民間九流術士Folk Diviners of the “Nine Streams”

市集裡擺攤的相士、廟口的解籤人、為人擇地的風水先生和扶乩的乩手，都是傳統中國城鄉常見的人物。他們為人解答疑難、提供心理寄託，同時也常被士大夫批評為迷信和騙術。本頁介紹「三教九流」說法的由來，以及這些行業的歷史與社會角色。The physiognomist with a stall in the market, the interpreter of temple oracle slips at the temple gate, the geomancer who chose sites for others and the spirit-writing medium were all familiar figures in traditional Chinese towns and villages. They answered people’s questions and offered psychological comfort, yet were often criticised by the scholar-official class as purveyors of superstition and fraud. This page explains the origin of the expression “Three Teachings and Nine Streams” and the history and social role of these trades.

「三教九流」從何而來Where “Three Teachings and Nine Streams” Comes From

本義：先秦諸子Original meaning: the pre-Qin Masters

「九流」一詞最早指學術流派。東漢班固《漢書‧藝文志》（根據西漢劉歆《七略》）把先秦諸子分為十家：儒家、道家、陰陽家、法家、名家、墨家、縱橫家、雜家、農家、小說家，並說「諸子十家，其可觀者九家而已」，即去掉小說家，稱為「九流」。「三教」則指儒、釋（佛）、道。The term “Nine Streams” (jiuliu) originally referred to schools of thought. The Eastern Han historian Ban Gu, in the “Treatise on Literature” of the Book of Han (based on Liu Xin’s Western Han Seven Summaries), divided the pre-Qin Masters into ten schools: Confucians, Daoists, Yin-Yang theorists, Legalists, Logicians, Mohists, Diplomatists, Eclectics, Agriculturalists and the “minor talk” (fiction) writers, adding that “of the ten schools of the Masters, only nine are worth considering” — that is, excluding the fiction writers, hence the “Nine Streams”. The “Three Teachings” are Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism.

引申義：社會各行各業Extended meaning: all walks of life

宋元以後，「三教九流」逐漸泛指社會上各種宗教、學派和行業的人，常帶有「龍蛇混雜」的意味。民間又有「上九流、中九流、下九流」的分法，把各種職業分成三等，但版本眾多、內容互相矛盾，並無統一標準。其中一種流傳較廣的「中九流」說法是：「一流舉子二流醫，三流風水四流批（批命），五流丹青六流相，七僧八道九琴棋」（出處待考）。可見在這類民間排序中，風水、算命、看相等術士被歸入「中九流」，地位介乎官紳與賤業之間。From the Song and Yuan onwards, “Three Teachings and Nine Streams” gradually came to mean people of every religion, school and trade in society, often implying a motley crowd of “dragons and snakes mixed together”. Popular usage also divided occupations into “upper, middle and lower nine streams”, but there are many versions that contradict one another and no single standard. One fairly widespread version of the “middle nine streams” runs: “First the examination candidate, second the physician; third the geomancer, fourth the fate reader; fifth the painter, sixth the physiognomist; seventh the monk, eighth the Daoist priest, ninth the musician and chess player” (source to be verified). In such popular rankings, geomancers, fortune-tellers and physiognomists were placed among the “middle nine streams”, between officials and gentry on the one hand and despised occupations on the other.

「上中下九流」的各種歌訣多屬口頭流傳，出處難以確考，本站只舉一例說明，不作為定本。The various rhymes about the “upper, middle and lower nine streams” were mostly transmitted orally and their sources are hard to establish; we cite one example for illustration only, not as a definitive text.

「江湖」行話The cant of the jianghu

民國時期，北京藝人連闊如以筆名「雲遊客」在報上連載《江湖叢談》，記錄了江湖行業的門類：「風、馬、雁、雀」四大門（指群騙），以及「金、皮、彩、掛、評、團、調、柳」八小門（坊間常泛稱「江湖八大門」），其中「金」門即指算卦相面一行。此書是研究近代江湖術士行規與行話的重要第一手資料。In the Republican era the Beijing performer Lian Kuoru, under the pen name “Yunyouke” (the Wandering Guest), serialised Jianghu congtan (Collected Talks on the Jianghu) in the press, recording the categories of itinerant trades: the four great “gates” of feng, ma, yan, que (swindling gangs) and the eight lesser gates of jin, pi, cai, gua, ping, tuan, tiao, liu (popularly lumped together as the “eight great gates of the jianghu”), of which the jin gate denoted divination and face reading. The book is an important first-hand source for the rules and cant of modern itinerant diviners.

相士Physiognomists

相術透過觀察人的面貌、骨骼、手紋、氣色和舉止，聲稱能判斷其性格與命運。Physiognomy claims to judge a person’s character and destiny by observing the face, bone structure, palm lines, complexion and bearing.

• 先秦：《左傳》等書已有相人的記載。戰國末《荀子‧非相》提到「古者有姑布子卿，今之世梁有唐舉」，並明確批評說「相形不如論心」，可見相術當時已流行，也已有人質疑。Pre-Qin: Works such as the Zuozhuan already record physiognomic readings. The late Warring States Xunzi, in the chapter “Against Physiognomy”, mentions that “in antiquity there was Gubu Ziqing, and in our own time in Liang there is Tang Ju”, and explicitly objects that “examining the form is not as good as discussing the mind” — showing that physiognomy was already popular and already questioned.
• 漢代：漢初女相士許負相傳曾為周亞夫等人看相，《史記》有相關記載。Han: The early Han female physiognomist Xu Fu is said to have read the faces of Zhou Yafu and others; the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) contains related accounts.
• 宋明：出現託名麻衣道者的《麻衣相法》，以及託名明初袁珙的《柳莊相法》等通俗相書，流傳至今。Song–Ming: Popular physiognomy manuals appeared, such as the Mayi xiangfa attributed to the Hemp-Robed Daoist and the Liuzhuang xiangfa attributed to Yuan Gong of the early Ming, and are still in circulation.

相士多在市集、廟口擺攤，也有被權貴延請入府者。相術與中醫望診、人物品評（如魏晉的人倫鑒識）有一定交集。Physiognomists mostly kept stalls in markets and at temple gates, though some were invited into the households of the powerful. Physiognomy overlaps to some extent with visual diagnosis in Chinese medicine and with the appraisal of character (such as the “judgement of men” of the Wei–Jin period).

卜卦Divination

• 龜卜與甲骨：商代王室用灼燒龜甲、牛骨觀察裂紋來占卜，刻在甲骨上的卜辭就是今天所見最早的成批漢字文獻。Turtle-shell divination and oracle bones: The Shang royal house divined by heating turtle plastrons and cattle bones and reading the cracks; the inscriptions carved on them are the earliest substantial body of Chinese written texts known today.
• 筮占：周代以蓍草起卦，發展為《周易》系統（見易經卦爻頁）。Milfoil divination: In the Zhou, hexagrams were cast with yarrow stalks, developing into the Zhouyi system (see the Yijing page).
• 納甲筮法（文王卦）：把天干地支、五行、六親配入卦爻來斷事，傳統上溯源至漢代京房；宋代的《火珠林》、清代王洪緒的《卜筮正宗》和署名野鶴老人的《增刪卜易》，是民間卜卦先生常用的書。Najia divination (“King Wen hexagrams”): This method assigns heavenly stems and earthly branches, the five phases and the “six relations” to the lines of a hexagram to judge affairs, and is traditionally traced to Jing Fang of the Han. The Song Huozhulin, Wang Hongxu’s Qing Bushi zhengzong and the Zengshan buyi signed by “the Old Man of the Wild Crane” are books commonly used by folk diviners.
• 測字：拆解字形來斷事，宋代謝石以測字聞名。Character analysis (cezi): Judging affairs by dismantling the form of a written character; Xie Shi of the Song was famous for it.
• 求籤：在廟宇搖籤筒、擲筊（杯）問神，再由解籤人按籤文解說，至今仍是華人社會最普遍的占卜形式之一。Drawing oracle slips: In temples, people shake a cylinder of numbered slips and cast divination blocks (jiao) to consult the deity, after which an interpreter explains the oracle verse; this remains one of the most common forms of divination in Chinese societies today.

風水Fengshui

風水（古稱堪輿、地理、相宅相墓）是選擇住宅和墓地位置與朝向的術數。「風水」一詞一般溯源於託名晉代郭璞的《葬書》：「氣乘風則散，界水則止。古人聚之使不散，行之使有止，故謂之風水。」Fengshui (anciently called kanyu, dili, or the siting of dwellings and tombs) is the art of choosing the location and orientation of houses and graves. The term “fengshui” is generally traced to the Book of Burial (Zangshu) attributed to Guo Pu of the Jin: “Qi rides the wind and scatters, and stops when bounded by water. The ancients gathered it so that it would not scatter and guided it so that it would stop; hence it is called feng shui (wind and water).”

• 形勢派（巒頭派）：重視山川形勢、龍脈、砂水的配置，傳統上與唐代楊筠松及江西一帶的傳承相關。Form school (luantou): Emphasises the configuration of mountains and rivers, “dragon veins”, and surrounding hills and watercourses; traditionally associated with Yang Yunsong of the Tang and lineages in the Jiangxi region.
• 理氣派：以羅盤、八卦、九星、五行等計算方位吉凶，宋代以後在福建一帶盛行。Compass (liqi) school: Calculates the auspiciousness of directions using the compass, the eight trigrams, the nine stars and the five phases; it flourished in the Fujian region from the Song onwards.

羅盤（羅經）是風水師的標誌性工具。風水深刻影響了中國的城市佈局、村落選址和墓葬文化。人類學家 Stephan Feuchtwang 和 Ole Bruun 等人的研究，從社會與政治角度分析了風水在國家禮制與民間信仰之間的位置。在香港，新界原居民村落的風水問題，在殖民地時期以至今天的土地發展中都曾引起爭議與賠償安排。The geomantic compass (luopan or luojing) is the fengshui master’s emblematic tool. Fengshui profoundly shaped Chinese urban layout, village siting and burial culture. The research of anthropologists such as Stephan Feuchtwang and Ole Bruun analyses, from social and political perspectives, the position of fengshui between state ritual orthodoxy and popular belief. In Hong Kong, fengshui issues in the villages of the indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories have caused disputes and compensation arrangements in land development, both in the colonial era and today.

命理Fate Calculation

命理指以出生時間推算一生命運的術數，最主要的是「四柱八字」（子平術）：Fate calculation (mingli) refers to arts that calculate a person’s lifelong destiny from the time of birth, the most important being the “Four Pillars and Eight Characters” (bazi, also called the Ziping method):

• 唐代：據韓愈為李虛中所撰墓誌銘，李虛中能以人出生的年、月、日干支推算壽夭貴賤。Tang: According to the epitaph Han Yu wrote for Li Xuzhong, Li could calculate a person’s lifespan, rank and fortune from the stem-branch signs of the year, month and day of birth.
• 宋代：一般認為五代宋初的徐子平加入時柱，成為年、月、日、時四柱共八個干支，因此又稱「子平術」。以日干為「日主」，再按五行生剋、十神等關係論命。Song: Xu Ziping of the Five Dynasties and early Song is generally credited with adding the hour pillar, making four pillars (year, month, day, hour) and eight stem-branch characters in all — hence the name “Ziping method”. The day stem is taken as the “day master”, and fate is read through relationships such as the generation and overcoming of the five phases and the “ten gods”.
• 明清經典：《淵海子平》（題宋徐升編）、明代萬民英《三命通會》、《滴天髓》（託名京圖撰、劉基注）等。Ming–Qing classics: The Yuanhai ziping (attributed as compiled by Xu Sheng of the Song), Wan Minying’s Ming Sanming tonghui, and the Ditian sui (attributed to Jing Tu, with commentary attributed to Liu Ji), among others.

其他命理系統還有紫微斗數、七政四餘（見占星術頁）等。近代台灣出版界常把「山、醫、命、相、卜」合稱「五術」，這是二十世紀才流行的分類。Other fate systems include Ziwei Doushu and Qizheng Siyu (see the Astrology page). Modern Taiwanese publishers often group “mountain (self-cultivation), medicine, fate, physiognomy and divination” together as the “Five Arts” (wushu), a classification that became popular only in the twentieth century.

扶乩Spirit Writing

扶乩（又稱扶鸞、扶箕）是一種「降神書寫」的儀式：由一人或兩人手扶乩筆（多為丁字形木架或桃枝），在沙盤上劃出字跡，旁人記錄，被視為神明或仙人藉此降下的文字。Spirit writing (fuji, also called fuluan or fuji 扶箕) is a ritual of “writing by a descended spirit”: one or two people hold a writing stylus (usually a T-shaped wooden frame or a peach branch) and trace characters in a sand tray, which bystanders record; the text is regarded as having been sent down by a deity or immortal.

• 源流：一般追溯至南朝劉敬叔《異苑》等書記載的「紫姑」信仰：民間於正月十五迎紫姑神問事。北宋沈括《夢溪筆談》也記載了迎紫姑的風俗及其能作詩文的傳聞。Origins: Generally traced to the cult of the “Purple Maiden” (Zigu) recorded in works such as Liu Jingshu’s Yiyuan of the Southern Dynasties, in which people welcomed the Purple Maiden on the fifteenth day of the first month to ask questions. Shen Kuo’s Northern Song Mengxi bitan (Brush Talks from Dream Brook) also records the custom and reports that she could compose poetry and prose.
• 明清士人：扶乩在明清文人圈相當流行，常用於問科舉、唱和詩詞。許地山在 1941 年出版的《扶箕迷信底研究》中收集了大量事例並加以分析。Ming–Qing literati: Spirit writing was quite popular in Ming–Qing literary circles, often used to ask about the civil examinations or to exchange poems. Xu Dishan’s Fuji mixin di yanjiu (A Study of the Superstition of Spirit Writing, 1941) collected and analysed a great many examples.
• 宗教團體：清末以來，大量「鸞堂」以扶鸞方式產生經文和勸善書（善書），對華南、台灣和東南亞的民間宗教影響很大。美國學者 David K. Jordan 與 Daniel L. Overmyer 對台灣鸞堂有專門研究。Religious groups: Since the late Qing, numerous “phoenix halls” (luantang) have produced scriptures and morality books (shanshu) through spirit writing, greatly influencing popular religion in South China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The American scholars David K. Jordan and Daniel L. Overmyer have made a dedicated study of Taiwanese phoenix halls.
• 香港例子：香港黃大仙祠的管理機構嗇色園，源於 1921 年在九龍設立的道壇；據該園記述，其創立過程與扶乩有關。A Hong Kong example: Sik Sik Yuen, the organisation that manages Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin Temple, originated in a Daoist altar established in Kowloon in 1921; according to its own account, its founding was connected with spirit writing.

