Shéndào dàbiān xiàngzōng huátiān wǔxīng 神道大編象宗華天五星
Great Compilation of the Way of Spirits — Doctrine of Images, Flourishing Heaven and the Five Planets by 周雲 (撰)
About the work
The Shéndào dàbiān is a Míng-period astro-astrological encyclopaedia in eleven juǎn attributed to 周雲 Zhōu Yún. The full title strings together four sub-titles indicating the constituents of the compilation: (a) Shéndào dàbiān 神道大編 “Great Compilation of the Way of Spirits” — the umbrella title, claiming the work as a comprehensive treatment of the “way of spirits”, a classical term for the system of celestial and divine signs; (b) Xiàngzōng 象宗 “Doctrine of Images” — the section on the symbolic interpretation of asterisms and constellations; (c) Huátiān 華天 “Flourishing Heaven” — the section on the visible sky as a single integrated diagram; (d) Wǔxīng 五星 “The Five Planets” — the section on planetary motion and astrological influence.
Abstract
The work is one of a number of expanded late-Míng astrological encyclopaedias that swell the modest received corpus of SòngYuán xīngzhàn 星占 literature with materials drawn from the Kāiyuán zhànjīng 開元占經 (KR3i0027), the Lǐngtái mìyuàn 靈臺秘苑, the Bùtiān gē tradition (KR3fa005), and the Xīngshì jiǎozhèng 星氏校證 literature, packaged for use by court astrologers and by élite amateur readers. The Sìkù tíyào discusses the work as a representative of this sub-genre and notes that the eleven-juǎn division reflects a structured topical scheme rather than the simple aggregate of older treatises.
The composition window is the Míng dynasty (1368–1644). No narrower bracket is recoverable from the catalog. The work was not included in the Sìkù quánshū proper but is preserved in the Sìkù wèishōu shū jíkān 四庫未收書輯刊 and in modern science-history reprint series (the Zhōngguó kēxué jìshù diǎnjí tōnghuì, hence the catalog refid KX03-07-009).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Ho Peng Yoke 何丙郁. 1969. The Astronomical Chapters of the Chin Shu with Amendments, Full Translation and Annotations. Paris/The Hague: Mouton. — the standard reference for the Hàn-Jìn xīng-guān / zhàn tradition that this Míng compilation presupposes.
- Sun Xiaochun 孫小淳 and Jacob Kistemaker. 1997. The Chinese Sky During the Han. Leiden: Brill.
- Pan Nai 潘鼐. 1989. Zhōngguó héngxīng guāncè shǐ 中國恆星觀測史. Shanghai. — cites the Míng compilations.