PhiloWiki

Concept

Yi Xing

Yi Xing
Unknown authorUnknown author · CC BY 4.0 · source

Overview

Yixing (Chinese: 一行; pinyin: Yīxíng; Wade–Giles: I-Hsing, 683–727) was a Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty, recognized for his accomplishments as an astronomer, a reformer of the calendar system, a specialist in the Yijing (易經), and a distinguished Buddhist figure with expertise in Esoteric Buddhism.

In the realm of secular affairs, Yixing gained prominence for his reforms to the imperial calendar and his construction of a celestial globe featuring a liquid-driven escapement, the first in a long tradition of Chinese astronomical clockworks. Within Buddhist circles, he is particularly remembered for his contributions to the translation of the Mahāvairocana-sūtra and for authoring the authoritative commentary on that scripture, the Darijing shu 大日經疏 (T 1796). Due to his significant activities in both religious and secular spheres, a legendary portrayal of Yixing as a master astrologer and practitioner of astral magic developed during the late Tang period, leading to the attribution of several astrological works to him.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.

  1. Thus was time made in the image of the eternal nature; and it was created together with the heavens, in order that if they were dissolved, it might perish with them. And God made the sun and moon and five other wanderers, as they are called, seven in all, and to each of them he gave a body moving in an orbit, being one of the seven orbits into which the circle of the other was divided. He put the moon in the orbit…

    Plato, Timaeus

    States what Yi Xing is.

    Read the chapter · Open in the reader

  2. Aristotle, that it is formed by the fifth body, and by the mixture of extreme heat and cold. CHAPTER XII. INTO HOW MANY CIRCLES IS THE HEAVEN DISTINGUISHED; OR, OF THE DIVISION OF HEAVEN. Thales, Pythagoras, and the followers of Pythagoras do distribute the universal globe of heaven into five circles, which they denominate zones; one of which is called the arctic circle, which is always conspicuous to us, another is…

    Plutarch, Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3

    States what Yi Xing is.

    Read the chapter · Open in the reader

  3. Towards the conclusion of his letter, he requests Anebo to inform him what the Egyptian wisdom indicates as the way to blessedness. But as to those who hold intercourse with the gods, and pester them only for the sake of finding a runaway slave, or acquiring property, or making a bargain of a marriage, or such things, he declares that their pretensions to wisdom are vain. He adds that these same gods, even granting…

    of Hippo Augustine, The City of God, Volume I

    States what Yi Xing is.

    Read the chapter · Open in the reader

Philosophers who discussed Yi Xing

Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of Buddhist philosophy.

Explore Yi Xing in the interactive graph →