佛祖歷代通載 13.16

13.16

（十一　癸亥）　十一年十月癸酉。禪師一行製黃道儀成。帝自為之銘。詔安武成殿庭以示百官。其儀準圓天之像。具列宿赤道及周天度數。注水激輪令其自轉。一晝夜而天運周外絡二輪。綴以日月令得運行。每天東行一周。日西行一度。月行十三度。以十九分度之二十九轉日有餘日月會。三百六十五轉而日周天。以木匱為地平。令儀半在地下晦明朔望遲速有準。立木人二於地平。其一前置鼓以候刻。至一刻則自擊之。其一前置鍾以候辰。至一辰亦自撞之。皆於地中略施輪軸。關鎖交錯相持。當時稱其妙以為神功。無幾銅鐵漸澁不能自轉。遂藏之於集賢院。

(Eleventh year, guihai) In the tenth month of the eleventh year, on the day guiyou, the Chan master Yixing completed the construction of an ecliptic armillary sphere. The Emperor personally composed an inscription for it and decreed that it be placed in the courtyard of the Wucheng Hall to show to the civil and military officials. The instrument was modelled after the form of the spherical heavens, fully displaying the lunar lodges, the celestial equator, and the degrees of the entire heavenly circuit. Water was poured to drive wheels, causing it to rotate by itself; in one day and night, the celestial circuit turned once. On the outside two rings were interlocked, affixed with the sun and moon so that they were made to revolve: each day the heaven travelled eastward one full circuit, while the sun travelled westward one degree, and the moon travelled thirteen and twenty-nine-nineteenths degrees; after twenty-nine rotations and a fraction of a day, the sun and moon met, and after three hundred and sixty-five rotations, the sun completed a heavenly circuit. A wooden casing served as the horizon, keeping half the instrument below ground, so that dark and light, the new moon and full moon, and slowness and speed had accurate measures. Two wooden figures were erected on the horizon: before one was placed a drum to observe the quarter-hours, and upon reaching a quarter-hour, it struck it on its own; before the other was placed a bell to observe the double-hours, and upon reaching a double-hour, it likewise struck it on its own. Within the base, wheels and axles were subtly installed, their interlocking mechanisms mutually engaging. At that time, it was praised for its ingenuity and considered a divine achievement. Not long after, the bronze and iron gradually grew stiff and could no longer rotate by themselves, and it was eventually stored in the Jixian Academy.