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Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
Explaining the Nature, Good, and Ill of the Sixty Stem-Branch Pairs
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Explaining the Nature, Good, and Ill of the Sixty Stem-Branch Pairs
Jiazi Metal is precious treasure and favors positions where Metal and Wood flourish. Advancing Spirit is favored; Blessing Star, Level Head, Suspended Needle, and Broken Character.
Yichou Metal is stubborn ore and favors Fire and southern days and hours. Blessing Star, Canopy of Splendor, and Direct Seal.
Bingyin Fire is furnace charcoal and favors winter and Wood. Blessing Star, Emolument Punishment, Level Head, and Deaf-Mute.
Dingmao Fire is furnace smoke and favors the Xun region and autumn and winter. Level Head, Road Cutting, and Suspended Needle.
Wuchen Wood is unusable timber in mountain forests and wild country and favors Water. Emolument Storehouse, Canopy of Splendor, Water Emolument and Horse Storehouse, Clubs and Staves, Hidden Spirit, and Level Head.
Jisi Wood is flowers and grasses on a mountain and favors spring and autumn. Emolument Storehouse, Eight Auspicious Influences, Missing Character, and Bent Legs.
Gengwu Earth is dry soil beside a road and favors Water and spring. Blessing Star, Office and Noble Person, Road Cutting, Clubs and Staves, and Suspended Needle.
Xinwei Earth contains ten thousand treasures and awaits autumn completion, favoring autumn and Fire. Canopy of Splendor, Suspended Needle, and Broken Character.
Renshen Metal is halberds and spears and greatly favors Zi, Wu, Mao, and You. Level Head, Great Defeat, Obstruction and Harm, Deaf-Mute, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Guiyou Metal is Metal's hammer and chisel and favors Wood and Yin and Mao. Hidden Spirit, Broken Character, and Deaf-Mute.
Jiaxu Fire is where Fire lodges and favors spring and summer. Direct Seal, Canopy of Splendor, Level Head, Suspended Needle, Broken Character, and Clubs and Staves.
Yihai Fire is Fire's heat and favors Earth and summer. Heavenly Virtue and Bent Legs.
Bingzi Water is rivers and lakes and favors Wood and Earth. Blessing Star, Office and Noble Person, Level Head, Deaf-Mute, Crossing Spirit, and Flying Blade.
Dingchou Water is a clear place where Water does not flow and favors Metal and summer. Canopy of Splendor, Advancing Spirit, Level Head, Flying Blade, and Missing Character.
Wuyin Earth is embankments, mounds, and city walls and favors Wood and Fire. Hidden Spirit, the printed Stipend Staff, and Deaf-Mute.
Jimao Earth is broken embankments and ruined walls and favors Shen, You, and Fire. Advancing Spirit, Short Life, Nine Uglies, Missing Character, Bent Legs, and Suspended Needle.
Gengchen Metal is tin and wax and favors autumn and slight Wood. Canopy of Splendor, Great Defeat, Clubs and Staves, and Level Head.
Xinsi Metal is concealed Metal mixed with sand and stones and favors Fire and autumn. Heavenly Virtue, Blessing Star, Office and Noble Person, Road Cutting, Great Defeat, Suspended Needle, and Bent Legs.
Renwu Wood is poplar and willow trunks and joints and favors spring and summer. Office and Noble Person, Nine Uglies, Flying Blade, Level Head, Deaf-Mute, and Suspended Needle.
Guiwei Wood is poplar and willow roots and favors winter and Water; spring is also suitable. Direct Seal, Canopy of Splendor, Short Life, Hidden Spirit, Flying Blade, and Broken Character.
Jiashen Water is a sweet well and favors spring and summer. Broken Emolument and Horse, Road Cutting, Level Head, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Yiyou Water is Water in a shaded ravine and favors the east and south. Broken Emolument, Short Life, Nine Uglies, Bent Legs, Broken Character, and Deaf-Mute.
Bingxu Earth is heaps and mounds and favors spring, summer, and Water. Heavenly Virtue, Canopy of Splendor, Level Head, and Deaf-Mute.
Dinghai Earth is a level plain and favors Fire and Wood. Tianyi, Blessing Star, Office and Noble Person, Virtue Combination, and Level Head.
Wuzi Fire is thunder. It favors Water and spring and summer. With Earth, the source gives the unclear expression spirit-heaven. Hidden Spirit, Short Life, Nine Uglies, Staff Punishment, and Flying Blade.
Jichou Fire is lightning and favors Water and spring and summer; obtaining ground, it becomes dim. Canopy of Splendor, Great Defeat, Flying Blade, Bent Legs, and Missing Character.
Gengyin Wood is pine and cypress trunks and joints and favors autumn and winter. Broken Emolument and Horse, Mutual Punishment, Staff Punishment, and Deaf-Mute.
Xinmao Wood is pine and cypress roots and favors Water and Earth; spring is also suitable. Broken Emolument, Crossing Spirit, Nine Uglies, and Suspended Needle.
Renchen Water is dragon Water and favors thunder, lightning, spring, and summer. Direct Seal, Heavenly Virtue, Water Emolument and Horse Storehouse, Retreating Spirit, Level Head, and Deaf-Mute.
Guisi Water never rests and flows into the sea; it favors Hai and Zi, where transformation occurs. Tianyi, Office and Noble Person, Virtue Combination, Hidden Horse, Broken Character, and Bent Legs.
Jiawu Metal is fine Metal refined a hundred times and favors Water, Wood, and Earth. Advancing Spirit, Virtue Combination, Level Head, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Yiwei Metal is Metal remaining from furnace charcoal and favors great Fire and Earth. Canopy of Splendor, Road Cutting, Bent Legs, and Broken Character.
Bingshen Fire is white cogongrass burning in the wild and favors autumn, winter, and Wood. Level Head, Deaf-Mute, Great Defeat, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Dingyou Fire is the numinous resonance of spirits, Fire without visible form, and favors Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei. Tianyi, Joy Spirit, Level Head, Broken Character, Deaf-Mute, and Great Defeat.
Wuxu Wood is withered wormwood and mugwort and favors Fire and spring and summer. Canopy of Splendor, Great Defeat, Eight Exclusives, Staff Punishment, and Road Cutting.
Jihai Wood is wormwood and mugwort thatch and favors Water and spring and summer. Missing Character and Bent Legs.
Gengzi Earth is Earth hollow within, namely houses and buildings, and favors Wood and Metal. The printed Wood Virtue Combination and Staff Punishment.
Xinchou Earth is graves and favors Wood, Fire, and spring. Canopy of Splendor, Suspended Needle, and Missing Character.
Renyin Metal is decorative Metal and favors Wood and slight Fire. Road Cutting, Level Head, and Deaf-Mute.
Guimao Metal is rings, knobs, clamps, and bells and favors strong Fire and autumn. Noble Person, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Jiachen Fire is a lamp and favors night and Water, disliking day. Canopy of Splendor, Great Defeat, Level Head, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Yisi Fire is lamplight, with the same preferences as above, especially favoring Shen, You, and autumn. Direct Emolument and Horse, Great Defeat, Bent Legs, and Missing Character.
Bingwu Fire is the moon's disc and favors night and autumn; Water is Flourishing. Joy Spirit, Sheep Blade, Crossing Spirit, Level Head, Deaf-Mute, and Suspended Needle.
Dingwei Water is firelight, with the same preferences as above. Canopy of Splendor, Sheep Blade, Retreating Spirit, Eight Exclusives, Level Head, and Broken Character.
Wushen Earth is autumn fields and favors Shen, You, and Fire. Blessing Star, Hidden Horse, Staff Punishment, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Jiyou Earth is autumn grain and favors Shen, You, and winter. Retreating Spirit, Road Cutting, Nine Uglies, Missing Character, Bent Legs, Broken Character, and Deaf-Mute.
Gengxu Metal is what remains of blades and swords and favors slight Fire and Wood. Canopy of Splendor and Staff Punishment.
Xinhai Metal is the solid substance of bells and cauldrons and favors Wood, Fire, and Earth. Direct Emolument and Horse and Suspended Needle.
Renzi Wood is Wood injured by too much Water and favors Fire, Earth, and summer. Sheep Blade, Nine Uglies, Level Head, and Deaf-Mute.
Guichou Wood is Wood injured by too little Water and favors Metal, Water, and autumn. Canopy of Splendor, Blessing Star, Eight Exclusives, Broken Character, Missing Character, and Sheep Blade.
Jiayin Water is rain and favors summer and Fire. Direct Emolument and Horse, Blessing Spirit, Eight Exclusives, Level Head, Broken Character, Suspended Needle, and Deaf-Mute.
Yimao Water is dew and favors Water and Fire. Established Emolument, Joy Spirit, Eight Exclusives, Nine Blades, Bent Legs, and Suspended Needle. Bingchen Earth is embankments and favors Metal and Wood. Emolument Storehouse, Direct Seal, Canopy of Splendor, Road Cutting, Level Head, and Deaf-Mute.
Dingsi Earth is sodden Earth and favors Fire and the northwest. Emolument Storehouse, Level Head, Missing Character, and Bent Legs.
Wuwu Fire is the sun's disc: people fear it in summer and love it in winter. It avoids Wuzi, Jichou, Jiayin, and Yimao. Hidden Spirit, Sheep Blade, Nine Uglies, Clubs and Staves, and Suspended Needle.
The printed Yi-Wei Fire is sunlight, avoids night, and also fears those four. Blessing Star, Canopy of Splendor, Sheep Blade, Missing Character, Bent Legs, and Broken Character.
Gengshen Wood is pomegranate blossom and favors summer, being unsuited to autumn and winter. Established Emolument and Horse, Eight Exclusives, Staff Punishment, Broken Character, and Suspended Needle.
Xinyou Wood is pomegranate fruit and favors autumn and summer. Established Emolument, Crossing Spirit, Nine Uglies, Eight Exclusives, Suspended Needle, and Deaf-Mute.
Renxu Water is the sea and favors spring, summer, and Wood. Canopy of Splendor, Retreating Spirit, Level Head, Deaf-Mute, and Staff Punishment.
Guihai Water is the hundred rivers and favors Metal, Earth, and Fire. Hidden Horse, Great Defeat, Broken Character, and Road Cutting.
Among the sixty stem-branch pairs above, the great and abundant avoid changing into the small and weak; do the small and weak seek to become great and abundant? Poverty and low status followed by wealth and rank give glory, while wealth and rank followed by poverty and low status give humiliation. One must not ignore later wealth and rank because of earlier poverty and low status, nor ignore later poverty and low status because of earlier wealth and rank. If the birth year belongs to Wood, for example Gengyin or Xinmao, its greatness and abundance are evident. If month, day, hour, and conception show no other Wood, judge it as Pine-and-Cypress. If Poplar-and-Willow or the printed Zhe-Pomegranate Wood appears above, abandon the great for the small and do not judge it as Pine-and-Cypress. For Renwu or Guiwei births, Wood's smallness and weakness are evident. If month, day, hour, and conception show no other Wood, judge it as Poplar-and-Willow. If Pine-and-Cypress or Great-Forest Wood appears, abandon the small and judge by the great, not by Poplar-and-Willow. Likewise, for births under Fire in Heaven, Sword-Edge Metal, Great-Sea Water, or Great-Post-Station Earth, month, day, hour, and conception may show other positions of the same Nayin phase but small and weak. Conversely, births under Covered-Lamp Fire, Metal Foil, Well-and-Spring Water, or Earth in Sand may show other positions of the same Nayin phase but great and abundant. Whether raising the ordinary into the sage's realm or passing from weightiness to lightness, judge according to the transformation and do not cling to one aspect.
Jiazi is Metal that follows transformation. Its energy is dispersed; assistance from Wushen Earth and Guisi Water is auspicious. Wushen is Metal's Assuming Office position, and Earth further flourishes at Zi, so generation and completion are certain. With Guisi, Metal is born at Si and Water flourishes at Zi, so each Nayin has its destination. It is also Emolument Attending the Origin and avoids Dingmao, Dingyou, and Wuwu Fires.
Yichou is Metal in its own Storehouse. Fire cannot conquer it. Metal already stored naturally has no conquest, harm, clash, or disruption; none fails to become honored and prominent. It avoids only Jichou and Jiwei Fires. Yan Dongsou says: “Yichou is Direct Seal, possessing great blessings and virtue. Autumn and winter give wealth, rank, and longevity; spring and summer contain harm within good fortune. Fitting a configuration gives achievement and enjoyment of blessings; bearing Killings generally makes a harmful assembly.” The Precious Mirror of the Jade Empyrean says: “Jiazi and Yichou are not yet finished implements. Metal seeing Fire becomes complete; seeing much is auspicious.”
Bingyin is brilliantly blazing Fire. Without Water to restrain it, there is danger of scorching heat; Water must not be excessive. It especially loves Jiayin Water, balancing it in the corresponding position. This is also called Emolument Attending the Origin. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Bingyin Fire contains numinous brightness and pure, open energy, with the virtue of generation through all four seasons. Entering a noble configuration, literary brilliance manifests, indicating the distinction of a leading examination placing.”
Dingmao is Fire with hidden brightness. Its energy is weak and should be generated by Wood. Meeting Water is harmful; Yimao and Yiyou Waters are most severe.
Wuchen is Wood beneath two Earths. Many Metals cannot conquer it, because Earth generates Metal and has the way of mother and child. Obtaining Water to generate it is favorable. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Wuchen, Gengyin, and Guichou are three positions expressing firm virtue and clear, vigorous numbers. Born in spring or summer, one can stand independently, strive alone, and succeed through adaptation. Further meeting Flourishing energy gives ambition reaching the clouds and towering over ravines. Only autumn birth is feared: though possessing resolve and integrity, one is bent down and cannot extend.” Jisi is Wood close to Fire. Metal is born here and does it no injury; it avoids seeing Metal at Birth or Flourishing. Yan Dongsou says: “Jisi at Xun is Wood stirred by wind, its roots insecure and easily pulled up. Only when harmonized with Metal and Earth, and fortune takes a southeastern course, does it become useful timber. Although yang outside and yin within, without other assistance its energy is empty and scattered; further conquered by Metal as a hostile agent, it is unusable Wood.”
