Alan Leo's Centiloquy

Tucked in the very back of Alan Leo's How to judge a nativity, (1928) is his "centiloquy" , or collection of 100 short astrological aphorisms. The most famous are the centiloquies of of Ptolemy, Hermes, and Bethem. The tradition continued well into the 18thc. The astrologer John Partridge wrote a 'centiloquy' of 102 aphorisms  and a collection of 80 astrological aphorisms . More generally Nicholas Culpeper wrote a whole series of aphorisms, which are scattered all across my blog. You can find one part here 

Leo's Centiloquy is less well known, and as such I felt it is proper to reproduce it here. The centiloquy usually concentrates on natal astrology.

The text has been transcribed from this copy of how to judge a nativity https://archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa/page/330/mode/2up . Page numbers are left in brackets 

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A CENTILOQUY

The 'Centiloquies' of Claudius Ptolemy and others are famous for containing in a short and pithy form the fruit of many years of study. The present Centiloquy is intended simply as a help to the student by which he may fix in his mind the gist of the teachings given in this book, in the form of a hundred brief aphorisms. To each aphorism is added the page on which more detailed information can be found.

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I. The ‘squares’ denote opposition and discord, the ‘triangles’ peace and harmony (4).

II. Astrological symbology conceals within itself the history of the earth as a planet (6).

III. The Ascendant corresponds to sunrise, and suggests spirit made subject to matter; the Meridian corresponds to noon, and suggests balance between spirit and matter; the Descendant corresponds to sunset and suggests the triumph of spirit over matter; the Imum Coeli is the great mystery, the occult centre (7).

IV. The Cardinal Houses indicate physical matters connected with the external life; the Fixed Houses indicate matters connected with feelings and emotions, not yet ripe, but maturing; the Mutable Houses indicate matters latent in the mind, and affairs brought over from past lives (8).

V. The Cadent, Succedent and Cardinal divisions represent thought, speech and action, or spirit, soul and body (6).

VI. The six houses above the horizon (xii, xi, x, ix, viii, vii) correspond to the ‘life’ side of the universe, the six below (vi, v, iv, iii, ii, i) correspond to its ‘form’ side (6).

VII. There exists an intimate correspondence between the Signs and the Houses (10).

VIII. The Houses relate to physical and etheric matter, and the Signs to astral matter (10).

IX. The influence of the Signs is greater than that of the Houses, and the former will ‘overbear’ the latter (p. 10).

X. The Houses are like transparent vessels, each having its own pattern; the Signs supply the contents of such vessels, giving a special substance, colour and quality to each house (12).

[332]

XI. The four triplicities are Fire, Air, Water, Earth; or Spirit, Space, Time and Matter. The three qualities are Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable (14).

The wondrous Oracles of the the God of Travellers 水陸總管公靈籤

The wondrous Oracles of Shui Lu Tsung Kwan Kung.

水陸總管公靈籤

ShuiLu Zhongguan gong Lingqian

The Numinous Lots of the God of Water and Land 

 

I have taken this interesting text from Doolittle’s Vocabulary and Handbook of the Chinese Language. This is a translation by one C.F.R. Allen of a lot oracle through Jiaobei, taken from a Temple near Fuzhou. I have already translated a similar lot oracle—under the patronage of Gyuanyin on this blog, and for more about how the lot oracle works.

In brief, the querent throws a pair of “moon blocks” thrice, and notes the pattern in which they fall (both up, both down or one up and on down), and looks up at the relevant entry. There are 27 entries, plus one more for when the blocks stand up on end 側 thrice. They make 28, the number of Chinese xiu or constellations. Accordingly, each of the lots has the name of a xiu, but they are not in order: 1-14 are the odd-numbered xiu, whilst 15-28 are the even numbered ones (I suspect this is because Allen had a copy where the lots were arranged in two rows on a page, and Allen translated across the page rather than vertically: I have made a similar mistake too in the past!) 

The names of each of the 28 xiu are usually the first character of each poem; accordingly I have set them in bold. Sometimes the names are used semantically (eg lot 26 below, the Willow) whilst other poems use characters that are graphically similar to constellations (eg lot no. 2) However, one constellation 危 is missing (it should be lot no. 20). I am not sure why this is the case, or why its name has been substituted with 龍- dragon.

