Taixuangjing 太玄經 “Classic of the supreme mystery” is a metaphysical treatise written by the mid-Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) scholar Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE-18 CE). In the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, it is called Taiyuanjing 太元經 in order to avoid the personal name of the Kangxi Emperor 康熙帝 (r. 1661-1722), Xuanye 玄燁. The meaning of xuan is “obscure” or “impenetrable”, but the term also means the refined basic nature of the Daoist dao 道.
The Taixuanjing imitates the structure of the “Book of Changes” (Yijing 易經), one of the Confucian Classics. Accordingly, the Taixuanjing is written as a kind of prognostication or mantic book based on the philosophies of Yin-Yang and the Five Agents, and contemporary astronomical knowledge. Beyond the objective of prognistication, the Tianxuanjing designs a whole cosmic worldview. In complexity it surpasses the Yijing. While the latter has a binary worldview, the Taixuanjing has three originary realms (fang 方) in space, divided into the nive provinces (jiuzhou 九州), 27 departments (bu 部) and 81 “families” (jia 家).
Concerning the aspect of time, Yang Xiong developed 81 tetragrams (shou 首), analogous to the 64 hexagrams in the Yijing. Each tetragram is described in nine commends ( 贊), corresponding to the explanations of the hexagram lines (yao 爻) in the Yijing. The Taixuanjing also includes, very consistently, a series of nine separate commentaries similar to the “wing” commentaries in the Yijing.
There is a commentary written by the Jin-period 晉 (265-420) scholar Fan Wang 范望, the Taixuanjing zhu 太玄經注, which is included in the series Sibu congkan 四部叢刊. Another commentary has been written by Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019-1086) from the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126), the Taixuan jizhu 太玄集注, which is included in the Sibu beiyao 四部備要.
There is a complete translation by Michael Nylan (1993), The Canon of Supreme Mystery by Yang Xiong (Albany: State University of New York Press). An older, partial translation is Derek Walters (1983), The T’ai Hsüan Ching: The Hidden Classic (Wellingborough: Aquarian Press).
| Tetragram | Number | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 𝌆 | 0 | CENTRE | Journeying through unnaming the myriad patterns of the past — that hide the emergent implicate order with which they are strangely identical |
| 𝌇 | 1 | FULL CIRCLE | Engaging without engaging — for labeling anything engenders a complement with which it is called endlessly to dance |
| 𝌈 | 2 | MIRED | Cultivating non-engagement — with what has already emerged from the implicate order |
| 𝌉 | 3 | BARRIER | Having been there; having done that — “not this; not that” |
| 𝌊 | 4 | KEEPING SMALL | Engendering through complementarity — without gain |
| 𝌋 | 5 | CONTRARIETY | Completing — as the enduring call to engendering |
| 𝌌 | 6 | ASCENT | Enduring — through centering on what ultimately nourishes |
| 𝌍 | 7 | OPPOSITION | Easing forward, going wherever, without competition — seeking depth, like water |
| 𝌎 | 8 | BRANCHING OUT | Avoiding excess — and the problems it brings |
| 𝌏 | 9 | DEFECTIVENESS OR DISTORTION | Centering through learning; knowing through not-knowing; reflecting without distorting; instigating without owning; leading without ruling |
| 𝌐 | 10 | DIVERGENCE | Benefiting from what is not — through its framing of what is |
| 𝌑 | 11 | YOUTHFULNESS | Sensing the inner — to avoid desensitizing the outer |
| 𝌒 | 12 | INCREASE | Governing others appropriately — through recognizing their exemplification of oneself |
| 𝌓 | 13 | PENETRATION | Living the present — through recognizing the undifferentiated nature of ancient beginnings |
| 𝌔 | 14 | REACH | Subtly stilling to clarify the troubled; elusively moving to enliven the inert; strangely fulfilled by unfulfilment |
| 𝌕 | 15 | CONTACT | Accepting wisely the enduring cycle of beginning and ending — to ensure the enduring peace that offers the freedom for open-hearted magnanimity |