Gengwu and Xinwei are Earth just beginning to be born. Wood cannot conquer them. They avoid only excessive Water, which instead injures their energy. Much Wood, however, has a destination, because Wood returns to Wei. Yan Dongsou says: “Gengwu, Xinwei, Wushen, and Jiyou are all Earth of substantial virtue, containing, tranquil, and harmonious, with ample blessings and emoluments. Entering a configuration, one often serves in provincial administration and achieves broad benefit and universal care.”
Renshen is Metal at Assuming Office and benefits from seeing Water and Earth. Bingshen, Bingyin, and Wuwu Fires instead bring calamity. The Precious Mirror of the Jade Empyrean says: “Renshen and Guiyou are Metal's Flourishing positions. They must not flourish further: excessive flourishing injures things. They must not see Fire: seeing Fire injures themselves.”
Jiaxu is Fire in its own Storehouse. It does not dislike much Water and avoids only Renxu. This is conquest received within the Tomb, whose affliction is hard to escape. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Jiaxu Fire is Seal and Storehouse, containing the hidden energy of utmost yang. A noble configuration meeting it gives magnificent wealth and rank. Only renewed generation is feared; beware harm within good fortune.” Yihai is Fire with hidden brightness, its energy stifled and unable to issue. It borrows Jihai, Xinmao, Jisi, and Renwu to develop. Wei Wood generating it makes spirit and energy Flourishing and Supported; Guihai and Bingwu Waters present are inauspicious.
Bingzi is spreading and flowing Water. It does not fear much Earth but dislikes only Gengzi, a hostile agent met amid Flourishing: nothing could be more inauspicious. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Bingzi is Water at its own Flourishing, yang above and yin below, with spirit and energy complete. Those receiving it are broad and open in natural endowment and deep in understanding. In spring and summer it is energy benefiting things, often producing achievements of useful service.”
Dingchou is Water in which blessings gather. It most loves generation by Metal and avoids Xinwei, Bingchen, and Bingxu because of mutual punishment and disruption. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Dingchou and Yiyou are dispersed and weak Water in the calculations, with yin strong and yang weak. Those receiving them have clear judgment, much intelligence, and few blessings. Enfolding them in Flourishing Water and Wood energy balances and harmonizes yin and yang, forming energy of noble advancement and high prominence.”
Wuyin is injured Earth, weakest of all, requiring Fire at Birth or Flourishing to support its energy. It avoids conquest by Jihai, Gengyin, Xinmao, and the other Woods, indicating the harm of a short life. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Wuyin and Bingxu ride Earth's substantial virtuous energy: one contains newly born Fire and one contains lodged Fire. This is yang numinousness entering within, positions of blessing and celebration. In a noble configuration, virtue surpasses the age and rank reaches the highest among ministers; imperial princes and noble sons are especially often born on these days. In an ordinary configuration, they also indicate enduring blessings and longevity, with ease from beginning to end.”
Jimao is Earth at its own Death, under still greater suppression. It is valuable to obtain Dingmao, Jiaxu, Yihai, or Jiwei Fire, coming through combination to bring blessings. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Jimao is Earth at its own Death, established in Zhen, where wind moves and thunder stirs. Dispersing as harmonious energy, its virtue arises from openness and emptiness. Those receiving it generally have cultivated conduct, adapting to change, with the blessings and longevity of freely nurturing life. Only Death and Extinction are unfavorable, making one of those who borrow for long and never return.”
Gengchen is Metal with gathered energy. It needs no Fire restraint: its implement forms of itself. Strong Fire instead destroys the implement; Fire at Illness or Extinction does no harm. Jiachen and Yisi Fires are harmful beyond telling. It also cannot conquer much Wood, since its own energy is merely gathered. Yan Dongsou says: “Gengchen Metal possesses firm, vigorous, deep virtue and an intelligent, perceptive nature. In spring and summer, blessing and calamity lie within one another; in autumn and winter, refinement and fullness appear. Entering a configuration gives both civil and military resources; bearing Killings gives a liking for wielding military power.”
Xinsi is Metal at its own Birth, complete in spirit, substance, and energy, not destroyed even in blazing transformation. It avoids Bingchen, Yisi, and Wuwu Fires. Metal is born at Si but cannot continue generating at its Defeat at Wu; at Yin it is Extinct and its energy scattered. How could it withstand further Fire at Birth or Flourishing? Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Xinsi Metal is a Study Hall at its own Birth, with brilliant, remarkable virtue. Autumn and winter give complete strength; for spring and summer the supplied phrase is the good of seven harms. Entering a noble configuration indicates outstanding learning and conduct, bringing upright distinction and a constant wish to benefit things.”
Renwu is gentle Wood with weak branches and trunk. Wood can generate Fire, but much Fire is feared: too much reduces it to ash. Even Metal at Birth or Flourishing cannot injure it, because Metal reaches Defeat in relation to it; obtaining Metal instead brings rank. Abundant Water and Earth also bring rank. Only Jiawu Metal is feared as injuring it. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Renwu is Wood at its own Death. When Wood is Dead or Extinct, the soul wanders and spirit and energy become numinously refined. Those receiving it express quiet brightness and hold the courage of the benevolent, establishing achievements and conduct. They may be called quiet yet courageous, prolonging years and increasing longevity.”
Guiwei is Wood in its own Storehouse. Birth and Flourishing are favorable. Even Yichou Metal cannot clash with and break it: each returns to its root without infringing the other. It avoids Gengxu and Yiwei Metals. The Precious Mirror of the Jade Empyrean says: “Renwu and Guiwei are called Poplar-and-Willow Wood because Wood reaches Death at Wu and Tomb at Wei. Thus in high summer the leaves are dense. Obtaining its proper time gives wealth and longevity; outside its time, poverty and early death.”
Jiashen is Water at its own Birth. Its energy spreads and flows and should have a directing course. It also borrows Metal's generation and does not fear much Earth, but especially dislikes Wushen and Gengzi Earth. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Jiashen Water is at its own Birth and contains the Study Hall of heavenly genuineness. Obtaining it within a configuration indicates intelligent understanding and inexhaustible subtle application.”
Yiyou is Water at its own Defeat. It borrows many Metals for assistance: its own energy is already weak, so it depends on its mother for nurture. It avoids Jiyou, Jimao, Wushen, Gengzi, and Xinchou Earth, which give early death, poverty, and low status. Bingxu is Earth of strong blessings and substantial emoluments. Wood cannot conquer it. It avoids seeing Metal at Birth or Flourishing; meeting abundant Fire gives indescribable rank.
Dinghai is Earth at Assuming Office. Wood cannot conquer it. It dislikes much Metal and requires Fire to generate and rescue it before it is auspicious. It avoids Jihai and Xinmao Woods. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Dinghai and Gengzi are two Earths containing Metal's numbers, firm within and harmonious without. Those receiving them obtain steadiness. Beneath Earth, balancing with Flourishing Water and Fire energy allows achievements to be established and bold, commanding, decisive conduct undertaken.”
Wuzi and Jichou are Fire within Water, also called Fire of the Numinous Dragon. Only on meeting Water do they become noble, as Sovereign Fire among the six energies. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Wuzi contains complete and substantial energy of spirit and radiance, giving the blessing of preserving life through all four seasons. Entering a noble configuration makes a great and exemplary person, broad in bearing, with wealth, rank, and an auspicious end.” Jichou is Fire of the Heavenly General and also Tianyi's own home. Containing brilliant, substantial energy of authority and blessing, it issues with force and vigor. A noble configuration riding it has a general's virtue, a leading name, and established achievement. The Scripture of the Illuminating Spirit says: “Chou is Fire at Womb and Nurture; its energy gradually grows. If Bingyin and Wuwu Fires assist it, it can achieve benefit for things.”
Gengyin and Xinmao are Wood of the cold season. Snow and frost cannot change their integrity; how much less could Metal conquer them? Geng and Xin stand above, so without borrowing restraint or treatment, they naturally become useful timber. Yan Dongsou says: “Xinmao Wood is at its own Flourishing. In spring and summer, spirit and integrity stand tall and achievements are established. Born in autumn, it is impetuous or narrowly self-restrained, frustrated and broken, its vigorous energy unable to extend.”
Renchen is Water in its own Storehouse, like a pond or marsh where Water gathers, avoiding Metal that breaches it. Seeing Renchen again is called self-punishment; another Chen brings no fault. It welcomes much Water and Earth, but fears Renxu, Guihai, and Bingzi Waters: Birth and Flourishing become excessive and it spreads boundlessly without a destination. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Renchen Water is Direct Seal, containing the virtue of clarity, moisture, and nourishment. Those receiving it are broad and accommodating, with mind and understanding like a mirror. In spring and summer it gives great blessings and wisdom; in autumn and winter, people are generally deceitful and without virtue.”
Guisi is Water at its own Extinction, called the Dried-Up Stream. With the substantial Earths Bingxu, Dinghai, and Gengzi, drying up may be expected. If Metal at Birth or Flourishing in the three harmonies generates it, the source gushes continuously, filling hollows before advancing. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Guisi and Yimao are Water at their own Extinction and Death. At utmost yin's retreat, they hide true essence and conserve it, nurturing and condensing into noble energy. A noble configuration riding them generally belongs to a subtle Way; the following compressed ruler clause attributes longstanding, constant virtue and achievements benefiting things.”
Jiawu is Metal at its own Defeat, also called strong and fierce Metal. Meeting Fire at Birth or Flourishing completes its implement. Dingmao, Dingyou, and Wuzi Fires are feared as harmful. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Jiawu Metal is the leading energy of Advancing Spirit and possesses firm, bright virtue. Autumn and winter are auspicious; spring and summer may be harmful. Entering a noble configuration indicates achievements in the examination field and in establishing command over the multitude, in the supplied compressed wording. Outside its proper time and bearing Killings, it gives violent cruelty, little kindness, and scant righteousness.”
Yiwei is Metal in a subsidiary Storehouse. It is also restrained by Fire, while Earth generating it strengthens blessings and gathers energy. It avoids Jiwei, Bingshen, and Dingyou Fires. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Yiwei Metal is Wood's Storehouse in the calculations and also the Heavenly General. It possesses pure benevolence and substantial righteousness, auspicious wherever it goes. In a noble configuration it makes an exceptional hero, leading and steadying the ranks of scholars. In an ordinary configuration, even bearing Killings and infringed by clashes, it makes a gentleman among lesser people, a person of venerable longevity.”
Bingshen is Fire at its own Illness; Dingyou, Fire at its own Death. Their energy is extremely slight, and only by borrowing Wood's assistance does it arise. They avoid Jiashen, Yiyou, Jiayin, and Yimao Waters. Yan Dongsou says: “Bingshen is ailing Fire. Wood gives it the virtue of cultivated brightness; Water, an open and broad nature; Earth, the foundation of blessing and wisdom. Only Metal is described by the printed violent-fever phrase: even with auspicious positions, it changes into discordant energy.”
Wuxu is Wood within Earth. It avoids seeing Earth repeatedly; much Earth Nayin gives lifelong obstruction and hardship. Metal cannot conquer it, because Metal energy disperses at Xu; meeting Metal can instead bring blessings. Much Water and abundant Wood are beneficial and make a noble configuration. Yan Dongsou says: “Wuxu Wood stands alone on a solitary root. Harmonizing it with Flourishing Water and Fire energy gives brilliant, refined, substantial virtue. Entering a configuration, one advances through writing and enjoys blessings and emoluments from beginning to end. Yet riding the Heavenly General's energy indicates passing through hardships and dangers without altering integrity; only then are blessings in later life seen.”
Jihai is Wood at its own Birth. Its roots are abundant; it does not fear many Metals, disliking only Xinhai, Xinsi, and Guiyou Metals. Seeing Yimao or Dingwei Water and Guiwei Wood invariably gives great rank. Yan Dongsou says: “Jihai Wood in its proper time gives upright distinction; outside its time, hardship.”
Gengzi is a person of substantial virtue, as printed. It can conquer much Water and does not fear other Wood, because Wood has no energy at Zi. Meeting Renshen Metal is called Emolument in a Manifest Position, and rank is certain. Xinchou is Earth where blessings gather. Many Woods cannot conquer it, because Chou is Metal's Storehouse and contains Metal: what injury comes from seeing Wood? The Precious Mirror of the Jade Empyrean says: “Gengzi and Xinchou Earth love Wood and dislike Water. Seeing Wood gives Office; seeing Water is unsuitable.”
Renyin is Metal at its own Extinction; Guimao is Metal with dispersed energy. Seeing many Fires loses its energy; only Water and Earth attending it are auspicious. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Renyin and Guimao are empty, thin Metal, with the virtue of soft benevolence and firm righteousness. The printed Ke-and-winter clause gives vigor without harm, with harm becoming a good omen. Spring and summer give harm within and good fortune without, with good fortune preceded by harm. Entering a noble configuration gives brilliant resolve and integrity; bearing Killings gives violence and inability to reach a good end.”
Jiachen is Fire in a subsidiary Storehouse. Much Fire assisting it is auspicious: like energies seek one another to support its insufficiency. Wuchen and Wuxu Wood generating it form a noble configuration. Renchen, Renxu, Bingwu, and Dingwei Waters are feared as most severe. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Jiachen is Fire of the Heavenly General, containing swift, keen, forceful energy. Entering a noble configuration gives outstanding advancement and a leading literary placing. It favors autumn and winter and disfavors summer.”
Yisi is Fire at Assuming Office. Water cannot conquer it, because Water is Extinct at Si; Water balancing it instead makes it pure. Two or three Fires assisting it are also favorable. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Yisi Fire contains pure yang energy issuing through Xun, with full radiance. Spring and winter tend toward good fortune, summer and autumn toward harm.”
Bingwu and Dingwei are Water of the Silver River. Earth cannot conquer them; Water in heaven cannot be generated by earthly Metal. Excessive Birth and Flourishing instead injure the myriad things; excessive Death and Extinction cannot generate them. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Bingwu is supremely elevated Water, embodying the south's warm, substantial energy. Those receiving it generally possess the Way's open and transforming energy, unusual intelligence, effective action, and distinction beyond their peers. Dingwei possesses the full Metal numbers of the Three Powers and obtains open, upright energy. Those receiving it have complete spirit and energy, a subtle and elevated root of character, and full understanding of the way of transformation.”
