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Sanming Tonghui · A Comprehensive Account of the Three Destinies
Formulas for Reading a Natal Chart
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In judging a destiny, first examine whether the month's branch contains Wealth and Office, then examine the other matters: the monthly command constitutes the destiny. For the month take the branch spirit; for the year, day, and annual influence take the heavenly stem; for major progression take the branch spirit. The year is the root and the day the master. If the month contains Proper Office or Indirect Office, but the hour enters another configuration, take only what is in the month; the other configuration has no use. Examine other configurations only when nothing in the monthly command is usable. An old song says: When three palaces carry configurations, their mixture is hard to explain; one cannot tell which makes distinction. Even if all three palaces carry configurations, one must use the governing outline. The monthly command uses the earthly branch. With Office Star, for example, manifestation through both upper and lower stems and branches is finest. If it emerges in the stem but not in the branch, intelligence and talent are indicated. Avoid the year or hour clashing with the month's branch; a clash involving the day branch itself does no harm. Major progression or the annual ruler clashing with the month's branch brings calamity. A single Proper Office makes a gentleman of distinction, sincere, pure, upright, honest, and clear-minded; Seal in year and hour is especially fine. Several Offices instead indicate success and failure; all four positions filled with Office gives empty official reputation. One Seven Killing gives intelligence and agility; two or three are clear at first and turbid later. Four pillars of pure Killing bring distinction with restraint, poverty without it. One Wealth must obtain its season: wealth, distinction, and the establishment of a household, with an impatient and urgent temperament. With two, the temperament is reduced by half; three or four drain influence and weaken the Body. A very flourishing Body can still establish success; a weak one suffers toil and hardship. Seal is good whether present once, twice, or in all four positions; Wealth breaking Seal is unsuitable within the configuration. During good progression, the day stem injuring the annual ruler's stem brings slight calamity; during bad progression, the same injury brings grave calamity. If prosperity has already occurred, death follows. Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei each retain three parts of residual influence: after Wu progression reaches Wei, three parts of Fire remain; after Zi reaches Chou, three parts of Water remain. They cannot be treated entirely as Earth. The Yang Blade configuration most fears clash and combination in annual influence and progression. The Grand Duke's stem combining with the day or hour stem is Obscuring Influence Killing. Day or hour stems and branches matching the annual stems and branches form Turning Heel Killing: for example, a Gengshen day meeting Gengshen or Gengyin as Grand Duke. Mildly, this brings distant relocation; severely, ruined buildings and lost wealth. Auspicious spirits in year, month, and day need the hour to lead them toward generating and flourishing places; harmful spirits need it to lead them toward restraint. Auspicious or harmful spirits in the hour likewise need year, month, and day to generate the favorable and restrain the harmful. A Useful Spirit in the month receives ancestral assistance; one in the hour receives assistance from descendants. The reverse does not.
In judging destiny, the day stem serves as Heavenly Origin, so the stem is Emolument. The day and month branches serve as Earthly Origin, so the branch is destiny. A Ren or Gui day in a Jiwei month, for example, has Wealth and Office emerging through stems and branches. Consider whether Wealth and Office were originally present or absent. If they originally exist in the branches but do not emerge in the stems, do not pursue them further in this formulation. If absent from the branches and merely emerging in the stems, even good progression accomplishes little. For the annual ruler, use Heavenly Origin alone. Although progression emphasizes the branch, its Heavenly Origin must also be examined. If Office Star or restrained Indirect Office is present in the natal pillars, but restraint is excessive, an Office or Killing stem in progression can bring development. A progression with no Wealth in its branch but Wealth in its stem can bring blessings; one with no Killing in its branch but Killing in its stem can bring calamity. The birth month is the Progression Origin and most fears major progression and the annual ruler clashing with it. The natal Office Star is the Emolument Origin and most fears being broken by clash. A Ding-day person takes Ren as Office; born in a Hai month, Ren in Hai is Ding's Emolument. Si in the year or hour clashes with and ruins that Emolument Origin. The natal Wealth Star is the Horse Origin and most fears robbery. A Geng-day person takes Jia and Yi Wood as Wealth; in Yin and Mao months, Jia within Yin is Indirect Wealth and Yi within Mao Proper Wealth. Xin in year or hour creates rivalry and seizure. Apply the same reasoning to annual influence and progression. The day's Office Star in the year stem gives the deepest blessings; the day's Seven Killing there cannot be removed throughout life. Office Star is Emolument and Wealth Star Horse: Office progression develops office, Wealth progression wealth. Neither is dispensable, and each has its use. Wealth and Office in year and month indicate birth into a wealthy and distinguished household with ancestral foundations. Office-and-Emolument progression in youth often brings an appointment and achievement early. If year and month lack Wealth and Office but day and hour contain them, success is self-established. Wealth and Office are the basis of destiny; even one in the pillars can bring blessings. If no Office Star is originally present and no other configuration applies, numerous Wealth in stems and branches throughout the four pillars, followed by flourishing Wealth progression, can still bring achievement and fame: flourishing Wealth naturally generates Office, provided the Body is strong. With no Wealth or Office in year and month and bad progression in youth, birth is often humble, ancestral property is ruined, the father harmed, and no ready-made blessings are available. Mixed Office and Killing, with heavy Hurting Office and combining spirits, makes men infatuated with wine and sensuality; women meeting it marry without a matchmaker.
In judging destiny, take the day stem exclusively as master and the thing used in the governing outline as the destiny. If the monthly command uses Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, or Earth, take one of these and closely investigate the sequence of seasonal nodes, weight and depth of influence, completed configurations, breaking, and clash. Assess through these six methods: Office, Seal, Wealth, Killing, Food Spirit, and Hurting Office. Meeting Office, examine Wealth; meeting Killing, examine Seal; meeting Seal, examine Office. The four should be unbiased and balanced: generation, restraint, control, and transformation are superior, while breaking, harm, rest, and confinement are inferior. In progression, generating and removing influences can bring blessings, while assisting and stripping influences can bring calamity. Configurations may also be formed by combinations among year, day, and hour branches, but all use the monthly command. If the month uses Metal, use Metal only; if Fire, Fire only. Among the eighteen configurations, the six are the weightiest. Use mutual generation to determine the configuration and its combination, then use year, day, and hour to assess weight and depth. Meeting Office and using Seal, one does not fear Killing: Killing generates Seal, Seal generates the Body, and it is still judged a superior configuration. Meeting Seal, examine Killing. If Office or Killing is present in the destiny, progression through Office or Killing regions is also judged distinguished. If the monthly command accesses Office and Wealth appears in the pillars, flourishing Wealth generates Office and gives wealth and distinction. Wealth in the pillars needs flourishing Wealth progression to develop blessings. But if even one Killing appears, give Killing priority and do not use Wealth. Flourishing Wealth progression then generates and supports Killing and is judged as poverty and low standing. In every configuration, Killing receives priority.
