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Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
On the Origins of the Branches and Stems
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A stem is like the trunk of a tree: strong, and therefore yang. A branch is like a tree's branch: weak, and therefore yin. In antiquity, Pangu understood the way of heaven and earth and penetrated the changes of yin and yang as the Three Powers. After heaven and earth had separated, the first ruler took heaven as preceding earth; from this, energy transformed and human beings arose. Thus the Heavenly Sovereigns, thirteen people of one surname, succeeded Pangu in governing. This is called heavenly numinousness and serene simplicity: without contrived action, customs transformed themselves. They first made the names of the stems and branches to determine the position of the year. The ten stems were Yufeng, Zhanmeng, Rouzhao, Jiangyu, Zhuyong, Tuwei, Shangzhang, Chongguang, Xuanyi, and Zhaoyang. The twelve branches were Kundun, Chifenruo, Shetige, Chanyu, Zhixu, Dahuangluo, Dunyang, Xieqia, Tuntan, Zuo'e, Yanmao, and Dayuanxian. Cai Yong's Independent Judgments says: “Stems are trunks. Their names are ten, also called the ten mothers: today's Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui. Branches are branches. Their names are twelve, also called the twelve children: today's Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai.” They are called the Heavenly Sovereigns because heaven opens at Zi; the Earthly Sovereigns because earth opens at Chou; and the Human Sovereigns because humanity is born at Yin. Thus the names of stems and branches began under the Heavenly Sovereigns. The Earthly Sovereigns fixed the three luminaries, divided the course into day and night, and made thirty days a month; stems and branches then began to receive their respective pairings. Under the Human Sovereigns, rulers did not rule emptily and ministers were not noble without substance. Governance, instruction, ruler and minister arose from them, and the arrangements of food, drink, men, and women began. Receiving heaven and earth's energies, mother and child became distinct, and stems and branches acquired their affiliations. Fuxi then looked upward at the images in heaven, downward at the patterns of earth, and between them at the myriad things and human beings. He first drew the eight trigrams to communicate with numinous powers and classify the conditions of all things; he made a calendrical system, and writing arose. By the Yellow Emperor's transmission of the River Chart, the images of sun, moon, stars, and constellations were seen, and books of stellar offices began. He ordered the printed Da Yao to explore the conditions of the five phases and divine what the Dipper's handle established. Then stem-branch pairs were first made and assigned to the five phases and Nayin categories.
Translator's note: The mythic chronology and lists follow the supplied text. Archaic names such as Yufeng, Jiangyu, Chanyu, and Dunyang are transliterated as printed rather than replaced with more familiar variants. Da Yao is also retained, without silently changing the name. Minor graph variants in the familiar twelve-branch list are rendered by their branch names.
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