Fuji (planchette writing)

Fuji is a method of "planchette writing; spirit writing; automatic writing" using either a sieve or a stick to write Chinese characters in sand or incense ashes.

Beginning around the Ming Dynasty , the ''fuji'' method and written characters changed from 扶箕 "support the sieve" to 扶乩 "support the planchette" . Sieve divination or coscinomancy is culturally widespread, and Chao compares practices in ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, and India.

Chinese ''fuji'' spirit-writing involves some specialized vocabulary. ''Luan'' 鸞 "a mythical phoenix-like bird" is used in synonyms such as ''fuluan'' 扶鸞 "support the phoenix," ''feiluan'' 飛鸞 "flying phoenix," and ''jiangluan'' 降鸞 "descending phoenix". The ''fuji'' process involves specialized participants. The two people who hold the sieve or stylus are called ''jishou'' 乩手 "planchette hands", only one of whom is ostensibly possessed by a 神 "spirit; god" or 仙 "immortal; transcendent". Their assistants include a ''pingsha'' 平沙 "level sand" who smoothes out the ''shapan'' 沙盤 "sand table", a ''dujizhe'' 讀乩者 "planchette reader" who interprets the characters, and a ''chaojizhe'' 抄乩者 "planchette copyist" who records them. ''Jiwen'' 乩文 "planchette writing" is a general reference to texts produced through Chinese ''fuji'' spirit-writing.

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 紫姑 "Purple Maiden", the Spirit of the Latrine. ''Fuji'' divination flourished during the Ming Dynasty, and the Jiajing Emperor built a special ''jitan'' 乩壇 "planchette altar" in the Forbidden City . Although the practice of ''fuji'' planchette-writing was prohibited by the Qing Dynasty , it has continued and is currently practiced at Daoist temples in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia as well as folk shrines in China.

''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'' 梓潼帝君化書 "Book of Transformations of the Divine Lord of Zitong" and the ''Taiyi jinhua zongzhi'' 太一金華宗旨 "Great One’s Secret of the Golden Flower" .