Liu Dun | |
|---|---|
| 劉惇 | |
| Military Adviser (軍師) | |
| Monarch | Sun Quan |
| Governor | Sun Fu |
| Personal details | |
| Occupation | Official |
| Courtesy name | Ziren (子仁) |
Liu Dun (fl. 190s – 220s),courtesy nameZiren, was an official serving under the warlordSun Quan during the lateEastern Han dynasty and earlyThree Kingdoms period of China, an expert at divination who was secretive in his arts.[1][2]
Liu Dun's ancestral home wasPingyuan (平原). During the chaos of theend of the Han dynasty, he fled across theYangzi to Luling (廬陵) where he was invited to the staff of its administratorSun Fu, cousin and general to the warlordSun Quan.[3] Liu Dun was skilled in divination with an expertise in astrology, he became famed in the south for it, predicting floods, droughts and uprisings.[4] Sun Fu was impressed by Liu Dun's predictions, using him to help find the hiding places of local rebels[2] and appointed him as his Military Advisor (軍師junshi), while among the army itself he became popularly known by the nicknameShenming (神明 "Divine Brilliance").[5]
Liu Dun later served under Sun Quan directly. In 204, Sun Quan was at Yuzhang, having remained there on his return from a campaign againstHuang Zu the year before[6] and became worried by a change in stars. Liu Dun warned there would be trouble in Danyang, a betrayal which was deemed to be foreseeing the assassination of Sun Quan's younger brotherSun Yi, the Administrator of Danyang (丹楊郡), by Bian Hong (邊鴻).[7]
Liu Dun was also the author of a now-lost tome of his art[2] in a hundred volumes, which was praised by the scholar Diao Xuan (刁玄). However, Liu Dun was also noted for being secretive of his arts and declining to share it with others, resulting in his work becoming increasingly difficult for subsequent generations to understand.[8]