Inheritance, Modification And Syncretism: An Acculturation Perspective On The Genethliacal Astrology During Tang And Song Dynasties

Genethliacal astrology is a kind of astrology, mainly used for fortune-telling, blessingand exorcising. This kind of astrology uses celestial bodies, refers to the movementsof planets and the arrangement of calendar, and thus is closely related with astronomyand calendar. It is the system about how people use celestial bodies to forecast theirdestinies and meet their practical needs such as marriage, children, health, promotion,richness, blessing and exorcising.In the contexts of communication between Chinese and foreign cultures, foreignhoroscopic astrology came into China. On the basis of it, Genethliacal astrologyappeared in China, and carried out its process of syncretization with development andchange during Tang and Song dynasties.The dissertation mainly concentrates on theconcrete changes and evolvements of foreign ingredients and traditional Chineseingredients in the process of syncretization of Genethliacal astrology. Thus thedissertation is involved in five themes including seven planets and twenty-eight Xiu(宿), the twelve signs of the Zodiac, the twelve fate Houses, Five Phases, andBenming(本命) to carry out the concrete analysis and discussion, and reviews thesocial contexts and the spread of Genethliacal astrology during Tang and Songdynasties.Except the first Introduction Chapter, Chapter2mainly discusses the distinction and connection of celestial bodies between judicial astrology and Genethliacal astrology.It discusses how the five planets and the seven planets affected the astrology abouttwenty-eight Xiu between judicial astrology and Genethliacal astrology when theyrespectively functioned as a set of property. Also, in the example of Saturn, itdiscusses how the planet changed its inclination whether lucky or ominous inastrology. At last it discusses Genethliacal astrology which borrowed materials fromjudicial astrology and changed them when it developed in the direction of localizationin China. From all the discussed, we can see that Chinese judicial astrology exerted itsinfluence on Genethliacal astrology which developed in China, but the opposite didnot appear.Chapter3is focused on the development towards localization of the twelve signs ofthe Zodiac and the change of their meanings within Genethliacal astrology. It analysesthe different names, especially the Chinese names, of the twelve signs of the Zodiacduring Tang and Song dynasties, and detailedly discusses at least ten kinds ofsequences of the twelve signs of the Zodiac which spread in China, which reflectedthe different astronomical and astrological contexts between China and the abroad.Besides, it analyses the concrete functions of the twelve signs of the Zodiac inGenethliacal astrology. The set of signs corresponded to the seven planets,twenty-eight Xiu, the twelve Earthly Branches, and so on, which brought about TheDebate of House and Degree between the twelve signs of the Zodiac and twenty-eightXiu. The correspondence also made the original astrological meanings of the twelvesigns of the Zodiac gradually disappear and became a symbolic set of coordinates forother kinds of divination. The change made that the form and names of the twelvesigns although spread largely in China, the function and the significance of the setgradually disappeared in Genethliacal astrology.Chapter4discusses the spread and development of the twelve fate Houses. It analysesthe names and the sequences of the subject differed in different literatures of China,but there was a relatively dominant sequence. It also explores the importance of Body House in Genethliacal astrology. What is more, the chapter discusses the methods forfixing Fate House. These different methods were all based on the movements of theSun, which differed from Fate Xiu which was based on the movements of the Moon.The difference indicated that the conceptions of Fate House and Fate Xiu had changedin the process from abroad into China. In the process of change, the Lunar Mansiontime-recording system played a crucial role which connected the two differentcelestial movements and time-recording systems of the Sun and the Moon. At last, itdiscusses the classification of strong-weak, Yin-Yang, the effects and the functions ofthe twelve fate Houses in Genethliacal astrology.Chapter5focuses on the use of Five Phases in the development of Genethliacalastrology. It discusses that the foreign astrological ingredients were syncretized withthe four seasons, five directions and five kinds of development of Five Phases in orderto achieve the localization when they came in from abroad initially. To achieve thelocalization, It made great efforts from the exterior gradually to the internal, promotedinitially by Buddhism alone, then by Buddhism, Daoism and Chinese local divinationtogether, all of which tried hard to explore all kinds of materials from the theory ofFive Phases. During this, many traditions such as the Birth Numbers of Five Phaseswere applied to forecast the numbers of children and brothers. And some new thingswere created such as the Five Dippers of Daoism. All of these reflected that FivePhases of Chinese tradition played an important role in the development ofGenethliacal astrology, and functioned as one of the basic theories in the system.Chapter6analyses the juxtaposition of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branchessystem and the celestial system of Benming. It analyses that Chinese traditionalBenming took on the forms of Earthly Branches, Heavenly Stems and EarthlyBranches, and Chinese zodiac which were all based on birth year. Effected by theforeign ingredients of that time, China developed into an integrative Benming systemwhich included Wain, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, seven planets and twenty-eightXiu respectively corresponded to birth year, birth month and birth day, and was expressed by celestial bodies. The two systems coexisted at that time. Withdevelopment, the traditional Benming of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branchessystem also employed the new forms of Wain. The integrative celestial Benmingsystem was brought out by the syncretization of foreign celestial system and ChineseBenming belief. On the basis of that, these integrative Benming conceptions of Wain,the twelve signs of Zodiac, seven planets and twenty-eight Xiu gradually localizedand developed the new forms of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. During thechanges, it happened that the conception and the calculating methods of BenmingYuanchen(本命元辰) were constantly applied and changed. From the analyses, wecan see that Genethliacal astrology used the contents and forms of Chinese traditionalBenming, and the system of Benming developed and changed itself in the process ofsyncretization.Chapter7is a conclusion chapter. It discusses the social contexts of Genethliacalastrology and its spread in society. It analyses the environment, thought, theories, andsociety which contributed to the development of Genethliacal astrology. Also, itdiscusses that Genethliacal astrology was accepted by all kinds of society, and wasdoubted and even denied by some people. It also explores the Buddhism whichemphasized celestial bodies in the process of developing Genethliacal astrology andthe Daoism which stressed on the system of Five Phases. Meantime, Buddhism andDaoism performed creatively in the syncretization of foreign and traditionalingredients, which developed new conceptions and forms in addition to originalcontents and methods. Besides, it also explored the connection and interactionbetween Eight-Word fortune-telling divination and Genethliacal astrology duringTang and Song dynasties.In the contexts of communication between the foreign countries and China,Genethliacal astrology during Tang and Song dynasties was in the process ofdevelopment and change which led to the direction of localization. To achieve it,Genethliacal astrology took the way of inheriting, modifying, syncretizing the foreign and the traditional ingredients. In the process, Genethliacal astrology not onlyabsorbed and utilized the basic ingredients of foreign horoscopic astrology: the twelvesigns of Zodiac and the twelve House, absorbed the functions of the seven planets andtwenty-eight Xiu, but also syncretized the theory of Five Phases with these ingredient,and developed the celestial system of Benming. The syncretization completed theestablishment of Genethliacal astrology as a new kind of divination during Tang andSong dynasties, and made it become a branch with integrated contents and forms inthe history of Chinese astrology and divination.The dissertation which explores the process of development of Genethliacal astrologyduring Tang and Song dynasties, aims to deepen the knowledge of astronomy andastrology about planets, twenty-eight Xiu, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac of thattime, further comprehend the folk belief and social life of different areas about thefortune-telling, blessing and exorcising, and promote to explore the culturalinteraction and syncretization between China and foreign countries during Tang andSong dynasties.