Mantic arts
Shùshù · Mantic arts; techniques and calculations
A historical umbrella for diverse methods that organize number, image, time, direction and signs for inference, selection or divination; it is not one unified technique.
GGlossary of Chinese mantic arts
Glossary of mantic arts
This bilingual index explains recurring—and frequently conflated—terms in Chinese mantic arts and Yijing studies. Each concise definition states a basic use and limit, then links to relevant dossiers. It is an entry point, not a substitute for close reading in a particular period, text or lineage.
48core terms6thematic groups3language versions
01Search and browse
Find a concept
Search Simplified or Traditional Chinese, pinyin and English. Definitions remain deliberately concise; specialized meanings in a particular art should be checked in its dossier.
Zhouyi and Yijing
Zhōuyì / Yìjīng · Zhou Changes / Book of Changes
Zhouyi often denotes the hexagram and line texts and their transmitted corpus, while Yijing often denotes the received classic as a whole; historical usage overlaps.
Classic and Commentaries
Jīng yǔ Zhuàn · Classic and commentarial traditions
In the received Yijing, the Classic usually means the hexagram and line statements, while the Commentaries commonly means the layers later called the Ten Wings; scholarship further distinguishes their dates and authorship.
Image / configuration
Xiàng · Image, sign or configuration
An observable and interpretable form or relation, including natural phenomena, hexagram structures and analogical representations; it is not limited to a visual picture.
Number / patterned order
Shù · Number, sequence or patterned order
It may mean a value, sequence, cycle, positional correspondence or calculable relation. Historical uses should not be equated automatically with modern mathematical probability.
Yin and yang
Yīnyáng · Yin and yang
A relational framework for paired, interdependent and potentially changing tendencies. Its referents vary by context and are not two fixed substances.
Five Phases
Wǔxíng · Five Phases
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water as five processes and correspondence classes used to organize seasons, directions, bodies and governance; “elements” can obscure their dynamic sense.
Generation and control
Shēng-kè · Generation and control cycles
The Five-Phase model of generation and control, used to describe support, constraint and transformation. This is a traditional interpretive scheme; its physical validity requires independent testing.
Heavenly Stems
Tiāngān · Ten Heavenly Stems
Ten cyclical signs from jia to gui, used for dating, yin-yang and phase correspondences, and many charting systems; they are more than ordinal numbers.
Earthly Branches
Dìzhī · Twelve Earthly Branches
Twelve cyclical signs from zi to hai, used for months, days, hours and directions. Zodiac animals are only one later and popular set of correspondences.
Stems and Branches
Gānzhī · Stem-branch system
A dating system pairing stems and branches by yin-yang parity, and a shared coordinate language in fate calculation, divination and date selection.
Sexagenary Cycle
Liùshí Jiǎzǐ · Sexagenary cycle
The sixty combinations formed by sequentially pairing ten stems with twelve branches, beginning with jiazi; the cycle can label years, months, days and hours.
Solar Terms
Jiéqì · Twenty-four Solar Terms
Twenty-four calendrical nodes dividing the sun's annual motion. Their calculation changed historically; the modern system locates them by solar ecliptic longitude.
Monthly Branch
Yuèjiàn · Monthly branch / month commander
The branch or seasonal coordinate governing a month, commonly delimited by solar terms; it need not begin with the first day of a lunar month.
Calendrical systems
Lìfǎ · Calendrical systems
Systems for observing and calculating days, lunations, years and solar terms. Because Chinese calendars changed repeatedly, historical dates must be read within their calendrical system.
Eight Trigrams
Bāguà · Eight Trigrams
Eight three-line figures named Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen and Dui, carrying several traditional sets of directional and analogical correspondences.
Earlier- and Later-Heaven Trigram Arrangements
Xiāntiān Bāguà yǔ Hòutiān Bāguà · Earlier-Heaven and Later-Heaven trigram arrangements
Later names for two influential trigram arrangements, traditionally linked to Fuxi and King Wen. Those attributions are lineage narratives, not direct proof of historical authorship.
Sixty-Four Hexagrams
Liùshísì Guà · Sixty-four hexagrams
Sixty-four six-line figures. The received Zhouyi preserves statements for each hexagram and line, while sequence and interpretation have varied across traditions.
Yellow River Chart
Hétú · Hetu / Yellow River Chart
A received numerical diagram associated with phases, directions and generating numbers. Early references to a “River Chart” do not by themselves prove identity with later graphic forms.
Luo Writing
Luòshū · Luoshu / Luo Writing
Usually represented as the numbers one through nine in a three-by-three arrangement with equal row, column and diagonal sums. Legendary origin and datable graphic history must be distinguished.
Nine Palaces
Jiǔgōng · Nine Palaces
A nine-position spatial frame of a center and eight directions, used with numbers, stars, trigrams and time. Contents and movement rules differ by system.
Hexagram qi
Guàqì · Hexagram qi and seasonal correspondence
A family of theories correlating hexagrams and lines with months, seasonal nodes and waxing or waning yin-yang. Multiple, non-identical systems developed from the Han onward.
Line
Yáo · Hexagram line
A single broken or solid line forming a trigram or hexagram, and by extension its statement and significance at one of six positions, normally counted from bottom upward.
Moving line
Dòngyáo · Moving or changing line
A line designated to change yin or yang in a divination. How it is obtained and how multiple moving lines are read varies by method and period.
Resulting hexagram
Biànguà · Changed or resulting hexagram
The hexagram produced by reversing the yin-yang value of moving lines in the original figure, interpreted in some divinatory traditions as a changed structure or later tendency; its weight varies by system.
