khams sprul

Ill-health Divinations (nad rtsis)

• As explained in Part VIII of the present work, divinations may be made to determine ill-health. There are seven great divination techniques concerning the diagnosis of ill-health, all of which are considered to have been Chinese in origin. Among them, the first is the calculation of the four pine trees (thang shing bzhi) of the vitality, body, destiny and luck elements, which itself may have one of fifteen different starting points, depending on the subject of the enquiry. The second is known as the divination of the fifteen golden bridges (gser zam bco lnga), the third is the divination of the branches of turquoise juniper (gYu shug 'dab rgyas), the fourth is the divination of the fruit of the wish-granting tree (dpag bsam 'bras bu), the fifth is the divination of fortunate and unfortunate households (dpal byur khyim), the sixth is the divination tally of the dying and living eyes (shi mig gson mig grangs), and finally, the seventh is the divination of the degree to which the divination grid is itself overstepped (ling tshe brgal lam ma brgal). Each of these seven calculations is applied in three successive sectors, known as lnga khram. The first (lnga khram dang po) is the sector concerning the health of male subjects, the second (lnga khram bar pa) that of female subjects, and the third (lnga khram tha ma) that of child subjects. If the pebbles placed in the upper or first sector are black, it will be inauspicious for males, and the same applies for females and children in their respective sectors. Part VIII also contains a section on the methods of recognising diseases and demonic influences which are calculated on the basis of the days of the caldendar month, the nine numeric squares, and the eight trigrams. In addition, Part IV, p. 000, refers to the prediction of ill-health in the context of natal horoscope (tshoms), while Part VII, pp. 000-000, includes a section on the calculation of diseases, the impact of certain types of diet, and the dietary causes which contribute to ill-health (lan rkyen gyi mi zas). GD (from the Glossary to Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings)