龟占蓍卜解谜——论龟蓍作为卜筮具及其在古代卜筮中的作用和地位

王兴国  

摘要：在殷商的占卜中，出现了龟甲取代水牛肩胛骨的情况，这是因为古代先民相信龟为现实中神灵的动物，对于占卜最具有灵验之效，而且对于卜辞的记录与保存是非常有益的，由此龟甲遂成为最神圣和最灵验的卜筮具，从而形成了“古者筮必称龟者，以其令名，所从来久矣”的卜筮传统。蓍草的诸多特点可能比较适合古代先民的宗教观、筮卜观、审美观和运用上的要求。蓍草被视为神草，古人认为它长寿而又神灵，因此蓍草成为理想的卜筮具。古代先民对于作为卜筮具的龟、蓍具有一种特殊的崇拜、喜好与迷信，这与龟蓍本身所具有的特殊品性以及在众多的卜筮具中的胜出是密切地联系在一起的。司马迁作《史记·龟策列传》，以卜筮为“圣人重事者”，突出了占卜在古代政治生活中的作用、地位和意义，但又强调对于卜筮不可迷信，并发挥了《尚书·洪范》“五谋而卜筮居其二，五占从其多，明有而不专之道也”的观点，对于今天理解卜筮仍具有启示意义。

A Discussion of the Mystery of Divining by Tortoise Shell and Milfoil: on Tortoise Shell and Milfoil as Divination Tools and Their Role in Ancient Divination

Wang Xingguo

Abstract:In the divination during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there had emerged the cases of tortoise shell replacing buffalo scapula. That was because the ancient people believed that tortoise was an animal of divinity in reality, which was most effective in divination, as well as very beneficial for the record and preservation of inscriptions. Hence, tortoise shell became the most holy and efficacious divination tool, thus formed the long tradition of “always using tortoise shell in divination”. Many of the characters of milfoil might meet the religious idea, divination view, and aesthetic standard of the ancient people, as well as their requirement on application. Milfoil was regarded as the divine grass, and it became the ideal divination tool of the ancient people for its characteristics of longevity and divinity. The ancient people held special worship, love, and fetish to the tortoise shell and milfoil as the divination tools, which was closely related to the special features of tortoise shell and milfoil, as well as their win out of many divination tools. In “Biographies of Diviners” of Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian emphasized the function, position, and significance of divination in ancient politics, yet also denied the blind faith of divination, as well as developed the idea in “The Great Plan” of Shang Shu, saying that “divination by tortoise shell and milfoil are the two among five strategies; when the five disagree, views in the majority should be obeyed, that is, the divination could be used but not blindly,” which is still instructive for us to understand divination today.