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Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
Discussions of the Killings
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On Robbery Killing and Death Spirit
Robbery is seizure from outside; loss from within is Death or Disappearance. Robbery lies at five-phase Extinction and Death Spirit at Assuming Office, all in Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai. Water is Extinct at Si, so Shen–Zi–Chen take Si as Robbery Killing: Wu Earth within Si robs Water. Fire is Extinct at Hai, so Yin–Wu–Xu take Hai: Ren Water within Hai robs Fire. Metal is Extinct at Yin, so Si–You–Chou take Yin: Bing Fire within Yin robs Metal. Wood is Extinct at Shen, so Hai–Mao–Wei take Shen: Geng Metal within Shen robs Wood. An old song says: “Robbery Killing's calamity cannot be withstood; vainly one rushes through the field of fame and profit. Beware ancestral property wholly vanishing; how can wife and children endure?” Another: “Four positions meeting Birth, with Robbery coming again, establish achievement at court as a leading scholar. Office and Nobility in the hour give upright reputation in the Censorate.” Another: “Robbery Spirit surrounding and meeting Office Star gives military command to aid the enlightened ruler, commanding awe without anger and keeping the realm peaceful.” Another: “Robbery Killing is chief of Killings; Body Palace and Life ruler need not come here. As the leading configuration, death should follow, with Killing luminaries arriving beyond doubt. Without a star here, inspect the three harmonies. A harmful star added from the heavenly plate makes Life like a lamp in wind, soon destroyed.” Water generates Wood, so Shen–Zi–Chen take Hai as Death Spirit: Jia Wood within Hai drains Water. Fire generates Earth, so Yin–Wu–Xu take Si: Wu Earth within Si drains Fire. Metal generates Water, so Si–You–Chou take Shen: Ren Water within Shen drains Metal. Wood generates Fire, so Hai–Mao–Wei take Yin: Bing Fire within Yin drains Wood. An old song says: “Death Spirit and Seven Killings bring no slight calamity; every device fails. Harmed children and punished wife, no ancestral estate; even an official fears an empty name.” Another: “Death Spirit in Life Palace requires Long Life and Noble Person. Day and hour further combining heaven and earth give a royal minister selflessly diligent.” Another: “All call Seven Killings Death Spirit; do not say its harm is light. Body and Life here pass a lifetime in poverty and obstruction. Harmful luminaries arriving make major fortune like walking on thin ice. Examine three harmonies clearly: Killings flanking and supporting make passage difficult.”
Translator's note: All four Robbery and four Death-Spirit mappings, their phase explanations, and all seven quoted verses are retained. Favorable Office/Nobility cases and adverse cases remain distinct. The source's fatalistic claims are translated as historical assertions.
On Sheep Blade
Three Carts says: “Sheep signifies hardness; Blade takes the meaning of slaughter and cutting.” Exceeding Emolument produces Blade. Accomplishment should be followed by retreat; failure to retreat exceeds one's share, like a sheep at the blade, implying injury. Thus Sheep Blade is always one position ahead of Emolument. Xiyin says: “Yin, yang, and all things dislike excessive power.” At the utmost, Fire scorches; the printed extinguishing-Water phrase gives surging; exhausted Metal breaks, deficient Earth collapses, and cracked Wood is shattered. Complete but not extreme gives blessings; extreme must reverse into harm. The utmost Flourishing ground is the ten stems' proper position. Mao is Jia's proper position and yang Wood's utmost; Chen Yi's and yin Wood's utmost; Wu Bing's and yang Fire's utmost; Wei Ding's and yin Fire's utmost; You Geng's and yang Metal's utmost; Xu Xin's and yin Metal's utmost; Zi Ren's and yang Water's utmost. The Chou clause breaks, then jumps to Horse at Shen for Wu, Geng's Emolument at Shen, Yisi's Nobility at Shen, and Geng's Sheep Blade at You. Yisi Noble Person takes Jiashen as Post Horse and looks ahead to Sheep Blade, hence Taking the Reins to Make Things Clear. This configuration often gives an upright, severe official. Further auspicious kinds often make a harsh official able to restrain criminals. Ziping allows Blade for the five yang stems Jia, Bing, Wu, Geng, and Ren; the five yin Yi, Ding, the printed Si, Xin, and Gui have no Blade, only Hurting Office with the same calamity. Here the intended word is yang of yin and yang, not sheep among oxen and sheep. Its meaning appears later in the Yang Blade configuration discussion.
Translator's note: The abrupt break after Chou and the intervening Horse/Emolument example remain in place. No missing Gui position is invented. The source prints Si within the yin-stem list and irregular wording in the elemental-overfullness sentence. The final explanation explicitly distinguishes the homophones yang and sheep; the chapter heading's Sheep Blade convention is retained.
On Void and Disappearance
Empty is opposed to solid and absent to present. The Scripture of Divine Whiteness says: “Void and Disappearance have many kinds; where ten stems do not arrive, regard it as Void.” The Scripture of Penetrating Mystery says: “Calculation ends and disappearance arises.” Thus a Jia cycle's end is called Void and Disappearance: a position without Emolument is empty, a branch without a stem absent. Jiazi's sequence ends its ten stems at You, leaving no Xu or Hai. Extend through the other five groups. Yet emptiness has substance and absence presence, so it must not immediately be called harmful. Luoluzi says the five yang use one yang and five yin one yin. Jiazi, Bingyin, Wuchen, Gengwu, and Renshen use Xu, not Hai; Yichou, Dingmao, Jisi, Xinwei, and Guiyou use Hai, not Xu. Yang divides by yang years, yin by yin years. Another account takes Jiazi through Wuchen as Xu Void and Jisi through Guiyou as Hai Void, upper and lower five-year divisions. Within these, Jiazi through Wuchen seeing Renxu is heavy, Wuxu and the like light; Jisi through Guiyou seeing Guihai heavy, Yihai and the like light. A Jiazi birth at Jiaxu hour directly sees it and is somewhat light; a Jisi birth at Guihai hour infringes within the hour and is heaviest. The Rhapsody Guiding the Perplexed says: “Emolument entering Void requires distinguishing preceding and following positions, showing yin-yang division and degrees of weight.” The Golden Book of Eight Characters gives Ren and Gui Void in Jia-yin cycle, Jia and Yi in Jiachen, Bing and Ding in Jiashen, Geng and Xin in Jiaxu. It discusses stems through two branch positions; some call it Ten Evils and Great Defeat. Birth on these days indicates poverty and low status.
