Opening the chapter
Loading the text. Please wait.
Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
On the Human Origin Taking Charge
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
When the one energy was undivided and material forms unseparated, what could be yin or yang? Once the Great Beginning arose, the One split into three and was divided in an instant. Heaven received it as light and clear yang; earth as heavy and turbid yin. Humanity occupies the middle, receiving balanced yin-yang energy. Thus the light and clear are the ten stems, governing Emolument and called Heavenly Origin; the heavy and turbid are the twelve branches, governing Body and called Earthly Origin. Heaven and earth each set their position, and what develops ability between them is humanity. What is stored within the branches, in an irregular branch-and-lü phrase, governs Life and is called Human Origin. It is named the spirit taking charge, or the monthly command in natal astrology. The first month establishes Yin: Gen Earth takes charge for five days, Bing Fire has Long Life for five days, and Jia Wood for twenty days. The second month establishes Mao: Jia Wood takes charge for seven days and Yi Wood for twenty-three. The third establishes Chen: Yi Wood for seven days, Ren Water's Tomb and Storehouse for five, and Wu Earth for eighteen. The fourth establishes Si, with a variant spelling: Wu Earth for seven days, Geng Metal's Long Life for five, and Bing Fire for eighteen. The fifth establishes Wu: Bing Fire takes charge for seven days and Ding Fire for twenty-three. The sixth establishes Wei: Ding Fire takes charge for seven days, Jia Wood's Tomb and Storehouse for five, and the printed Yi Earth for eighteen. The seventh establishes Shen: Kun Earth takes charge for five days, Ren Water's Long Life for five, and Geng Metal for twenty. The eighth establishes You: Geng Metal takes charge for seven days and Xin Metal for twenty-three. The ninth establishes Xu: Xin Metal takes charge for seven days, Bing Fire's Tomb and Storehouse for five, and Wu Earth for eighteen. The tenth establishes Hai: Wu Earth for five days, Jia Wood's Long Life for five, and Ren Water taking charge for twenty. The eleventh establishes Zi: Ren Water takes charge for seven days and Gui Water for twenty-three. The twelfth establishes Chou: Gui Water takes charge for seven days, Geng Metal's Tomb and Storehouse for five, and the printed Yi Earth for eighteen. These twelve branches each store five-phase energies as Human Origin according to the twelve months. Paired with the four seasons, spring is warm, autumn cool, winter cold, and summer hot, like a ring without an end, finishing and beginning again. The year's work is completed and forms one year.
Translator's note: All twelve monthly allocations and day counts are retained exactly, including Gen and Kun Earth, Jia Wood in Wei's Storehouse, and the irregular Yi-Earth spelling in months six and twelve. The branch-and-lü phrase is not silently replaced with a different graph. This is the supplied calendrical scheme, not a reconstruction of another tradition's hidden-stem table.
Use ← / → or swipe left or right to change chapters