Qi-Men-Dun-Jia and Tai-yi

“Qi-Men-Dun-Jia” (奇門遁甲) and “Tai-yi” (太乙), together with “Liu-ren” (六壬), were considered as the three most secret metaphysics developed throughout “Qin” (秦) Dynasty. They are called “Gu-san-shi” (古三式, or the Three Ancient “Shi”).

“Shi” (式) is equivalent to “Shi” (栻), which is a wooden device symbolizing “Round Heaven and Square Earth” (天圓地方) for the purpose of casting, and is believed that it is the origin of modern Feng-shui “Luo-pan” (羅盤, or compass). By secret it means the emperors believed they are too powerful in terms of divination, and afraid that someone will use them to overthrow their kingdoms. As such, it is forbidden for the civilian to practice these three metaphysics.

All of them are having tight connection with calendrical calculation, Tai-yi even had its own calendar. It is of course a derivative from the official calendar which published by the emperor. Among them, both QMDJ and Tai-yi are also the direct applications of Sexagenary cycle and Luo-shu.

We are not going to talk about QMDJ, or Liu-ren, or Tai-yi as either one of them are too complicated to discuss in just one blog. I would rather break them down in easily understood topics and introduce them in multiple blogs. So, better stay tuned and particularly when you are ready.

Before I start other new topics, please feel free to comment if you have any question. Will try to answer as details as I can.

Applications of the Sexagenary Cycle: #1

Other than just recording time, there are numbers of applications in Chinese metaphysics in which the adoption of the Sexagenary Cycle into “Luo-shu” plays an important role. I will be talking a few of these applications in the coming blogs.

Application #1: Finding the dominating Flying Star of the Year

As shown in the diagram of my last blog, the first Jia-zi (甲子) starts in grid #1 of the magic square, so the dominating Flying Star is obviously 1. Applying the sequential order, we will have the Flying Star Chart for the Year Jia-zi as shown. As we move on to the second year, Yi-chou (乙丑) is located in grid #9 of the magic square, so the dominating Flying Star will then be 9. Again, applying the sequential order, we will have the Flying Star Chart for the Year Yi-zhou.

As seen in the diagrams, the dominating Flying Star 1 of the first year of Jia-zi is placed in the centre grid. As we move on to the next year, the Flying Star 1 will then be moved to grid #6, during which the centre grid is replaced by the Flying Star 9. Since the year follows Jia-zi is the year of Yi-chou, therefore Yi-chou is in grid #9 when Jia-zi is in grid #1. That’s why in my last blog, the diagram demonstrates how the Sexagenary Cycle works with “Luo-shu” in reverse order.

It looks pretty simple and easy, right?

Let’s imagine that we are about to finish the first Sexagenary Cycle, which will be ending with the year of Gui-hai (癸亥). The question now is: Where does the year of Jia-zi (甲子) of the next Sexagenary Cycle start? Which also leads to the next question: Where does the year of Jia-zi (甲子) of the Sexagenary Cycle which follow, and so forth, start?

And above all, the most important question is: Which cycle we are in today? What is the dominating Flying Stars for this year and the next?

Sexagenary Cycle and the “Book from River Luo”

Now we know the Sexagenary Cycle is being used by the Chinese astronomers to record time. We are also told that the Sexagenary Cycle is also related to Chinese metaphysics in every aspect. The question is: how do they relate?

To answer this question, let us first take a look at the “Book from River Luo”, or in short “Luo-shu” (洛書). It was said that a turtle, carrying the Book or having the Book marked on its shell, arose from River Luo (洛水) when the Emperor candidate Shun (舜), the successor of Emperor Yao (堯), was about to harness the River Luo back in around BCE2250. The purpose of this fairy tales is to legitimate the divination power of this Book mostly by ancient metaphysicists. It is in fact a 3-by-3 magic square in today’s modern mathematics.

Because the number 5 is at the centre of the square, the interesting things are: (1) the sum of numbers in every horizontal lines, vertical lines, and even diagonal lines are all equalled to 15, and that (2) the sum of any opposite pairs are equalled to 10. With 5 at the centre, it has to be so.

The Chinese metaphysicists believe this magic square exists with a reason, and no matter what the reason is, the order of these numbers in the square must be a prophecy of how human beings in the Earth should communicate with the supreme beings in the Heaven. As much, the Sexagenary Cycle is brought into the magic square, and thereafter becomes the basic of Chinese metaphysics including Tai-yi (太乙), Qi-Men-Dun-Jia (奇門遁甲), and even Feng-shui, etc.
If we use directions to represent the order of the numbers, start with 1, we will have two different presentations, where C stands for the Centre:
In sequential order: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 or N-SW-E-SE-C-NW-W-NE-S
In reverse order: 1-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 or N-S-NE-W-NE-C-SE-E-SW

In order to make the Sexagenary Cycle and the “Luo-shu” works together, Chinese metaphysicists fill the magic square in reverse order with the Sexagenary Cycle as shown.

Why is this so significant? What is its applications? I’d rather let you think about it first.