Buddhist astrology and astral magic in the Tang Dynasty

Kotyk, J.

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Kotyk, J. (2017, September 7). Buddhist astrology and astral magic in the Tang Dynasty.
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Author: Kotyk, J.
Title: Buddhist astrology and astral magic in the Tang Dynasty
Issue Date: 2017-09-07
 Chapter 2
Astrology and Eurasian Civilizations

2.1. Definitions: What is Astrology?

Astrology is a practice of divination in which an observer primarily tracks the

movements of celestial bodies (the Sun, the Moon and the planets) through the celestial
sphere in an attempt to foretell the future, identify auspicious times, or discern the fortune
or fate of an individual, community or nation. It is divided into several fields.
The simplest type is the discernment of omens in the sky, such as comets, that are
interpreted as either favorable or unfavorable. People in the modern age, however, are
most familiar with horoscopes. These are normally circular charts, displaying the
positions of the planets, the Sun and the Moon at a specific time, such as when someone
was born. The significance of the arrangement is explained and predictions are made.
This art is called horoscopy (Skt. horā).1
The personality and life events of an individual are believed to be either signaled
or directly influenced by the arrangement of bodies in the sky at the time of birth. This is
natal or genethliacal astrology (Skt. jātaka). Additionally, there is electional astrology,
also called katarchic astrology (Skt. muhūrta), in which the opportune time of activities is
decided based upon astrological considerations, such as the day of the week, the positions
of the planets, and/or the hour of the day. Related to this is hemerology, in which the
success of activities is coordinated with days understood as auspicious on the calendar.
Hemerology is effectively a branch of electional astrology. These branches of astrology
are not defined in this manner in the Chinese tradition, but nevertheless in Chinese
Buddhist astrology we still see these same categories in practice, in particular horoscopy
and hemerology.
In modern English, a strong distinction is drawn between astronomy and
astrology, though for “many of the ancients astronomy was simply the mathematics
needed to practise astrology.”2 In both the West and Asia historically, scientific
observation and calculation of celestial bodies were not strictly delineated from the belief
that one could discern the fate of an individual or nation through accurate interpretation
of celestial bodies and their movements. In accordance with present conventions,
however, I will adopt the modern definitions. Astronomy here will refer to scientifically
falsifiable observations and calculations. Astrology will refer to largely unfalsifiable truth
claims concerning the significance or influences of the stars and planets. In accordance
with modern conventions I will also not refer to astrology as a science, but rather as an

1
The Sanskrit term is a loanword from Greek (ὥρα), originally meaning hour, such as the hour of
one’s birth.
2
Tamsyn Barton, Ancient Astrology (London: Routledge, 1994), xxi.

21
art, meaning a field of non-scientific knowledge. As will become clear from this study,
astrology is better understood as religion, rather than science. Additionally, when
referring to planets, this will include the Sun and the Moon, unless otherwise specified,
following the understanding of the term prior to the 1630s in Europe.3 This moreover
accommodates the traditional understanding in Asian languages. In Europe, the planets
until recent centuries only referred to bodies visible to the naked eye. The ‘outer planets’
of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were unknown to the ancients.

2.2. The Ecliptic in Three Civilizations

Astrology has historically been geocentric, rather than heliocentric. This means
that the point of reference for observations and measurements is from the perspective of
the observer on the ground of the Earth. Astrologers are chiefly concerned with the
movement of planets through the ecliptic, the band of space representing the apparent
annual path of the Sun as seen from the Earth. It is within this space that the planets,
including the Moon, move. This perspective is produced as a result of the bodies of the
solar system orbiting on a relative plane.
The occidental systems of astronomy divide the ecliptic radially into 360 degrees.
This is further divided into twelve sectors. These sectors are each comprised of 30
degrees and collectively make up the zodiac. Individually these sectors constitute the
zodiac signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Their respective names are derived from constellations.
It must be understood that the zodiac signs are only nominally connected to these
constellations. The zodiac signs were finalized in Mesopotamia around the year 500
BCE, being an amalgamation of an earlier model of eighteen signs.4 They were
formulated relative to stars including the constellations from which they are named. This
is called a sidereal zodiac. The zodiac signs were originally calibrated to the seasons, so
that certain stars would always rise on the horizon at dawn at specific times of the year
(for instance, the stars comprising Aries would rise at the vernal equinox), but over time
the positions of the stars move due to axial precession.5 This became an issue with
Hellenistic astronomers, particularly Claudius Ptolemy (fl. 2nd cent.), who redefined the
zodiac so that the first degree of Aries (the first zodiac sign) is defined by the position of
the Sun on the day of the vernal equinox. This ensures that the zodiac signs are kept in

3
See ‘planet’ in Julia Cresswell, The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2010), 329–330. See also ‘planet’ on Online Etymology Dictionary
(http://www.etymonline.com/).
4
John Lankford, ed., A History of Astronomy An Encyclopedia (New York: Garland Publishing,
1997), 160.
5
Axial precession is the changing orientation of the earth’s rotational axis. The visible result from
earth is the apparent movement of otherwise stationary stars over time.

22
alignment with the seasons (as was their original function), but they are no longer defined
in relation to the stars that formerly defined them. This model is called the tropical zodiac
and is characteristic of late Hellenistic astrology.6 Although Indian astronomers absorbed
much Hellenistic astronomy, Indians largely continued using the sidereal (Skt. niryaṇa)
zodiac, rather than adopting the tropical zodiac (Skt. sāyana).7 The difference between
the sidereal and tropical zodiacs became a major difference between Indian astrology and
those based on the Hellenistic model, a difference we will see in China later on.
Indian sources originally defined the ecliptic in relation to the path of the Moon.
The Moon revolves around the earth in a period of 27.32 days, hence it appears to move
around the sky and ‘lodge’ in 27 or 28 positions over the course of its revolution period.
These are called lunar stations, or in Sanskrit nakṣatra–s.8 They were originally defined
by determinative stars (yogatārā), and were of unequal dimensions,9 but these were never
uniformly defined, which is why there are multiple systems of nakṣatra–s.10 They were
measured by the amount of muhūrta–s required for the Moon to transit through each. The
day in India was divided into 30 units (muhūrta), each comprised of 48 modern minutes.
Prior to the importation of Hellenistic astronomy into India, beginning perhaps
from the late fourth century CE, Indian astrology generally focused on the position of the
Moon in the nakṣtra–s. The name of each respective month is based on the nakṣatra in
which the Moon is nominally lodged (see table 2.1), which then marks the first day of the
month. This Moon could be either the full (pūrṇimānta) or the new (amānta) Moon.
There were a number of different calendars and dating systems used throughout ancient
Indian civilization. The Greeks introduced their own separate models.11

6
James H. Holden, A History of Horoscopic Astrology (American Federation of Astrologers,
2006), 46.
7
There is a noteworthy example of the tropical zodiac in India. As Henning points out, the
Kālacakra Tantra from the early eleventh century adopted the tropical zodiac. See Edward Henning,
Kālacakra and the Tibetan Calendar (New York: The American Institute of Buddhist Studies at Columbia
University, 2007), 220, 258–260.
8
The complete list of twenty-eight nakṣatra–s first appears in the Atharva Veda. Yano Michio,
“Planet Worship in Ancient India” in Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David
Pingree (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 333. The twenty-seven model drops Abhijit, which is of small dimensions.
This will be discussed below (4.2).
9
As they are of unequal dimensions it becomes a complicated process to accurately track the
Moon’s progress through them. This stands in contrast to the zodiac signs, which are of uniform
dimensions. This difference in systems would become an issue later on when the zodiac signs were
introduced into Indian astronomy. See below.
10
David Pingree and Patrick Morrissey, “On the Identification of the Yogatārās of the Indian
Nakṣatras,” Journal for the History of Astronomy 20, no. 2 (1986): 99–119.
11
See David Pingree, “A Note on the Calendars Used in Early Indian Inscripts,” Journal of the
American Oriental Society 102, no. 2 (1982): 355–359.

23
 Table 2.1. Chinese lunar stations and nakṣatra–s.12
Chinese Lunar Station Sanskrit Nakṣatra Sanskrit Month
Mao 昴 Kṛttikā Kārttika
Bi 畢 Rohiṇī
Zi 觜 Mṛgaśīrṣa Mārgaśīra
Shen 參 Ārdrā
Jing 井 Punarvasū
Gui 鬼 Puṣya Pauṣa
Liu 柳 Aślesā
Xing 星 Maghā Māgha
Zhang 張 Pūrvaphālgunī
Yi 翼 Uttaraphālgunī Phālguna
Zhen 軫 Hasta
Jiao 角 Citrā Caitra
Kang 亢 Svāti
Di 氐 Viśākhā Vaiśākha
Fang 房 Anurādhā
Xin 心 Jyeṣṭha Jyaiṣṭha
Wei 尾 Mūla
Qi 箕 Pūrvāṣāḍhā Āṣāḍha
Dou 斗 Uttarāṣāḍhā
Niu 牛 Abhijit
Nü 女 Śravaṇa Śrāvaṇa
Xu 虚 Dhaniṣṭhā
Wei 危 Śatabhiṣaj
Shi 室 Pūrvabhādrapadā Bhādrapada
Bi 壁 Uttarabhādrapadā
Kui 奎 Revatī
Lou 婁 Aśvinī Āśvina
Wei 胃 Bharaṇī

Chinese civilization also independently developed a model of astronomy based on

twenty-eight lunar stations (xiu 宿) of unequal dimensions. These are defined by a set of
constellations relative to the celestial equator, which are different from the Indian system.
Ancient Chinese astronomy divides the equator into 365.25 degrees, and thus the
standard definition of a ‘degree’ (du 度) differs from the Hellenistic and Indian models.

12
Table adapted from Yano Michio 矢野道雄, Mikkyō senseijutsu 密教占星術 (Tōkyō:
Tōyōshoin, 2013), 69.

24
The lunar stations first appear in their entire sequence in a tomb dating from 433 BCE.13
Although Chinese lunar stations are not identical to any nakṣatra system, they were used
as functional equivalents when translating Indian texts. The lunar stations and nakṣatra–s
are presented in table 2.1.
It has often been speculated in modern scholarship that these two systems must
share a common origin based on their similarities, or that one civilization first developed
the model of lunar stations before transmitting it to the other. The evidence, however,
now indicates independent origins for both.14
It is necessary to bear in mind the differences in these models – specifically the
Hellenistic, Indian and Chinese models of the ecliptic – because, despite their
incompatibilities, they were eventually all integrated into Buddhist astrology in China.
This also resulted in a number of predictable problems, which will be discussed
throughout this study.

