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Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
Meanings of Wealth, Office, Seal, and Food, and Direct Office
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Why the Ancients Named Seal, Food, Office, and Wealth
Xu Ziping's discussion of configurations takes only Seal, Food, Office, and Wealth as its framework. What is the meaning of these names? Transformation flowing between Heaven and Earth is nothing beyond yin, yang, and the five phases. Their interactions are nothing beyond generation, conquest, restraint, and transformation. Take Jia and Yi as examples and discuss them as day stems. Both belong to Wood among the five phases, Jia yang and Yi yin. In a person's chart, birth with Jia or Yi means the Day Ruler belongs to oneself. What generates me is Ren and Gui Water; what I generate is Bing and Ding Fire; what conquers me is Geng and Xin Metal; what I conquer is Wu and Ji Earth. This exhausts the ten stems. What generates me carries the meaning of parents, hence the name Seal and Ribbon. Seal means sheltering; Ribbon means receiving. It is like parents sheltering descendants through kindness and virtue, and descendants receiving their blessing. The court establishes offices, divides responsibilities, and grants seals and ribbons for administering them. What evidence of authority has an official without a seal? What support has a person without parents? The principle is one and the same, hence Seal and Ribbon. What I generate carries the meaning of descendants, hence Food Spirit. Eating, as when insects eat things, injures what is eaten. Insects obtaining food are filled; people obtaining food benefit, while what is eaten suffers loss. In transformation, the child matures and provides nourishment, just as a human child supports parents. Hence Food Spirit. What conquers me means I am restrained by another, hence Office and Killing. The source explains Office with the same Office word; Killing means harm. The court grants a person office, assigning that person's body to public service, to be driven and employed, entering boiling water and treading fire without daring disobedience, ending only when the coffin is closed. Thus office harms the person. Ordinary people dreaming of a coffin and obtaining office reflects this meaning too, hence Office and Killing. What I conquer means another is restrained by me, hence Wife and Wealth. Establishing a household and property requires a wife's domestic assistance, hence Wife and Wealth. These four are the principal meanings of the practitioners' names. Generation lies close to oneself, conquest is separated by position; transformation favors generation and dislikes Killing, a natural principle. Within this, yin and yang following their own kind and yin and yang pairing each contain the ultimate principle. In generating me and my generating, Ren generates Jia, Gui generates Yi, Jia feeds upon Bing, and Yi upon Ding: yin generates yin, yang generates yang, yin eats yin, yang eats yang. Each follows its own kind. Thus Jia favors Ren's generation, followed in the supplied wording by dead Wood soaking in still Water and remaining unspoiled for many years. It dislikes Gui's generation: dead Wood drenched by rain rots before an incompletely expressed limit. Jia favors feeding upon Bing because Bing restrains Geng Killing and Jia can secure itself. It dislikes feeding upon Ding because Ding injures Office and Jia cannot become useful material. This is the meaning. In conquering me and my conquering, Xin conquers Jia, Geng conquers Yi, Jia conquers Ji, and Yi conquers Wu: yin conquers yang, yang conquers yin, yin pairs with yang, and yang with yin. This is the principle of pairing. Hence Jia sees Xin as Direct Office and Geng as Indirect Office. Office favors the Direct, not the Indirect: the seal-holding chief and deputies have different duties. Jia sees Ji as the principal wife and Wu as the secondary wife. Wife values the principal, not the secondary: the equal partner and standing attendant differ in their allotted positions. This is the principle. Office fears injury, which brings calamity; Wealth fears Robbing, which divides it. Seal fears Wealth, since greed for Wealth ruins it. Food fears Owl, which seizes it. These principles do not differ from human affairs; a student who understands human affairs can therefore discuss transformation. The five phases' revolving generation and conquest all carry the meaning of a child avenging parents. Jia and