Yuan Tiangang is famous for his "Three Great Prophecies". First of all, he had predicted that Wu Zetian would become emperor. When he passed by the Wu Mansion, he saw Wu Zetian, who was still a baby at the time, and marveled at her extraordinary appearance, and predicted that she would become an emperor in the future. Sure enough, Wu Zetian became the only female emperor in history at the age of 67. Second, he predicted the demise of the Tang Dynasty. Tang Taizong once asked Yuan Tiangang: "How long can the Tang Dynasty continue to prosper?"Yuan Tiangang replied: "Unless pigs can climb the tree, it will be for thousands of generations", and as a result, the Tang Dynasty perished at the hands of Zhu Wen. Finally, he prophesied important events about the benefits of China for the Five Stars to go out to the East.
These "three great prophecies" made Yuan Tiangang a "generation of demons", and his status was extraordinary. So in real life, what kind of person is Yuan Tiangang?Why can he become a "demon" in the eyes of everyone?Yuan Tiangang showed intelligence and a thirst for knowledge since he was a child, and was especially good at physiognomy, so he showed his talents early. Born into a poor family in Chengdu, Yizhou, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Yuan Tiangang struggled to grow up in an environment full of war and turmoil, with no decent career to study, and could only live a life of poverty. However, he is not a stupid person, and he showed a bright side growing up. He especially likes to study astronomy and geography and the five elements of the eight trigrams, and his studies are also methodical.
Influenced by his uncle Yuan Shoucheng, he became interested in physiognomy and became his uncle's apprentice, concentrating on physiognomy. In troubled times, many people feel lost and helpless and hope to be guided through physiognomy. In such an environment, Yuan Tiangang's physiognomy skills were given the opportunity to be displayed, and his superb skills and accurate face appeared, so his reputation spread quickly and was admired by many people. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, his friend Zhang Khan invited him to Luoyang to serve as a senior official. Luoyang's dignitaries had already heard of Yuan Tiangang's superb physiognomy and came to seek advice, including Du Yan, who also recommended Yuan Tiangang to enter the imperial court as an official. Yuan Tiangang was good at stammering and perceiving people's hearts, so he was able to make a name for himself in the imperial court.
Du Yan was the first in the Tang Taizong period, ranked as a bachelor of Tiance, and was known for his outstanding talent. When Yuan Tiangang first arrived in Luoyang, Du Yan, Wang Qi and Wei Ting came to him to tell fortunes and inquire about their future. Yuan Tiangang predicted that Du Yan would become a literary hero, Wang Qiguan would be a five-rank official, and Wei Ting would serve as a military attaché, and said that the three would be demoted. Sure enough, their fate matched what Yuan Tiangang said. Du Yan was deeply influenced by Yuan Tiangang's excellent skills, and after being promoted to the imperial historian, he specially composed a poem called "Calling the Imperial Historian to Present Yuan Tiangang". Subsequently, Du Yan recommended Yuan Tiangang to Tang Taizong. When he first faced the saint, Yuan Tiangang showed his ability to meet and figure out people's hearts.
Tang Taizong summoned him and discussed astronomy and geography with him, and fully affirmed his profound knowledge and outstanding skills. In the end, Tang Taizong asked him: "Compared with Yan Junping, which is better or worse?"”。Yuan Tiangang cleverly replied: "I am better than him, because Yan Jun's life is not at the right time", this answer seems to be boasting about himself, but in fact he is flattering Tang Taizong, praising him as a Ming monarch who created a peaceful and prosperous era. Tang Taizong was deeply moved. Yuan Tiangang therefore stayed in the imperial court and served as the "director of the planetarium", responsible for stargazing, and became a member of the emperor's think tank. This is equivalent to his physiognomy skills being officially recognized, which is more mysterious and mysterious.
During his time as an official in the court, Yuan Tiangang predicted the "three great prophecies" mentioned at the beginning of the article, and helped the emperor solve problems and serve the imperial rule. However, when his prediction of "Wu Zetian becoming the emperor" came true, he also brought death to himself. After Wu Zetian became emperor, he was afraid of Yuan Tiangang's clever calculations and deliberately put him to death. When he "wanted to add sin", Yuan Tiangang once again saved himself with divine prophecy. He publicly predicted that Wu Zetian would "flourish in Luoyang and be defeated in Luoyang", which just catered to Wu Zetian's plan to move the capital to Luoyang, and also made Wu Zetian suspicious of his defeat in Luoyang, so he had to leave Yuan Tiangang to continue to work for her.
Yuan Tiangang is good at using divine arithmetic to serve the imperial power, and is also good at catering to the emperor's wishes to make suggestions, and while achieving the great cause of the emperor, he also consolidated his position. He is knowledgeable, good at summarizing, writing books and sayings, and inspiring future generations. Yuan Tiangang's divine arithmetic skills are inseparable from his profound knowledge, not only proficient in physiognomy, but also proficient in six elements and five elements, astronomy and mathematics and other knowledge. He attaches great importance to recording what he has learned into books, and has written more than ten works on physiognomy and feng shui, such as "Tui Bei Tu", "Five Elements Phase", "Yijing Xuanyao", and "Three Worlds Physiognomy", but most of them have been lost and cannot be verified.
At present, there are many works recorded in the original language, such as the "Astronomical Chronicles", "Legal Calendars", and "Five Elements Chronicles" co-authored by him and Li Chunfeng, all of which are included in the "Book of Jin". Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng collaborated on the Zhouyi Bagua, using this knowledge to speculate on the fate of later generations, and created the highly regarded Tui Bei Tu, which is regarded as a prophecy of future fate in China's 2,000-year history. According to historical records, he built a stargazing platform in the ancient city of Langzhong in Sichuan, studied astronomical astronomy for a long time, and compiled this book on the basis of this, leaving a famous prophecy: "Five stars out of the east will benefit China". Yuan Tiangang is widely known for his outstanding achievements in metaphysics, mathematics, and astronomy.
According to historical records, when someone asked him, "How high is your official position?"He replied, "April is ancient," and as a result, he died in April. Historically, Yuan Tiangang was active as a Taoist priest during the Sui and Tang dynasties, overcoming that turbulent era, studying physiognomy hard, and eventually becoming a high-profile "demon". He was good at seizing opportunities, and as a result, he was appreciated by the monarch and provided wisdom and strategy to the emperor.