Summary of the Jiaoshi Yilin
焦氏易林提要
Summary of the Jiaoshi Yilin
焦氏易林提要
Bibliographic Summary
提要
臣等謹案易林十六卷漢焦延壽撰延壽字贛梁人昭帝時由郡吏舉小黃令京房師之故漢書附見於房傳
Your servants respectfully note: the Yilin in sixteen volumes was composed by Jiao Yanshou of the Han dynasty. Yanshou, styled Gan, was a native of Liang. During the reign of Emperor Zhao, he was recommended from the ranks of commandery officials and appointed Magistrate of Xiaohuang. Jing Fang studied under him, which is why the History of Han includes his biography as an appendix to Jing Fang's.
焦延壽 (Jiao Yanshou): Jiao Yanshou (焦延壽, also known as Jiao Gan 焦贛) was a Han dynasty Yijing scholar active during the reign of Emperor Zhao (r. 87-74 BC). He was the teacher of Jing Fang and is traditionally credited as the author of the Yilin. Some scholars question whether the text was actually composed by him or by later hands.
The Jiaoshi Yilin (焦氏易林, 'Jiao's Forest of Changes') contains 4,096 four-line verses, one for each possible pairing of the 64 hexagrams (64 x 64 = 4,096). Each verse provides a divinatory omen for the transformation from one hexagram (the 'original') to another (the 'changed'). This structure is unique in Chinese divinatory literature.
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