Chinese superstitions

Divining fortune on the finger joints.

Ta-shi. (1)

This kind of divination is much in vogue among the common people, because owing to its simplicity, everybody, oven the good village dames, can easily use it without there being any need of a third person.

It consists in examining the month, day, and hour in which an event has taken place, and prognosticating therefrom whethei’ it will be attended with success or not. There is no need of a book, and no complicated reckoning is required.

The inquirer merely stretches out his left hand, and neglecting the thumb and little hnger, reckons on the two upper joints of the three middle fingers of the hand. Six joints are thus used in the order indicated below.

Upon each of these joints, or numbers representing them from 1 to 6, it is customary to write one of the following pre-arranged sentences, some of which prognosticate good fortune, and others bad or doubtful luck.

1) Ta-ngan. – Grand peace and luck.
2) Liu-lien. – A little patience.
3) Suh-hsi. – Prompt joy.
4) Ch’ih-k’eu (2) – Red mouth (disappointment and quarrels).
5) Siao-kih – Scanty luck.
6) K’ung-wang. – Loss and death.

Explanations and comments on each of the above sentences, are found in books which treat of this common form of divination. The meaning and practical adaptation to the various questions that may be made, will be explained further on; meanwhile it will not be needless to indicate how the method is practically applied.

(1) Ta-shi, inquiring about a lucky or unlucky hour; forecasting fortune. Williams. Dictionary of the Chinese Language.
(2) Ch‘ih-k‘eu-jeh, “red-mouthed days” are those in which the Cantonese avoid bargaining. Williams. Dictionary of the Chinese Language.

If for instance, an object has been lost, the question is asked whether it can be recovered. To find this out, the inquirer notes down the month, day and hour, when it was lost, and combining these data, draws one of the above six sentences. He then seeks their interpretation, and whether they prognosticate good or evil luck. As an example let us take the following: I have lost my penknife; this happened in the third month of the “ear, on the fourth day of the month, and at the fifth Chinese hour of the cycle, Shi-ch’en (1). The Chinese divide the day, or rather the day and night, into 12 hours, and so one of their hours corresponds to two of ours (2).

The method is now applied. The knife was lost in the third month, so the inquirer reckons on the joints of his fingers 1, 2, 3.

It happened on the fourth day of the month, whereupon he adds 4, proceeding on the joints of the fingers and saying 4, 5, 6, 1.

At the fifth hour, Shi-ch’en of the Chinese day, that is between 7 and 9 a.m.

Hereupon, he adds five, and reckoning on his finger’s joints, says 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

He now reads the sentence inscribed on this joint, and finds it to be K’ung-wang, prognosticating total loss. The knife is lost for good it has fallen into the water.

Another example — A person falls sick during the first month of the year, on the second day of the month, and at the second hour of the day (3). It is required to know whether he will recover or not? The inquirer reckons on the joints of the fingers, saying 1 for the month; then adds 2 for the day, saving 2, 3; furthermore 2 for the hour, saying 4. 5.

(1) Ch‘en, a Chinese hour, or one-twelfth of a day, but especially the time from 7 to 9 a. m. Williams. Dictionary of the Chinese Language.
(2) See Vol. IV. p. 324. note 1. — Mayers. Chinese Reader’s Manual, p. 351 (horary periods of the day).
(3) That is from 1 to 3 a. m. The Chinese hour corresponds to two hours according to European notation. Mayers. Chinese Reader’s Manual, p. 351.

He thus ends on the fifth joint of the finger, and reading the motto inscribed thereon, finds Siao-kih, small luck. The commentary on this sentence reads: the patient will recover and live to an extreme old age.

The above two examples amply suffice for elucidating the method followed when reckoning fortune on the joints of the fingers. It may be remarked that one always follows the series of the joints till the last one is reached the series is then recommenced and so forth.