First examine whether stem spirits are restrained, branch spirits punished or clashed with, and the Nayin of stems and branches engaged in conflict or submission. Jia takes Yin as Emolument: what stem stands above Yin? Jia takes Xin as Office: what branch does Xin obtain? If the stem does not invade the branch, Heaven is honored; if the branch does not offend the stem, Earth remains subordinate. If the Five Phases do not injure one another, human affairs proceed smoothly; if the Four Beginnings do not harm one another, Horse can run. If stems invade, branches offend, and the Five Phases injure one another, distinguish whether master and root have influence, use, rescue, and a completed configuration. Stems and branches intertwine, the Five Phases transform, and creation operates within them. Li Chunfeng says: With the Five Phases generating and flourishing, observe the coming and going of blessings; with them at Death and Extinction, look for rescue from auspicious spirits. If the Five Phases obtain their ground and Nayin generate one another, glory comes even without auspicious spirits' aid. If the Five Phases lack influence and Nayin obstruct one another, even auspicious spirits have no use.
Heavenly Origin favors Emolument in Earthly Origin: Jia and the printed Si-shaped stem favor the Four Seasons; Yi and Geng favor Shen and You; Bing and Xin favor Hai and Zi; Ding and Ren favor Yin and Mao; Wu and Gui favor the printed Ji-shaped position and Wu. Earthly Origin favors combination in Heavenly Origin: Zi and Chou favor Wu; Yin favors Ji; Mao and Chen favor Geng; Si favors Xin and Gui; Wu and Wei favor Jia and Ren; Shen favors Yi; You and Xu favor Bing; Hai favors Ding. With both Heavenly and Earthly Origins present, blessings are lofty throughout life; with neither, fame and gain accomplish nothing. If Heavenly Origin is ruined, fame and gain are difficult before thirty-nine. If Earthly Origin is ruined, after forty blessings are poorer than before. Refined Heavenly Origin sitting on Emolument, such as Gui obtaining Zi or Jia obtaining Yin, gives distinction or wealth. Earthly Origin avoids restraint by Heavenly Origin: Zi and Chou fear Ji; Yin Geng; Mao and Chen Xin; Si Jia and Ren; Wu and Wei Yi and Gui; Shen Bing; You and Xu Ding; Hai Wu. Examine the actual favorable and unfavorable conditions further; do not cling rigidly to these assignments.
Take stems, branches, and Nayin of the same category. Renzi and Renwu are True Wood; Jiyou and Jimao True Earth; Bingzi and Bingwu True Water; Wuzi and Wuwu True Fire; Yichou, Yiwei, Gengchen, and Gengxu True Metal. A Yiyou day with a Gengchen hour is Refined Metal; a Dingsi day with a Bingwu hour Refined Fire; a Guihai day with a Renzi hour Refined Water; the printed Si-Chou day with a Wuchen hour Refined Earth; a Jiayin day with a Dingmao hour Refined Wood. All indicate wealth and distinction. A Fire person with a Bing day and Xin hour or Xin day and Bing hour; a Wood person with a Jia day and printed Si-shaped hour or the reverse; an Earth person with a Wu day and Gui hour or the reverse; a Water person with a Ren day and Ding hour or the reverse; a Metal person with a Geng day and Yi hour or the reverse: although these constitute the Five Phases' True Nobility, repetition reduces blessings.
Take reciprocal exchange of the Five Phases' True Influence. A Xinhai Metal person obtaining Dingsi Earth has Ding-Ren combination as True Wood and Bing-Xin combination as True Water coming and going. A Dingsi Earth person obtaining Guihai Water has Wu-Gui combination as True Fire and Ding-Ren combination as True Wood coming and going. Wuxu, Guihai, Dingsi, and Xinhai, with complete reciprocal True Influence, constitute a chief minister's destiny. Wuwu Fire obtaining Renzi Wood contains Ding-Ren True Wood and Wu-Gui True Fire. Bingshen Fire obtaining Yiyou Water contains Bing-Xin True Water and Yi-Geng True Metal. Gengyin obtaining Jimao Earth contains Jia and the printed Si-shaped stem as True Earth, and Yi-Geng as True Metal. Gengyin, the printed Si-Mao, Gengyin, and Jimao, with complete reciprocal exchange, constitute a destiny of the Two Administrations.
First discuss transformed influence. Consult the Five Progressions chapter: Jia, Bing, Wu, Geng, and Ren combining with the five Yin stems is Excess; Yi, Ding, the printed Si-shaped stem, Xin, and Gui combining with the five Yang stems is Deficiency. Between Excess and Deficiency there is room for discretionary assessment. The Book of Transformations of the Heavenly Origin further distinguishes day and night. The six Jia days use Wood when born by day and transform into Earth at night. Thus six-Wu people obtaining Jia take it as Ghost in daytime birth and Office in nighttime birth. Six-Yi people use Metal by day and Wood by night. Thus six people of the printed Si-shaped category seeing it take it as Office by day and Ghost by night. Only the six Ji and six Geng do not change. Accordingly, the five Yang stems retain their original substance by day and are read through transformation by night; the five Yin stems retain their original substance by night and are read through transformation by day. For males of the six Yang destinies offending through Emolument-Ghost or Inverted Food, nighttime birth must be taken to reverse misfortune into good fortune: Ghost is called Office and Inverted Food Auspicious Spirit; daytime birth is nevertheless taken as the normal direction. For males of the six Yin destinies offending through Emolument-Ghost or Inverted Food, take the day master to reverse misfortune into good fortune; the rest is as above, with nighttime birth the normal direction. For women, seek the reverse throughout. These day-and-night indications are the pairing of Yin and Yang, firmness and yielding, substance and function.
For the Five Phases, the lower generating the upper is Assisting Influence: one personally enjoys one's blessings throughout life. The upper generating the lower is Stealing Influence: one supplies others' blessings throughout life. The upper restraining the lower is accord, giving authority over others. The lower restraining the upper is reversal, bringing much stagnation and difficulty developing. Death and Extinction make the effect especially urgent; generating and flourishing influence makes it somewhat slower. If the four pillars' Nayin contain many Ghosts while master and root are in season, this is Office Star Riding Flourishing Influence. If Nayin contain much Wealth while master and root lack influence, this is Much Wealth Harming the Body.
The Five Phases value equal Yin and Yang. Two Metals meeting two Woods, two Fires, two Earths, or two Waters, for example, are favorable when each forms its own image. Excess and deficiency, such as three Waters and one Wood or one Water and three Woods, do not bring blessings. For a Metal person, three Metals and one Wood make Wood the Wealth restrained by Metal: three Metals compete for one Wood, dividing the blessings, often making material affairs unsatisfactory. With one Metal and three Fires, much Fire and little Metal cause excessive torment and lifelong unrest. A Jia person meeting three Ren or three printed Si-shaped stems has Three Swallowings or Three Pairings, indicating misfortune. Meeting two printed Si-shaped stems and two Geng is Repeated Pairing and Repeated Injury, even more unfavorable than three: poverty or early death. Infer the rest by analogy.
