{"id":26,"date":"2025-02-08T11:39:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T11:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/?p=26"},"modified":"2025-02-08T12:20:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T12:20:47","slug":"astral-computers-in-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/2025\/02\/08\/astral-computers-in-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Astral computers in Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Certainly one of the earliest astrological calculators known, the \u5f0f sh\u00ec <\/em> is an ancient Chinese analog computer dating sometime before 165 BCE.1<\/a><\/sup> Generally, the most primitive form is composed of two parts: a free-spinning, circular \u5929\u76e4 ti\u0101np\u00e1n<\/em> \u201cheaven plate,\u201d marked with the Big Dipper and centered on the pole star, set inside a square, stationary <\/em>\u5730\u76e4 d\u00ecp\u00e1n<\/em> \u201cearth plate\u201d with directions and astrological information marked.2<\/a><\/sup> By rotating the heaven plate around the axis and aligning it with the date, one can compute the exact position of the Northern Dipper at any point of the year, which is essential for the practice of Chinese astrology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reproduced from Morgan (2020)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the intervening centuries, the sh\u00ec<\/em> was constantly re-contextualized and applied to new ritual modes. The 3rd century Central Scripture of Laozi <\/em>appears to map the sh\u00ec<\/em> onto the body and equates the material manipulation of the board to the meditative manipulation of inner gods within the body.3<\/a><\/sup> After being introduced to Japan, the sh\u00ec <\/em>became an important tool of esoteric priests in the Shingon (\u771f\u8a00\u5b97 Shingon-sh\u016b<\/em>) and Tendai (\u5929\u53f0\u5b97 Shingon-sh\u016b<\/em><\/em>) lineages and among Yin-Yang specialists (\u9670\u967d\u5e2b Onmy\u014dji<\/em>). In the Shingon tradition, the earth and heaven plates were identified with the Womb Realm (\u80ce\u8535\u754c Taiz\u014dkai<\/em>) and Diamond Realm mandalas (\u91d1\u525b\u754c Kong\u014dkai<\/em>.)4<\/a><\/sup> Though the popularity of such devices has waned, some of these methods are extant. Ramble (2021) describes a volvelle (paper wheels used for calculation, immensely popular in medieval and Renaissance Europe) used in a Tibetan Bon exorcism, which calculates the position of an earth divinity named Toche Nakpo, who lives in the earth and can be struck with disastrous results.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Volvelle calculating the position of Toche Nakpo, reproduced from Ramble (2021)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The motif of a rotating sphere (or projection of a sphere) systematically rendering combinations of elements, and instrumentalized for magical means, is strikingly similar to the development of the zairja in the Middle East and thus warrants further comparative study. Indeed, van Binsbergen parenthetically attributes the sh\u00ec <\/em>as the likely ancestor of the zairja.6<\/a><\/sup> A similar parallel, outside the scope of this article, can be seen in the use of the structure of the human hand in mnemonic, ritual, and computational contexts, independently produced in Europe and East Asia. A popular, though academically sound, introduction can be found in the Public Domain Review.<\/em>7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reproduced from Sch\u00e4fer et al<\/em> (2019)8<\/a><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, it illustrates a close relationship between ritual and technique where \u201c[t]he ritual and the technical are commingled\u201d and \u201cthoroughly enmeshed.\u201d9<\/a><\/sup> Rather than inert, the process of mechanical computation is numinous and effective. Thus, it justifies a useful suspension of received notions of technique as purely instrumental, abstract, and ends-oriented, in which the phenomenology of manipulating wheels-within-wheels, and the materiality of such an instrument, is important.<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. Morgan, D. P. (2020). Reflections on Visual and Material Sources for the History of the Exact Sciences in Early Imperial China<\/a>.\u00a0NTM Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin<\/em>,\u00a028<\/em>(3), 325-357. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Harper, D. J. (1978). The Han cosmic board (shih)<\/a>.\u00a0Early China<\/em>,\u00a04<\/em>, 1-10. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. Steavu, D. (2017). The Allegorical Cosmos: The Shi \u5f0f Board in Medieval Taoist and Buddhist Sources.<\/a> In\u00a0Coping with the Future<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 196-232). Brill. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. Trenson, S. (2012). Shingon divination board rituals and rainmaking<\/a>.\u00a0Cahiers d’Extr\u00eame-Asie<\/em>, 107-134. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. Ramble, C. (2021). The Volvelle and the Lingga: The Use of Two Manuscript Ritual Devices in a Tibetan Exorcism<\/a>. In Exploring Written Artefacts<\/em> (pp.1025-1042). De Gruyter.