2.3. Occidental Astrology

‘Occidental astrology’ in this study refers to traditions from west of China that
have connections to Mesopotamia. ‘Western astrology’, conversely, generally refers to
European traditions of astrology, which are unrelated to the present study. For the
purposes of this study, we will divide these traditions into five relevant developments:
Mesopotamian omenology, Hellenistic astrology, pre-Hellenized Indian astrology,
Hellenized Indian astrology and Iranian astrology. During the Tang dynasty, many
relevant developments came together with Chinese astrology, leading to new traditions of
astrology that were integrated into Buddhism and Daoism.
In Mesopotamia, a practice of accurate and constant astronomical observation
developed as a result of a belief that divine omens concerning present and future
developments – particularly with respect to the military, ruler and state – could be
discerned from natural cycles and apparent anomalies.15 These omens were not regarded
as fatalistic or deterministic, since rituals could be carried out in order to appease the
gods and prevent undesirable outcomes that had been prognosticated. The

13
David W. Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China: Conforming Earth to Heaven
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 57.
14
David Pankenier recently (2014) refuted a longstanding theory proposed by the Assyriologist
Carl Bezold. In 1919, Bezold claimed to have discerned Babylonian influences in early Chinese
astronomical texts in translation. This was subsequently accepted by influential figures like Joseph
Needham and Edward Schafer. See David W. Pankenier, “Did Babylonian Astrology Influence Early
Chinese Astral Prognostication Xing Zhan Shu 星占術?” Early China 37, no. 1 (2014): 1–13.
15
These observations were recorded on clay Cuneiform tablets. The Enuma Anu Enlil, running to
a total of seventy tablets, included 7000 recorded omens and provided advice concerning what were
perceived to be divine signals. Clive L. N. Ruggles, Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies
and Myth (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005), 39.

25
Mesopotamians became aware of the periodicity of celestial phenomena, and therefore
developed methods for prediction by around 1000 BCE.16 The zodiac signs, which came
to have a prominent function in Hellenistic astronomy, and later in India and East Asia,
also originated in Mesopotamia. Around 700 BCE, a series of Babylonian star lists
recorded the twelve zodiacal constellations among eighteen star groups along the path of
the Moon.17 Around 500 BCE, the Babylonian zodiac of twelve signs, an amalgamation
of an earlier model of eighteen signs, was fully developed into the form which was
transmitted to the Greek world.18
Mesopotamian omenology coupled with its predictive astronomical knowledge
produced the first forms of astrology that were introduced into the Hellenistic world.
Hellenistic astrology was the result of vast hybridization of multiple traditions, which
Pingree describes as being “a union of aspects of advanced Babylonian celestial
divination with Aristotelian physics and Hellenistic astronomy.”19 After Alexander’s
death in 323 BCE, his generals divided up his short-lived empire, and the Hellenistic
world was born, consisting of three primary cultural and political spheres: Greece,
Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire. This new political landscape with its common
language of Greek facilitated unprecedented interactions between Greece, Mesopotamia
and Egypt. It was within such an environment that astrologers could draw on materials
from multiple traditions in Babylon and Egypt, while also enjoying a greater freedom of
movement than before. Mesopotamian astronomy was, within this political, linguistic and
social environment, transmitted by figures such as the Greek astronomer Hipparchus
(c.150-125 BCE).20
Advanced practices of astrology appeared following the development of
observational astronomy. The practice of horoscopy requires such advanced knowledge
in order to accurately calculate the positions of planets at any given hour in the past or
future. The earliest examples of Babylonian ‘proto-horoscopes’ that include the date of
birth, and planetary positions (in the order of Moon, Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury,
Saturn, and Mars) in the zodiac signs, are from the fifth century BCE.21 Horoscopes as
charts displaying the positions of planets at a specific hour for specifically predicting the
fate of an individual (the ‘native’) at birth were developed in Hellenistic Egypt starting in
the second century BCE.22

16
Hermann Hunger and David Pingree, Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 50.
17
Lankford, ed., A History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, 160.
18
Ibid., 43.
19
David Pingree, “Hellenophilia versus the History of Science,” ISIS 83, no. 4 (1992): 560.
20
Lankford, ed., A History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, 12.
21
Hunger and Pingree, Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia, 26–27.
22
David Pingree, A History of Indian Literature Vol. 6 Scientific and Technical Literature Part 3,
Fasc. 4: Jyotiḥśāstra Astral and Mathematical Literature, Volume 6, Part 4 (Otto Harrassowitz Verlag,
1981), 81.

26
 Horoscopy a less arduous task if one is in possession of planetary ephemerides,
i.e., tables providing the calculated positions of planets over the course of time. The
astrologer therefore need only refer to such a guide in drawing up a horoscope, either on
parchment, or using a board and stone markers for the same purpose.23 Hellenistic
horoscopes differed from those of Babylon in that the former were based on geometry,
whereas the latter were arithmetically formulated.24
The popularity of astrology in the first few centuries CE in the Mediterranean
must be understood in its context within Roman history. As Rome seized Greece and the
Mediterranean, it inevitably met with astrologers who provided an alternative practice to
traditional forms of Roman divination. Horoscopy was tailored to the individual and, at
least initially, was foreign and exotic to the Romans. In the upheaval of the late Roman
Republic of the first century BCE, astrology was utilized towards political ends, and with
this came an increasing awareness of it among elites.25 It was an often-contentious art.26
Attempts at restricting it did not hinder the further development of astrology, as
demonstrated by the successful careers of authors on astrology such as Vettius Valens
and Ptolemy of Alexandria in the second century CE. Astrology by this time was quite
popular across the Roman empire both among Latin and Greek speakers, which
facilitated its vibrant evolution. Hellenistic astrology would likely not have developed to
the extent it did without elite Roman interest.
Hellenistic astrology was connected to the Greco-Egyptian practices of astral
27
magic, which was heavily concerned with the timing of rituals and calendrical
considerations.28 It regarded planets as deities, and assigned certain gods to specific hours
of the day. Specific stones were used to represent them on horoscope boards and also in
art. Incense are also prescribed for each planet.29 As will be explored below, elements of

23
Astrologers in Alexandria would use boards representing the ecliptic, atop which they would
place colored stones representing the planets. A basic chart could be easily constructed this way if one is in
possession of ephemerides. The colors of these stones correspond to the prescribed colors for the planets in
later literature. See James Evans, “The Astrologer’s Apparatus: A Picture of Professional Practice in
Greco-Roman Egypt,” Journal for the History of Astronomy 35, no 1 (2004): 1–44.
24
Roger Beck, A Brief History of Ancient Astrology (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 20.
25
Tamsyn S. Barton, Power and Knowledge Astrology, Physiognomics and Medicine under the
Roman Empire (Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 1994), 38–47.
26
In 33 BCE, Augustus banned astrologers and magicians from the city of Rome. In 11 CE, he
issued a ruling criminalizing all consultations about death (i.e., genethiological astrology) across the
empire. Nevertheless, it seems he simultaneously officially published his own horoscope. In the year 16,
Tiberius reasserted the official stance against unsolicited astrological consultation, expelling astrologers
from both Rome and Italy. Steven J. Green, Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and
His Augustan Contemporaries (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 103–105.
27
For a relevant study of this magic see Stephen Skinner, Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic
(Golden Hoard Press, 2014).
28
Ibid., 55–69.
29
PGM CX. 1–12 (Betz, 312). PGM XIII.16–22 (Betz, 172). PGM XIII. 353–354 (Betz, 182).

27
this magic were actually transmitted to China, where Buddhists and Daoists integrated it
into their respective magical traditions.
As to astrology in India, Pingree’s model suggests that astrology was introduced
into India initially through Iranian intermediaries, with a second later dispersement,
bringing with it the new developments of the Hellenistic tradition. His outline of the
relevant chronology is as follows:

I. Vedic (c.1000–400 BCE).

II. Babylonian (400 BCE–200 CE).
III. Greco-Babylonian (c200–400).
IV. Greek (c400–1600).
V. Islamic (c1600–1800).30

As will be discussed below, some of Pingree’s conclusions are problematic, but this
general scheme still generally holds good.
Babylonian astronomy was initially introduced into India through Persian
intermediaries, for example the Jyotiṣavedāṅga (c.400 BCE), which Pingree explains as
“one of the six aṅgas or ‘limbs’ studied by Vedic priests; its purpose was to provide them
with a means of computing the times for which the performances of sacrifices are
prescribed, primarily new and full moons.” This transmission, according to Pingree,
occurred during the Achaemenid occupation of the Indus Valley (c.513–326 BCE).31
Trade in the subsequent centuries picked up between the eastern Mediterranean
world and India, especially at the port of Alexandria that came under Roman control from
30 BCE. Pliny and Tiberius in the first century expressed concerns about Roman wealth
flowing eastward, with at least a fifth headed to India. The empire simultaneously
imported luxury goods from India.32 In light of such active trade relations, Pingree’s
conclusion that horoscopy was introduced into India in the second century CE would be
plausible,33 but recent analysis has cast doubts on such dating. Pingree identified Śāka
ruler Rudradāman I, who reigned c.130–160, as a prominent figure in this respect, as he

30
Pingree, A History of Indian Literature, 8–9.
31
David Pingree, “The Mesopotamian Origin of Early Indian Mathematical Astronomy,” Journal
for the History of Astronomy 4 (1973): 1–3. See also David Pingree, “The Purāṇas and Jyotiḥśāstra
Astronomy,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 110, no. 2 (1990): 275. An early foreign account of
India is provided in The Geography by Strabo (born c.64 BCE), in which he cites Megathenes, a diplomat
of the early Seleucid empire who purportedly visited the Maurya empire, who stated that their Brachmanes
(Brahmins) “are of the same opinion as the Greeks about many things” such as the universe being spherical
in shape. Assuming this account has any truth to it, it suggests foreign influences were perhaps discernible
in this period. Strabo, Geography, Book XV, trans. Horace Leonard Jones, published in Vol. VII of Loeb
Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1932), 103.
32
Romila Thapar, The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 (London:
Penguin Books Ltd, 2002), 242–243.
33
Pingree, A History of Indian Literature, 81.

28
and his successors, Pingree suggests, encouraged the study of Greek astral sciences. Until
recently it was widely thought – on account of Pingree’s conclusions – that in 149/150,
an Alexandrian text on Hellenistic astrology, originally composed in Egypt sometime
shortly after 100 CE, was translated into Sanskrit prose by a certain Yavaneśvara in
western India. This was later apparently preserved as the Yavanajātaka, composed by
Rāja Sphujidhvaja in 269–270 during the Reign of Rudrasena II (r. c. 255-276).34
Recently, however, Mak has disputed this in light of new manuscript evidence, and
suggests it “is dated some time after 22 CE and could be as late as the early seventh
century …”35 If Mak is correct, then Pingree’s chronology is disrupted at this point,
though Hellenistic influences still become apparent in later works in India. For example,
around the year 400, persons having access to Greek astronomical texts, often based on
the work of Hipparchus and other Hellenistic astronomers, combined these Greek
traditions with the cosmology and chronology of the Purāṇas.36 Later, the first known text
to define the weekday in India was the Āryabhaṭīya by Āryabhaṭa (born 476).37 This
model of weekdays goes back to the Mediterranean world, where in 120 Vettius Valens
referred to the days of the week beginning with Sunday. The first usage of weekdays
using the modern ordering of planets is found in the work of Dio Cassius (born 155
CE).38 The sixth century also saw a number of prominent works appear. The astrologer
Varāhamihira (505–587), who was of Persian ancestry and lived at or near Ujjayinī,
wrote the Pañcasiddhāntikā, which summarized five astronomical texts including two
entitled Romakasiddhānta (Roman astronomical treatise) and a Pauliśasiddānta (Paulus’
astronomical treatise), demonstrating the extent of Hellenistic astral science present by
this period.39
There were multiple calendars in use throughout ancient Indian history, both
indigenous models and those directly influenced by foreign calendars. These differences,
which will be discussed below, are apparent in the relevant Buddhist literature that was
translated into Chinese throughout the first millennium CE. Pingree notes that the earliest
Indian inscriptions (those by Aśoka in the mid-third century BCE) refer to solar years
(vāsa or saṃvachara), three ṛtu–s (seasons) each made up of four months (cātuṃmāsa),
nakṣatra–s occupied by the Moon, and nights (lāti, Skt. rātri). However, the Greek

34
See his study and translation: David Pingree, The Yavanajātaka of Sphujidhvaja (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1978).
35
Bill M. Mak, “The Transmission of Greek Astral Science Into India Reconsidered – Critical
Remarks on the Contents and the Newly Discovered Manuscript of the Yavanajātaka,” History of Science
in South Asia 1 (2013): 17.
36
Pingree, “The Purāṇas and Jyotiḥśāstra Astronomy,” 276.
37
Yano Michio, “Planet Worship in Ancient India,” 336.
38
Ibid., 335.
39
David Pingree, “The Recovery of Early Greek Astronomy from India,” Journal for the History
of Astronomy 7 (1976): 110. For a translation and study see Otto Neugebauer and David Pingree, The
Pañcasiddhāntikā of Varāhamihira (København: Munksgaard, 1970-1971).