In judging destiny, Hurting Office Seeing Office brings early death; Seven Killing meeting Wealth brings untimely death; Wealth meeting complete robbery brings death; heavy Wealth breaking Seal brings misfortune. Abundant Water carries Wood away, ultimately making a ghost abroad. Food Spirit meeting Owl brings death in prison. Heavy Robbery seeing Wealth brings death. Flourishing Killing hangs upon the root in an obscure phrase involving rest; Death Spirit and Seven Killing with clash and punishment bring exile or death in bonds. Repeated Hurting Office and Yang Blade, even with the body intact, bring bloody death. Wealth Star meeting Blade scatters wealth and ends life. Generating and flourishing influence dies in storehouse and Tomb; storehouse and Tomb reach Extinction in generating and flourishing influence. If favorable progression lies late but one travels through harmful progression, how can death and survival be distinguished before reaching it? If harmful progression is coming while favorable progression has not arrived, how can developing blessings be discussed? Investigate advancing and retreating influence and whether prosperity has already occurred. What is coming may advance quickly; when achievement is complete, return may precede it. A life whose annual influences and progressions are all harmful ends young. If in the final decade the destiny star obtains its ground, old age grows ever longer. The old fear generating and flourishing influence; the young dislike Death and Extinction. Yang Blade meeting generation often brings a dreadful death. Rooted, flourishing Killing surely brings a calamitous end. Flourishing spring with much Fire favors the northwest; the storehouse is the time of return. Summer's fiery brilliance with flourishing Metal favors the southeast; Ghost's region is the place of longevity. Four heavy Blade stars die beneath Proper Wealth; one shallow Office distinction ends amid Yang Blade. All four pillars injured bring death of the person. Metal Spirit entering Water brings drowning. Yang Blade reversing its weapon makes a headless ghost; Killing Star piled upon Blade makes a person with half a body. With restraint balanced, Killing reaches completion and influence dies; with excessive generating support, Seal grows still stronger and the person ends. Hurting Office entering the Tomb brings late death. Examine the configuration closely: Yang is born and Yin dies; Yin dies and Yang is born, as the source prints. Killing meeting a Threefold Combination in excess must overturn. Within the Five Phases, assess these matters in detail.
Although excess and deficiency in the Five Phases do not bring blessings, there are subtle differences. Water and Earth do not dislike Death and Extinction: Heaven and Earth are filled with Water and Earth in every season, so how could they truly die or be extinguished? Distinguish weight and quantity. A drop of Water among much Earth dries out; a pinch of Earth blocking much Water disperses. Judge abundance, scarcity, heaviness, and lightness. Metal is not born without Earth; Wood does not grow without Water. Thus Metal and Wood desire generating and flourishing influence and fear Death and Extinction. Dead Metal sinks; dead Wood turns to ash, unlike Water and Earth. Fire hides in Wood and lodges in Earth. It does not desire excessive flourishing, which burns, nor death, which extinguishes. Balance alone is fine. Both Water and Earth are relied upon by the Five Phases; for Wood, Metal, and Fire destinies this is especially essential.
When taking images from the Five Phases, use original images for original images, such as Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding forming Wood and Fire; use transformed images for transformed images, such as Wu-Gui and Ding-Ren also forming Wood and Fire. A Metal-and-Water image must not see Earth: Earth muddies Water, leaving Metal unclear. Earth in annual influence or progression likewise brings stagnation. Only unmixed Metal and Water born in an autumn month gives the highest distinction. The Ming emperor Shenzong's Guihai, Xinyou, Guihai, Xinyou has unmixed Metal and Water in stems and branches: Water born in a Metal month is aided by Metal and becomes clear. Two Waters and two Metals form the image called White Metal and Clear Water. Nothing else is mixed in, and it also accords with Two Stems Unmixed, hence imperial dignity. In Guiyou, Guihai, Gengzi, Xinsi, Metal is born in a Water month, instead leaking influence and sinking amid Hai and Zi, so Water peril cannot be avoided. A Metal-and-Earth image must not see Wood: Wood restrains Earth, preventing Earth from generating Metal and destroying the image. Earth accumulates to produce Metal. Much Earth and little Metal gives substantial blessings; heavy Metal and light Earth brings blessings through hardship. A Metal-and-Fire image must not see Water: Fire is extinguished and Metal sinks, unable to become a useful vessel. Heavy Metal and light Fire gives late development and added longevity; light Metal and heavy Fire gives early development, rapid retreat, or shortened life. A Metal-and-Wood image should not see Fire. Living Wood fears Metal and becomes refined on seeing Fire; dead Wood obtaining Metal achieves transformation. Heavy Metal and light Wood brings bone pain; heavy Wood and light Metal causes loss of money or attacks of lung illness. Only a suitable balance of Metal and Wood is favorable. A Water-and-Wood image is refined, clear, and lofty; it must not see Mao and Si, because Water is at Death and Extinction. A Wood-and-Fire image is refined and abundant; it must not see Metal, because Wood is restrained. Annual influence meeting these also brings disaster. A Water-and-Fire image is finest when Already Across, though Not Yet Across is also acceptable. It must not see Earth. Much Fire gives an impatient temperament; much Water eye illness. Fire fears Death, Water Bathing. Entering You, where Fire dies and Water bathes, indicates hardship and death; annual influence and progression follow the same rule, and this image is avoided in day and hour. A Water-and-Earth image must not see Fire. Heavy Earth and light Water is refined but unfruitful; heavy Water and light Earth instead brings examination fame. A Fire-and-Earth image must not see Water. Hollow Fire and accumulated Earth cannot form a thing; flowing with Water indicates submergence. Wuzi, Wuwu, Jichou, Jiwei, Dingsi, Dinghai, Bingchen, and Bingxu, with Bing and Ding interposed with Wu and Ji, are hollow Fire and accumulated Earth. Li Jiuwan regards Wuzi, Jichou, Wuwu, Jiwei, Bingchen, Dingsi, Bingxu, and Dinghai as mixed Fire-and-Earth images, not distinguished simply as a String of Pearls. Ren or Gui in the hour brings stagnant Water and Earth and extinguished Fire, with lifelong obstruction and scant means. Another statement says: Fire seeing Earth is obscured; Earth seeing Fire is hollow. Light Earth and heavy Fire is dry, as a Jimao day with a Bingyin hour. Light Fire and heavy Earth lacks brightness, as a Dingyou day with a Wushen hour. Academician Han's Wuxu, Dingsi, Wuxu, Dingsi forms a Fire-and-Earth image and also the Phoenix Stems-and-Branches configuration, hence distinction. A classic says: Metal and Water are often clear, Metal and Earth often substantial, through mutual generation. Metal and Fire are often firm, Metal and Wood often upright, through mutual restraint. Fire and Earth are often poisonous; Fire and Wood intelligent; Fire and Water obscure; Fire and Metal fierce. Wood and Fire give literary brilliance; Wood and Water clear originality; Wood and Metal rectitude; Wood and Earth harmfulness. Water and Fire give wisdom; Water and Wood wisdom and benevolence; Water and Metal refinement and beauty; Water and Earth heaviness and turbidity. Infer each from the nature of its Five Phases.
Destinies fear mutual breaking within the same category: Jiwei seeing Jiachen, Jiachen seeing Jichou, Jichou seeing Jiaxu, Jiaxu seeing Jiwei. At the four clash positions, with Nayin of the same category, count backward two positions at a time. Apply this also to Yin, Shen, the printed Ji-shaped position, Hai, Zi, Wu, Mao, and You. It indicates lifelong insufficiency and often failure to become useful. The Daoist Classic says: Well Railing Mutual Breaking has no medicine to cure it; meeting void offers some hope. Annual influence and progression also avoid it.
