At a glance
- Place among systems
- One of Taiyi, Liuren, Dunjia
- Great Circuit
- 36 years per palace; 288 per cycle
Definition and terminology
Taiyi or Taiyi/Great One has several philosophical and religious uses; this entry concerns the divinatory system. It combines signs such as Wenchang and Initial Strike with host/guest counts and temporal procedures. Earlier divine or stellar uses of the name do not establish the complete later algorithm, nor make it renamed Qimen or Liuren.
Structure and rules
A chosen epoch supplies accumulated counts; division and remainders locate signs under their respective cycles. Procedures may use nine palaces, eight excluding the center, or sixteen signs. Do not substitute Qimen numbering without checking. Host/guest counts and pressure or confinement terms describe internal conditions, not measured political indicators.
Worked reading
The Great Circuit passage gives thirty-six years per palace and 288 per cycle. A hypothetical accumulated count of 400 leaves 112 after one cycle, then three whole palace intervals and four years. Exact placement still needs its start and counting convention. This demonstrates arithmetic, not a real epoch value or political prediction.
Context and limits
The Siku account notes later additions and criticizes historical omen matching, demonstrating skepticism within the tradition. Taiyi is valuable for studying numerics and state imagination, but complexity alone is not scientific validity. Any claimed additional forecasting power requires independent evaluation rather than selectively matching historical stories.
References & further reading
Historical sources document ideas and rules of their time, not empirical proof of predictive accuracy. Source notes identify the nature and scope of each reference.
- 《太乙金镜式经》（四库全书本）Primary / tradition source
Public-domain Taiyi text; editorial account notes later additions and historical criticism.
- 《太乙金镜式经》卷五Primary / tradition source
Public-domain Great Circuit procedure with thirty-six years per palace and a 288-year cycle.