釋氏稽古略 1.71

1.71

易乾鑿度曰。昔燧人氏仰觀斗極以定方名。庖犧因之而畫八卦。黃帝受命。使大撓造甲子。容成次曆數。五行九宮之說自此而興。故說卦云。陽數九者。立天之道曰陰與陽陰。二陽一則天有三焉。立地之道曰柔與剛。柔二剛一則地亦有三焉。立人之道曰仁與義。義二仁一則人亦有三焉。三三合九。陰陽相包以成萬物。

The Yi Qianzuodu states: 'In the past, the Suiren Clan gazed upward to observe the Pole of the Dipper to determine the names of the directions; Paoxi followed this and drew the eight trigrams. The Yellow Emperor received the mandate and commanded Da Nao to create the sexagenary cycle and Rong Cheng to order the calendar calculations; the doctrines of the Five Phases and Nine Palaces arose from this. Therefore, the Explanation of the Trigrams states: "The yang number nine: to establish the Way of Heaven, it is called yin and yang; with two yin and one yang, Heaven has three; to establish the Way of Earth, it is called soft and hard; with two soft and one hard, Earth also has three; to establish the Way of Man, it is called benevolence and righteousness; with two righteousness and one benevolence, Man also has three." Three threes combine into nine; yin and yang envelop each other to accomplish the myriad things.'