Daomu Biji: Wu Xie’s Private Notes - Chapter 34: Other Related Information
001 I Have The Fish
(A group photo of ten people with the words “I have the fish” written on it is attached below)
How many mysteries are hidden in this photo?
002 Qimen Dunjia
The diagram of the eight gates is below. The eight gates are: Rest (Xiumen, “休门”), Life (Shengmen, “生门”), Injury (Shangmen, “伤门”), Failure (Dumen, “杜门”), Pleasure (Jǐngmen, “景门”), Death (Simen, “死门”), Fear (Jīngmen, “惊门”), and Prosperity (Kaimen, “开门”).
The legends of Qimen Dunjia:
What is “Qimen Dunjia”? It is composed of three concepts: “Qi” (奇), “Men” (门), and “Dunjia” (遁甲). (1)
“Qi” includes three things: Yi (乙), Bing (丙) and Ding (丁). (2)
“Men” includes eight things: Xiu (休), Sheng (生) , Shang (伤), Du (杜) , Jǐng (景), Si (死), Jīng (惊), and Kai (开). (3)
“Dun” means “hiding”.
“Jia” refers to the six Jia (六甲): Jiazi (甲子), Jiaxu (甲戌), Jiashen (甲申), Jiawu (甲午), Jiachen (甲辰), and Jiayin (甲寅). (4)
“Dunjia” is the most noble among the ten Heavenly Stems and has hidden meanings. It is hidden under the “Six Yi” (六仪), which include: Wu (戊), Ji (己), Geng (庚), Xin (辛), Ren (壬), and Gui (癸). (5)
The principles of Dunjia are that Jiazi hides under Wu (甲子戊), Jiaxu hides under Ji (甲戌己), Jiashen hides under Geng (甲申庚) , Jiawu hides under Xin (甲午辛), Jiachen hides under Ren (甲辰壬), and Jiayin hides under Gui (甲寅癸).
They also come with nine planets: Tianpeng (天蓬), Tianren (天任), Tianchong (天冲), Tianfu (天辅), Tianying (天英), Tianrui (天芮), Tianzhu (天柱), Tianxin (天心), Tianqin (天禽). (6)
The divination of Qimen Dunjia is mainly divided into three parts: Heaven plate, Gate plate, and Earth plate. They symbolize three styles.
The nine palaces in the Heaven plate have the nine planets.
The eight palaces of the middle plate (the second circle according to the picture) have eight gates.
The eight palaces of the Earth plate represent eight positions that can’t be moved.
At the same time, each palace in the Heaven and Earth plate is assigned a specific Qi (Yi, Bing, Ding) and Six Yi (Wu, Ji, Gen, Xin, Ren, Xing, Ren).
As a result, people can use the Six Yi, Three Qi, and Nine Planets to predict things like relationships, traits, the future, or even choose auspicious times and places according to the specific time and date.
This constitutes a unique category in Chinese mystical culture — Qimen Dunjia.
003
Human-faced snakes (with related illustrations)
Looking at these things, I highly suspect that humans are descendants of snakes.
There is a strange phenomenon in ancient Chinese history where a large number of records about gods and spirits are related to snakes.
In the “Classics of Mountains and Seas”, of the 454 figures that are recorded in the text, 138 are in the shape of a snake. Some of the gods and spirits mentioned who have snake-like bodies include Fuxi, Nüwa, the Yellow Emperor, and even the Queen of the West.
(I was particularly surprised that the Queen of the West had a human head and a snake body in the original records, and was depicted the same as Fuxi and Nüwa.)
According to current general speculations, this image of human-faced snakes was derived from tribal totems. It was possible that the Queen of the West changed from having a human head and a snake’s body to having a human head and a leopard’s body because the attributes in her tribe had changed.
In other words, maybe the Queen of the West was originally a member of Fuxi’s tribe, but something happened and she started her own tribe in the west where she reigned.
Whatever the case, we won’t be able to know what exactly happened.
Human-faced snakes also represent the male genitalia, especially a very large one. Sure enough, the bigger, the better. It would be better to have two such big ones. You could even tie them in a bow.
004 She Country
An ancient country called “She Country” was located between Shaanxi and Hubei in ancient times. But this country suddenly disappeared two thousand years ago.
The history of this country appeared sporadically from time to time in many ancient bamboo slips. It seemed like there was a period of sudden prosperity in She Country during the early Western Zhou Dynasty, but then the country suddenly disappeared in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Within ten or twenty years, the country in the primitive jungle seemed to quickly vanish.
They existed in many myths and legends, and there was also a large number of records in the “Classics of Mountains and Seas”. The “snake country” mentioned in the text that was outside of Sichuan should be about this country.
“She” is a homonym for snakes. This nation treated human-faced snakes as gods, so many decorations had that kind of pattern on them.
