Applied Field-Allocation Astrology in Zhou China: Duke Wen of Jin and the Battle of Chengpu (632 B. C.) Author(s): David W. Pankenier Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 119, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1999), pp. 261- 279 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606110 Accessed: 23/03/2010 21:23 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society. http://www.jstor.org APPLIED FIELD-ALLOCATIONASTROLOGY IN ZHOU CHINA: DUKE WEN OF JIN AND THE BATTLE OF CHENGPU (632 B.C.) DAVID W. PANKENIER LEHIGHUNIVERSITY Thisarticle offers an accountof the ancientChinese system of judicialastrology known as "field- allocation"(fenye) astrology. This formof prognostication,premised on archaiccosmological con- ceptionsabout the correspondencebetween the celestialand terrestrial realms, is best knownin the highly systematizedand regularform preserved in sourcesof the WarringStates and Han periods. Thismature form was achievedafter a long processof evolutionand systematization. This studywill providea brief accountof this process and then illustratehow the principlesand astronomical observationsinvolved came to be appliedin two epochalmilitary and political contexts-the battle of Muye (1046 B.c.) and the battle of Chengpu(632 B.C.).Field-allocation astrology may have playeda significantrole in decision-makingin the earlyZhou. FEW EPISODES IN ANCIENT CHINESE HISTORY can com- The decisive clash came in early 632 at Chengpu MiP pare for historical drama and political significance with near the Yellow River in western Shandong. Chu had the the struggle for supremacy in north China between the advantageof bettertactical position, but superiorgeneral- states of Chu X and Jin E in the early Spring and Autumn ship by Jin's commanders (supported by troops from Qi period (722-481 B.C.). Besides constituting an epochal and Qin) resulted in a total rout of Chu's expeditionary challenge to the dominantnorthern Hua-Xia V A cultural forces, which had been maraudingin western Shandong. heritage,the militaryconflict in 633-632 between Jin and The Chu army,though supportedby Cai . and Chen [t, the distinctive southernMan-Yi ,2. traditionrepresented was below strength, apparentlybecause of King Cheng's by Chu was also the final act of the intense competitionfor ZET(671-626) dispatch of inadequate reinforcements, that followed the of the eastern state of with ascendancy- lapse being displeased Premier Ziyu's aggressiveness in Qi after the demise of the illustrious Duke Huan ft_ pursuing a grudge against the former Prince Chong Er, (685-643). "The deer was loose," as commentatorsof a and also, apparently,because the King saw no compel- later epoch would put it when imperial dignity was the ling reason to seek a decisive confrontationwith Jin, now game. In mid-seventhcentury the contendersall knew that in the ascendancy.Indeed, the precise timing of the battle Duke Huan'sstatus as Lord Protector(ba Vi) of the ruling of Chengpu and the eagerness of Jin to confront Chu at Zhou )j dynasty (1046-256) was up for grabs. this juncture will shortly be the focus of our interest. In As if this scenario did not provide dramaenough, Jin's the event, however, all but Ziyu's army of the center went ascendancyis inextricablylinked with the fascinatingper- down to defeat, and Ziyu himself, one of Chu'smost able sonal history and celebrated adventuresof Prince Chong military commanders, was shamed into committing sui- Er Ifg, betterknown as Duke Wen (5a of Jin. Intrigued cide while enroute back to Chu. against at the Jin court, he fled with his maternalrelatives, Here is how the modern historian Tong Shuye charac- spent nineteen years in exile-twelve among his mother's terizes this epic confrontation at Chengpu: people, the Di ')kbarbarians-and then was an itinerant guest at various state courts, all the while accompanied Thebattle of Chengpuwas the first great battle of theearly by loyal retainers. Recognition of his personal qualities partof the Springand Autumnperiod, one whichfully and potential usefulness resulted in magnanimoustreat- concernedthe whole situation in the CentralPlain. At the ment by the rulersof some of Jin'smajor rivals, including timeChu was projecting its powerthroughout the Central Qin 4 and Chu. Ultimately, at age sixty-one, Chong Er Plain,and had already invaded the great states of thelower was restored to power as Duke Wen of Jin in 636, with reachesof the YellowRiver like Qi and Song *, while military