29
(Yavana) culture in the northwest of India introduced a new calendar based on the
Macedonian model during the second century BCE. It used months and days (rather than
nights), as was the custom in the Indo-Greek kingdoms. Pingree speculates that this
might have been the Seleucid calendar, which was itself an adaptation of the Babylonian
calendar as employed by the earlier Achaemenid Persian empire. The Macedonian
months were what the Indians call amānta (commencing from the new Moon), whereas
the Indian month could be either amānta or pūrṇimānta (commencing from the full-
Moon). The Indian month was divided into two parts (pakṣa): the waning (kṛṣṇa-pakṣa)
and waxing (śukla-pakṣa) periods, both of which are comprised of fifteen tithi–s or lunar
days, though alternatively days of the whole month could also be used (first day to
thirtieth day). During the Śaka and Kuṣāṇa rule of areas around Mathurā in the first
centuries CE, the calendar integrated the northwestern custom of twenty-nine or thirty-
day months into the Indian model of three seasons, each comprised of four months. This
calendar was in use by Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions, hence it was probably
implemented also by the civil administration.40
It is therefore important to bear in mind that multiple calendars and systems of
astrology and astronomy were simultaneously present throughout ancient India. There
was, in reality, never a single ‘Indian calendar’, although, as will be seen throughout this
study, this was not always apparent to the Chinese, who were unaware of the complex
history of Indian calendrical science, a subject which Buddhist literature seldom
mentions. Similarly, there were multiple schools of astronomy active throughout the
centuries. These disparate calendrical systems were introduced in an unsystematic
fashion into China through Buddhist scriptures, monks proficient in astrology, and
several professional Indian or Sino-Indian astronomers resident in China in the eighth
century. Various calendrical systems are employed or mentioned in Indian Buddhist
literature in Chinese translation. It was only in the mid-eighth century that an ‘Indian
calendar’ was readily implemented in China that was easily convertible into the Chinese
lunar calendar.
Another complicating factor within the Chinese context is that an additional
source of astrological and astronomical knowledge was the Iranian cultural sphere, the
astronomy and astrology of which are far less well documented compared to Indian
materials. Tracing the history of Persian or specifically Sāsānian astrology is difficult
because “virtually the entire corpus of astrological texts that once existed in Pahlavī has

40
David Pingree, “A Note on the Calendars Used in Early Indian Inscriptions,” Journal of the
American Oriental Society 102, no. 2 (1982): 355–359. Falk and Bennett note, “On circumstantial grounds
we might suppose that the Bactrian Greeks used the Seleucid calendar, though they certainly abandoned the
Seleucid era.” See Harry Falk and Chris Bennett, “Macedonian Intercalary Months and the Era of Azes,”
Acta Orientalia 70 (2009): 204.

30
long since disappeared.”41 It is also unfortunate that “virtually nothing is known of the
astronomy and astrology of pre-Sāsānian Iran.”42 Translations of some Sāsānian works
were made into Arabic, which is how they are now largely known,43 though the present
study will contribute some new knowledge based on what is contained in Chinese
translations. Astrology was widely practiced in Sāsānian Iran, and Sāsānian rulers hosted
Greek or Greco-Syrian and Indian scholars within their realms. Sāsānian astrology
therefore included elements from both traditions. Iranian astrologers can also be credited
with some innovations.44 As will be discussed later in this study, the Sogdians, who were
active in Tang China, seem to have primarily practiced astrology sourced from Iran.
Persians active at the court in the late eighth century also contributed to the transmission
of Iranian knowledge into China.

2.4. Chinese Astrology

China had its own indigenous traditions of astronomy and astrology. They
initially developed independent of foreign influences. As Yu Xin notes, “Divination on
the basis of the stars dominant at the time of birth was derived from foreign cultures.”45
Long before such foreign astrology was introduced into China, there already existed a
concept of astral-terrestrial resonance, i.e., the belief that human events on earth are
reflected or forecast above in the skies as omens. Great interest was paid to the
movements of celestial bodies, which deeply influenced rulers in their city planning and
arrangement of the political hierarchy. Archaeological evidence from the Xia, Shang and
Zhou dynasties all demonstrate cities and structures built with conscious consideration of
cardinal orientation along the north–south axis.46 The earliest example of a city in China
built according to a plan, rather than following the natural landscape, is Erlitou 二里頭
(2000–1300 BCE). Pankenier argues that it was built according to cosmological theory.47
Later the capitals of the Qin and Han dynasties were constructed with special
consideration given to astral symbolism derived from observation of the heavens, in
which the emperor was associated or correlated with the celestial pole. State organization

41
David Pingree, From Astral Omens to Astrology: From Babylon to Bīkāner (Rome: Ist. Italiano
per l'Africa e l'Oriente, 1997), 39.
42
David Pingree, “Astronomy and Astrology in India and Iran,” ISIS 54, no. 2 (1963): 240.
43
For a recent discussion of scholarship on Iranian astrology, see Antonio Panaino, “Sasanian
Astronomy and Astrology in the Contribution of David Pingree,” in Kayd: Studies in the History of
Mathematics, Astronomy and Astrology in Memory of David Pingree, eds. Gherardo Gnoli and Antonio
Panaino (Rome: Instituto Italiano Per L’Africa E L’Oriente, 2009), 73–103.
44
Ibid., 245.
45
Yu Xin, “Personal Fate and the Planets: A Documentary and Iconographical Study of
Astrological Divination at Dunhuang, Focusing on the ‘Dhāraṇī Talisman for Offerings to Ketu and
Mercury, Planetary Deity of the North,” Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 20 (2011): 164.
46
Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China: Conforming Earth to Heaven, 118.
47
Ibid., 146.

31
was in effect partly based on a symbolic model derived from the stars.48 This model was
to be employed throughout the rest of imperial Chinese history and demonstrates a
constant interest in coordinating earthly endeavors with Heaven.
In addition to material culture, this deep interest in suitably aligning human
activities with Heaven and Earth is also found within spiritual and political contexts. One
key example of this is appears in the appended commentary (繫辭) included in the Yijing
易經 (Book of Changes).49 It indicates a belief in prognostication through observation of
the heavens, as well as the conviction that one should follow cosmic principles that are
visible throughout Heaven and Earth. Although the Yijing commentaries have been
attributed traditionally to Confucius 孔子 (551–479 BCE), modern scholarship assigns
them to a time no earlier than the Warring States period (475 BCE to 221 BCE).50 The
commentary contains the following passage:

易與天地準，故能彌綸天地之道。仰以觀於天文，俯以察於地理，是故知幽
明之故。原始反終，故知死生之說。
The Yi accords with Heaven and Earth, thus it can govern the ways of Heaven and
Earth. He looks up to observe celestial patterns, and looks down to examine
terrestrial principles; thus, he knows the causes behind darkness and light. He
traces the beginning and end of things, and thus knows the explanation of death
and life.51

This passage is alluding to the concept of astral-terrestrial resonance in which cycles and
anomalies above reflect the inclinations of Heaven (tian 天) or foretell developments on
earth.
The native Chinese model of astral omenology is called fenye 分野 or ‘field
allocation’ astrology, which emerged in the mid to late Zhou period (1046–256 BCE). It
evolved over time, but the basic concept assigns segments of the twelve Jupiter stations
(十二星次)52 and twenty-eight lunar stations along the equator to either the nine
provinces of China or twelve states of the late Zhou. This early model excluded non-
Chinese realms. The Yellow River corresponds to the Milky Way, while asterisms are
connected to the corresponding territories. It was believed that such astral-terrestrial
associations allow for prognostications about future fortunes based on the movements of
the planets. It was also specifically employed in military operations. This system is not

48
Ibid., 317–336.
49
Ibid., 149.
50
David. R. Knechtges and Taiping Chang, eds., Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature:
A Reference Guide, Part Three (Leiden, Brill: 2014), 1882–1883.
51
Guo Yu 郭彧, ed., Nansongchu keben zhouyi zhushu 南宋初刻本周易注疏 (Shanghai:
Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 2014), 618.
52
The sidereal orbital period of Jupiter is 11.86 years. Its orbit may therefore be roughly divided
into twelve sections through which Jupiter transits over approximately twelve years.

32
commonly mentioned in contemporary sources, which Pankenier attributes to its hermetic
nature.53
As mentioned above, this model was never static, as it evolved over time, which
happened alongside political and philosophical developments. Harper notes that “the
mechanisms that led to the proliferation of masters and to their profuse philosophical
discourse during the Warring States transformed the practice of astrology and other
specialties as well.”54 Unearthed tombs from the Warring States period also demonstrate
the popularity of astrology among elites, as they have yielded astrological texts, as well
as lacquer items with astrological features.55 This interest in astrology continued into the
Han period and beyond.
The Han shu 漢書, a history of the early Han dynasty that was finished in 111
CE, provides the following associations between the twenty-eight lunar stations and
Chinese territories in the chronicle detailing astral matters (Tianwen zhi 天文志):56

Table 2.2. Astro-Terrestrial Associations

Lunar Stations Associated Territory
Jiao 角, Kang 亢, Di 氐. Yanzhou 沇州.
Fang 房, Xin 心. Yuzhou 豫州.
Wei 尾, Ji 箕. Youzhou 幽州.
Dou 鬥 (= Dou 斗). Jiang 江, Hu 湖.
Qian Niu 牽牛, Wu Nü 婺女. Yangzhou 揚州.
Xu 虛, Wei 危. Qingzhou 青州.
Ying Shi 營室, Dong Bi 東壁. Bingzhou 并州.
Kui 奎, Lou 婁, Wei 胃. Xuzhou 徐州.
Mao 昴, Bi 畢. Jizhou 冀州.
Zi Xi 觜觿, Shen 參. Yizhou 益州.
Dong Jing 東井, Yu Gui 輿鬼. Yongzhou 雍州.
Liu 柳, Qi Xing 七星, Zhang 張. San He 三河.
Yi 翼, Zhen 軫. Jingzhou 荊州.