With this Killing at Birth or Flourishing, bearing is broad, actions attract empty reputation, and the body is tall and full. Many unexpected blessings come without intention. Death and Extinction give lifelong success, failure, and wandering. Yet on ground where I have energy it cannot cause calamity. Stems and branches combining with Heavenly Center are greatly feared, called a lesser person obtaining position, deceitful and capable of anything. If conquered by me, it is called the printed Heavenly Center Fattening Calamity and instead gives exceptional blessings. An original note gives a Wuwu Fire person seeing Jiazi Metal. The spirit is changeable: with Official Tally, flattering and literary; with Robbery Killing, crafty and brave; Death Spirit, wandering; Great Depletion, inverted and abrupt conduct; Established Emolument, lifelong loss and dispersal; Salty Pool and Six Harms, violent sudden death. Only Flanking Nobility, Canopy, Three Wonders, or Study Hall joining give great intelligence and detachment from the ordinary.
The opening Grand-Duke clause is compressed; Void within the birth day's cycle is most pressing. Grand Duke and day exchanging Void are worse. Taking substance as empty allows substance to reflect emptiness; taking emptiness as empty leaves no substance to reflect. Thus exchanged Void gives deep calamity. Jiazi year with Renxu month has Jiazi's true Void at Renxu. Renxu belongs to Jiayin cycle, whose Void includes Zi, indicating lifelong losses and ruined household. Apply elsewhere by analogy. Day and hour exchanging make hour urgent and day slower. Day infringing while hour punishes, clashes, breaks, or harms, or hour infringing while day does so, also gives blessings, though hardship remains. Heavenly Center must not be wholly judged harmful. Harmful spirits and gathered calamity in the pillars specifically need Void to resolve them; combinations are then unsuitable because they prevent emptiness. Blessed energy of Emolument, Horse, Wealth, and Office instead fears Void dispersing it; combination is then favored because it prevents emptiness. Without clash, combination, or punishment it is True Void. The Four Beginnings are especially severe, giving only petty skills used to seek others' help. Another True-Void list gives Water and Earth in Jiazi cycle, Metal Jiaxu, Fire and Earth Jiashen, Fire and Earth Jiawu, Wood Jiachen, and Water and Earth Jiayin. Sound exists through a hollow center, so a great person's chart requires the virtue of inward emptiness. Void at its own Flourishing is useful, a vessel of great sound and response. The printed month/day/month-hour three positions all Void do not prevent great rank. Two positions, though giving office, do not make it great.
Void in the hour gives stubbornness, lofty but empty actions, and, with Canopy, certainly few children. In the day it often gives birth to a secondary mother, or separation between wife and concubine; meeting a pairing combination often gives sexual dissipation.
An old song says: “Conception at birth fears meeting Void; at that time the mind is dark. Even with nine plans in ten steps, drifting east and west cannot be avoided.”
Another: “Established Emolument in Void has an empty name; lifelong study reaches old age without completion. Even Horse and Nobility rescuing, office obtained again stops.”
Another: “Jiayin, Wuwu, and Gengshen find Heavenly Center at Chou most unkind. Born entitled to Emolument, Five Ghosts bring decline and poverty.” Jiayin Water seeing Xinchou Earth has a hostile agent conquering Life. Wuwu seeing Dingchou and Gengshen seeing Yichou likewise have Void and fear conquest of Life.
Another: “The two after each of six cycles are Heavenly Center; combination, Long Life, and Flourishing are not harmful. Clash, conquest, and punishment of Emolument arriving raise office higher.” For Si–You–Chou people with Dingchou month, Guiwei day, and Wuwu hour, Wu and Wei are Void, yet Wu–Gui Fire flourishes at Wu, making a noble configuration: Fire's emptiness has flame.
Another: “Seal's star seeing Void, proceeding to Tomb and Storehouse, gives repeated blessings. Further Flanking Nobility returning to its origin, with Killings, requires the post of Remonstrating Secretary.” Jiawu, Guiyou, Bingzi, and Renchen hour, though Void, combine with Guiyou through six combination and have Tomb, Storehouse, and Flanking Nobility, fitting a configuration: empty Water flows.
A classic says: “Empty Metal rings; empty Fire shines; empty Water clears; empty Wood breaks; empty Earth collapses.” This is the meaning.
Another account says Void in a chart is originally unfavorable, but fortune punishing or clashing instead makes an empty Killing, giving scholars widespread renown. Jia-shen, Dingchou, Yihai, and Jiashen in Renwu fortune holds a key post; Yiwei, Yiyou, Yichou, and Dinghai in Xinsi fortune becomes supervisory commissioner with great reputation. If Renyin is Void and same-kind Renshen clashes with it, it does not move, the most severe case.