Wushen is Earth of massive mounds. Wood is Extinct at Shen and cannot conquer it. Much assistance from Metal and Water forms a configuration of wealth, rank, honor, and distinction.
Jiyou is Earth at its own Defeat. Its energy is insufficient and borrows Fire's assistance. Dingmao and Dingyou Fires are auspicious; Death and Extinction must be avoided. Xinmao and Xinyou Woods are feared, bringing calamity, obstruction, and early death. Gengxu and Xinhai are Metal gradually becoming complete. Fire must not be seen, for fear of injury. Water and Earth assisting them give rank. Yan Dongsou says: “Gengxu is Metal in Fire's Tomb, possessing the violence of fierce self-reliance. Moving in autumn, it approaches depth and gravity; spring and summer activity produces regret and privation. A gentleman holds military and penal authority; a lesser person indulges a wild and fierce nature. Xinhai Metal receives Qian's vigorous, pure, bright, centered, and upright energy. Spring, autumn, and winter are auspicious; summer is seven parts good and three parts harmful. A noble configuration riding it embodies benevolence and guards righteousness. Bearing Punishment and Killings, it indulges violence and greed for achievement.”
Renzi is Wood in an exclusive position; Guichou, Wood in a subsidiary Storehouse. Meeting Death and Extinction gives wealth and rank; Birth and Flourishing give poverty and low status. Much Water gives early death; much Metal and abundant Earth are favorable. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Renzi is hidden yin Wood, yang weak and yin strong, soft and unable to stand, resembling benevolent Water virtue. In application, only pairing it with Bingwu Water makes the pure, open virtue of Water and Wood, generally entering the pattern of immortals or unusual adepts, no ordinary kind.”
Jiayin is Water at its own Illness; Yimao, Water at its own Death. Although ailing or dead, Earth cannot conquer them, because the two Woods of stem and branch can restrain Earth. Seeing Renyin and Guimao Metals gives abundance. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Jiayin and Renxu are two Waters of hidden opposition, with yin overcoming yang, indicating deceit, perversity, and harm to things. Only balancing them through additions and reductions of Fire and Earth makes a great implement.”
Bingchen is Earth in its own Storehouse, thick and strong, favoring Jiachen Fire and disliking Wuchen Wood. Ordinary Wood cannot injure this Earth: Bing is Fire, Chen is Fire's subsidiary Storehouse, and Earth is already a finished implement. It dislikes only Wuxu, Jihai, Xinmao, and Wuchen Woods. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Bingchen Earth is Direct Seal and establishes the virtue of an auspicious assembly of the five blessings. Those receiving it generally enjoy great success and effective action, with rank if not wealth. Only those infringed by clashes often become Buddhist or Daoist clergy.”
Dingsi is Earth at its own Extinction, yet is not considered Extinct: one Earth lies beneath two Fires, in its parents' region, receiving natural familial favor. Thus it is not Extinct. Wood cannot conquer it; more Fire is increasingly favorable. The Precious Mirror of the Jade Empyrean says: “Dingsi contains the Flourishing virtue of southeastern Fire. Those obtaining its numbers are accommodating, blessed, and long lived.” Wuwu is Fire at its own Flourishing; Jiwei, Fire in a subsidiary Storehouse. Occupying Li's bright direction and the ground of Flourishing and Support, their energy is extremely abundant, and other Waters do no harm. Bingwu and Dingwei Waters in Heaven are feared. Essential Discussions of the Five Phases says: “Jiwei is declining Fire containing the residual energy of stored treasure. In spring and summer months, fortune entering a deeply hidden region gives clear understanding, keen intelligence, and profound blessings and celebrations. Receiving it in summer does not give harmonious energy; receiving it in autumn gives good fortune first and harm afterward.”
Gengshen and Xinyou are two Woods with Metal above Wood, becoming implements through Metal. Seeing Metal again is feared as destroying the implement. Seeing Jiashen or Yiyou Water fits a configuration. The Precious Mirror of the Jade Empyrean says: “Gengshen is Wood at its own Extinction, with a wandering soul and transforming spirit. People born on this day are generally no ordinary vessels. In an ordinary configuration they have unusual natural gifts and are unconfined by the family; entering a noble configuration gives heroic talent and achievements unparalleled in the age. Xinyou is Wood that has lost its position, confined in Metal's region. Those riding it face much hardship in the world. Only paired with Guimao Metal do hardness and softness support each other, allowing one to stand above the crowd and decisively win a high examination placing.”
Renxu is Water in a subsidiary Storehouse; Guihai, Water at Assuming Office. They are called Great-Sea Water. Stems, branches, and Nayin all belong to Water, so a multitude of Waters is feared: even Renchen's Water Storehouse cannot withstand them. Other Earths are not feared. Death and Extinction are auspicious; Birth and Flourishing give flooding without a destination. The Precious Mirror of the Jade Empyrean says: “Hai and Zi are Water's proper positions. Renxu's energy is hidden and not compliant; only Water and Earth adding to and reducing it make a great implement. Guihai possesses pure yang numbers and embodies utmost benevolence within. Those receiving it are naturally open and broad, with vast resolve and energy; these issue in accomplished undertakings and benefits extending through days and hours. Bearing Killings makes a harmful and crafty person.”
It also says: Bingxu Earth gives lofty and substantial blessings because Fire gathers here. Jiwei, Gengchen, Wuchen, and Dingchou have the same meaning. Jiwei is Fire, with Tomb Wood within Wei; Gengchen is Metal, with Tomb Earth within Chen; Wuchen is Wood, with Tomb Water within Chen; Dingchou is Water, with Tomb Metal within Chou. All are parental energies, each with its nourishment. These five possess strong and substantial blessings; even injury by a hostile agent does no harm, because their energy is complete.
Yisi and Wuwu are fiercely blazing Fire. In autumn and winter they act through virtue and are auspicious; in spring and summer they act through Punishment and are harmful. If midsummer's violent heat erupts, it quickly returns to dryness and burning, with harmony turning into fault in the source's wording. Yisi is Fire at Assuming Office, with one Wood above generating it, so its energy is abundant. Wuwu is Fire at its own Flourishing. Born in autumn or winter, it is warming energy and the virtue that benefits things. Born in spring or summer, Flourishing Fire further attains a yang position and becomes harmful; born in midsummer, it gives violent, cruel, harmful, and short-lived people, according to the text.
Yimao, Guisi, Dingyou, and Yihai are Water and Fire which, although at Death or Extinction, are clear, bright, subtle, and favorable. Fire at Death or Extinction is bright within and dim without, turning its light back. Water at Death or Extinction is deeply clear and can illuminate beard and eyebrows. Thus they are instead clear, bright, subtle, and favorable.
Renyin Metal serves its ruler without rebellion; Gengshen Wood acts as a minister without becoming overbearing. The five phases belong to the five tones: gong Earth is the ruler, shang Metal the minister, and jue Wood the people. Excessive shang makes the minister strong; excessive jue makes the ruler weak. Thus among the five tones the four clear tones are regularly used to reduce shang and jue. Gengshen is jue Wood at its own Extinction; Renyin is shang Metal at its own Extinction. Their dispositions attain the way of loyalty and compliance, so they serve the ruler without rebellion and are not overbearing as ministers. Therefore offices from Ziwei, Luantai, and Fengge upward must especially avoid charts with Metal or Wood at Birth or Flourishing: such people certainly cannot occupy them, or cannot remain long if they do. Only censorial and remonstrance offices are suitable. If Metal or Wood is at Birth or Flourishing but conquered and disrupted, this does not apply. With Gengshen Wood and Yisi Fire, Earth and Metal are born yet do not arise; with Bingwu Water and Guimao Metal, Wood and Water die yet do not die. Earth is born at Shen but not at Gengshen; Water is born at Shen but not at Wushen; Fire is born at Yin but not at Jiayin; Metal is born at Si but not at Yisi; Wood is born at Hai but not at Xinhai. This is restraint instead received at a place of Birth; obtaining it indicates short life. Wood dies at Mao but not at Guimao; Earth dies at Mao but not at Dingmao; Wood dies at Wu but not at Bingwu; Metal dies at Zi but not at Gengzi; Fire dies at You but not at Xinyou. This is Birth obtained at a place of Death; those obtaining it are long lived.
Wuzi's stem and branch flourish in the north, Water's position, while its Nayin is Fire. It is Fire within Water, possessed only by the numinous dragon. Bingwu's stem and branch flourish in the south, Fire's position, while its Nayin is Water. It is Water within Fire, found only in the Heavenly River. A Wuzi person obtaining Bingwu, or a Bingwu person obtaining Wuzi, invariably gains rank. Water is born within Fire and Fire hidden within Water; Water and Fire are Already Across, with spirit and energy in motion, and the person must be numinously exceptional.
Xinchou Earth does not dislike Wood, and Wuxu Wood does not fear Metal. How is this distinguished? Chou contains Metal's Storehouse, so Wood is no hostile agent. Xu contains Fire, so Metal instead suffers harm. Wuxu Wood has two Earths above and one Wood below, buried within the two Earths, not yet sprouted and without visible form: Earth is abundant and Wood weak. Follow this example elsewhere.
Gengyin Wood and Dingsi Earth do not dislike Metal and Wood as hostile agents. Metal reaching Yin, although a hostile agent, is Extinct there, so it is not treated as one. Wood reaching Si encounters Metal born there that conquers Wood, so it is not a hostile agent. If Gengyin Wood meets Renshen Metal, it receives conquest through a clash. Follow this example elsewhere. Gengwu Earth rides the south's Flourishing Fire to nourish its form; Wushen Earth is at its own Birth and Gengzi Earth at its own Fullness. They do not fear Wood as a hostile agent, because Wood is Dead at Wu, Extinct at Shen, and Defeated at Zi. What injury can it do to Earth which is itself strong? Follow this example elsewhere.
The four Metals Renshen, Guiyou, Gengxu, and Xinhai have strong energy and do not dislike a hostile agent. Wuzi Fire does not fear its hostile agent either. It is thunderbolt Fire within Water, possessed by the numinous dragon; only with Water does thunder sound. Meeting Bingwu and the printed Yu-Wei Heavenly Water is, however, feared, with the action of mutual combat. In general, injured natal stems and branches indicate insufficiency in the six faculties and beginnings without endings, as with Dingsi seeing Guihai or Renzi seeing Wuwu. Follow this example elsewhere.
Wuwu and Gengshen obtaining one another are extraordinary. Gengshen is Pomegranate Wood, flourishing in summer, so it favors Wuwu. Fire Office is Flourishing, and Pomegranate Wood's nature obtains its proper season. Wuwu is Fire at utmost Flourishing and favors Shen, obtaining Heavenly Horse for mutual support. Spirit-Head Emolument is the ten stems' exclusive-position Emolument: exclusive positions of yin and yang, where the spirits of heaven and earth assemble. It sets out the true sources of the eight trigrams and unfolds success and failure in the five phases, hardness and softness pushing one another, presence and absence combining and transforming. Thus Renzi Water corresponds to northern Kan and Bingwu Fire embodies southern Li. Bingwu obtaining Renzi is therefore not disruption, and Dingsi obtaining Guihai is not a clash. This is the source of Water and Fire's mutual balance and the principle of husband and wife combining. Kan and Li function as the spirit and energy of man and woman. Renzi obtaining Bingwu, or Guihai obtaining Dingsi, instead has Fire and Water in reversed sequence and the image of Not Yet Across; it is inferior to Dingsi seeing Renzi or Bingwu obtaining Guihai.
Gengshen and Xinyou Metal correspond to western Dui, while Jiayin and Yimao Wood image eastern Zhen. Thus Jiayin obtaining Gengshen is not Punishment, and Yimao obtaining Xinyou does not encounter a hostile agent. This is the proper form of Wood wife and Metal husband, clarifying the numinous transformations of left and right. Wood governs the hun soul and Metal the po soul. The two stand left and right, separated and not combining; if Metal can combine, spirit transforms and generates without an interval. Gengshen obtaining Yimao or Xinyou obtaining Jiayin is not Original Influence; this is the adaptable application.
Wuchen and Wuxu Earth form an assembly of Kuigang. Qian and Kun are abundantly endowed, covering, carrying, containing, and generating; this must not be regarded as Reversed Repetition. Wuchen and Wuxu do not clash: Earth obtains its proper position and the stems guard the primal assembly. Jichou and Jiwei are noble spirits maintaining loyalty and integrity. These four true Earths have the way of all things' beginning and end. Who but a great and exemplary person could possess this virtue? Moreover, each Spirit-Head Emolument has a spirit presiding over it, moving left and right within the six directions and waxing and waning through changes of good and ill.
Jichou Earth is the Tianyi Noble Person; Jiwei Earth is Taichang, the Blessing Spirit. They resolve the harm of the hundred Killings; obtaining them should be used as the joy of unexpected wealth. Wuchen is Gouchen; Wuxu is Heavenly Void. Earth's spirits often move and change, serving as commanders in outer territories or going out to guard the frontier, with unusual circumstances. Dingsi is the Serpent spirit, acting harmfully through harmful conditions and receiving good fortune through auspicious ones, with much concern associated with Yinghuo and a witty or comic nature. Bingwu is the Vermilion Bird spirit, corresponding to yang brightness and splendid literary language. Jiayin is the Azure Dragon spirit, giving widely, aiding the multitude, and obtaining benefits from all four directions. Yimao is the Six Harmonies spirit, governing emergence, glory, and prosperity, with gentleness, weakness, and compliance with its associates. Renzi is the Heavenly Empress spirit, governing hidden merit and heavenly virtue, with beautiful appearance and much authority. Guihai is the Dark Warrior spirit, the ultimate point of yin and yang, possessing hidden energy and following downward like a stream. Though greatly intelligent, it is not a lofty, far-reaching person: in compliance there is peace, in opposition deceit and disorder. Gengshen is the White Tiger spirit, favorable for military rather than literary service, possessing a nature that holds the Way and rises alone, kind within and stern without, fierce in appearance but soft within, benevolent and righteous, fond of seclusion. Xinyou is the Moon spirit, carrying austere, cutting energy and a pure, upright manner, with literary skill, eloquence, and exceptional talent. Yet for each, closeness or distance and Rest or Flourishing must further determine the recipient's disposition, misfortune, and blessing.