The Han shu also provides a model of predictive astrology based on

convergences. The following sample is instructive.

53
Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China: Conforming Earth to Heaven, 6–7.
54
Donald Harper, “Warring States Natural Philosophy and Occult Thought,” in The Cambridge
History of Ancient China From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C., ed. Michael Loews et al.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 813.
55
Ibid., 819–820.
56
Han shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 5, 1288.

33
 歲，與填合則爲內亂，與辰合則爲變謀而更事，與熒惑合則爲饑，爲旱，與
太白合則爲白衣之會，爲水。太白在南，歲在北，名曰牝牡，年谷大孰。太
白在北，歲在南，年或有或亡。
Jupiter: when it converges with Saturn, there will be domestic turmoil; when it
converges with Mercury, there will be conspiracies, but it will pass (?); when it
converges with Mars, there will be famine and drought; and when it converges
with Venus, there will be gatherings of white-clad people [in mourning] and
floods. When Venus is in the south and Jupiter is in the north, it is called the
union of male and female beasts. The year’s harvest of grains will be bountiful.
When Venus is in the north and Jupiter is in the south, there will be some gains
and some losses in that year.57

Unlike occidental astrology, this form of astral divination is chiefly concerned with the
whole country, rather than with individuals. Detailed knowledge of astrology in this
period was largely only available to elite men in the state with access to the relevant
texts. It does appear, however, that the significance of astrologically significant events,
such as convergences, was understood by commoners. There was a noteworthy discovery
in 1995 from Niya 尼雅 in Xinjiang of a silk brocade armguard from the Eastern Han
period (25–220) with embroidered words reading, “When the Five Planets appear in the
east it benefits the Middle Kingdom” (五星出東方利中國). If such garments were worn
in remote outposts of Chinese civilization, they were presumably also fashionable in the
capital.58 Moreover, Jupiter, as a “Planet of the Year” (having a sidereal revolution of
approximately twelve years), was also given special attention, even being deified.59
It was in the same period that a state bureau of astronomy was established under
the supervision of high ranking officials. The court astronomer or taishi ling 太史令 was
a fairly prestigious position and well paid.60 This office required knowledge of astrology.
The Hou Han shu 後漢書, the history of the later Han dynasty, details his duties as
follows:

掌天時，星曆。凡歲將終，奏新年曆。凡國祭祀，喪，娶之事，掌奏良日及
時節禁忌。凡國有瑞應，災異，掌記之。
He is charge of [monitoring] the sky and the calendar. He reports on the new
year’s calendar whenever the year is about to conclude. He is in charge of
reporting good days and taboo times whenever there are national sacrifices,

57
Han shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 5, 1285–1286.
58
David W. Pankenier, “Seeing Stars in the Han Sky,” Early China 25 (2000): 185.
59
Hou Ching-Lang 侯錦郎, “The Chinese Belief in Balefal Stars,” in Facets of Taoism: Essays in
Chinese Religions, eds. Holmes Welch and Anna Siedel (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), 205–
209.
60
For a discussion of court positions and their pay grades see Han Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy
in Han Times (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 131.

34
 funerals or weddings. He is in charge of recording auspicious responses [of
Heaven], calamities and abnormalities whenever the country has them.61

This interest in the movements of stars continued into the Tang dynasty. It seems that
there also emerged a belief in the astrological luck justifying the founding of the Tang.
The Tang history has the following.

隋大業十三年六月，鎮星贏而旅於參。參，唐星也。李淳風曰：「鎮星主
福，未當居而居，所宿國吉。」
In the sixth lunar month of year 13 in reign era Daye [617] in the Sui, Saturn
appeared early and stayed in the constellation Shen. Shen comprises the stars of
Tang. Li Chunfeng62 said, “Saturn presides over fortune. The country in which it
lodges is lucky when it resides there before it is supposed to.”63

This refers to the aforementioned ‘field-allocation’ astrology system, in which the

original realm of Tang in the ancient Zhou period was associated with a specific region of
the sky. Here Saturn is regarded as auspicious, which stands in contrast to occidental
astrology, in which it is regarded as malefic. It apparently moved unexpectedly into the
constellation Shen during the last days of the Sui before the rise of the Tang in 618. This
was subsequently interpreted as auspicious, and an indication of Heaven’s sanction of the
recently established Tang dynasty. This was probably not immediately apparent at the
time, but later Li Chunfeng, who was a professional astrologer, and spent his life serving
the court, retrospectively interpreted the development in a way favorable to the new
order, or so the dynastic history tells us.
As in Indian and Greco-Egyptian traditions of astral magic, China also developed
its own astral pantheon, which has its origins in the earliest known years of Chinese
civilization. During the Warring States period, the numerological calculations of the
calendar were arranged alongside the organization of spirits or gods.64 Much later in the
Tang, the native astral deities of Tianhuang Dadi 天皇大帝, Beichen 北辰, Beidou 北斗,
Tianyi 天一 and Taiyi 太一 were also part of the court rites for the winter solstice.65 It is

61
Houhan shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 12, 3572.
62
Li Chunfeng (602–670) was an astronomer and mathematician of the early Tang. For his
biography see the Jiu Tang shu (fasc. 79) and Xin Tang shu (fasc. 204).
63
Xin Tang shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 3, 851.
64
Harper, “Warring States Natural Philosophy and Occult Thought,” 851.
65
Xin Tang shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 2, 326. Tianhuang Dadi and his counterpart Ziwei
Dadi 紫微大帝 “are the gods of the Sourthern and Northern Dipper; the former is in charge of fixing the
date of birth of human beings, and the latter their date of death.” Pregadio, ed., The Encyclopedia of
Taoism, vol. 1, 382. Beichen is Polaris. Beidou is the stars of the Big Dipper. Tianyi and Taiyi are two of
the nine palaces 九宮, i.e., spirits of nine constellations of the nine directions. In 744 (year 3 of Tianbao 天
寶), their nine altars were built in the capital as follows. Southeast: Zhaoyao 招搖. East: Xuanyuan 軒轅.

35
important to note here that native Chinese astrological lore regarded the five visible
planets as essences of the five elements (五行) rather than as sentient deities, though the
Chinese perspective was later influenced by Indian and Iranian conceptions of the planets
as gods starting in the eighth century, which we will discuss in chapters four and five.66
In the Sui dynasty (581–618), Xiao Ji 蕭吉 (c. 530–610)67 was able to provide a
comprehensive survey of the cosmic hierarchy and its main deities in his Wuxing da yi 五
行大義 (Great Meaning of the Five Elements).68 In Needham’s words, it is the “most
important medieval book on the five elements.”69 This work catalogs and explains
various natural phenomena (in particular their relationships to yin-yang and the five
elements), while also detailing classical Chinese metaphysics. Xiao Ji exhaustively
details Chinese astrological lore.70 This material is highly significant because it represents
the native Chinese conception of astrology and the cosmic hierarchy as it was generally
understood at the beginning of the Tang dynasty. Astral magic and astral deities based on
native Chinese models were already ancient, and quite widely known in the Tang period.
There were few conceptual issues with introducing new foreign elements.
These long-standing beliefs in astrology and a teleology intimately connected to
celestial phenomena from early on in China encouraged the development of observational
astronomy, as well as the mathematics necessary for advanced predictions. As will be
documented below, advanced Indian astronomy was introduced and translated into
Chinese in the eighth century, though it was never widely studied outside of a small
community of specialists in the capital (see 4.6 below). It was also unncessary for the
practice of astrology. Basic Chinese astronomy was sufficient to calculate the positions of
the planets and draw up ephemerides. In short, although there were some foreign
influences in Chinese astronomy, the core of it remained unaffected, whereas astrology in
China, which employed the Chinese system, was deeply influenced by foreign systems of
astrology that were transmitted from India and Iran. The details of these developments
will be made clear throughout this study.
Astronomy and astrology were highly regarded throughout Chinese history, but
they were also restricted fields of knowledge. The calender in particular was an important
component of the state apparatus and its legitimacy. As Pankenier points out, one reason

Northeast: Taiyin 太陰. South: Tianyi. Center: Tianfu 天符. North: Taiyi. Southwest: Sheti 攝提. West:
Xianchi 咸池. Northwest: Qinglong 青龍. See Jiu Tang shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 3, 929.
66
The one exception to this is in the obscure native occult tradition in which the planets are
identified as the sons of the Five Heavenly Emperors 五天帝. Their qualities are different from the Indian
and Iranian traditions. Wuxing dayi 五行大義 (see below) in Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書, vol. 1060
(Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 2002), 249–250.
67
His biography is in the Sui shu 隋書, fasc. 78. See Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 6, 1774–1775.
68
For relevant studies see works of Nakamura Shōhachi 中村璋八 in the bibliography.
69
Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China Volume 2 History of Scientific Thought
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956), 253.
70
See Xuxiu siku quanshu, vol. 1060, 248–253.

36
why Chinese rulers after the fall of the Han sought to restrict astrology was the earlier
chaos that erupted as a result of planetary portents that had been interpreted as
unfavorable to the Han state.71 This explains why later governments actively sought to
control the study of related subjects, including astronomy. One early example is from the
Western Jin dynasty (265–316). In 267, a decree recorded in the Jin shu 晉書, the history
of the Jin compiled in 648, forbids the study of astral and atmospheric divination
methods, as well as Chenwei 讖緯 works.72 The Jin law code also included an article
prohibiting private possession of books on astronomy and divination.73 The Jin shu
describes the historical restrictions on astronomical instruments:

此則儀象之設，其來遠矣。綿代相傳，史官禁密，學者不睹 …
Astronomical instruments have therefore been employed for a long time. They
have been transmitted to succeeding dynasties. Court recorders have kept them
guarded and secret. Scholars do not examine them. …74

Astronomy and divination were permitted fields of study for specific employees of the
state, but otherwise unauthorized persons were not permitted access to such knowledge,
since it had the potential to be employed against the state. These restrictions carried on
into the Tang period. The Tang legal code was first compiled in 624, with subsequent
revisions in 627 and 637 before including a commentary in 653, which is the Tang lü
shuyi 唐律疏議 (Commentary on Tang Law Codes). The received text we presently have
is from 737.75 The code provides a penal code based mostly on earlier legal codes and the
Chinese classics, altogether comprising 502 articles. It had been preceded by an earlier
code published in 564 under the Northern Zhou (557–581), which had been based on
codes such as that of the Western Jin (268).76 Article #110 details the proscription against
private possession of books and instruments related to astronomy with the following
commentary.

71
David Pankenier, “Astrological Origins of Chinese Dynastic Ideology,” Vistas in Astronomy 39
(1995): 511.
72
禁星氣讖緯之學. Cited by Susan Whitfield, “Under the Censor’s Eye: Printed Almanacs and
Censorship in Ninth-Century China,” The British Library Journal 24 (1998): 10. Chen refers to divination
manuals while wei refers to esoteric commentaries on the Chinese classics. Often the two are cited together
to refer to a specific genre of occult literature.
73
Ibid., 11.
74
Jin shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 2, 284.
75
Anthony J. Barbieri-Low and Robin D.S. Yates, Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial
China: Volume I (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 233. It is noted that “a close analysis reveals that the Han and Qin
laws were clearly ancestral to the Tang laws, both in their general principles and in dozens of concrete
instances, despite the intervening nine centuries.”
76
Jacques Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1996), 244–245.

37
諸玄象器物，天文，圖書，讖書，兵書，七曜曆，太一，雷公式，私家不得
有，違者徒二年。私習天文者亦同。其緯候及論語讖，不在禁限。疏議曰：
玄象者，玄，天也，謂象天爲器具，以經星之文及日月所行之道，轉之以觀
時變。易曰：「玄象著明，莫大於日月。故天垂象，聖人則之。」尚書云：
「在璇璣玉衡，以齊七政。」天文者，史記天官書云天文，日月，五星，二
十八宿等，故易曰：「仰則觀於天文。」圖書者，「河出圖，洛出書」是
也。讖書者，先代聖賢所記未來徵祥之書。兵書，謂太公六韜、黃石公三略
之類。七曜曆，謂日，月，五星之曆。太一，雷公式者，並是式名，以占吉
凶者。私家皆不得有，違者，徒二年。若將傳用，言涉不順者，自從「造祅
言」之法。「私習天文者」，謂非自有書，轉相習學者，亦得二年徒坐。
Private households may not possess celestial imaging instruments, astronomical
charts, divination manuals (tushu and chenshu), military manuals, ephemerides
for the seven planets, and divination plates for Taiyi and Leigong [the god of
thunder]. Offenders will be subject to penal servitude for a period of two years,
and also likewise for those who secretly study astronomy. Wei, Hou and Lunyu
chen are not within the limitations of the prohibition. Commentary:
‘Astronomical’ (xuan xiang): xuan is Heaven; that is to say, to image Heaven
(xiang tian), one makes a device to trace the patterns of stars, and the paths of the
Sun and the Moon, rotating it to observe time’s passage. The Yijing states, “Of
astronomical bodies bright and clear, there are none greater than the Sun and
Moon; thus, heaven suspends figures, and the sages employs them.”77 The Shang
shu states, “He examined the Jade Pivot and Beam to calibrate [the movements
of] the Seven Directors [planets].”78 ‘Astronomical charts’ – the Tianguan shu in
the Shiji speaks of astronomical charts, the Sun, the Moon, five planets and
twenty-eight constellations. Hence the Yijing states, “He looks up and observes
celestial patterns.”79 ‘Tushu’ refers to “the diagram that emerged from the Yellow
River, and writings coming forth from the Luo River”. Chenshu are texts
concerning future prognostication recorded by sages of past ages. ‘Military
manuals’ are works such as the Six Secret Quivers of Taigong and the Three
Strategies of Huangshi Gong. ‘Ephemerides for the seven planets’ are
ephemerides for the Sun, Moon and five planets. ‘Taiyi’ and ‘Leigong’ are names
of methods to divine fortune and misfortune. No private household may possess
them. Offenders are subject to penal servitude of two years. In the case of them
being passed on, it constitutes involvement and non-compliance, which follows
the law regarding fabricating bogus stories. ‘Secretly studying astronomy’ refers

77
This is abbreviated text based on content found in Xici shang 繫辭上 11.
78
Yu shu 虞書, Shun dian 舜典 3.
79
Xici shang 繫辭上 4.

38
 to when the texts are not personally owned, and the [knowledge] is conveyed for
study; they will also be subject to two years penal servitude.80

It does not appear that the authors of the code possessed sophisticated knowledge of
astronomy. Despite the existence of laws against the private study of astronomy, as
Whitfield points out, there were, in fact, popular calendars produced in the later period of
the Tang dynasty, yet this only happened after the An Lushan rebellion (755–763), when
the authority and reach of the central government were severely diminished. She further
points out “it was also at this time that there was another threat to the state’s attempts to
monopolize any information it deemed potentially subversive: the development of
printing.”81 The Chinese state in the ninth century was, however, still aware of this
problem. In 841 the state forbid court astronomers from associating with people outside
that bureau.

開成五年十二月，敕：「司天臺占候災祥，理宜秘密，如聞近日監司官吏及
所由等，多與朝官並雜色人交遊，既乖慎守，須明制約。自今已後，監司官
吏不得更與朝官及諸色人等交通往來，委禦史台察訪。」
In the twelfth lunar month of year 5 in reign era Kaicheng [841],82 it was ordered
by imperial decree: “The Bureau of Astronomy should maintain secrecy with
respect to its divination of favorable and unfavorable omens, as it has been heard
in recent days that there has been much intercourse between bureau officials and
their subordinates with court officials and various commoners. As it constitutes a
breach of security, there must be clear understanding of the restrictions. From
now on officials [of the Bureau of Astronomy] must not intermingle with court
officials and commoners. The imperial censors will be entrusted to investigate
[any violations].”83

2.5. Astrology in Early Buddhism and Brahmanism

Having outlined the relevant history of astrology, we now turn to the relationship
between astrology and Buddhism, first in India and thereafter in China.
Some members of the early sangha, so far as the extant literature indicates,
prohibited astrology on the grounds that it was an inappropriate for a śramaṇa to practice

80
Tang lü shuyi 唐律疏議, Taiwan Shangwu Yinshug Guan edn., 1968, vol. 4, 82. I must thank
David Pankenier for helping me to translate this passage. Johnson’s translation differs from mine. He
mistranslates some of the technical terms, for instance, qiyao li 七曜曆 as “books on the seven days”.
China in this period did not observe the seven-day week. See Wallace Johnson, The T’ang Code: Volume
II, Specific Articles (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 78–79.
81
Whitfield, “Under the Censor’s Eye,” 13.
82
Kaicheng 5 corresponds to the year 840, but lunar 12/1 fell on January 1 st, 841.
83
Jiu Tang shu, Zhonghua Shuju edn., vol. 4, 1336.

39
divination as a livelihood, though the validity of astrology and its underlying belief that
the auspiciousness of a time is determined by favorable arrangements of celestial bodies
were not refuted. As explained above, astrology in India must be understood within the
context of cultural exchanges between the Indian subcontinent and civilizations to the
west. Pingree states that the “influence of Babylonian astronomy on Indian thought is
already perceptible in Sanskrit texts of the first half of the last millennium B.C.” These
influences are further evident in the Pāli canon. As Pingree points out, in the Brahmajāla-
sutta in the Dīghanikāya, the Buddha is recorded as castigating śramaṇa–s and
brāhmaṇa–s who engage in certain activities for offerings of food, which include
sacrifices, apotropaic rites and divination. Pingree states, “Almost every type of omen
mentioned by the Buddha is found in both the earlier cuneiform literature and in the later
Sanskrit texts; and the terrestrial omens are numerated in an order – houses, ghosts,
snakes, poisons, scorpions, mice, vultures, crows, and quadrupeds – that corresponds
almost completely with the order of the Tablets of Šumma ālu.”84 The Buddha further is
made to list omens related to eclipses, stars (nakṣatra–s), meteors and so forth.85 The
parallel passage in the Chinese Dīrgha-Āgama 長阿含經 (T 1), translated into Chinese in
413, states that some śramaṇa–s and brāhmaṇa–s maintain a wicked livelihood through
reciting books on astronomy/astrology (天文書).86 This indicates an awareness of
astrological works in circulation by the compilers of this recension. This also suggests
that some śramaṇa–s actually studied such works in light of the prohibitions against it.
Johannes Bronkhorst, on the other hand, believes that Buddhists did not participate in the
development of jyotiḥśāstra (a field including astronomy, astrology and mathematics).
He suggests that the early Buddhist sangha frowned upon such an art so connected with
mundane matters through which one could earn a living.87 This conclusion is problematic
in light of other early texts, to be discussed shortly, that teach astrology or presuppose
knowledge of astrology or the nakṣatra calendar. The evidence actually indicates that
some (but clearly not all) Buddhists from early on were at ease with astrology. The
condemnation of monks who practice astrology seems to stem from only one side of the
discussion on the acceptability of astrology.
Similar sentiments to those found in the Brahmajāla-sutta are also seen in
dharmaśāstra works from Brahmanical traditions. Contemporary Brahmanical culture
had a low opinion of astrologers. As Gansten explains, “Before the acculturation of
horoscopic astrology proper, introduced from the Greek speaking world in the first
centuries of the Common Era, practitioners of astral divination were described in not very

84
The Šumma ālu is a collection of omens. It was standardized around the middle of the seventh
century BCE. See Sally M. Moren, “The Omen Series ‘Summa Alu’: A Preliminary Investigation,” PhD
diss. University of Pennsylvania (1978), 4.
85
Pingree, From Astral Omens to Astrology: From Babylon to Bīkāner, 32–33.
86
T 1, 1: 84b18-c9.
87
Johannes Bronkhorst, Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 120.

40
flattering terms by the authors of religious codes of law.”88 Gansten points out that the
Manusmṛti (3.162) and Baudhāyanadharma-sūtra (2.2.15–16) both unfavorably regard
astrologers. The former bans upper-caste astrologers from attending sacrifices. As in
some Buddhist literature, divination itself was not regarded as invalid, but merely as
lowly and base within Brahmanical society.
Following the increasing sophistication of astrology in the first few centuries CE,
astrologers enjoyed growing appreciation and prestige, so much so that in the sixth
century a figure like Varāhamihira in his Bṛhatsaṃ hitā (2.8) could state, “Just as the
night does not shine without a lamp, and the sky without the Sun, so will a king have
pitfalls like a blind person, if he has no astrologer to guide him.”89 The shift in which
astrology was increasingly seen in a positive light is reflected in Buddhist literature.

2.6. Astrology in Sūtra and Vinaya Literature

The earliest example of astrology being explained in Buddhist literature is the

Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, now included in the Divyāvadāna collection.90 As to its dating,
Pingree suggests that it “was probably written in the first century A.D. and is described in
detail in the Gargasaṃhitā and in the sixth-century Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira.”91
This dating is problematic since Pingree seems to have based his opinion on the
traditionally held date of a certain Chinese translation, the Mātaṅga-sūtra 摩登伽經 (T
1300), which is a version of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna attributed to Lüyan 律炎 (fl. 224)
and Zhi Qian 支謙 (fl. 223–253). The Kaiyuan shijiao lu 開元釋教錄 (T 2154; Catalog
of Buddhist Teachings in the Kaiyuan Era), a catalog of Chinese Buddhist texts by
Zhisheng 智昇 (669–740) finished in 730, states that Lüyan translated four sūtras
including the Mātaṅga-sūtra in Huanglong 黃龍 2 (230 CE) under Sun Quan 孫權 (r.
222–252) in Yangdu 揚都.92 Hayashiya, however, points out that the style of translation
clearly postdates the time of Kumārajīva (344–413). He suggests a date sometime after
the late fifth century.93 His argument is supported by an entry in the Da Tang neidian lu
大唐內典錄 (T 2149; Catalog of Buddhist Texts of the Great Tang), a catalog from 664

88
Martin Gansten, “Astrologers,” in Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, vol. 3, ed. Knut A.
Jacobsen, Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar, Vasudha Narayanan (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 217.
89
Panditbhushan V. Subrahmanya Shastri and Vidwan M. Ramkrishna Bhat, Varahamihira’s
Brihat Samhita with an English Translation and Notes (Bangalore: V.B. Soobbiah and Sons, 1946), 18.
90
For printed Sanskrit editions see Cowell and Neil (1886), Mukhopadhyaya (1954) and Vaidya
(1959). For Sanskrit manuscripts see Bodleian Library 1091(1-8)-MS. Sansk.e.23(P), and British Library
Or.15010/6, 20. For Tibetan translation see D 358, Q 1027.
91
Pingree, “Astronomy and Astrology in India and Iran,” 233.
92
T 2154, 55: 487c20-24.
93
Hayashiya Tomojirō 林屋友次郎, Iyaku kyōrui no kenkyū 異譯經類の研究 (Tōkyō: Tōyō
Bunko, 1945), 541.

