The Dragon-Shaking Classic

Your servants respectfully note: The Dragon-Shaking Classic, one fascicle; the Classic of Suspicious Dragons, one fascicle; and Burial Methods: Inverted Staff, one fascicle. Originally attributed to Yang Yunsong of the Tang dynasty. Yunsong does not appear in the standard histories. Only Chen Zhensun's Bibliographic Notes records his name; the Song History's Treatise on Arts merely calls him 'Yang Jiupin' (Yang Who Saves the Poor) without detailing his origins. Practitioners' tradition holds that Yunsong's given name was Yi, that he was from Ganzhou, that he served as Director of the Astral Platform for Geography, and that he rose to the rank of Gold-and-Purple Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. During the Guangming period, when Huang Chao violated the capital, he stole the jade-casket secret arts from the forbidden palace and fled, later traveling around Chuzhou. This baseless talk is hardly to be fully credited. Yet his books have been widely transmitted through the ages.

Mount Sumeru is the bone of heaven and earth, anchoring the center of heaven and earth as a colossal mass. Like a human back and neck-beam, it generates four limbs. The dragon rises grandly; the four limbs divide into four worlds — south, north, east, and west as four branches. To the northwest, Kongtong stretches tens of thousands of li. To the east, it enters the Three Han kingdoms, separated by remote darkness. Only the southern dragon enters China — its embryonic ancestor comes with singular distinction. The Yellow River's nine bends form the great intestine; the Yangtze River's winding course forms the bladder. Limbs divide and veins split, extending vertically and horizontally. Qi and blood interconnect; wherever they meet water, they halt. The large formations become capitals and imperial domains; the medium ones become prefectures and counties for lords and marquises. The lesser ones become remote towns and small markets — yet even there, wealth and nobility reside. The general rule: a dragon's course has its own authenticity. Star-peaks rising boldly are the dragon's body. In high mountains, one must recognize where star-peaks arise. On level ground, dragon-travel is identified differently. Peaks are named after stars, classified by resemblance — stellar light shines down and the mountain takes form. 'Dragon-spirit' — these two characters guide mountain-vein tracing: 'spirit' is the essence; 'dragon' is the substance.

Greedy Wolf rises abruptly — a peak born like a bamboo shoot. But if it leans as a lateral branch, the situation is different: a lateral branch with a tilted summit has a broken face. Pointed with feet, it is called 'riding the dragon.' Feet dragging horizontally form a sword-belt — civil and military merit are distinguished from this. Viewed horizontally, it is a summit; viewed laterally, it is a peak. This is Greedy Wolf emerging in battle formation as a dragon. When the lateral face forms a peak while the body goes straight — if it is not serving as an audience-peak, then it will not halt. Greedy Wolf has twelve varieties: pointed, round, level, and straight are the finest. Leaning, slanting, cliff-sided, toppling, broken, and hollow — fortune and misfortune differ according to each.

GIANT GATE: A dignified star with an upright and stately nature. As soon as it departs the ancestral peak, it rises high. Its star-peak differs from all others — neither pointed nor round, its body is square. At high points, it takes the form of a planted tablet, with no feet growing on either side. SALARY STAR: Its form is like a standing drum, with feet below like gourds. A small peak before the gourd-head — this is where Salary Star carries its salary. LITERARY CURVE: Its correct form is like a snake's path. When it turns licentious, it resembles a cast net. This star is supple and yielding with the highest feeling — its spirit-form is exactly like a living eel. UPRIGHT PURITY: Why is it called 'Solitary Fire'? This star achieves the tallest and grandest form. Atop the high mountain, rocks are craggy and rugged — umbrella-folds and plowshare-heads split like torn silk. Because its pointed flames soar to the celestial court, its nature is blazing — called the Fire Star. It creates dragon-towers and treasure-palaces; from it, Greedy Wolf, Giant Gate, and Military Crooked are born. MILITARY CROOKED: Its star-peak is like an overturned bell or cauldron. What distinguishes bell from cauldron? The bell is tall, the cauldron is squat — a tall one is Military Crooked, a squat one is Auxiliary. DESTRUCTIVE ARMY: It receives the transformations of all nine stars, producing peaks and images at each position. Mountain forms on earth, water in heaven — true qi below creates the verification of fortune and misfortune. LEFT AUXILIARY: Its correct form is like a wrapped turban — high in front, low behind, large and small balls. RIGHT DEPUTY: Originally it has no fixed form — its form follows the other eight stars, high or low. To recognize Right Deputy's correct form-place: where the eight stars break off, it hides and travels.