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Yuanhai Ziping · The Deep Sea of Ziping Astrology
Scroll III
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Examples of Children's Barriers and Killings
A child's configuration should take the birth hour as master. First examine Barriers and Killings, then the pattern. A strong day master with flourishing Wealth and Officer has Barriers but no Killings. A weak day stem with little Wealth and Officer may be frequently ill yet can be reared. A weak day stem with much Wealth and Officer has both Barriers and Killings; a threefold combination gathering Killings makes rearing difficult. Without punishment or clash, the voice is loud, there is crying at night, and the temperament impatient. Wealth and Officer in the Eight Characters indicate birth into a rich and honored household; Indirect Officer an ordinary household; Hurting Officer and Robber of Wealth a poor and lowly household. Indirect Officer, Resource, and Wealth indicate secondary or concubine birth, or otherwise the third or fourth pregnancy. Ziping takes Indirect Officer as Barrier and Indirect Wealth as Killing, judging by the birth numbers: Water one, Fire two, Wood three, Metal four, Earth five. A Jia day with Geng Killings corresponds to ages four and nine; Bing seeing Ren Killings to one and six; Wu with Jia Killings to three and eight; Geng with Bing Killings to two and seven; Ren seeing Wu Killings to five and ten. Yin stems follow the same principle, supposedly without failure.
Translator's note: The family, childhood illness, survival, and age judgments are the historical source's assertions. The closing age pairs follow the numerical sequence as supplied, without establishing a prediction about any child.
Good and Ill of the Grand Year
The Grand Year is the year's Son of Heaven and must not be offended; offense is inauspicious. The classic says: The day offending the annual sovereign brings heavy calamity; rescue among the Five Phases instead must attract Wealth that year. A Jia day seeing a Wu year is an example. Heavy control brings death. Jia and Yi with Yin, Mao, Hai, or Wei in day or hour offend and control the annual sovereign and must die without doubt. Rescue makes it auspicious, as Geng and Xin and the Si, You, and Chou Metal configuration in the Eight Characters. The classic says: Wu and Ji fear Jia and Yi, needing Geng and Xin in the stems. Or Bing and Ding Fire's configuration burns Wood: there may be disaster, but do not impute blame. Infer accordingly. Ji combining with Jia also releases it. Generally the Grand Year must not be injured; mutual generation is auspicious. This is rescue among the Five Phases, bringing Wealth instead that year. Offending the annual sovereign must indicate inauspicious mourning, harm to wives and concubines, financial loss, disputes, and regret for offending superiors. Hook and Strangle, Emptiness, Salty Pool, Dwelling and Tomb, Illness Talisman, Death Talisman, White Tiger, Yang Blade, and other Killings arriving together produce a hundred misfortunes. Weigh the spirits' and Killings' relative severity. Even if the day stem does not control the year, a cycle may control the annual sovereign. Annual-cycle punishment and clash, and Yang Blade clashing or combining, indicate losses and mourning. Nobleman, Emolument, and Horse releasing it give some good fortune. Rescue in the Eight Characters removes danger. Thus the Grand Year masters all Killings, yet entering a configuration need not bring disaster. Only in a domain of battle must it afflict the natal configuration.
Cycles and the Transformation of Qi
For combination with transformation, take the phase generated by the heavenly stem of the year's first month's establishment. In Jia and Ji years, the first month is Bingyin. Bing Fire generates Earth, so Jia and Ji combine and transform into Earth. In Yi and Geng years, the first month is Wuyin. Wu Earth generates Metal, so Yi and Geng transform into Metal. In Bing and Xin years, the first month is Gengyin. Geng Metal generates Water, so Bing and Xin transform into Water. Infer the rest similarly.
Jia and Ji transforming into Earth is the impartial and upright combination. All Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei give Sowing and Reaping, with Gouchen Obtaining Position. Yi and Geng transforming into Metal is benevolence and righteousness; all Si, You, and Chou give Following Transformation. Wu and Gui transforming into Fire is the unfeeling combination; a Fire configuration gives Flaming Upward. Bing and Xin transforming into Water with Shen, Zi, and Chen give Moistening Downward. Ding and Ren transforming into Wood with all Hai, Mao, and Wei give Benevolent Longevity.
Heavenly-stem transformation and combination are Refined Qi; earthly-branch combinations are Blessing and Virtue. True transformation makes renowned lords and great ministers; false transformation makes an orphan of a different nature. Meeting Dragon transforms it into Flying Dragon in Heaven, favorable for seeing a great person. Transformation occurs only with the month's command in Birth and Flourishing, Nurture, Storehouse, or Assuming Office. Yin and yang combine like paired husband and wife, transforming through balanced qi. Excess and deficiency both prevent it. Husband may follow wife in transformation or wife husband; there are Direct and Indirect transformation and self-transformation beneath the day. Turning-the-Corner transformation means Wei-Kun-Shen and Chou-Gen-Yin. The classic says: Lose friends in the northeast and gain friends in the northwest. A Jia day seeing Ji transforms into Earth, and Ji seeing Jia likewise. True transformation is called Direct transformation, forming wealth and distinction. False transformation makes an orphan of a different surname or a Buddhist or Daoist renunciant. Infer the ten stems accordingly. But Wu and Gui transform into Fire: southern Wood transforms at Wu; the north does not transform at Zi. Wu is Lesser Brightness and Ruler Fire, so it does not transform; Yin and Shen are Lesser Yang Fire and do transform. The classic says: Transformation patterns are mystery within mystery, subtlety within subtlety, impossible to state fully. Consider the Heavenly Origin's eight methods of spirit: Return, Illumination, Ghost, Concealment, Class, Affiliation, Following, and Transformation, examining them carefully.
Marginal note: The method likewise starts Jia and Ji with Gengyin, Dingmao, and Wuchen, transforming upon meeting Dragon. Infer the others similarly. The verse formula is in Volume Five and omitted here.
Translator's note: The source's differing-nature/differing-surname descriptions, northwest direction, contradictory Wu transformation statements, and Gengyin-Dingmao-Wuchen sequence remain as supplied, without silently replacing them with a conventional rule.
Ten Brocade Sections on the Transformation of Qi
Jia follows combination with Ji, relying on Earth's generation. Yi secretly diminishes Wife and Wealth. Ding empties clothing and Emolument. High distinction at lofty gates comes through Xin Metal; a rich household through Wu Earth. Gui brings lifelong blessings; Ren lifelong drifting. Geng Metal in the month leaves bare walls; Bing Fire in the hour brings a thousand zhong of emolument.
Ji can transform Jia, with refinement at Yin. Ding brings humiliation by others; Yi brings personal obstruction. Repeated yang Water makes a traveler through the dusty world. Keen Geng Metal makes a lonely, poor person in a humble white house. Xin hidden within Bing must bring distinction; Gui hidden within Wu prevents poverty. For glorious official promotion, first see Gui; for great household riches, meet Xin.
Yi follows Geng in transformation, receiving western qi. Birth at Bing brings hardship; growth in Ren's domain brings glory. Ding Fire in authority resembles spring flowers smiling at the sun. Xin Metal directing the age resembles autumn grass meeting frost. Ji arriving is most welcome, filling the hall with gold and jade. Jia's particular direction fills granaries with hemp and wheat. Daily mental labor comes from Gouchen's disorder; constant exertion often from the Dark Warrior's calamity.
Geng follows Yi in transformation, making Metal firmer. Xin Metal's hidden injury is most avoided; Bing Fire's scorching is particularly disliked. Ding Officer resembles a flood Dragon obtaining cloud and rain. Ji Resource resembles great birds in autumn skies. Flourishing Gui Water washes away fields and gardens; abundant Ren Water increases Wealth and Emolument. Intruding Wu prevents great riches. Assisting Water forever preserves long years.
Bing is yang Fire, transforming into Water upon meeting Xin. Wu Earth in place brings blessings; Yi Wood arriving brings fame. Birth at Guisi gives glorious official advancement; growth at Gengyin makes the household distinguished. Unexpected misfortune rises from Jiawu; disaster and ruin from Renchen. Repeated yin Ding leaves wealth and honor few days to last. Repeated Ji Earth makes even glory like passing clouds.
Xin can transform into Water, accomplished only with Bing. The Four Pillars most suit Wu; life most welcomes Geng. Seeing Ji, in what year do blessings arise? Meeting Ren, on what day does fame come? Gui Water imprisoned leaves constraint not truly constraint. Jia Wood flourishing leaves honor not truly honor. Repeated Yi brings wealth, honor, glory, and splendor. Repeated Ding brings disability, poverty, and distress.
Ding is yin Fire and welcomes yang Ren. Bing brings a hundred years of ease; Xin a lifetime of leisure. Complete wealth and honor welcome Jia at the Heavenly Scales. Excellent blessings and enfeoffment welcome Ji offering at Double Ox. A dwindling livelihood comes from Wu's failure; a lonely career from Gui. Repeated Yi Wood ensures no accomplishment in Wealth or Emolument. Brilliant Geng Metal means achievement and reputation must not be forced.