When master and root meet annual influence or progression, they must not encounter their places of Death: Bingyin Fire fears Yimao Water; Xinsi Metal fears Dingyou Fire; Jiashen Water fears Jimao Earth; Wushen Earth fears Renwu Wood; Jihai Wood fears Jiazi Metal. This is like a living person's fear of death. If master and root follow the same path of life and death, it is not avoided.
Destinies most fear Ghost restraint, and Nest Ghost is most poisonous. Bingzi Water seeing Gengzi Earth and Dingchou Water seeing Xinchou Earth, for example, are restrained in their very nesting position, hence the severity. Tomb Ghost includes Renchen Water seeing Bingchen Earth and Bingchen Earth seeing Wuchen Wood. Next-Door Ghost includes Gengzi Earth seeing Guichou Wood. Void Ghost includes Jiaxu seeing Jiashen or Yiyou. All indicate harm. Tomb Ghost is milder than Nest Ghost, Next-Door Ghost milder than Tomb Ghost, and Void Ghost milder than Next-Door Ghost. A Wood-destiny person obtaining a Fire month and Metal day and hour, for example, has Fire restraining Metal so that Metal cannot injure Wood: this is Defending Against Ghost, and Ghost does no harm. A Water destiny with Fire and Earth in the four pillars has Earth restraining Water and Fire further generating Earth: this is Assisting Ghost, making Ghost especially harmful. The rule applies to stems and branches, but is most urgent in Nayin. Defending Against Ghost establishes a person amid hardship; Assisting Ghost often brings rupture and conflict among blood relatives. Ghost within Ghost is called Ghost Howling. For an Earth-destiny person born in a Wood month with Metal day and hour, Wood restrains Earth and Metal restrains Wood. Weak foundations make it harmful; strong master and root do not fear it. One destiny, Jiwei, Yihai, Bingyin, Xinmao, meets a generating Threefold Combination. Further Yin and Mao put the printed Si-shaped element in Office's region, and Bing combines with Xin: great distinction. Yet Ji Yin Earth meets Yi Wood as Ghost, then Xin as Yi Wood's Ghost; the Office at Yin and Mao is transformed into a Ghost of Ji Earth. Throughout Hai-Mao-Wei's Threefold Combination positions, Ghost restraint operates: Ghost Howling is offended, indicating a dreadful death. A classic says: The Five Phases particularly avoid the lower injuring the upper; throughout life insufficiency and entanglements persist. Another says: Ghost Howling clearly makes a harmful configuration; added punishment and Killing unfailingly bring calamity. Even after former wealth and distinction, one will surely come to loathe later years.
In judging destiny, take Womb, Birth, Flourishing, and Storehouse as the Four Noble Places; Death, Extinction, Illness, and Decline as the Four Avoided Places; the remainder as the Four Ordinary Places. Use the Grand Duke's stem as master, pair it with the Five Phases, and distinguish high and low standing through the Four Noble, Four Ordinary, and Four Avoided positions. Many noble positions give distinction; many lowly positions low standing. Within the Four Noble Places, Flourishing and Storehouse are superior, Womb secondary, in the source's compressed classification. If a person's Womb, month, day, and hour meet three Noble Places and all their stems have assistance, or Proper Emolument, Proper Office, and Proper Seal, it is a destiny of the Three Dukes. Carrying Proper Heavenly Yi, such as a Chou- or Wei-born person obtaining Jia, Wu, or Geng in month, day, and hour, or carrying one's own Emolument, such as a Yin-born person carrying Jia there, is called Blessings Assembled. Two layers of Heavenly Yi Noble Combination also give a Three Dukes destiny. Three Noble Places carrying upper-and-lower combination, or one Office and one Seal with one Proper Heavenly Yi, or one position of one's own Emolument with two or three Nobleman combinations, gives a chief minister's destiny. The same applies if day and hour meet two Noble Places with those features. If one position meets Disaster Killing, Earth Killing, Death Spirit, Robbing Killing, Yang Blade, and the like, it additionally indicates distinguished military command, war administration, and the ceremonial axe of authority. If Womb month, birth month, day, and hour meet one noble position at Womb or Storehouse, carrying Proper Heavenly Yi, upper-and-lower combination, Heavenly Yi Noble Combination, one's own Emolument, Proper Office, or Proper Seal; or if one's own Emolument has influence; or if Nobleman also carries the foregoing Emolument stems, it likewise gives a chief minister's or Nine Ministers' destiny. An avoided spirit in the month with a Noble Place in the day, or an avoided spirit in the day with a Noble Place in the hour, does not prevent pure, eminent attendant service. Noble Places in both day and month but an avoided spirit in the hour give an ordinary-track selected official. The Four Avoided Places indicate poverty and low standing, with Death, Decline, and Extinction heavier and Illness lighter. Each of the Five Phases has three positions: Yin, Wu, and Xu for Fire, for example, bring distinction to Bing and Ding people. They correspond to three of the Four Noble Places, lacking only noble Womb, but give the same blessing of distinction. Yang Emolument is noble at Assuming Office, Yin Emolument at Imperial Flourishing. If Yang Emolument meets Flourishing and Yin Emolument meets Office, although in their own positions, blessings are halved. Flourishing without Emolument, such as Bingyin obtaining Wuwu in day or hour, further restraining the natal destiny and carrying punishment and Killing, indicates dissipation, stupidity, and low standing. Even one or two Noble Places bring no Emolument if harmful Killing, punishment, harm, and breaking damage them deeply. Shen Zhi says: The Five Phases take Birth and Flourishing as sovereign, Assuming Office as minister. If Nayin is Wood, Yin and Mao in month, day, or hour are judged noble; for Metal, Shen and You; Water, Hai and Zi; Fire, the printed Ji-shaped position and Wu; Earth, Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei.
