靈棋經 · líng qí jīng · the numinous counters

Ling Qi Jing

The Ling Qi Jing, the Classic of the Numinous Chess-Counters, is a Han-dynasty lot oracle traditionally credited to the Zhang Liang and Dongfang Shuo lineage. The diviner casts twelve round counters in three falls of four. One set is marked 上 (Heaven), one 中 (Man), one 下 (Earth). For each fall you record how many of the four landed face-up, a count from zero to four, and the three counts stack into one of a hundred and twenty-five named figures. Heaven speaks to the wider circumstance, Man to your own conduct, Earth to the ground a thing will settle on. A tier landing all face-up is read as 通, open, and all face-down as 闭, closed. Here the counters are yours to cast, and the figure is offered as reflection, not as a settled fate.