Yùnqì yìlǎn 運氣易覽
The Climatic-Cycle Doctrine, Easily Surveyed by 汪機 (Wāng Jī, 1463–1539, 明) — author
About the work
The Yùnqì yìlǎn in three juan is a mid-Míng pedagogical primer on the wǔyùn liùqì doctrine by Wāng Jī 汪機 (hào Shíshān 石山) of Qímén 祁門 in Huīzhōu — the major Xīn’ān 新安-school physician and friend / pupil of 滑壽 Huá Shòu’s lineage. Wāng synthesizes 劉溫舒 Liú Wēnshū’s Rùshì yùnqì lùn’ào (Sòng) and the seven great treatises of the Sùwèn, with simplified explanatory diagrams and stepwise procedures for yùnqì calculation by jiǎzǐ year. The work is sometimes given the alternative title Yùnqì lùn yìlǎn 運氣論易覽.
Prefaces
The jicheng.tw source carries (KR3ea050_000.txt) the postface by Wāng Jī’s pupil and book-keeper Chén Quē 陳鐈 (signed “鐈”). Chén records that his master’s Yùnqì yìlǎn was the last of Wāng Jī’s works to be shown to him in manuscript; the prior works — Shíshān Sùwèn chāo (= KR3ea011’s base recension), Màijué kānwù 脈訣刊誤, Wàikē lǐlì 外科理例, Zhēnjiǔ wènduì 鍼灸問對, Sùwèn bǔzhù 素問補註, Běncǎo huìbiān 本草會編, Dòuzhěn lǐbiàn 痘疹理辯, and Shíshān yī’àn 石山醫案 — were all in print. Chén asked Wāng to print the Yùnqì yìlǎn also. Wāng replied — and this exchange is the document’s most striking moment — yùnqì zhě, Lú Biǎn fú jī, Chún Huá fú yì 運氣者，盧扁弗稽，淳華弗議 (“on the climatic-cycle doctrine, 秦越人 Biǎn Què did not investigate, and 華佗 Hú Tuó / Cāng Gōng did not discuss”) — i.e. even the legendary supreme physicians refrained from making yùnqì a public doctrine, because of its hazards in untrained hands. Chén Quē then argued that without yùnqì “what is the use of leafing through prescription books?” and that even 朱震亨 Zhū Dānxī had used yùnqì in his treatment of plagues — and so the master consented.
Abstract
The Yùnqì yìlǎn is one of the most accessible primers on yùnqì doctrine in the Míng commentarial tradition, sandwiched chronologically between 劉溫舒 Liú Wēnshū’s Rùshì yùnqì lùn’ào (1099 Sòng) and 張介賓 Zhāng Jièbīn’s KR3ea036 Lèijīng (1624 Míng). Wāng’s distinctive contributions are: (i) simplification of Liú Wēnshū’s twenty-nine figures to a smaller, more legible set; (ii) integration of the calculation rules with practical clinical guidance; (iii) the postface’s preserved philosophical caveat about the doctrinal hazards of yùnqì. The work was admitted to the Sìkù quánshū under Wāng’s name. See 汪機 for full biographical notes.
Translations and research
- Catherine Despeux, “The System of the Five Circulatory Phases and the Six Seasonal Influences”, in Hsu (ed.), Innovation in Chinese Medicine (Cambridge UP, 2001) — surveys the yùnqì literature.
- Mark Lewis, The Construction of Space in Early China (SUNY, 2006) — for the wider cosmological context of jiǎzǐ cyclology.