Ren follows Ding in transformation, with refinement in the east. Jia attracts many servants and horses; Xin establishes broad estates. Bing Fire makes an outstanding hero; Gui Water a toiling trader. Ji at Officer's position brings seal and carriage; Wu carrying Killing-Officer brings drifting and distress. White-haired failure comes from flourishing Geng Metal; youthful lack of opportunity from Yi Wood's calamity.
Wu follows combination with Gui, completing Fire transformation. Yi ultimately brings distinction; Ren also abundance. Many Emoluments flank and uphold, welcoming Ding at Si. Discord among Six Relations comes from Jia flourishing at Yin. Blazing Bing Fire makes blessings and Emolument hard to find. Brilliant Geng Metal readily brings passage. Wife and children are injured through flourishing Ji; plans are clumsy through powerful Xin.
Gui follows combination with Wu and Fire transformation arrives. Xin concealed within Bing brings lifelong success and failure; Ji hidden within Jia brings a hundred years of bodily and mental labor. Full storehouses welcome Ding Fire; substantial fields and Wealth welcome Geng Metal. Repeated Yi raises official rank; Ren above and below brings rich assets. Gains and losses of Wealth and Emolument all arise from Xin Metal's flourishing Fire. Frustration on the official path comes from Ji Earth's intrusion.
Translator's note: All ten sections, named stem combinations, and day labels are retained. Double Ox, Heavenly Scales, and the final Xin-Metal/flourishing-Fire phrase follow the supplied imagery and wording without added conditions. Rank, family, disability, and lifespan claims are those of the historical source.
Eight Methods of Spirit: Class, Affiliation, Following, Transformation, Return, Illumination, Ghost and Concealment
Class Image is Heaven and Earth of one kind. A spring birth with Jia and Yi in the stems and all Yin, Mao, and Chen in the branches, without interruption or damage, is one expanse of refined eastern qi. Most feared is drawing it into an hour of Death or Extinction, breaking that refinement. Cycles reaching Death or Extinction are inauspicious. The hour or year drawing it into Birth and Flourishing adds refined qi and is exceedingly excellent.
Marginal note: Spring uses Jia and Yi, summer Bing and Ding, autumn Geng and Xin, winter Ren and Gui, and the center Wu and Ji. The month follows likewise. This is Class Image; Metal, Fire, Water, and Earth follow the same principle.
Another account says Class means joining into one household. Jia and Yi obtaining Hai, Mao, and Wei form a Wood configuration, and the Five Phases follow the weightiest influence as their class. Or it is the category of Peers, with all Five Phases returning to one purity. Stems of one kind are not necessarily the image. Resembling transformed qi without forming a configuration, or resembling Resource Seal without forming Resource, means relying on another's strength: marriage into the wife's household or transfer to another household. For example:
Bingyin, Wuxu, Gengxu, Wuyin. Two Wu generate Geng as Resource Seal; two Yin control Wu as Seven Killings. Yin and Xu form Fire, and Bing is revealed in the year. It resembles Resource but is not Resource.
Affiliation Image means Jia and Yi Wood in the stems with Hai, Mao, and Wei complete below. Water, Fire, Metal, and Earth follow likewise.
Another account says Affiliation means each phase's own affiliation: the direction reached by the governing stem, the spirits of east, west, south, and north. Yin, Mao, and Chen are eastern Wood; Si, Wu, and Wei southern Fire; Shen, You, and Xu western Metal; Hai, Zi, and Chou northern Water. Each specializes in one direction's qi. For example:
Renzi, Renzi, Guichou, Guichou. Two Ren seize Gui's Emolument: a Buddhist or Daoist renunciant's configuration.
Yiyou, Jiashen, Yiyou, Yiyou. This is a Chief Censor's configuration.
Following Image means rootless Jia or Yi day masters with branches wholly Metal following Metal; Four Pillars purely Earth following Earth; purely Water following Water; purely Wood following Wood. Refined qi is auspicious and its absence inauspicious. Jia or Yi in the stems, or a root, is unfavorable. Following Fire finds flourishing Fire cycles auspicious and Death or Extinction inauspicious.
Marginal note: Following transformation must encounter the issuing of Wealth. The method starts Jia and Ji at Gengyin, Dingmao, Wuchen, transforming only upon meeting Dragon.
Another account says Following means husband and wife following one another. In the qi drawn for use, a flourishing husband makes the wife follow, and a flourishing wife makes the husband follow. Officer and Killings are husband, Wealth wife: these names are borrowed to judge human misfortune and blessings. An Yi day in Si, You, Chou, or Shen is wife following husband; a Geng day in Hai, Mao, Wei, or Yin is husband following wife. Following is discussed from the branches' exclusive qi. Returning to one's root is discussed from that root. Jade Well says: Follow what possesses qi; a numerous faction is also followed. It also says: Without one's own qi, follow the configuration and change the image. Stems, branches, and threefold combinations share the same affiliation. The classic says: Following contains high and low standing. Following at the proper time brings distinction among the Three Dukes; selecting it out of time brings solitary poverty and running about. For example:
Jiaxu, Dingmao, Gengshen, Jimao. Gengshen Metal born in Mao month and hour has extremely flourishing Wood: wife Mao flourishes and husband follows. Wealth comes through the wife or at her household. Another account says rootlessness makes Following Image, as in:
Yiyou, Renwu, Jiashen, Jisi. Jia Wood lacks support and can follow Earth. Another example:
Gengchen, Yiyou, Yiyou, Gengchen. Yi Wood lacks support, follows Metal, and transforms. Gengchen and Gengxu Nayin both belong to Metal: a noble configuration.
Transformation Image means a Jia or Yi birth in Chen, Xu, Chou, or Wei month with one Ji in the stems combining with Jia: Jia and Ji transform into Earth. Fire cycles are welcome. Jia Wood in Birth and Flourishing prevents transformation and instead becomes inauspicious. Two Jia revealed amid Ji are Contending Combination; one Ji revealed is Jealous Combination. Both break the pattern.
Another account says Transformation is yin and yang combining and transforming, Heaven and Earth balanced and Five Phases evenly paired. The classic says: Following the configuration within transformation, favorable cycles bring enfeoffment beside the emperor. It also says: A transformed image concealed leaves a life of ordinary toil. Balanced branches transform: examine whether day and hour combine and transform. Jade Well says: Transformation images of the five qi must be pure and clear. Transformation that returns has high and low standing; transformation that does not transform has longevity or early death. Discourse on Penetrating Mystery says: Flourishing Yi makes Geng follow; flourishing Geng makes Yi follow. A day master without qi transforming into something with qi can be used; both without qi cannot. Ding and Ren transforming into Wood in spring mean husband following wife into birth; in winter, wife following husband into birth. This is transformation. For example:
Jiaxu, Jiayin, Guisi, Wuwu. Wu and Gui transform into Fire, born in Yin month, at Assuming Office in Si and flourishing in Wu: transformed qi obtains time and position.
Illumination Image means, for example, a Bing day with Si, Wu, and Wei in year, month, and day, meeting a single Mao Wood in the hour. Wood and Fire illuminate one another: very auspicious. Ren or Gui days with all Shen, Zi, and Chen, meeting one Metal in the hour, have Metal and Water illuminating one another: greatly auspicious. Illumination in the year stem is also auspicious.
Another account says Illumination means Fire and Earth's lofty brightness. Fire qi is bright and high, and Earth loves Sowing and Reaping. Earth above is like haze covering the sky; Fire below like sunlight leaking through: obscurity first, brightness later. A Wu day stem obtaining Yin, Wu, and Xu Fire, or Wu Fire in the branches and hour, with Bing in the stems generating above Wu, is Illumination Image. Water should not appear: it dissolves Earth and extinguishes Fire, reducing blessings. Fire above and Water below also make Illumination, like a sun bright in Heaven also reflected underwater. The classic says: Four Pillars unharmed give rank at court. Fear within the branches still requires reputation without poverty. Cycles reaching Decline must produce calamity. For example:
Wuxu, Wuwu, Bingwu, Wuxu. Bing takes Wu as Food, and Fire flourishes and generates. The Four Pillars are unharmed; Wu and Xu can also clash with Officer stars in Zi and Chen. Another example:
Bingxu, Guisi, Wuwu, Dingsi. Wu day Earth has a Si, Wu, and Xu Fire configuration, with Bing and Ding in year and hour generating it. Though one Gui appears, it also transforms into Fire. Transformation obtains time and position, so both examples are greatly noble.
Return Image means drawing the self's governing useful spirit into one hour that is its Extinction domain: use without use. These all are Return Image. Excessive return is inauspicious.
