Such a map Yu himself had commissioned: “Pictures were made of all things indigenous to distant places [in the world], and the leaders of the nine provinces sent tributary offerings of metal. Cauldrons/Tripods (ding) were cast [by Yu] representing all things. In this way, the people were given instruction, so they could distinguish between good and evil beings. And so, when the people travelled through the rivers, mashes, mountains and forests, they were able to avoid evil things/spirits.” (Zuo zhuan (My own rendering based on a number of different translations).

Yu was also credited with the discovery of the Luoshu: a cosmic diagram (or board) comprised of 9 squares, upon which, Daoist masters would perform Yu’s limping cyclic cosmic dance. These cosmic diagrams may also contain the trigrams foundational to the I Ching

To quote from my unfinished book The Cosmic Double-Death (And Cyclic re-creation through the Dying God)

These trigrams, are representative of dynamic elemental forces (which in Daoist cosmology function much like the Five Phases/Agents/Elements (Wuxing) of water, fire, wood, metal and earth). According to Jo Riley, the trigrams may also be placed upon the squares of the Luoshu diagram. In the diagram provided by Riley, the central square, functioning as an axis-mundi, is marked with a zero, while each of the surrounding squares contain eight opposing trigrams (Heaven-Earth, Fire-Water, etc.), that, we are told, represent all things in the cosmos. Each trigram on each square corresponding with the paces of the Yubu, revolve endlessly in a space-time dance of death and life. Together the Eight Trigrams represent the fluidic cosmic interplay and transformation that exists between yin and yang: the cyclic patterns of decay and renewal, that Jo Riley describes as “the pattern of all life.”

This idea of yin and yang in a constant cyclic state, is the means by which divination is achieved, freezing in time (I could say) a little piece the fluidic map of the universe into one point in space and time, that may provide another piece of the cosmic map, at least a guiding path through the dangers of the unknown .

I posted much more about this a couple of months back: Learning How to Navigate Reality

I’d love one of those maps on my wall too!