It is worth noting that In some modern Chinese almanacs, there is a lot oracle called 土地杯- The God of Earth’s Jiaobei. This oracle is very similar to the one translated below. However there is a key difference: Whilst all oracles in The Numinous Lots of the God of Water and Land are written as four lines of five-characters each, the lots in the The God of Earth’s Jiaobei are irregular: some are written as couplets; others are written in lines of three characters each. The Numinous Lots of the God of Water and Land may thus represent an earlier version of the The God of Earth’s Jiaobei. I hope to post a translation of the God of Earth’s Jiaobei on this blog soon. 

~ Notes on the text~ 

I have transcribed the text form this copy in Google books. https://books.google.com/books?id=KTsOAAAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&pg=PA504#v=onepage&q&f=false  Some entries have comments by Allen, either explaining obscure terms or the import of the lot. I have added “Allen” to the end of each. I have added some comments of my own. These are prefaced by “ed” 

玉樞經髓 - The Marrow of the Scripture of the Jade Pivot, translated by James Legge

玉樞經髓 

The Marrow of the Scripture of the Jade Pivot, 

translated by James Legge in his The Texts of Taoism (1891) 

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In this post I will republish James Legge's translation of the 玉樞經髓 - The Marrow of the Scripture of the Jade Pivot, reuniting with its Chinese text. As its name implies, it is an extract of the玉樞經   Scripture of the Jade Pivot, a much longer daoist scripture. 

The scripture is extremely short. These pages (source 3 below) contain the whole scripture. 

In this respect it is not alone. There is the Gashing Yuhuang Benxing Jijing 高上玉皇本行集經 Scripture of the Lofty Deeds of the Jade Emperor, and the much shorter "Marrow of the Scripture of the Lofty Deeds of the Jade Emperor"高上玉皇本行集經髓

Legge quotes another author, Wylie, who stated that the scripture was regularly chanted by Daoist monks. This is true; a version of this Scripture is indeed found as part of the morning service in the 清微玄範道門功課 Qingwei Hongfan daomen Gongke. However, the Marrow found in this particular service differs from the version Legge was using. This and other textual differences are discussed below. It should also be noted the version of the morning service currently chanted by Quanzhen Daoists does not include this scripture. 

The Scripture in the Qingwei Hongfan daomen Gongke. (source 4 below) 

Whilst Legge's translation was done in 1891, The translation of the full Scripture of the Jade Pivot had to wait over a century. A certain "Daoist Liu" recently published it as Treasured Scripture of the Jade Pivot, and it is available on Amazon, a large (almost A4 sized) but thin booklet. To my knowledge, despite its prominence in contemporary daoist practise, the Scripture of the Jade Pivot lacks academic discussion or indeed, a scholarly translation. 

To my knowledge, here is one other translation of the Marrow of the Scripture of the Jade Pivot.  It is by Stuart Olson, in his bilingual Taoist chanting & recitation: At-home cultivator's practice guide. He calls it 天尊玉樞寶經; The Heavenly Worthy's Jade Pivot Treasure Scripture . The Chinese text which Olson uses is slightly different from the two chinese texts mentioned below, and the one used by Legge: It has a short preface describing the retinue of gods when the scripture was first preached. 

Sources and Texts consulted 

I have taken Legge's translation from here: 

(1) https://sacred-texts.com/tao/sbe40/sbe4021.htm

You can access a copy on google books here 

(1a) https://books.google.com/books?id=h2dRAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&pg=PA265#v=onepage&q&f=false

I have taken the chinese original from here:  

(2) https://gd4166.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/玉樞經髓/

A woodblock edition (origin unknown) of the Chinese text is available here: 

(3) https://taolibrary.com/category/category107/c1070144.htm

The Morning service in the Qingwei Hongfan daomen Gongke 清微玄範道門功課 may be found here. The scripture starts at page 7 of this file. 

(4) http://www.ctcwri.idv.tw/CTCW-DZJY/CTDZJY26/NewDZJY26/DZJY2601002.pdf ;  

The text in the Qingwei Hongfan daomen Gongke differs from sources (2) and (3) in two ways. Firstly, a slight change of phrase in the early part of the scripture, and secondly, has a short appendix. This appendix is not translated by Legge, and is not included in Olson's translation either.