Another account says Return means meeting generation at Extinction. Yi and Geng transforming into Metal in Yin month reach Metal's Extinction. Heavy Wood in the pillars yet transforming into Metal makes transformed qi lose its configuration, hence Return Image. Jade Well also calls return to the root and reversed transformation Return. Yi and Geng with much Hai and heavy Wood do not transform into Metal but into Wood: the meaning is the same. Judge years and cycles likewise. Weakness at birth meeting Officer or Killings, advancing with Officer and retreating with Killings, is also Return. The classic says: Completed transformation occupies Decline, Tomb, or Extinction; an image becomes a mixed configuration, and meeting combination is like not meeting it. Its disposition and lifelong dwelling involve frequent moves, reversals, no establishment, and an unsettled heart. A weak self meeting Officer or Killings has the same meaning. For example:
Xinwei, Renchen, Bingwu, Guisi. Bing uses Gui as Officer but Ren undesirably comes to control it. Bing and Xin transform into Water, while Chen, Si, Wu, and Wei in the pillars are Water's Tomb, Decline, and Extinction: a true Return Image. Another example:
Guichou, Bingchen, Bingshen, Xinmao. Bing combines with Xin. Bing Fire born at Shen lacks qi, and Xin Metal seated on Mao proceeds in decline. Flourishing Xin Metal cycles make husband follow wife; flourishing Bing Fire cycles also make husband follow wife. This configuration lacks ancestral property and spends life advancing and retreating without accomplishment. Infer the rest similarly.
Ghost Image includes Jia or Yi days born under autumn Metal with the branches of all Four Pillars purely Metal. Only Ghost's Birth and Flourishing cycles are auspicious. Death and Extinction are feared, and flourishing self in the branches is unfavorable.
Marginal note: Jia and Yi meeting Metal in spring call it Officer; in autumn Ghost. A flourishing self has Officer; a declining self Ghost.
Another account says Ghost is Killings: the stem meets control by Killings. Understand stems and branches above and below, or flourishing Ghost and declining self. Yi Wood takes Geng Metal as Officer and combines in the stems, but additionally seeing Xin and You Seven Killings makes Ghost flourish. The classic says: The self arriving at Ghost requires clarity within Heaven and Earth. Know honor, decline, high and low standing through the image's flourishing or decline. A declining self and flourishing nobility must bring bodily injury and disability. A flourishing self and declining Ghost make a fierce person's configuration. Ghost and self both declining make men wander and women become nuns. Jade Well says: Self and Ghost both strong can accomplish matters through military methods and penal administration. Both weak leave no doubt of ruin and reckless wandering. Abundant Wood qi uses slight Metal; much Water relies on sick Earth; flourishing Metal needs sick, declining Fire; strong Fire borrows shallow Water; thick Earth seeks dead Wood. If the self rides flourishing and meets Ghost Image, it instead becomes noble. Restraint within flourishing completes blessings. Self and Ghost both manifest, with Blade as restraint, bring bravery, violence, and distinction, or office obtained through wine. For example:
Guichou, Xinyou, Yihai, Xinsi. Yi Wood in the eighth month lacks qi, while two Xin Killings flourish, hence disability. Another example:
Wuchen, Guihai, Jiashen, Gengwu. The day sits on Killings and meets Geng hour, so the self is controlled. Water in Hai also flourishes and Wood dies at Wu: a drifting configuration.
Concealed Image means complete Yin, Wu, and Xu threefold combination, birth in the fifth month, a Ren day with no qi in the stems, revealed Ding, and rootless Ren Water. Ding Fire in month branch Wu combines with Ren and conceals it. Wood and Fire cycles are auspicious; only flourishing Water's domain is unfavorable.
Another account says Concealment means hidden and not manifest. Wealth, Officer, Resource, and Killings do not communicate with the month's qi or emerge, but hide within the branches' Human Origin, without form and apart from brightness. Jade Well says: The self does not communicate with the month's qi, but hides its qi in another branch and rises with assistance. A day stem without Birth or Flourishing, with much Death and Extinction, excessively controlled and subdued by Officer or Killings, is also Concealment. The classic says: Officer and Ghost complete bring long years without fulfillment. Stems broken and defeated within branches carry a craft with the self. For example:
Wuwu, Jiayin, Wuyin, Xinyou. The Wu day suffers excessive control by Jiayin and lacks its own qi, hence a craftsperson.
Jingshan the Lay Scholar explains: Jia or Yi day stems seeing all Yin, Mao, and Chen are Class, while all Hai, Mao, and Wei are Affiliation. An Yi day seeing Si, You, and Chou or Shen, You, and Xu is Following. Jia seeing Ji or Yi seeing Geng is Transformation. Class and Affiliation need a flourishing self, Following and Transformation decline. Bing or Ding days with all Four Pillars Fire and Mao Wood in the hour have Wood and Fire illuminating. Ren or Gui days with all Four Pillars Water and one Metal in the hour have Metal and Water illuminating. Ren born in Wu month, without Water root, abandons its allotment to combine with Ding Fire in Wu: Concealed Image.
Marginal note: For the eight methods, first understand Following and Transformation as the foundation. If transformation fails, discuss Wealth and Officer; if neither can be taken, discuss patterns. Like one's actions, concealment, rising, and establishment, one may also stand independently without lifelong failure. Following and Transformation forming a configuration bring wealth and honor. The rhapsody says: Empty Fire has flame, solid Metal no sound, abundant Wood much benevolence. Successful Following and Transformation must make one's name distinguished.
Translator's note: All eight methods, variant definitions, quotations, fourteen chart rows, and marginal notes are retained. The single-Ji jealousy statement, differing Class/Affiliation rules, both husband-following-wife outcomes, "flourishing nobility" in the Ghost quotation, and repeated Gengyin-Dingmao-Wuchen sequence follow the supplied source. Unclear wording is translated cautiously rather than repaired from another edition. The disability, lifespan, family, gender, and moral judgments are historical assertions.
Cited Rules on Life and Death in Patterns
Patterns have established judgments, briefly set out here. Resource Seal seeing Wealth, entering Wealth cycles, and also meeting Death and Extinction must enter the Yellow Springs; Peers in the pillars may offer release. Direct Officer seeing Killings and Hurting Officer, punishment, clash, breaking, and harm must bring death when years and cycles join. Direct or Indirect Wealth seeing Peers divide and seize, Robber of Wealth and Yang Blade, and years and cycles clashing or combining must bring death. A Hurting Officer pattern, flourishing Wealth with a weak self, and repeated Officer and Killings, if repeated in years and cycles, must bring death or disability if life remains. Flanking Emolument and Flanking Nobility seeing an Officer-star clash bring immediate death when years and cycles repeat it. Day Emolument Returning to the Hour with punishment, clash, breaking, and harm, seeing Seven Killings, Officer, Emptiness, or Blade clash, must bring death. Killings and Officer are greatly avoided; joining years and cycles must bring death. All other patterns likewise avoid Killings and filled positions; annual and cycle arriving together must bring death. Inauspicious spirits, evil Killings, Hook and Strangle, Emptiness, Mourning Visitor, Tomb and Storehouse, Illness, Death, Officer and Killings bring nine deaths and one survival. Officer star and Grand Year, much Wealth and weak self, originally offending Seven Killings: a light self with rescue is auspicious; without it inauspicious. Much Metal brings early death, abundant Water drifting, flourishing Wood early death, much Earth dullness, and much Fire obstinate foolishness. Judge excess and deficiency this way. First do not be rigid, and second dare to judge. Understand principle and infer, seeking the decision on life and death.
Marginal note: Flanking Emolument or Nobility seeing Officer must have no Officer. Interpret filling and seeing Officer as low standing and poverty, not necessarily death. Only years and cycles joining evil Killings can warrant judging death. Examine this section through successful Following and Transformation as noble; when transformation fails, speak this way.
Translator's note: This version's nine-deaths/one-survival wording and its limiting marginal note remain distinct from other versions. These categorical fatal, medical, disability, and character judgments are the historical source's claims.
Contending with the Grand Year
To contend is to do battle: it is like a subject offending his sovereign, an inferior challenging a superior. When the day's stem and branch clash with and control the Grand Year, this is called contention. The same term applies when the cycle's stem and branch injure or clash with the Grand Year, or when the Grand Year's stem and branch clash with those of the day. Examine carefully whether the Eight Characters contain assistance or a means of rescue; the author claims that careful assessment will never miss its mark. When the day's stem and branch combine with those of the Grand Year, this is called obscuration. A combination involving the annual and cycle stems is treated similarly. The text associates this with a year of setbacks and reversals: haste does not bring success. Take the chart Yichou, Yihai, Renshen, Yisi. In the Xinwei cycle, during a Bingyin year, the Ren day stem controls the Grand Year's Bing, while the Geng within the natal Shen day branch controls the annual Yin. Shen also fears the sequence in which Yin punishes Si, Si punishes Shen, and Shen punishes Yin. The Xinwei cycle combines into the Grand Year's Wood configuration, producing Hurting Officer; the author regards these conditions as inauspicious. In the Jiawu month of that year, flourishing Fire is said to battle and control Ji Earth, while Yi Wood generates the force doing battle. The text attributes the person's violent death to this combination.