Road-Cutting Void is like meeting Water on a journey, unable to proceed or cross. It is taken only through day seeing hour. Jia and Ji days derive twelve hours, with Ren and Gui at Shen and You. Thus Jia–Ji see Shen–You, Yi–Geng Wu–Wei, Bing–Xin Chen–Si, Ding–Ren Yin–Mao, and Wu–Gui Xu–Hai: both hours meet Ren and Gui as Water. Not only a natal chart is inauspicious: the source forbids it for travel, seeking wealth, trade, taking office, marriage, and all undertakings.
There are Four Great Voids. Among six Jia cycles, Jiachen and Jiaxu have all five phases. Jiazi and Jiawu births seeing Water, and Jiayin and Jiashen lacking Metal, concern the four incomplete cycles. The source then states Jiazi and Jiawu alone lack Water and Jiayin/Jiashen births seeing Metal directly infringe. Even if not infringed in the birth year, fortune reaching Water or Metal also infringes. It predicts lifelong obstruction and early death regardless of poverty or wealth, low status or rank. Three repeated encounters set the limit at an instant. Huzhongzi says: “Yan Hui's early death came only from the Four Great Voids.” This is its claim.
The Scripture of Penetrating Subtlety has Five-Ghost Void: Jia–Ji people see Si–Wu, Yi–Geng Yin–Mao, Bing–Xin Zi–Chou, Ding–Ren Xu–Hai, Wu–Gui Shen–You. Periods reaching these regions indicate poverty.
There is Conquering-and-Harming Void: Jia and Yi people see Wu, Bing and Ding Shen, Wu and Ji Si, Geng and Xin Yin, Ren and Gui You and Chou, indicating harm to wife and children.
There is Ancestral-Ruin Void. Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding follow the preceding rules; the printed Wu–Si people see Xu, Geng and Xin Zi, Ren and Gui Yin. It indicates ruined ancestral property and must be considered together with the other accounts.
Translator's note: All alternative Void divisions, six-cycle True-Void assignments, stem/hour mappings, five-Ghost and harm tables, quotations, and concrete chart examples are retained. The compressed Grand-Duke opening, Fattening Calamity, repeated month/day/month-hour wording, and Wu–Si in the final stem list are not repaired. Both favorable hollow-vessel analogies and categorical adverse predictions remain the historical author's claims, with no modern diagnostic or predictive status.
On Original Influence
Original Influence names separation without union. Yang ahead and yin behind give constraint, preventing affairs from extending; yin ahead and yang behind give straightness without fulfillment, violent and ungoverned affairs and difficult cooperation. Thus Original Influence. For yang men and yin women it is one branch position ahead of the clash; for yin men and yang women one behind. A Jiazi male clashes with Jiawu and takes Yiwei; a Yichou male clashes with Yiwei and takes Jiawu. The remaining-stems Wu–Wei half-division phrase is compressed. It is harmful because it occupies energy's clash: stirring on the left puts Wind Killing right, stirring right puts it left, so yin/yang and male/female use different sides. Annual years or fortune reaching it make things like objects in wind, shaken and overturned without rest. If not inner illness, outer trouble follows. Even immense wealth, rank, and power fear ten years of a major period meeting it. At court one is banished, at home calamity follows. Even auspicious support leaves blessing and calamity intertwined. Good fortune first and harm afterward is especially feared; after Flourishing, when about to leave but not yet gone, calamity is clearest. At birth it indicates a crude frame, prominent cheekbones, low nose, large mouth, angular imposing eyes, protruding head and raised buttocks, stiff limbs, and deep, turbid voice. At Birth and Flourishing, dejected yet broad, unable to distinguish right from wrong or good from bad, confused and muddled. At Death and Extinction, poor and mean, appearance low, speech turbid, without shame, ruined and obstructed, fond of drink and desire and accustomed to low ways. With Official Tally, much unwarranted disturbance; with Robbery Killing, disregard for small rules, danger and disgrace, empty lowliness and shamelessness. The text assigns women a forceful voice, turbid nature, illicit relations with servants, ghostly influence, disregard for ritual, lifelong calamity, and stubborn, unfilial children. The common Rat Fears Sheep's Head Song does not distinguish men and women and is unreliable. Luoluzi says Xuanfu feared Original Influence; Lin Kai calls it a malign Killing causing severe calamity. Exchanges are especially inauspicious, but a sudden combination is judged auspicious. The Scripture of Penetrating Mystery says: “Original Influence meeting combination gives great success.” The Collection of Broad Trust cites Deputy Administrator Wu [missing graph] Ji, Jimao, Jiashen, Jisi, Jiaxu, and Privy Councillor Teng Geng, Yichou, Renwu, Yichou, Renwu: do these not infringe Original Influence? Li Jifu says noble charts must meet Killings to receive extraordinary promotion from the ruler, calling Lin Kai's view one-sided. Xu Ziping defines Original Influence as a position already harmful in the chart, as Jia seeing Shen and Geng or Yi You and Xin. Original Seven Killings in year, month, day, or hour already harm it; annual years and fortune meeting them again infringe Original Influence and are especially severe, while original absence makes harm lighter. This Killing should be considered like Death, Robbery, Sheep Blade, and Void. The supplied reference to Luoluzi's Message Rhapsody and Self-Revealing Snowy Heart Rhapsody says: “Original Influence's Water goes,” also naming a symbolic spirit. This is the ancients' account.
Translator's note: Both sex/direction examples, the critics' opposing interpretations, two historical charts, and the final alternate definition are retained. Wu's name has a missing graph; Teng Geng and the compressed Wu–Wei and Water-goes phrases follow the supplied text without identification or repair. Physical, moral, gendered, illness, and ghost-related claims are historical assertions.
