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七曜攘災決 Secrets of Seven-Planet Apotropaism T 1308. 2 fasc. Also 七曜禳災決. A Buddhist astrology manual from the late Tang representing an amalgamation of Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Sogdian and ultimately Near Eastern elements. It includes ephemerides for the planets, apotropaic methods to address their influences and a diverse range of astrological lore. It builds on a tradition established by Amoghavajra's Xiuyao jing 宿曜經 (T 1299) and introduces astrology of greater complexity while displaying clear sinicization of the foreign art. It is attributed to a western Indian 西天竺 'Brahmin monk' 婆羅門僧 Jinjuzha 金俱吒 (*Koṅta?). Mak (2015) suggests *Kaṃkuṭa, where Kaṃ is a variant of the Sino-Sogdian surname Kang 康. Yano (1986) suggests the work was a translation, but the Chinese elements therein preclude this possibility. It was compiled sometime between 806 when its ephemeris for Rāhu commences and 865 when Shūei 宗叡 brought it to Japan. It does not appear in Chinese catalogs and the text demands it be kept secret. It was studied in the Japanese Sukuyōdō 宿曜道 tradition and is also cited extensively in Japanese Shingon literature as Rangzai jue 攘災決. The Taishō edition is somewhat corrupted in places, but alternative editions are extant in private Japanese collections. See Shimoura Collection 下浦文庫 (13–471), Tokyo University of Science 東京理科大學 (available online from the National Institute of Japanese Literature 國文學研究資料館). General Summary: Fasc. 1. 1. Definition of the ecliptic (a Chinese parameter of 365.25 degrees), a day, a month, a year, a being's birth nakṣatra 命宿 and brief predictions about people born under planetary clusters (a Chinese notion) and lunar positions. The “lunar station associated with rest, decay, capture or death” (休廢囚死宿) refers to the Chinese five-element 五行 theory of “resting kings” 休王 (outlined in Xiao Ji's 蕭吉 encyclopedic Wu xing dayi 五行大義 in section 4.3). Jinjuzha orders down the gods of the twenty-eight nakṣatras 二十八宿神 and makes inquires while discerning apotropaic methods 攘災法 against the seven planets 七曜 . There is a similar story in the Qiyao xingchen bie xingfa 七曜星辰別行法 (T 1309) in which Yixing 一行 (683–727) draws down astral gods to make inquiries. The text's contents thus are attributed to divine revelation, which is similar to a number of Indian jyotiṣa works such as the Sūrya-siddhānta in which the contents are attributed to gods (Burgess 1935). 2. Seven sections detailing the seven planets' respective qualities and their effects when present in one's birth nakṣatra 命宿. The visible planets as sons of the respective Five Heavenly Emperors 五天帝 is a Chinese concept and the same attributions are in the Wu xing dayi (section 16 on seven planets 七政). Their sequence of Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury (木火土金水) follows that of the Chinese five elements 五行. Methods to prevent their negative effects are given which include activities such as fasting and drawing the planetary deity's described image (largely different from below) before carrying it on one's body in a specific place before disposing of it in a prescribed manner. The Sun 日宮 has a form like a human but a head like a lion 獅子頭, wearing a heavenly garment 天衣 and holding a jeweled vase 寶瓶 black in color. The moon 月宮 has a form like a heavenly lady 天女 wearing a blue heavenly garment and holding a jeweled sword 寶劍. Jupiter 木宮 has a form like a human with a dragon's head 龍頭, wearing a heavenly garment changing in color according to the four seasons 四季. Mars 火宮 has a form like an elephant, black in color, crying out to the sky. Saturn 土宮 has a form like a Brahmin 婆羅門, riding a black ox 黑沙牛. Venus 金宮 has a form like a heavenly lady, holding a seal 持印 riding a white fowl 白鷄. Mercury 水宮 has a form like a black snake 黑蛇 with four legs eating a crab 蟹. Some of these are strikingly similar to Egyptian iconography. The lion-headed Sekhmet could be known as a solar