Translator's note: All sixty opening stem-branch entries, their symbolic influence lists, and the subsequent attributed discussions are retained. Several printed forms are irregular: Stipend Staff, Wood Virtue Combination, Nine Blades, Yi-Wei and Yu-Wei, Ke-and-winter, the seven-harms phrase, and the violent-fever expression. Bingwu is first labeled Fire and later Water; Dingwei is Water described as firelight. Pine-and-Cypress and Poplar-and-Willow passages also differ from the previous chapter. Phase assignments shift between Nayin and other contexts; no automatic normalization is applied. Life-stage exceptions, reversal of pair order, and apparently contradictory generation or conquest rules remain as supplied. Named bodily and lifespan outcomes are historical astrological assertions; labels such as Deaf-Mute, Short Life, and Bent Legs are source influence names, not diagnoses.
Jiazi and Yichou · Metal in the Sea
Metal in the Sea is treasure stored in the dragon palace, pearls forming among aquatic dragons' treasures. Although emergence depends on Void and a clash, becoming a finished implement does not borrow the power of Fire. Thus Dongfang Shuo named it after clams and mussels, with good reason. The Wondrous Selections has the Pearls Hidden in the Deep Sea configuration: Jiazi seeing Guihai, which does not use Fire. Meeting Void gives the Clam Pearl Illuminating the Moon configuration: Jiazi seeing Jiwei, seeking combination and transformation into mutual nobility. Since Sea Metal has no visible form, it cannot emerge without Void and a clash; but Yichou is Metal's storehouse and cannot be cast or molded without vigorous Fire. For example, Jiazi seeing Wuyin or Gengwu is Earth generating Metal; Yichou seeing Bingyin or Dingmao is Fire restraining Metal. If the heavenly stems further meet the Three Wonders, none of these configurations fails to be noble.
Translator's note: The source's distinction between Jiazi and Yichou, and its apparently contrasting statements about needing Fire, are retained. Void, clash, Three Wonders, and the named configurations are technical terms; missing definitions have not been added.
Renyin and Guimao · Metal Foil
Metal Foil embellishes cups and dishes and adds brilliance to palaces and rooms. Beating it thin requires other Metal; applying color depends on Water. This Metal is extremely slight and has nothing to rest upon without Wood. Level-Ground Wood is best. With this present, Fire should not be seen; Fire indicates early death. Meeting the Sun makes it visible by day, but the two Fires oppose one another and should not be seen together. Fire Below the Mountain and Fire on the Mountain are also auspicious with clear Water assisting. Only Furnace Fire is feared, as conquest occurs in the corresponding position. This Metal is thin in substance and cannot return to its source, which the text judges as certain early death; fortune periods are judged likewise. Well-and-Spring, Ravine, and Heavenly-River Waters are clear and pleasing to see in day and hour, but the monthly command must contain Wood before they are auspicious. Great-Stream and Great-Sea Waters are turbid: seeing the Stream indicates drifting, while seeing the Sea without Wood as a foundation indicates destructive harm. Meeting Sword-Edge or Hairpin-and-Bracelet Metal permits decoration and assistance in completing the transformation, so these are favored. Sand, Sea, and White-Wax Metals give no benefit. With Fire providing balance they are also auspicious; without it, ultimately harmful. City-Wall and Wall Earth provide support and a place to settle. City-Wall Earth usually indicates lodging with others; Wall Earth with Wood added gives rank. Further meeting Lamp Fire's radiant illumination indicates power and rank. Bing and Wu Earth conceal Fire; the stems and branches should not be excessively fiery. This is also a noble configuration; consult the Wondrous Selections. A Metal fate meeting Wuyin forms the Piece of Jade from Mount Kun configuration. Guimao meeting Jimao forms Jade Rabbit Rising in the East, like the preceding Sea Metal configurations.
Translator's note: The chapter uses the supplied Metal-Foil label and preserves its conditional Fire and Water distinctions. The Sun and the two Fires are retained as the text states them, without inventing a missing comparison. Its lifespan judgments are historical astrological claims.
Gengchen and Xinsi · White-Wax Metal
White-Wax Metal is a piece of jade from Mount Kun and Metal left by the Luo River, dwelling together with the light of sun and moon and gathering the energies of yin and yang. Bright in form and pure in substance, it has Metal's proper color. This Metal favors only refinement by Fire and requires the blazing Fire in the Furnace. Yet when Gengchen sees it without balancing Water, it indicates poverty and early death, while Xinsi is judged noble: Si is Metal's place of Birth, and meeting Bingyin transforms into Water and encounters a noble influence. Fire Below the Mountain, arising early, indicates honor and rank, but Water's assistance is also required. Well-and-Spring and Great-Stream Waters both give noble configurations. Geng's Office is at Ding and Xin's Office at Bing. Thus Geng seeing Dingchou has Office and Noble Person both complete. Xin seeing Bingzi is less pure than seeing Guisi, which gives wealth if not rank. In examining Wood, seeing much brings no benefit, because this Metal cannot conquer it. If the pillars meet Fire without energy, however, Wood is required to generate it; only with Emolument, Horse, and Noble Person is it auspicious. Seeing Earth is suitable only for grinding and dressing, thereby forming implements and becoming auspicious; other Earth is useless. Metal fears Sea and Sand, which submerge it. Fire met in day and hour gives honor. If clear Metal is seen, with Water added to assist, Fire is not favored either; only clashes and punishments are feared. The Wondrous Selections has the Fierce Tiger Whistling in the Wind configuration, formed when this Metal meets Xinsi or Yisi in day and hour.
Translator's note: White Wax follows the supplied spelling. The separate Gengchen and Xinsi judgments, stem-specific Office correspondences, and favorable or unfavorable Fire conditions are all retained without harmonizing them.
Jiawu and Yiwei · Metal in Sand
Metal in Sand spreads its hard form through the earth and hides its precious substance in sand. Only washing and refining make it treasure; it must depend on human work before becoming valuable. This Metal cannot be restrained without Furnace Fire. Yet Jiawu seeing Bingyin encounters Fire born within Yin and a Yin–Wu combination. If the pillars lack Earth at Long Life, it becomes dry; Wood further assisting indicates illness and early death. Although Bingwu's Nayin is Water, its stem and branch are pure Fire, and its addition is especially harmful. Mountain-Summit, Mountain-Below, and Covered-Lamp Fires, already generated by Wood, conquer and restrain this Metal; clear Water must also balance them, certainly indicating honor and rank while young. Meeting Wuzi and Jichou Dragon Fire gives the subtle union of Zi and Wu and the combination and transformation of Jia and Ji, indicating rank. Mixed with ordinary Fire, it is no longer remarkable. Only Well-and-Spring, Ravine, and Heavenly-River Waters are suitable: clear and quiet, they are auspicious. Long-Flowing and Great-Sea Waters move without quiet, and their joint appearance makes Metal float restlessly; Sea Water is especially feared. What relation does seeing Wood have? When Fire is weak, generation and support are welcome. Exchanges of Emolument, Horse, and Noble Person attending and supporting are best. Without Fire in the pillars, encountering one or two Woods is dangerous. If Jiawu is distant from Jisi, as the printed phrase states, it is called Gathering Fine Metal from Yellow Sand, a noble configuration. Metal is born in sand and is auspicious when it obtains the work of transformation; further meeting Sand Earth instead raises concern over burial and concealment. Roadside and Great-Post-Station Earth are also feared, though Fire makes them somewhat acceptable. The City-Wall clause favors Wuyin and Yiwei, calling it Gathering Fine Metal from Blue-Green Sand, a noble configuration. Only Bingxu Earth conceals Fire's Storehouse and is therefore welcome. Metal of the same kind is most favored, with clear energy best. Sea and White-Wax Metals also work with Fire restraint.
Translator's note: The irregular Jiawu–Jisi separation wording and the City-Wall clause naming Yiwei are retained. The favorable and unfavorable combinations are the historical author's rules, including the explicit distinction between Bingwu's Nayin and its stem-branch Fire.
Renshen and Guiyou · Sword-Edge Metal
Sword-Edge Metal is the White Emperor exercising authority, its hardness achieved through a hundred refinings. Red radiance shoots toward the Dipper and Ox constellations; the white blade congeals like frost and snow. This Metal cannot be generated into its proper function without Water. Great-Stream and Sea Waters meeting it in day and hour form a superior configuration. Well-and-Spring and Ravine Waters require Thunderbolt's assistance or Yimao's thunder to be favorable. Without thunder and lightning it is still the White Metal and Clear Water configuration. Autumn birth is more auspicious. Long-Flowing Water at Renchen in day or hour makes a Precious Sword Transforming into an Azure Dragon; Guisi also works. This sword cannot adapt and transform, says the supplied clause. Guichou, however, gives Sword Energy Rushing to the Head, most auspicious. Pine-and-Cypress and Poplar-and-Willow Woods are also auspicious, but involve much gathering and dispersal. Great-Forest and Level-Ground Woods are disliked for Earth's restraint and indicate toil. Among Fires, meeting the numinous dragon in a yin-yang encounter forms a superior configuration only with Renshen seeing Jichou or Guiyou seeing Wuzi. Meeting Heavenly and Furnace Fires without Water rescue gives early death. All Earths are inauspicious because they bury it, except Wall and City-Wall Earth, which can grind and sharpen the edge; these two are acceptable. Metal favors its own kind, such as Renshen seeing Renshen or Guiyou seeing Guiyou. With Wood restraining it, this is called Tangled Roots and Interlaced Joints, the means of distinguishing a keen implement. Without Wood it indicates illness. In general, Sword Edge is the keenest Metal and suits only Water, not punishment by Fire. If the printed Yin–Ji three punishments are complete, the harm is great.
Translator's note: The abrupt sword-transformation statement and the incomplete or irregular Yin–Ji punishment wording remain as printed; no missing third branch is supplied.
Gengxu and Xinhai · Hairpin-and-Bracelet Metal
Hairpin-and-Bracelet Metal is jewelry beautifying the appearance and adding radiance to smooth skin, a treasure amid red and green adornments and amid jade pillows and fragrant sleep. Stored in the inner chamber, this Metal suits only quiet Water. Well, Ravine, and Stream Waters are all auspicious, but much Water makes it float; Sea Water gives poverty and early death. Heavenly-River Water does no harm to Xinhai, but Bingwu is true Fire and is feared by Gengxu, because Wu and Xu join a Fire configuration that injures this Metal. Solar Fire gives brilliance to a daytime birth, while Covered-Lamp Fire shines at night, so both are suitable. Yet Jiachen and Yisi clash with Gengxu and Xinhai; cross-meetings of yin and yang are excellent. Wuzi and Jichou oppose Bingwu and Dingwei, and these two Fires must not be repeated: seeing them gives poverty if not early death. Gengxu most fears Furnace Fire; Xinhai seeing it has Bing and Xin transforming into Water and is somewhat auspicious. Mountain-Below and Mountain-Summit Fires are both unsuitable, though acceptable with balancing Water. With Water in the pillars, this Metal enters its casket; blessings and rank are required for auspiciousness. Among Earths, Sand Earth generates and nurtures it. With further Ravine Water assisting, there is glory, wealth, and rank.
Translator's note: The different Gengxu and Xinhai conditions, day-versus-night illumination, and requirement for Water balance are retained as separate source rules.
Wuzi and Jichou · Thunderbolt Fire
Thunderbolt Fire is a thread of radiance and a command from the nine heavens, with lightning's force like a golden serpent and clouds driving the rush of iron horses. It must rely on wind, Water, and thunder to transform; obtaining any one of these through the five phases indicates smooth success. Seeing Great-Sea Water in day or hour, Guihai raises the ordinary into the sage's realm: Jichou is best and Wuzi next. Seeing Great-Stream Water at Yimao gives Thunder and Fire Transforming; it is auspicious for Jichou but feared by Wuzi. Chen and Si give wind, and meeting them in fortune is especially fine. Heavenly Water is called Already Across and indicates good fortune. Those meeting it have a numinous nature and exceptional intelligence. Long-Flowing Water is useless. Ravine Water, although conquering in the corresponding position, is not feared by this divine Fire; with wind there is also prominence. Among Woods, Xinmao has thunder, Great Forest has wind, and Level Ground has Heaven's Gate, all supporting this Fire; other Woods are useless. Roadside Earth with Xun added is auspicious. In the Sand-Earth clause, Dingsi has wind and Jimao thunder; Well Water assisting also indicates noble prominence. Sword Metal with Water, Sea Metal with wind, and Wax Metal meeting Ravine Water are all auspicious; other Metals are useless. Among Furnace Fires, Dingmao is auspicious. Wuzi meeting Bingyin is excessively dry and fierce in nature, indicating early death. Jichou can accept Bingshen, while Wuzi fears it. Lamp Fire in southeastern Xun, with wind, is most suitable. Wuwu and Jiwei Fire in Heaven, met in day or hour, require guarding against punishment and harm. Consult also the Wondrous Selections: Violent Wind, Thunder, and Rain is Thunderbolt meeting Heavenly River; Heaven and Earth Divided is Wuzi seeing Wuwu; Thunder Obtaining Its Gate is Wuzi or Jichou meeting Mao in day or hour.
Translator's note: The Sand-Earth sentence naming Jimao, the different Wuzi and Jichou responses, and all three named configurations follow the supplied text without replacing anomalous pairings.
