Yin Fu Jing Jie (陰符經解) · Volume 2

良曰理人自死理軍亡兵無死則無不死無生則無不生故知乎死生國家安寧

Zhang Liang said: One who governs the people but brings death on himself, or who governs the army and the soldiers are destroyed; without death there is no undying, and without life there is no unliving. So when death and life are understood, the state is at peace.

自然之道靜故天地萬物生

The way of ziran ("so of itself, naturally so", not "Nature" as the natural world) is to be still, and so heaven, earth, and the myriad things come into being.

尹曰靜之至不知所以生

Yin said: When stillness reaches its extreme, one does not know what gives rise to it.

天地之道浸故陰陽勝

The way of heaven and earth lies in gradual permeation and progress, and so yin and yang overcome each other in turn.

良曰天地之道浸微而推勝之

Zhang Liang said: The way of heaven and earth permeates in fine, subtle degrees, and from this shifts and overcomes in turn.

陰陽相推而變化順矣

Yin and yang push each other along, and so transformation proceeds smoothly.

良曰陰陽相推激至於變化在於目

Zhang Liang said: Yin and yang urge each other on, and as for transformation, all of it lies in the eyes.

是故聖人知自然之道不可違因而制之

Therefore the sage knows that the way of ziran cannot be opposed, and so he follows it and regulates things accordingly.

良曰大人見之為自然英哲見之為制愚者見之為化尹曰知自然之道萬物不能違故利而行之

Zhang Liang said: When a great person sees it, he calls it ziran; when an outstanding sage sees it, he calls it regulation; when a foolish person sees it, he calls it change. Yin said: Knowing the way of ziran, the myriad things cannot go against it, so by following it and acting accordingly one gains advantage.

至靜之道律歷所不能契

The way of utmost stillness is beyond the reach of pitch-pipes and calendrical calculation.

良曰觀鳥獸之時察萬物之變鳥獸至靜律歷所不能契從而機之

Zhang Liang said: Observe the seasons of birds and beasts, and watch the changes of the myriad things. Birds and beasts are utterly still, beyond the reach of pitch-pipes and calendrical calculation, so one follows their pivot and grasps it.

爰有奇器是生萬象八卦甲子神機藏

Thereupon there is a wondrous vessel, from which arise the myriad images, the Eight Trigrams, the sixty-year cycle of jiazi, and the hidden store of spiritual mechanism [the source text has a rare character here, lost in transcription]. The scripture here reads "yuan you qi qi" ("thereupon there is a wondrous vessel"), the same as the text Li Quan relied on, which shows that the first character in the base text of the Yinfu Jing, written as "ai you qi qi", is a miswriting of "yuan" and not an alteration by the translator.

良曰六癸為天藏可以伏藏也

Zhang Liang said: The six gui are the storehouse of heaven and can be used for concealment.

陰陽相勝之術昭昭乎進乎象矣

The art by which yin and yang overcome each other is clearly advanced into the hexagram images.

亮曰奇器者聖智也天垂象聖人則之推甲子畫八卦考蓍龜稽律歷則神之情陰陽之理昭著乎象無不盡矣亮曰八卦之象申而用之六十甲子轉而用之神出入萬明一矣良曰萬生萬象者心也合藏陰陽之術日月之數昭昭乎在人心矣廣成子曰甲子合陽九之數也卦象出師眾之法出師以律動合神順天應時而用神之道也

Zhuge Liang said: What is called the wondrous vessel is sagely wisdom. Heaven displays images, and the sage takes them as models: he develops the jiazi cycle, draws up the Eight Trigrams, consults the milfoil and the tortoise, and examines the pitch-pipes and the calendar; then [the source text has a rare character here, lost in transcription] the true state of the spirits and the principles of yin and yang are made manifest in the images, and nothing is left unexhausted. Zhuge Liang also said: The images of the Eight Trigrams are extended and applied, the sixty jiazi are rotated and applied, the spirits come forth [the source text has a rare character here, lost in transcription] and enter, and ten thousand brightnesses return to one. Zhang Liang said: What is called the ten thousand births and ten thousand images is the heart; the arts that hold yin and yang within and the number of sun and moon are all clearly in the human heart. Guangchengzi said: The jiazi accord with the number of yang nine; the hexagram images come from the rule for sending out the army and employing the masses. In sending out the army one must accord with the pitch-pipes, and one's movements must accord with [the source text has a rare character here, lost in transcription] the spirits; following Heaven and answering the seasons, one applies [the source text has a rare character here, lost in transcription] the way of the spirits.

陰符經解

Commentary on the Yinfu Jing