The Tricks of Jing (Jing jue jing jue): The Beginnings of jue jue/jue as an Epistemic Genre

The Tricks of Jing (Jing jue 荆決): The Beginnings of jue 決/訣 as an Epistemic Genre

The Chinese genre of text named jue jue dates back to the Han dynasty. It encompassed esoteric Daoist manuals and medical handbooks, translated as “tricks,” “methods,” “instructions,” “secret instructions,” and “rhymes.” This essay translates “tricks” and “secrets” for its early use, referring to “w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cook, Constance A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2024
In: International journal of divination and prognostication
Year: 2024, Volume: 5, Issue: 2, Pages: 163-187
Further subjects:B history of knowledge
B Dunhuang manuscripts
B Divination
B secret knowledge
B Epistemology
B Daoism
B Ancient China
B jue / jue jue
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Description
Summary:The Chinese genre of text named jue jue dates back to the Han dynasty. It encompassed esoteric Daoist manuals and medical handbooks, translated as “tricks,” “methods,” “instructions,” “secret instructions,” and “rhymes.” This essay translates “tricks” and “secrets” for its early use, referring to “writings” (shu shu) linked to privately transmitted technical information, such as divination tricks, alchemical techniques, or medical recipes. Initially, these writings relied on oral instructions and implicit knowledge (“orally transmitted secrets,” koujue kou jue). By the medieval period, as seen in the Dunhuang manuscripts, the link to exclusive oral instruction had weakened, and the jue genre evolved into “how-to” (hezhi he zhi) manuals for quick reference in a broader body of formally transmitted texts, like “canons, scriptures” (jing jing). The jue genre began as rhematic (rather than thematic), specifying techniques or “methods” (fa fa), whether Daoist, medical, or divinatory.
The Chinese genre of text named jue 訣 dates back to the Han dynasty. It encompassed esoteric Daoist manuals and medical handbooks, translated as “tricks,” “methods,” “instructions,” “secret instructions,” and “rhymes.” This essay translates “tricks” and “secrets” for its early use, referring to “writings” (shu 書) linked to privately transmitted technical information, such as divination tricks, alchemical techniques, or medical recipes. Initially, these writings relied on oral instructions and implicit knowledge (“orally transmitted secrets,” koujue 口訣). By the medieval period, as seen in the Dunhuang manuscripts, the link to exclusive oral instruction had weakened, and the jue genre evolved into “how-to” (hezhi 何知) manuals for quick reference in a broader body of formally transmitted texts, like “canons, scriptures” (jing 經). The jue genre began as rhematic (rather than thematic), specifying techniques or “methods” (fa 法), whether Daoist, medical, or divinatory.
ISSN:2589-9201
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal of divination and prognostication
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/25899201-bja10015