Bingyin and Dingmao · Fire in the Furnace
For Fire in the Furnace, heaven and earth are the furnace and yin and yang the charcoal, radiance rising through the cosmos and refining taking place within Qian and Kun. This Fire flames upward and welcomes Wood's generation; Level-Ground Wood is best. Bingyin seeing the printed Yi-Hai is called Tianyi Nobility, and seeing Wuxu is called Returning to the Storehouse, hence auspicious. Dingmao comes next. Yet Bingyin Fire is at its own Birth and can be somewhat acceptable without Wood; Dingmao Fire is at its own Defeat and is harmful without Wood. This Fire uses Metal, and only with Metal coming does the mechanism of transformation respond. But Dingmao without Wood and further meeting Metal indicates a life of toil. Yin seeing much Wood makes Fire blaze; without Water restraint it indicates early death. Mao seeing three or four Woods does no harm. Examples include Gengyin and Xinmao generating it in the corresponding position, while Renwu and Guiwei transform into true Fire. Yin seeing these often indicates violence or illness and early death. If heaven and earth already contain restraining Water, it also indicates middle longevity; Dingmao is unharmed. Although this Fire favors Metal as Wealth, Yin seeing Sword Metal is somewhat acceptable, but Dingmao Fire is already at its own Defeat and further reaches Death and Extinction at Shen and You: how could it conquer? Poverty or early death follows. Sea, Sand, and Wax Metals require Wood's generation before they are welcome; Hairpin and Foil Metals are useless. Seeing Earth requires Metal and Wood first, after which Earth is welcome to lodge the Fire and keep it from excessive dryness. City-Wall, Roof, and Wall Earth are already formed Earths. Only then is Water favorable to see. The natal chart first loves Wood; otherwise abundant Fire welcomes Water. Clear Heavenly Water is auspicious for a Yin chart, but disliked in Mao without Wood. With Great-Sea Water, Bingyin seeing Renxu is a Blessing Storehouse and seeing Guihai is the Office Star; bearing combination, it is half harmful and half auspicious. Well, Ravine, and Stream Waters are all harmful, except when Wood is present. Fire seeing its own kind is auspicious if declining or defeated in day and month. Thunderbolt Fire itself gives no benefit, but Wood generating it and Sea Water in day or hour make it suitable. Without Wood, meeting Water is harmful. Heavenly Fire requires Roof Earth to screen it. Lamp Fire with Xun wind further encourages it. Death Spirit must be considered together with the workings of transformation. For example, Bingyin, Dingyou, the printed Yi-You, and Bingyin leave Fire without energy yet do not lose great rank. Bingyin, Jiawu, the printed Ji-Yi, and Bingyin instead give restless drifting.
Translator's note: The source's nonstandard Yi-Hai, Yi-You, and Ji-Yi spellings are left visible. Both four-pillar examples, the three-or-four-Wood qualification, and the separate Bingyin and Dingmao rules are retained. Names of influences and predicted lifespan outcomes are translated as historical claims.
Jiachen and Yisi · Covered-Lamp Fire
Covered-Lamp Fire gleams from a golden cup and releases beauty on a jade stand, illuminating places sun and moon do not reach and shining when heaven and earth are not yet bright. It is humanity's night-light Fire, using Wood as its wick and Water as its oil: meeting yin is auspicious, meeting yang unfavorable. Day and hour most fear seeing Chen and Si again, with clashes among the branches, lest wind extinguish the lamp, indicating early death. Some count Xu, Hai, Zi, and Chou as yin; others count Wei through Hai as yin. Wood is the foundation, and all Woods are favorable. Office Star, Emolument, and Noble Person further supporting, and the stem tops transforming into Water, are especially auspicious. Assistance encountered in fortune periods indicates great rank. Well-and-Spring and Ravine Waters are true oil; Long-Flowing Water is substitute oil. The Adding Oil to a Dim Lamp configuration in the Wondrous Selections expresses this principle. Great-Sea and River Waters cannot be used as oil and indicate an ordinary life. In general, this Fire seeing Water requires Wood's support. It dislikes Long Life and Flourishing energy; excessive Water instead becomes harmful. Meeting Metal Foil gives illumination and the highest upright distinction, but Water and Wood must also support it before prominence is possible. Sand and Hairpin-and-Bracelet Metals are auspicious. Sword-Edge Metal is called Lamp Blossom Brushing a Sword and is especially auspicious; Wax Metal is unsuitable. Earth requires guarding against conquest and disruption. Wall Earth can provide a resting place and Roof Earth shelter; seeing both in day and hour indicates blessings and rank. Sand Earth with Wood also indicates food and clothing; other Earth is useless. Fire loves its own kind but fears blowing wind. Thunderbolt is the transforming Fire of the dragon spirit and necessarily brings wind, making this Fire hard to preserve. Heavenly and Furnace Fires meeting it are most harmful. Consult the Wondrous Selections: the Chief Star and Pointing South configurations are Jiachen births meeting Wu or Wei in day and hour. Fire and Earth Entering the Hall arises because this Fire fears wind: meeting Bingxu and Dinghai Roof Earth in day and hour places the lamp indoors. Adding oil further makes it especially noble.
Translator's note: The heading and some Chen–Si clauses use irregular Yi-for-Si spellings; the unambiguous branch names are used here. Both yin ranges, the distinctions among oil-like Waters, and every named configuration are retained.
Wuwu and Jiwei · Fire in Heaven
Fire in Heaven warms mountains and seas and radiates through the universe: yang virtue shines from heaven, and yin essence rises bright from the sea. Wuwu is the Sun and therefore firm; Jiwei is the Moon and therefore gentle. Some say summer's Sun is firm and winter's Sun warm, but the author calls this false. Both require Xu and Hai as Heaven's Gate, Mao and You as gates of emergence and entry, and the southeast as ground of travel, to be auspicious. This Fire seeing Wood is called Thunder Breaking and requires wind and Water in day and hour. Great-Forest Wood has Chen and Si; Pine-and-Cypress and Pomegranate have Mao and You. Thus only these three Woods indicate rank. Wu seeing much Wood is still acceptable, but Wei with three or four Woods gives a life of toil. Seeing Metal permits illumination but not conquest and balance. Hairpin Metal has Xu and Hai, and Foil Metal Yin and Mao, indicating good fortune. Sword Metal shines with the light of sun and moon and certainly indicates examination success while young. Other Metals bring calamity. Ravine Water is suitable only with Wuwu seeing Dingchou and the printed Yi-Wei seeing Bingzi: yin and yang cross-meet, giving blessings and rank. Further Wood in the pillars nourishes generation, with wealth and rank doubly golden in the supplied wording. Great Stream has Yimao and Well Spring the printed Yi-You, giving proper gates for emergence and entry, both auspicious. Heavenly River's rain and dew provide mutual balance; do not judge it as conquest in the corresponding position. The printed Xu-Wu seeing Dingwei is also auspicious, while Bingwu is not bright. Fire loves Lamp Head, but other Fire makes it dry. Thunderbolt brings clouds and rain that dim sun and moon, so it indicates obscurity. Among Furnace Fires, Wu avoids Bingyin: Wu is firm Fire, and seeing Bingyin immediately brings Fire's place of Birth. Without clear Water rescue, it indicates punishment and a harmful death. Dingmao is somewhat acceptable. Among Earths, Sand Earth borrows Xun wind; Roadside, City-Wall, and Roof Earth are all auspicious, especially with Metal and Wood further assisting in the pillars. The Wondrous Selections calls Wuwu meeting Mao and the printed Yi-Wei meeting You Sun and Moon Dividing Their Refinement. For Mao, Yimao and Xinmao are primary, the printed Yi-Mao and Dingmao secondary. For You, Yiyou and Guiyou are primary, the printed Yi-You and Dingyou secondary. Sun Rising at Fusang is the Sun division of refinement further seeing the printed Yi-Wu in day and hour. Solar Disc at the Gnomon is Wuwu born at Wu, with the day meeting a printed Yi-Wu day. Wuwu seeing Wuzi also gives Kan and Li in Their Proper Positions. Moon Born from the Blue Sea is the Moon division of refinement, obtaining Yi or Gui at You. Moon Shining on a Cold Pool takes Ren, Gui, Hai, and Zi, with Water Nayin as the pool, but autumn birth is required for rank. Fragrance of Moon Cassia is the printed Yi-Wei birth with three or four Woods assembled in support in the pillars. It resembles One Branch in the Cassia Grove, but the Grove prizes few and Fragrance many: each takes a different meaning. Among harmful configurations, the Sun's Loss of Brightness is Wuwu unable to withstand overflowing Water, disliking abundant Water. The Moon's Thinning and Eclipse asks how the printed Yi-Wei could withstand much Earth, disliking heavy Earth. Compare these together to exhaust the reasoning.
Translator's note: The source alternates Jiwei with an irregular Yi-Wei spelling and also prints Yi-You, Yi-Mao, Yi-Wu, and Xu-Wu in specific examples. These are left visible; no missing valid stem-branch pair is substituted. The doubly-golden phrase, different Wood counts, all named configurations, and the author's rejection of the summer/winter explanation are retained.
Bingshen and Dingyou · Fire Below the Mountain
Fire Below the Mountain sparkles among grasses and glimmers through flowers, light adorning leaves in a cold forest and color touching clothes through a curtain. Fang Shuo named it Firefly Fire. Thus the Wondrous Selections has Fireflies Illuminating Water: an autumn birth gives rank as a high minister or supervisor. This is why the Fire favors Water: Hai and Zi in the branches, or Water Nayin further meeting Shen or You months, are the cases meant. Another view says Fire Below the Mountain most loves Wood and mountains, with wind further increasing its brilliance to give rank; this no longer judges it as a firefly. Great-Forest Wood has Chen and Si as wind; Mulberry-and-Zhe Wood has Guichou as a mountain. Pine-and-Cypress and Level-Ground Woods are most auspicious; further wind assisting indicates rank, but too much wind scatters it and indicates early death. Water loves Well Spring and Ravine, with Wood supporting, indicating lofty and prominent rank. Great-Sea Water is unsuitable, though with a mountain it also answers to a noble configuration. Yin and Mao are the east, where Wood flourishes and Fire is born; only Jiayin Water is auspicious. Yimao is Zhen and has wind, making it unfavorable. Without Fire or mountain, further Thunderbolt Fire indicates early death. Heavenly Water is a sudden downpour, unsuitable for this Fire to meet, though prior nourishment from mountain and Water makes the harm slight. Metal in the chart is auspicious when clear and refined. Without Wood, much Metal is judged as stealing energy. Yichou forms a mountain and indicates rank. Other Metals, if not conquered or disrupted and meeting Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse, are judged only as Wealth. Among Earths, Sand has Chen and Si wind. Wood and mountain further assisting indicate great rank; without them, only an empty name. Fire fears the Sun. The next compressed clause links Thunderbolt and Lamp Head with Xun and manifest brilliance. In general, Fire among the five phases must be supported by Wood to be auspicious; fortune-period preferences and taboos are all judged by this.
Translator's note: Both alternative explanations, firefly and mountain fire, are retained. The difficult final Fire clause is not expanded into a standard rule; the source's contradictory no-Fire condition is also left intact.
Jiaxu and Yihai · Fire on the Mountain
Fire on the Mountain burns wild country and sweeps the plain, extending as far as the eye can see, faintly like slanting radiance on the horizon or a setting Sun on a mountain. It is the Fire of clearing wasteland in the ninth month, reducing declining grasses to ash. In general it suits mountain Wood and wind Wood, favoring Great Forest and Pine-and-Cypress because Chen and Si have wind and Yin and Mao return to Emolument. Further obtaining Guichou as Wood on a mountain indicates rank. Without a mountain, Wood has nothing to rest upon and Fire nowhere to be seen: even wind gives no radiant prominence. Other Woods are useless; inspect only Emolument and Horse. Ravine Water is suitable and often forms mutual harmony, indicating good fortune. Clear Well-and-Spring Water with Wood assisting is also auspicious. With Great Stream, Jiaxu seeing Jiayin and Yihai seeing Yimao each obtains true Emolument and is auspicious. Heavenly Water must supply rain and dew. Fire reaching Wu and Wei has Proper Ground; further clear Water balancing it prevents dryness and indicates blessings, otherwise early death. Great-Sea Water conquers in the corresponding position and is most harmful, though with a mountain it is somewhat acceptable. Metal in day and hour is Wealth and needs mountain Wood's assistance to be auspicious; without it, harmful. Among Earths, only Sand has Xun, which can raise this Fire; other Earth gives no benefit. In general, this Fire without Wood and meeting harm often gives a low-status life. Furnace Fire is too blazing, Thunderbolt harmful, the Sun obscuring, and Mountain-Below Fire combative and punishing: all are unsuitable. A chart with two or three Fires, if fortune periods meet Wood, indicates unexpected calamity or early death. In general, this Fire greatly fears punishment and clashes.
Translator's note: The ninth-month image, mountain requirement, pair-specific Water rules, and the distinction between natal Wood support and Wood met in a multi-Fire fortune period follow the supplied text.
Renzi and Guichou · Mulberry-and-Zhe Wood
Mulberry-and-Zhe Wood is the foundation of silk and color, the root of patterned gauze, the flowing sleeves of scholars and commoners, and the neat robes of sages and worthies. It feeds silkworms and makes bows, so its usefulness is great. It most loves Sand Earth as its root foundation. Chen and Si are also where silkworms feed, so punishment, clashes, and mutual disruption are unsuitable. Roadside and Great-Post-Station Earth are next most auspicious; other Earth gives no benefit. Water favors Heavenly River as nourishing rain and dew. Long-Flowing, Stream, Ravine, and Well-and-Spring Waters can all support it, but Earth must first provide a foundation; Emolument and Noble Person added are excellent. Sea Water drifts without stability, and without Earth it indicates early death. Among Fires, Lamp Head is most auspicious, again because Chen and Si are the silkworm positions. Furnace Fire occupies Yin and Mao, where Wood flourishes. Heavenly and Thunderbolt Fires have a relation of combination and transformation with this Wood's stems and branches and the subtle union of Kan and Li; all are auspicious, but Fires must not appear repeatedly. Among Metals, Sand is first; Sword Edge can trim this Wood and is next. Hairpin and Foil require Earth as a foundation, and clashes or disruption make them harmful. Wood favors Gengyin and Xinmao: weakness approaches strength and smallness becomes greatness, judged as a noble configuration. Even without Sand Earth it is auspicious. Level-Ground and Pomegranate Woods without Earth are harmful. Great Forest is the southeastern silkworm-feeding position; Earth supporting generation indicates great rank. Meeting Poplar-and-Willow makes Mulberry and Willow Forming a Forest, also a noble configuration, but spring or summer birth is required for auspiciousness.
Translator's note: All silkworm, bow-making, and fabric imagery belongs to the source's explanation. The separate Soil foundation requirements and exceptions are retained; Soil here is the Earth phase.
