Ditian Sui Elaborated: Preface

The study of destiny (mingxue) is abstruse and difficult to fathom. The study of the Book of Changes was broadly divided into three schools: first Lianshan, second Zhoucang, third Zhouyi. The Zhouyi itself has two approaches: one emphasizing numerology (shu), the other emphasizing principle (li). These two have long disputed each other, creating endless controversy. Throughout history, few have been those who truly understood both. For those ancients who sought the numerological aspect of the Changes, this book offers a glimpse. The Lianshan Yi and Zhoucang Yi have been lost. The popular arts of destiny-reading in fact originated from these two lost traditions. Although this book is classified as a work on destiny studies, its language is concise yet its meaning profound -- it embodies the essence of Change-numerology. This book has been held in the highest esteem by practitioners of destiny studies. Tradition attributes its composition to Jing Tu, with annotations by Liu Chengyi. During the Daoguang reign, the scholar Ren Tieqiao spent decades researching it, adding elaborated annotations section by section, and verifying the theory with actual horoscope cases of his contemporaries. People of his time eagerly adopted it as their standard reference for exploring the yin and yang of heaven and earth, calculating the Five Phases and Eight Characters, and divining fortunes and misfortunes. Regrettably, it was lost for over a century and could not circulate. Only in the Republican era did a hand-copied manuscript from the Chen family of Haining, Zhejiang come to light, restoring the text. This digital edition is based on that manuscript. It is recorded and preserved here, awaiting the worthy reader. 'Setting out to roam the ends of the earth, / What business have skirts and hairpins to detain me? / Heedless of white snow and bright moon, / Let me ride forth to the gates of heaven.' When one does not seek union yet encounters it, does not seek life yet encounters it -- these are all cases of having feeling yet turning to no-feeling, like the ornamental hairpin of fortune that lingers and will not depart. A Ming poet wrote: 'Sitting idly by a small window reading the Zhouyi, / I did not notice how far spring had gone.' The meaning in principles, mild in words yet sweet in substance, seeming clear yet elusive, reaching into infinite distance -- this is what it speaks of. Thus is this preface written.