Yi generate Bing and Ding as children; Jia and Yi fear Geng and Xin and rely on Bing and Ding to conquer and restrain them. Bing and Ding generate Wu and Ji as children; Bing and Ding fear Ren and Gui and rely on Wu and Ji to conquer and restrain them. Wu and Ji generate Geng and Xin as children; Wu and Ji fear Jia and Yi and rely on Geng and Xin to conquer and restrain them. Geng and Xin generate Ren and Gui as children; Geng and Xin fear Bing and Ding and rely on Ren and Gui to conquer and restrain them. Ren and Gui generate Jia and Yi as children; Ren and Gui fear Wu and Ji and rely on Jia and Yi to conquer and restrain them. The twelve branches follow the same principle. Though movement and stillness differ, and square and round vary, generation and conquest are one. Northern Hai and Zi Water generate eastern Yin and Mao Wood; eastern Yin and Mao Wood generate southern Si and Wu Fire. Earth lodges and flourishes with Fire and generates western Shen and You Metal; western Shen and You Metal generate northern Hai and Zi Water. Yet one Chou position intervenes between Hai–Zi and Yin–Mao; one Chen between Yin–Mao and Si–Wu; one Wei between Si–Wu and Shen–You; one Xu between Shen–You and Hai–Zi. Earth stands at the four corners and all five phases depend upon it. Thus Si and You combine with Chou into a Metal configuration, Shen and Zi with Chen into Water, Hai and Mao with Wei into Wood, and Yin and Wu with Xu into Fire. Metal generates Water, Water Wood, Wood Fire, Fire Earth, and Earth Metal, in uninterrupted mutual generation. Chou is Metal's Storehouse, generating Hai–Zi and conquering Yin–Mao. Chen is Water's Storehouse, generating Yin–Mao and conquering Si–Wu. Wei is Wood's Storehouse, generating Si–Wu and receiving Metal's conquest. Xu is Fire's Storehouse, conquering Shen–You and receiving Water's restraint. Southeast governs generation and northwest killing: this is Heaven and Earth's great mechanism. Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei establish and secure the four corners; Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire all rely upon them for birth and storage. The Changes says, in this supplied order, “Completion is spoken of at Gen, ending at Kun.” Earth's function is therefore especially great among the five phases. Putting aside the distinction between stems and branches to speak generally: Jia is Born at Hai and Dead at Wu; Yi is Born at Wu and Dead at Hai; they approach Emolument at Yin and Mao, so Jia–Yi and Yin–Mao are equivalent in this respect. Bing is Born at Yin and Dead at You; Ding is Born at You and Dead at Yin; they approach Emolument at Si and Wu, so Bing–Ding and Si–Wu are equivalent. Geng is Born at Si and Dead at Zi; Xin is Born at Zi and Dead at Si; they approach Emolument at Shen and You, so Geng–Xin and Shen–You are equivalent. Ren is Born at Shen and Dead at Mao; Gui is Born at Mao and Dead at Shen; they approach Emolument at Hai and Zi, so Ren–Gui and Hai–Zi are equivalent. Wu is Born at Yin and Dead at You; Ji is Born at You and Dead at Yin; they approach Emolument at Si and Wu, sharing Fire's positions, the meaning of a child following the mother's flourishing. Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei, however, are their proper positions. Thus Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches combine and pair, generate, conquer, restrain, and transform, flourish, become vigorous, rest, or become imprisoned. Their names are Seal, Owl, Food, Hurting, Office, Killing, Wealth, and Robbing; punishment, clash, disruption, harm, empty invitation, and hidden combination change without limit. Xu Ziping perceived this principle and therefore discussed only Wealth, Office, Seal, and Food, dividing them into six configurations. Human wealth, nobility, poverty, low status, longevity, early death, obstruction, and success do not fall outside these. Other configurations are only deductions from them.
Translator's note: The Office/coffin explanation, parent/child and wife/property analogies, all five revenge cycles, four Storehouse combinations, ten stem Birth/Death positions and Emolument pairs are retained. The Ren/still-Water and Gui/rain clauses are damaged in their wording, and the Changes quotation has the supplied Gen/Kun order; neither is silently replaced from another version. The source's four named categories and six configurations remain distinct as printed. These are historical explanatory and social analogies, not present-day claims about family roles or verified fate.
