The Complete Yuan Hai Zi Ping in Plain Language

The theories of fate in Yuan Hai's Zi Ping art originally came from Li Xuzhong, a scholar of the Tang dynasty. Based on a person's year, month, day, and hour of birth, he used the theories of the Five Elements' generation and overcoming, flourishing and declining, and control and transformation to predict the fortunes and misfortunes of a person's life. His predictions proved astonishingly accurate. After Master Li's death, Han Yu of Changli wrote an epitaph in his memory. Later, the scholar Lü Cai revised his work, but no one wrote on the subject again after that.

In the Song dynasty, Xu Sheng focused on the Heavenly Stem of a person's birth date and divided his discussion into six areas. His analysis was subtle and profound, and he compiled it into the book Yuan Hai. He brought together the views of many Confucian scholars, and the book has been passed down to this day, widely held in high regard. The works of later scholars often echoed its origins, principles, and structure. Several hundred years have now passed, and errors have crept into printed editions. Few students are able to truly understand their meaning.

Today, Mr. Tang Jinchi has invited someone well versed in this art to combine and organize the two related books, add mnemonic verses, and correct errors. Alas, who could make such revisions without a deep understanding of this art? The revised work has been printed and published so that future students will not lose the models left by the ancients. When the book was complete, Mr. Tang showed it to me, and I have written these words as a preface.

Reprinted on an auspicious day in the tenth lunar month of the seventh year of the Chongzhen reign