Distinguish the Five Phases' Birth, Flourishing, Death, and Extinction. Jiashen, Bingyin, Jihai, Xinsi, and Wushen each have their own Long Life, independently of the four seasons, spontaneously obtaining self-generation. A person endowed with it is quick, capable, and perceptive. A distinguished person advances gradually; a wealthy person returns to flourishing and obtains the proper means of generation. Bingzi, Wuwu, Xinmao, Guiyou, and Gengzi have their own Flourishing, able to attain it without waiting for the seasons: their rising power of blessing is incomparable. Guiwei, Renchen, Bingchen, Jiaxu, and Yichou have their own Tomb, the time of returning to roots and restoring the mandate. Wherever a storehouse stands, it wants things to gather and fill it. Renchen Water wants many Waters returning together to become flourishing, with Metal coming and going to generate it: great authority should result. But Water restraining Fire, Fire restraining Metal, and Heavenly Void arriving make Carrying Seal Without Rising, indicating poverty and low standing. Yimao, Dingyou, Renwu, Jiazi, and Jimao are the Five Phases' own Death. Life labors and death rests: this is natural. Without a place of Death, things have nowhere to return. Own Death obtains the principle of a true return. Those meeting it are outstanding, perceptive, and wise but have few blessings; their substance is quietness, unsuitable for active undertakings, and their work plainness, unsuitable for launching ventures. They should study the Way and seek immortals, transcending the gate of life and death. Guisi, Yihai, Gengshen, Renyin, and Dingsi are the Five Phases' own Extinction. Heaven's Way cannot truly be extinguished: stems and branches happen to meet Extinction and then generate again. Meeting it leaves joy and sorrow unsettled. Guisi extinguished Water obtaining support from Guiyou flourishing Metal is Extinguished Water Meeting Generation, especially auspicious. Do not judge a destiny's Death, Extinction, Birth, Flourishing, Storehouse, and Tomb merely by what it carries: examine the monthly command to distinguish clarity and turbidity. Clarity means restraint: diseased Water meeting Earth becomes muddy, yet without an Earth embankment it cannot be stopped; once stopped, it gradually clears. Turbidity means no restraint: abundant Water without Earth floods without returning. Water at its extreme generates Wood; extremity produces change, and change opens a way. The Five Phases prize transformation rather than constancy, concealment rather than display. Death and Extinction with rescue are Returning Soul, often judged distinguished; Birth and Flourishing with restraint are Dispersing Influence, instead indicating slight blessings. In mutual generation, following the direction benefits the root and reversing it steals influence. In mutual restraint, following the direction strengthens force and reversing it causes injury. A classic says: The small bullying the great brings its own harm; the weak overcoming the strong gathers its own calamity. One Water restraining three Fires is the weak overcoming the strong. Yin overcoming Yang brings calamity that is not conspicuous; Yang overcoming Yin brings harm that is not deep. Two Yang forces obstructing one another quickly bring calamity; two Yin forces opposing one another cannot remain at peace. Yisi Fire restraining Renshen Metal is Yin overcoming Yang; Renshen Metal restraining Jisi Wood is Yang overcoming Yin. Yin and Yang have an affinity, so no great harm follows. But Dingmao seeing Guiyou is two Yin forces opposed; Wuwu seeing Jiazi two Yang forces resisting. Yang is firm and Yin yielding, and they persist until victory, hence calamity. Taiyi says: In the mechanisms of Heaven and Earth's Yin-Yang transformation, Yin always calls Yang and Yang calls Yin; Heaven and Earth then unite correctly and the Five Phases' influences blend. Yang following Yang and Yin following Yin makes Yin and Yang emerge one-sidedly and movement and stillness lose order: thus calamity and blessing take separate paths. One-sided Yin and Yang generally cannot complete creation. Much Fire and little Metal cannot form a shape through gathering or dispersal; little Fire and much Metal cannot melt it and instead risks extinguished smoke. Infer the rest by analogy.
First discuss the Five Phases' substantial form and configuration, then consult favorable and unfavorable conditions, likes and dislikes, flourishing and assisting, resting and confined states. A Metal person obtaining Geng or Xin, or Shen or You, obtains substantial form; the Si-You-Chou Threefold Combination gives configuration. Fire's restraint and Earth's support are favored; cold Metal and chilly Water avoided. Birth in autumn's three months or the Four Seasons is flourishing and assisting; spring and summer resting and confined. Infer Wood, Fire, Water, and Earth similarly. A Metal person meeting Gengshen or Xinyou has Five Separations Killing. If born in autumn and meeting Water, Metal's poison transforms into White Metal and Clear Water; meeting Fire restrains Metal's hardness and forges a sharp instrument. Without Fire or Water in the pillars it is Stubborn Metal, indicating early wine and sensual indulgence, wasting disease or dysentery, and death. A Wuyin day or hour finds generation amid hardness and indicates wealth and longevity. A Wood person obtains cultivation for roots through Earth, flourishing branches and leaves through Water, and useful material through Metal's cutting. Wood meeting Yin and Mao in spring birth is most favorable. A complete Threefold Wood configuration does not require spring birth and often indicates benevolence and longevity. Wood restrained by Metal, with Metal forged and subdued by Fire, has firmness and yielding controlling one another. Excess Fire burns; excess Metal damages; hollow Earth cannot cultivate; flooding Water cannot moisten. The finest point is their balance. A Water person takes Hai and Zi as source and Yin, Mao, Chen, and Si as receiving places. A thousand sources come from the north and myriad winding streams face east; thus an eastern setting is favored, calming waves. Water relies on Earth to contain it. Birth at Hai or Zi favors much Earth. Already in the east, Earth is also favorable, but not in excess. Nobleman, Wealth, and Emolument further bring distinction. A day or hour of Gengshen or Xinyou sends Water west, which is avoided and may shorten life. Autumn or winter birth gives clear generating and flourishing influence. Ren or Gui then meeting Hai or Zi indicates literary learning. If Nayin is also Water, Water is excessive; with no Earth embankment in the pillars, few sons are predicted. Skilled arts or religious life alone is favorable. Further repeated Separated Corners surely indicates punishment and harm to kin. In spring Water dries and dwindles; in summer it is turbid and floods. Without Water assistance in the pillars, there is no distinction. Fire dwelling at Yin and Mao in spring birth gives refined Wood and bright Fire, glory, wealth, and distinction. Summer birth is excessively hot; without Water in the pillars, early death is certain; with Water, early distinction. Autumn birth has Fire dying and Metal completing, hiding brightness and illuminating inwardly. A little flourishing influence in day and hour is favorable: Water and Fire do not dislike Death and Extinction, but favor calm moderation for blessings. Winter birth with additional Fire in the pillars silently melts frost and snow and warms mountains and rivers. As the ancients said, winter's sun is lovable and summer's fearful: this is the meaning. Earth meeting all Four Seasons gives the highest distinction. Entirely Earth Nayin, with Yin in the pillars as Gen Mountain, is also distinguished. Earth bears thickly, supporting the birth of all things. Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire cannot lack it; all four depend upon it. Too much in the Five Phases is excess, too little deficiency. Surplus and shortage in their influence and number can all cause misfortune; suppression and promotion must restore the mean for blessings. Completed achievement should withdraw and conceal itself; what is coming values flourishing advancement. The Five Phases endowed with flourishing influence have completed achievement; flourishing yet able to stop is withdrawal and concealment. At Cap and Belt, Womb, and Nurture, their influence is deficient and not yet full: this is what is coming. They want child and mother generating one another to increase influence, enabling glorious advancement and development. Wood out of season is obstinate when declining and withered when dead. Excessively flourishing Metal makes actions often harmful. Blazing things value being extinguished, lest they burn themselves; surging things value stopping, lest they drown themselves. Fire moves through the southern domain and transforms into heat; excessive intensity burns and harms things. At You and Hai, Yin can gather it in, after which it warms all things. Water moves through the northern domain and transforms into cold; excessive severity chills and kills things. At Mao and Si, Yang can open it out, after which it nourishes all things. There is Birth without real generation and Flourishing without real flourishing: these are harmful despite an auspicious beginning. There is Death without real dying and Extinction without real extinction: these are favorable despite a harmful beginning. Water seeing Wushen Earth has Birth without generation; seeing Gengzi Earth has Flourishing without flourishing. Such encounters often turn success into failure and joy into sorrow. Water seeing Guimao Metal has Death without dying; seeing Xinsi Metal has Extinction without extinction. When the Five Phases' influence is exhausted but parental virtue generates and benefits it, influence revives: danger contains blessings, poverty finds passage, and what is bent extends. Excess Birth and Flourishing hides calamity within blessings; excess Death and Extinction leaves blessings no support. Death and Extinction meeting generation allows escape from disaster and upheaval: Fire and Earth come first, Metal and Water afterward. Fire at Extinction obtaining Earth is called Insightful. The note says: Fire takes Earth as child; Fire's Extinction at Hai seeing Dinghai is an example. Earth at Extinction obtaining Metal dies without perishing and is Returning Soul. The note says: Earth at Extinction in Si obtaining Dingsi Earth is an example. Metal at Extinction obtaining Water is Continuing the Substance. The note says: Metal at Extinction in Yin obtaining Renyin Metal is an example. Water at Extinction obtaining Wood has its soul return and roam Heaven. The note says: Water at Extinction in Si obtaining Jisi Wood is an example. Wood at Extinction obtaining Fire makes Fire emerge from Wood, leaving embers, flying ash, and vanished smoke; this alone is harmful. Snake and Horse having no gallbladder supplies evidence here. The note says: Wood at Extinction in Shen obtaining Bingshen Fire is an example. Snake and Horse occupy the printed Ji-shaped position and Wu; Wood passes through Si and Wu and dies. Wood corresponds to the liver among the solid organs and gallbladder among the hollow organs, establishing Wood's Death as harmful. A classic says: A Body of Earth meeting Fire is generated and gradually benefits; a Water destiny obtaining Metal years gains longevity. Abundant Metal needs Fire, or working the pliant-and-changing Metal establishes fame. Heavy Wood obtaining Metal is bent and straightened for use. Unceasing Water needs Earth to contain it; excessive, unsupported Fire needs Water to bring completion. With the Five Phases used suitably, even mutual restraint brings blessings. Used unsuitably, even mutual generation brings disaster.