Translator's note: The statement that flourishing Fire battles and controls Ji Earth is retained as printed, although it does not follow the ordinary generating and controlling sequence. This passage presents a historical astrological explanation, not an established method for predicting injury or death.
The Different Ways of Rising to Prosperity
First, prosperity from the outset; second, a sudden rise; third, accumulated prosperity; fourth, a revival in middle life; fifth, prosperity late in life.
Some people are born into the honor of wealth and rank and prosper from the beginning. They enjoy their good fortune and preserve it throughout life. Why is this? In the Four Pillars, the daymaster has concentrated strength. The favorable spirit employed—Wealth, Officer, Resource Seal, or Food Spirit—has Emolument and authority and holds the season's command. It is neither one-sided nor mixed, and suffers no punishment, clash, injury, damage, control, or harm. Wealth and rank therefore have an unmixed foundation. Later, such a person can develop ability, enhance the family inheritance, and achieve distinction in the present age without attracting slander or suffering injury. Each successive cycle is favorable and adds to the chart's auspiciousness. The source is clear and the stream clean: this is why the person enjoys exceptional blessings, preserves a balanced course, and has no cause for regret. The text attributes this to an unbroken succession of generating and flourishing influences in the natal chart and cycles. It calls this destiny rather than mere luck and urges the reader to distinguish the conditions.
Others endure poverty, hunger, sorrow, isolation, and bitter hardship, with their affairs constantly overturned. Then, on finding their time, they suddenly rise. They may fill their houses with wealth and establish farms and estates from nothing, or assist the ruler and benefit the people, attaining the highest offices. Why should the same person's earlier and later circumstances differ so greatly? The daymaster's vital force was not yet flourishing, although the noble spirits being employed occupied their proper places, were strong, and met the configuration's requirements. The powerless daymaster could not bear their blessings and remained exhausted and obstructed. Suddenly a supporting cycle arrives and strengthens the day stem. The useful spirit then issues forth like a roar that raises the wind: the natal chart's useful spirit can at last serve the person. Riding this force, the person rises vigorously. A one-sided force finds the combination it needs; decline encounters flourishing. This favorable meeting permits a sudden ascent. Whether the resulting enterprise and achievement are great or small must be judged from the relative weight of the particular chart.
There is also the strong daymaster whose Four Pillars contain pure, unmixed Killings. Both self and Killings flourish, but the natal foundation has no restraining influence, so wealth and rank do not materialize. Only when a cycle arrives that restrains the Killings can they turn into authority and enable a sudden rise. Talent and virtue can then bring high office, distinction, and achievement above one's peers. This is flourishing self with restrained Killings, transformed into authority. If the restraining spirit is powerful, the resulting good fortune is extraordinary; the text says that such a person may reach the highest rank. The natal potential exists, but a supporting cycle is still needed before the rise appears. If that cycle never arrives, the person remains ordinary.
Marginal commentary: A classic says, 'When Killings become authority, a distinguished person certainly emerges from a humble household.' This refers to using Food Spirit to restrain the Killings.
Another case has a vigorous daymaster and a flourishing useful spirit, each balanced against the other. The text describes this as the chart of an able child born into a wealthy and distinguished household. As the person grows and establishes a prosperous position, an adverse cycle may bring an evil influence upon the natal chart: it takes away Wealth, injures Officer, destroys Resource, or damages Food Spirit. The resulting misfortunes are too numerous to state, and the person's flourishing years end in collapse without further advancement. When the bad cycle passes and a good cycle again supports the self, the useful spirit is renewed. The person rises like withered seedlings revived by rain, or a light feather lifted by the wind—an ascent difficult to hold back.
Marginal commentary: The images of receiving rain and encountering wind describe how a favorable cycle can produce a sudden, almost unnoticed rise.
There are also charts in which the self is strong and Yang Blade and Peer compete in strength, while Wealth, Officer, and Killings are insubstantial, scant, and too weak to establish achievement. The cycles encountered on entering the world likewise provide no favorable ground. The person therefore suffers hunger, cold, toil, and deprivation, with ambitions left unfulfilled. In middle or later life, however, a Killings cycle may suddenly arrive. Borrowing Killings as authority restrains Yang Blade; this may bring influential patrons and distinction, or wealth and prosperity. Distinguish these outcomes according to the clarity or mixture of the Five Phases and the cycles actually encountered. A life of poverty may thus rise suddenly in middle or old age. The chart originally needed Wealth and Officer, but these lacked force through the earlier years; wealth, rank, and successful undertakings appear only when the appropriate cycle arrives. The text explains the delay in this way and urges students to apply themselves.
Marginal commentary: The spirits appropriate to authority and distinction are none other than Officer, Wealth, Resource, and Food Spirit.
Rise and Ruin
A chart may employ pure Killings. Without restraint, the text assigns the person poverty and an obscure livelihood, or work managing the affairs of a powerful household. A cycle that restrains Killings is therefore needed: by borrowing their force, the person rises, enters court service, and exercises authority. But the person must not leave the restraining cycle. Entering Wealth territory lets Wealth support Killings, and misfortune begins. With both Officer and Killings flourishing, the cycle's course may become dangerous; a cycle that allies with the natal Killings can generate calamity. If an annual influence also strengthens both Wealth and Killings, the allied Killings join forces to cause harm, leaving the daymaster isolated and injured. The passage predicts loss of the household and penal exile in a lesser case, or execution in a graver one. It warns especially of destructive combinations involving Killings and Blade, treating their consequences as difficult to escape.
Another chart has a Direct Officer star holding the month's proper seasonal influence, furnishing the person's lifelong potential for rank. Resource cycles are favorable. Officer likes flourishing Wealth to generate it and flourishing Resource to protect it. The text says that this can enable humane and virtuous conduct, service in governing the state, substantial authority, and high office. If the person later enters territory where Killings flourish and hold Emolument, and the annual Killings arrive together, Officer turns into a ghost; the passage predicts death. Even without a Killings cycle, a Hurting Officer cycle is harmful if no Resource Seal restrains it. When Hurting Officer gains ground, Emolument is injured; the source associates this with the loss of a wife, harm to children, removal from office, and calamity. If the annual influence also joins the harmful side, further injury to Officer is said to produce a disastrous end. The author asks how easy it could be to avoid dispossession and punishment once official Emolument is injured. Even someone with foresight who understands when to advance or withdraw, and so preserves the self and spares the family, is still said here to end life through a severe illness.
In another chart, the principal useful spirit contains no Officer or Killings influence: only Indirect Wealth or Direct Wealth is flourishing. Wealth holds sway and gradually brings prosperity, accumulated money, and treasure, but little rank. To assess what follows, examine the cycles. If Wealth encounters territory where official Emolument flourishes, a configuration of both wealth and rank forms. If, unfortunately, Wealth leaves its configuration and encounters Yang Blade, wealth collapses and blessings fail, with many harmful possibilities. When the annual influence clashes with or combines with Yang Blade, Wealth may be wholly injured. The natal chart then declines toward extinction, Yang Blade produces harm, and the text predicts utter ruin.
Marginal commentary: 'Penal exile' means conviction for an offense punished by penal servitude and assignment to relay stations or similar posts. 'Annual Killings' is explained through the annual branch, with a sequence named first Grand Year, second Great Void, and third Mourning Gate. Wealth and Officer are described as stars of pure nourishment: they favor goodness rather than evil and should not suffer clash or harm. Thus Wealth meeting flourishing Resource can indicate rank, while a conjunction of harmful Killings defeats the benefit. This is compared to a good person encountering an evildoer: mediation by a Nobleman is then appropriate.
Translator's note: The claims about punishment, bereavement, illness, and death belong to the source's historical astrological system; they are not established forecasts of a person's fate. The commentary's sequence of annual spirits is retained as given.
The Precious Method, Part One
People are born between Heaven and Earth through yin and yang; this is the endowment of the transforming processes of nature. Other beings arise in the same way, and none are outside yin and yang's transformations. The author regards this principle as the basis for inferring human good and bad fortune. Although practitioners have many methods, the passage claims that none surpass Ziping when examined closely. The Ziping method takes the day stem as its sole master and the operative influence within the month's governing outline as the command, then examines the branches of year, month, and hour to disclose the details. Configurations are to be established from the month's command and governing outline, without searching elsewhere in the year, day, or hour to invent a configuration. The author says that many contemporary practitioners misunderstand this and repeatedly fail. The month's command is assessed through Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, and a judgment must be grounded in its actual governing factor; searching indiscriminately among the stems leads to mistakes. Once the month's actual influence is identified, examine relative weight and depth, and whether the configuration is broken or clashed. Master Yijian of Xishan understood these variations and reduced ten configurations to six principal ones: Officer, Resource, Wealth, Killings, Food Spirit, and Hurting Officer. By weighing their changes, the text claims, he obtained unfailing results. His method says: on encountering Officer, examine Wealth; on encountering Killings, examine Resource; on encountering Resource, examine Officer. This is presented as a profound method not ordinarily transmitted. The passage then says to take 'the four' without leaning to either extreme, weighing generation, control, restraint, and transformation. Cycles that bring breakage, rest, or imprisonment are inferior. Generation together with removal brings blessings; assistance together with stripping away brings misfortune. The principle is deep and requires careful consideration. The author urges thorough reading and sustained effort rather than remaining confused by commonplace techniques.