Thus if an event happens on the 14th day of the first month, the inquirer reckons 1 for the month; then completes the number 14, saying 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. 3. On the joint on which he ends is found the sentence Suh-hsi, prompt joy, such words auguring the speedy enjoyment of good luck.

Commentary on the six mottoes.

1. Ta-ngan – A happy lot, good luck. If I want to be rich, I need but look towards the South and West. If I chance to lose an object, 1 shall hnd it within a circumference of thirty feet, and in the direction of the South.
2. Liu-lien — Above all have patience. The matter is not easily settled. If it is a lawsuit, one must proceed carefully, endeavour to compromise, and he will thus finally succeed. An expected guest does not turn up in due time, he has encountered obstacles on the way. A woman is with child for three or five months; she will bring forth a male child. Such a sick person must pray to the gods, and will thus recover.
3. Suh-hsi — Joy will soon arrive! Seek towards the South, and you will become rich. Are you looking for some object which has been lost, you will find it in the centre. As soon as you discover that you have lost something, search for it without delay. The traveller will soon reach the end of his journey. Let not such a woman with child repine on hearing that she will bring forth a girl. The sick person will be much exposed during the hours Yin.
4. Wu and Hsüh that is from 8 to 5 a. m; 11 a. m, to 1 p. m; and 7 to 9 p. m. Such a child is ill, he will recover in three days’ time.
5. Ch’ih-k’en — Disappointment and quarrels. Such a person must not go to court; if he does, he will lose his lawsuit. Avoid carefully every lawsuit or quarrel. Such an object, which has been lost, will not be recovered. I’he traveller will meet with much annoyance on the way. All domestic animals, fowls, pigs, the dog etc., will be carried off. Such a person, suffering from delirium, should call in a competent doctor, and follow his prescriptions. If a male child is born, he should be adopted by another person. If such a one wants to get rich, he must endure many a quarrel, and after all the result will be rather poor.
6. Siao-kih — Scanty luck, no great chance. Come what may, the matter will be easily settled. It is in vain that such a person searches for an object which has been lost. Such a day is a lucky one for celebrating a marriage. The sick person will recover and reach a happy old age. Business will be prosperous. Such a woman with child will bring forth a male child.
7. K’ung-wang — Loss and death. Impossible to hold out. This sick woman will hardly escape. The lost object has fallen into the water. The traveller will return in the harvest season. If a woman will lie in on such a day, she will bring forth a girl, and the child will die within eight days. Any kind of lawsuit will end unfavourably. An evil spirit will molest the sick person. The god must be begged to avert such a danger (1).

If a person has well stored in his memory the above commentary, he can answer immediately almost every question proposed.

Besides the general arguments for refuting such a method of divination, suffice it to mention the following:

As set forth in the foregoing system, everything that happens in this world is the necessary outcome of months, days, and hours, or in other words it is pure fatalism (2). Thus for instance: ten thousand persons fall sick at such an hour and day of the month, and so they must all either fatally die or recover, because the illness attacked them at the same identical time.

Who does not see by a moment’s reflexion the falsity of such a theory?

Moreover, who is not aware that many events turn out favourably or unfavourably owing to the choice made by man’s free-will, or through circumstances quite independent of the day or hour? How often do we not see travellers starting at the same hour on a train, and if it runs off the rails, some are killed or injured, while others escape totally unhurt? Where then is the fatal influence of the hour over the events of a man’s life?

(1) “The Home Magazine”, Wan-pao ts’üen-shu literally repertory of ten thousand precious things), and “selected excerpts”, T’ung-kao ts‘üen-shu.

(2) Fatalism is that theory which holds that all events in man’s life happen by unavoidable necessity. It admits a fixed and unalterable course of things, independent of the deity or any controlling cause. It exerted a wide and active influence in pagan countries. Among the Greeks and Romans, the Stoics held this doctrine.

Source: Researches into Chinese superstitions by Henri Doré. Translated from the French with Notes, Historical and Explanatory by M. Kennelly. Shanghai: T’Usewei Printing Press, 1914 – 1926.