deity, the Eye of Ra the sun god (Pinch 2002). Venus was depicted a heron and throughout Egyptian history Saturn was always 'Horus bull of the sky' or 'Horus the bull'. Mercury was identified with the evil animal-headed Seth (Parker 1974). Seth was sometimes identified with the chaos serpent Apophis (Wilkinson 2003). There is a precedent for Egyptian motifs in Indian iconography of the decans and horas which are described in the Yavanajātaka (Pingree 1963). The text again affirms these methods are from the western country 西國 and forbids them being revealed to the uninitiated (非智勿傳). The latter is a feature in related ninth century Buddhist astrological works. 3. A table detailing the dimensions of the unequally spaced Chinese lunar stations (not Indian nakṣatras) 宿度法. This defines the spacial parameters for the positions of the planets in the ephemerides below. The coordinate system reconstructed from details provided by the entire text is the polar longitude system used in China since the Former Han Dynasty 前漢 (Yano 1986). 4. An unclear method employing the nine planets (nava-graha) 九執至行年法. Here their names except Rāhu and Ketu are given in transliterated Sogdian: Saturn 鷄暖 (kyw'n), Mercury 㗌 (ṭyr), Venus 那頡 (n'xyẟ), Sun 蜜 (myr), Mars 雲漢 (wnx'n), Moon 莫 (m'x), Jupiter 溫沒斯 (wrmzṭ). The five planets are associated with flavors (rasa), a system which stems from Āyurveda. In the Taishō this part is improperly merged with the following section. 5. The twelve 'astrological houses' 十二宮 horizontally across and the seven planets' corresponding qualities (auspicious 吉, inauspicious 凶 or neutral 平) under each listed in columns. These are the twelve places 十二位 (Greek: tópos, Latin: domus, Sanskrit: gṛha, bhāva, sthāna) and not the twelve zodiacal houses. These are static demarcations of the ecliptic through which the zodiacal houses or signs move through. The first place or ascendant is positioned at the eastern horizon (see item 23 below) and the subsequent places are counted counterclockwise. The terms here and below differ slightly (corresponding Indian and Iranian terms in brackets). I. Life 命宮・命位 (tanu, gyānān). II. Wealth 財宮・財物 (dhana, kīsagān). III. Brothers 兄弟 (sahaja, brādarān). IV. Estate 田宅 (suḥrt/bandhava, pedištān). V. Children 男女 (suta, frazandān). VI. Servants 僮僕 (ripu, waštagān). VII. Marriage 妻妾・夫妻 (jāyā, wayodgān). VIII. Illness 疾病・病厄 (mṛtyu, margān). IX. Travel 遷移 (dharma, kārdāgān). X. Rank 官位・官祿 (karma/āspada, mayān ī asmān). XI. Fortune 福相・福德 (āya, farroxān). XII. Distress 困窮・禍害 (vyaya, dušfarragān). The Iranian terms are more similar to the Chinese translations suggesting an origin from there rather than a Greek source (Itō 1980, Yano 2013, Mak 2014). Chan (2002) points out this occidental model also starts to appear in the work of ninth century Tang poets such as Du Mu 杜牧 (803–853). 6. The predicted effects and/or prescribed acts for when the sun and moon are present in the astrological places. 7. Two diagrams representing the nakṣatra-puruṣa in the form of a man. The left indicates the precise parts of the body and the right the corresponding nakṣatras. As in the Xiuyao jing, it is stated that if someone does not know their nakṣatra, it will be determined based on which part of the body they are touching with their hand the first time they come to the astrologer. The arrangement of correspondences is different from adhyāya (chapter) 105 the Bṛihat-saṃhitā of Varāhamihira. 8. Methods for calculating a birth nakṣatra if the date of birth is known. 9. A set of astrological mantras. The planetary mantras are in the Greco-Egyptian ordering of Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. These mantras are also found in the Xiuyao yigui 宿 曜儀軌 (T 1304), Beidou qixing humo fa 北斗七星護摩法 (T 1310) and Fantian huoluo jiuyao 梵天 火羅九曜 (T 1311). 