Tōngzhàn dàxiàng lì xīngjīng 通占大象曆星經
Scripture on the Stars, with the Descriptive Almanac of Their Basic Divinatory Symbols
Anonymous Táng treatise on judiciary astrology and uranography, two juan, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0287 / CT 287 = TC 287), 洞真部 眾術類. Better known to specialists simply as the Xīngjīng 星經 (“Star Scripture”).
About the work
A descriptive and illustrated catalogue of the stars and constellations of Chinese uranography, with entries cast mostly in oracular style — the work thus combines a star-atlas with a manual of judiciary astrology, justifying the elaborated title in the present Daozang edition. The two juan correspond to the catalogue’s first and (incomplete) second part: of the 283 known constellations, only 162 are present, distributed seven xiu 宿 to each direction. Entries 1 to 100 cover the seven eastern xiù and neighbouring constellations; 101 to 162 cover the northern xiù and neighbouring constellations. Entry 101 is preceded by an introduction on the northern xiù, confirming the original ordering. The lacunae are mostly attributable to the loss of the second part, which would have covered the western and southern quarters. The entries’ organization and oracular formulation often correspond closely to those of the Kāiyuán zhànjīng 開元占經 of the early eighth century (juan 60–63 and 65–70).
Prefaces
No preface in the source. The first sheet of the text is missing in the Daozang recension, and the work opens directly with the entries on the eastern xiù.
Abstract
Marc Kalinowski, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:336–337 (§2.A.2, Divination and Numerology), notes that the Star Scripture is mentioned for the first time in Tōngzhì·Yìwén lüè 通志藝文略 44.12b, in three juan; the larger juan-count is no reliable indication of the state of the work at the time, since the Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù 四庫全書總目 (110.25b–26a) describes a six-juan version in the Tiānyīgé 天一閣 collection that is in fact a simple reedition of the Daozang text. All extant editions, whatever their title or attribution, are copies corresponding to the Míng Daozang, which is therefore the oldest prototype. Sìbù zǒnglù tiānwén biān 四部總錄天文編 (“bǔbiān 補編” 49b) mentions a Yuán printed edition without describing or identifying it. The shared style and content with the Kāiyuán zhànjīng — the oracular formulas often identical, except that where the Kāiyuán zhànjīng presents itself as a compilation of supplementary materials, the Tōngzhàn dàxiàng lì xīngjīng almost always adduces its own authority — indicate that the work was written during the Táng (618–907). Internal criticism in the Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù entry corroborates this dating; Yáo Zhènzōng 姚振宗 in his Hàn shū yìwén zhì shíbǔ 漢書藝文志拾補 2:1502 argues that integration into the Daozang should date from the Táng or, at the latest, from the Sòng. The frontmatter brackets composition broadly to the Táng (618–907).
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Marc Kalinowski, “Tongzhan daxiang li xingjing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.2, 336–337. On Chinese uranography: Joseph Needham, “Astronomy,” in Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 3 (Cambridge 1959); Ho Peng Yoke, The Astronomical Chapters of the Chin Shu (Paris–The Hague 1966).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0299
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.2, 336–337.