Direct Office is exemplified by Jia seeing Xin and Yi seeing Geng. Yin and yang pair; mutual restraint is useful and completes their way. Direct Office therefore stands first among the six configurations. Only one occurrence is allowed; many are unsuitable. First inspect the monthly command, then the rest. Of the five phases' energy, the monthly command is strongest because it holds the season. Moreover, the four pillars govern different ages: the year governs fifteen years and is too early; the hour governs after fifty and is too late. Thus the monthly command is proper, with other configurations following this example. A Jia day born in You month; Yi in Shen or Si; Bing in Zi; Ding in Hai; Wu in Mao; Ji in Yin; Geng in Wu; Xin in Yin or Si; Ren in Wu, Wei, or Chou; Gui in Chen, Si, or Xu: these are all called proper energy. If Office Star also emerges in a Heavenly Stem, as Jia seeing Xinyou or Yi seeing Gengshen, it is Hidden in Branch and Emerging in Stem. Other positions should not repeat it. The Day Ruler must further be healthy and flourishing, supported by both Wealth and Seal, with no Hurting or Killing in the pillars. Fortune leading into Office territory then gives a fate of great wealth and nobility. Punishment, clash, disruption, harm, Hurting Office, Seven Killings, craving combination and forgetting Office, and Robbing Wealth dividing blessing are greatly avoided as configuration-breakers. For Jia born in You month, Mao is clash, You punishment, Wu disruption, Xu harm, Bing combination, Yi Robbing, Ding harmful conquest, and Geng mixture. Only a pure, single Office Star and harmonious five phases permit Direct Office judgment. If any of these avoidances appears, even something removing it leaves impurity. If Office Star forms a configuration and Wealth further nourishes it, advancement requires fortune on Body-flourishing ground. If there are only one or two Offices, no Wealth but Seal present, weak Body does no harm. If all four pillars turn away from Emolument, examine annual and major fortunes for movement toward or away from flourishing Wealth and Office ground. What if Wealth and Office fill the view but the Day Ruler declines and cannot carry them? Labor is futile. Fortune reaching flourishing Wealth and Killing territory often brings wasting illness. If Seven Killings is present and fortune meets it again, this is a fate of penal servitude or exile. Another account says Jia born in You month has Xin Metal as Proper Emolument. If Ding Hurting appears without a branch configuration, and the hour leads it into Decline, Defeat, Death, or Extinction, or restraint or combination removes it, how can declining or extinct Fire injure flourishing Emolument? If the hour instead leads Office Star into Decline, Defeat, Death, or Extinction, while leading Ding Fire to Birth and Flourishing or arriving at Killing ground, demotion, loss of office, and calamity certainly follow. The hour is the place of final repose; auspiciousness and harm depend entirely on its waxing and waning. When the Day Ruler's Useful Spirit is too abundant, the hour should moderate it; when it gradually declines, the hour should supplement it. Even a harmful spirit in the pillars cannot cause calamity if the hour restrains it. This is an essential method of examining fate. Another account says Jia born in Chou month already contains Xin Metal. You hour repeats it; if many Xin further emerge in the stems and western fortune follows, strength cannot bear the task. Office changes to Ghost, tipping over at its flourishing point, often causing calamity and early death. Combination or restraint is needed for auspiciousness. If oneself rides flourishing, as on Jiayin or Yimao days, and Seal further generates and assists, even many Office Stars do no harm. Jia born in Xu month may sit on Fire's Storehouse, but without a formed configuration and allied party it cannot harm. Another account says selecting Office Star need not be confined to the monthly branch. The month stem or the year, day, and hour stems and branches can supply it: present in just one place without damage, it can be selected. A classic therefore says: “If an exposed stem has energy, take it there; without energy, take it from what is hidden.” If an exposed stem lacks energy but is led back to a branch, or receives support, and fortune obtains proper ground, its blessing is no less than a monthly Office Star's. Another account says that even a