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Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
Celestial Correspondences of the Ten Stems
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Jia Wood is thunder. Thunder is the exhalation of yang energy; Jia belongs to yang, so it takes thunder's image. Examining the Monthly Commands, thunder sounds in midspring, when Jia Wood flourishes: this is its confirmation. Moreover, thunder stirs in earth and Wood grows in earth, their principle alike. Jia Wood reaches Extinction at Shen because thunder's sound gradually ceases there. A Jia-day chart favors spring. Class Images, Approaching Qian, Distant Si, and Supporting Nobility are all greatly auspicious, but western fortune is disliked. A classic says: “Wood born in spring lives peacefully in the world and certainly has longevity.”
Yi Wood is wind. Its Long Life is at Wu and Defeat at Si. Why Birth at Wu? Yi is living forest Wood, flourishing when summer comes, as the poem says of a thousand stands of green summer trees. Why Defeat at Si? Si is Xun, and Xun is wind: abundant Wood generates wind. Wind is born from Wood yet destroys Wood, just as Fire is born from Wood yet burns it. Defeat is therefore appropriate. Calling Yi Wood wind means Wood is what wind is born from. An Yi-day birth in autumn is greatly auspicious. Autumn Metal flourishes, and Yi Wood can transform or follow, with tangled roots and interlaced joints requiring a keen implement to shape them. Meeting Hai must die: is this not the time of falling leaves returning to the root?
Bing is the Sun. The Commentary on Explaining the Trigrams says: “Li is Fire and the Sun.” Sun and Fire both image cultivated brightness, so Bing Fire's designation as Sun is unchanging. The Sun emerges in the morning and enters at evening; yang Fire is born at Yin and dies at You: how are they different? Among the six Bing days, winter and summer births are inferior to spring and autumn. Spring sunlight warms all things; autumn sunlight dries them. Winter is dark and yin, summer blazing and steaming. Examine this carefully.
Ding Fire is stars. When Bing Fire dies, Ding is then born: in heaven the Sun fades and stars return. These stellar images shine only at night, and yin Fire glows only near darkness. What could Ding be called but stars? A Ding-day person favors night and autumn, like starlight in its proper season. Fortune into ground where the self is weak is also favored. Fire hidden in stone belongs to Ding: even stone in Water gives Fire when immediately struck. The Dingsi day often harms father, brothers, wife, and children. Wealth fears Companions and Rob Wealth, the elder brother is subordinated to the younger, and Wu Earth within Si is Hurting Office.
Wu Earth is sunset radiance. Earth has no exclusive energy and is born by depending on Fire. Radiance has no fixed body and appears by borrowing the Sun. Knowing Bing Fire is Sun, one knows Wu Earth is radiance. Radiance is the Sun's remainder; the Sun exhausted, radiance vanishes. Fire extinguished, Earth has no impulse toward life, hence its name. A Wu Earth day ruler loves Water in the four pillars as a superior configuration, radiance and Water shining together to make beautiful patterns. Gui atop year and month stems is further favored: Gui is rain, after which radiance appears and cultivated brightness is seen.
Ji Earth is cloud. Ji is born at You, Dui's direction, imaged as Marsh. A former worthy says: “Heaven sends timely rain; mountains and rivers issue clouds.” Clouds are the energy of mountains and marshes. Though Ji belongs to Earth, this makes cloud an appropriate name. Thus Jia and Ji combine and transform into Earth, their energy ascending to spread clouds. Cloud and thunder meet to make rain, its benefit reaching below to moisten Earth. Is this not creation's utmost subtlety? A Ji Earth self-ruler prizes sitting at You, spring birth, and seeing Seal. Sitting at Hai must not see Yi Wood: cloud rising to heaven meets wind and is scattered beyond restraint.
Geng Metal is the Moon. Geng is yang Metal of the You direction. How is its pairing with the Moon known? Geng among the five phases is like the Moon through the four seasons. Geng does not await autumn for Long Life, yet only in autumn begins to flourish. The Moon does not await autumn to be the Moon, yet in autumn grows brighter. In color, the Moon is white, the same color. In energy, Metal generates Water and tides respond to the Moon, the same energy. A classic says: “Metal sinks at Zi,” seeing its likeness to the Moon sinking in waves. On the third day the Moon appears in Geng's direction: the newborn Moon has Geng as its position. Thus Geng Metal is Moon. A Geng-day person with Yisi in the four pillars has White Moon and Clear Wind. Autumn is best, winter next, spring and summer not taken.
Xin Metal is frost. The eighth month is Xin's Established Emolument. Then heaven's energy is austere and cutting, white dew becomes frost, and plants yellow, fall, and decline. Thus yin Wood among the five phases is Extinct here, like Wood cut by axe and adze, with nothing yet growing. Axes enter forests in their season and severe frost kills plants in its season. Comparing Heaven's way with human affairs confirms Xin Metal as frost. A Xin person sitting at Mao, with Yi not emerging, is greatly wealthy; sitting at Hai, with Bing emerging, gives rank. Winter birth is favored.
Ren Water is autumn dew. Spring also has dew: why liken it only to autumn? Spring dew is dew already moistened by rain and dew; autumn dew is dew after frost and dew have descended. Dew is one, but spring governs generation and autumn killing, so their functions differ. I take Ren as autumn dew because dew is Water, and Ren Water is born at Shen. Water can generate Wood, yet Water being born here, why does Wood reach Extinction here? Thus Ren's dew is autumn dew. A Ren day born in autumn is most prominent on seeing Ding Fire: Ding is the starry river and Ren autumn dew. Together they wash away blazing heat and make the stellar pattern clear.
Gui Water is spring rain. Gui Water is born in the Mao month and is called spring rain, because yin Wood grows through rain. Yet at Shen it dies, with the seventh and eighth months often dry. The position one step before Mao is Chen, the dragon palace. Mao near that palace gives Water's Birth; the dragon rouses and transforms into rain. Mao is Thunder Gate: thunder stirs and the dragon must arise. Thus Gui Water is spring rain. A Guimao day with Ji emerging has Clouds Moving and Rain Falling, and the person certainly has talent for ordering affairs and aiding the world. Spring and summer are auspicious, autumn and winter inauspicious.
Translator's note: All ten celestial images and their conditions are retained, including differences from the previous chapter's images and seasonal judgments. The Dingsi family-harm statement is a historical claim. Technical configuration names are translated without supplying rules absent from the source; the final talent phrase uses its classical governance sense, not modern economics.
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