Gusanfen 古三墳

Gusanfen 古三墳 "Three old graves" is a book on divination related to the Confucian Classic Yijing 易經 "Book of Changes". The short text is traditionally said to have been written during the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) and was first commented on by the Jin-period 晉 (265-420) scholar Ruan Xian 阮咸 (3rd cent.). It was revised during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Tang Lin 唐琳. Tang divided the text into eight chapters (ze 則), identically to Liu Zhenweng's 劉辰翁 (1232-1297) version from the Song period 宋 (960-1279) but different to that of Mao Kun 茅坤 (1512—1601) with 12 chapters and that of Sun Kuang 孫礦 (1543-1613) with 10 chapters.

The expression "Three Graves (Mounds, Barrows)" is first mentioned in the Classic Zuozhuan 左傳 (Zhaogong 昭公 12) as one of four ancient texts (Sanfen 三墳 "Three Mounds", Wudian 五典 "Five Canons", Basuo 八索 "Eight Guidelines", and Jiuqiu 九丘 "Nine Hills") about which no details are known. Kong Anguo 孔安國 (c. 156-c. 74 BCE) held that the (original) Gusanfen was related to the Classic Shangshu 尚書 "Book of Documents" and not to the divination Classic Yijing "Book of Changes" and was thus a text on history and not on divination.

According to the bibliography Junzhai duzhi zhi 郡齋讀書志, the Gusanfen was discovered by Zhang Shangying 張商英 (1043-1121) as a popular text circulating in Biyang 比陽 (modern Biyang 泌阳, Henan), yet Chen Zhensun's 陳振孫 (1179-1262) annotated bibliography Zhizhai shulu jieti 直齋書錄解題 says that the text originated in Tangzhou 唐州 (modern Tanghe 唐河, Henan) and had been written down by Mao Jian 毛漸 (1036—1094). It seems that the text, known from transmissions, was produced during the Northern Song period. This forgery is a mixture of texts on divination and some interspersed statements about the history of the oldest times.

This text is divided into several chapters, whose meaning can barely be understood, namely, "Mountain Graves" (Shanfen 山墳, i.e., Lianshan 連山 divination), "Energy Graves" (Qifen 氣墳, i.e., Guicang 歸藏 divination), and "Form Graves" (Xingfen 形墳, i.e., Zhouyi 周易 divination). The text uses the Lianshan method of divination allegedly introduced by Fu Xi 伏義, the Guicang divination created by Shen Nong 神農, and also the commonly known system of the Qian and Kun 乾坤 diagrams handed down by the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di 黃帝). The Gusanfen lists the sixty-four hexagrams and comments on their use for each of these three systems.

The book is mixed with materials of apocryphal origin, such as the Hetu daixing ji 河圖代姓紀, Fu Xi's Huang ceci 皇策辭, Shen Nong's Zhengdian 政典, and the Yellow Emperor's 軒轅氏 Zhengdian, which are exceedingly unreliable. Apart from such obscure texts and the unsystematic application of divination methods, the text claims that Sui Ren 燧人 was a son of Youchao 有巢氏, the inventor of house building and that Fu Xi was Suiren's son — a genealogy which contradicts all other kinds of mythology.

Since the Song 宋 (960-1279) period, no scholar believed that the transmitted Gusanfen was a veritable ancient text. However, the integration of the Gusanfen into He Tang's 何鏜 (1507-1585) series Han-Wei congshu 漢魏叢書 contributed to the spread of the forged text. The Gusanfen is also found in the series Kuaige cangshu 快閣藏書, Manggu jieshu 蘉古介書，Zengding Han-Wei Liuchao biejie 增定漢魏六朝別解, Fanshi qishu 范氏奇書, Gujin yishi 古今逸史, Bishu nianyi zhong 祕書廿一種, Yingyin Yuan-Ming shanben congshu 景印元明善本叢書, Nian'erzi quanshu 廿二子全書 and Bao Hongye congshu 鮑紅葉叢書.