single solidly seated Food Spirit can damage the Office configuration; only when the monthly command hides Emolument does Food instead give the nobility of Three Wonders. The essential issue is whether Office and Food are solid or empty. If Office Star is solidly seated and the Combining Spirit slightly empty, the latter follows Office and assists nobility. If the Combining Spirit is solidly seated and Office Star weakens, Office follows the Combining Spirit: this is Craving Combination and Forgetting Office. Another account says the Direct Office configuration should proceed through Seal territory: encountering Office, inspect Seal. If Seal already accompanies it in the pillars, examine Office's relative weight and the day stem's strength to judge the appropriate fortune. Weak Body and light Seal require supplementing Seal; strong Body and light Office require supplementing Office. Hurting Office fortune is Turning Away from Emolument; Body-flourishing fortune is Pursuing Horse. The Sanming Ling says: Offices of the three categories Emolument, Fate, and Body each receive a phase and should generally be inferred from its nature. Metal as Office gives stern and distinguished rank, often administering punishments, prisons, money, or grain, with clear and swift judgment; an annual Grand Duke at Chou is Office's Storehouse. Wood as Office gives pure and elevated rank, harmony with common ways, and cautious conduct; the annual Grand Duke at Wei is Office's Storehouse. Fire as Office gives blazing rank, a fierce nature, and cruel punishment, with irregular rises and cessations; the annual Grand Duke at Xu is Office's Storehouse. Water as Office gives initially low rank, gradual promotion, humility and harmony winning the people, care for orphans and widows, and a disposition toward the Way; the annual Grand Duke at Chen is Office's Storehouse. Earth as Office gives stable, hard-to-infringe rank, substantial and straightforward character, and clear laws; the annual Grand Duke at Chen is Office's Storehouse here too. Each phase's Office is auspicious if it follows its nature; loss of that nature means office does not last. A knowledgeable interpreter in western Shu says that adequate Offices and Seals among the mutually alternating four stems of year, month, day, and hour indicate nobility. In examining great charts, two Seals appear often. Academician Lü Jifu's chart is Renshen, Jiyou, Dingsi, Gengzi: Ren with Ji and Geng with Ding are Office relationships; Ren with Geng and Ji with Ding are Seal relationships. Another account says Office Star has Heavenly Office territory, taking the monthly stem that restrains the year's stem. For the six Jia years, the first month is Bingyin, fifth Gengwu, sixth Xinwei; Geng and Xin Metal restrain Jia Wood. The source then says Wu and Gui travel together. Jia and Gui people take Wu and Wei; Yi and Bing Chen and Si; Ding and Wu Yin and Mao; Ji and Geng Xu and Hai; Xin and Ren Shen and You. Those meeting these eat Heaven's Emolument and hold noble court rank. Earthly Office territory takes the monthly establishment restraining the year's stem. A Jia or Yi year stem belongs to Wood; the seventh and eighth months encounter Shen, Metal restraining Wood. The complete list gives Jia and Yi people Shen and You; Bing and Ding Hai and Zi; Wu and Ji Yin and Mao; Geng and Xin Si and Wu; Ren and Gui Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei. Those meeting these receive good ancestral shelter early and rise easily in rank. True Office territory takes the monthly stem at the third branch ahead of natal fate combining with the natal stem. For a Bingzi person born in the second month, the third branch ahead is Xinmao; Bing combines with Xin, so Bingzi people born in that month have True Office. A following middle-birth expression is damaged. Gentlemen meeting this occupy posts in close attendance; ordinary people are also rich and powerful. Censor Liu Xingsu's chart, Bingzi, Xinmao, Bingzi, Xinmao, exactly fits. Another account says practitioners take Jia seeing Xin as Office, but do not know that a true five phase conquering Nayin is True Office, called in a damaged phrase a most crucial blessing. Office appearing in the stem and obtaining combination is best; the various spirits coming to court is finest. A Jiayin birth has Water Nayin; obtaining Jihai makes Jia and Ji true Earth, so Nayin encounters a true phase conquering it. If the Grand Duke's own stem does