社會角色與評價Social Role and Assessment

• 決策輔助與心理寄託：在醫療、教育和社會保障有限的年代，算命、問卜為人在婚嫁、遷居、科舉、經商等重大選擇時提供參考與安慰。Decision support and psychological comfort: In eras when medicine, education and social security were limited, fortune-telling and divination offered guidance and reassurance at major junctures such as marriage, moving house, the examinations and business.
• 儀式服務：擇日、合婚、安葬選地等，是傳統人生禮儀的一部分。曆書（香港俗稱「通勝」）至今仍每年出版。Ritual services: Choosing auspicious days, matching marriage horoscopes and selecting burial sites were part of traditional life-cycle rites. The almanac (popularly called Tung Shing in Hong Kong) is still published every year.
• 謀生行業：術士多是識字但未能入仕的讀書人、盲人或流動藝人，算命是他們的生計，因此發展出一套招攬生意的行話與技巧，《江湖叢談》對此有詳細揭露。A livelihood: Diviners were often literate men who had failed to enter officialdom, blind people or itinerant performers, for whom fortune-telling was a living; they therefore developed a cant and techniques for attracting custom, which Jianghu congtan exposes in detail.
• 批評與管制：從荀子、王充（《論衡》）到歷代儒者，都有人批評術數迷信；歷代政府也對私習天文、讖緯和「妖言」加以管制。清末民初的「破除迷信」運動，以及二十世紀中國大陸的政治運動，都曾嚴厲打擊這些行業；而在香港、台灣和海外華人社會，它們則延續下來並有所商業化。Criticism and regulation: From Xunzi and Wang Chong (Lunheng) to Confucian scholars of every age, there were critics of divinatory superstition; successive governments also restricted the private study of astronomy, apocryphal prophecy and “heterodox talk”. The “eradicate superstition” campaigns of the late Qing and early Republic, and the political campaigns of twentieth-century mainland China, severely suppressed these trades, while in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities they continued and became partly commercialised.

本頁描述的是歷史與社會現象。請留意，以算命、改運、驅邪為名的收費服務，歷來不乏詐騙個案，作任何重要決定前應尋求專業人士（醫生、律師、財務顧問等）的意見。This page describes historical and social phenomena. Please note that paid services offered in the name of fortune-telling, changing one’s luck or exorcism have a long record of fraud; before making any important decision, seek the advice of qualified professionals (doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, etc.).

參考資料References

1. 班固《漢書‧藝文志》。（通行本：中華書局點校本《漢書》。）Ban Gu, Book of Han, “Treatise on Literature”. (Standard edition: Zhonghua Shuju punctuated edition of the Hanshu.)
2. 《荀子‧非相》。（通行本：王先謙《荀子集解》，中華書局點校本。）Xunzi, “Against Physiognomy” (“Fei xiang”). (Standard edition: Wang Xianqian, Xunzi jijie, Zhonghua Shuju punctuated edition.)
3. 沈括《夢溪筆談》。（通行本：胡道靜《夢溪筆談校證》。）Shen Kuo, Mengxi bitan (Brush Talks from Dream Brook). (Standard edition: Hu Daojing, Mengxi bitan jiaozheng.)
4. 許地山《扶箕迷信底研究》（今多寫作「的」）。長沙：商務印書館，1941。Xu Dishan, Fuji mixin di yanjiu (A Study of the Superstition of Spirit Writing; the particle 底 is now usually written 的). Changsha: Commercial Press, 1941.
5. 連闊如（雲遊客）《江湖叢談》。（原為 1930 年代北平報刊連載，有多種重印本。）Lian Kuoru (“Yunyouke”), Jianghu congtan (Collected Talks on the Jianghu). (Originally serialised in Beiping newspapers in the 1930s; several reprints.)
6. 李零《中國方術考》。北京：人民中國出版社，1993；修訂本，東方出版社，2000。Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu kao (Studies of Chinese Occult Techniques). Beijing: Renmin Zhongguo Chubanshe, 1993; revised edition, Dongfang Chubanshe, 2000.
7. Richard J. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers: Divination in Traditional Chinese Society. Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.
8. Stephan D. R. Feuchtwang, An Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy. Vientiane: Éditions Vithagna, 1974.
9. Ole Bruun, Fengshui in China: Geomantic Divination between State Orthodoxy and Popular Religion. Copenhagen: NIAS Press; Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003.
10. David K. Jordan and Daniel L. Overmyer, The Flying Phoenix: Aspects of Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.