Marginal commentary: Take what is hidden within the month's branch-palace. For example, Zi contains only Gui Water, which is therefore selected. 'Xishan' is a literary designation; 'Yijian' is the person's name.
Translator's note: The source says 'the four' after listing six principal configurations; the number is retained rather than silently corrected. Its paired clauses about generation/removal and assistance/stripping are also translated as printed.
The Precious Method, Part Two
The Ziping method takes the day as master. First give priority to the month's governing outline; then use the branches of year, day, and hour to establish the configuration before making a judgment. The month's command is always the operative basis: do not establish a configuration from the year. In assessing a Ziping chart, uncertainty over the configuration leads to error in nine cases out of ten. Master Yijian's method says: if the month employs Metal, use Metal alone; if it employs Fire, use Fire alone. To take Water merely because the Eight Characters contain much Water, instead of taking the governing Fire, is a serious mistake; judgments made this way will mostly be wrong. Yijian of Xishan penetrated the subtleties of eighteen configurations and selected six as the most important, using their generating relationships to establish the configuration and complete the arrangement. The influences beneath the year and day then determine relative weight and depth. The author claims that this avoids every error. The six-configuration method says: on encountering Officer, examine Wealth; on encountering Wealth, examine Killings; on encountering Killings, examine Resource; on encountering Resource, examine Officer. When Resource is employed, Killings need not be feared: Killings link to Resource, and Resource links to the self, making a superior configuration. If the Four Pillars contain Resource, examine Seven Killings. Provided Officer or Killings are present, cycles through their territory can also produce a noble configuration. When the month's command connects with Officer and the pillars contain Wealth, Wealth generates Officer: this is an excellent configuration of wealth and rank. With Wealth in the pillars, entering flourishing Wealth territory can bring prosperity. But if even one Killings influence appears, give it priority. Do not then enter territory where Wealth flourishes, because Wealth will generate flourishing Killings; the text classifies that as a configuration of poverty and low status. Configurations should therefore be assessed in terms of Killings and Officer.
Marginal commentary: The 'governing outline' is the month's command. 'Depth' concerns the point within the month: for example, a Bingwu birth in a Jiayin month takes Bing Fire if it falls two or three days into the month, but takes Jia Wood if it falls after the middle ten-day period. Apply this principle to other cases.
Translator's note: The source uses the verb 'constrain/link' in its explanation of Killings, Resource, and the self. The relationship is translated without silently replacing the wording with a different edition's formula.
Searching the Marrow: An Inch of Gold
To assess the transforming forces, first examine the daymaster; afterward distinguish the order of the month's governing outline.
In the Four Pillars, concentrate on Wealth and Officer. A strong self with Wealth and Officer often signifies wealth and rank.
If the self is strong but Wealth and Officer are damaged, the text pictures someone begging from morning to night.
When Wealth and Officer flourish and the daymaster also flourishes, it predicts the purple robe and golden belt of high office.
When Wealth and Officer flourish but the daymaster is weak, a cycle that strengthens the self is especially favorable.
When the daymaster flourishes but Wealth and Officer are weak, entering their cycles brings profit and reputation.
If Wealth and Officer lie beneath the daymaster, and the month's command also provides them, rank is not difficult to attain.
Always treat Wealth and Officer as essential; the verse associates them with early wealth, rank, and high Emolument.
A strong self with nothing to rely on may leave the ancestral home; if the person does not relocate, the text predicts death away from home.
If Wealth and Officer are slight and the self excessively strong, unsupported excess brings isolation and hardship.
If Resource, Peer, and Robber of Wealth add further support, the verse predicts harm to wife and children.
When Officer and Killings are very heavy but the self is stronger still, restraining them brings the qualities of a worthy person.
When Killings and Officer flank Resource, rank is considerable, and commanding fame will spread.
A summer birth with much Fire and Earth benefits from Water's assistance and values a balanced condition.
Water and Fire need mutual completion; the verse promises achievement and authority when they attain it.
If blazing Fire has no Water, a cycle through Water territory is also favorable.
If surging Water has no Earth, a cycle through Earth territory is welcome.
Much eastern Wood favors western cycles; strong western Metal likes an eastern course.
The Five Phases create their effects through mutual assistance; a chart that attains this receives substantial blessings.
The Three Mounds and Five Tombs should not recur heavily; the verse links this with estrangement among blood relations and harm to the family.
Punishment and clash of the governing outline are said to harm parents; a direct clash between day and hour harms wife and children.
If Peer, Robber of Wealth, and Hurting Officer grow stronger still, the verse predicts harm to both wife and children.
Even a surviving son is described as unfilial; adoption or taking in a child is also judged unfavorably here.
With a strong self and Peer sitting on a Traveling Horse, brothers are likened to freely roaming tumbleweed.
When Traveling Horses race throughout the Eight Characters, personal advancement still involves toil and travel east and west.
Even if the body rests, the mind cannot settle: movement brings liveliness, stillness brings worry.
If the Wealth star sits on a Traveling Horse, the verse speaks of an able wife and continual wandering.
Wealth entering storage indicates accumulation, but also someone who guards possessions tightly and neglects human dealings.
The wife and children are described as frugal and helpful; the feared condition is a hidden Yang Blade bursting forth.
When Officer and Killings recur without Wealth, the wife may assist the household but harmony is lacking.
The verse then accuses her of disrespecting her husband's parents and taking her husband's authority, attributing this to the chart.
If the Officer star meets generating and flourishing conditions, especially Long Life and flourishing in the hour,
the verse predicts intelligent, handsome descendants, each wearing the scarlet robe of office.
If the daymaster has Seven Killings together with Owl and Food, the verse predicts failed pregnancies and repeated miscarriages for the wife.
It also associates this with menstrual and blood disorders, while requiring further examination of the cycles.
For men, repeated Owl and Food in a weak chart are said to accompany epidemic illness.
For women, Owl and Food are judged inauspicious and associated with dangerous childbirth and serious illness.
In a woman's chart, flourishing Officer together with flourishing Wealth is said to bring a worthy husband and good children.
If Wealth and Officer are both damaged, the verse predicts harm to husband and children.
When Resource Seal generates the self and makes it stronger still, the passage associates this with harmful relations, poverty, and loneliness.
If Officer and Wealth are also prominent, exceptional achievement and support from noble people are possible.
When Hurting Officer flourishes in a woman's chart and sits beneath the day, the text accuses her of berating her husband.
It describes incessant muttering from morning to night and predicts marital harm and loneliness in the end.
Yisi, Gengwu, and Xin are named as especially favorable when borne by the month stem.
Examine the rest of the Four Pillars as well; the verse predicts a worthy husband and distinguished children.
Bing and Ding with Zi and Chou, and Wu and Ji in spring: those born on these days are said to differ from ordinary people.
Jiawu, Jiashen, and Yiyou have Wealth and Officer beneath them and signify wealth, rank, and honor.
Dinghai, Wuzi, and Gengyin bring considerable blessings when found as the day pillar.
Xinmao, Bingshen, and Dingyou have Wealth and Officer hidden within, producing a distinguished reputation.
Jihai, Jiashen, and Gengxu conceal Resource Seal, Wealth, and Officer.
If Bingchen and Renxu also arrive, the Four Pillars support Resource in an exceptional way.
Jiazi, Bingyin, Dingmao, Jisi, Renchen, and Guisi are grouped together.
If the self is strong along with the month's command, the verse describes empty fame, empty gain, and wandering like tumbleweed.
Yihai, Gengshen, and Jisi are said here to have neither Wealth nor Officer beneath them.
The wife-palace and children are characterized as insubstantial blossoms, while all four directions become the person's home.
For Jiawu, Wuxu, and Gengzi, the verse predicts harm to a woman's husband or a man's children.
Yisi, Bingwu, and Dingwei are treated similarly; repeated Renzi indicates loneliness and poverty.
Xinyou, Yimao, and Wuwu have stem and branch of the same kind and are said to lack a satisfactory wife relationship.
Jiwei, Gengshen, and Guihai become harmful if the month's command strengthens them further.
When the daymaster has Wealth, Officer, and Resource Seal complete, and month and hour accord, blessings continue.
When stems and branches are of the same kind and strengthen the self together, the text predicts harm to children and wife and loss of ancestral land.
Distinguish strength and weakness throughout the Four Pillars; do not reduce yin and yang to a single formula.
This is presented as the true subtle instruction of the Five Phases, not to be transmitted casually to someone unable to understand it.