Excess in the Five Phases produces mutual opposition. Much Emolument brings poverty, much Horse illness, much Seal solitude, many Storehouses closure, much Birth and Flourishing no resting place, and much Death and Extinction no stirring impulse. The Five Phases must not be excessively at ease with one another or excessively pure. Many Horses bring promotion to a distinguished person and restless travel to an ordinary person. Breaking must injure the source of calamity; void must empty it completely. What is loved must not be destroyed; what is feared must not flourish. Fear first and love afterward bring blessings; love first and fear afterward bring calamity. Many combinations prevent development and encourage flattery; many Academies accomplish nothing; many Noblemen make a person submissive and weak, without firm ambition. Excessively manifest Emolument and Horse cannot be judged as a distinguished person; Nobleman sufficient within and without cannot be judged as an ordinary person. All four pillars Yang gives a harsh mouth and kind heart; all four Yin gives cruelty, perversity, and deeply concealed venom. Arching should arch Horse, Emolument, Nobleman, and Blessed Spirits, not punishment, calamity, the year, or the hour. Yin and Yang value even harmony; illness and injury need restraint.
For Bing, Xin, Ren, or Gui, meeting Wuxu puts Wu Earth across the road, with Blade causing injury, fracture, and frustration. Renzi with Bingwu, or Bingwu with Renzi, gives the vital essence of Water and Wood and pure Yin and Yang. Even without help elsewhere, it is no ordinary vessel. Add the season's refined influence, and the person is unmatched in the age: generous virtue embraces all, making a true man. Mao and You are where the sun rises and sets; Zi and Wu the palaces where Yin and Yang first divide. Meeting them makes coming and going unsettled, also in annual influence and progression. The printed Ji-shaped position and Hai are the two poles, where Earth and Heaven turn; Yin and Shen are the regions of the Three Stops, with postal relays coming and going. People meeting them often do not hold to one course. Chou and Wei are slow; Chen and Xu rapid. They make a person rigidly attached to one direction and unable to adapt, though Chen and Xu with influence can establish great undertakings. A Bingzi person with Renyin in the pillars has Ren entering Bing's household and breaking it: unfavorable. Gengzi seeing Gengwu is Five Ghosts at the Door. Wuyin seeing Jiayin has Jia restraining Wu, while Wuyin follows its momentum to restrain Jiayin: stems, branches, and Nayin are discordant above and below; only another Blessed Spirit can provide blessings. Guiyou seeing Wuyin has Wu Earth restraining Gui Water, Metal influence approaching Extinction, and Robbing Killing and Original Influence in between. Only refined influence in the monthly command makes it usable, and even then it is unfavorable in the long run. Gengwu and Dingyou mutually flourish and break: breaking amid flourishing cannot be taken entirely as blessing. Jiwei and Xinyou obtain Food but return to Death, unfavorable ultimately. Yichou, Yiwei, Gengchen, and Gengxu seeing Wuyin are excellent; progression likewise. A classic says: Obtaining Geng Metal to aid Wuyin makes impending Extinction not truly extinguished, forming a power of blessing. Yimao seeing Wuyin, or Wuyin seeing Yimao, gives an excellent destiny. The Danyang Book says: Amid Three Wonders there can still be empty reputation; amid Death and Extinction, Birth and Flourishing still remain. Threefold Combination and Three Wonders out of accord with the month do not bring distinction. Jia, Wu, and Geng need a Zi or Wu hour for distinction; Yi, Bing, and Ding a Yin or Mao hour. The Book of Transformations of the Heavenly Origin says: Yi, Bing, and Ding especially favor You and Hai. Examine further whether their Nayin interact. Another statement says: Three Wonders and Threefold Combination carrying the monthly command's refined influence enter a distinguished configuration, yet do not avoid birth to a secondary wife, adoption into another household, or marriage as a resident son-in-law. Another says: If Threefold Combination and Three Wonders appear without the natal year carrying them, with birth at one of the Four Beginnings and Four Middles or Four Seasons in month, day, and hour, apply the same to births at Four Middles or Four Seasons. Also, exchanged stem combinations or Sixfold Combinations among Womb, month, and day, not carried by the natal year, are all called Shaking Off the Grand Duke. They often indicate leaving the ancestral home, standing alone, little effectiveness, and little rescue; sworn association and adopted ties are suitable foundations. Distinguished destinies often advance through reliance on others. Anyone with Three Wonders and Threefold Combination in the four pillars who is not himself adopted or born to a secondary wife will later have descendants adopted, born to secondary wives, or following their mothers. An old poem says: Threefold Combination and Three Wonders bring clarity, refinement, and abundance; if not an adopted son, then a child following his mother. Five branches ahead of the natal destiny designate the residence. If it has influence and auspicious spirits arrive, there is a fine house, lofty family standing, and illustrious descendants. A Jiashen person's residence is at Chou; birth in the twelfth month brings Heavenly Yi to the house and is favorable. Without influence and with harmful spirits arriving, the residence is depleted, damaged, and incomplete, and ancestral property cannot be kept. A Gengwu person's residence is at Hai; Hai lies in void in the Jiazi ten-day cycle, and Robbing Killing arrives: unfavorable. Infer the rest similarly. One branch behind the natal destiny is Breaking Residence Killing. Being within it indicates no paternal or ancestral property, or death as a guest in another land. Compare the residence Nayin and natal Nayin: mutual generation is favorable. The residence restraining the person brings a good house; the person restraining the residence must bring ruin and dispersal. A Jiazi Metal person takes Jisi Wood as residence. Born in the second month, although the residence flourishes and a good house should result, the person restrains it and later decline follows. Wuwu Fire takes Guihai Water as residence. Birth in the ninth month gives the residence Cap and Belt, in the tenth Establishing Emolument, in the eleventh Flourishing. With the residence generating or restraining the person, a good house must result. If the residence restrains someone born amid flourishing influence, Office makes it favorable, absence of Office unfavorable. Though Emolument and destiny have resting and flourishing states, further examine the residence to distinguish good and ill. Shen Zhi says: The residence fears breaking. A Jiazi person's residence is Jisi; meeting Hai breaks it. If the Destiny Origin is somewhat thin, the Grand Duke clashing with the year also requires destruction. This judgment applies when the person is the senior household head. A Bingzi person's residence is Xinsi Metal, meeting a Yihai annual influence, for example. Even with a good destiny, alterations or building work fulfill the indication.
