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Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
On Children
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Examining a child's chart resembles growing flowers and trees. Good cultivation makes roots and shoots vigorous and flowers and fruit abundant; poor cultivation reverses this. Planting needs Earth supporting roots so shoots flourish, Water irrigating the body so flowers thrive, yang Fire warming blossoms so fruit forms, and Metal blades pruning branches so the trunk is firm. Empty Earth and shallow roots, little Water and withered shoots, fierce sun scorching flowers, or wind destroying fruit all lose balanced cultivation: how could the plant not wither? In the Eight Characters, year is root, month shoot, day flower, hour fruit. Thus a child's day stem needs energy, monthly command's generation and assistance, annual planted roots, undamaged Seal, restrained Wealth and Office, transformed Seven Killings, Hurting Office meeting combination, balanced received energy and no punishment, clash, disruption, or harm. This is easily reared and long-lived. Heavy Killing and light Body, much Wealth and weak Body, repeated Hurting or Food, day stem excessively flourishing without support or too soft with little Seal, unbalanced energy, and punitive/clashing damage make difficult rearing and short life in the source's account. Both resemble cultivation. Another account takes the birth-hour period as primary: first examine Barriers and Killings, then configurations. Strong Day Ruler and flourishing Wealth/Office have Barrier without Killing; weak Day Ruler and little Wealth/Office have frequent illness but easy rearing; weak day stem and much Wealth/Office have both, difficult to rear. What is a Barrier? Indirect Office is Barrier, Indirect Wealth Killing. Use the day stem and numbers of generation/completion. A Barrier resembles a dangerous pass that cannot be crossed without an official document; violation brings harm. A child infringing it is disadvantaged. Healthy day stem, pure restraint and undamaged Seal resemble possession of a document, passing smoothly, easily reared and long-lived; otherwise not. Ziping's Barrier uses Killing alone. Jia-day newborns take Geng as Barrier; Wu Earth in the pillars supporting Killing is Heavy Barrier Without Wealth, as printed. Healthy Day Ruler with Seal generating, resolving and transforming makes a light, harmless Barrier. Jia seeing Geng is a nine-year Barrier; Ding seeing Gui six; Wu seeing Jia three; Bing seeing Ren one; Ren seeing Wu five; Gui seeing Ji half a year. An ancient method judges boys' and girls' rank through yin/yang weather at birth. Metal fate born cloudy has official nobility; dark gloom poverty and low status; wind of any strength short life; rain or snow kindness and filial duty. Wood fate cloudy gives great riches; clear weather office and long life; gloom ordinary subsistence and short life; rain/snow honored status and filial duty. Water fate cloudy gives an evil heart and contingent livelihood; bright clarity great nobility; gloom short, poor life; wind eventual assistance from a noble person. Fire fate cloudy gives great riches; clear weather riches but short life; gloom some official share; wind of any strength subsistence; heavy snow short life; slight snow or rain illness around fifty. Earth fate cloudy dies by fifteen; slight rain by thirty despite great riches; gloom wealth, nobility and office but short life; strong wind disobedience and short life; rain/snow outside Wealth; clear weather lasting riches and rank. Birth hour at Chen, Xu, Chou, or Wei, with many Tombs, indicates adoption into another household. Many Wu and Wei form Obstinate Killing; many Xu likewise. Many Zi and Hai give hernia or one-sided prolapse, especially Zi hour, most strongly Renzi and Bingzi; birth hour and Conception both at Chen likewise. Much Fire gives youthful thick-blood calamity. Many Ding and Wu with Wei give large head, boils, scars, scalp sores, or adults' cranial abscesses. Metal/Fire conquest in Four First Months gives sores and fright illness; Metal, Water, and Fire restraining give peeling-skin sores. Much Metal and Water gives late speech, Wood early speech. All phases complete gives an early refined, clever child with previously endowed numinous bones. From birth month through hour, phases successively reaching Birth/Flourishing with little punishment/clash are auspicious, long-lived and useful. The reverse gives early death: even many rescuing blessing spirits leave youth with the expression nine deaths in ten, and adulthood not the greatest longevity. Born and flourishing phases give substantial energy and long life; Dead or Extinct phases thin energy and short life. Confused repeated month/day/hour stems and branches further repeating Grand Duke are Repeated-Origin Star, indicating fosterage or an adopted child. Repeated Food or excessive Indirect Seal at birth indicates no breast milk. Five repetitions of Sheep Blade are a Chart Full of Blade, mostly impossible to rear; punitive harm in the hour assures death. Girls' effect is slower, yet childbirth death is asserted eventually. Official Tally in birth hour gives father's litigation and mother's fright. Repeated Salty Pool combinations prevent upbringing by one's own parents or indicate non-principal maternal birth. Repeated Void gives fright, convulsions, falls, and parental harm. Birth hour in Void and its own Death/Extinction gives wasting illness before seven and mere fatness after seven. Ordinary practitioners assess children's legitimacy by Solitary Star and Widowed Lodge, often indicating another household, unmoving power and energy, and early departure from parents. Gengchen Metal seeing Jisi Fire has Metal energy moving through twelve branches cut off by Fire, hence energy does not turn. Infer others similarly. Someone asks why children born together of one mother differ in rank and prosperity. The answer says one hour-period has eight ke and twelve fen, creating early/late and shallow/deep differences. Children of the same mother and hour must distinguish these and day/hour yin and yang. Yang day/hour favors elder, yin favors younger. Shallow receives the earlier period's energy, deep the later. An old song says: “Twins have a special method; inspect the day to test prosperity and decline. Yin day makes younger strong and elder weak; yang hour elder noble and younger poor.” Another method divides direction within an hour: Wood fate facing east receives generative energy, facing west conquering energy, distinguishing rank and lifespan. The author heard of Sanhe's Wang twins: younger passed first, elder later. Achievements and lifespans were generally similar, but elder ultimately inferior. Yingzhou's Li twins differed by one hour-period; younger gained the higher examination degree, elder only student status. Their Eight Characters were examined and said to fit the preceding account.
Translator's note: The full cultivation analogy, barrier definitions and six age examples, five weather groups, developmental/illness lists, birth and fosterage conditions, twin methods and both family comparisons are retained. Heavy Barrier Without Wealth and the historical ke/fen count are not silently corrected or converted into modern time units. Claims about weather, child development, infant feeding, congenital illness, death, character, and twins are historical assertions, not pediatric guidance or verified predictions.
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