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Yuanhai Ziping · The Deep Sea of Ziping Astrology
Examinations, Solitary Verses and Following Patterns
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
Ziping's Hundred Chapters: Song on Examination Success
Kuigang and the Year's Carriage bring fame in the Five Classics;
Jia flourishing in the governing outline brings a clear second place.
Bright Fire, refined Wood, Congkui, and Resource;
White Metal and clear Water bring new first-class examination success.
Repeated Jade Halls bring ascent to the Purple Pavilion;
Harmonious Wood and Fire thread through yellow gold.
Wood born under spring's command and meeting Hurt and Food
Ranks first in the literary field, with deep grasp of meaning and principle.
Wealth and Resource both light, with Officer and Killings sufficient,
Bring successive high examination honors, accomplished at one attempt.
Root and seedling with Heavenly Yi both yield second place;
Wood and Fire leading the ranks surely bring the outstanding provincial success.
Metal and Water enriching one another draw close to the yellow examination list;
Bing and Ding alternating in turn attend the Purple Palace.
Metal and Water in autumn qi take the blazing direction;
The Leading Star, Officer, and Killings make distinction clear.
Heavy Killings and a light self should not simply be called weak:
Meeting Resource Seal makes the Leading Star.
Who knows how to distinguish high and low by this?
Remember it thoroughly and be like Xu Ziping himself.
Translator's note: The compact Congkui-and-Resource phrase and examination images are retained without supplying missing conditions. The five source stanzas are rendered in twenty corresponding English lines. Examination rank and success are predictions asserted by the historical text.
Four-Character Verses of Unequaled Insight
Where is the Prior Heaven? Where is the Later Heaven? To know the place of coming is to know the place of going. Set out the Four Pillars, then distinguish the Three Powers in order. Take the year stem as master and pair it with the Primal Chen. Weigh the relative weight of spirits and killing influences entangling one another. The month is the governing outline: discuss the pattern and infer its details. Take the day stem as master and look especially at Wealth and Officer. The subtle methods for distinguishing high and low standing are many.
A single influence is easy to select; amid confusion it is difficult to find. Removal, retention, extension, and pairing require precision in discussing the pattern.
Four-Character Formula: The Month's Command
First examine the month's command; next examine depth.
The year's root is the foundation; the month's command is the center. A day contains a hundred ke, with hours flourishing or empty. The day master should be strong, and the month's governing outline should obtain command. The influence used is Wealth; its manifest substance is Direct.
The stem and branch of the same kind harm Wealth and injure the wife. The month branch matching the year breaks and punishes the ancestral foundation. Established Emolument in the month's command often leaves no ancestral dwelling. Once Wealth and Officer appear, blessings naturally form.
With the Five Phases in Birth and Flourishing, do not worry about Rest and Imprisonment. East, west, south, and north: only when the numerical course is exhausted does it cease. Using Fire brings concern over Water; using Wood brings concern over Metal. If favorable qi can be distinguished, misfortune and blessings become clear of themselves.
Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei are the four Earth spirits. The Human Origin has three uses; what is revealed and flourishing is genuine. Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai form the configuration of Four Births. With the useful influence and self strong, encountering it brings blessings.
Zi, Wu, Mao, and You form the configuration of Four Defeats. Men encountering it have flourishing and decline; women encounter solitude. Advancing and retreating qi contend with the influences of the configuration. Advancing qi does not die; retreating qi does not live.
Wealth and Officer arriving at Storehouse do not rise without clash. The stems and branches of the Four Pillars welcome punishment and mutual combination. When Officer and Killings meet repeatedly, restraining the Killings has merit. If a cycle proceeds to Imperial Flourishing, encountering it must be inauspicious.
Resource Seal with light roots advances amid flourishing. Resource Seal with many roots does not rise amid flourishing. Resource first and Wealth afterward naturally form blessings; Wealth first and Resource afterward instead form humiliation.
Useful Hurting Officer brings children in the Death palace. Hurting Officer without Wealth brings death in the children's palace. Indirect Wealth in the hour fears siblings. Resource Seal without Wealth does not avoid Peers.
