Língchéng jīngyì 靈城精義
Essential Meanings of the Spirit-City (Míng-period geomantic synthesis pseudepigraphically attributed to the Southern-Tang) pseudepigraphically attributed to 何溥 (Hé Pǔ, zì Lìngtōng 令通, allegedly Southern-Tang); actually a Míng-period composition
About the work
A 2-juan geomantic synthesis pseudepigraphically attributed to “Hé Pǔ of the Southern Tang” but, per the Sìkù 提要’s textual-critical analysis, in fact a Míng-period composition. The work is the most thorough surviving systematic geomantic-synthesis from the late-imperial period.
Structure (per the 提要):
- Upper juàn: xíngqì (form-and-pneuma) — focused on mountain-and-river configurations, dragon-finding, and acupoint-determination (the xíngshì school’s methodology)
- Lower juàn: lǐqì (principle-and-pneuma) — focused on compass-orientation, hexagram-correspondence, generation-and-restraint cycles, and auspicious-or-inauspicious determination (the lǐqì school’s methodology)
The combined xíngshì + lǐqì organization makes the work a comprehensive reference for both major late-imperial geomantic schools.
The Sìkù 提要 establishes the work’s actual provenance with characteristic care:
(a) The work is not recorded in any pre-Míng catalog; its first appearance is in late-Míng sources.
(b) The work’s content presupposes the yuányùn 元運 (epoch-cycle) doctrine — assigning each 60-year jiǎzǐ cycle to one of the Hétú nine palaces, with 3 jiǎzǐ = 1 yuán and 9 jiǎzǐ = 1 yùn (540 years). The 提要 traces this doctrine to “the early-Míng Níngbō Mù-jiǎng-monk” (the early-Míng Buddhist Mù-jiǎng-monk of Níngbō); the doctrine cannot have existed in the Five-Dynasties / Southern-Tang period to which the work is attributed.
(c) The work’s commentary is attributed to Liú Jī 劉基 (Liú Bówēn, 1311-1375), the famous early-Míng geomancer-statesman; the cited bibliography includes texts (the Rùshì gē 入式歌 etc.) that did not exist before the mid-Míng. Both attributions are spurious.
The 提要 nonetheless commends the work on substantive grounds: “[its] sayings — ‘great earth has no shape, look at the pneuma’s outline; small earth has no configuration, look at the spirit-essence’ / ‘water completes the form, the mountain stops above; mountain completes the form, the water stops within’ / ‘the dragon is the earth-pneuma, the water is the heaven-pneuma’ — and similar phrases, within that [geomantic] method are rather close to principle. The annotated text also expounds-and-clarifies-the-conditions-and-pathways, surpassing other [geomantic] books’ shallow-and-vulgar [character] — still [is the work of] one who understands the literary meaning”. The Sìkù-recension preserves the work despite its acknowledged pseudepigraphic origin.
For the broader geomantic tradition, see KR3g0019 Zháijīng, KR3g0020 Zàngshū, KR3g0021 Hànlóng jīng, KR3g0022 Qīngnáng xù, KR3g0023 Qīngnáng àoyǔ, KR3g0024 Tiānyù jīng.
Tiyao
[Full text in source file. Dated Qiánlóng 46 (1781), tenth month.]