Guan Lu

Guan Lu
A Qing dynasty portrait of Guan Lu
Born	209
Died	256 (aged 47)
Names
Traditional Chinese	管輅
Simplified Chinese	管辂
Pinyin	Guǎn Lù
Wade–Giles	Kuan Lu
Courtesy name	Gongming (Chinese: 公明; pinyin: Gōngmíng; Wade–Giles: Kung-ming)

Guan Lu (209–256),courtesy name Gongming, was a diviner who lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period.

Guan Lu was the author of:

All of these books were lost during the Three Kingdoms wars and are now known only by name.

At one time Governor Wang Ji of Anping heard of the fame of Guan Lu and invited him to come on a visit, in which he went. It so happened that another guest of the Governor was the magistrate of Xindu, whose wife was currently suffering from severe types of headaches while his son from pains in the heart. Guan Lu was then asked to discover the reason behind this. He followed in casting lots and said that at the west corner of the main hall there were buried two corpses, one of a man who held a spear, the other of a man who had a bow and arrows. The wall was built across them. The spearman's master had a certain gash in his head, and so his head pained through this fact. The archer's master had stabbed him in the heart, and so his heart suffered anguish. They then followed in digging where Guan Lu indicated and, about eight spans down they ended up finding two coffins, one with a spear inside and the other with that of a strung bow and wooden arrows. At the time they were all very decayed. Guan Lu bade them remove the bones and bury them three miles outside the walls. Following this, the woman and the boy had no such thing occur to them at any other time.

Another example of Guan Lu's fame was when he saw a youth plowing a field one day. Guan Lu approached the young man and asked of his name, in which it was Zhao Yang. Zhao Yang was only 19 years old at the time and Guan Lu felt as if he felt an aura of death flowing around the man, in which he would be dead within three days. This is what Guan Lu told the boy: Tomorrow go into the forest on the south there, and underneath a lofty tree you will see two men seated on boulders playing chess. One of them will be dressed in white, and he will be facing the south. He is very evil looking. The other will be seated opposite, dressed in red. He is very handsome. They will be deeply absorbed in their game and will not notice who offers them food and wine, which you will humbly present on your knees. When they have eaten and drunk, you will prostrate yourself and with tears pray them to grant you length of days. You will gain an increased span of life, but, above all things, do not mention that I told you what to do.