玄ZenTellATLAS OF WISDOM TRADITIONS

Classics & history / ENCYCLOPEDIA

San Ming Tong Hui

三命通会

San Ming Tong Hui is a Ming Four Pillars compendium traditionally associated with Wan Minying. Its compilation and later additions are central to understanding it as a historical text.

Introductory article2 min readUpdated 2026-09-30AI-assisted · Editorially checked

At a glance

Reading focus
The digital witness lacks volumes ten to twelve; check before citing.

Definition and details

The compendium gathers stems, branches, phases, symbolic influences, patterns and chart examples. Their coexistence does not make every section one uniform argument. Begin with volume and chapter organization, distinguishing definitions, mnemonic verse, quotations and examples, then trace where a particular method appears within the compilation rather than reading it as one secret formula.

Structure and history

The traditional account correlates the signature Yuwu shanren with Wan Minying’s name and Ming bibliography, while noting title variation and later chart additions. It demonstrates historical textual criticism within the tradition itself. A twelve-volume bibliographic description must also be distinguished from how many volumes a particular online transcription actually supplies.

A concrete example

Wikisource’s gateway lists volumes one through nine and explicitly marks ten through twelve as missing. Compare the available contents with the twelve-volume description, then choose a surviving chapter for reading. This avoids citing a passage absent from that digital witness and prevents its incompleteness from redefining the original work’s volume count.

Context and limits

A compendium illuminates knowledge organization and terminology, while selected successful charts do not establish accuracy when failures and selection rules are unknown. The traditional account itself criticizes theoretical bias and additions. Cite volume and witness, avoiding automatic attribution of later material to Wan or modern conclusions about health, career and family.

References & further reading

Historical sources document ideas and rules of their time, not empirical proof of predictive accuracy. Source notes identify the nature and scope of each reference.

  1. 三命通會 · 目录及提要Primary / tradition source

    Transcribed traditional bibliographic account and contents; this page explicitly lacks volumes ten to twelve.