edition is punctuated. Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own. The commentary (in parentheses) is taken from Chen Shiyuan's Meng zhan yi zhi 夢占逸旨 (Guidelines for Dreams and Dream Divination; preface date 1562), in Xuxiu siku quan shu zi bu shu shu lei, Vol. 1064, 437. This is a photographic reprint of the 1850 edition contained in the collection Yi hai zhu chen 藝海珠塵 (Artistic Oceans and Pearl Dust). Richard Strassberg provided an English translation of Chen Shiyuan's encyclopedia, Guidelines to Dreams. See R. Strassberg, Wandering Spirits: Chen Shiyuan's Dream Encyclopedia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).

3 It can also be rendered in Chinese as ce zi 測字, po zi 破字, xiang zi 相字 or jie zi 解字.

4 Zuo Zhuan 左傳 (The Commentary of Zuo; ca. 4th century BCE) is the earliest and arguably best known written source that used glyphomancy. One selection offered a commentary on what connoted true militarism: ‘the cessation of [the use of] military weapons is militarism.’ Here, the characters for ‘cessation’ (zhi 止) and ‘military weapons’ (ge 戈) combined to form the character for ‘militarism’ (wu 武). The meanings of each of the separate elements for ‘militarism’ provided the definition of ‘militarism.’ Here, the glyphomantic interpretation implied a pacifist interpretation of militarism in which military power entailed putting down weapons.

5 See J. Norman, Chinese (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

6 拆字，亦作測字。拆則有分析之意，測則有推測之意，為占法之一種。任舉一字，觸機附會，以判吉凶… Xu Ke (徐珂 1869–1928), Chai zi 拆字 (‘Glyphomancy’), Fang ji lei 方技類 (‘Divination Category’). Qingbai leichao 清稗類鈔 (Anthology of Assorted Matters in the Qing). 48 ce 冊. 518A;. (Shangwu Yinshu guan, 1916).

7 See W. Bauer, ‘Chinese Glyphomancy (ch'ai-tzu [chai zi]) and Its Uses in Present-Day Taiwan,’ in Legend, Lore, and Religion in China, ed. by Sarah Allan and Alvin P. Cohen (San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center, Inc., 1979), pp. 71–96. In the course of his stay in Taiwan, Bauer consulted twenty-seven glyphomancers about his future. When given the option, Bauer presented the same character to each of these glyphomancers for interpretation. The ensuing interpretations varied from one glyphomancer to another. Bauer compared his experiences with those listed in glyphomantic manuals. According to Bauer, the use of glyphomancy by fortune-tellers originated at least during the Sui (589–618 CE) and was widely used from the Song. As Bauer wrote, the earliest work specifically discussing glyphomancy is the Po zi yao jue 破字要訣 (Essentials of Breaking Characters), which is listed in the Sui shu 隋書 (History of the Sui). The work is no longer extant. Li Chunfeng 李淳風 (602–670) and Yuan Tiangang 袁天綱 (d. 627) allegedly co-authored an interpretation work entitled Tui bei tu 推背圖 (Conjecturing the Meaning Behind Graphs); recent versions of this particular text rely upon glyphomantic principles in divination.

8 J. Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 2, History of Scientific Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956), p. 364.

9 Richard Strassberg, ‘Glyphomantic Dream Anecdotes,’ in Idle Talk: Gossip and Anecdote in Traditional China, ed. by Jack Chen and David Schaberg (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014).

10 See R. F. Campany. Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China. (New York: SUNY Press, 1996), pp. 15–17.

11 See discussion in Yao Weijun 姚偉鈞 Zhan meng mo huan yu yan: gu zhongguo zhan meng yi zhao he xi fang jie meng zhi mi 占夢魔幻預言：古中國占夢異兆和西方解夢之謎 (Interpreting Dreams and Predicting Nightmares: the Puzzle of Ancient China's Dream Interpretation, Strange Omens, and Interpreting Dreams in the West) (Taipei: Shu quan chu ban she, 2004), pp. 24–27. See also Liao Tengye 廖藤葉 Zhongguo meng xi yanjiu 中國夢戲研究 (Research on Chinese Dream Plays). (Taipei: Xueshe chubanshe, 2000), p. 37.

