Tai Yi Shen Shu is a form of divination from China. It is also one of the Three Styles () of divination, the others being
Da Liu Ren
Da Liu Ren is a form of Chinese calendrical astrology dating from the later Warring States period. It is also a member of the Three Styles () of divination, along with Qi Men Dun Jia () and Taiyi ().
Li Yang describes Da Liu Ren as the highe ...
and
Qi Men Dun Jia.
Tai Yi Shen Shu is used to predict macroscopic events like wars or the meaning of supernovae. One form of Tai Yi Shen Shu has been popularized over the centuries to predict personal fortunes.
Genghis Khan, emperor of China, referred to Tai Yi at one point to decide whether or not his planned invasion of Japan would succeed. When the Tai Yi count indicated that invasion would prove unsuccessful, Khan decided not to invade Japan that year. Numerous similar examples abound in classical Chinese literature, especially among the dynastic histories.
The methodology is quite similar to the other arts with a rotating heavenly plate and fixed earthly plate. While the art makes use of the 8 trigrams as well as the 64 hexagrams as a foundation, analysis is conducted from the Tai Yi Cosmic Board and the array of symbols found thereon, with special reference to the position of symbols in specific palaces. Important symbols include the Calculator, the Scholar, Tai Yi and Tai Yi, for example.
A number of spirits rotate around the sixteen palaces of the Tai Yi cosmic board, of which there are 72 cosmic boards for the Yin Dun period of each year, and 72 cosmic boards for the Yang Dun period of the year. The spirits land in different palaces with each configuration of the cosmic board. Each cosmic board contains a number of "counts" or numbers – the Host Count and the Guest Count taking primary importance over the Fixed Count.
See also
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Chinese astrology
Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. Chinese astrology came to flourish during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD).
Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the ...
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Chinese astronomy
Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categorized in the twe ...
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Chinese classical texts
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Classical Chinese literature
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucia ...
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Da Liu Ren
Da Liu Ren is a form of Chinese calendrical astrology dating from the later Warring States period. It is also a member of the Three Styles () of divination, along with Qi Men Dun Jia () and Taiyi ().
Li Yang describes Da Liu Ren as the highe ...
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Feng shui
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Hexagrams
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I Ching'' &
I Ching divination
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Jiaobei
Moon blocks or ''jiaobei'' (also written as ''jiao bei'' etc. variants; ), also ''poe'' (from ; as used in the term " ''poe'' divination"), are wooden divination tools originating from China, which are used in pairs and thrown to seek divine gu ...
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Poe divination
Poe divination (from the 'poe' (桮) in the Hokkien , Min Dong BUC: buăk-bŭi, "cast moon blocks", also called as "bwa bwei", Mandarin ) is a traditional Chinese divination method, in which the divination seeker throws or drops two little w ...
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Kau Cim
''Kau Chim'' or ''Kau Cim'', also known as Lottery poetry (), is a fortune telling practice that originated in China in which the querent (person asking the question) requests answers from a sacred oracle lot. The practice is often performed in ...
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Qi Men Dun Jia
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Shaobing Song''
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Siku Quanshu
*Tai Yi Shen Shu
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Tie Ban Shen Shu
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Tui bei tu''
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Tung Shing
Further reading
*{{cite book , title=Chinese mathematical astrology: reaching out to the stars , author=Ho Peng Yoke , date=2013 , orig-year=2003 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=9780415863100 , chapter=The Taiyi System in the Three Cosmic Boards: Method of the Taiyi Deity
Chinese books of divination
Chinese culture
Divination
Taoist divination