On the Hidden-Metal Di Killing
These three Killings are prior-heaven numbers' four clashes. Zi and Wu each have nine, Mao and You six, totaling thirty. Count forward from Zi to thirty and reach Si, the four middle positions' proper Killing. Yin and Shen each have seven, Si and Hai four, totaling twenty-two. Count forward from Zi to twenty-two and reach You, the four beginnings' proper Killing. Chen and Xu each have five, Chou and Wei eight, totaling twenty-six. Count from Zi to twenty-six and reach Chou, the four seasonal positions' proper Killing. Thus it arises from numbers. All symbolic Killings arise numerically, like Emolument and Horse. One Killing has three names: Chanting and Groaning, Shattering, and White Clothes. Zi–Wu–Mao–You use Si, Yin–Shen–Si–Hai You, Chen–Xu–Chou–Wei Chou. Si is Metal's Birth ground, with Fire at Assuming Office within it. Metal meets conquest, indicating beating, punishment, prison, and groaning, hence Chanting and Groaning. You is Metal's Flourishing ground, the killing of things in season, assisted by Xin Metal. Nothing withstands it without shattering, indicating dismemberment and bleeding, hence Shattering. Chou is Metal's Storehouse and Tomb, a seasonal position at Ghost Gate, indicating harm, mourning clothes, and weeping, hence White Clothes. Metal alone among the phases can kill things, so together it is Hidden-Metal Di Killing. At Birth or Flourishing, it indicates broad capacity, decisive action, and clear, severe appearance; if no early death or penal injury, there must be chronic skin disease or paralysis. At Death or Extinction it gives cruel harm, a red-and-white complexion, clever flattering words, and a blade hidden in a smile. Official Tally joins for unexpected official calamity; Robbery Killing for unexpected death or mourning; White Tiger and Sheep Blade for the printed flowing-heart injury phrase. Noble Person and Established Emolument make it somewhat slower. Five phases Flourishing and Supported with auspicious rescue and a noble configuration make it harmless; a low configuration with further harmful spirits becomes worse. Another account gives severe wind illness and paralysis at Metal's Birth, water/gu/poison-drug illness at Flourishing, and harm to children and a bad death at Tomb. Three Punishments with Virtue and Nobility give high office and military command. Generally inauspicious in the natal chart, it also brings mourning, weeping, theft, disputes, and losses in annual years. Children infringing it face scalding or burning, otherwise scars and bodily damage. A classic says: “Nothing is more perverse than punishment and harm, yet sometimes they are auspicious; nothing more discordant than clash and disruption, yet not all are harmful.” This is the meaning.
Translator's note: Di is retained as a technical title element rather than given an unsupported definition. All three numerical derivations and group mappings are translated. Flowing-heart is irregular as printed; gu and wind illness remain historical disease terms rather than modern diagnoses. The final qualification against universal harmful judgment is retained.
On Calamity Killing
Calamity Killing is fierce and forceful, usually before Robbery Killing, clashing with and disrupting General Star. Shen–Zi–Chen have General Star at Zi, clashed by Wu; Yin–Wu–Xu at Wu, clashed by Zi; Si–You–Chou at You, clashed by Mao; Hai–Mao–Wei at Mao, clashed by You. These are Calamity Killing. It indicates bloodshed and unexpected death: in Water and Fire, beware drowning and burning; Metal and Wood, staves and blades; Earth, falls; epidemics conquering the self, greatly harmful. With blessing spirits assisting, it often gives military power. Like Robbery Killing, it favors Office Star and Seal at Birth or Flourishing. The Scripture of Divine Whiteness says: “Calamity Killing fears conquest at the generating place and instead becomes auspicious.” This is the meaning.
Translator's note: All four General-Star oppositions, five-phase danger images, and the explicit rescue conditions follow the historical text. They are not modern risk or medical predictions.
On the Six Afflictions
Affliction means encountering difficulty. It usually lies one position ahead of Horse and two behind Robbery, called Affliction because it dies without being born. Shen–Zi–Chen Water configuration has Water's Death at Mao; Yin–Wu–Xu Fire, Fire's Death at You; Hai–Mao–Wei Wood, Wood's Death at Wu; Si–You–Chou Metal, Metal's Death at Zi. Thus Affliction. Rescue, protection, support, Birth and Flourishing, and noble energy assisting make it auspicious, yet lifelong obstruction ultimately remains. Huzhongzi says: “Six Afflictions strip office, as Li Guang failed to be enfeoffed.”
Translator's note: The source names Six Afflictions but supplies four birth-group mappings; no two additional rules are invented. Both its rescue qualification and residual adverse judgment are retained.
On Hook and Entanglement
Hook means involvement; Entanglement means binding. The two Killings usually clash opposite, like Death and Robbery. For yang men and yin women, three positions before Life are Hook and three behind Entanglement, with a stray one in the printed behind-three phrase. For yin men and yang women, three before are Entanglement and three behind Hook. A Jiazi yang-chart person has Mao as Hook and You Entanglement; a Yichou yin-chart person has Chen Entanglement and Xu Hook. An old song says: “Claw-and-Fang Killing lies three positions from Life, greatly fearing Metal Spirit and Sheep Blade. Flanking Killings conquering Body without blessed rescue bring injury by snake or tiger.” Metal Spirit and White Tiger joining are especially harmful. Injury by cattle, horses, dogs, and other animals counts too, not only tiger and wolf. Without conquering Body and sharing a palace with blessings, do not apply the judgment. Body conquering this Killing often gives clever strategy and responsibility for penal law, or a general's territorial power of execution. Killing conquering Body indicates an unnatural death; ordinary lesser people encounter unexpected calamity. The moving year arriving also brings disputes, punishment, and prison. Both positions complete make calamity heavy, one light. A hostile agent makes it heavy, its absence light.
