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Dice and Gods on the Silk Road
Chinese Buddhist Dice Divination in Transcultural Context
Series: - Prognostication in History, Volume: 7
What do dice and gods have in common? What is the relationship between dice divination and dice gambling? This interdisciplinary collaboration situates the tenth-century Chinese Buddhist âDivination of MaheÅvaraâ within a deep Chinese backstory of divination with dice and numbers going back to at least the 4th century BCE. Simultaneously, the authors track this specific method of dice divination across the Silk Road and into ancient India through a detailed study of the material culture, poetics, and ritual processes of dice divination in Chinese, Tibetan, and Indian contexts. The result is an extended meditation on the unpredictable movements of gods, dice, divination books, and divination users across the various languages, cultures, and religions of the Silk Road.
Brandon Dotson, D.Phil. (2007), University of Oxford, is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University. He has published various books and articles on early Tibet and on Dunhuang manuscripts, including The Old Tibetan Annals (VÃAW, 2009).
Constance A. Cook, Ph.D. (1990), University of California, Berkeley, is NIH Distinguished Professor at Lehigh University. She has published a number of books and articles on ancient China, including Ancestors, Kings, and the Dao (Harvard, 2017).
Zhao Lu, Ph.D. (2013), University of Pennsylvania, is Assistant Professor of Global China Studies at New York University Shanghai and Global Network Assistant Professor at New York University. He is the author of In Pursuit of the Great Peace (SUNY, 2019).
Constance A. Cook, Ph.D. (1990), University of California, Berkeley, is NIH Distinguished Professor at Lehigh University. She has published a number of books and articles on ancient China, including Ancestors, Kings, and the Dao (Harvard, 2017).
Zhao Lu, Ph.D. (2013), University of Pennsylvania, is Assistant Professor of Global China Studies at New York University Shanghai and Global Network Assistant Professor at New York University. He is the author of In Pursuit of the Great Peace (SUNY, 2019).
"Equally comparative in its cross- cultural evaluation and philological in its textual analysis, this volume offers a fascinating insight into not only Chinese divination practices but also the broader field of divination practices in general." - Joseph Chadwin, Religious Studies Review, 47/4 (2021).
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviations
Introduction: Playing Dice with the Gods
â1âMeta-Divination
â2âGambling with the Gods
â3âDice Gaming and Dice Divination
â4âA Relational Network of Gods, Dice, Books, Divination Users, and Mantic Figures
â5âOutline of the Work
1 The Divination of MaheÅvara
â1âThe Manuscript
â2âIntroducing the Divination of MaheÅvara
â3âThe Gods and Spirits in the Divination of MaheÅvara
â4âTranslation and Transcription of the Divination of MaheÅvara
2 The Divination of MaheÅvara and Chinese Numerical Trigram Divination
â1âMaterial Culture and Ritual Process in Chinese Numerical Trigram Texts
â2âNumerical Trigrams in the Stalk Divination and the Baoshan Divination Record
â3âThe Empowered Draughtsmen Divination Method and the Sutra on the Divination of Good and Bad Karmic Retribution
â4âA Case Study in Transmission: The Tricks of Jing, the Duke of Zhou Divination Method, and the Guan Gongming Divination Method
â5âPoetry, Talismans, and Divination
3 The Divination of MaheÅvara and Indic Dice Divination
â1âThe Divination of MaheÅvara and Two Other Tenth-Century Dunhuang Dice Divination Codices
â2âNinth-Century Tibetan Dice Divination Texts from Dunhuang, Turfan, and MazÄr TÄgh
â3âSanskrit Dice Divination Texts from Kucha
â4âThe Archeology and Mythology of PÄÅaka Dice
Conclusions: Inheriting the Wind
Appendix: Divining with Sixteen Numerical Trigrams
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviations
Introduction: Playing Dice with the Gods
â1âMeta-Divination
â2âGambling with the Gods
â3âDice Gaming and Dice Divination
â4âA Relational Network of Gods, Dice, Books, Divination Users, and Mantic Figures
â5âOutline of the Work
1 The Divination of MaheÅvara
â1âThe Manuscript
â2âIntroducing the Divination of MaheÅvara
â3âThe Gods and Spirits in the Divination of MaheÅvara
â4âTranslation and Transcription of the Divination of MaheÅvara
2 The Divination of MaheÅvara and Chinese Numerical Trigram Divination
â1âMaterial Culture and Ritual Process in Chinese Numerical Trigram Texts
â2âNumerical Trigrams in the Stalk Divination and the Baoshan Divination Record
â3âThe Empowered Draughtsmen Divination Method and the Sutra on the Divination of Good and Bad Karmic Retribution
â4âA Case Study in Transmission: The Tricks of Jing, the Duke of Zhou Divination Method, and the Guan Gongming Divination Method
â5âPoetry, Talismans, and Divination
3 The Divination of MaheÅvara and Indic Dice Divination
â1âThe Divination of MaheÅvara and Two Other Tenth-Century Dunhuang Dice Divination Codices
â2âNinth-Century Tibetan Dice Divination Texts from Dunhuang, Turfan, and MazÄr TÄgh
â3âSanskrit Dice Divination Texts from Kucha
â4âThe Archeology and Mythology of PÄÅaka Dice
Conclusions: Inheriting the Wind
Appendix: Divining with Sixteen Numerical Trigrams
Bibliography
Index
It will be of interest primarily to Sinologists, Buddhologists, those who study processes of transmission and assimilation across the Silk Roads, and those who study divination.