Five branches behind the natal destiny designate fields and gardens. In a place with influence, with Blessed Spirits arriving, fields fill the countryside and storehouses are full. A Jiazi person's fields and gardens are at Wei; birth in the sixth month gives flourishing Earth influence, and Heavenly Yi Nobleman makes it favorable. In a place without influence, with harmful spirits arriving, the fields are poor and storehouses empty. A Wuzi person's fields and gardens are at Guiwei; born in the sixth month, Wei lies in void in the Jiashen ten-day cycle. Infer the rest from this example.
The Surviving Writings of Guigu say: Let Horse have no harm, glossed as punishment and breaking; Emolument no Ghost, glossed as Ghost restraint; Food no disappearance, glossed as void; branch combination no Origin, glossed as Original Influence; stem combination no distress, glossed as Six Distresses; Flourishing no mourning, glossed as Mourning Gate; Decline no condolence, glossed as Mourning Guest; wife no Blade, glossed as Yang Blade; Wealth no Flying, glossed as Flying Lian; Beginnings no Solitude, glossed as Solitary Star; Seasons no Widowhood, glossed as Widow Lodge. A heavy substance needs Ghost; heavy Emolument needs Office. Husband should be few, wife multiplied. Auspicious influences should be manifest; harmful ones sunken and obscure. Excessively harmonious stems and branches become blocked; husband and wife out of season bring misfortune. In the four pillars, master and root, Emolument and Horse coming and going require distinction between Establishing and Breaking. With Heavenly Yi's support and General Virtue's clash, further distinguish superior and subordinate. Roots without shoots and fruit mean poverty, yet food may still be pleasant. Original influence extinguished amid abundant flowers means that even if offspring succeed, the taste is poor. When Noble Spirits occupy their positions, harmful Killings lie concealed, and the Three Origins flourish, why rely exclusively on spirits and Killings? Using Killing in destiny must be based on the Five Phases. If the Five Phases obtain their ground, distinction occurs without Noble Killing, and harmful Killings do no damage. If they do not obtain their ground, even auspicious Killings bring only brief development, like flowers in winter.
Nayin is the dance and numerical pattern of Heaven and Earth. Post Horse and Academy dwell at Long Life; talent and office in flourishing and assisting regions; writing, wealth, and distinction at Seal and Storehouse. Decline and failure reduce the result by one third; further Death and Extinction remove half. Particularly avoid void and clashing restraint; punishment, harm, and Swallowing Food are unsuitable. Thus a shared origin completing itself, with a note ranking sequential numbers above mixed numbers, gives the full dance of Heaven and Earth and strong foundations. The same category injuring itself, such as Dingwei punishing Dingchou, disperses branch spirit influence and leaves no principle of reunion. Guan Lu says: The Five Phases flourishing reciprocally retain complete influence despite clash; the Five Phases restraining one another disperse influence despite combination. This is the meaning. Someone asks: Why do some people enjoy achievement, fame, wealth, and distinction from beginning to end; some suddenly rise and rapidly prosper; some remain stripped of advantages except for exertion in the middle; and some endure half a lifetime of obstruction before late accomplishment? The reply is: All are destiny. Lifelong wealth and distinction arise when the Body Master in the pillars flourishes exclusively, while the auspicious spirits used, whether Office, Seal, Wealth, or Food, each carry Emolument, obtain the command, and are impartial, without punishment, clash, restraint, or harm. On entering progression, every step is auspicious. Thus the person becomes accomplished, shines, continues ancestral foundations, establishes contemporary achievement and fame, attracts neither slander nor injury, and preserves beginning and end. This is because destiny and progression generate and flourish, and substance and function both obtain their proper places. Sudden rise occurs when the Noble Spirits used in the pillars all obtain position, ride flourishing influence, and fit the configuration, yet the day master lacks strength to bear their blessings. Hence toil, distress, and obstruction persist until good progression generates and supports the day stem, strengthening it. The original destiny's Useful Spirit can then serve the self; riding it, one is like a roaring tiger raising wind and greatly develops wealth and distinction. Partial influence meets harmony, decline meets flourishing, and auspicious development makes before and after vastly different. There is also a strong day master with pure, unmixed Killing among the Five Phases, but no original restraint at the root: wealth and distinction cannot form. Only progression bringing restraint makes Killing an instrument of authority, with conspicuous achievement and fame surpassing others. Strong controlling influence brings extraordinary blessings. Such sudden rise from poverty and low standing to the highest rank depends wholly on progression obtaining its ground. Without its arrival, the person remains ordinary. Those who flourish at the beginning and end but are stripped of advantages in between have a vigorous day master and flourishing Useful Spirit, equally matched, and are worthy children of a wealthy, distinguished household. On growing up, they need favorable luminaries. But major progression may see and seize natal Wealth, meet and injure Office, approach and ruin Seal, or encounter Food and subject it to Owl. The calamities of such progression are beyond telling, so decline comes in the prime of life without development. When harmful progression passes and good progression again supports the Useful Spirit, it is renewed like withered seedlings receiving rain or a light feather meeting wind: growth and rising become irresistible. Half a lifetime of obstruction followed by late accomplishment comes when the four pillars have a strong Body and Yang Blade and Companions competing to flourish, while Wealth, Office, Killing, and the like are floating, slight, and too weak for achievement and fame. Initial progressions also offer no place for blessings, bringing hunger, cold, toil, and deprivation until late life suddenly meets good progression. This replenishes Wealth, Office, and Killing, borrowing Killing as authority to restrain Yang Blade. Either powerful patrons bring conspicuous standing or capital brings prosperity and blessings. Distinguish according to the Five Phases' clarity and turbidity and the progression encountered. Alas, poverty and passage have their destiny; wealth and distinction rest with Heaven. Confucius said this: how could human intelligence and strength alter it?