Flanking Emolument and Flanking Nobility are inauspicious when the empty positions are filled. If the governing outline has a useful influence, discuss it differently. A Geng day and Shen hour, with revealed Wealth, bring Returning Emolument. Reputation and profit are high and strong, but Peers seize the blessings.
The Heavenly Origin as a single qi, with earthly influences of the same kind, gives a person a position among the Three Dukes. Eight Characters strung like linked pearls, with a useful primal spirit, necessarily bring weighty profit and reputation.
Metal Spirit accompanied by Killings finds a flourishing self exceptional. Proceeding into Fire's domain as well brings timely reputation and profit. The six Jia born in spring with Metal Spirit in the hour do not rise in Water's domain; heavy Earth makes reputation genuine.
Jia or Yi in the Chou month with Metal Spirit in the hour and Killings in the month stem have dimness in both eyes. Jiayin with repeated Yin and two Si punishing the Killings brings inevitable lifelong violence; encountering it makes advancement difficult.
An Yi day in the Mao month has a fierce Metal Spirit. Wealth and honor lie in the north; flourishing brings violent death and extinction. Two Bing in the heavenly stems and Yin throughout the earthly branches, with generating Resource added, bring death when ill fortune arrives.
Flourishing Fire coming to Yin, with Earth revealed and seated on Shen, brings clothing and emolument mostly later, but Water injures the self. The six Wu born in Yin, with Water and Metal in the month's command, find rescue in Fire's domain; seeing Earth punishes the self.
A Ji day seated on Xu, with the Fire spirit lacking qi and much Water and Metal, brings dim and dizzy eyes. Autumn Metal seated on Wu with Bing and Ding revealed, when the cycle reaches bright Li, brings bloody injury and the road to the Springs of death.
Metal flourishing in autumn with two Geng enclosing Bing suffers hurt upon meeting Mao but favorable circumstances upon meeting Li. Geng Metal seated on Wu, and Xin Metal seated on Wei, have Killings flourishing in the west and obtain distinction through generation in the east.
Xin meeting a Mao day, with You in the year and month and Facing the Sun in the hour, becomes a monk when proceeding through Chou. A Xin day seated on Hai must not have the month arrive at Cheng. If Water cycles proceed, guard against eye disease.
A Xin day seated on Si has Officer and Resource communicating with Emolument. Forward movement south brings manifest distinction, honor, and blessings. You Metal meeting Li with revealed Earth: what is there to worry about? Without Earth, injury in the month brings an unfavorable lifespan. Yang Metal meeting Fire and encountering Earth forms punishment; yang Metal meeting Fire with Earth revealed forms reputation. Renyin and Renxu with yang Earth standing revealed, without admixture of the Officer star, bring manifest Emolument and an exalted name. Ren and Gui together with Metal, born in You or Shen, gain distinction when Earth flourishes and poverty when Water flourishes. Gui turning toward Ji's palace has Wealth and Officer binding Resource. Cycles reaching the south must raise profit and reputation.
A Gui day with Si and Hai and Killings and Wealth revealed, with the earth combining with Merchant Officer, brings labor without blessings. A Gui day under Shen's governing outline, with Mao, Yin, or Xu hour and Killings in the year and Robber in the month, brings lonely desolation beneath the trees.
A Gui day with Ji in the stems has repeated yin Killings. Without Officer mixing in, it brings reputation, profit, wealth, and honor. Many Killings under restraint necessarily bring distinction to a woman. Repeated Officer stars describe a turbid and promiscuous person.
Yang Fire under Shen's governing outline, without a root, follows the Killings. With a root it flourishes in the south; losing the root shortens life. A Ren day under Xu's governing outline, with Gui stem arriving in the month, welcomes eastern cycles, but a clash brings immediate Extinction.
An Yi day in the You month finds Water exceptional. With a root, Chou brings Extinction; without a root, Yin brings danger. A Geng day and Shen hour, with a Metal configuration in the pillars and no meetings or combinations in the branches, bring Hurting Officer and robbery of the wife.
A Gui day under Yin's governing outline, and a Ren day in the Hai hour: do not violate the governing outline; infer misfortune and blessings separately. A useful governing outline most avoids punishment and clash. A clash with the cycle is auspicious; a clash with the useful influence is inauspicious.
