ABSTRACT
Recent archaeological discoveries from the late Warring States and the Han have shed new light on the role of divinatory and occult traditions in the religion of ancient China. We know these traditions through various writings whose transmission to later times may be traced back to the shushu 數術 (Numbers–Techniques) category in the bibliographical treatise of the Hanshu 漢書. This chapter is an attempt to define the religious nature and functions of the divinatory and occult practices described in the shushu writings found in the Dunhuang collections of medieval manuscripts. First, it makes a survey of these documents and proposes a classification of their contents based on bibliographical catalogues compiled during the Tang and Northern Song periods. It will be seen that they constitute a relatively homogeneous textual tradition, quite comparable to what can be known from lists of works recorded in ancient catalogues. Then, the chapter examines the social and religious contexts in which the shushu writings were copied, used and transmitted. It will appear that this literature greatly relied on the institutional means which regulated its local use, in particular through activities associated with prefectural schools. Finally, it will be argued that the Dunhuang shushu texts are representative of a larger scriptural body which was an important vehicle for the transmission of forms of popular religiosity throughout Chinese history.
