Jīngshì Yìzhuàn 京氏易傳
Mr. Jīng’s Yì Transmission (Jīng Fáng’s foundational Yìjīng numerical-divinatory exposition) by 京房 (Jīng Fáng, c. 77–37 BCE, 漢, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
Jīng Fáng’s foundational systematic exposition of his xiàngshù (image-and-number) Yìjīng tradition, in 3 juàn. The transmitted recension organizes the 64 hexagrams under the bāgōng guà 八宮卦 (eight-palace hexagrams) framework Jīng Fáng established: each of the 8 trigrams generates a “palace” of 8 hexagrams (the trigram itself doubled as the palace-head, plus 7 successive-line-transformations descending from the head), giving 8 × 8 = 64 — the entire hexagram system reorganized by the bāgōng genealogical descent rather than by the standard Zhōuyì sequence.
The transmitted text’s table of contents:
Upper juàn: Qián-palace (8 hexagrams: Qián, Gòu, Dùn, Pǐ, Guān, Bō, Jìn, Dàyǒu); Zhèn-palace (Zhèn, Yù, Jiě, Héng, Shēng, Jǐng, Dàguò, Suí); Kǎn-palace (Kǎn, Jié, Tún, Jìjì, Gé, Fēng, Míngyí, Shī); Gèn-palace (Gèn, Bēn, Dàxù, Sǔn, Kuí, Lǚ, Zhōngfú, Jiàn).
Middle juàn: Kūn-palace (Kūn, Fù, Lín, Tài, Dàzhuàng, Guài, Xū, Bǐ); Xùn-palace (Xùn, Xiǎoxù, Jiārén, Yì, Wúwàng, Shìkè, Yí, Gǔ); Lí-palace (Lí, Lǚ, Dǐng, Wèijì, Méng, Huàn, Sòng, Tóngrén); Duì-palace (Duì, Kùn, Cuì, Xián, Jiǎn, Qiān, Xiǎoguò, Guīmèi).
The work’s substantive contributions:
(I) The bāgōng organization — a fundamentally different way of conceiving the hexagram-system, organizing them by phylogenetic descent from each of the 8 trigrams. This influenced subsequent Chinese Yì-classification.
(II) The fēifú doctrine — the doctrine that for each hexagram-line a concealed (fú) opposite-line is implicit beneath the manifest (fēi) line, with divinatory significance derived from both.
(III) The nàjiǎ doctrine — the systematic assignment of the 10 heavenly-trunks (and by extension the 12 earthly-branches and the 5 phases) to the 6 lines of each hexagram, providing a unified cosmological-numerological-divinatory framework.
(IV) The shìyìng (host-and-guest) line-pairing — for each hexagram, identifying which line is shì (the “host”) and which is yìng (the “guest”), with divinatory significance.
(V) The guàqì (hexagram-pneuma) assignment of the 64 hexagrams to specific calendar-positions, providing the foundation of late-imperial xiàngshù Yìxué.
The work is among the principal Hàn-period Yìjīng technical works to have survived in continuous transmission. It served as a foundational reference for the xiàngshù school throughout the Six-Dynasties / Tang / Sòng periods, and was extensively commented on by Yú Fān 虞翻 (Three-Kingdoms Wú), the Hànshàng yìzhuàn (Sòng), and others.
The Sìkù-recension is the SBCK 4-bùcóngkān edition, which preserves the standard transmitted text. The work is not in the Wényuāngé Sìkù; it is preserved in the Kanripo corpus from the SBCK edition.
For Jīng Fáng’s biography and intellectual position, see 京房. For the related Hàn-period divinatory work by Jīng Fáng’s teacher, see KR3g0029 Jiāoshì Yìlín by 焦延壽.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào would be in Jīngbù Yìlèi not Zǐbù shùshùlèi — the work is conventionally classified as a Yì-classics commentary rather than a divinatory work. The base edition here is SBCK rather than WYG; no Sìkù tíyào appears in the source file.
Translations and research
- Wilhelm, Hellmut. Heaven, Earth, and Man in the Book of Changes, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977.
- Smith, Kidder Jr. et al. Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990 (background on the xiàng-shù tradition).
- Smith, Richard J. The “I Ching”: A Biography, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.
- Nielsen, Bent. A Companion to Yi jing Numerology and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han 漢 (202 BCE-220 CE) to Song 宋 (960-1279 CE), London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. The standard reference on the Hàn-Sòng xiàng-shù tradition; treats Jīng Fáng extensively.