Guan Lu 管輅

Guan Lu, courtesy name Gongming, was a man of Pingyuan. His appearance was coarse and ugly, he lacked dignified bearing and he was fond of wine. When eating, drinking and joking he did not choose his company, so many people liked him but did not respect him. Records, Wei 29 §56

When his father was an official at Licao, three brothers of Guo En, a commoner of Licao, all suffered from lameness and had Guan Lu divine with milfoil. Guan Lu said that in their family tomb there was the ghost of a woman, either their father's elder brother's wife or his younger brother's wife, and that long ago, in a time of famine, someone who coveted her few measures of rice had pushed her into a well and smashed her head with a large stone; Guo En wept and confessed the crime. When Liu Fenglin of Guangping asked in the first month about his gravely ill wife, Guan Lu said her life would last until noon on the xinmao day of the 8th month; the wife recovered, but her illness flared up again in the autumn and it turned out just as he had said. Records, Wei 29 §57–58

When he visited Wang Ji, Administrator of Anping, he correctly told of three strange events in Wang Ji's official residence: a newborn baby had walked into the stove and died, a large snake had held a writing brush in its mouth, and a crow had fought with a swallow. He said these were merely the mischief of goblins arising because the residence was old, and that there was nothing to fear. In the end no harm came of it. When the women of the household of the Prefect of Xindu were frightened and fell ill one after another, he said that at the west end of the north hall were two dead men holding a spear and a bow, with their heads inside the wall and their feet outside; when the bones were dug up and moved, everyone recovered. Records, Wei 29 §59–61

When Wang Jing of Qinghe, who had resigned his post and returned home, asked about a strange occurrence, Guan Lu correctly told how at night a light like a swallow or sparrow had entered his bosom, and said it was a sign of promotion; soon afterwards Wang Jing became Administrator of Jiangxia. When a whirlwind rose in the courtyard of Wang Hongzhi, Agricultural Commandant of Lieren, Guan Lu said a father would weep for his son, and the next day an official from Jiaodong came and reported that Wang Hongzhi's son had died. When a cock pheasant flew in during the 3rd month, he said Wang Hongzhi would be transferred in the 5th month, and Wang Hongzhi did indeed become Administrator of Bohai. Records, Wei 29 §62–63 · 66–67

When Zhuge Yuan, Prefect of Guantao, was transferred to be Administrator of Xinxing, at the farewell banquet Guan Lu correctly guessed the swallow's eggs, wasps' nest and spider placed in vessels, astonishing the whole gathering. He also guessed the seal pouch and the feathers of a mountain pheasant that Liu Bin, Administrator of Pingyuan, had placed in a vessel, and named one by one the thirteen kinds of objects that Xu Jilong, Prefect of Qinghe, had put into a large chest, except that he called a comb a fine-toothed comb. Records, Wei 29 §68–69 · 79–80

At this time in Guan Lu's neighbouring villages, no one stole from anyone even though the outer gates were left unbarred. Hua Biao, Administrator of Qinghe, summoned him as Literary Clerk, and when Zhao Kongyao of Anping recommended him to Pei Hui, Inspector of Ji Province, Pei Hui made him Literary Attendant Officer, was greatly pleased with him and befriended him. He was moved to the post of Attendant Officer for Julu, then became Headquarters Attendant Officer and Attendant Officer with Separate Carriage. When he first answered the province's summons and was travelling with his younger brother Jiru, he said that if they saw three wildcats in the old city they would attain eminence, and they did indeed see three wildcats on the spot. In the 9th year of Zhengshi (248) he was recommended as Flourishing Talent. Records, Wei 29 §71–73

On the 28th day of the 12th month of that year, He Yan, Master of Writing for Personnel, invited Guan Lu, and Deng Yang was also present. When He Yan asked whether he would reach the Three Excellencies and what it meant that he dreamed of dozens of bluebottle flies settling on his nose, Guan Lu said that his position was now as weighty as the mountains and his power like thunder, but those who cherished his virtue were few and those who feared his might were many; only by taking from the many to add to the few, and not treading where propriety did not allow, could he settle the matter of the Three Excellencies and drive away the flies. When Deng Yang called this 'an old scholar's commonplace talk', Guan Lu retorted that the old scholar sees those who will not live, and the one who talks commonplaces sees those who will no longer talk. Records, Wei 29 §73–77

When Guan Lu related these words to his maternal uncle, the uncle rebuked him for going too far, and Guan Lu replied that he had been talking with dead men, so what was there to fear? On the morning of New Year's Day a great wind blew from the northwest and dust covered the sky, and when, a little over ten days later, news came that He Yan and Deng Yang had both been executed, his uncle was won over. Earlier, Zhong Yu, Administrator of Wei Commandery, when Guan Lu divined his birthday without the slightest error, said he would leave the day of his death to Heaven and no longer had him divine; it is said that only after Cao Shuang and others were executed did Zhong Yu grasp the answer Guan Lu had given when asked whether the realm would be at peace. Records, Wei 29 §77–78

Following the army westward, when he passed below the tomb of Guanqiu Jian, Guan Lu leaned against a tree and chanted mournfully that the four perils were complete, so the clan would be destroyed, and that it would not take more than two years; in the end it happened as he said. During a drought, when Administrator Ni of Qinghe asked when it would rain, he said this very evening, and though there was no sign of it all day, rain poured down around the first watch. Records, Wei 29 §81–82

In the 2nd year of Zhengyuan (255), when his younger brother Guan Chen, citing the generous treatment he received from the General-in-Chief, asked whether he could hope for wealth and honour, Guan Lu said that Heaven had given him talent and intelligence but not long life, and that around the age of forty-seven or forty-eight he would not live to see his daughter married or his son take a wife. He said that his lack of a living bone on the forehead and of guarding essence in the eyes were all signs that he would not live long, and that of the more than a hundred people he had foreseen would die, he had almost never been wrong. In the 8th month of that year he became Assistant to the Minister Steward, and in the 2nd month of the following year he died at the age of forty-eight. Records, Wei 29 §83–84

In his assessment, Chen Shou called Hua Tuo's medicine and diagnosis, Du Kui's music, Zhu Jianping's physiognomy, Zhou Xuan's dream interpretation and Guan Lu's divination all 'profound and singular skills, extraordinary and unrivalled arts', and wrote that he preserved these records following the intent of Sima Qian, who wrote the biographies of Bian Que, Cang Gong and the diviners to broaden knowledge of strange matters. Records, Wei 29 §86