The Celestial Pivot Classic 天机经

The original text does not record the author, and it was presumably compiled by a scholar of the Tang Dynasty.

Tongzhi·Yiwen Lue (Comprehensive Records of Literature and Arts) cataloged Yinfu Tianji Jing (Scripture of Hidden Talismans and Heavenly Secrets) as a one-volume text, which is exactly this work.

The Celestial Pivot Classic

The surviving version is included in Volume 15 of Yunji Qiqian (Seven Bamboo Tablets of the Cloudy Satchel) and also recorded in the Taiqing Section of The Daozang.

The introductory text at the beginning of the work states: "When a sage intends to take action, he must first observe the waxing and waning of the Dao of heaven, and then act accordingly. If he undertakes affairs in response to opportunities, he will leave no strategy unfulfilled." This is the core purport of the entire text. The main text is divided into nineteen sections, interpreting the terms and meanings of the Yinfu Jing. It argues that when a sage governs the state, commands troops, and conducts himself in the world, he should always unify all things with his mind, carefully observe the omens of heaven and humans, grasp the timing of advance and retreat, and obey the Dao of the mutual overcoming of yin and yang and the transformation of hardness and softness, so as to establish an invincible position. The book extensively quotes the I Ching Commentary, the Laozi, as well as the annotations on the Yinfu Jing by Kong Ming and Tai Gong, with concise, fluent and well-organized language.