Xīngxué dàchéng 星學大成
Great Synthesis of Astrological Studies by 萬民英 (Wàn Mínyīng / Yùwú shānrén, jìnshì 1550, 明, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
Wàn Mínyīng’s monumental 30-juan Wǔxīng (Five-Planet) astrological compendium — the principal late-Míng systematic reference for the planetary-astrological fate-divination tradition.
Structure (per the 提要):
- Xīngyào túlì 星曜圖例 — star-and-luminary diagrams and examples
- Guānxīng jiéyào, gōngdù zhǔyòng, shíèr wèi lùn 觀星節要, 宮度主用, 十二位論 — observation essentials, palace-degree applications, 12-position discourse
- Zhūjiā xiànlì, Qíntáng xūshí 諸家限例, 琴堂虛實 — various schools’ boundary-examples, Qíntáng solid-and-empty
- Yēlǜ mìjué 耶律秘訣 — Yēlǜ secret formulas (i.e., from the KR3g0039 tradition)
- Xiānchéng wàngdǒu, sānchén tōngzài 仙城望斗, 三辰通載 — Immortal-City Wàngdǒu, three-luminaries comprehensive record
- Zǒngguī Zǐfǔ zhēncáng xīngjīng zázhù 總龜紫府珍藏星經雜著 — Master-Tortoise / Purple-Palace treasured Xīngjīng miscellany
- Bìyù zhēnjīng, DèngShǐ wōniù 碧玉真經, 鄧史𩊥拗 — Jade Zhēnjīng, DèngShǐ system
- Guāngyù yuānwēi xīngyào géjú 光矞淵微星曜格局 — Glory-and-Bright deep-subtlety star-luminary configuration
The work is comprehensive: “on the star-school’s ancient methods, [it] omits-not even the smallest [element], can be called greatly-complete”. The 30 juàn cover essentially the entire repertoire of late-imperial Chinese planetary astrology.
The 提要 articulates a balanced evaluation:
(a) The work suffers from one substantive doctrinal error — the Qiáomiào 喬廟 doctrine (“fire-and-earth two stars [are] reciprocal-and-completing”). The 提要 argues this contradicts the basic wǔxíng generation-restraint principle: where the work assigns qiáomiào (auspicious) status to fire-and-earth combinations, the actual wǔxíng analysis would distinguish Mid-土 in autumn-decline-wood (mutually-disrupting in winter-fire-water-realm) from Vigorous-火 in trickle-stream (mutually-helpful in spring-土-wood-realm). The 提要 takes the work’s failure to make these distinctions as “all desiring-strange and seeking-verification but not computing the wǔxíng generation-restraint reasons”.
(b) But the work’s substantive value transcends the doctrinal-error: it is the Wǔxīng dàquán (Five-Star Comprehensive Compendium) of the Míng-and-late-imperial period, gathering many xīngmìng technical books otherwise lost. Together with KR3g0042 Sānmìng tōnghuì (Wàn Mínyīng’s parallel Zǐpíngshù compendium), the two works constitute the foundational late-imperial reference set for Chinese fate-divination.
The 提要 also corrects a Míng Yìwén zhì attribution error: that catalog and Huáng Yúzhī’s Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù attribute the present work to Lù Wèi 陸位 — but the work’s preface and editorial principles confirm Wàn Mínyīng as the actual author.
For the parallel Zǐpíngshù compendium by the same author, see KR3g0042 Sānmìng tōnghuì. For Wàn Mínyīng’s biography, see 萬民英.
Tiyao
[Full text in source file. Dated Qiánlóng 46 (1781), fifth month.]