This book presents for the first time a full translation and analysis of a newly discovered bamboo divination manual from the fourth century BCE China, called theStalk Divination Method(Shifa). It was used as an alternative to the better-knownZhouyi(popularly known as theI-Ching). TheShifamanual presents a competing method of interpreting the trigrams, the most basic elements of the distinctive sixty-four hexagrams in theZhouyi. This newly discovered method looks at the combination of four trigrams as a fluid, changeable pattern or unit reflective of different circumstances in an elite man's life. Unlike theZhouyi, this new manual provides case studies that explain how to read the trigram patterns for different topics. This method is unprecedented in early China and has left no trace in later Chinese divination traditions.Shifamust be understood then as a competing voice in the centuries before theZhouyibecame the hegemonic standard. The authors of this book have translated this new text and "cracked the code" of its logic. This new divination will change our understanding of Chinese divination and bring new light toZhouyistudies.