Translator's note: Both male/female direction rules and Jiazi/Yichou examples are retained, along with the stray numerical graph and all rescue and severity qualifications. Injury, death, and criminal-justice outcomes are historical claims.
On Solitary Position and Widowed Asterism
Former worthies say an older person without husband is widowed, a young person without father orphaned. Position means a stellar position and asterism a stellar lodging, referring to these spirits. A chart infringing them has such solitude or widowhood. For the three directional positions Hai–Zi–Chou, one position ahead gives Yin as Solitary and one behind Xu as Widowed. Crossing the corner is Solitary, retreating from it Widowed. Derive the other three directions likewise, the sorrow of yin and yang. Yin begins spring and Chen ends it; Si begins summer and Wei ends it; Shen begins autumn and Xu ends it; Hai begins winter and Chou ends it. These are spirits of separated yin and yang and the seasons' changing directions. Three Carts says what generates me is mother, what conquers me husband, and what I conquer wife. Hai–Zi–Chou are northern Water. Water takes Metal as mother, Metal Extinct at Yin, so mother Extinction; Fire as wife, Fire's Tomb at Xu, so wife's Tomb. Si–Wu–Wei are southern Fire, taking Wood as mother, Extinct at Shen; Water as husband, Tomb at Chen. Yin–Mao–Chen are eastern Wood, taking Water as mother, Extinct at Si; Metal as husband, Tomb at Chou. Thus mother Extinction is Solitary Position, husband or wife Tomb Widowed Asterism, a fitting meaning. Luoluzi says: “Kin separated midway especially fear corners apart in Solitude and Widowhood.” The Jade Gate Collection calls Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai corners, Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei separations. Advancing is yang, unfavorable to father; retreating yin, unfavorable to mother. Another account says yang palace obstructs father, yin mother. For Yin–Mao–Chen people, Si is Solitary and Chou Widowed; Yin and Chen are yang positions, Chou and Si yin. Men and women seeing these often have discord even with biological children. Master Wang says a male chart born in wife's Extinction and meeting Solitary has lifelong difficulty marrying; a female born in husband's Extinction and meeting Widowed may repeatedly marry without growing old together. A Xinchou person obtaining Gengyin has Yin as Chou's Solitary and Chou as Yin's Widowed; the source then calls Yin and Chou mutually Widowed. Corners apart means Gen's trigram separates Chou and Yin, Qian, Kun, Gen, and Xun being the four corners. The Scripture of the Illuminating Spirit says infringement gives solitary form, exposed bones, no harmonious expression, and disadvantage to kin. Birth and Flourishing are somewhat acceptable; Death and Extinction worse. Post Horse joining gives wandering abroad, Void no support in childhood, Mourning and Funeral parents dying in succession. Lifelong repeated bereavement and calamity leave kin alone and poor. A noble configuration gives a son-in-law residing with the wife's family; a low one unavoidable wandering. Guigu's Transmitted Writings says linked cases are not judged Solitary or Widowed: Hai obtaining Yin and Xu, Yin Chou and Si, or stems and branches attending, gathering, and surrounding Noble Person. The Broad Record calls Well-Railing Diagonal Clash Solitary and Widowed. Stem Reversed Food further makes Well-Railing Reversed Food. Si–Wu–Wei people born again in the three summer months have double Solitary/Widowed, indicating harm to wife and children, few kin, no accumulated wealth, and more daughters. Further harmful Killings give no good end. Luoluzi says: “Rely on yin to inspect yang calamity: Year Star must not infringe Solitary. Rely on yang to judge yin disaster: heavenly years fear Widowed.” Minor fortune and Grand Duke must not infringe: yang emphasizes Solitary, yin Widowed.
Translator's note: All supplied directional examples, family analogies, opposing exceptions, and the Xinchou/Gengyin case are retained. The missing Metal-direction explanation is not invented, and the final mutual-Widowed wording is not corrected to match the earlier separate Solitary/Widowed labels. Family, gender, marriage, bodily, and mortality judgments are historical claims.
On Heaven's Net and Earth's Snare
The Net and Snare account is clear, but why Xu and Hai as Heaven's Net and Chen and Si as Earth's Snare? Heaven inclines northwest, Xu and Hai ending the six yin; earth sinks southeast, Chen and Si ending the six yang. At yin and yang's utmost all is dark, like someone caught in a net, followed by the source's irregular spring-meaning phrase. Huzhongzi says: “Dragon and Snake mixed especially disadvantage Chen births; Pig and Dog affronting particularly fear Hai.” Dragon is Chen and Snake Si. Chen obtaining Si or Si obtaining Chen is Dragon and Snake Mixed. A male chart is unharmed, while a female has damaged marriage, harmed children, frail fate, and illness. Chen obtaining Si is heavy, Si obtaining Chen light: Dragon born in Snake's hole retreats, Snake in Dragon's advances. Pig is Hai and Dog Xu. Xu obtaining Hai or Hai obtaining Xu is Pig and Dog Affronting. A female chart is unharmed, while a male has obstruction and discord, with a stray tooth word, damage to ancestors, and harm to wife. Xu obtaining Hai is light, Hai obtaining Xu heavy: Dog entering Pig's group advances, Pig entering Dog's is injured. The Various Books likewise warn of women's danger with Dragon–Snake and men's hardship with Pig–Dog. Thus men fear Heaven's Net and women Earth's Snare. Further distinguish Fire fates having Heaven's Net and Water and Earth fates Earth's Snare; Metal and Wood have neither. Natal infringement often gives obstruction; malign Killings joining and five phases without energy indicate a harmful death. Fortune reaching it is the same. Born in a Xu year, the printed Rong month, first day gives one year of Heaven's Net; the fifteenth day fifteen years. A Xu hour further makes thirty years. A Xu year with Hai month, or Hai hour with Xu day, exchanging is repeated infringement, with ceaseless calamity. Earth's Snare follows the same account; both together harm especially heavily. The Song for Ordering Ignorance says: “Birth hour's earthly knot with heaven's plate, how can the parental chamber long be safe?” Jiachen fate seeing Jiaxu, or the printed Shen–Xu fate seeing Jiachen, concerns people born at these two positions within Net and Snare.
