Chapter Nine

The Ya Shape and:

Bronze Mirrors
The Ming Tang
The Jade Bi Disc
The Aztec Calendar

Chinese Bi Disc                   TLV Bronze Mirror          Aztec Calendar

The Ming Tang was a cosmic temple that featured symbols representing Time and Space, and descends from the legends of the great sages.  The reigning emperor would visit the Ming Tang temple and would perform the necessary rituals appropriate to the seasons to promote a successful harvest.  The emperor or sky priest would utilize the Ming Tang and its astronomical observatory as instruments to gain insight into astronomical knowledge and Time to serve as a regulator of the calendar important in an agriculturally based society. 

In a more philosophical sense, the dome represents the harmonious balance of all the elements and forces of Heaven, earth, and humankind.  This cosmological system symbolizes the complex relationship of yin and yang so that the order on earth would correspond with the order of the universe. 

These bronze “TLV mirrors” of the Han dynasty are also referred to as cosmic mirrors.  The earliest of these mirrors date to about 250 BC.  The ancient reverence of the TLV markings is evident in reliefs of the Wu Liang tomb-shrines on divination boards used in magical operations.  The TLV markings also appear from the Hsiao-Thang  Shan tomb-shrines, about 129 AD, where two men, immortals, appear playing a game called liubo.

The liubo board with the TLV markings represented a diagrammatic representation of the universe and is concerned with revealing one’s destiny.  Liubo was a dice game used for divination and had cosmic implications used for fortune telling.

The marks shaped like the letters T and L are related to the shadows cast by the gnomon at winter and summer solstices.  The V marks may represent the four directions intermediate between the four cardinal points as well as the beginnings of the four seasons.   In chapter three it was explained how the gnomon was used to follow the movement of the sun in order to measure time and distances.  The connection with the calendar and the seasons, heaven and earth, and centrality (the four cardinal directions) represent the concept of Time and Space.   The TLV bronze mirrors of the Han dynasty symbolized the universe in microcosm.  

The jingtienzhi,  or pattern of nine, may be superimposed onto the TLV mirror and one can see the pattern fits perfectly  into the circle enclosing the TLV markings with the four “V” shapes occupying the four quadrates, or earth.  The “T” and “L” markings correspond to summer and winter solstice and fit into the cruciform shape, or heaven.  This is the design used for temple building and is replicated in the temples, churches , and pagodas mentioned above. 

These cosmic mirrors were about seven inches in diameter and were portable, these mirrors could easily have made their way from China and into the early Christian community.  The mirrors represented the cosmology of the early Chinese culture and the craftsmanship and precision impacted early Christian art to the point that symbols such as the carpenter's square and the jingtianzhi were utilized in early Byzantine mosaics, Church design, and the covers of illuminated manuscripts.

THE AZTEC CALENDAR WITH THE YA SHAPE  

CHINESE TALISMAN

 This page dedicated

to Schuyler Cammann