Dili daquan 地理大全

Dili daquan 地理大全

Dili daquan 地理大全 "Great collection of books on geomancy" is a series specialized on books on geomancy (fengshui 風水, kanyu 堪輿). It was compiled during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Li Guomu 李國木, courtesy name Qiaobo 喬伯, who hailed from Hanyang 漢陽 (modern Wuhan, Hubei).

The series is divided into two collections (ji 集), the first with a length of 30 juan, and the second with a length of 25. Books in the first collection mainly deal with mountains, while those in the second collection concentrate on the vital energies embedded in the landscape. The texts included in the Dili daquan are the most important ancient writings on the science of geomancy in ancient China. They are of a different textual quality but nevertheless constitute a basic corpus on this highly important technique of building houses, cities and tombs in the right spot and environment.

Li Guomu added a large number of illustrations that visually support the ancient texts. He was, on the other hand, not very critical towards statements about the authors of the texts. Concerning the Yuchijing 玉尺經, for instance, he followed the ancient statements that it was written by Liu Bingzhong 劉秉忠 (1216-1274), but adds that Liu was only the compiler, and not the author. Authorship of this text was traditionally attributed to the Daoist master Chen Tuan 陳摶 (871-989). The commentary to this text was certainly not written by Liu Ji 劉基 (1311-1375), but by Li Guomu himself.

The Dili daquan was studied by the compilers of the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫提要, but is not included in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. It has nevertheless survived in popular editions from the Qing period 清 (1644-1911).

Kanyu wu zhong 堪輿五種

Two less known series of geomantic texts are the collection Kanyu wu zhong 堪輿五種, compiled by the Ming-period scholar Cheng Wenge 程文格 and printed in 1605, as well as the collection Kanyu shiyi zhong shu 堪輿十一種書, which was compiled by the Ming-period collector Li Sizong 李思總 and printed in 1622. The contents of these two series are presented here particularly because they are not included in the series catalogue Zhongguo congshu zonglu 中國叢書綜錄.

Kanyu shiyi zhong shu 堪輿十一種書