Translator's note: The spring-meaning, tooth, Rong-month, and Shen–Xu phrases are irregular in the supplied text and remain identified. All direction-sensitive exceptions, one/fifteen/thirty-year counts, and phase exclusions are retained without converting them into a corrected fate calculator.
On the Ten Evils and Great Defeat
Ten Evils compares to grave crimes that law does not pardon; Great Defeat to an army utterly defeated with no survivor, imaging utmost harm. Ten days within the six Jia cycles have Emolument entering Void. Jiachen and Yisi use Jia's Emolument Yin and Yi's Mao, Void in the Jiachen cycle. Renshen uses Ren's Emolument Hai, Void in Jiazi cycle. Extend the same reasoning to Bingshen, Dinghai, Gengchen, Wuxu, Guihai, Xinsi, and Yichou. In a chart, use these only where seen in the day, not elsewhere. Even infringement is not always harmful: auspicious spirits and noble energy assisting should make an auspicious judgment.
The Scripture of Original Whiteness says: “Ten Evils come to ten positions; distinguish yearly Killings.” Gengxu year sees Jiachen day; Xinhai year Yisi day; Renyin year Bingshen day; Guisi year Dinghai day; Jiachen year Wuxu day; Yiwei year Yichou day; Jiaxu year Gengchen day; Yihai year Xinsi day; Bingyin year Renshen day; Dingsi year Guihai day. Year stems and branches clash with day stems and branches, with no Emolument feared; all other cases do no harm.
Translator's note: All ten days and ten year/day examples are retained. The legal and military comparisons are historical analogies, not current legal guidance. The explicit day-only scope and both favorable/rescue qualifications are included.
General Discussion of Symbolic Spirits and Killings
Ancient symbolic spirits and Killings had one hundred twenty names, with forced and fragmented explanations; creation may not work that way. The crucial natal Killings, including Sheep Blade, Void, Robbery, Calamity, Great Killing, Original Influence, Hook and Entanglement, Salty Pool, Shattering, Net and Snare, clashes, Heavenly Void, Suspended Needle, Level Head, and Turning Spear, have already been discussed. Here the author further records what astrologers have tested and found reasonable.
Self-Hanging Killing takes five-phase positions tied in reverse: Xu people Si, Si Xu, Chen Hai, Hai Chen, Yin Wei, Wei Yin, Mao Shen, Shen Mao, Wu Chou, Chou Wu, Zi You, and You Zi. Mutual conquest is greatly feared. Heavenly Origin at Tomb, with Heavenly Center, Official Tally, and Great Depletion further present, is certainly harmful.
Water-Drowning Killing takes Bingzi, Guiwei, and Guichou carrying Salty Pool, Metal Blade, or Sheep Blade. Bingzi's Nayin is Water and Zi Water's Flourishing ground; Wei is Well asterism's residence and Chou the Three Rivers' division. Nayin further conquering Body makes the outcome unavoidable in the text. An old song says: “A moving Killing conquering Body is called Overturning and Falling; beware Metal Spirit and Sheep Blade sharing a position. To know Self Hanging's worst spirit, Xu–Si, Chen–Hai, and Yin–Wei; Zi–You likewise harmful, Mao–Shen and Chou–Wei as before. Greatly fear Void and Tomb's hostile agent; Official Tally and Great Depletion must also be avoided. Bingzi, Guiwei, and Guichou fear Salty Pool, Metal Killing, and Sheep Blade. If the five phases further conquer Body, one death hangs from a beam, another drowns.”
Hanging-Sword Killing takes Si, You, Chou, and Shen pure and complete in four pillars, or repeated Si–You–Chou. Official Tally, Original Influence, White Tiger, Metal Spirit, and five-phase punishment or conquest of natal fate indicate violent killing of others or being killed. A poem says: “Si–You–Chou–Shen have complete Metal energy; many Following-Transformation configurations are Hanging Sword. Original, Death, Metal, and Tiger together conquering Body: even not killing others, how could self escape?”
Heavenly-Fire Killing takes complete Yin–Wu–Xu with Bing or Ding stems and no Water anywhere in five positions; with Water it is not this. Years or fortune reaching Fire's Birth or Flourishing require guarding against fire disaster. A poem says: “Yin–Wu–Xu complete are Heavenly Fire; without Bing or Ding still acceptable. Five positions without a Water spirit, Birth and Flourishing in the year bring calamity by Fire.” The author reports having Yin–Wu–Xu complete with Gui month stem, entering Wuwu fortune. Wu and Gui transformed into Fire, and fire disaster occurred in a Jiaxu year and Jiaxu month.