Most people who study the history of this country now believe that people in “She Country” were descendants of the mysterious “Huaxu Ancient Country”. This dates back to when it was a matrilineal society. This country used human-faced snakes as its totem mainly because the “Huaxu Ancient Country” had the legend of the “human-faced, snake-bodied Fuxi”.
Since these materials are all from ancient books and unearthed documents, the question of whether this country existed or not has always been a controversy among academic circles.
005 Murals Of The Heavenly Palace
(Six sketches of the murals are attached with paragraphs of brief explanations.) (7)
006 Murals Of The Undersea Tomb
Some of the pictures that A Ning had taken in the undersea tomb are shown.
(Eight sketches of the murals are attached with eight paragraphs of brief explanations.) (8)
Captured Wang Zanghai
The giant crater
*****
TN Notes:
(1) “Qi” means “mysterious or strange” but can also mean “valuable or holy” in this context. “Men” means “gate”. “Dun” means “hidden or escaped”. Jia is the 1st of the 10 Heavenly Stems and means “bud— the sign of growth”. It’s element is “wood yang”. The Heavenly Stems are a Chinese system of ordinals that first appeared during the Shang dynasty as the names of the ten days of the week. Wiki link. A very thorough breakdown of Qimen Dunjia is here
(2) “Yi” is the 2nd Heavenly Stem and means “sprout – the spread of growth, bursting forth from Earth”. Its element is “wood yin”. “Bing” is the 3rd Heavenly Stem and means something along the lines of “concentrated growth like fire in a house”. Its element is “fire yang”. “Ding” is the 4th Heavenly Stem and means “maturity, solidity, Heaven’s kiss”. It’s element is “fire yin”.
(3) Basically repeating the 8 gates from above: Rest, Life, Injury, Failure, Pleasure, Death, Fear, and Prosperity.
(4) The “Six Jia” refers to how ancient Chinese used to calculate the time according to the rule of heaven and earth. They regarded sixty years as one cycle and Jia should appear six times in that 1 cycle:
Jiazi (甲子)— 1st year of the 60-year cycle where each year is numbered with 1 of the 10 Heavenly Stems.
Jiaxu (甲戌)— 11th year A11 of the 60-year cycle, e.g. 1994 or 2054
Jiashen (甲申)—21st year A9 of the 60-year cycle, e.g. 2004 or 2064
Jiawu (甲午)— 31st year A7 of the 60-year cycle, e.g. 1954 or 2014
Jiachen (甲辰)— 41st year A5 of the 60-year cycle, e.g. 1964 or 2024
Jiayin (甲寅)— 51st year A3 of the 60-year cycle, e.g. 1974 or 2034
(5) Yi means rituals, so “Six Yi” means there are “six rituals”.
Wu (戊)—5th Heavenly Stem and means “flourishing and nurturing”. Its element is “earthy yang”
Ji (己)—6th Heavenly Stem and means “full bloom”. Its element is “earthy yin”
Geng (庚)— 7th Heavenly Stem and means “harvesting and abundance. Fullness leading to changes”. Its element is “metal yang”
Xin (辛)— 8th Heavenly Stem and means “dead heading, reformation”. Its element is “metal yin”
Ren (壬)—9th Heavenly Stem and means “sustenance, supporting life”. Its element is “water yang”
Gui (癸)—10th Heavenly Stem and means “regenerating roots and preparation for spring”. Its element is “water yin”
(6) These are also referred to as stars.
Tianpeng (天蓬)— has the water yang element. Considered an inauspicious star because it indicates theft/loss
Tianren (天任)— earth element. Sometimes called the “disease star”. People should receive teachings or admonishment, make friends, stay home, abstain from military deployment, postpone marriage, refrain from quarrels, long distance travel, new construction, etc.
Tianchong (天冲)— wood element, yang. Considered an auspicious star. Indicates charity and donations, doing kind deeds, or agricultural activities. Good for military action, battles, or legal issues, but inauspicious for everything else.
Tianfu (天辅)— wood element, yang. Considered a very auspicious star. Auspicious for travel, business, marriage, construction, especially study progress, increasing social status, cultural and educational development.
Tianying (天英)— earth element, yang. Considered auspicious for all things
Tianrui (天芮)— metal element, yin, relates to leadership capability, scheming, medical treatment, and military deployment. It’s an auspicious star.
Tianzhu (天柱)— metal element, yin, indicates death, strange occurrence, mysterious matters, damage. It is an inauspicious star.
Tianxin (天心)— earth element, yang, an auspicious star. It’s good for beneficence and studying, settling disputes, and legal enforcement. Also good for business, marriages, and social status.
Tianqin (天禽)— fire element, yin, indicates outrageous behavior, heated situations, fire and blood. It is a neutral star. It’s good for planning, visiting high officials, but it is unlucky for wealth, social status improvement, marriage or travel.
(7) I’m sorry, I couldn’t find the paragraphs to translate. Just enjoy the pictures.
(8) Same as #7, just enjoy the pics lol