Luban

The Luban Shu, sometimes called the Book of Luban or the Luban Classic, holds a respected place among occult circles in Chinese-speaking regions, where many people regard it with the same mix of reverence and fear that Western practitioners reserve for the Key of Solomon. In earlier generations nearly every village had its own fangshi, a practitioner trained in the Luban method, and older people usually had a story to tell about one.

On the surface, the work gathers spells into a single volume and adds material on the magical side of feng shui. Its intended reader was a learned practitioner, since many of its procedures rely on intricate Chinese astrology and geometry as well as the techniques of magic itself. No one knows exactly where it began, and several versions circulated across China. Its appeal lies in how it draws on Daoist, Confucian and Buddhist principles in a folk style without adopting their orthodox doctrines, somewhat as Western grimoires assumed a Christian or Jewish outlook. It offers a solitary sorcerer a route to power that does not depend on temples, and it was written for the outsider who also studied the deepest mysteries. Nor does it call for scarce or exotic materials that are hard to obtain today and have lost their significance for modern readers.

The tradition is presented as a living practice rather than a reconstruction from scattered fragments of damaged papyri. Its gods and spirits remain active in countless temples and shrines across Asia, and they are understood to inhabit the land itself, including its stones, trees and flowing water. Alongside the written text runs an oral tradition. This volume includes the text with notes explaining difficult terms, together with spoken teachings passed on by the author's own teacher, Dr. Liang.

Scholars will find a useful record of sorcery practised outside the main Dao stream. Practitioners will find guidance toward a defined path, though the author urges anyone who takes up that side to observe the oral instructions and taboos and to study the initiation into the Luban Pai. One must enter the Luban stream before its methods can work, and the spells must then be cultivated over time. Effectiveness is not instant: a spell generally has to be practised many times before it works. The oral commentary also describes inner work resembling that found in the deeper schools of neigong, as distinct from qigong. The introduction is signed by the author and dated 2022.