Introduction to 《五行精纪》: A Song-Dynasty Comprehensive Compendium and a Key Bridge to the Ancient Zi Ping Method
This article introduces the author, composition background, transmission history, core content, and divination functions of 《五行精纪》, and explains why it is an important classic for understanding Tang–Song metaphysics and the later Zi Ping method.
Contents · 3
Wuxing Jingji (《五行精纪》), attributed to the Song writer Liao Zhong, compiles fate-calculation material involving stems and branches, nayin, the five phases and shensha. It should not be treated as a textbook identical to modern Bazi teaching.
Edition and extent
One digitized witness is the Qing manuscript from the Qu family’s Tianyuzhai collection in Haiyu. Its title specifies thirty-four juan, but juan one through thirty-three survive. The work’s stated extent and this copy’s surviving extent are different facts; the manuscript is not a complete Song printed edition. Witness and first juan.
Contents and reading
The first juan begins with the sexagenary cycle and nayin. Juan seven and eight discuss the five phases, including their qualities, quantity and changing conditions. Juan seven, juan eight.
Identify the base text and distinguish inherited quotations from compilation. A named ancient authority does not establish authorship of every quoted idea; recorded cases are not statistically validated prediction data.
2026-10-24: removed unchecked biography and exact composition dates and replaced generic Siku availability claims with a specific surviving manuscript. A full collation of all witnesses remains outside this revision.
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