Nuclear hexagram
Hùguà · Nuclear or interlocking hexagram
Usually formed from lines two through four and three through five of a hexagram to examine an inner structure. It is not equally used in every Yijing divination tradition.
Najia correspondence
Nàjiǎ · Najia stem-branch assignment
A family of methods assigning stems, branches and phases to trigrams or lines, foundational to Han Changes traditions and later Six-Line divination; tables vary by lineage.
Shi and Ying positions
Shì-Yìng · World and Response positions
Two line positions in Najia Six-Line divination marking the focal side and its counterpart, conventionally called shi and ying; their placement follows Eight-Palace rules.
Six Relations
Liùqīn · Six Relations
Relational labels such as parents, siblings, descendants, wealth and authority, assigned through Five-Phase relations to a reference point; reference and use differ by system.
Focal indicator
Yòngshén · Focal indicator / operative factor
The principal indicator or balancing factor selected for a question. Six-Line divination and fate-calculation traditions define it differently, so the term is not interchangeable across systems.
Body and function
Tǐ-Yòng · Body and function / focal and operative relation
A relational pair in which ti marks the focal body or basis and yong an operation, object or change. Traditions such as Plum Blossom Numbers assign them by their own rules.
Timing of response
Yìngqī · Timing of response or fulfilment
An event-timing judgment proposed under a tradition's particular rules; its actual predictive validity requires separate testing.
Chart construction
Qǐjú · Constructing a chart
The process of building a chart from time, place or a question according to a particular system. Intercalation, transitions and boundaries may vary by school.
Three Shi Arts
Sānshì · Three Shi Arts
A later collective name for Taiyi, Qimen Dunjia and Da Liuren, all prominent time-space charting arts. The grouping does not establish a single date or origin for all three.
Shi board
Shìpán · Shi board / cosmographic board
An instrument of rotating or layered plates expressing relations among heaven, earth, direction and time. Excavated boards and later paper charts show both continuities and changes.
Nine Stars
Jiǔxīng · Nine Stars
Nine named stars or functional categories arranged through the Nine Palaces. Names, sequences and meanings are not identical in Qimen, siting and other systems.
Eight Gates
Bāmén · Eight Gates
Eight functional signs in Qimen charts—commonly Rest, Life, Injury, Obstruction, View, Death, Alarm and Opening—read with palace, season and the whole chart.
Open dossiers奇门遁甲
Four Lessons and Three Transmissions
Sìkè Sānchuán · Four Lessons and Three Transmissions
Da Liuren's core structure: Four Lessons are built from the day stem-branch and heaven-earth relations, then rules derive initial, middle and final Transmissions through multiple lesson patterns.
Four Pillars
Sìzhù · Four Pillars
A fate-calculation structure writing birth year, month, day and hour as four stem-branch pairs, hence Eight Characters. Boundaries for year and month must be stated by the chosen rules.
Ten Relational Categories
Shíshén · Ten Gods / ten relational categories
Ten relationship classes in Four-Pillars calculation, derived from phase relations and yin-yang polarity relative to the day stem. Here “gods” chiefly denotes technical categories.
Open dossiers四柱子平命理
Life Palace
Mìnggōng · Life Palace
A palace representing the native's primary frame in fate or astrological charts. Placement and meaning differ in Ziwei Doushu, Seven Governors and other systems.
Configuration
Géjú · Configuration / structural pattern
A named structural pattern abstracted from several chart relations. Systems and schools do not share one classification, and a pattern should not be judged apart from its conditions.
Auspicious and inauspicious markers
Shénshà · Shensha markers
Auspicious or inauspicious labels and auxiliary indicators derived from stem-branch, direction or date relations. Their many names have uneven histories and require rule- and source-level checking.
Terrestrial allocations
Fēnyě · Terrestrial allocations of celestial regions
An astrological framework mapping celestial regions and lodges to territories or states in order to localize an omen; correspondence tables varied historically.
Kanyu
Kānyú · Kanyu / Chinese siting arts
A historical term for arts of selecting and interpreting dwellings, burials and environmental relations, later often used near-synonymously with fengshui; it contains multiple textual and methodological lineages.
Form and qi-pattern approaches
Xíngshì yǔ Lǐqì · Form and qi-pattern approaches
A common distinction in siting history between emphasis on landform and emphasis on directional, temporal and numerical configurations. Real traditions overlap, so it is not an absolute binary.
Open dossiers堪舆与风水
Date selection
Zérì · Date selection
An umbrella for methods selecting times by almanac rules, stems and branches, solar terms and the activity concerned. Systems can conflict and should be identified explicitly.
Textual collation
Jiàokān · Textual collation
The comparison of manuscripts, editions and quotations to identify errors, omissions, additions and transpositions and establish a more reliable text; essential for reconstructing historical rules.
Open dossiers蓍筮与《周易》 · 五兆卜法与敦煌事项占 · 谶纬、图谶与预言文献
02Reading limits
Terms gain meaning within specific historical contexts.
One name can perform different work in Han classical learning, Song image-number studies, Ming-Qing manuals and modern lineages. This glossary gives the smallest useful cross-tradition definition and flags major differences where necessary.
Foundational concepts
Recurring terms used to frame mantic arts and Yijing discourse.
Time and calendars
Calendrical languages for organizing years, months, days, hours and seasons.
Diagrams and order
Schemes that arrange direction, number, hexagram figures and cycles.
Yijing divination structures
Operational concepts built around lines, change and Najia interpretation.