Chapter 46

_ORACLES AND OMENS_

Consulting the oracles--The Changes, or Book of Diagrams--Ts'u and Ts'i as instructors of Chou--Tortoise augury--Consulting ancestors--Heaven's decree--Heaven's spontaneous, manifestations of favour--Astrology--Prognostication--Text of the Changes survives unmutilated--Ts'in consults oracles about moving capital-- Ts'in's greatness foretold--Omens--_Dies_ n&s--Oracles in the battlefield--Prophecy in Tsin, Ts'u, and Lu--Shuh Hiang's scepticism--Tsz-ch'an and the omen of fighting snakes--Children sing prophetic songs--"Passing on" threatened evil--Tortoise oracles in Ts'o and Wu--High status of diviners-"-Transferring" evil in Ts'u--Rivers as gods--Our own prophecies--Good faith and truth.