Gengyin and Xinmao · Pine-and-Cypress Wood
Pine-and-Cypress Wood bears snow and gathers frost, reaching heaven and covering earth. Wind shaking it sounds like reed instruments; after rain it spreads like banners. This Wood lies concealed beneath Metal, positioned due east at utmost Flourishing. It most loves a mountain for its foundation and Water for nourishment. Heavenly River's rain and dew can nourish it. Ravine Water Dingchou belongs to a mountain and can provide a foundation; Bingzi is inferior. Great Stream has Yimao as thunder, able to stir flourishing, but wind and thunderbolt are disliked for the harm of breaking and damage. Sea Water with a mountain is auspicious; clear and quiet Guihai is also auspicious without a mountain. If the pillars have Level-Ground Wood and obtain Roof Earth, it is already a pillar or beam and has no use for mountain or Water. Without these two, it is flourishing mountain Wood and requires both. Fire in the chart most fears Furnace Fire, generating in the corresponding position; further wind Wood makes it fly away as ash and smoke. Without Water among the five phases, it indicates early death. Mountain-Summit, Mountain-Below, Solar, and Covered-Lamp Fires must not infringe it. Yin births especially fear Wuwu and Bingyin, because Wood must not rush south and Yin–Wu forms a Fire harmony; Xinmao is unharmed. Thunderbolt Fire can nourish growth, but ordinary Fire added in fortune indicates harm. Roadside Earth seems insufficiently noble, yet without dead Wood its blessings remain genuine. Post-Station Earth without a mountain gives poverty and early death; Sea Water further added is especially harmful. Yichou Metal is Seal and mountain; Foil Metal flourishes in its corresponding position and is auspicious. Sword Edge can cut and shape it. With Wall Earth further completing it and Pine-and-Cypress supporting, rank follows. Great Forest has wind and Poplar-and-Willow joins Fire, making these two Woods most feared. Mulberry-and-Zhe Guichou forms a mountain and can assist. Pomegranate is Xinyou Metal instead transforming into dead Wood; with the workings of transformation it is auspicious. The Wondrous Selections has Green Pine Flourishing in Winter: a birth of this Wood is noble when month, day, and hour belong to the three winter months. There are also the Day Combining with Xinmao and Day Falling on Gengyin configurations. Although they take Wuwu and the printed Yi-Wei, with birth in summer or autumn, this Wood is specifically judged noble.
Translator's note: The source's separate treatments of mountain Wood and finished structural timber are retained. The final Yi-Wei spelling and repeated day-configuration conditions are not replaced with a reconstructed standard formula.
Wuchen and Jisi · Great-Forest Wood
Great-Forest Wood has branches and trunks shaking the wind and boughs holding up the moon, the virtue of towering over ravines into heaven and the achievement of reaching clouds and shading the Sun. Born in the southeast at the meeting of spring and summer, it grows into a forest. The source next says Metal borrows Gen Earth as its source and Guichou as mountain. If the Three Destinies have no disruption or Fallen condition, blessings are most substantial and power and rank greatest: Wuchen is first and Jisi next. Roadside Earth provides support. Wuchen seeing Xinwei gives rank; Jisi seeing Gengwu gives Emolument and indicates wealth. Wall and Roof Earth, further obtaining Sword Metal, make Great-Forest Wood into pillars and beams, most auspicious when the configuration is complete. Without these it is flourishing mountain forest Wood. Dead or living, it always wants Earth. A Ji person seeing Jia may be said to transform into Earth, but this is inferior to Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei; the supplied phrase then calls an Earth configuration with pure Metal excellent. If this Wood is already dead beneath a mountain, Jiaxu or Yihai burning it indicates harm and early death. Lamp Fire generates in the corresponding position, with Yisi inferior to the more auspicious Jiachen. Thunderbolt and Solar Fires can both nurture it and are auspicious in fortune periods, but the two must not appear together; the following contest clause requires Earth as the root foundation. Among Heavenly-River Waters, Wuchen seeing Dingwei carries nobility. Even without Earth or mountain it indicates food and clothing: the Numinous Raft Entering the Heavenly River configuration, requiring autumn or winter birth at Death or Extinction. Stream and Sea Waters repeatedly seen indicate poverty and early death; a mountain makes them somewhat acceptable. The Wondrous Selections has Azure Dragon Riding the Sea: Wuchen seeing Guihai gives rank. Ravine Dingchou is most auspicious, Bingzi inferior. The Metals are generally unsuitable. Sea Metal has Yichou as mountain; Sword Edge obtains Roof or Wall as a base. Other Metals are useless and indicate early death and low status. Among Woods, Mulberry-and-Zhe is favored, especially Guichou. Level Ground still requires Roadside Earth, called Level Forest in the Wild. Pine-and-Cypress is the eastern ground of Birth and Flourishing; with Guichou in the pillars, obtaining Pine-and-Cypress as dense shade is best.
Translator's note: The abrupt Metal-and-Gen clause, the pure-Metal wording in the Earth-configuration sentence, and the compressed contest clause are retained rather than repaired. All named configurations and birth-season qualifications remain distinct.
Renwu and Guiwei · Poplar-and-Willow Wood
Poplar-and-Willow Wood sways gracefully on the Sui embankments and lightly in Han gardens, with ten thousand threads not made by silkworms and a thousand ribbons not made by needles. Wu and Wei are Wood's Death and Tomb, while Ren and Gui nourish it. For a root foundation this Wood favors only Sand Earth. Meeting a Gen mountain, the source uses the unclear phrase leaning and shaking Metal. Yin and Mao in the east provide Proper Ground. Xinchou has a mountain and is better than Gengzi. Wuyin is auspicious, but the printed Yi-Mao is better still. Bingchen and Dingsi, with variant spelling, dislike clashes from Xu and Hai. Great-Post-Station Earth with Chou becomes a post station beside a mountain and is somewhat acceptable; without Chou, this Earth alone indicates early death and low status. Roadside Earth meets its corresponding position, again at Death and Tomb; in day and hour it indicates weakness and lowliness. Among Roof Earths, Renwu seeing Dinghai gives a Ding–Ren combination and transformation and is auspicious; Bingxu is inferior. Well-and-Spring, Long-Flowing, Great-Stream, and Ravine Waters are all auspicious, especially their positions of combination and transformation. Bingwu and Dingwei have Bing and Ding as true Fire, and Wu and Wei also Fire. This Wood is Dead or in Tomb there, so Renwu seeing them is most harmful. Gui is somewhat different, and balancing Water makes it harmless. This Wood already has Fire at Wu and Wei; further Fire may be stirred up and damage longevity. Lamp Head at the printed Yi-Yi has wind that breaks Wood, indicating early death. Furnace Fire occupies Yin and Mao, where Wood flourishes, and is instead auspicious. Thunderbolt with Renwu seeing Jichou or Guiwei seeing Wuzi gives a yin-yang cross-meeting. Further Sand Earth as foundation indicates rank; Zi–Wu and Chou–Wei direct clashes are not auspicious. The Metal clause says seeing Wood gives no working of transformation. Hairpin-and-Bracelet and Foil Metals favor completion. Sea, Wax, Sword, and Sand are feared, but relative severity must be judged with Emolument, Noble Person, Virtue, and Killings. Seeing Pine-and-Cypress gives the Leaving the Body and Transforming Spirit configuration and indicates rank. Mulberry-and-Zhe Guichou forms a mountain, supporting a forest and indicating good fortune. Gengshen and Xinyou Wood is already Dead or Extinct and further conquered by Metal: weakness meeting smallness certainly gives low status. The Wondrous Selections has the printed Red Flowers and Willow Emolument configuration: this Wood meeting Pomegranate, born in spring or summer, is not judged lowly. Poplar and Willow Trailing Metal is this Wood born in the three spring months, with one Metal in the hour. Xinhai, Jiazi, Guimao, and Xinsi are best because they are the Emolument and Noble Person positions of Ren and Gui.
Translator's note: The damaged mountain phrase, irregular Yi-Mao and Yi-Yi spellings, and Red Flowers and Willow Emolument label are retained. The next Pomegranate section instead prints green willow in the related name. Contrasting Fire and Metal conditions are not harmonized.
Gengshen and Xinyou · Pomegranate Wood
Pomegranate Wood is pungent like ginger, with flowers red as Fire and fruits clustered at the branch tips, full of many seeds shining within their chambers. Its stems and branches are pure Metal while its Nayin belongs to Wood, making it transformed Wood. It can be moved into a pot and arranged as a mountain, so it favors Earth already formed into an object as its foundation. City Wall is best, Roof next. Yin and yang must cross-meet: Bing with Xin and Ding with Geng give mutual Offices. The next printed list, Wu, Xin, Yi, and Yin, gives mutual Seals, indicating good fortune. Roadside, Wall, Post Station, and Sand Earth are also auspicious with a mountain assisting; without one, what use are they? Sand Metal is most auspicious. Foil Metal's stems and branches are Water and Wood while its Nayin is Metal; Pomegranate Wood's stems and branches are Metal while its Nayin is Wood. Both leave their original nature and exchange to return to Flourishing: Wood flourishes at Yin and Mao, Metal at Shen and You, each obtaining its position. This is the configuration Work Equal to Creation, indicating great rank. Sea Metal Yichou forms a mountain and is auspicious with Water further assisting. Wall and City-Wall Earth are also mentioned as acceptable. The following Sword-Edge Metal clause gives conquest in the corresponding position and the gravest harm; prior Sand Metal can restrain its severity and make it harmless. Heavenly-River Water nourishes as rain and dew; Well, Stream, and Ravine Waters irrigate with clarity. Sea Water floods excessively, giving poverty if not early death; Gen Earth makes it somewhat acceptable. Solar and Thunderbolt Fires are favored but must not appear together. Furnace Fire at Yin and Mao is Flourishing and originally auspicious; further other Fire makes it harmful. If this Wood is born in the fifth month and day and hour carry only one Fire, it is Pomegranate Spouting Fire and indicates rank. Mulberry-and-Zhe, Great-Forest, and Poplar-and-Willow Woods are all welcome. Great Forest Wuchen gives leaving the body; Poplar and Willow gives Red Flowers and Green Willow: both indicate achievement and reputation. Mulberry-and-Zhe Guichou forms a mountain; Pine-and-Cypress makes it strong; Level Ground makes it great. Without other things mixed in, Emolument Encircled by Red also indicates wealth and rank. With City-Wall Earth as foundation and Water fortune assisting, blessings are enjoyed at leisure and endure longest.
Translator's note: The irregular mutual-Seal list is translated as printed, without supplying different stems. The separate Sword-Metal clause and the contrast between the Willow Emolument and Green Willow labels remain visible.
Wuxu and Jihai · Level-Ground Wood
Level-Ground Wood is newly sprouting growth and branches first emerging. It depends only on rain and dew and dislikes accumulated snow and frost. It is flourishing timber above the earth and building Wood in the human world. Wuxu is a pillar and the printed Yi-Hai a beam; they should especially exchange and see one another. Earth must provide the foundation, and Roadside Earth forms the proper configuration. Further Zi and Wu are especially noble because they are heaven and earth's proper pillars. Roof, Wall, and City-Wall Earth receive this Wood's support, with elevation and transformation within, especially auspicious. Sand and Post-Station Earth are useless and indicate calamity in day or hour. Solar and Thunderbolt Fires give the greatest brilliance. Furnace Fire with Water gives blessings; Lamp Head without wind is secure. Other Fires without Water are harmful. This Wood is already complete and is unsuited to Sword Metal, though supporting Wood makes it acceptable. Foil Metal adds radiant decoration; the heavenly stems also combine and the branches flourish. Further Roadside Earth as foundation indicates great rank. Other Metals are useless. Heavenly-River Water gives moisture and good fortune; Stream and Sea without a mountain are both harmful. Well-and-Spring and Ravine Waters are auspicious, especially Jiashen combining with Dingchou to form a mountain. Great-Forest Wood has shaking wind and indicates a short life. Mulberry-and-Zhe Guichou is most auspicious: Renzi and Jihai people seeing it gain rank, while Wuxu people cannot bear it. Pine-and-Cypress leaning on and assisting Level Ground becomes pillars and beams; further Earth assistance indicates rank. In general, this Wood dislikes Metal and favors Water and Earth. Born in the three winter months, obtaining Yin and Mao is Spring Returning to a Cold Valley, also judged noble.
Translator's note: The printed Yi-Hai spelling and the distinct Wuxu and Jihai judgments are retained. Completed structural timber and growing Wood remain different images in the source.
Gengzi and Xinchou · Earth on a Wall
Earth on a Wall relies on pillars and beams, raising gates and establishing households, with the virtue of warding off heat and cold and the achievement of screening frost and snow. This is human dwelling-wall Earth: without Level-Ground Wood, what support would it have? Zi and Wu are heaven and earth's proper pillars and are especially auspicious to meet. All Woods can serve as its master. Gengyin and Xinmao are also pillars and beams; only Shen–You clashes and disruption and Zi–Mao punishment are feared. Great Forest has wind. Without supporting Earth, ordinary Fire added indicates difficulty accomplishing things, poverty, low status, and early death. Earth favors Roadside as support; Roof and City Wall can protect it and are all auspicious. Seeing Fire offers no working of transformation. Although Sun and Thunderbolt are said to illuminate, the outcome is ultimately obstruction and danger. If the chart already sees Wood, Fire assisting gives hostile burning; encountering it again in a conquering fortune period indicates calamity and early death. Water rescue in the pillars makes it somewhat acceptable. Among Waters, Jiashen is most auspicious and Yiyou next. Heavenly rain and dew are also auspicious. Great Sea drifts and floods: how could this Earth be secure? Even with a root foundation it is harmful. Among Metals it loves only Foil. If the chart first contains a Wood spirit, rank follows: the palace or dwelling is completed and shines in gold and green, something none but the imperial court dares use. Sword Metal injures it; other Metals are useless.
Translator's note: The source's building imagery, specific clashes and punishment, and conditional progression from Wood to Fire and conquering fortune are preserved.