 I have chosen not to translate the appendix for now (not least because of missing characters and difficulties of punctuation), but this is a summary of its contents: The Heavenly Worthy commands the various generals of the Thunder Division to search and destroy all evil spirits, hetrodox sorcerers and their spells. The Heavenly Worthy then adds that this scripture penetrates through heaven and earth, and reciting this scripture soothes spirits and delivers ancestors.

Finally, If any of my readers spot errors either in the transcription or the translation, or have further insights and comments may they inform me of them; I would be most glad. 

Di Zi Gui 弟子規 Rules for children-- Two English translations

in this post I will present two nineteenth century English translations of the the book called 

弟子規

CR: Rules for Sons and Younger Brothers 

H: Rules of behaviour for children 

https://www.google.com/books/edition/%E5%BC%9F%E5%AD%90%E8%A6%8F/PzZqH5F7hPwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%E5%BC%9F%E5%AD%90%E8%A6%8F&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover 

This book is one of the more popular primers that is still in circulation today. aside from teaching children the language, it also teaches them tradtional standards of conduct. The language of this text is simple; tit is written in rhyming verse, each line being 3 characters long

The Sutra of the Sun and moon: Part 2: The Sutra of the Moon 太陰星君聖經

In this post I will translate The Sutra of the Moon 太陰星君聖經, or Sutra of the Stellar Worthy of the Great Yin which is a hymn to the Moon. In a previous post I have translated The Sutra of the Sun 太陽星君聖經 , its companion. That post contains more context about these sutras. 

The Sutra of the Sun and moon: Part 1: The Sutra of the Sun 太陽星君聖經

The Sutra of the Sun 太陽星君聖經 

In this post I will translate the Sutra of the sun. This sutra- or scripture- is mostly a short hymn in praise of the god of the Sun, the Stellar Worthy of Great Yang 太陽星君. 

  

觀世音菩薩靈杯圖 The Divine Jiaobei of Guanyin

  In this post I will translate a buddhist divinatory text, The Divine Jiaobei of Guanyin. This occurs as part an appendix to Guanyin's lot oracle 觀音靈簽, or the Divine Lots of the Goddess of Mercy.

Buddhist Apocrypha: 生天經(偽造) The Scripture on birth in the Heavens

 生天經(偽造)

The Scripture on birth in the Heavens  (APOCRYPHAL)

This is the third of a series of buddhist apocrypha from that are collected in this 1931 edition of Chanmen Risong: 禪門日誦 Zen Daily Recitations. For an introduction to what this book is, you should read this post about another apocryphon in the same collection, the Scripture of Wondrous Sand

Unlike the others, this rather short apocryphon has a moral dimension, describing immoral acts that one must abstain from to have a fortunate rebirth in the Heavenly Realm. However, like all the other apocrypha in this collection, it contains an incantation. It is my speculation that this incantation caused the scripture to remain in circulation, perhaps as a funerary text. as far as i can tell, however, it is not used as such today, and the scripture, like most of the others in this collection, have ceased to be recited or printed. 

The Scripture as presented in the Zen Daily Recitations. 

https://books.google.com/books?id=qObnAAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&pg=PP94#v=onepage&q&f=false

A chart showing the auspiciousness of the 28 Lunar Mansions 二十八宿吉凶定居图: Chinese electional astrology

In this post I shall translate a short Chinese electional astrology text on the "Lunar mansions" or Xiu. It comes from the 2018 edn of the 集福堂 “Hall of collected fortune" almanac of China. This post was based on a twitter thread I published in 2021 https://x.com/edwardW2/status/1435541551598342146/

There are many such texts that are currently circulating in Chinese almanacs. They vary in form and content; some are 4 lines of 7-character verse; others have 8 lines of verse. per lunar mansion This particular poem. however is particularly concise- each judgment merely 12 characters long. Hence it is a ripe candidate for translation.

As some of my readers are no doubt aware, these Xiu 宿 are Chinese constellations. However, we are not concerned with these constellations today, but rather with their current use: as a cycle of 28 days that has no relation to the moon's position in the sky whatsoever. (Think of it as a 28-day week) Chinese almanacs tabulate what is the Xiu or lunar mansion assigned to a particular day. For example, the day I type this (10 Feb 2025) is assigned to the Xiu 心- heart, the 5th lunar mansion. Reading the relevant poem, we find it is an inauspicious day to marry or build. Tomorrow, by contrast will be assigned the 6th lunar mansion, Wei the tail. This is a propitious day to build or bury, as it brings officials.