Heavenly-Slaughter Killing excludes Zi day with Wu hour and Wu day with Zi hour. The others are Chou day/Hai hour, Hai day/Chou hour, Yin/Xu, Xu/Yin, Mao/You, You/Mao, Chen/Shen, Shen/Chen, Si/Wei, and Wei/Si, counted in pairs. A gentleman infringing it has unusual illness, intestinal wind, or foot qi; a lesser person suffers damaged limbs. Repeated infringement gives penal banishment. Heavenly-Punishment Killing takes Zi and Chou people with Yi hour, Yin Geng hour, Mao and Chen Xin, Si Ren, Wu and Wei Gui, the printed Jia people Bing, You and Xu Ding, Hai Wu. The hour punishes or conquers natal fate, giving punishment and illness.
Thunder Killing's first verse gives first/seventh and second/eighth months at Zi and Yin, third/ninth and fourth/tenth at Chen and Wu, fifth/eleventh at Shen, and the printed sixth/second at Xu, predicting death by thunder or tiger. Another verse explicitly gives first/seventh Zi, second/eighth Yin, third/ninth Chen, fourth/tenth Wu, fifth/eleventh Shen, sixth/twelfth Xu, starting Zi in the first month and proceeding through six yang positions. Meeting it with Emolument and Nobility, auspicious stars pressing upon it, makes it auspicious. Practicing hidden merit, one may be a ritual official of thunder, issuing talismans and commanding Water, or become a Buddha or patriarch. Sheep Blade, Di Killing, and Flying Lian joining make natal and allotted periods harmful, with the printed falling-into-Heavenly-Truth phrase, lightning injury, tiger attack, heavenly punishment, epidemic illness, drowning, or death in prison.
Swallowing-and-Sinking Killing: “Pig, Dog, and Sheep meeting Tiger must suffer injury; Monkey and Snake meeting die atop a tree. Dog meeting the printed Rooster-Zi faces penal banishment; Rabbit chasing Snake, with a stray song word, goes to distant lands. Rat seeing Dog brings the unclear bad-mutual phrase; Horse and Ox meeting Tiger certainly injure one another. Rabbit and Monkey meeting Dog cannot escape; Dragon coming upon Dragon brings calamity in Water. When these reach hour or day, inspect three harmonies for calamity carefully.” The original note takes year branch as ruler.
Official-Tally Killing is five positions ahead of the Grand Duke, encountered in day or hour. It gives many lifelong official calamities, and Sheep Blade makes a penal-convict fate. Official Tally in Heavenly Center gives much fanciful falsehood and is named False-Speech Killing.
Illness-Tally Killing is one position behind Grand Duke, giving much illness; the moving year meeting it likewise. Death-Tally Killing is opposite Illness Tally. Month, hour, or day infringing without Noble Spirit rescue gives severe harm and a short life.
Mourning and Funeral Killing is also Cross-Barrier Killing. Two positions before Life are Mourning Gate and two behind Funeral Guest. Grand Duke's harmful Killings joining in major or minor fortune necessarily indicate calamity. An old verse gives fifth Official, sixth Death, twelfth Illness, third Mourning, and eleventh Funeral. This twelve-palace Grand-Duke song is unfavorable natally and especially harmful annually. Sheep Blade in the month assisting and harmful Killings in the hour make Cross Barrier. An old song says: “Few know Cross Barrier's malign Killing, with monthly Emolument's harmful spirit also reaching hour. Even repeated auspicious stars, if not penal execution, give sudden danger.”
Residence-and-Tomb Killing names five positions before Life Calamity and five behind Tomb, as printed. Residence and Tomb fear annual Robbery and other Killings disrupting natal fate, indicating groaning.
Day-Punishment Killing counts Jiazi from one's birth day, stopping at the natal day stem. Yang stems count forward, yin backward. In Life Palace it indicates extreme punishment; in three harmonies penal banishment; opposite, death away from home.
Bleeding Killing starts Zi from the birth month and counts forward to birth year, then locates its palace. In Life, three harmonies, or opposite it indicates abscesses and deep sores; ordinary people penal banishment, women childbirth distress.
Sword-and-Edge Killing gives Jiazi cycle Sword at Chen and Edge Xu; Jiawu Sword Xu and Edge Chen; Jiayin Sword Wu and Edge Shen; Jiashen Sword Zi and Edge Yin; Jiachen Sword Shen and Edge Wu; Jiaxu Sword Yin and Edge Zi. Judge by palace: appearing in the fifth harms children, in the fourth land and houses.
Halberd-Edge Killing starts first month Jia, second Yi, third Wu, fourth Bing, fifth Ding, sixth Ji, seventh Geng, eighth Xin, ninth Wu, tenth Ren, eleventh Gui, twelfth the printed Si. The monthly Flourishing stem arrives; two repetitions in day and hour are harmful. With Suspended Needle it indicates penal exile and injury or disability.
Floating-and-Sinking Killing starts Zi at Xu and moves backward to the birth-year position, then counts from the year palace to see its location. Only in Wealth is it Stringing Coins, indicating accumulated riches. All other places are harmful. Jia, Yi, Ji, Geng, and Ren people suffer somewhat lightly; Bing, Ding, Wu, Xin, and Gui heavily. In Yin, Wu, Shen, and Wei years it often indicates Water danger. Judge calamity by palace, as Property gives ruined ancestral assets, extending elsewhere by analogy.
Disruption Killing pairs Mao with Wu, Chou Chen, Zi You, and Wei Xu. Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai are originally disruptions but then form three harmonies, as the source says, so are not taken. Infringement indicates youthful calamity and obstruction, dispersed property, and injuries.
Returning-to-Root Killing has no noble five-phase energy and below conquering above. A song says: “Five phases at Death and Extinction together leave a configuration idle and blessings absent. Day and hour conquering year ruler are further feared; no office or rank, know this clearly.” A Jiazi Metal fate obtaining Wuwu day, with conception month, day, and hour further carrying much Yin and Si, gives solitude. Wealth or rank, once Flourishing, immediately receives conquest, harming parents and elders.
