一切經音義 97.48

97.48

Milfoil and tortoise shell (蓍龜: [the first character is pronounced] shi + yi fan; the Cangjie pian says that shi (蓍) refers to divination stalks; Gu Yewang says that the stalks used for divination are forty-nine in number, counted out to make hexagrams; the Zhouyi says, 'To determine the auspicious and inauspicious under Heaven, nothing is greater than the milfoil and tortoise'; the Baihu tong says that the milfoil represents trustworthiness; the Shuowen jiezi says it is a kind of mugwort, living for a thousand years and bearing three hundred stalks, composed of 'grass' [艸] with qi [耆] phonetic; 揲 is pronounced shi + she fan; she is like counting; the Shuowen jiezi says it means inspecting and sorting).