(306) Is Saju an occult theory?
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By Janet Shin
Almost everyone might have consulted saju, or the four pillars of destiny in times of discomfiture, or when making important decisions for business and personal or family affairs such as marriage. But not all of them appreciates what exactly saju refers to.
They often confuse it with the exorcism of a shaman or god’s divine revelation under being possessed by a spirit. They are one way of fortune telling as well but that of saju doesn’t require a psychic ability, like a medium. I don’t deny the fact that some saju practitioners might have certain power of intuition though.
It is true, in some sense that their practices are mingled in one way or another in the field. Shamans exorcise and convey their inspiration after reading clients’ saju, while they are associated with prognostications done by coins, bamboo slips and rice grains. Many physiognomists reflect the clients’ birth records as well on top of the general images which include their posture, voice tone in the manner of speaking and facial impression. Tarot cards, derived from Europe and now spread throughout the world for divinatory purposes, can be a type of cleromancy, like oracle turtle shells and wooden slips in the East.
One of the major oriental Classics for divination is Zhou yi, or the Book of Changes. There is no doubt that it is a foundation of the Eastern thoughts for its esoteric translation of natural phenomena and human lives. While it was extensively acknowledged as a manual of ancient divination, its translation is still varied. There have been continued dissensions over its attributes, whether it was a book of academic study or art. It is said to have been created by four greatest sages over thousands of years. Confucius (551-479 B.C), who is credited to be the last one among the four sages to make the book as a cosmological text with his philosophical commentaries, said that if one masters the teachings of Zhou yi, he or she doesn’t have to prognosticate because the purpose of studying it is to avoid being fallible instead of foretelling individual’s fortune.
The aspect of its teaching as a ‘science’ is meant to develop human wisdom and enhance cognition ability. On the other hand, that of “art” is often regarded to disaffirm the cognitive competence and lead to irrationality. However, Lim Chaewoo, a professor at University of Brain Education in Korea after having earned his Ph.D. at Yonsei University with a doctoral dissertation on the study of Zhou yi, said “Zhou yi has become infected by authoritarianism to result in side-effects of consuming many scholars’ time and effort instead of yielding a creative outcome and turned into a confusing occult art, having been beguiled by mysticism until the present time because its plain nature as a book of divination was concealed and rather over-coated with the concept of sage’s philosophical theory,” in his recent thesis “Creative Significance of Divination in Zhou yi.”
Once something is connected with fortune telling, people conventionally consider it a superstitious custom. Accordingly, scholars have rather derogated its influences and dedication of human spirit. As Lim puts it, “One has to think over existing problems with a lucid mental state and tells the judgment with a high degree of insight through the process of simplification or abstraction… Formal procedures of prognostication in early Zhou dynasty included experts’ consultations and researches on public opinion. People cultivated their intelligence to comply with turbulent phenomena through self-reflection. In this respect, divination should be appreciated as one of human spiritual competencies.”
Saju is widely known as an arcane theory. As a way of foretelling one’s destiny, however, by decoding symbolic signs of birth year, month, day and hour, it has its treasury value to comprise the cosmological network between human and nature, which is translated as a context of heaven, earth and human. It doesn’t have to be a science, and it surely isn’t, meanwhile it shouldn’t simply be regarded as a superstition either. It is not a primitive perception against rationality. It is a map of destiny, exquisitely blueprinted from one’s birth. It requires pellucid insight with which one must perceive the surrounding situation and infer what are happening and what to do or not to do from the context of letters written in saju. The uniqueness of its vision, that distinguishes saju from others, especially the western way of fortune telling, is to be compatible with destiny by serving the given nature instead of conquering it.
Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teaching about the “Four Pillars of Destiny”? For further information, visit Janet’s website at www.fourpillarskorea.com, contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com. The writer is the author of “Life’s Secrets”.