10. Ephemerides for Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury (Chinese ordering). These tables provide planetary positions for solar months as opposed to lunar months. Each year has a column of twelve monthly positions plus relevant details. The first month or start of the year 歲首 probably begins from yushui 雨水, which was a feature of the Futian li 符天曆 (Yano 1986). The epoch for the five planets is specified by a Japanese hand as year 10 of Zhenyuan 貞元 corresponding to Japanese year 13 of Enreki 延曆 (794). Each ephemeris specifies constants for planetary movements which Yabuuchi (1990) has identified as being closest to the Wuji li 五紀曆 calendar, which was in official use between 762–783. They further specify the number of sidereal rotations (R) and number of synodic periods (A) in a number of years (Y) as follows: Jupiter: 83 (Y), 76 (A), 7 (R). Mars: 79 (Y), 37 (A), 42 (R). Saturn: 59 (Y), 57 (A), 2 (R). Venus: 8 (Y), 5 (A). Mercury: 33 (Y), 104 (A). The periodicity of a cycle is thus covered and will repeat itself almost identically (stellar precession however will need to be accounted for), which is why these ephemerides could be reused in later centuries as indicated by the Japanese reign years marked above the tables (for instance year 1 of Kantoku 寬德 = 1044). There are similarities here with numbers in book IX of Ptolemy's Almagest, which Ptolemy (fl. 150 CE) ascribed to Hipparchus (c.150–125 BCE) (see Pedersen 2011: 269–270), who is thought to have transmitted Babylonian astronomy into Greece. These are well-known Babylonian 'goal-year' periods. Note Jupiter's 'goal-year' period is either 83 or 71 years (Neugebauer 2012: 604–605): Saturn: 59 (Y), 57 (A), 2 (R). Jupiter: 71 (Y), 65 (A), 6 (R). Mars: 79 (Y), 37 (A), 42 (R). Venus: 8 (Y), 5 (A). Mercury: 46 (Y), 145 (A). The constants for Mercury differ, but the latter is found in a later Chinese work: the Za zhi 雜志 by Liu Dingzhi 劉定之 (1409–1469) (fasc. 56 in Ming wen heng 明文衡 collection, p. 39). Indian materials such as the second Paitāmahasiddhānta based on Hipparchus and other Hellenistic astronomers were produced around 400 CE (Pingree 1990) and Hellenistic astronomy was widely adopted around this period. Thus the ephemerides' 'goal-years' possibly come from Hellenized Indian or Iranian astronomy. Fasc. 2. The 'middle scroll' 卷中. This is a scribal error for 'bottom scroll' 卷下. 11. Ephemerides for Rāhu 羅睺 (93 years) and Ketu 計都 (62 years). Here their epoch is year 1 of Yuanhe 元和 or Japanese year 1 of Daidō 大同 (806). This was also the start date of Cao Shiwei's Luoji er yinyao licheng li 羅計二隱曜立成歷 (ephemerides for Rāhu and Ketu). It is further noted that this start date is 147 years after the (original) epoch 上元. This almost exactly indicates the year 660, which was the epoch of Cao Shiwei's Futian li 符天曆 (Yabuuchi 1990). Thus these two ephemerides and probably the others are either based on or were reproduced from Cao Shiwei's work (in the text referred to as the 'new method for the seven planets' 七曜新法), which was known to have been based on Indian calendrical methods. Variant names for the two pseudo-planets are given. It is explained that Rāhu is unseen and eclipses are predicted from its union with the sun or moon. This is attributed to an Indian Popimobu 婆毘磨步 and its difference from Chinese theory is noted. Ketu here is the moon's apogee (Skt. ucca) instead of its otherwise standard function as the descending node of the moon (Yano 1986). This is additionally indicated by its variant name yue boli 月勃力. Liu Dingzhi defines bei 孛 as the position of slowest lunar velocity 最遲之處 (the apogee). The etymology of this term is unclear, but it is probably a foreign loanword (possibly Greek apógeion) given that the 'eleven planets' 十一曜 (the navagraha 九曜 plus ziqi 紫氣 and yuebei 月孛) were first introduced by Li Miqian 李彌乾 (see fasc. 68 of the Tongzhi 通志), who was a foreigner and brought the Hellenistic Duli yusi jing 都利聿斯 經 to China between 785–805. 12. Listing of the astro-terrestrial correspondences of the twenty-eight lunar stations to ancient Chinese countries, i.e., the native Chinese system of 'field allocation' 分野 astrology (for an extensive study of this see Pankenier 2013). 