backing from Qin. Not long after, Jin was drawn Lu ., Wei ~r, Zheng I, Chen, and Cai had already into military confrontation with Duke Wen's nemesis, capitulatedto Chu.On the otherhand, the barbarianDi Premier Ziyu - 3E,.of Chu, when the armies of Jin forceshad also attackedthe royal lands, forcing the Zhou and Chu collided at the Yellow River. kinginto flight. By thistime Duke Huan of Qi'scareer as 261 262 Journal of the American Oriental Society 119.2 (1999) LordProtector was over.The age was trulyone in which Of special interest will be the version in the Guoyu's "aggressionby southernand northernbarbarians coin- "Discourses of Jin" i f which, in addition to retelling cided,and survival of thecentral states hung by a thread." the story of Chong Er'sexploits, recasts the history of the HadDuke Wen of Jinnot risen to prominencein thenorth period in astrological terms, as the playing out of a andtaken the situationin hand,the royalZhou house and sequence of events preordainedby Heaven. The only sim- thelords of thecentral states would have been swept away ilar passage in Guoyu is Ling Zhoujiu's f$'JlI'lt|famous long before the WarringStates period.After the total "musicological"analysis (in the "Discourses of Zhou" J) defeatof theChu armies the influenceof the southernYi ?) of the sequence of events leading up to the Zhou con- barbariansreceded from the CentralPlain and the incur- quest of Shang jf in 1046 B.C.There, the text reportsthe sionsof thenorthern Di alsogradually declined. Thus the locations of principal heavenly bodies during the cam- survivalof the Hua-Xiastates and their culture was se- paign of conquestand alludes to their significancein terms cured,and Duke Wen of Jinis to be creditedwith this great of the "field-allocation" (fenye 3-f system of astro- 1 achievement! logical correlations.Elsewhere, I have demonstratedthat certainof these positional observations,most significantly HISTORICALACCOUNTS OF DUKEWEN that of Jupiterin the astrological space called Quail Fire OF JIN'S ASCENDANCY (ChunhuogX, the immediate vicinity of Alphard or a Hydrae) traditionally allotted to Zhou, are accurate and the the events of Er's life Despite early date, Chong help to explain much about the timing of majorevents, as and this confrontation are well docu- epic especially well as the import of the Zhou leaders' pronouncements mented in the historical record. the Although expected concerning conferring Heaven's Mandate on the Zhou intertextual is noticeable in late dependency accounts, dynasty.3 in Sima there especially that Qian's 1,K,MShiji ~ , Later it will become apparentwhy these two watershed between the earlierWar- is a remarkablecomplementarity events, the Zhou conquest and the battle of Chengpu, are States narratives in Zuozhuan ring period preserved E singled out in Guoyu for special attention and astrolog- version in i and Guoyu Ag-the Guoyu being unique ical interpretation.For the moment, suffice it to say that The version of events a number of important respects. celestial events accompanying the Zhou conquest estab- Autumn Annals and in the Spring and tF( Zuozhuan lished important astrological precedents against which account of the commentary is a fairly straightforward subsequent claims of heavenly endorsement had to be high points of Chong Er's career, culminating in a series measured. What I intend to show here is that sufficiently of precisely dated military and political activities during informative traditions concerning those astrological pre- the months before and immediately after his restoration cedents were known to the author of Guoyu in the late of this and the battle of Chengpu. Most account, differing Warring States period, as were the astrological circum- only in minor detail, is reproduced in the "Hereditary stances of Chong Er's ascendancy and the battle of These accounts House of Jin" E'tt chapter in Shiji. Chengpu. Before discussing those considerations in de- are corroborated in important respects by the recently tail, however, it will be helpful briefly to review what is of discovered royal commendation inscribed on a set now known about applied field-allocation astrology as it Zi bells cast by Chong Er's maternal uncle, Fan f--E, was practiced in the mid- to late Zhou. who, besides serving him faithfully during his long exile, was also the brilliant strategist who helped engineer Chong Er's restoration and the subsequent defeat of Chu.2 For our purposes the precise dates of significant 3 See DavidW.