Yin-Yang Killing says women are yin and favor yang, with Wuwu Flourishing Fire as proper yang; men are yang and favor yin, with Bingzi Flourishing Water as proper yin. Yin and yang thus harmonize. Men obtaining Bingzi often obtain beautiful women; women obtaining Wuwu handsome men. In the day, men get beautiful wives and women handsome husbands. Original Influence and Salty Pool sharing a palace are greatly feared, with sexual excess attributed to either sex. Men obtaining Wuwu often receive women's affection; women obtaining Bingzi men's advances. Further examine rank and low status in detail.
Desire-and-Harm Killing: Huzhongzi says, “Old drunkenness in Qin's twelve towers comes from repeated Eight Exclusives; eight thousand young dead in Chu's fields from repeated Nine Uglies.” Eight Exclusives are Desire Killing; Nine Uglies harmful positions. The eight are Jiayin, Yimao, Jiwei, Dingwei, Gengshen, Xinyou, Wuxu, and Guichou. In day they give an improper wife, in hour an improper child. The text assigns women no distinction between close and distant relations, with many infringements especially severe. The nine are Renzi, Renwu, Wuzi, Wuwu, Jiyou, Jimao, Yimao, Xinyou, and Xinmao. Women infringing face childbirth distress; men much disgrace and no good end.
Solitary-Luan and Widowed-Magpie Killing: “Wood and Fire meeting Snake are greatly inauspicious; Metal Pig need not force wild behavior. Earth Monkey and Wood Tiger, where is husband? Hour faces solitary luan dancing alone.” It means Yisi, Dingsi, Xinhai, Wushen, and Jiayin, also Bingwu, Wuwu, and Renzi days. Men harm wives and women husbands.
Yin-Yang Error Killing comprises twelve days: Bingzi, Dingchou, Wuyin, Xinmao, Renchen, Guisi, Bingwu, Dingwei, Wushen, Xinyou, Renxu, and Guihai. Women meet discord with parents-in-law, poor relations with other daughters-in-law, and a husband's household growing cold and declining. Men withdraw from the outside family and have disputes and discord with the wife's family. Either sex infringing twice or three times in month, day, and hour is severe; day alone especially severe. It gives no support from the wife's or outside family; even wife's wealth becomes empty blossom, and eventually enmity and no contact with her family.
Assuming Office meeting Robbery is named Peach Blossom Killing, indicating fondness for wine and sex.
Reversed Repetition meeting Owl is named Short-Life Killing, indicating harm to wife and children.
Peach-Blossom and Red-Beauty Killings: Hai–Mao–Wei take Zi, Si–You–Chou Wu, Yin–Wu–Xu Mao, Shen–Zi–Chen You as Peach Blossom. Jia and Yi meeting Wu, Bing Yin, Ding Wei, Wu Zi, Ji Chen, Geng Xu, Xin You, Ren Si, and Gui Shen form Red Beauty, most feared in a woman's chart.
Where these Killings are said to conquer Body, the Nayin beneath the harmful Killing conquers birth year. Grand Duke's Nayin arriving upon Body means a Killing carries that Nayin into the natal position. Grand Duke's Nayin is Body. Conquered or reached at Death, Defeat, or Extinction, it encounters unexpected calamity. On ground where Body has energy, conquest gives heavy calamity and arrival light. Only Grand Duke's Nayin conquering Killing is auspicious. A chart already in a noble configuration, with Killings at crucial places and blessing spirits assisting, calls them authority. Without blessed assistance, Killing energy Flourishing, repeatedly coming and going, or punishing and conquering root and ruler, gives low status and a harmful death. Blessing spirits want Birth and Flourishing, bringing honor; Killing spirits want Death and Extinction, bringing a good end. Blessing spirits should obtain Flourishing energy without defeat; harmful spirits Declining energy without assistance. For clashes, disruption, three harmonies, and six combinations in a chart, examine the phases' accord. Blessing may arise within calamity or calamity within blessing. Death or Extinction generating again, Void receiving disruption, and conquest completing one another produce blessing from calamity; the reverse produces calamity from blessing. A Natal Book says: “Low clerks on the road do not lack Post Horse and mounted saddle; marketplace gamblers also have Three Wonders and Flanking Nobility.” Ziping says: “Gentlemen's configurations also infringe Seven Killings and Yang Blade; lesser people's charts also have Direct Seal and Office Star.” Thus auspicious and harmful spirits must not be judged rigidly. Weighing severity requires adaptation. Broadly, a harmful Killing's position should not carry a true hostile agent that conquers Body: even Office Star can turn into one, much more a true hostile agent. Its calamity is clear.
Translator's note: Every supplied Killing subsection, all twelve Self-Hanging pairs, slaughter/hour rules, both Thunder verses, animal verse, six-cycle Sword/Edge positions, twelve Halberd months, eight Exclusive and nine Ugly days, twelve Error days, and complete Peach-Blossom/Red-Beauty lists are retained. Irregular items include Chou–Wei in the drowning verse, Jia in the Heavenly-Punishment birth list, sixth/second in the first Thunder verse, Heavenly-Truth, Rooster-Zi, song and bad-mutual animal phrases, Calamity under Residence/Tomb, and Si as the twelfth Halberd stem. Some counting instructions are incomplete and are not rebuilt. The author's criticism of forced explanations and final warnings against rigid good/bad classification are translated in full. Historical suicide, injury, sexual, family, illness, legal, and death statements are source claims, not instructions or verified predictions.
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