A strong self with nothing to rely on is associated with lost wealth and harm to the wife, an impoverished wife's family, transfer into another family line, or joining another household. A strong self and strong Resource dissipate wealth rather than accumulating it. If there is money, the text advises spending it on good works, acquiring goods, or building a house. Otherwise, the household may have an imposing gate but empty storehouses—outward abundance with inward insufficiency. Officer likes to be exposed, because exposure makes it clear and elevated; Wealth should be concealed, because concealment makes it substantial. Hidden Killings and exposed Officer conceal what is harmful and display what is good; the passage associates this with local renown. A birth in the three winter months has cold Water and chilled Metal; support from Fire should not be regarded lightly.
Southern blazing Fire benefits from northern Water cycles; northern cold Water benefits from southern Fire cycles. Much eastern Wood favors western Metal cycles; flourishing western Metal is then said to favor eastern Water cycles. Water and Fire achieve mutual completion; Metal and Wood can establish reputation. If the Five Phases assist one another, the verse promises far-reaching honor and fame. Repeated Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei—the mounds and tomb positions—are associated with grief among blood relations, deficient parental support, separated brothers, distant relatives, and harm to wife and children. A clash that breaks the governing outline often harms the parents through injury or separation. Strong Peer, Robber of Wealth, and Hurting Officer harm wife and children. Adopted sons are described as often unfilial, and taking in children is again judged unfavorably. Water and Fire controlling one another are said to bring trouble and disputes, or dimmed eyesight. Bingzi, Yisi, Wuchen, Gengwu, and Xinwei, when borne by the day, are associated with a powerful and distinguished person's wife, an able wife, and rank; examine the remaining Four Pillars as well. Further examples follow:
Bingzi, Dingchou, Wuyin, and Jimao births are explained by the foregoing rules.
Xinsi, Renwu, Jiashen, and Yiyou all have Wealth and Officer beneath them; the verse promises wealth and rank without anxiety.
(Transmitted by Chan Master Yinjing.)
Marginal commentary: The 'governing outline' is the month's command, which executes the ruler's command. The 'Four Pillars' are year, month, day, and hour. A 'strong self with nothing to rely on' means flourishing phases without a balancing influence. The daymaster is the self. A Jia day born in Zi or Yin, also meeting a Hai-Mao-Wei Wood configuration, has a strong self; without Metal to restrain it, the commentary predicts the life of a Buddhist or Daoist cleric. The 'three winter months' are months ten, eleven, and twelve. The Traveling Horse likes journeys and free movement in all directions; without a barrier it indicates drifting elsewhere. Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai are the four Horse positions. Wealth represents both wife and Horse, so their indications are considered together. The Owl spirit is Indirect Resource, named for a bird traditionally accused of eating its mother. 'Hurting Officer beneath the seat' means Hurting Officer at the day branch, a position the commentary warns against.
Translator's note: This translation preserves the verse and prose supplement separately, including their inconsistent phase assignments and repeated day-pillar lists. The incomplete phrase naming Yisi, Gengwu, and Xin is not supplied with a missing branch. The source's judgments about wives, adoption, women, illness, and death are historical astrological and social claims, not established descriptions or reliable predictions.
Detailed Methods of Assessing a Chart
(A song with an unclear transmitted attribution, also attributed to Chan Master Yinjing.)
Transfer into another family is associated with Seven Killings and the Three Punishments. An exposed mother and concealed father are taken to indicate a clandestine birth. When the self's exposed and concealed influences follow another image, the verse predicts failure to attend the father's funeral vigil.
When Geng Metal transforms into the Fire phase, the verse predicts a father's bloody death. Peer forming a Threefold Combination is linked with injury by a clansman; the Three Punishments bring dispersal and separation from the wife.
Peer may secretly injure the household and its branches; brothers are described as unfeeling and deceitful. If Peer forms a different configuration, the verse predicts discord among brothers.
When the wife influence forms a Threefold Combination and occupies the wife position, the wife is said to have been a previous acquaintance, relative, or friend. If the wife influence below is also exposed and forms another configuration, the text predicts separation and remarriage.
Repeatedly exposed wife-Wealth is said to make a man fear his wife. The wife influence returning to Extinction is associated with childlessness. If it forms a different configuration, the text accuses her of harming and deceiving her lawful husband and neglecting propriety.
A strong self with strong Food is said to behave similarly. When Food is exposed and flourishing, the verse speaks obscurely of dying contentedly. A yang mother occupying her own position is said to harm children; when the mother comes above the father, alarm follows.
The influences of Heaven's timing and Earth's advantage are associated with an overdue birth. Seven Killings together with punishment is said to produce a displaced crown or hair whorl. Resource returning to Killings territory signifies illness in the mother; duplicated Bing and Ding are associated with two hair whorls.
Day Emolument returning to the hour is linked with an answering dream. Food suffering clash and punishment is said to leave an infant without milk. Renzi and Yiyou are associated with an irregular birth; the line concerning Bingxu, Dingchou, and the wife is textually unclear.
Being born with one's back toward the father is assigned to Jia, Yi, and Mao. Remember the relevant hour distinctly.
Marginal commentary: Peer represents brothers. For Jia Wood, Ren Water is the yang mother.
For example, Shen-Zi-Chen follows Water. But in the fifth month, if Water is absent and Fire is present, it does not follow. Wu and Gui transform into Fire; with Si and Wu among the branches, the heavenly stems follow Fire. The text then says to judge further through Jia Wood at the day position. Luoluzi says, 'For Buddhist learning, cultivate meditative stability in the Li palace'; this is how the operative influence is selected. Master Du taught the monk whose transmitted name appears as Jingtan to use this as an example. After pondering it all day and reflecting morning and night for half a year, the monk suddenly found an opening into the method. The master said that, as a beginner, he too had advanced and retreated several times before obtaining it. The text presents this as a subtle teaching of a distinct lineage, rather than an ordinary yin-yang formula.
Another orally transmitted 'heart-seal' instruction says that two hair whorls may be inferred only when the Eight Characters contain duplicated Bing and Ding. If there is just one Bing and one Ding, with punishment or clash beneath, an off-center whorl is predicted instead. Another rule assigns pockmarks on children's faces to Wu or Ji being controlled by Jia or Yi; otherwise it predicts a facial scar. Examples are Wu or Ji encountering Yihai, Yisi, or Yimao. Continue relating the influences in this way: the mutual control of stems and branches, combining and transforming qi, death and life, breakage and defeat are all assessed through these relationships. Their countless changes are presented as the source of pathological imbalance, success and failure, and the hidden details of a chart, without importing explanations from outside. Once this is understood, the passage says, there is no need to return home and say more.
If the natal Four Pillars already contain an unfavorable influence, especially avoid a cycle that exposes this defect. When Wealth is unfavorable in a cycle, an annual Wealth influence doing battle brings disaster. Someone seated on Killings should not enter a cycle in which Killings flourish. A strong self entering a still stronger cycle may meet annual and cycle influences that injure or kill without any favorable relation to the self. Light Resource fears Wealth cycles, which the text associates with violent death or blood disorders. Much Resource Seal is said to indicate several mothers, nursing from several women, or fostering in another household. If the Four Pillars contain Officer and the annual Grand Year clashes with it, the passage predicts official litigation. Peer assistance indicates rescue by someone represented by Peer, allowing the matter to pass without harm, and the annual influence may turn toward generating Wealth and Officer. The text mentions three forms of Hurting Officer; incomplete removal of Officer is often associated with clerical service. If the original operative influence remains, Hurting Officer cycles, Resource Seal, and a renewed annual Officer star can often be harmful.
Transforming qi fears a return to its original nature. Without transformation, the configuration changes; if transformation fails, judge only from the original day stem.
For example, Ji Earth takes Gui Water as concubine. A cycle encountering Chen storage is said to indicate an affair between the concubine and a member of one's own household. Bing takes Yi as mother; encountering Gengshen is associated with the mother's outside relationships. Bing takes Geng as father; encountering Yin and Bing is often associated with a weak father. Wu takes Gui as wife, and occupying the You palace may indicate fondness for drink. If the natal chart has no Wealth or Officer, encountering them in a cycle is judged harmful to the person, while someone else obtains wealth or office.
Fire entering Water territory is associated with blood disorders. Ren or Gui led back to Yin or Mao is associated with failure of male sexual potency. An hour influence returning to Defeat or Extinction signifies lack of achievement in old age. A combination between the day stem and the annual influence is said to bring ill fortune into the home. For the six Jia days, yang Earth as Indirect Wealth represents the father, yin Earth the wife, yang Metal a son, and yin Metal a daughter. The text says to apply the corresponding method to yang and yin Wood and extend it to the rest. The wife star entering Defeat territory is treated as a sign of improper conduct. An example follows:
Jiyou, Gengwu, Guiyou, Dingchou: this is Wealth entering Defeat territory. Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai are the four Long Life positions and are said to bring an intelligent wife. Wealth, Officer, and Resource gaining qi is excellent. A natal chart showing Wealth and Officer is associated here with merchants, travelers, and farming households. Much Wealth overwhelming Resource is said to harm the mother early in life; the text also accuses her of unchastity and predicts remarriage.