    \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. Van Binsbergen, W. M. (2012, April). The relevance of Buddhism and Hinduism for the study of Asian-African transcontinental continuities<\/a>. In\u00a0International Conference \u2018Rethinking Africa\u2019s transcontinental continuities in pre-and protohistory\u2019, Leiden, African Studies Centre<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 12-13). \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  7. Cooperrider, K. (2022, April 21). Handy mnemonics: the five-fingered memory machine<\/a>. Public Domain Review<\/em>.
    \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  8. Sch\u00e4fer, D., Zhao, L., & Lackner, M. (2019). Accounting for Uncertainty: Prediction and Planning in Asian History<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  9. Steavu, D. (2017). The Allegorical Cosmos: The Shi \u5f0f Board in Medieval Taoist and Buddhist Sources.<\/a> In\u00a0Coping with the Future<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 196-232). Brill. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Certainly one of the earliest astrological calculators known, the \u5f0f sh\u00ec is an ancient Chinese analog computer dating sometime before 165 BCE. Generally, the most primitive form is composed of two parts: a free-spinning, circular \u5929\u76e4 ti\u0101np\u00e1n \u201cheaven plate,\u201d marked with the Big Dipper and centered on the pole star, set inside a square, stationary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Morgan, D. P. (2020). Reflections on Visual and Material Sources for the History of the Exact Sciences in Early Imperial China<\/a>.\u00a0NTM Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin<\/em>,\u00a028<\/em>(3), 325-357.\",\"id\":\"365d5755-e595-41c0-a8cb-53792b45ad4a\"},{\"content\":\"Harper, D. J. (1978). The Han cosmic board (shih)<\/a>.\u00a0Early China<\/em>,\u00a04<\/em>, 1-10.\",\"id\":\"f48eb83f-3af7-4f41-bd30-d07e9614b062\"},{\"content\":\"Steavu, D. (2017). The Allegorical Cosmos: The Shi \u5f0f Board in Medieval Taoist and Buddhist Sources.<\/a> In\u00a0Coping with the Future<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 196-232). Brill.\",\"id\":\"9517b837-5196-409b-8f50-baf118c2a730\"},{\"content\":\"Trenson, S. (2012). Shingon divination board rituals and rainmaking<\/a>.\u00a0Cahiers d'Extr\u00eame-Asie<\/em>, 107-134.\",\"id\":\"3ec1f3f5-2f28-4f27-9342-998210d632d6\"},{\"content\":\"Ramble, C. (2021). The Volvelle and the Lingga: The Use of Two Manuscript Ritual Devices in a Tibetan Exorcism<\/a>. In Exploring Written Artefacts<\/em> (pp.1025-1042). De Gruyter.
    \",\"id\":\"a90903e3-caa4-4981-ae56-95fa733b6b71\"},{\"content\":\"Van Binsbergen, W. M. (2012, April).     The relevance of Buddhism and Hinduism for the study of Asian-African transcontinental continuities<\/a>. In\u00a0International Conference \u2018Rethinking Africa\u2019s transcontinental continuities in pre-and protohistory\u2019, Leiden, African Studies Centre<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 12-13).\",\"id\":\"e15975bd-48c3-4ec5-9602-6b56627e74b0\"},{\"content\":\"Cooperrider, K. (2022, April 21). Handy mnemonics: the five-fingered memory machine<\/a>. Public Domain Review<\/em>.
    \",\"id\":\"529180a6-6094-4608-8c26-a874f37aaecf\"},{\"content\":\"Sch\u00e4fer, D., Zhao, L., & Lackner, M. (2019).     Accounting for Uncertainty: Prediction and Planning in Asian History<\/a>.\",\"id\":\"a1380de7-31ae-4e2f-8fa7-842305026af5\"},{\"content\":\"Steavu, D. (2017). The Allegorical Cosmos: The Shi \u5f0f Board in Medieval Taoist and Buddhist Sources.<\/a> In\u00a0Coping with the Future<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 196-232). Brill.\",\"id\":\"d73daacb-1572-419f-ae2f-86ad501984a1\"}]"},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracefleemangarcia.com\/trXiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}