CHAPTER XLVI
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.