Someone asks about flourishing, decline, life, and death. The reply is: If Killing is used in a destiny but not yet restrained, the person lives in poverty or becomes an outstanding retainer in a great household. Progression bringing restraint is required to rise through borrowed Killing. One must never leave that restraint progression for Wealth's region: Wealth supports Killing. If annual influence further strengthens Wealth and Killing, their combined force brings calamity to the isolated, vulnerable Body Master. Mildly, it ruins the household or brings penal exile; severely, penal punishment destroys the person. Killing spirits combining make a fearful destructive death. Judge Yang Blade similarly. There is also Proper Influence Office Star in the pillars' monthly command, serving lifelong wealth and distinction. Wealth and Seal alone benefit it: Office likes flourishing Wealth to generate it and flourishing Seal to protect it. Thus the person practices benevolence, spreads virtue, orders the state, and manages the realm, with great authority and high rank. Later, if Killing obtains its position and annual Killing arrives with it, Office transforms into Ghost and death is certain. Even without Killing progression, Hurting Office progression without Seal to restrain it lets Hurting Office obtain its ground and injure distinguished Emolument, bringing loss of wife, harm to children, dismissal, and calamity. Annual influence further supporting it must bring a terrible death. Even one of clear judgment who knows when to advance, withdraw, survive, or perish and preserves himself will end with a grave illness if spared an unnatural disaster. Another destiny's exclusive Useful Spirit has no Office or Killing influence, only flourishing Proper and Indirect Wealth. Wealth Spirit holds the road, quietly developing accumulated riches, though with little distinction. Examine progression: a flourishing Office-and-Emolument region gives both wealth and distinction. But if misfortune takes Wealth Spirit out of its configuration and Yang Blade is met, with annual influence further clashing with or combining with Yang Blade, Wealth Spirit is completely injured. The original destiny declines to Extinction; Yang Blade causes calamity, and ruin and death are certain. Judge life and death through configurations. Seal seeing Wealth, followed by Wealth progression together with Death and Extinction, must enter the Yellow Springs; Companions in the pillars offer some hope of resolution. Proper Office seeing Killing and Hurting Office, with punishment, clash, breaking, and harm, dies when annual influence and progression coincide. Proper or Indirect Wealth seeing Companions divide and seize it, with Yang Blade and Robbing Wealth and annual influence and progression clashing or combining, must die. A Hurting Office configuration with flourishing Wealth and a weak Body, repeated mixed Office and Killing, clash with Blade, and the same again in annual influence and progression, must die; restraint instead brings injury and disability. Arching Emolument or Arching Nobleman filled in, further seeing Office, Killing, Robbery, Death, or clash with Blade, dies when annual influence and progression repeat them. Day Emolument Returns to the Hour with punishment, clash, breaking, and harm, seeing Seven Killing, Office Star, void, or clash with Blade, must die. Killing and Office are gravely avoided: annual influence and progression joining them must bring death. Other configurations likewise avoid Killing and filling their positions; simultaneous arrival in annual influence and progression must bring death. Gathering harmful spirits and Killings, Hook and Entanglement, Original Influence, Death Spirit, Robbing Killing, Mourning Guest, and the Tomb, Illness, and Death palaces leaves nine deaths for one survival. Excess Wealth and Office with a weak Body, or an original Seven Killing with a light Body, is illustrated by Bing or Ding day stems with Geng and Xin in year, month, and hour, followed by You progression or a Geng or Xin year: death is certain. Jia or Yi day stems with mixed Geng and Xin in month and hour, seeing Geng or Xin in year and progression, must die. Rescue makes it favorable; without rescue, misfortune is certain. Among Five-Phase spirits and Killings, much Metal gives early death; abundant Water drifting; flourishing Wood early death; much Earth dullness; much Fire stupidity and obstinacy. Judge excess and deficiency this way. First, do not be rigid; second, dare to judge, seeking life and death decisively without doubt. As for Five-Phase life and death, a Ren day born in the second month dies on entering Shen progression; born in the seventh month it dies on entering Mao progression. This is meeting Birth and fearing Death, or already being dead and fearing Birth. Creation and human affairs share one principle: examine them together.
It is often said that a person's birth and death, down to year, month, day, and hour, are all predetermined. Here are one or two examples. In mid-autumn, Zhang Yijin of Dingxing sought a response from the local deity at Baoquan Temple when his daughter-in-law Ma Muge was nearing childbirth. He dreamed of a golden dog, jade rooster, yellow sheep, and blue-green dog arriving in sequence. When the person called Yongjiu Huai Wang in the source was born, the eight characters were indeed Wuxu, Xinyou, Jiwei, Jiaxu. The Huai Wang descendant called Yunsun Yongqi Gongxiang likewise received a dream response at Jiang Wentong's shrine: first a lean red dog appeared, then a fat yellow dog beside the road, then a white horse on level ground to the left of a tree, and finally a reddish pig and dog, biting tails in a chain, entered a house onto Earth. Gongxiang reasoned that these were the year, month, day, and hour Bingxu, Wuxu, Gengwu, Dinghai. In the Chenghua era, late in autumn, after the new moon at midnight, a son was born and the prediction proved true. Wen Shiwu of the Yuan was born in the Dade Dingwei year, first month, seventeenth day, Renwu, at a Shen hour. On New Year's Day of the Ming Hongwu Jiwei year he dreamed a yellow sheep struck him seventy-three times; at that point he died. His son, called Shi Jing Chouliu Lao in the source, dreamed white rabbits entered the inner room while Jiang was pregnant. In the eleventh year of Emperor Shun, mid-spring, on a Jiachen day before dawn, Shuzheng was born. Examining the two people's four pillars, all were Xinmao. A later record says: Across the calendar's circuits, one remembers the ancients' hearts, gazing up to lofty mountains even now. Two pairs of white rabbits appeared as a dream omen; four repeated Xinmao again met Yin. A white rooster and silver rat likewise answer to the auspicious signs of Xinyou and Gengzi. A white rooster at You meeting the Grand Duke is an omen of not rising again. From these events, can human birth and death indeed be believed predetermined? Yin Zichang dreamed of the compressed sequence described as attaining Si, distress at Wu, and extinction at Yin; afterward a snake entering a hole and obtaining gold, a fall from a horse, and a tiger's bite all corresponded. In the passage naming Xiao Jiejing and the Three Old Men, a dream met Da Kui in a Yisi game. In the printed thirty-first year of Chenghua, meeting these stems and branches, the person reached eighty; on the full moon of the fourth month he advanced to the rank of Yiyi Lang. Sun Gan's father had the same earlier dream and later, in midsummer of Yisi, rose to Wei Hou. Another ancient prayed to the Earth God for a dream about descendants and received this poem: Dog-and-Sheep parents, a blue-green Dragon son; red Horse, yellow Foal, and white Rooster. The grandson Tiger and great-grandson share the grandfather's zodiac sign; Bing's flourishing single influence answers with much concord. Interpreters found the eldest son born in Jiachen, the second in Bingwu, the third in Wuwu, the youngest in Xinyou, the eldest grandson in Yin, and the great-grandson in Bingxu: all calculations were verified. Thus the births of a family's ancestors, fathers, sons, and descendants were all predetermined. Another fortunate person prayed at a community shrine and received this poem from the deity: Dragon left and Tiger right, red in the same direction; fear only the fiery Monkey and wooden Sheep. Thirty-eight years separate birth and death; the meeting of wind and cloud is wholly inconstant. Afterward, year, month, day, and hour of birth and death all corresponded. The ancients said even drinking and eating are predetermined: how much more achievement and fame, life and death, and descendants? Those who do not understand destiny and vainly scheme are very rarely spared the laughter of ghosts and spirits.
Translator's note: This chapter presents historical divination theory and predictions, including claims about illness, death, and predestination. The supplied source contains irregular stem and branch graphs, variant technical lists, uncertain proper names and dream sequences, and a thirty-first Chenghua year. These are retained or identified rather than silently corrected. Several quoted notes give Nayin labels that differ from the surrounding element statement; both are preserved. The question about a deprived life with middle-period success is answered partly through the opposite pattern of an intervening setback, as the source states.
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