Fuji (planchette writing)


Fuji is a method of "planchette writing", or "spirit writing", that uses a suspended sieve or tray to guide a stick which writes Chinese characters in sand or incense ashes.

Development

Beginning around the Ming Dynasty, the fuji method and written characters changed from 扶箕 "support the sieve" to 扶乩 "support the planchette".

Vocabulary

Chinese fuji spirit-writing involves some specialized vocabulary. Luan "a mythical phoenix-like bird" is used in synonyms such as fuluan, feiluan. The fuji process involves specialized participants. The two people who hold the sieve or stylus are called jishou, only one of whom is ostensibly possessed by a shen or xian. Their assistants include a pingsha who smooths out the shapan, a dujizhe who interprets the characters, and a chaojizhe who records them. Jiwen is a general reference to texts produced through Chinese fuji spirit-writing.

Folk history

Spirit-writing has a long history in Chinese folk religion, and is first recorded during the Liu Song Dynasty. Fuji planchette-writing became popular during the Song Dynasty, when authors like Shen Kuo and Su Shi associated its origins with summoning Zigu, the Spirit of the Latrine. Fuji divination flourished during the Ming Dynasty, and the Jiajing Emperor built a special jitan in the Forbidden City. Although the practice of fuji planchette-writing was prohibited by the Qing Dynasty Legal Code, it has continued and is currently practiced at Daoist temples in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia as well as folk shrines in China.

Uses

Fuji is particularly associated with the Quanzhen School of Daoism. The Daozang "Daoist Canon" contains several scriptures supposedly written through spirit-writing. Two examples are the Zitong dijun huashu.