Wuyin and Jimao · Earth on the City Wall
Earth on the City Wall is the heavenly capital's jade rampart and the imperial city's golden wall, shaped like a dragon coiling a thousand leagues and a tiger occupying the four corners. This Earth may be complete or incomplete and must be judged in two ways. Meeting Roadside makes it completed Earth, with no need for Fire. Without Roadside it is unfinished and must use Fire. Generally, City-Wall Earth requires Wood. Poplar-and-Willow Guiwei is best; Renwu is feared. The printed Mulberry-and-Tuo Guichou is first and Renzi next. Gengyin and Xinmao conquer it in the corresponding position, collapsing the wall and leaving it unsettled: how could it shelter people? If Wood appears without flanking support, judge only by Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse. Water with a mountain gives prominent rank: Jiashen and Dingchou are auspicious, and Heavenly River's nourishment is also auspicious. Only Thunderbolt and Great Sea are feared, except Renxu, which is not feared; combinations and transformations are all judged auspicious. Among Earths it loves Roadside, but beware the Fires. Great Post Station meeting a mountain must be judged noble; alone without roots it gives poverty, early death, solitude, and hardship. Among Metals there is only White Wax; Xun is feared, the two obstructing one another. Other Metals are useless and must be assessed through Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse.
Translator's note: The heading has an irregular first character in Jimao; the body prints Mulberry-and-Tuo rather than Mulberry-and-Zhe. Both are identified without altering the supplied combination rules.
Bingchen and Dingsi · Earth in Sand
Earth in Sand is deposited by returning waves and formed in shoals, a palace where dragon and snake coil hidden and ground where hills and valleys change. This Earth is clear and refined, favoring only clear Metal to nourish it. Further Earth described by the irregular infringing-purity expression indicates rank early in life. Hairpin, Sand, Sword, and Foil are four clear, refined Metals that assist. For example, a Bing person seeing Xinhai is Bing and Ding Entering Qian's Door, called a Long Rainbow Riding the Sea. There is also the judgment of Stars Supporting the North, all noble configurations. Water further containing and balancing them is especially auspicious. Without Water, Heavenly Fire illuminating in day or hour is also acceptable. For example, Bingchen, Yiwei, Guiyou, and Wuwu has two Metals nourishing it and no Water, but Solar Fire illuminates it, hence rank. Dingsi, Guimao, Jiwei, and Renshen likewise has two nourishing Metals and Heavenly Fire's illumination, also noble. Yet Wuwu is too dry and Jiwei somewhat gentler, so lifespan differs. Clear Well and Ravine Waters are auspicious, and Metal nourishing them gives rank. If this Earth is already nourished by Metal, Sea Water in day or hour ruins the transformation. Guihai is light and clear; a Bing person seeing it, also in fortune periods, indicates prominence and honor. Other Waters are useless. Fire favors the Sun, called the Vermilion Bird Soaring into the Sky in a configuration, indicating rank. Mountain-Summit, Mountain-Below, Furnace, and Covered-Lamp Fires without balancing Water bring judgments of longevity or early death. Wood favors the printed Mulberry-and-Tuo and Poplar-and-Willow, because this Earth can carry those two. Judge other Woods by Emolument, Horse, and Noble Person. Wood causing punishment, disruption, clash, and conquest in the day offers no good transformation; its absence is more auspicious. Among the five phases, Earth punishing itself is most feared. Roadside provides a place to settle, and Metal and Wood supporting generation also indicate blessings and celebrations. Great Post Station's coming and going is most unsuitable, harmful even with Metal and Water. Other Earth is still less auspicious.
Translator's note: Both complete four-pillar examples, the Bing-and-Ding designation, the damaged purity expression, and the Mulberry-and-Tuo spelling are retained. Longevity and early death remain the source's terms rather than a reconstructed medical judgment.
Gengwu and Xinwei · Roadside Earth
Roadside Earth is the great earth joining roads and level fields extending ten thousand measures. Grain depends on it to grow, and grasses and trees flourish through it. Fire warms it and Earth is temperate: this is Earth nurturing the myriad things. It therefore requires Water first, for irrigation and moisture. In the sequence, transformation into Water is especially excellent; Metal further assisting ripens the grain. Gengwu seeing Jiashen and Xinwei seeing Yiyou give Emolument. Without clashes or disruption they indicate early rank. Heavenly Water nourishes as rain and dew: Gengwu favors Dingwei and Xinwei favors Bingwu, the subtle combination of Office, Noble Person, and Emolument. Among Ravine Waters, Gengwu seeing Dingchou gives Noble Person and Emolument crossing; Xinwei seeing Bingzi gives transformation into Water and generation. Great Stream Yimao is thunder, able to initiate growth, and Yi and Geng also combine and transform, so all indicate good fortune. Long-Flowing and Great-Sea Waters cannot irrigate this Earth and are most feared, indicating harm and early death. Among Thunderbolt Fires, Gengwu seeing Jichou gives Noble Person and Emolument crossing through; Xinwei seeing Wuzi gives Seal and Noble Person Attending the Sun, both auspicious. Heavenly Fire generates in the corresponding position, but excessive dryness instead prevents Earth from generating things. Only Water moistening makes it acceptable; alone, it indicates early death. Furnace Fire is also dry and obstructs longevity. Lamp Head requires Roof Earth for the transformation to respond, named Surpassing the Ordinary and Entering the Sage's Realm; otherwise it too is harmful. Seeing Wood permits generation, auspicious with Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse, harmful with Punishment, Killings, clashes, and disruption. Only Gengyin Wood is especially favorable for this Earth; Great Forest exceeds its carrying strength. Earth positions Bingchen, the printed Bing-Wu, Xinchou, and Xinwei are auspicious. Gengwu seeing Xinwei, or Xinwei seeing Gengwu, is the Noble Pair of the Two Modes, invariably noble. Hairpin-and-Bracelet and Sand Metals can nourish and assist; clear Water with both Metal and Water is greatly auspicious. If the chart already has Water but no Metal, these Metals encountered in fortune also give blessings. Yichou Sea Metal can be regarded as a mountain. Heavenly River's clear Water assisting is especially favorable for a Geng person. The Wondrous Selections has Golden Horse Neighing in the Wind: Gengwu or Jiawu births obtaining an Xinsi hour. Horse Transforming into a Dragon Colt is a Wu birth seeing a Chen hour. Fierce Tiger Whistling in the Wind is a Geng or Xin birth obtaining Xinsi or Yisi. All are judged noble, seemingly without being bound by Water, Fire, Earth, or Metal.
Translator's note: Every named configuration and paired Gengwu/Xinwei condition is retained. The Earth list prints Bing-Wu with a stem rather than a normal branch as its second component; it has not been replaced with a different pair.
Wushen and Jiyou · Great-Post-Station Earth
Great-Post-Station Earth is a majestic highway and broad, level road, reaching everywhere in the nine provinces and all states. Its position belongs to Kun and its virtue to substantial carrying: Earth that revolves heaven and turns the Sun, supports seas and bears mountains. Generating the myriad things, it takes Wood as its basis. Wushen is Earth at Long Life, with boundless substantial virtue; seeing three or four Woods, it can nourish all. Jiyou is Earth at its own Defeat, and much Wood steals its energy. Great Forest meeting a clash within combination indicates early death; other Woods are auspicious, further assessed through Emolument and Noble Person. Well-and-Spring and Ravine Waters are clear, noble, and not dry. Wushen seeing Dingchou or Yiyou, and Jiyou seeing Bingzi or Jiashen, are called Office and Nobility and are auspicious. Heavenly River Bingwu obtained by Jiyou, and Dingwei obtained by Wushen, also give Noble Person and Emolument, indicating blessings. Among Long-Flowing Waters, Wushen seeing Guisi and Jiyou seeing Renchen are auspicious, but repeated encounters give unrest. Great Stream Yimao embodies eastern Zhen's generation; seeing it alone is also auspicious. Sea Water pierces in opposition and Earth cannot withstand it, indicating early death in day or hour; a mountain lightens this. Wushen seeing Guihai has Wu and Gui combining and Shen and Hai forming Earth and Heaven in Mutual Harmony, instead auspicious. Solar and Thunderbolt Fires are called sacred Fire and best initiate generation. With Water assisting, this Earth indicates prominence. Ordinary Fire further generated by Wood becomes drier, indicating harm and early death. Among Earths, only Roadside is most suitable. Roof, Wall, and Sand bring obliteration even if Wood was obtained first; City Wall with Water is somewhat auspicious. Metal in the chart is auspicious when clear and refined. Hairpin Xinhai and Foil Renyin, met by Wushen with Water further assisting in the pillars, form Earth and Heaven in Mutual Harmony and the great Water Encircling and Mountains Surrounding configuration, indicating rank. Jiyou seeing Gengxu or Guimao is somewhat inferior. Sand Metal's transformation is the same. Sword Metal must wait for Wood to become useful; otherwise it gives no benefit.
Translator's note: The different Wushen and Jiyou Wood capacities, exact Water pairings, and named configurations are preserved.
Bingxu and Dinghai · Earth on the Roof
Earth on the Roof is worked clay, in an opening phrase that prints forest, with Water and Fire Already Across. It covers accumulated snow and frost and withstands wind and rain: this Earth is roof tile. Without Wood it has no framework, so Wood is its root foundation. Level Ground is best and Great Forest next; heavenly stems transforming into Wood are also auspicious, with only clashes and disruption feared. The source describes it as already completed Earth in an irregular phrase, unsuitable for seeing Fire. Furnace Bingyin is most harmful and Dingmao somewhat acceptable. Solar and Thunderbolt Fires can support it. Mountain-Below and Mountain-Summit Fires generated by Wood bring calamity. Among Lamp-Head Fires, Bingxu seeing Yisi is best and Dinghai seeing Jiachen next, called Fire and Earth Entering the Hall. Much Wood in the pillars is still inauspicious. Heavenly-River, Well-and-Spring, and Ravine Waters are all suitable. If Level-Ground Wood has first completed the configuration, there is great rank. Stream Water without Wood often gives early death. Bingxu obtaining Guisi and Dinghai obtaining Jiayin require a separate judgment, further inspecting the transformation formed in day and hour. Great Sea without a mountain is unsuitable for seeing Earth. Among Roadside Earths, Bingxu obtaining Xinwei and Dinghai obtaining Gengwu give yin-yang cross-meetings, with Wood further as foundation indicating rank. Wall Earth is also suitable; others submerge it. Without Wood and with the three punishments gathered, even these two Earths are harmful. Among Sand Earths only Dingsi, with a variant spelling, does no harm. Among Metals, Sword Edge and Hairpin-and-Bracelet are most auspicious. Ding seeing Renshen gives the stems transforming into Wood and the branches Qian and Kun clear and level. Bing seeing Xinhai gives the stems transforming into Water and Bing entering Qian's Door. All are configurations of great rank. Dinghai seeing Gengxu or Bingxu seeing Guiyou is inauspicious. Foil Metal serves for decoration and is also auspicious. Other Metals are useless; examine Noble Person and Emolument in detail.
Translator's note: The forest and completed-Earth wording are irregular in the supplied text. Both favorable day-stem transformations and their separate unfavorable pairings are retained; no replacement four-pillar rule is introduced.
Bingzi and Dingchou · Water Beneath a Ravine
Water Beneath a Ravine has small waves encircled by mountains, snowlike surges at flying tips, flows connecting north and south, and veins facing one another through Kan and Li. This Water is clear and loves Metal's nourishment, especially Sand and Sword Edge. Among Hairpin-and-Bracelet Metals, Gengxu is unsuitable for Dingchou because Chou and Xu punish one another. Xinhai seeing Bingzi gives Bing and Xin transforming into Water and is especially noble. Judge other Metals through Emolument and Noble Person, taking their support for generation and disliking clashes and disruption. One Wood does no harm; two or three indicate toil, further assessed through Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse. Earth in the chart often makes the Heavenly Origin turbid. Wood or transformation into Water gives clarity and good fortune. Sand and Roof Earth have somewhat clear energy; Roadside and Great Post Station are very turbid, indicating dispersed wealth and calamity. A Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei Earth configuration is especially harmful because Water becomes turbid and Earth muddied. Solar Fire, although blazing, involves judgments of Already Across and Not Yet Across. Thunderbolt contends in the corresponding position and is most unsuitable. Judging the two Fires together, without Metal assistance they indicate dissipation and sexual excess; Metal requires another judgment. Mountain-Below and Mountain-Summit Fires are also auspicious, but both arriving in day and hour are disliked. Water in the chart instead makes drifting: Heavenly River raises the ordinary into the sage's realm, and Great Sea gives Blessings and Nobility Returning to Their Source, both auspicious. Only Dingchou seeing Renxu brings Chou–Xu punishment and a Ding–Ren lustful combination, indicating an unsavory reputation. Great Stream is impetuous and Long Flow unsettled, neither auspicious. In general, this Water takes abundance as primary, without Fire and Earth mixed in. Further Jiayin and Yimao Water give a distant source and clear flow, a true gentleman.
Translator's note: The source's simultaneous warnings about multiple Waters and favorable qualified Water combinations are preserved. Already Across and Not Yet Across are the traditional Water–Fire configuration names used here.
Jiayin and Yimao · Great-Stream Water
Great-Stream Water has startling waves striking the banks and frightening billows floating toward heaven, brightness containing ten thousand leagues and blue depths reflecting a thousand mountains. It most favors having a destination and nourishment: Kan provides a destination and Metal nourishment. What it dislikes is Shen and You clashing and stirring in day, month, and hour, or Chen and Si winds blowing, indicating drifting. Well-and-Spring Water is clean and still; Ravine has Chou as Gen; Heavenly River gives moisture; Great Sea receives it at the source. These four Waters are auspicious. Long Flow has wind and alone is unsuitable. Clear Metal assists and nourishes this Water, especially Hairpin and Sand. Wax Metal is also clear but is unsuitable if Hairpin Metal clashes opposite. Sea Metal, though giving no working of transformation, has Jiazi as Kan and Yichou as Gen, places of returning to the source, so it is also auspicious. Foil Metal is extremely slight and cannot generate it: how could exceptional prominence result? Sword Metal can transform through Great Stream but fears Mao thunder and Xun wind, indicating an unstable disposition. All Earth gives no benefit. Roof and City Wall block this Water; Roadside is somewhat acceptable but unremarkable. Of Wall Earth, only Xinchou is mountain. Of Great Post Station, only Jiyou has combination; Wushen instead clashes and Gengzi punishes, all inauspicious. Solar Fire lends illumination, but Thunderbolt is especially feared. The two Fires meeting each other indicate poverty; a single Fire is judged separately. Wood seeing this Water merely drifts. Only the printed Mulberry-and-Tuo has Renzi as Kan and Guichou as mountain, forming the noble Water Encircling and Mountains Surrounding. Jiayin people seeing Renzi are auspicious, Yimao people seeing Guichou auspicious. Other Wood is assessed through Emolument and Noble Person, with clashes and disruption especially feared.