not appear in the conquest, Yi and Geng in day, month, or hour also count. Geng alone is Indirect Office and weaker than the complete form. With neither Yi nor Geng, but only Yisi, Yichou, or Yiyou, many Shen elsewhere supply some force; without Shen, only three to five tenths remain. Other cases follow by analogy. Jiyou or Jimao seeing Ding and Ren, and Renzi or Renwu seeing Yi and Geng, have Nayin encountering a conquering true phase as Office, but the original stem is also conquered. They are therefore judged as True Ghost, not True Office. Major fortune, minor fortune, or a flowing year meeting it brings especially severe calamity. Those examining Office Star must know this too. The Preferences and Avoidances chapter says: “The five phases' Direct Office avoids Office afflicted by clash, punishment, conquest, or disruption.” Five-Word Verses says: “With Office, Seal is needed; freedom from punishment is praiseworthy. If not a guest in the golden hall, one still heads a wealthy household.” Secret Instructions says: “Repeated Office Star is judged only as Killing. Returning to Office territory makes calamity hard to avoid; if excessively many, restraining them brings blessing.” An old song says: “Proper-energy Office Star uses the monthly branch, favoring Wealth and Seal in year and hour. With disruption, harm, clash, and Void all absent, know that wealth and nobility both are complete.” Another: “Office Star must not suffer punishment or clash; Office and Killing together turn auspiciousness harmful. Transforming Killing into Office is auspicious; transforming Office into Killing brings layered calamity.” Another: “Office Star generally needs strong Body. Weak Body must seek flourishing-energy ground. With Seal and Ribbon and fortune in flourishing Wealth, no clash, injury, or disruption brings honor and prosperity.” Another: “The birth-month Office Star sits in Emolument's territory; a born and flourishing day gives boundless blessing. With Wealth and Seal, no injury or disruption, one gains fame young and sits in the Jade Hall.” Another: “Monthly Proper Emolument is named True Office. Without punishment or injury, Emolument is most ample. A prosperous Day Ruler displays reputation and profit; fortune meeting Wealth and Seal steps into the golden imperial hall.” Another: “Many Seals and many Offices make a noble fate; flourishing Office with declining Body instead makes illness. Many Offices with flourishing Body transform into Wealth; flourishing Wealth with declining Body brings poverty and illness together.” Another: “Direct Office generally needs purity and harmony; four pillars without injury gain distinguished examination success. The hour favors healthy, flourishing Wealth; the pillars rejoice in much Seal generation. Meeting it alone in the monthly framework is true nobility; repetition in the year is too much. If Killing elsewhere comes to mix, toil and restless travel result instead.” Combining these accounts reveals Direct Office's preferences and avoidances.
Translator's note: Every birth-month list, hostile-pair list, time/strength qualification, five-phase Office description, three Office-territory formula, named chart, True Office/True Ghost distinction, and final verse is retained. The supplied month lists and Chen as Earth Office's Storehouse are not standardized. Damaged items include the Wu/Gui travel clause, middle-birth phrase, and crucial-blessing phrase. The source's contrasting permission for repeated Office with supported Body and its initial single-Office rule are both present. Historical rank, illness, punishment, and longevity claims are translated as such.
Heavenly-Blessing Noble Person
This means encountering Emolument where Office Star sits. Just as a person having both office and salary surely has Heaven's blessing, a Jia-born person takes Xin as Office, and Xin's Emolument lies at You: hence Jia seeing You, or Yi seeing Shen. Jia uses Xin Office; with Xinyou in the pillars and blessing spirits further assisting, Birth, Flourishing, and available energy are excellent. It is also named the Emolument-Stem Blessing Spirit. Those meeting it are said to have lofty examination fame and honored office, often entrusted with the distinction of drafting imperial proclamations and other literary documents.
Translator's note: Both the ordinary office/salary analogy and the separate auspicious technical condition of Birth, Flourishing, and assistance are retained.