13. Listing of the native Chinese twelve stellar positions of the ecliptic 十二星次 (Jupiter's twelve stations) and their Chinese names. 14. Astrological details and anthropomorphic descriptions of the planetary deities: Venus is a female playing a pipa 琵琶 wearing a fowl hat 鷄冠, Jupiter is a stately old man wearing a swine hat 猪冠, Mercury is a female holding a scroll wearing a monkey hat 猴冠, Mars is a red-colored four-armed warrior wearing a donkey hat 驢冠 and Saturn is a black Brahmin carrying a pole and wearing an ox hat 牛冠. The iconography described here is similar to that seen in the painting “Tejaprabhā Buddha and the Five Planets” 熾盛光佛并五星圖 by Zhang Huaixing 張淮興 from year 4 of Qianning 乾寧 (897) (Stein no. Ch.liv.007, British Museum 1919,0101,0.31). See also illustrations and descriptions in Fantian huoluo jiuyao 梵天火羅九曜 (T 1311). There are parallels with the iconography of Islamic astrology in which Mercury is a young male scribe writing on a scroll, Venus is a female musician, Mars is a warrior, Jupiter is a sage or judge and Saturn is a dark-skinned scantily clothed old man with a pickax (Carboni 1997). This common iconography is probably Mesopotamian in origin. For example, Nabu (Mercury) presides over scribes and Nergal (Mars) is a war god “clothed in frightful splendor” (Leick 1991). Buddhist texts, mantras, specific incense and garments are prescribed for each planet. Sogdian loanwords indicate a Sogdian source for some material here. 15. The nakṣatra-weekday convergences from the Xiuyao jing 宿曜經: day of nectar 甘露日, day of the vajra peak 金剛峯日 and day of the rākṣasa 羅剎日. 16. A warning not to reveal to outsiders the above methods and to not chatter when reciting the sūtras. 17. An arrangement of the twenty-eight nakṣatras similar to the 'three sets of nine' 三九之法 in the Xiuyao jing, but employing four groups instead ('four sets of seven' 四七), followed by terse comments about the seven planets' effects on each grouping. This shift to a system of twenty-eight represents active sinicization as the earlier twenty-seven model is incompatible with Chinese astronomy. 18. Brief comments on the effects of planetary movements in the horoscope chart. 19. The twenty-eight nakṣatras grouped together by their common qualities. This is copied from the Xiuyao jing. 20. Natal predictions for individuals born during each day of the week, which are given in Sogdian. 21. Mantra for summoning the Big Dipper 招北斗真言. 22. A calendrical table of daily solar positions relative to the Chinese lunar stations listed according to the twenty-four solar terms 二十四節氣 (each 15 days), thus totaling 360 days. It is noted that there will be a variation of one or two degrees because the calculation was after year 12 of Kaiyuan 開元 (724) and that after 83 years there is a variation of one degree, which indicates a point around the year 806 and thus this is connected to Cao Shiwei's aforementioned work. 23. A circular chart representing the ecliptic divided into twelve divisions detailing the twelve places, nakṣatras, zodiacal houses, etc. Note the first house is assigned the direct eastern direction (mao 卯) as the ascendant. 24. Method for determining fortune from the five planets in the twelve astrological houses 五星臨十二 宮吉凶法. 25. The twelve earthly branches 地支 and unclear divisions. 26. The seven stars of the Bigger Dipper and their associated planets and earthly branches. The latter is used to determine which of the seven stars an individual belongs to (a Daoist custom). The details of this practice are elaborated in the Foshuo beidou qixing yanming jing 佛說北斗七星延命經 (T 1307). 27. The nakṣatras for the new 朔 and full 望 moons (lunar days 1 and 15 respectively). This is from the calender in fasc. 1 of the original Xiuyao jing (not the Taishō version). Following this is a Japanese date: year 1 of Chōhō 長保 (999) and brief notes by a Japanese scribe. 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