| 𝌖 | 16 | HOLDING BACK | Acting simply, enabling others to value their own initiatives — since such insightful leadership is hardly recognized — |
| 𝌗 | 17 | WAITING | Failing to exalt merit — that induces hypocrisy and disorder, disguised behind a screen of fashionable values |
| 𝌘 | 18 | FOLLOWING | Being untroubled through needing little and wanting less — irrespective of rules, injunctions and seeking after merit |
| 𝌙 | 19 | ADVANCE | Living uncertainty, confusion and strangeness — in awkward contrast to those whose clarity derives from polarization |
| 𝌚 | 20 | RELEASE | Knowing the strange uncertainties offered in the moment — by the spirit of the elusive, from time immemorial |
| 𝌛 | 21 | RESISTANCE | Acting contrarily — as an appropriate way of expressing the integrity of that which can only be understood through paradox |
| 𝌜 | 22 | EASE | Being in the moment — through trusting in the power of the moment |
| 𝌝 | 23 | JOY | Avoiding disproportion and self-satisfaction — to ensure healthy development |
| 𝌞 | 24 | CONTENTION | Following the unnamable — sustained by the unchanging that evokes it, through the process of following it in the moment |
| 𝌟 | 25 | ENDEAVOUR | Becoming insightful through assiduous handling of obligations; progressing effectively based on a core of stillness |
| 𝌠 | 26 | DUTIES | Educating the challenged as the inspiration of the wise — whether or not that is appreciated |
| 𝌡 | 27 | CHANGE | Knowing the other, and retaining one’s identity and quality — as the true source of power and renewal |
| 𝌢 | 28 | DECISIVENESS | Doing “nothing” to the world — for, as a sacred entity, doing “anything” to possess it is to degrade and lose it |
| 𝌣 | 29 | BOLD RESOLUTION | Leading through inspiration that does not seek to win — in contrast to the vanquishing of others that degrades all concerned |
| 𝌤 | 30 | PACKING | Using weapons, when there is no choice, with a calm, still mind — since enjoying their use, and their killing of people, is to lose one’s share in the common good |
| 𝌥 | 31 | LEGION | Knowing when to cease making essential distinctions — as the key to safeguarding that which ensures integrity and vitality |
| 𝌦 | 32 | CLOSENESS | Applying to oneself the skills developed successfully to deal with others — as a key to appropriate action and a quality of wisdom and greatness |
| 𝌧 | 33 | KINSHIP | Achieving greatness without great doings — as accomplished by the wise |
| 𝌨 | 34 | GATHERING | Holding fast to the eternal process through the very ordinary — as the preferred key to its significance |
| 𝌩 | 35 | STRENGTH | Prevailing through weakness — as necessarily following the rise and dominance of the stronger |
| 𝌪 | 36 | PURITY | Self-organizing of myriad things — as naturally entrained by the stillness in unnaming and unshaping |
| 𝌫 | 37 | FULLNESS | Abiding in letting go and doing nothing — as superceding clinging to power towards a determined end, in the righteous light of premature understanding or obedience to directives |
| 𝌬 | 38 | RESIDENCE | Enwholing to sustain the integrity of the subtle — as enabled by encompassing the ordinary |
| 𝌭 | 39 | LAW OR MODEL | Returning from weakness — through which being is eternally born of nothing |
| 𝌮 | 40 | RESPONSE | Understanding appropriateness — as challenged by the contrariness of insight inappropriate to its nature |
| 𝌯 | 41 | GOING TO MEET | Losing as the key to the cycle of winning and losing — essential to wider knowing |
| 𝌰 | 42 | ENCOUNTERS | Ensubtling to enliven the impenetrable — that appears permanently to constrain |
| 𝌱 | 43 | STOVE | Self-constraining fruitfully — avoiding the traps of projection |
| 𝌲 | 44 | GREATNESS | Remaining calm and clear to ensure that the capacity for appropriateness is renewed — despite appearances to the contrary |
| 𝌳 | 45 | ENLARGEMENT | Knowing that enough is enough — as the key to wanting less |
| 𝌴 | 46 | PATTERN | Understanding the truth and opportunity of the moment — avoiding its inhibition through seeking elsewhere |