12 K. Bulkeley, Dreaming in the World's Religions: A Comparative History. (New York: New York University Press, 2008), p. 68.

13 Zhu Xi was an influential Song dynasty Confucian scholar whose philosophical interpretations of the classics were canonized and taught in China and Japan. On Ming dynasty compendia and encyclopedias, see B. Elman, ‘Collecting and Classifying: Ming Dynasty Compendia and Encyclopedias (Leishu),’ Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident (2007), 131–157.

14 For a general discussion on dreams in Chinese history, see Xiong Daolin 熊道麟, Xian qin meng wenhua tanwei 先秦夢文化探微 (An Exploration of Pre-Qin Dream Culture) (Taipei: Xuehai chubanshe, 2004); Li Hanbin 李漢濱, Taiping guangji de meng yanjiu〈太平廣記〉的夢研究 (Dream Research in the Taiping Guangji) (Taipei: Xuehai chubanshe, 2004); Liu Wenying 劉文英, Meng de mixin yu meng de tansuo 夢的迷信与與夢的探索 (Dream Superstition and Dream Research) (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1993).

15 See Zhuang Yifu, ed. 莊一拂, Gudian xiqu cunmu huikao古典戲曲存目彙考 (A Study of Existing Ancient Operas) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1982); Liao Tengye 廖藤葉, Zhongguo meng xi yanjiu 中國夢戲硏究 (Research on Chinese Dream Operas) (Taipei: Xueshe chubanshe, 2000); Liao Chao-heng 廖肇亨. Zhongbian, shichan, mengxi: Ming mo Qing chu fojiao wenhua lunshu de chengxian yu guanhuai 中邊、詩禪、夢戲：明末清初佛教文化論述的呈現與關懷 (Borders, Chan Poetry, and Dream Plays: Discussion on the Emergence and Concern for Late Ming and Early Qing Buddhist Culture). (Taipei: Yunchen wenhua, 2008).

16 The Chinese term juan is often translated into English as ‘volume,’ which can be misleading, as there were multiple juan in one physically separate bound ‘book’ of Forest of Dreams. Juan is an ambiguous unit of book division, so I retain the pinyin transliteration.

17 He, vol. 1064, p. 329.

18 齊世祖夢行太極殿階. 南齊書曰：世祖在囊陽，夢著桑屐行太極殿階之上。叟溫曰：屐者運應木也。桑字四十二點，世祖年過此即帝位。 Chen, vol. 1064, p. 438.

19 梁顥進選， 前十日，夢人賜犬肉一片。 顥不悅，以問行者。曰：片犬，狀字也。果為狀元。He, vol. 1064, p. 199. The same example also appeared in Gu Dingchen 顧鼎臣 and Gu Zuxun 顧詛訓, comp. Ming zhuangyuan tu kao 明狀元圖考 (An Illustrated Survey of Ming Optimi), 1607 edition.

20 一人夢一人言、一犬吠。街士曰：人言、犬吠，乃獄字也。是人果遭囚獄之繫。He, vol. 1064, p. 201.

21 眾占非一，而夢為大。 He, vol. 1064, p. 605.

22 Michael Lackner studied the phenomenon of categorized dream interpretation in late Ming dream books (meng shu 夢書), in particular Forest of Dreams, in Der chinesische Traumwald: traditionelle Theorien des Traumes und seiner Deutung im Spiegel der ming-zeitlichen Anthologie Meng-lin hsüan-chieh (New York: P. Lang, 1985).

23 For an English translation of the table of contents of Forest of Dreams, along with an introduction to the contents and brief comparison of editions, refer to B. Vance, ‘Textualizing Dreams in a Late Ming Dream Encyclopedia’ (PhD diss., Princeton University, 2012).

