The Back-Pushing Diagrams Daoist Classic 推背图
Paul PengThe Back-Pushing Diagrams
The History of the Song Dynasty · Records of Literature and Arts lists one volume of Tu Bei Tu in the category of Five Elements, with no author attributed.
According to tradition, during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the Daoist scholars Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang jointly created prophetic charts to foretell the rise and fall of dynasties and transformations of The Dao. The series stopped at the sixtieth chart when “Yuan pushed Li’s back to halt him”, hence the name.
The Back-Pushing Diagrams
Since the Song Dynasty, numerous folk versions have circulated, with many accretions added during transmission.
The current edition consists of sixty charts, each corresponding to one of the sixty hexagrams derived from Taiji.
Beneath each image lies a prophetic aphorism, accompanied by a poem titled “Ode”.
The verses are all ambiguous, with obscure implications, facilitating Daoist scholars to interpret them as prophecies of political rise and fall.
There is also a hand-copied edition from the thirteenth year of the Guangxu reign (1887), containing sixty-seven charts.