41
by Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667), in which Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅 (394–468) of the Liu-
Song period (420–479) is cited as the translator.94
The oldest extant version of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna is found in a fragmentary
Central Asian manuscript now held at the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of
Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SI 1942) dating from around
the fourth century.95 The earliest Chinese translation by Dharmarakṣa 竺法護, the
Shetoujian Taizi ershiba xiu jing 舍頭諫太子二十八宿經 (T 1301; Sūtra of Prince
Śārdūlakarṇa and the Twenty-eight Nakṣatras), is closer to the Central Asian manuscript
when compared to the Mātaṅga-sūtra.96 Dharmarakṣa’s text is said to have been
translated between 307–313 (the Yongjia 永嘉 era).97 In light of these points, a dating to
the third or possibly second century for the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna is more probable than
Pingree’s date of the first century. As to where it was composed, in light of the references
to the measurements of Magadha such as the māgadha-yojana and māgadhaka-prastha
(摩伽陀鉢悉他),98 it was likely composed in Magadha.
The initial story in the sūtra relates how Ānanda was magically summoned against
his will into a home by the mother of a caṇḍāla girl. The girl found him attractive and
sought to marry him. The Buddha freed him with the use of a mantra. The girl later
became a bhikṣuṇī and sees the error of her ways. The rest of the text explaining
astrology, measurements and other mundane matters is related by a caṇḍāla King
Triśaṅku, and appears to be a divination manual appended onto the sūtra.
One aim of providing such information on divination seems to have been to
demonstrate that a member of the caṇḍāla caste could be equally as learned as a
brāhmaṇa, thereby discrediting the claims to religious authority held by Brahmins.
Knowledge of astrology was a form of social capital, and the author of the text, with a
clear anti-Vedic agenda, evidently sought to advance Buddhist interests by spreading this
knowledge in the form of a sūtra. Neither the Buddha, nor any of his disciples, is
responsible for providing such information, which perhaps indicates a sentiment that
sangha members are not to teach such mundane things. Nevertheless, the validity and
value of astrological knowledge is affirmed in this text.
There were those in the Buddhist community in India, however, who objected to
both the practice and validity of astrology. Such arguments are given in the

94
T 2149, 55: 298a18-20.
95
Miyazaki Tensho and others, “The Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna from Central Asia,” in Buddhist
Manuscripts from Central Asia The St. Petersburg Sanskrit Fragments, vol. 1, ed. Seishi Karashima and
Margarita I. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya (Tōkyō: The Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian
Academy of Sciences and The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology Soka University,
2015), 2.
96
Ibid., 2.
97
T 2149, 55: 298a16-17.
98
T 1301, 21: 416c13. T 1300, 21: 409b1. For the Sanskrit see Sujitkumar Mukhopadhyaya, ed.,
The Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna (Viśvabharati, 1954), 58–59.

42
Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra 正法念處經 (T 721), which was translated into
Chinese by Gautama Prajñāruci 539.99 Daniel M. Stuart proposes that this sūtra was
compiled over many years between 150–400 CE.100 With respect to the sectarian
affiliation of this text, Warder suggests it “was apparently the Mūlasarvāstivādins who
composed the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra”.101 Stuart, however, contests this,
stating, “As far as the philosophical background of the text is concerned, the
authors/compilers/redactors were no doubt learned in some species of Sarvāstivāda.”102
In quite strong language this sūtra condemns the practice of astrology by bhikṣus.
It lists it among thirteen other practices, which include painting, singing, closely
associating with kings and residing with evil people, warning that such practices are a
hindrance to meditation and recitation. Such hindrances result in rebirth in the hell, preta
and animal realms. Such individuals are even abandoned by their protective deities.103
The refutation of astrology in the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra was likely a
reaction to bhikṣus practicing what was an increasingly popular art of astrology and, to
some at least, perhaps a lucrative profession. The sūtra attempts to creatively convince
the bhikṣu to turn away from mundane star gazing.

有三大曜，謂病老死，此爲最大，常住世間。彼惡沙門，不思惟此而更思惟
餘世間曜。彼人愚癡，無有聞慧，思惟世間二十八宿。如是思惟，則有罪
過。而不思惟彼出世間二十八宿。若能思惟實觀察者，入涅槃城。二十八
者，所謂五陰及五取陰十八界等。思惟此者，到於涅槃。以如實觀，離欲持
戒，故得涅槃。數星思惟則不能得。
There are three great luminaries [graha, i.e., planets], called illness, old age and
death. These are the greatest and perpetually present in the world. That wicked
śramaṇa does not contemplate this, but further contemplates other worldly
luminaries. That person is foolish, not having wisdom gained through hearing
[*śrutamayī prajñā?], contemplating the twenty-eight worldly nakṣatra–s
[constellations]. One is at fault to contemplate like this and not contemplate the
twenty-eight transcendental nakṣatra–s. One will enter the city of nirvāṇa should
one be able to contemplate and truly observe them. The twenty-eight are the five
skandha–s, five upādāna-skandha–s and eighteen dhātu–s. One who contemplates
these will arrive at nirvāṇa. When there is observation of things as they truly are,
detachment from desire and the upholding of precepts, nirvāṇa is consequently

99
These arguments are in fasc. 49 of the Chinese translation. Astrology is counted as the fifth
unacceptable practice.
100
Daniel M. Stuart, A Less Traveled Path: Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra Chapter 2, vol. I
(Austrian Academy of Sciences and China Tibetology Research Center, 2015), 43.
101
A.K. Warder, Indian Buddhism (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2004), 394–395.
102
Stuart, A Less Traveled Path, vol. I, 199.
103
T 721, 17: 284c7–17.

43
 attained. It cannot be attained through the contemplation of counting stars [i.e.,
astrology].104

The attack on astrology also includes refutation of its efficacy through various arguments.
For instance, the text asks why the lives of people differ, even when they are born under
the same stars. It is pointed out that humans, animals and preta–s might be born under the
same star, yet they also are not identical. It is argued that it is through the force of karma,
rather than the force of the stars, that there are differences among living beings.105
The sūtra further discusses the untenability of such concepts as astral influence
(the belief that stars directly influence life events), a concept we will see conversely
affirmed in later literature.

又復彼人，數星思惟，而實不善，亦不寂靜。所謂彼星，力不常定，更有妨
故，有勝劣故。此星復爲勝星所覆，彼星異時而復更爲異星所覆，是故當知
數星思惟，義不相應。若其有人，數星思惟，謂星因緣，有苦有樂，非是自
身有苦有樂，彼星更有餘星所覆，云何而能與他苦樂。故知由業而得。如是
善不善果，非星能與。… 如日與月，羅睺蝕之，則得苦惱。若此日月，自
不能救，何能救他。
Furthermore, that man is truly non-virtuous to contemplate the stars, nor will he
attain peace. As to that star, its power is not constantly fixed, as it is also hindered
and has superior and inferior capacities. This star is again covered by a superior
star. That star at a different time is again covered by a different star. Thus it
should be understood that contemplation of the stars [i.e., astrology] is untenable.
If there is someone who contemplates the stars, thinking that it is due to the stars
that there are sufferings and ease, and that it is not from oneself that there are
sufferings and ease, then how is it that when those stars are covered by other stars,
that they can impart sufferings and ease to others? Thus, it is understood that
[sufferings and ease] come about because of karma. It is not the stars which can
impart the fruits of virtue and non-virtue like this. … When the Sun and the Moon
are devoured by Rāhu, they experience anguish. If the Sun and the Moon cannot
save themselves [from being devoured by eclipses], how could they save
others?106

The Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra indicates that in addition to undesirable artist

śramaṇa–s, there were also a sufficient number of monks who practiced astrology to
merit such extensive criticism and condemnation. This is an interesting example in Indian
Buddhist literature of astrology being systematically attacked. It seems, however, that

104
T 721, 17: 290b12-19.
105
T 721, 17: 290a6-29.
106
T 17, 721: 290b1-10.

44
such views were actually in the minority, because other examples of a passive belief in
astrology are to be found in earlier literature, such as vinaya texts.
There is an account in the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya 四分律 (T 1428)107 in which
the group of ‘six bhikṣuṇīs’ tells laypeople that the constellations and stars are favorable,
and that they should engage in various activities such as building shelters and shaving a
child’s head. The Buddha scolds them for this, but states that they should tell laypeople
that when the stars are favorable they should visit monasteries, make offerings to the
sangha and engage in fasting.108 This presupposes that the bhikṣuṇīs have knowledge of
astrology. The concern in this incident, however, is that they encourage mundane
activities upon having determined by the stars that the time is auspicious. The Buddha
instructs that they should instead direct laypeople towards religious activities on such
days.
As another example, the Mahīśāsaka-vinaya 五分律 (T 1421)109 states that the
āraṇyaka bhikṣu (a solitary recluse) should fully understand the features of the four
directions, nakṣatra–s, seasons and dates, though these are for practical purposes.
Knowing the four directions helps when escaping from bandits. Knowing the nakṣatra–s
helps one know when it is time to sleep and move on the road. One will know the way
back by observing the stars. Knowing the seasons and dates helps determine the times for
poṣadha and retreat.110 Although familiarity with nakṣatra–s assumes some traditional
astronomical knowledge, there is nothing concerning astrology here. The same text,
however, records an account in which bhikṣus were excessively washing, much to the
disdain of the laypeople who condemned them for not following proper śramaṇa
etiquette. At the time, a diviner of King Bimbisāra informed his lord that an inauspicious
star (不吉星) had appeared, and that the king ought to go to the waters of a certain spring
and wash to expel the evil. If not, the country and his life would be at risk. The king
ordered his retainers to prepare the spring, but they reported that the bhikṣus were
washing. The king told his retainers to wait for them to finish, but this went on for a day
and night. The Brahmins warned the king that the star was hanging above him and that he
had to go, otherwise the ritual washing would prove ineffective. The king went to the
spring and washed downstream instead. His ministers complained about these bhikṣus’
poor practice as śramaṇa–s. The elder bhikṣus reported this to the Buddha, who then
established a rule against excessive bathing.111 Here there is no repudiation of the idea
itself of a star foretelling catastrophe. The appearance of such an inauspicious star is
taken quite seriously. The point of this story is to provide a background story for the rule

107
Translated by Buddhayaśas (fl. early 5th cent.) between 410–412. See Shayne Clarke,
“Vinayas,” in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, vol. I, ed. Jonathan A. Silk (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 68–69.
108
T 1428, 22: 775a15–b26.
109
Translated between 423–424 by a team led by Buddhajīva 佛陀什 (fl. early 5th cent.). See
Clarke, “Vinayas,” 69.
110
T 1421, 22: 180a3–24.
111
T 1421, 22: 65c29-66a18.

