What is the origin of traditional physiognomy?

Physiognomy has been an academic discipline used for fortune-telling since ancient times. That is, to explore a person's fortune by observing his face, body, palmistry, etc. Physiognomy has a history of thousands of years. It was already very popular in ancient my country, and it is even more widely used today. So what is the origin of traditional physiognomy? Below are some related articles compiled by the editor, let’s take a look!

What is the origin of traditional physiognomy?

What is the origin of traditional physiognomy?

Physiognomy belongs to the category of image and number in the Book of Changes. It is a traditional knowledge of the Han nationality that determines and judges a person's nature and destiny by observing and analyzing his physical appearance, mental temperament, behavior and demeanor.

Physiognomy has a long history, but not many people know how the study of physiognomy came about and how it developed to its current state.

According to research, there are three major origins:

a. Empirical studies handed down from ancient times, including sociology, anthropology, psychology and aesthetics.

b. The art of ancient witch doctors, witch doctor is a concept. It is believed that the meridians of the human body are also the lifeline of the human body. They not only control the health of the human body, but also show the destiny of the human body. In other words, meridians not only affect people's health, but also their psychology. Therefore, the various meridians of the human body are expressed on the facial features, from which the health and mental condition of the body can be inferred. The so-called black forehead and uneven color are all the techniques of observation, auscultation, questioning and palpation used by later Chinese medicine practitioners.

c. According to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, the Three Elements of Qi, and the manifestations on the five senses, this process actually has no real origin. It was the later Feng Shui masters who combined the principles of other fortune-telling methods with their experience and forced them into physiognomy.

Ancient physiognomy originated from the folks. The common people’s demands and concepts about life resulted in extremely crude methods of physiognomy. A man with broad shoulders, long arms and legs, and a strong body who can support a family is a good look. A good appearance is for a woman to have a thick body, round buttocks, be plump, and be good at giving birth and carrying on the family line.

Later, physiognomy became more and more popular among the people, and more areas of research were focused on. It then flowed into the wealthy group, and from the wealthy into the gentry and nobles, and finally into the palace. Through this process, physiognomy methods from different social classes were integrated into it, and finally flourished.

What is the origin of the hints of traditional physiognomy?

The forced combination of appearance and ethical concepts. We know how the reality and the secular concepts that arise from it influence people's thoughts when people are unable to fight against reality or are helpless about the real environment. Filial piety, integrity and chastity are one of the main contents of feudal ethics. The standards are filial piety to parents and brothers and women's loyalty. Strangely, this ethical concept is linked to appearance. That is, one can tell whether a person is filial, honest and chaste from his appearance. In other words, the moral values ​​formed by education and environment are transferred to the appearance given by parents. This can only be said to be a mysterious transformation. According to physiognomy, those who are filial will be blessed, while those who are unfilial will suffer misfortune. According to legend, there was a filial son named Liu Xingzhi. His mother had suffered from eye disease for several years. He did his best to seek medical treatment everywhere. Later, he heard that Gou Longsheng from Daci Temple was good at physiognomy and divination, so he sent him to ask about his mother's illness.

Gou Longsheng looked at his face and said: Red and yellow light shines through the tops of the Five Mountains. It is an image of clouds clearing and the sun rising. Kindness will welcome people and turn misfortune into good fortune. He also told him that his mother's illness would be cured without taking any medicine. Xingzhi was very confused. When he got home, he saw his mother had fallen off the bed. He quickly helped her up and found that her eyes were clear. As for a woman's chastity, there is a special category of physiognomy for female physiognomy, which discusses it in great detail. It is nothing more than judging good and evil, distinguishing the noble and the humble, and identifying rumors and gossips from one's appearance. For example, a woman with a square face, high cheekbones, uneven teeth, a thick waist, moles on the face, a rough voice, talking to herself, speaking in a mixed language, covering her face when seeing people, biting her chin and fingers, and sitting restlessly are all signs of a cheap and whore woman. Once a woman is pointed out by a physiognomist as being whoreish, she will not be able to make herself clear even if she has a thousand mouths, and she does not know what is wrong, and can only sigh that she has bad luck. (Feng Shui www.azg168.cn)

What is the origin of traditional physiognomy?

The earliest record of physiognomy can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period in the 7th century BC. According to relevant literature records, physiognomy had become popular among the upper class at the latest in the Spring and Autumn Period.

At that time, many nobles used physiognomy as a basis for selecting family heirs. The physiognomy at this time was obviously not the same as when it first occurred. This shows that in the era recorded in Zuo Zhuan, physiognomy was not only widespread, but also had formed a certain system of physiognomy.

There are many important face analysis tools and terms, the most important of which are the five senses, three stops and twelve palaces. During the Zhou Dynasty, there was an official named Shufu, who was the first to use these principles of physiognomy to read people's fortunes and became an official astrologer. During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a man named Gu Bu Ziqing in the State of Jin, and during the Warring States Period, there was a man named Tang Ju in the State of Liang. Both were relatively famous fortune tellers and astrologers.

Because they were beneficial to the ruling class and were supported and valued by successive generations in power, a large number of professional fortune tellers and astrologers later emerged among the people. After the Han Dynasty, some people compiled the techniques and experiences related to physiognomy into books, such as "Ma Yi Xiangfa" and "Liu Zhuang Xiangfa", and physiognomy became more and more popular.

In traditional physiognomy, the earliest books include "Ma Yi Xiangfa", followed by "Liuzhuang Xiangfa", "Shen Xiang Tie Guan Dao", "Shen Xiang Quan Bian", "Shui Jing Ji", "Xiangli Hengzhen", "Jin Jiao Jian", "Ren Xiangxue", "Bingjian", "Gong Du Xiangfa" and so on. Nowadays, there are countless books on physiognomy.

The above is all about the origin of traditional physiognomy. For more physiognomy information, please follow the Dream Interpreter website.