In women's charts, where the day stems are the same, the text assigns the status of principal wife to the stronger influence: if I am strong and she is weak, I am principal; if she is strong and I am weak, she is principal.
Abundant Ren and Gui Water is associated with intelligence and resourcefulness, but the passage accuses women with it of sexual excess. Wealth appearing at the hour is said to require joining another household. An Officer hidden in a branch without punishment or breakage can bring office through the wife; unrestrained Killings in the configuration can bring calamity through her.
For a Ren or Gui day born in the first or second month with cycles moving backward, Wu and Ji Earth are taken as Officer. Their Emolument is extinct, so this is called 'turning one's back on Emolument.' Bing and Ding are taken as Wealth. If Wealth is not exposed in the Four Pillars, this is 'turning away from Emolument without poverty,' because Yin and Mao conceal the Fire Wealth of the third and fourth yang stages. Zi and Chou cycles bring Peer division and robbery. Entering Hai lets Wood reach Long Life and support Fire, producing wealth; Xu cycles are similar. In You, Fire dies and Water reaches Defeat, bringing losses. If Ren or Gui is born in Yin or Mao and the cycles move forward, Si and Wu cycles bring wealth and blessings, but an exposed Wealth spirit is still unfavorable, including in the annual and cycle influences. If Wealth is exposed while the natal chart contains Peer and Yang Blade, the text predicts calamity through the wife and warns against Shen and You cycles. Natal Resource signifies broad changes, replacing the old with the new. An annual Killings influence is harmful. In a You cycle, the 'naked form' is Bathing, and Robbery Killings is said to bring death. If the hour is Bingzi, Dingchou, Wuyin, Xinmao, Renchen, Guisi, Bingwu, Dingwei, Wushen, Xinyou, Renxu, or Guihai, the text often associates marriage with a period of mourning or illness.
Marginal commentary: 'Naked form' means removing clothing and exposing the body. For the Five Phases, Zi, Wu, Mao, and You are their Bathing positions.
In the method for assessing children, entry into Tomb or Storage is unfavorable; children entering Storage are said to signify childlessness. On a Geng day, Jia is Indirect Wealth and represents the father. Sitting on Shen and entering You places Wealth in Killings territory; the passage predicts that the person will not return home when the father dies. It classifies women with a yang day stem and much Food Spirit, or a yin day stem and much Hurting Officer, as sex workers; removal of the relevant influence is said to restore respectable status. Fire appearing repeatedly in heavenly stems is associated with scrofulous swellings, and repeatedly in earthly branches with sores. When Killings are employed but remain relatively light, the text often predicts leadership among Buddhist or Daoist clerics.
Translator's note: Several lines in the transmitted birth verses and attribution are unclear; their uncertainty is stated rather than repaired from another text. The passage's bodily signs, illnesses, sexual allegations, family judgments, and predictions of death are historical astrological claims, not established diagnoses or evidence about a person's conduct.
Song of the Mind's Mirror
The verse declares that wealth and rank are predetermined, but requires practitioners to examine them carefully. It says that the heavenly stars can be understood and claims that this teaching does not err.
When the hour is added to the month's establishment and meets the destiny position, take this as the origin of blessings. The point where the life-span origin combines is said to reveal the truth; the verse insists this is no empty statement.
When Officer, Emolument, Nobleman, and Horse meet combination or punishment, distinction may come in a single effort. A day meeting noble territory together with Emolument and Horse signifies success in the examinations in one's prime.
If hour and day encounter Emolument and Horse positions, the verse predicts honorable and elevated office. Unmixed phase influences at hour and day often bring distinction in official service.
Repeated Yang Blades together with Killings are said to produce great rank and examination success. Three Wonders joined with Emolument and Horse bring a reputation known throughout the realm.
If the day sits on a Food branch and also combines with a stem, the verse predicts the ranks of the Nine Ministers or Three Dukes. Jiazi and Jisi are given a special teaching: the formula of Heaven-and-Earth Virtuous Combination.
Bingzi and Guisi are considered with the preceding examples and assigned the offices of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers. If Wood encounters Metal without the master being injured, the text predicts a place at the center of the two chief administrations.
Fire encountering Water signifies military authority and command on the frontier. Metal encountering Fire signifies great authority and the office of a regional governor.
Water encountering Earth and entering an Officer configuration favors attendant office. Earth obtaining Wood as proper Emolument brings the blessings of high ministerial positions.
When the year obtains the month's Emolument without harm, take the day's nobility as principal. A birth meeting Nobleman together with Lonely or Solitary spirits is assigned a monastic life.
Void Emptiness, official Emolument, and Nobleman together are said to indicate an eminent monk in plain robes. Five Phases without qi, attended by Lonely or Solitary spirits, indicate a religious practitioner.
Void Emptiness, punishment, harm, and Imprisonment together signify becoming a monk or a person with a wrapped head. To judge whether someone has authority, examine whether Food Spirit is flourishing and complete.
Clash together with Yang Blade, Killings, and injury is assigned the execution ground. If the named Di Killings meets a cross-legged seated position, the verse predicts a violent death in penal confinement.
An Encircling Corner influence meeting the annual star is said to make penal servitude or exile clear. Six Harms holding authority often signify an early death when Blade and Killings arrive in youth.
A day meeting Officer-Ghost with repeated punishment is assigned a violent death. Blade and Robbery Killings occupying the two ends are said to send one early to the road of Heaven.
If Emolument and Horse both enter Extinction territory, toil and hardship are difficult to escape. If month and hour clash, the verse says the foundation will be emptied.
An Officer star at the hour in a generating and flourishing position signifies a succession of descendants. Turning toward Emolument and approaching Wealth, with Officer also favorable, brings distinction and household resources.
Pure Officer in day and month without a Wealth position is paradoxically said to lack official distinction. Mao punishing Zi and Zi punishing Mao, with Gui and Yi punishing one another, are assigned rank.
Zi clashing with Wu, Wei punishing Xu, and Jia or Yi encountering Shen are assigned distinction. Even when Emolument and Horse are both extinct, wealth can arise through control from the hidden human-origin stems.
Why speak of obtaining one and dividing it into three? The verse identifies this with Emolument and Horse Flying into Heaven. When the year combines with the hour and day at the two ends, examine the division carefully.
For a person of rank this can indicate presenting a memorial and answering the ruler; for an ordinary person it indicates misfortune and obscurity. A heart filled with retreat and regret achieves little, and repeated offense strips away office.
If the pillars contain Emolument and a cycle brings Wealth, gold and jade seem to descend from Heaven. Even after speaking of high and low status, one must still examine the major cycles.
Cycles meeting Emolument and Horse generally bring advancement into office. Heavenly Virtue and Monthly Virtue provide rescue, so that many calamities do no harm.
Turning toward Emolument and approaching Wealth is especially favorable, bringing distinction, office, and resources. Natal Emolument and Horse together with Nobleman increase blessings, income, pearls, and treasures.
A noble and exemplary person seated on punishment and Killings is said to gain fame and rise in youth. Examine yin and yang, high and low status carefully, until the distinctions are thoroughly understood.
The many variations of day, hour, self, and destiny must be read through the changing applications of one guiding method.
Marginal commentary: Jia and Yi take Metal as the life-span origin; Bing and Ding take Water; Wu and Ji take Fire; Ren and Gui take Wood; Geng and Xin take Earth. Select the relevant influence within the Four Pillars of the birth data. A vacant position may be fixed through an arching relationship, such as Chou and Mao arching Yin. 'Punishment and harm' is illustrated by the clash of Zi and Wu. Heavenly Virtue and Monthly Virtue in day and hour are said to bring blessings through one's own efforts, early independence, and prosperity in later life. In day and month they indicate inherited parental blessings; the commentary says the same judgment does not hold in the year.
Translator's note: The verses preserve their named configurations, unusual phase and punishment assignments, and distinctions of historical office. The obscure wording about Di Killings and the cross-legged position is not reconstructed. Claims about execution, lifespan, and other outcomes belong to this historical astrological text, not a reliable method of prediction.
Rhapsody of Interwoven Relationships
Investigate the mysteries of Heaven and Earth and the hidden workings of transformation. The rhapsody claims to distinguish human rank and status through rules drawn from stems and branches, to decide auspicious and inauspicious indications concerning life and death, and to infer the subtleties of gain and loss.
Jia and Yi Wood most favor a spring birth. Ren and Gui Water especially favor winter flourishing.
Bing and Ding Fire shine in summer; Geng and Xin Metal are keen in autumn.
Wu and Ji Earth should flourish during the Earth periods of the four seasons.
The day represents the self: investigate its strength and weakness.
The year is the original foundation and master: examine it closely.
The year stem represents the father and its branch the mother; the day stem the self and its branch the wife; the month stem an elder brother and its branch a younger brother; the hour branch a daughter and its stem a son.
Later Killings controlling the year are said to bring early loss of parents; earlier Killings controlling what follows indicate harm to descendants.
Horse entering the wife-palace is said to bring a capable wife; Killings at the child position, a rebellious child.