Heavenly Origin Seated on Emolument
A classic says: “Metal meeting Fire has great authority, as a defense commissioner or prefect,” exemplified by Gengwu, Gengyin, Gengxu, Xinsi, and Xinwei days. “Water meeting Earth enters the Office configuration and can receive a vice minister's Emolument,” as Renwu, Renxu, Guisi, Guichou, and Guiwei days. “Wood meeting Metal has injury and decline transformed into Killing, giving thunderous authority,” as Jiashen, Jiaxu, Yisi, Yiyou, and Yichou days. “Fire meeting Water governs military authority, as a general guarding three frontiers,” as Bingshen, Bingzi, Bingchen, Dinghai, and Dingchou days. “Earth meeting Wood has Proper Emolument and the blessing of the Eight Seats and Three Terraces,” as Wuyin, Wuchen, Jimao, Jiwei, and Jihai days. These are the essentials of configurations such as White Tiger Holding the World. The Day Ruler and Office Nobility must be balanced; one-sided depletion prevents successful transformation. Punishment, clash, disruption, and harm are greatly avoided, injuring noble energy so the configuration fails. A Gengwu day sits on Ding Office and favors Jia and Yi Wealth generating Office and Wu and Ji Seal generating Body. It avoids Bing Killing mixing Office, Gui Water injuring Office, and Zi clashing with and breaking Wu. Other stems follow this example. Another account says the Day Ruler itself forming Office Star does not greatly avoid clashes: like an object held in one's hand, it cannot reasonably be taken away. The person is described as clever, fond of sexual attraction, adaptable, and strategic. With only one occurrence beneath the day, development requires Wealth and Office fortune. If the birth month carries Emolument, the branches sit on Wealth and Office, and the birth hour obtains proper ground, there is true nobility. Renwu day is Emolument and Horse in the Same Homeland, especially fine with Gengxu hour. Ren sits on its own Emolument; Geng and Xin restrain Jia and Yi so Ren obtains Ji Earth as Office Nobility. On Wuchen day, Yi Wood within Chen is Wu's Office. Spring birth gives substantial nobility; autumn birth empty reputation without Emolument. An old song says: “Office Star beneath the seat is most remarkable, often showing a foundation in ancestral shelter. If fortune proceeds to Seal territory, one sheds blue clothing and puts on purple.”
Translator's note: All twenty-five day examples, differing clash statements, and the Renwu and Wuchen explanations are retained as supplied. Official titles and clothing colors express historical rank. The source's description of Ren seated on its own Emolument is not silently changed to a different technical label.
Annual-Virtue Direct Office
Office in the year's stem or branch is taken as Annual Virtue, with preferences and avoidances judged like monthly-command Direct Office. Those meeting it must, in the source's account, be born into an official family or inherit a grandfather's post. If the month lies in Wealth and Office divisions, fortune proceeds toward their flourishing ground, and the Day Ruler is healthy and flourishing, nobility follows without doubt. Office encountered in the year stem carries the heaviest blessing and necessarily develops early. For example, Guiyou, Gengshen, Bingzi, Bingshen has Office Star in the year, an Office configuration gathering in the pillars, and Emolument returning beneath the day. Bing conquers Shen and You Metal, giving the twofold beauty of Wealth and Office. Both Bing make Body flourish. At seventeen or eighteen, fortune proceeds through Wuwu. Though Wu clashes with Zi, Shen and Zi gather into a configuration that the clash cannot move. The Day Rulers flourish together, bringing examination success and early advancement. An old song says: “Proper Emolument in the year is root and sprout, indicating birth into a wealthy and noble household. Fortune favors Body-flourishing ground; Wealth generating and Seal assisting give boundless blessing.” Another: “Office Star in the year is Annual Virtue, favoring Wealth and Seal and a flourishing Body palace. Without Seven Killings or Indirect Office positions, wealth, nobility, honor, and glory are incomparable.”
Translator's note: The complete four-pillar example, seventeen/eighteen age reference, clash exception, and both concluding verses are included. The source's link to inherited official status is historical.
Direct Office in the Hour
Examples are a Jia day with You/Xin hour and an Yi day with Shen/Geng hour. Hour Office Star is judged like the monthly one, but its force is slight. Blessing develops mostly in later years, or a worthy child is born; Seal's assistance is needed. An old song says: “Effective Direct Office need not be many; many injure Body, few harmonize. A flourishing day further meeting generative Seal and Ribbon must rise smoothly to distinguished examination success.”
Translator's note: The source lists branch and stem in that order for the hour examples; no missing combination is constructed. Its weaker-force and later-life qualifications remain.
Office, Seal, Emolument, and Storehouse
A classic says: “Within Office see Emolument; at Storehouse encounter Wealth: gold and jade come from Heaven.” Examples are Jia and Yi encountering Yichou, Bing and Ding Gengwu, Wu and Ji Renchen, Geng and Xin Yiwei, and Ren and Gui Bingxu. One chart is Dingchou, Xinhai, Guiyou, Renxu. Gui uses Bing as Wealth and Xu as Wealth's Storehouse; Wu is Office, and Wu Earth within Xu is properly flourishing, with Wealth's Storehouse generating and assisting. You is Gui's Seal and Chou Seal's Storehouse. Wealth, Office, and Seal all encounter flourishing Storehouses without clash or disruption, giving nobility.
