Zhai Jing 宅經 falsely ascribed — yet "most ancient in spirit" (per Siku)

The Classic of the Dwelling （黃帝宅經）: attributed to the Yellow Emperor, judged a pious attribution 「是書蓋依托也」 by the Siku — and, in the same breath, praised as 「在術數之中猶最為近古者」. Both verdicts are reported here.

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Identity card

What it contains

Per the collation register:

• Examining fortune and misfortune through the 24 stations 分二十四路考尋休咎.
• A yin/yang partition of the trigram positions: the directions 乾、坎、艮、震 plus 辰 are yang; 巽、離、坤、兌 plus 戌 are yin.
• The yang sequence runs from 亥 (head) to 巳 (tail); the yin sequence runs from 巳 (head) to 亥 (tail).
• Its governing principle is the mutual accord of yin and yang 主於陰陽相得.

What the Siku cataloguers concluded

「是書蓋依托也」 — "this book is, in all likelihood, an attribution" (i.e. composed under a borrowed ancient name). And yet, in the same notice: 「在術數之中猶最為近古者」 — "among the shushu corpus it is still the most ancient in character." Siku Quanshu Zongmu (shushu lei).

The register records both clauses because dropping either one would misrepresent the verdict: the attribution fails, the text's antiquity relative to its corpus stands. A falsely ascribed book is not therefore a worthless book — and a compliment is not therefore an authentication.

Where it sits in the tradition

Matrix row: Eight Mansions 八宅 main body ◎, Form 形巒 partial ○ — the register tags it as the fountainhead of dwelling divination 相宅之祖. Its yin/yang direction partition is an early ancestor of the East-West four dwellings 東西四宅 scheme developed in the 陽宅三要 and 八宅明鏡 entries.

Related

陽宅三要 · 八宅明鏡 · full register · Eight Mansions derivation dispute: School Dispute Register