Emolument entering the wife-palace signifies living on the wife's resources; Resource at the child position signifies receiving honor through a child.
Owl at the child position is said to destroy the ancestral foundation; Wealth and Officer flourishing in the month bring the father's assets.
The feared conditions are injured Wealth and meager Emolument; still more unfavorable are flourishing Ghosts and a declining self.
What the self controls is Wealth; what generates the self is Resource.
Food Spirit appearing in concealment is associated with a full and well-nourished figure; repeated Owl and Resource with dispersal of ancestral wealth.
Salty Pool together with exposed Wealth is associated with sexual excess and luxury; harmful Killings combining with the year prompts a warning against self-inflicted blade injury.
Earth controlling Water is associated with abdominal or visceral illness; Fire forging Metal, with wasting illness.
Peach Blossom joining Emolument is said to ruin the self through drink and sex; flourishing Wealth with a weak self, to bring death through wealth.
Wealth generating Officer is interpreted here as seeking office through bribery; Wealth destroying Resource, as losing office through greed.
Flourishing Wealth generating Officer can bring personal honor and distinction; Wealth supporting the Killings faction is assigned death in childhood.
A lone Killings influence broken by clash is associated with an idle or discarded person; multiple Killings meeting punishment, with a fierce and violent disposition.
With many Killings in the heavenly stems, an annual Wealth influence brings a warning of early death. With many in the earthly branches, the arrival of the relevant annual branch is said to bring calamity.
Wealth generates Officer, Officer generates Resource, and Resource generates the self: this signifies both wealth and rank. Stems support Wealth, Wealth supports Killings, and Killings attack the self: calamity and poverty press together.
You and Yin in a punishment-and-harm relationship are said to injure marriage; Chou and Mao, described through wind and thunder, indicate an impatient temperament.
Mixed Killings and Officer indicate a livelihood in crafts or technical arts; Wealth and Emolument seated on Horse indicate a merchant.
Horse falling into Void Emptiness signifies relocation and wandering; Emolument suffering clash and breakage signifies leaving one's native land.
Much yin favors women; abundant yang favors men.
When yin exceeds yang, a woman is said to establish the household's prosperity; when yang exceeds yin, a man is to found the family establishment.
Pure yang is said to leave a man isolated and poor; pure yin to leave a woman widowed and distressed.
Officer and noble influences in the birth year can transform harmful Killings and leave a lasting name.
Noble influences should not be excessive, and Emolument is better sparse. Set distraction aside and reflect carefully; the rhapsody claims this will avoid error.
Marginal commentary: The day stem is the self and should be strong rather than weak; the branch beneath it is the wife. The wife is Wealth. If the wife influence occupies the wife-palace, the commentary predicts an able wife. On a Jiayin day, Jia's Emolument lies in Yin: Emolument has entered the wife-palace. Salty Pool is Peach Blossom Killings; combination is associated with sexual excess. Stems may support Wealth and Officer; Food Spirit supports Wealth, which generates Killings, and Killings then injure the self. For example, Jia takes Bing as a child; the child generates Wealth, Wealth generates Killings, and their control and punishment bring calamity back upon the self. Merchants often carry a Traveling Horse.
Translator's note: The source's You-Yin and Chou-Mao assignments are retained as printed. Its judgments of character, sex, family, illness, self-injury, and death are historical astrological claims, not established findings about individuals.
Rhapsody of the Hidden Mechanism
The Great Ultimate divides into Heaven and Earth; the single qi differentiates into yin and yang. Take the day stem as master and concentrate on Wealth and Officer. Establish the configuration from the month branch to distinguish high and low status. An improperly formed configuration fails, but a chart without a named configuration can succeed if it has an effective useful influence. If Officer is present, do not search for another configuration; a named configuration, in turn, may not welcome the Officer star. Officer, Resource, Wealth, and Food are elevated when unbroken; Killings, Hurting Officer, Robber of Wealth, and Blade can be highly favorable when appropriately employed. When good and harmful influences meet, remove the harmful and follow the good. In a mixture of auspicious and inauspicious factors, avoid injuring the favorable in order to follow the harmful. With both Officer and Killings, a strong self restraining Killings is excellent. With Officer and Resource, Wealth assisting Killings is feared as a source of calamity. A strong self with light Killings need not fear Killings cycles; heavy Killings with a weak self benefit from restraining territory. A strong self with much Resource favors Wealth territory; much Wealth with a weak self fears entering it. The text associates Peer, Robber of Wealth, and Hurting Officer in a man's chart with harm to wife and children, and Hurting Officer and Indirect Resource in a woman's chart with loss of children and harm to husband. Excessively heavy Wealth is assigned early loss of both parents; an unsupported strong self, isolation and harmful family relationships. The year clashing with the month's command signifies leaving the ancestral home to establish a household. The governing outline clashing with the day signifies a broken marriage followed by another. A direct clash of hour and day harms wife and children; the day connecting with the month's command brings ancestral support and a settled life. Wood growing in spring can borrow Geng or Xin as authority. Fire born in summer can receive substantial blessings from Ren or Gui. Earth encountering Chen, Xu, Chou, or Wei can gain distinction through heavy Wood. Metal seated in Shen or You prospers in Fire territory. Water occupying Hai or Zi is difficult for Wu or Ji to overpower. A self seated in Rest or Imprisonment remains unfulfilled throughout life. A flourishing self likes Emolument and Horse; a weak self fears Wealth and Officer. Influences in season are judged flourishing; those out of season are judged declining. Even rootless Four Pillars are flourishing if they have the season. A day stem without qi can gain strength through Robber of Wealth. A weak self likes Resource, while a strong master suits Officer. Broken Wealth, Officer, and Resource Seal achieve nothing; removal of harmful Killings, Hurting Officer, Robber of Wealth, and Blade brings blessings. Jia or Yi born in autumn with exposed Metal prosper in Water, Wood, and Fire cycles. Bing or Ding born amid abundant winter Water gain distinction in Fire, Earth, and Wood territory. Wu or Ji born in spring find rescue in the southwest. Geng Metal growing in summer avoids injury in Water and Earth cycles. Ren or Gui encountering flourishing Earth favor Metal and Wood. A weak self with Resource can withstand flourishing Killings but should avoid Wealth territory. When Hurting Officer has removed Officer completely, an Officer cycle need not be harmful. Hurting Officer employing Resource should remove Wealth; Hurting Officer employing Wealth should remove Resource. If Hurting Officer, Wealth, and Resource are all prominent, how can blessings arise? A strong self employs Wealth; a weak self employs Resource. Using Wealth requires removing Resource, and using Resource requires removing Wealth; only then do blessings increase. This is the rule of retaining what is favorable and removing what is unwelcome. Much Wealth with a weak self prospers in cycles that strengthen the self. A strong self with declining Wealth prospers in flourishing Wealth territory. Repeated entry into Officer territory calls for restraint. Repeated Food Spirit fears Officer cycles. Stubborn Metal without Fire cannot become a useful instrument; strong Wood without Metal struggles to establish a clear reputation. Much Water obtaining Earth brings substantial Wealth and riches; blazing Fire meeting Water brings high Emolument and office. Unbroken Officer and Resource bring honor. Without Officer or Resource, a valid configuration can still confer rank. Yang Blade configurations like Indirect Officer; Metal Spirit especially requires restraint. Wealth and Officer of mixed qi can rise through punishment and clash. Excessively flourishing Officer and Wealth inevitably topple at their strongest point. An excessively strong self likes Wealth and Officer; an overly weak master does not suit Emolument and Horse. Flourishing Officer, Resource, and Wealth entering Tomb bring misfortune; Hurting Officer, Food Spirit, and a strong self meeting Storage bring calamity. Assess cycles principally through their branches and annual influences principally through their stems. Much Resource can prosper through Wealth cycles; flourishing Wealth need not fear Peer. A clear, properly formed configuration brings wealth, rank, honor, and splendor. Flourishing Resource generated by Officer brings exceptional reputation. Do not automatically call combination with Officer noble, or combination with Killings harmful. Peach Blossom with Killings is associated with sexual elopement; repeated Canopy with harm and deprivation. Lifelong failure to rise is assigned to Eight Characters in Rest and Imprisonment; a lifetime without authority, to a declining self encountering Ghosts. A strong self should be drained or injured; a declining self likes support and assistance. Seek a balanced endowment, allowing neither excess nor deficiency. The rhapsody claims that, when judgment follows this method, good and bad fortune answer as faithfully as shadow and echo.
Marginal commentary: The state before Heaven and Earth divided is called the Great Ultimate. Indirect Resource is the Owl spirit. The self or master is the day stem. Metal Spirit is given here as Xinsi, Xinyou, and Xinchou. A Ghost is Officer: when the self declines, Officer becomes a Ghost.
Translator's note: The commentary's Metal Spirit list, including its three Xin stems, is retained as supplied rather than changed to another familiar formula. The rhapsody's family, sexual, status, and lifespan judgments are historical astrological claims; its declaration of unfailing results is the author's claim.
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