24 One example is Meng zhen men 夢真門, [The Treasured Way to Dreams] in Yu Xiangdou 余象斗 (fl. 1596), pub. San tai wan yong zheng zong 三台萬用正宗 , eds. Sakai Tadao, Sakade Yoshihiro, and Ogawa Yūichi, Chūgoku nichiyō ruisho shūsei 中國日用類書集成, vol. 3 (Tōkyō: Kyūko Shoin, 2000).

25 See C. Furth, ‘Introduction,’ Thinking with Cases: Specialist Knowledge in Chinese Cultural History (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2007), p. 6.

26 He, vol. 1064, pp. 601–607. For a complete English translation of He Dongru's preface, refer to B. Vance, pp. 166–174.

27 齊世祖夢行太極殿階. 南齊書曰：世祖在囊陽，夢著桑屐行太極殿階之上。叟溫曰：屐者運應木也。桑字四十二點，世祖年過此即帝位。 The Qi Shizu Emperor dreamed that he ascended the top of the Taiji palace stairs. The History of the Southern Qi stated: When the Great Ancestor [the First Emperor of the Qi] was in Nanyang, he dreamed that he wore mulberry clogs and climbed to the very top of the Taiji palace steps. An old man said, ‘The fate of the one wearing the clog is determined by the wood. The character for mulberry comprises four “tens” and two “dots.”’ When he reached this age [forty-two years], the Great Ancestor attained the position of emperor. Chen, vol. 1064, p. 438.

28 一儒生至九仙廟祈夢。夢中一人語曰：“ 成不成成平不成平。清水橋邊乃見分明。” 此生久不遇，每憶此夢，然卒不知所謂也。一日過一橋。上題曰：清水橋。生訝焉。頂之有一老父至生乃述所夢以間之。父曰：生今年得矣。成不成成戊字也。平不成平午字也。今年戊午。將無徵乎，已而果然。He, vol. 1064, p. 199. The practice of praying for a dream (qi meng 祈夢) was usually associated with particular temples, such as the Temple of the Nine Immortals. Praying for a dream in a particular temple has been documented as early as the Tang dynasty. Fujianese scholar Xu Ji 徐稷, who attained his jinshi degree in 802, wrote a poem referencing the dream-seekers heading to the Temple of the Nine Immortals. The poem, entitled You jiu li hu 游九里湖 (‘Traveling to Jiuli Lake’), reads: ‘It is said that cinnabar elixir was once made here; it remains a resting place of clouds and water. The mountain is empty after people depart. Guests awakening from dreams come to visit. Rainfall on the stream settles clouds of dust; the stone gate is obscured in mist. I sing a lofty song to the bright moon; shadows of pine trees fall sparsely.’ 道是燒丹地，依然雲水居。山空人去後，夢醒客來初，溪雨飛沙霽，石門隱霧虛。高歌對明月，松影落扶疏。I thank Zhiyi Yang for her help in translating this poem. Chen Menglei, ed., ‘Jiuli hu bu 九鯉湖部 (Jiuli Lake Part),’ ‘Shanchuan dian 山川典 (Mountains and Rivers Classic),’ Gujin tushu jicheng 古今圖書集成 (Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times), juan 302, 207 ce, Wu Yingdian 武英殿, Qing Yongzheng 4 [1726], p. 22. The practice of seeking dreams in temples continues in both mainland China and Taiwan, with dream-seekers traveling to a designated dream-prayer temple, staying there overnight, and receiving dreamed instructions or advice while sleeping. Often, the temple monks provide interpretations for the dreams received overnight.

29 張司直夢為懷孕婦人。He, vol. 1064, p. 329.

30 Quoted in Chen, vol. 1064, p. 439.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brigid E. Vance

Brigid E. Vance is assistant professor of history at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She received her doctorate from Princeton University in 2012. Her research focuses on the intellectual and sociocultural history of dreams and dream divination in early modern China.