Translator's note: The source's distinction between a single Fire and a pair, and between nourishing Metal and specific counter-clashes, is retained. Mulberry-and-Tuo follows the printed variant label.
Renchen and Guisi · Long-Flowing Water
Long-Flowing Water wells up without end and surges without exhaustion, descending toward the southeast and naturally returning through its course to Chen and Si. It favors Metal's generation and nourishment, especially White Wax and Hairpin-and-Bracelet. Their heavenly stems Geng and Xin are true Metal; branches Chen and Si generate in the corresponding positions, while Xu and Hai are places of return to the source. Sword Edge is purely Metal and Water; Foil's Water and Wood dwell in the east, all judged auspicious. Sea and Sand Metals are not taken. Earth is disliked for obstruction and drying, yet has the function of embankments. Of the six Earths, those with Geng, Xin, Bing, and Ding are auspicious; Wu and Ji are useless. Meeting Fire gives mutual punishment but also the subtlety of Already Across. Renchen favors Dingmao and Dingyou; Guisi favors Wuzi and Wuwu, because the stems combine and transform. Among Lamp Heads, Guisi especially favors Jiachen; among Mountain Summits, Renchen especially favors Yihai. Transforming into a dragon and returning to Emolument make the meaning finer. Wood may float, but Mulberry-and-Tuo Guichou forms a mountain and Poplar-and-Willow Guiwei a garden. In year and hour, this Water surrounding them is Water Encircling a Flower Embankment, a configuration of great rank. Pine-and-Cypress and Pomegranate have Metal in the stems to generate it. Great Forest and Level Ground are disliked for their Earth, yet Guisi seeing Wuchen and Renchen seeing Jihai are auspicious. Other Water is its own kind: Ravine gives Ding and Ren combining and transforming, while Heavenly River supplies rain and dew. Well Spring and Great Stream give no benefit. Sea is the destination of all streams. Renchen's dragon obtaining Guihai is Dragon Leaping through Heaven's Gate, auspicious for spring, summer, or autumn birth; Dragon Hidden in the Great Sea instead suits winter birth. Metal should first be present in the pillars. Renchen is Water at its own Seal: another Renchen gives punishment and self-injury. Seeing Wuxu gives a clash and flooding, indicating harm. Guisi is Water at its own Extinction, called Dried-Up Stream. Bingxu, Dinghai, Gengzi, or Xinchou Earth make drying up foreseeable. Metal at Birth or Flourishing through the three harmonies generating it in the pillars makes it auspicious.
Translator's note: The source calls Renchen own-Seal Water here, while the earlier general discussion calls it own-Storehouse Water. The different seasonal dragon configurations, stem-specific Fire preferences, and Mulberry-and-Tuo variant remain as supplied.
Bingwu and Dingwei · Heavenly-River Water
Heavenly-River Water scatters over the six fields and pours densely upon a thousand outskirts, streaming down from the Silver River and flying finely from the blue heavens. It is heavenly rain and dew, indispensable for generating the myriad things. Earth cannot conquer the Silver River's Water, so Earth is not feared and also gives the benefit of moisture. Earthly Metal can hardly generate heavenly Water, so Metal gives little benefit, though there is still a relation of containing refinement. Excessive Birth and Flourishing make prolonged flooding that injures things; excessive Death and Extinction make drought that cannot generate things. Birth in the three autumn months obtains the proper time and gives rank. Water favors Long Flow and Great Sea. Bingwu suits Guisi and Guihai; Dingwei suits Renchen and Renxu, with yin-yang cross-meetings especially auspicious. Great Stream Yimao is thunder and Well Spring Jiyou is Noble Person, both auspicious. Fire favors Thunderbolt, the numinous dragon's Fire, balancing this Water. With sudden transformation, clouds move and rain falls: how could it fail to be noble? Furnace Fire is Flourishing and Great-Sea Water Flourishing. If the pillars obtain two Fires and two Waters balancing above and below, it is called Spirit and Energy Both Complete, a configuration of great rank. Lamp Head has wind and Mountain Summit nobility, both auspicious, but another Water must provide balance. Heavenly Fire conquers in the corresponding position and is feared. Among Woods, Pomegranate and Poplar-and-Willow are auspicious. Great Forest has Xun and Level Ground Hai, also auspicious. Pine-and-Cypress and Pomegranate meeting Bing and Xin combination and transformation are also judged auspicious. The Wondrous Selections has the Numinous Raft Entering the Heavenly River: Wood at Death or Extinction without roots, and no Earth cultivating it in the pillars, drifts along the Heavenly River. Although Earth cannot conquer, Gengwu and Xinwei in the pillars conquer in their corresponding positions, blocking Earth and stagnating Water. If Water is also born in winter, it freezes in ponds and certainly indicates turbidity and overflow. Sand and Roof Earth are auspicious; City Wall and Great Post Station useless. Wall Earth clashes opposite and also spoils the transformation. Although Metal cannot generate this Water, Hairpin Xinhai belongs to Qian Heaven and is uniquely most auspicious. Other Metals are used when the stems contain Geng, Xin, Ren, or Gui; Jia and Yi give no benefit. Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse must also be considered. The Wondrous Selections further calls a Water birth obtaining Gengzi or Renzi Clouds Rising and Rain Falling. Spring gives drought, summer flooding, winter cold; only the three autumn months are most auspicious. Meeting Jiachen, Yisi, Gengchen, or Xinsi, with Ren as cloud and Chen as dragon in the pillars, is Wind and Rain Making Sustained Rainfall. Winter birth is Frost Congealing and Thin Dew; day and hour welcome the warm energy of Yin and Mao to release the freeze. These are all noble configurations.
Translator's note: The source's statements that ordinary Earth cannot conquer this Water and that Gengwu/Xinwei still obstruct it are both retained. All named configurations, exact pairings, and seasonal qualifications are included.
Jiashen and Yiyou · Well-and-Spring Water
Well-and-Spring Water is cold, clear, and refreshing, drawn for endless nourishment. Eight households dig it to drink together, and the multitude relies on it for life. Born from Metal and emerging through Wood, this Water favors Metal as a blessing. Sand Metal has Earth and is most suited to its nature; clear and refined Hairpin-and-Bracelet comes next. Wax Metal clashes with Hairpin Metal and should not also be seen. Sword Edge at Shen and You is too Flourishing, raising fear of flooding. Sea Metal is not taken, though Yichou is Gen and a spring issuing beneath a mountain is auspicious. Without Wood it cannot emerge, as illustrated by a bucket, so all Wood is auspicious. Level Ground and Great Forest require Sword Metal to cut them before they can be used. Mulberry-and-Tuo and Poplar-and-Willow are useless. Pine-and-Cypress exchanges and returns to Emolument, most auspicious. Fires cross-meeting through yin and yang are auspicious. Thunderbolt is called Entering the Sage's Realm and the Sun Manifest Illumination. The source calls meetings with these two Fires most auspicious, yet says having both together is harmful. Among Earths, Roadside and Sand are most auspicious. Roof has Heaven's Gate, the source generating Water, also auspicious. City Wall and Wall have no involvement with this Water. Great Post Station conquers in the corresponding position, covering Water with Earth so the well cannot be drunk; only Wood removing it makes it acceptable. Water favors Great Sea, raising the ordinary into the sage's realm. Heavenly River, Ravine, and Long Flow likewise do not cause calamity; Great Stream Jiayin and Yimao are auspicious. Jiashen seeing Yiyou or Yiyou seeing Jiashen gives Office Stars exchanging, most auspicious. Two Waters in year and hour and two Woods in month and day form Water Encircling a Flower Embankment, a noble configuration.
Translator's note: Both apparently conflicting statements about the two Fires are retained, along with the eight-household well image and exact year/hour versus month/day arrangement. Mulberry-and-Tuo follows the printed variant.
Renxu and Guihai · Great-Sea Water
Great-Sea Water receives the hundred rivers, vast and without boundary, embracing heaven and earth's immensity and raising and sinking the light of sun and moon. It has clear and turbid kinds and is judged in two ways. Renxu has Earth energy and is turbid; Guihai has pure Water in stem and branch and Water again in Nayin, so it is clear. Renxu people dislike mountains because Earth energy is too strong; only Metal clearing it makes it auspicious. Guihai most loves a mountain, after which Sea Water's nature becomes settled. Ravine Dingchou is mountain. Heavenly River and Sea communicate above and below; Wood in the pillars as a raft gives Riding a Raft into the Heavenly River, an especially superior configuration. Long Flow, Great Stream, and the other Waters all ultimately return to Sea: by not rejecting small streams it achieves greatness. Renchen is Dragon Returning to the Great Sea, especially auspicious, but yin-yang cross-meetings and stem-branch combinations and transformations must be distinguished. Well Spring is restrained and does not communicate with Sea, so it is not welcome. Among Metals, Sea Metal alone is first, because Renxu and Guihai favor Jiazi and Yichou. Sand is also acceptable; judge other Metals through Noble Person, Emolument, and Horse. Fire favors Heavenly Fire, mutually illuminating Sea Water, most auspicious. Thunderbolt Jichou forms a mountain; Wu and Gui combining and transforming, with Wood and Fire in Flourishing ground in the pillars, are also auspicious. Mountain-Below, Mountain-Summit, and Covered-Lamp Fires are unsuitable. Among Woods, only Renzi, Guichou, Renwu, and Guiwei are all auspicious. Great Forest has stirring wind and unsettles Water's nature. Level Ground carries substantially and accords in the corresponding position. Pine-and-Cypress and Pomegranate drift without stability unless Earth restrains them. Earth favors Roadside and Great Post Station: only these two can hold it steady without leakage. Guihai seeing Wushen forms the great Gate of Heaven and Axle of Earth configuration. This substantial Earth in day or hour makes even wind and thunder harmless. City-Wall Jimao requires Gen's support to be auspicious. Meeting Thunderbolt instead makes thunder and Fire transform and Sea Water surge, also indicating poverty and hardship.
In the sixty stem-branch pairs' assignment of Metal images, some of the ten stems can be Metal and others cannot. Although the numbers encountered differ, one must understand the subtle principle of five-phase transformation and following a kind. Jia and Yi, Geng and Xin, and Ren and Gui are three groups that can become Metal; Bing and Ding and Wu and Ji do not participate. Geng and Xin are originally Metal and naturally belong to its own home. Ren and Gui are not Metal, so why can they become Metal? Because Metal and Water generate one another, Water too can become Metal; thus the world contains things with blue-green Water and bright Metal. Jia and Yi Wood has a hard and strong substance. Wood changing into stone in the world provides an analogy, so these two can take Metal's image just like what belongs to Metal's own home. Bing and Ding belong to Fire, differing in dry hardness; Wu and Ji belong to Earth, differing in soft hardness. Contrary to Metal, they cannot naturally be judged as Metal. Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui, these six stems, can become Wood; Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding do not participate. Bing and Ding are originally Fire and burn Wood, so they cannot be taken. Jia and Yi are originally Wood: why not take them? Because among the five phases, Metal returns to Metal, Water to Water, Fire to Fire, and Earth to Earth; Wood alone changes. Wood borrows the natures of Fire, Water, and Earth and is born through their provisional combination. When its veins end and it withers, it returns to Water; burned into Fire, it returns to Fire; decayed into Earth, it returns to Earth. Therefore Wood is not used: it leaves its body and transforms its spirit. The six Jia cycles revolve; with encountered numbers and interwoven phases, the principle can be understood silently. All Wood is generated by Water and its fluids are Water, so Ren and Gui can become Wood. Geng and Xin's substance is as hard as Jia and Yi's; thus Jia and Yi can become Metal, and Geng and Xin can become Wood. Their exchange and communication follow one principle. Bing and Ding, Jia and Yi, and Ren and Gui take Water's image: Ren and Gui are originally Water, Bing and Ding its transformation, and Jia and Yi's fluids Water. Wu and Ji Earth conquer Water; Geng and Xin Metal dry Water. Their energies differ, so they cannot be judged as Water. Jia and Yi, Bing and Ding, and Wu and Ji take Fire's image: Bing and Ding are originally Fire, Wu and Ji its transformation, and Jia and Yi's generation and burning Fire. Ren and Gui Water conquer Fire, and Geng and Xin Metal dry Fire. Their kinds differ, so they cannot be judged as Fire. Bing and Ding, Wu and Ji, and Geng and Xin have Earth Nayin. Wu and Ji are originally Earth. Bing and Ding Fire transform into ash, which is Earth; Geng and Xin Metal mingle within Earth as the condensation of its finest energy. Thus all can become Earth. Ren and Gui Water moisten downward without condensing, while Jia and Yi Wood scatter upward without stopping, so they cannot be judged as Earth. Investigating these images, there are differences of weight, size, hardness and softness, energy and flavor, substance and constitution, and function. These also combine with branch directions and positions, with different Flourishing, Support, Rest, and Confinement. What the heavenly stems encounter may follow an original image, a transformed image, or another image. Heaven and humanity exhaust their interaction; generation and conquest mutually complete the meaning. Hence Metal differs as Sea, Sand, Foil, White Wax, Sword Edge, and Hairpin-and-Bracelet, leaving none of Metal's imagery unexpressed. Wood, Fire, Water, and Earth can be understood by analogy. Is this not the subtle working of creation in Nayin imagery?
Translator's note: Both complete source paragraphs are translated. The concluding classification preserves each inclusion and exclusion list of stems for all five phases, including the unusual explanation of Wood's return to Water and the statements that Metal dries Water and Fire. These are the supplied cosmological arguments, not modern material science. Renxu and Guihai's separate mountain requirements and all concrete pairings are retained.
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