Tàiyī jīnjìng shìjīng 太乙金鏡式經
Supreme-Origin Golden-Mirror Form-Classic by 王希明 (Wáng Xīmíng, fl. 720-741, 唐, fèngchì zhuàn 奉敕撰)
About the work
A 10-juan systematic exposition of the Tàiyī 太乙 cosmological-divinatory tradition, composed by Wáng Xīmíng under Tang Xuánzōng’s imperial commission. The work is the principal Tang-period reference for the Tàiyī system — one of the Sānshì 三式 (Three-Form) divination systems of late-imperial Chinese practice (Tàiyī, Liùrén, Dùnjiǎ). Recorded in the Xīn Tángshū Yìwén zhì.
The Sìkù-recension contains some post-Wáng-Xīmíng additions: “the Tàiyī accumulated-years computations include those reaching to Sòng Jǐngyòu 1 (1034) — so later people have added [to] them; not entirely [Wáng] Xīmíng’s old [composition]“. The base text is Tang-period; the supplementary computations are Sòng-period additions.
The 提要 traces the Tàiyī tradition’s deep history:
- Shǐjì Rìzhě lièzhuàn lists 7 divinatory schools, with Tàiyī jiā 太乙家 as one
- Shǐjì Tiānguān shū identifies Zhōnggōng Tiānjí xīng (Central-Palace Heaven-Pole star)‘s brightest star as Tàiyī’s constant residence
- Fēngshàn shū records that the HànBōrén Móu Jì 繆忌 memorialized for sacrifice to Tàiyī, naming “the noblest of heaven-spirits”
- Zhèng Xuán: Tàiyī = Běichén (Pole-Star) deity-name
- Other identifications: Tàiyī = wood-spirit; Qū Yuán’s Jiǔgē names Dōnghuáng Tàiyī (Eastern-Imperial Supreme-Unity)
- By the Warring States, Tàiyī was an established cosmological deity-name
- Hànzhì Wǔxíngjiā lists Tàiyī yīnyáng in 23 juàn (lost) — establishing the Tàiyī as a divinatory school by the Hàn
The methodology (per the 提要):
The work uses a 9-palace (jiǔgōng) layout reorganized by yòuxuán (right-rotation) starting from QiánXùn as 1-9 — Wáng Xīmíng explains: “Tàiyī knows the future; therefore the Sage uses one-position-shift to display the meaning of pre-knowing”. Other commentators offer alternative explanations (Guō Pú: “the earth has a southeast deficiency, so [Tàiyī] shifts 9 to fill it”; Lè Chǎn: “Tàiyī’s principle: the latter king obtains it to govern all-under-heaven, therefore [Tàiyī] shifts 1 to attach to Qián”) — all of which the 提要 considers “forced-and-attached”.
The work’s substantive structure: Tàijí generates two-eyes (èrmù); two-eyes generate four-supports (sìfǔ) — analogous to the Yìjīng’s liǎngyí and sìxiàng. With Jìshén added to Tàiyī, eight-generals (bājiàng) result — analogous to the eight-trigrams. Year-month-day-hour serve as warp; bājiàng as weft; sānjī wǔfú shíjīng (three-bases / five-fortunes / ten-essences) as longitudes — analogous to the calendar.
The methodology applies through: bājiàng analysis of yǎnpò qiújí guāngé (covering / forcing / imprisoning / striking / closing / blocking) for inner-and-outer disasters and fortunes; sìshén suǒlín fēnyě (four-spirits’ arrival in field-allotments) for water-droughts / war / famine / pestilence; sānjī wǔfú dàxiǎo yóu èrxiàn yìguà dàyùn (three-bases, five-fortunes, large-and-small wandering two-boundaries, Yìjīng-hexagram great-cycles) for ancient-and-present order-and-disorder.
The Sìkù preserves the work as the canonical Tang-period Tàiyī reference. Through the work, the Tàiyī system was established as one of the Sānshì (Three-Form) divination systems of late-imperial Chinese practice, persisting through the YuánMíngQīng down to the modern era.
For the parallel Sānshì divination works, see KR3g0031 Liùrén dàquán (six-rén) and KR3g0048 Dùnjiǎ yǎnyì. For Wáng Xīmíng’s biography, see 王希明.
Tiyao
[Full text in source file. Dated Qiánlóng 46 (1781).]