Adapting the Yi Diagrams Daoist Classic 易图通变

Authored by Lei Siqi, a Taoist priest in the early Yuan Dynasty.

The book was completed in the gengzi year of the Dade reign period (1300).

Comprising five volumes, it is included in the Taixuan Section of The Daozang.

There is also a five-volume version incorporated in the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries).

Divided into five chapters, this work examines and differentiates the image-number studies related to the Hetu (Yellow River Diagram). The author repudiates Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who he argues first initiated the fallacious theories about the Hetu and Luoshu (Luo River Writing). He also criticizes Chen Tuan of the Northern Song Dynasty for his arbitrary interpretation of the Hetu, as well as Liu Mu, Li Gou and other scholars for their erroneous assertion that the number of the Hetu is fifty-five, claiming that such views have only led to deeper confusion. Having devoted himself to the study of Zhouyi for many years, the author wrote this book to explore the authentic truth together with scholars across the ages and regions. Rooted in the theoretical system of Taoism, the book holds that the numbers of the Hetu correspond to the trigrams as follows: the celestial number one corresponds to Kan, the earthly number two to Kun, the celestial number three to Zhen, the earthly number four to Xun, the celestial number seven to Dui, the earthly number six to Qian, the celestial number nine to Li, and the earthly number eight to Gen. The actual number is forty, with five and ten serving as virtual numbers that converge at the center. This theoretical framework is closely associated with the five elements theory in traditional Chinese philosophy. Annotated Bibliography of the Siku Quanshu comments: "Though its arguments differ from those of the earlier Confucian scholars, they are quite consistent with the implications of 'arising from Zhen and aligning with Xun'."