Each Xiu is associated with an animal. I have taken the translations of the animal names from Thomas Thomas F. Aylward's _The Imperial Guide to Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology (his translation of 協記[辦方書)

which is one of the very few good books on Chinese astrology in English. Each entry of this text is headed with a small drawing of the relevant animal, which adds much to its charm.

Again, you might notice that each of the names of the xiu are associated with a planet/ one of the 5 phases. When the xiu are used in practise, each xiu lines up one of the seven days of the week; so, all the xiu assigned to the "sun"in them fall on Sundays; all the xiu with the word "Fire" on them fall on Tuesdays (as Tuesday- Mars day (martidi) - 火曜日)

As regards the categories of elections, the categories that are mentioned almost invariably in each entry are burial, marriage and construction- things which are in generally the preoccupation of Chinese electional astrology.

Some entries need a bit more explaining, such as mentions of “Doors” and “Water”. Doors, refers to auspicious days to fix/repair doors. “Releasing Water” I gather, surrounds opening irrigation ditches and suchlike works.Finally, as regards to the caveat attached at the end of the whole text, what the book is referring to is a rather complex form of divination called the "Evolving beasts" 演禽術, which somewhat resembles Greater Six Ren 大六壬 divination

Some other almanacs, like the Hong Kong 廣經堂 - Hall of Broad Classics almanac express an even more extreme skepticism about the lunar mansions:

值於舊曆書內所載之二十八宿，原為西城人士紀曆之用，本無吉凶之分，玉匣記附以吉凶詩斷，協記己闢非，今仍註於六甲子日之下者，實為保留紀曆作用，對星宿吉凶論斷，實毋需重視也。

"in the old calendars, were recorded the 28 mansions . These were originally used by the people of the Western Lands to record time, and originally were not divided into auspicious or inauspicious [xiu]. The Jade Box Record 玉匣記, has an appendix which contain poems judging the auspiciousness of each of the xiu; however The Imperial Guide to Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology has shown why [these poems] are baseless 闢非. These lunar mansions are placed beneath the 60 Stems and branches (in this almanac), for the sake of preserving their calendarical use. As for their [in]auspiciousness, in truth, one should put much stock by them.

Ancestor Peng's Hundred Prohibitions 彭祖百忌- Chinese electional astrology

I will now translate a short text of Chinese electional astrology, the Pengzu Bai ji = 彭祖百忌, "Ancestor Peng's hundred prohibitions" This is possibly the simplest text of Chinese Electional astrology there is, but AFAIK has never been translated into English. This blogpost is a republication of a twitter thread I did in about 2020. Ancestor Peng's Hundred Prohibitions shows the inauspicious activities for each of the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. To use a western analogy, it is no more complex than using the day of the week to find auspicious days to do something. The present version was derived from the Baidu text https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BD%AD%E7%A5%96%E7%99%BE%E5%BF%8C, which agrees with most printed sources. I have however referred to two other compendia of electional astrology, the Aspects of Auspiciousness almanac 象吉通書, and the Ao's head almanac 鰲頭通書 for alternate entries.

As a matter of background, The Chinese measure time using two cycles, one of ten terms which represents the 5 “Chinese elements” in their Yin and Yang forms), called the Heavenly stems, and one of 12 terms, which is the familiar chinese zodiac animals.The 2 cycles run concurrently, so the end result is the combinations of heavenly stems and earthly branches repeat every 60 terms.
Now, years, months, days and two-hour periods of each day are all assigned such terms. For the purposes of this text we are looking at the terms associated with the day. If you know the stem and branch associated with each day, The text shows what you should not do for on that day- hence its name
For example, the day I first posted this text on twitter-- 20 march 2020 was the day of the Yang Water Dog 壬戌, the 59th term of the cycle. as today has the Heavenly stem of Yang Water, I should not attempt to brew. As today has the earthly branch of the Dog, I should also not attempt to eat dogs.Similarly, As the next day was the day of the Yin Water Pig 癸亥, I should also not attempt to sue anyone, or get married. Furthermore As the sexagenary cycle is also used to number hours, some sources say that the prohibitions apply to the hours of the day as well.