| 𝌵 | 47 | RITUAL | Unlearning — to ensure that things are progressively governed more fruitfully |
| 𝌶 | 48 | FLIGHT | Enminding the world to see the ordinary through the eyes of children — caring for it through them |
| 𝌷 | 49 | VASTNESS OR WASTING | Living in recognition that this implies dying — but living appropriately to remove the fear of that dying |
| 𝌸 | 50 | CONSTANCY | Nurturing life according to natural processes — neither possessing it, claiming it, nor controlling it |
| 𝌹 | 51 | MEASURE | Understanding insignificant beginnings and their pathways to endings from which beginnings arise anew — in order to avoid unfruitful dispersal |
| 𝌺 | 52 | ETERNITY | Ensuring modesty — so as to avoid inequitable and shameless accumulation |
| 𝌻 | 53 | UNITY | Ensuring that rules for oneself are consistent with those for the world |
| 𝌼 | 54 | DIMINISHMENT | Knowing harmony as knowing the eternal — in contrast to achieving maturity as part of the cycle presaging death |
| 𝌽 | 55 | CLOSED MOUTH | Knowing that discourages talking — in contrast to the talking that discourages knowing |
| 𝌾 | 56 | GUARDEDNESS | Avoiding instrumental thinking, initiation of innovative change and regulation of action — which tend to be counter-productive and inappropriate |
| 𝌿 | 57 | GATHERING IN | Bumbling on without forcing — through indirection |
| 𝍀 | 58 | MASSING | Gathering insight to ensure staying power — irrespective of the worldly undertakings chosen |
| 𝍁 | 59 | ACCUMULATION | Allowing potentially disruptive forces to have their place — within a larger context |
| 𝍂 | 60 | EMBELLISHMENT | Lying low to ensure integrity and continuity — ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’ |
| 𝍃 | 61 | DOUBT | Honoring the appropriate as a gift — in contrast to the fashionable |
| 𝍄 | 62 | WATCH | Focusing on the challenge of beginnings — as the foundation for any subsequent achievement, whatever its scope |
| 𝍅 | 63 | SINKING | Attending to what may have been neglected in the achievement of undertakings |
| 𝍆 | 64 | INNER | Being in ignorance of appropriate action — as empowering appropriate response to the unexpected in the moment |
| 𝍇 | 65 | DEPARTURE | Following rather than leading — as the key to appropriately sustainable guidance |
| 𝍈 | 66 | DARKENING | Leading the mightiest by not presuming to do so — however improbable this may seem |
| 𝍉 | 67 | DIMMING | Avoiding competition — to ensure the appropriate use of ability |
| 𝍊 | 68 | EXHAUSTION | Yielding to antagonism — thus disempowering the attacker and devaluing any resultant victory |
| 𝍋 | 69 | SEVERANCE | Being obscure — as characteristic of an understanding and mode of action that is not of this world |
| 𝍌 | 70 | STOPPAGE | Knowing without knowing — as the only remedy for the sickness of knowing without not-knowing |
| 𝍍 | 71 | HARDNESS | Fearing the dangers of acting inappropriately |
| 𝍎 | 72 | COMPLETION | Acting silently, non-competitively, and non-directively — to readily ensure the most appropriate consequences |
| 𝍏 | 73 | CLOSURE | Avoiding the presumptuousness of usurping the judgement on others by the larger scheme of things |
| 𝍐 | 74 | FAILURE | Living for more than the pursuit of wealth — or solely for the sake of living |
| 𝍑 | 75 | AGGRAVATION | Bending in response to pressure — as the essence of strength and the key to survival |
| 𝍒 | 76 | COMPLIANCE | Redistributing from those who have to those who have not |
| 𝍓 | 77 | ON THE VERGE | Recognizing the counter-intuitive, paradoxical nature of appropriate action |
| 𝍔 | 78 | DIFFICULTIES | Fulfilling obligations — as indicative of the subtle power that eludes those focused on their rightful claims |
| 𝍕 | 79 | LABOURING | Enjoying the freedom of movement in relation to what is to hand, without yearning for elsewhere or elsewhen — or the use of the facilitating devices they evoke |
| 𝍖 | 80 | FOSTERING | Doing without outdoing — avoiding the destructive traps of charm, contention, and learning |