45
against excessive bathing, but it indirectly indicates a strong belief in astrological
determinism.
This passive belief in astrology is also an underlying element in the calendar of
the sangha. The Buddhist sangha believed in astrological hemerology based on the pakṣa
cycle. This is expressly stated in the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya 摩訶僧祇律 (T 1425), which
was translated between 416–418.112

爾時，尊者阿難共行弟子，欲行摩那埵。白佛言：世尊，我共行弟子，欲詣
聚落中小住處行摩那埵，時是十四日。佛語阿難：此十四日，星宿隨順，時
隨順，眾隨順。應作布薩竟然後去。
At that time Venerable Ānanda was travelling together with disciples and wanted
to perform mānatva [i.e., repentance]. He said to the Buddha, “World Honored
One, I am travelling with disciples and wish to go to the village to perform
mānatva in a small dwelling. The time is the 14th day.” The Buddha said to
Ānanda, “This 14th day agrees with the nakṣatra–s, time and assembly113 – you
should leave after performing poṣadha.114

It is notable that the Buddha is the one stating the 14th day is in agreement with the
nakṣatra–s. From the emic Buddhist perspective, this is an indirect affirmation of
astrological determinism by the figure of the Buddha himself. The underlying belief is
that certain days of the lunar cycle are inherently more auspicious and suitable for certain
activities than others. The poṣadha schedule according to lunar phases is furthermore
linked with a belief in deities descending into the world on certain days of the cycle. This
belief is expressly stated even in later Abhidharma literature such as the *Abhidharma-
mahāvibhāṣā (T 1545) as follows:

問：何故唯說三十三天。答：以彼諸天數數雲集，論善惡事，故偏說之。謂
彼諸天於白黑月，每常八日，若十四日，若十五日，集善法堂，稱量世間善

112
Faxian 法顯 in his travelogue to India in the early fifth century records that “this
Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya was practiced by the earliest Great Assembly when the Buddha was in the world.
They transmitted that version at Jetavana-vihāra.” 是摩訶僧祇眾律，佛在世時最初大眾所行也。於祇洹
精舍傳其本. T 2085, 51: 864b19-21. One traditional account suggests that the initial schism between the
future Mahāsāṃghikas and Sthaviras was due to the latter wanting to add additional rules to the vinaya.
The extant recensions of the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya have the fewest number of precepts compared to those
of the Sthaviravāda branch. For details see Janice J. Nattier and Charles S. Prebish, “Mahāsāṃghika
Origins: The Beginnings of Buddhist Sectarianism,” History of Religions 16, no. 3 (1977): 268. See also
Clarke, “Vinayas,” 62, 64. This stated belief in auspicious days is therefore quite early.
113
The nakṣatra in which the Moon is lodged ought to be auspicious. It is uncertain what
‘assembly’ (zhong 眾) here refers to specifically.
114
T 1425, 22: 447a15-19.

46
 惡多少。復次，三十三天常共伺察造善惡者，見造善者，便擁護之。見造惡
者，即共嫌毀。是故偏說。
Question: Why only speak of thirty-three devas? Answer: The devas frequently
gather to debate good deeds and misdeeds, hence the partial discussion of them.
The devas during the waxing and waning moons on every eighth, fourteenth and
fifteenth always gather in the ‘Hall of Sudharmā’115 to weigh the volume of good
deeds and misdeeds in the world. Furthermore, the thirty-three devas constantly
together to inspect the makers of good deeds and misdeeds. Seeing one who has
done good deeds, they then protect them. Seeing one who has done misdeeds,
they then resent them. Hence the partial discussion of them.116

In this case, the auspiciousness of these days appears to be determined by these deities.
Although this is not astrological determinism, it is a system of hemerology based on lunar
phases, and moreover justified by a belief in deities connected to this cycle. This is
significant because it establishes a belief structure atop which both Indian and foreign
astrologies, as well as astral deities, could be regarded as viable and valid. The
Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya interestingly already describes the nakṣatra–s as protective deities
long before the emergence of Tantra, in which such deities play a more prominent role
(see discussion below). It is noteworthy that a major Śrāvakayāna text teaches this, as it
indicates that such a belief was already existent among some Buddhist communities.

東方有七星。常護世間，令得如願。一名吉利帝，二名路呵尼，三名僧陀
那，四名分婆𠲿，五名弗施，六名婆羅那，七名阿舍利。是名七星。在東方
常護世間。今當護汝，令得安隱，得利早還。一切星宿皆當護汝。…
In the eastern direction are seven stars. They constantly protect the world and let
[people] gain what they desire. The first is called Kṛttikā. The second is called
Rohiṇī. The third is called *Sengtuona. The fourth is called Punarvasū. The fifth
is called Puṣya. The sixth is called *Poluona. The seventh is called Aślesā. These
are called the seven stars. In the eastern direction they constantly protect the
world. Now they will protect you and let you attain ease and benefit, and early
return. All nakṣatra–s will protect you. … 117

115
Located in the city of Indra (善見城). See T 24, 01: 341b7-8.
116
T 1545, 27: 211c10-15.
117
T 1425, 22: 500c28-501a3. This appears to be an evocation of stellar and directional deities.
The ordering, transliteration and translation of the nakṣatra names are unusual. It commences with Kṛttikā,
which is the older starting point for listing the nakṣatra-s. In the first half of the first millennium it became
customary to list them from Aśvinī, a change which reflects axial precession. Faxian retrieved the
manuscript of this text in Pāṭaliputra 巴連弗邑, which likely means it reflects Magadha Buddhism and its
conventions and terms. See T 2085, 51: 864b16-19.

47
Other vinaya texts demonstrate a belief in astrology and call for it to be observed. For
example, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayabhaṅga permits a monk to dig in the earth under
certain conditions, one of which is that the astrological conjunctions are correct.118 Again,
here it assumes that the monk would first of all have studied astrology, and moreover that
he is expected to follow its conventions.

2.7. Astrology in Mahāyāna and Tantra

In contrast to Śrāvakayāna traditions, Mahāyāna literature fully endorses the

practice of astrology and calendrical science. The later Tantric texts subsequently
integrate both into their ideological and practical frameworks.
A prominent example of Mahāyāna literture, the Daśabhūmika-sūtra 十住經 (T
286), translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva, states that the bodhisattva engages in not
only worldly learning and medicine for the benefit of beings, but also practices divination
based on the Sun, Moon, five planets, twenty-eight nakṣatra–s and earthquakes,119 which
is not unlike what is described in the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna. Mahāyāna authors seem to
have recognized the value of astrological knowledge, which was losing its earlier
negative associations in India, as demonstrated by the remarks of Varāhamihira cited
above. This potentially placed someone with such knowledge in an advantageous
position, especially within an aristrocratic society in which such skills would have been
appreciated.
The study of calendrical science was part of a standard layman’s education at
least by the seventh century. The account of India by Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–664) confirms
this. He states that from the age of seven, youths gradually receive training in the great
treatises related to the five sciences, the second of which expressly includes calendrical
calculations.120 This would have also meant that educated monks presumably would have
almost all had some background training in calendrical science, which was likely closely
tied to astrological concerns.
During the seventh century, the emerging tradition of Buddhist Tantra integrated
astrological lore into their practice, most notably the twelve zodiac signs from Hellenistic
astrology. In addition, they adopted the Hellenistic custom of the seven-day week. This is
already clear in the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi (*Mahāvairocana-sūtra 大日經; T 848) from
the mid-seventh century, and its accompanying commentary in Chinese from the 720s by
Śubhakarasiṃha and Yixing. This will be discussed below in detail (4.2), but here it is

118
See Jonathan A. Silk, Managing Monks Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian
Buddhist Monasticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 82.
119
「是人利益眾生故，世間所有經書，伎藝文章，算數，名性經書，治病醫方 … 日，月，
五星，二十八宿，占相吉凶，地動夢書怪相 …」 T 286, 10: 512c1-8. See also the Avataṃsaka-sūtra
華嚴經 (T 278) translated by Buddhabhadra 佛馱跋陀羅 (359–429) in 422. T 278, 09: 556c1-10.
120
二工巧明，伎術機關，陰陽曆數. T 2087, 51: 876c18-19.

48
relevant to point out that the explanation of the maṇḍala mentions the deities of the
twenty-seven nakṣatra–s and twelve zodiac signs as the retinue of the Moon deity.121 The
commentary in defining an auspicious day also mentions the twelve zodiac signs along
the ecliptic, without providing any details. It also describes the seven-day week based on
planets presiding over each day, and each day is regarded as either positive or negative.
Again, it fails to provide details, and instead just states “as it is described in the Indian
calendar.”122 This is significant because it demonstrates how a highly educated Indian
monk, such as Śubhakarasiṃha, born and raised in the seventh century, when the
emergence of Tantra was underway,123 felt it necessary to mention two major features of
Hellenistic astrology (the zodiac signs and seven day week) that had become a major part
of the Buddhist tradition and Indian thinking in general.124 Śubhakarasiṃha was from
Magadha and once resided at Nālanda.125 His recorded explanations therefore likely
reflect Buddhism in Magadha in the late seventh century, which suggests a wide
appreciation for an astrological schedule incorporating what we would identify as
Hellenistic elements.126 That this additional system of foreign hemerology was integrated
into early Tantra alongside the ancient nakṣatra calendar suggests a firm belief in a kind
of calendrical determinism, in which a day’s auspicious or inauspicious quality is
determined by numerous astrological factors. This demonstrates that by the seventh
century, astrology was fully embraced and incorporated into the Buddhist traditions of
Magadha. We should, however, note that the emphasis on astrological considerations
appears to have been reconsidered later on in Tantric Buddhism. Christian K. Wedemeyer
points out that “the frequently-repeated injunctions in Mahāyoga Tantra materials against

121
西門之南。與日天相對，應置月天，乘白鵝車。於其左右置廿七宿，十二宮神等，以爲
眷屬. T 1736, 39: 634c12-14.
122
T 1796, 39: 618a8-17.
123
Wuxing 無行 (b. 630), a Chinese monk who studied in India, witnessed the rising popularity of
Mantrayāna there. Xuanzang returned to China in 645. He never mentions Mantrayāna in India. Wuxing
around the year 685, however, sent a letter to China, stating, “Recently the new Mantra teachings have
become revered in the country” 近者新有眞言教法擧國崇仰. This line is preserved in a Japanese work by
Annen 安然 (841–915?), the Shingon shūkyō jigi 眞言宗教時義. Wuxing’s original letter (南荊州沙門無
行在天竺國致於唐國書一卷) is not extant. It was brought to Japan by the Japanese monk Ennin 圓仁
(794–864) in 847. See T 2396, 75: 431a11 & T 2167, 55: 1086c21-22. Wuxing’s account indicates that
Mantrayāna, as a self-conscious movement, was only arising in India in the latter half of the seventh
century. See Yoritomi Motohiro 頼富本宏, “Mikkyō no kakuritsu” 密教の確立, in Indo mikkyō インド密
教, eds. Tachikawa Musashi 立川武蔵 and Yoritomi Motohiro (Tōkyō: Shunjūsha, 1999), 37.
124
Śubhakarasiṃha’s guru seems to have been the human author of the Mahāvairocana-sūtra. A
document detailing the history of the maṇḍala lineages from 834 quotes Śubhakarasiṃha as saying, “This
Dharma is from Vairocana Buddha. It was entrusted to Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva. After hundreds of years
Vajrapāṇi Bodhisattva entrusted it to ācārya Dharmagupta from Nālanda monastery in Central India. The
ācārya Dharmagupta then entrusted it to Tripiṭaka Śubhakarasiṃha of the Śākya clan from Central India.”
T 2081, 51: 786b5-9.
125
中印度摩伽陀國人，住王舍城那爛陀寺. T 2055, 50: 290a9-10.
126
It is uncertain if they at the time would have regarded it as Yavana or foreign.