Translator's note: All five pair examples and the complete named-by-pillars chart are retained, including the source's Storehouse assignments.
Mutual Punishment Meeting Nobility
A classic says: “Day and hour punishing one another yet meeting Nobility give law-enforcement authority.” Another says: “Yin punishes Si, Si punishes Shen; Geng and Xin encountering Yin have the Noble Person. Mao punishes Zi and Zi punishes Mao; Gui and Yi together have wealth and purity. Wei punishes Xu and Xu punishes Wei; Jia and Wu meeting Goat, Wei, naturally have noble honor. This does not favor civil office but governs military authority.” Minister Liu Yingjie's chart is Guiwei, Yimao, Bingxu, Wuzi. Zi–Mao punishment obtains Yi and Gui; Wei–Xu punishment obtains Wu. Thus his offices spanned military affairs and punishments. Though he had literary fame, he did not serve in the academy's literary posts.
Translator's note: All three punishment pairs, their stem correspondences, and Liu Yingjie's four pillars are retained. Goat denotes Wei in the verse, not an added Sheep Blade rule.
Three Harmonies Meeting Nobility
A classic says: “If three harmonies encounter Noble Emolument, a lifetime has much wealth and grain.” The example is Yisi, Yichou, Yisi, Xinsi. Yi is the Day Ruler and uses Geng as Nobility. No Geng appears in the Heavenly Stems, yet Si–You–Chou forms the three-harmony Office configuration. Hence Three Harmonies Meeting Nobility, also named the Hidden Office configuration.
Translator's note: The example's actual pillars and the source's stated Si–You–Chou configuration are both retained; a visible You is not inserted into the chart.
Metal and Wood Spaced Apart
A classic says: “Wood meeting Metal spaced apart serves in the Two Administrations. Without Metal, Wood never becomes useful.” Minister Yang Bo's chart is Jisi, Gengwu, Yimao, Gengchen. Yi sits on Mao and flourishes on its own, is born in Wu, and obtains two Geng spaced around it. It becomes useful and therefore attains the highest noble rank.
Translator's note: The historical Two Administrations is an official-rank expression. All four pillars and the two-Geng explanation remain as supplied.
Water and Fire Achieving Mutual Completion
A classic says: “Fire meeting Water achieves mutual completion, with military authority over ten thousand li.” The example is Xinsi, Xinchou, Bingzi, Wuzi. Bing day arrives at Zi, with Direct Office beneath its seat. Month and hour lead it to flourishing, and Wonders and Instruments recur. Bing takes Gui as Office, Gui takes Wu as Office, mutually exchanging and seeing Office. Bing combines with Xin Wealth to generate Office and transforms into true Water. At Wuzi hour, Wu combines with Gui within Zi and transforms into true Fire. This enters the Water and Fire Achieving Mutual Completion configuration, giving great nobility.
Translator's note: Both transformations and the complete chart follow the supplied account without reconciling them with rules elsewhere. Wonders and Instruments is retained as its technical expression.
Metal and Fire Completing One Another
A classic says: “Without Fire's working, Metal can hardly become a useful object.” The example is Yisi, Xinsi, Gengwu, and Xin with the printed Yi graph in its last pillar. Geng sits on Wu and enters Fire territory, the ground of Office Nobility. Birth in the fourth month is favored. Generation is encountered, two Xin stand as equals in the Heavenly Stems, and Si and Wu in the branches are pure Fire. Metal is Born and Fire flourishes; both have energy, hence nobility. Another account says: “Metal's Ghost has no one-sidedness”: Metal needs Fire, and the amounts must match, as with two Fires and two Metals, each occupying Birth or Flourishing, which is especially fine.
Translator's note: The final pillar has the supplied Yi-shaped graph rather than an unannounced correction to Si. The awkward Metal's-Ghost phrase is retained and followed by the source's own explanation of matching Metal and Fire.
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