Língbǎo liùdīng mìfǎ 靈寶六丁祕法
Língbǎo Secret Method of the Six Dīng [Stars]
About the work
An anonymous single-juǎn Daoist manual on the Liùdīng 六丁 — the six dīng female-stem spirits (dīngyǒu 丁酉, dīngwèi 丁未, dīngsì 丁巳, dīngmǎo 丁卯, dīngchǒu 丁丑, dīnghài 丁亥) — and their companion Liùjiǎ 六甲 male-stem spirits, who together command the celestial duodenary cycle. The work belongs to a wider Tang-Sòng tradition of Liùdīng / Liùjiǎ divination-and-summoning manuals.
Abstract
The opening, in the voice of the Yellow Emperor (黃帝), narrates the foundation legend: when the yīqì 一炁 was divided, yin and yang took their seats and the five phases were configured; then the liùjiǎ and liùdīng spirits were generated as celestial bureaucrats. The Yellow Emperor, in his battle with Chīyóu 蚩尤, was unable to prevail; he purified himself and prayed reverently to the Shàngxuán 上玄 (the Most-High Mystery); the Jiǔtiān xuánnǚ 九天玄女 (Mystery-Woman of the Nine Heavens) descended and bestowed the zhēnjué 真訣 — the true formula — for repelling calamities. The Yellow Emperor cultivated the rite, prevailed over Chīyóu, and concealed the talismans and registers among the míngshān 名山 (sacred mountains) for posterity.
The text proceeds to give the names of the Liùjiǎ and Liùdīng spirit-women, with their secret incantations and bodily forms. The taboos are strict: “if any defile or violate them, calamity will reach the nine ancestors; they will be made eternally to labour for the Three Officers; their bodies will be maimed and their forms destroyed”. The work was used by ancient famous generals (gǔzhě míngjiàng 古者名將) to foresee victory and defeat; this hagiographic framework recurs in the Liùrén 六壬 divinatory and Dùnjiǎ 遁甲 traditions.
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 770–771, John Lagerwey) place the text in the SòngYuán esoteric-divinatory milieu.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Vol. 2: 770–771 (DZ 581, John Lagerwey).
- Kalinowski, Marc. Cosmologie et divination dans la Chine ancienne. Paris: EFEO, 1991 — for the liù-rén / liù-jiǎ / dùn-jiǎ divinatory background.