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taking account of astrological phenomena such as lunar mansions (nakṣatra), lunar days
(tithi), and so on, in ritual practice would seem to be a response to earlier esoteric
scriptures that enjoin practitioners, on the contrary, to schedule their ritual activities in
accordance with such considerations.” For example, the Cittaviśuddhiprakaraṇa (verses
71-75) mentions technical features of astrology, but also suggests that one should not be
attached to these, which are “conceptually posited by the whole world.”127 The urge to
dismiss concerns for astrology perhaps points to widespread and deep interest in
astrology among contemporary Buddhist practitioners.
It is significant that the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya and
Mahāvairocana-sūtra all contain elements of astrology and/or astral magic, while,
moreover, all having connections to Magadha. This possibly indicates that Buddhism in
Magadha had a great appreciation for astrology. This stands in contrast to the
Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra, which appears to have been written by authors with a
Sarvāstivādin background, possibly therefore indicating that the acceptability of astrology
among Indian Buddhists might have to some extent differed along sectarian or regional
lines.
In light of the Indian Buddhist interest in astrology, it is unsurprising that
astrology was transmitted to China via Buddhism. Nevertheless, there were a number of
ethical and legal issues that existed in Chinese Buddhism with respect to astrology that
should be addressed.

2.8. Astrology in the Chinese Buddhist Context

Chinese Buddhist literature from at least the fifth century reproduced the general
injunctions against divination as found in Indian texts. The tradition of vinaya exegetes in
China also specifically understood astrology to be an inappropriate practice for a
śramaṇa. The early model of Chinese bodhisattva precepts also expressly forbid
divination.128 Nevertheless, as will be explored in the following chapters, these
prohibitions did not deter the popularization of astrology, nor its practice, by sangha
members.
An earlier influential sūtra in China, which specifically forbids a bhikṣu from
practicing astrology and calendrical science, is the Sūtra of the Buddha’s Bequeathed
Teachings 佛遺教經 (T 389). This sūtra, which was composed in China, summarizes the

127
Christian K. Wedemeyer, Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and
Transgression in the Indian Traditions (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), 241n64. Idem,
“Vajrayāna and its Doubles: A Critical Historiography, Exposition and Translation of the Tantric Works of
Āryadeva” (PhD diss., Columbia University, 1999), 371.
128
These precepts are extracted from the Brahmā Net Sūtra 梵網經 (T 1484), a scripture
composed in China. It became quite popular, providing the standard set of bodhisattva precepts for East
Asian Buddhism. Divination is listed among other wicked acts. Astrology is not specifically mentioned.
See T 1484, 24: 1007a23-27.

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Buddha’s teachings shortly before his death between the twin śāla trees in Kushinagar.
The translation is attributed to Kumārajīva (344–413). During the early Tang period,
emperor Taizong 太宗 (r. 626–649) in 639 decreed that all Buddhist clergy would have
to abide by the proscriptions of the sūtra.129 This is significant because the text expressly
forbids bhikṣus from several mundane arts. The relevant part of the sūtra reads as
follows:

持淨戒者，不得販賣貿易，安置田宅，畜養人民，奴婢，畜生，一切種殖及
諸財寶，皆當遠離，如避火坑。不得斬伐草木，墾土掘地，合和湯藥，占相
吉凶，仰觀星宿，推步盈虛，曆數算計，皆所不應。… 此則略說持戒之
相。
He who maintains the pure precepts may not engage in commerce and trade, the
establishment of fields and estate, nor may he keep common people, slaves and
livestock. They should all remain far away from all manner of planting and wealth
as they would avoid a pit of fire. They may not cut grass and trees, till the soil, dig
in the ground, mix medicines, divine fortunes, observe the stars, make
astronomical calculations, or make calendrical calculations. All such activities are
improper. ... This is a general explanation of the qualities of maintaining the
precepts.130

It was still understood during the early Tang within the tradition of vinaya exegesis that
practicing astrology was inappropriate for a bhikṣu. This tradition is best represented by
Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667) who, repeating relevant Indian literature, included divination
and astrology among wicked lifestyles, though the wording seems to suggest it is defined
as inappropriate only if it is for personal gain or profit, which would not preclude the
acceptability of practing divination for some beneficial purpose.

破正命者，謂非法乞求邪意活命，則有五種四種。言五邪者：一謂爲求利養
改常威儀詐現異相。二謂說己功德。三者高聲現威。四者說己所得利養激動
令施。五者爲求利故強占他吉凶。言四邪者：一方邪者。通使四方爲求衣
食。二仰邪者。謂上觀星象盈虛之相。三者下邪。即耕田種殖種種下業。四
者四維口食。習小小呪術以邀利活命。此智論解也。
Destroying right livelihood is inappropriate solicitation or by wicked intent
supporting oneself, of which there are five and four types. The five types of
wicked acts: I. For personal gain reforming standard observances and dishonestly
displaying strange signs. II. Speaking of one’s own merit. III. Loudly displaying
one’s power. IV. Speaking of one’s own obtainment of offerings to prompt

129
Stanley Weinstein, Buddhism Under the T’ang (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1987), 21.
130
T 389, 12: 1110c22-1111a2.

51
 giving. V. Divining the fortune of another for gain. The four types: I. Wickedness
at a distance: dispatching envoys to the four directions in pursuit of clothing and
food. II. Wickedness by looking upwards: surveying above features of star signs
and lunar cycles. III. Wickedness below: tilling fields, planting seeds and various
acts directed downwards. IV. The four ways to eat by way of the mouth: learning
various131 spells to invite profit to support oneself. This is the understanding of
the Mahāprājñāpāramitā-upadeśa.132

Despite these proscriptions against astrology, it must be understood that monastic

precepts were not strictly observed throughout the Tang dynasty, and it appears that many
rejected them in favor of a flexible system of bodhisattva precepts. Daoxuan himself
laments this development.

今時不知教者多自毀傷，云: 此戒律所禁止是聲聞之法，於我大乘棄同糞
土。猶如黃葉，木牛，木馬，誑止小兒，此之戒法亦復如是，誑汝聲聞子
也。
In present times many of those who do not know the teachings destroy
themselves. They say, “These vinaya proscriptions are a śrāvaka teaching. In our
Mahāyāna we toss it away just as if it were filth. Like yellow leaves, a wooden ox
or a wooden horse deceiving a little child, these precept teachings are also like
this. They deceive you śrāvaka!”133

Flexible interpretation of bodhisattva precepts was facilitated by the translation of the

Yogācārabhūmi 瑜伽師地論 (T 1579), translated by Xuanzang between 646–648. In this
work, a bodhisattva is permitted to commit even homicide if the situation warrants it.134
These passages were later cited by the Huayan patriarch Fazang 法藏 (643–712) in his
Fanwangjing pusa jieben shu 梵網經菩薩戒本疏 (T 1813; Commentary on the Brahmā
Net Sūtra Bodhisattva Precepts).135 This trend of neglecting, or even rejecting, bhikṣu
conventions while allowing, if not encouraging, Mahāyāna practitioners to act according
to conscience, rather than the strict letter of scripture, meant that minor conventions
against divination and astrology could be ignored. As we will explore below, monks in
the Tang dynasty in fact practiced astrology despite their monastic precepts prohibiting it.

131
Judging from the text in the Mahāprājñāpāramitā-upadeśa, xiao xiao 小小 is a scribal error for
zhong zhong 種種. T 1509, 25: 79c13.
132
T 1804, 40: 19a8-16. These four are adapted from the Mahāprājñāpāramitā-upadeśa. See T
1509, 25: 79c6-14.
133
T 1804, 40: 49b27-c1.
134
T 1579, 30: 517b8-17.
135
T 1813, 40: 611a1-2.

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 We should also note here that early Daoist proscriptions explicitly forbid the
study of astrology, which it seems was in emulation of the Buddhist model. The relevant
rule is explicitly stated as precept seventy-eight in The 180 Precepts Spoken by Lord Lao
老君說一百八十戒 (included in Taishang Laojun jinglü 太上老君經律; DZ 786): “You
should not read the stars or prognosticate the seasons 不得干知星文卜相天時.”136
Benjamin Penny notes that the “appearance in China of Buddhist precepts inspired
Daoists to write precepts of their own, and, in all probability at an early stage, the Daoist
clerisy also developed structures and practices that were based on Buddhist models.” It
was likely produced sometime during the sixth century.137 This Daoist prohibition should
be kept in mind later in this study as we examine Daoist astrological texts.

2.9. Conclusion

The foregoing discussion covered the general historical background of astrology

as it relates to Buddhism in India and China. It is clear that astrology was important in
both civilizations from early on. It was therefore natural for Buddhists to take an interest
in the art. Having outlined the essential background information for the following
chapters, which explain the introduction and development of Buddhist astrology in
China, we should note a few things.
First, astrology is an art found throughout Eurasian civilizations, and has been
perhaps the only art to transcend so many cultural and linguistic barriers, having been
incorporated into several major world religions. It is therefore unsurprising that Buddhists
also took an interest. The evidence indicates that many Buddhists, in fact, practiced
astrology, with such an interest actually increasing over the centuries, and eventually
being incorporated into Tantric practice.
There were views opposed to astrology within Buddhism. Although there are
proscriptions that forbid monks from practicing divination, at the same time in Buddhist
literature we find many examples of passive knowledge of astrology, in addition to
evidence of belief in astral deities. The reality, so far as present evidence suggests, is that
those who specifically opposed astrology in Indian Buddhist history constituted a
minority. It is clear that Buddhists generally believed in the efficacy of astrology. The
Chinese vinaya tradition in the Tang period also specifically forbids monks from
practicing astrology as a means of earning a livelihood, but the reality was that such rules
were effectively ignored, as we will see.

136
DZ 786, Wenwu Chubanshe edn., vol. 18, 220a7. For translation see Barbara Hendrischke and
Benjamin Penny, “The 180 Precepts Spoken by Lord Lao: A Translation and Textual Study,” Taoist
Resources 6, no. 2: 24.
137
Benjamin Penny, “Buddhism and Daoism in The 180 Precepts Spoken by Lord Lao,” Taoist
Resources 6, no. 2 (1996): 2–3.

53
 Chinese civilization from early on also developed its own systems of astrology
and observational astronomy. Throughout the first millennium, legal codes specifically
prohibited the private study of astronomy, which is an important point to bear in mind
throughout the following chapters as such prohibitions were, at least in theory, in effect
throughout the Tang dynasty. The technical astronomical knowledge required to practice
astrology is another aspect of astrology that must be kept in mind, especially as we
explore how the Chinese approached foreign astrology.

54