Bǔfǎ xiángkǎo 卜法詳考
Detailed Examination of the Divinatory Methods (study of pre-modern Chinese turtle-shell divination) by 胡煦 (Hú Xù, 1655–1736, 清, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
Hú Xù’s 8-juan systematic study of pre-modern Chinese turtle-shell divination (guībǔ 龜卜), originally appended to his Zhōuyì hánshū (Yìjīng commentary, separately catalogued) but separated by the Sìkù editors and re-classified in the shùshù (numerical-arts) division.
Structure (per the 提要):
(1) Zhōulǐ and Shàngshū texts — the foundational classical sources on turtle-divination (2) Shǐjì Guīcè zhuàn — the Chǔ Shàosūn supplement to the Sīmǎ Qiān original (the principal pre-Tang source) (3) Gǔguī jīng — anonymous pre-Tang turtle-divination classic (the 提要 specifically notes that this Jīng “does not specify name-and-surname; in fact also from later people, not Shǐ Sū’s or Sūn Sīmiǎo’s book”) (4) Quáncì sāntú — three diagrams on turtle-shell symbolism (5) Yáng Shíqiáo’s Guībǔ biàn — Míng-period polemic (6) Guī yáocí — turtle-divination yáocí compendium (7) Yùlíng mìběn — secret-transmission text on turtle-divination (8) Gǔfǎ huìxuǎn — gathered selection of methods, drawing on recent diviner-tradition
The Sìkù 提要 traces the long history of turtle-divination textual transmission:
- Hànshū Yìwén zhì: 5 turtle-divination titles in 158 juàn (substantial Hàn-period literature)
- Suí Jīngjí zhì: 1 Guījīng (晉 Shǐ Sū attributed) + 1 Guībǔ Wǔzhào dòngyáo jué (anonymous) — the Hàn literature is mostly lost
- Xīn Tángshū Yìwén zhì: Sūn Sīmiǎo’s Guījīng + Wǔzhào suànjīng + Guībǔ Wǔzhào dòngyáo jīngjué — adding to the literature
- Sòngshǐ Yìwén zhì: 19 additional Shǐ Sū-onwards-attributed titles — “the works’ transmitted-and-relied attributions can be broadly seen”
By Hú Xù’s time most of these works were lost; only the Yuán Lú Sēn 陸森’s Yùlíng jùyì survives in continuous use, but is “weed-and-mixed, especially lacking elegant-correctness”. Hú Xù’s Bǔfǎ xiángkǎo assembles the surviving evidence in critical-historical sequence.
The 提要 specifically commends Hú Xù’s refutation of the post-Tang doctrine (held by Lǐ Huá 李華 of the late Tang, Jì Běn 季本 of the late Míng, Yáng Shíqiáo of the same period) that guībǔ should use living turtles. Hú Xù correctly argues this contradicts the classical practice (which used dried turtle-plastrons subjected to fire-cracking) and represents a Tang-period innovation derived from misinterpretation of the Zhōulǐ texts.
The Sìkù preserves the work as the principal late-imperial study of pre-modern Chinese turtle-divination — important less as a working divinatory manual (the practice was largely defunct) than as a historical-philological reconstruction of the classical guībǔ tradition.
For Hú Xù’s biography, see 胡煦.
Tiyao
[Full text in source file. Dated Qiánlóng 46 (1781), eleventh month.]