I Ching that he became oblivious to the seasons. Still unsatisfied, he pinned the text to his wall, fixing his thoughts upon it. He mastered its depths and sought to unravel its numerical codes, yet conclusive evidence remained beyond his grasp.
One noon during a nap, a rat scurried past him. Seizing the ceramic pillow he was resting on, he threw it at the rodent. The rat escaped, but the pillow shattered, there was a note inside: “This pillow is sold to the worthy KangJie. On the day at this hour, it shall break when used to strike a rat.” Astonished, he tracked down the potter. The craftsman exclaimed: “Years ago, an elder carrying the Book of I-Ching examined this pillow—it must be him! He vanished long ago, but I know his house.” They went immediately, but the old man had passed away. A letter instructed his family: “At the predicted hour, a scholar will arrive. Give him this book and he would help to settle my funeral affairs.” The family gave KangJie the text—a volume of the I Ching containing esoteric annotations.
After studying the annotations and a divination example within, he deciphered its codes and declared: “Your father hid silver in a cellar northwest of his bed for his funeral.” They followed his guidance and unearthed the silver.
KangJie returned with the book. Later, while watching plum blossoms, he observed sparrows fighting on a branch. A divinatory insight flashed through his mind. Through his divination, he predicted a neighbor’s daughter would fall and injure her thigh while picking flowers the next evening. This marked the origin of “Plum Blossom Divination” .
He further predicted peony garden would be trampled by a horse at noon, and by examining the plaque of West Forest Temple, foresaw calamity caused by a woman. These were all Innate Calculation—obtaining numbers before hexagrams. Since numbers generated hexagrams, it was called “Innate.”
As for cases like: seeing a sorrowful old man and divining that he would die choking on a fishbone; Seeing a joyful youth and foreseeing he would get engaged soon; Hearing a rooster crow and knowing when it would be cooked; Hearing an ox low and knowing when it would be slaughtered—these were Acquired Calculation . Here, hexagrams came before numbers. As hexagrams generated numbers, it was termed “Acquired.”
One day, he placed a chair, performed a divination for it, and inscribed underneath: “On specific date, an immortal guest shall break this.” When a Daoist visitor arrived on that day and shattered it, the immortal guest apologized in embarrassment. KangJie said: “Why concern oneself with an object’s predestined end? You, a transcendent being, have blessed me with your presence.” He showed the inscription as proof. The Daoist stared in astonishment, then abruptly rose and vanished.
Thus, even spirits cannot escape the workings of cosmic principle—let alone humans or objects!