The Three Wonders revealed require a strong day stem. Useful roots bring wealth, honor, glory, and prosperity. Transformation of qi among the ten stems has shadow but no form. Being arising from nonbeing leaves misfortune and blessings difficult to ground.
The Ten Evils and Great Defeat are not avoided within a pattern. If they meet Wealth and Officer, they instead bring wealth and honor. In detailed examination of patterns, give weight to Killings. Restraining Killings creates authority: why fear damage to the useful influence?
Killings do not depart from Resource, and Resource does not depart from Killings. Their mutual generation brings distinguished achievement and reputation. Killings in the hour without a root are most noble when flourishing. Killings in the hour with many roots are unfavorable when flourishing.
An Officer star in the eighth month greatly avoids Mao and Ding. Mao and Ding control and break it, whether sympathetic or unsympathetic. Resource, Killings, and Peers welcome Wealth's domain; Resource without Peers fears Wealth's domain.
Wealth, Officer, and Resource Seal greatly avoid Peers. Hurting Officer and Seven Killings instead assist in creating authority. Hurting Officer meeting Officer is greatly avoided within a pattern. If the useful spirit is not harmed, why fear the Officer's arrival?
The day's Emolument residing in the hour finds a path into the blue clouds. Wealth and Officer in the month's command offer auspicious help when encountered. Ren Riding the Dragon's Back finds Xu unsympathetic. Many Yin bring riches; many Chen bring honor.
Day Virtue and Metal Spirit meeting flourishing Earth in the month bring reputation and profit, yet the ancestral estate is scattered. Metal Spirit on a Jia day particularly suits Fire's domain. Metal Spirit on a Ji day: what need is there for Fire's restraint?
The six Jia in the Yin month have Wealth revealed in season. A course to the northwest establishes an occupation among the nine professions. Rootless yang Fire must avoid Water's domain; rootless yin Fire finds rescue there.
Fire meetings in the year stem and Metal meetings in day and hour, with a Ji stem using Resource, bring a clear Officer and pure name. Xin Metal in a Chen month, with Geng lacking a Chou Storehouse, brings pure solitude in reverse cycles and great riches in forward cycles.
Xin Metal seated on You has Wealth and Officer arriving at Resource. Forward cycles south must raise reputation and profit. Earth born in the four concluding seasonal months, with the day seated on Geng or Xin: why worry about a weak master? A flourishing domain brings fame.
Ren seated at Wu has Emolument and Horse in the same domain. Repeatedly meeting a Fire configuration makes the pattern supremely strong. Women especially avoid the Hurting Officer pattern; carrying Wealth and Resource instead brings riches and honor.
Officer star and Peach Blossom bring praiseworthy blessings and emolument. Killings star and Peach Blossom bring robbery in the morning and sensual attraction at dusk. A Food Spirit in Birth and Flourishing surpasses Wealth and Officer. Making it turbid brings low standing; making it clear brings it to its domain.
This method is mystery upon mystery, subtle and difficult to express. Students receiving it should not transmit it even for a thousand gold pieces. Where is the Prior Heaven? Where is the Later Heaven? To know the place of coming is to know the place of going.
Set out the Four Pillars and distinguish the Three Powers in sequence. Take the year stem as root and pair it with the primal spirit. Spirits and killing influences accompany one another: weigh their relative weight. First observe the month's command, then examine the pattern in detail.
Take the month as master and discuss Wealth and Officer especially. The subtle methods for distinguishing high and low standing are many. A single influence is easy to select; disorder is difficult to understand. Removal, retention, extension, and pairing require precision in discussing the pattern.
The Officer can support the root; Wealth is the source of life; Resource Seal protects the self. Distinguish favor and avoidance carefully. When meeting Officer, examine Wealth: seeing Wealth brings riches and honor. When meeting Killings, examine Resource: meeting Resource brings glory and splendor.
Officer and Resource present together bring a pure and distinguished official. Killings and Resource gathering bring distinguished achievement and reputation. Officer stars in year and month bring an early emergence in benevolence; Direct nobility in day and hour brings fame in later years.
A strong, flourishing day master with Emolument obtained in the month's governing outline naturally gains blessings once Wealth and Officer appear. Officer fears Killings cycles; Killings fear Officer arriving. Repeated Officer and Killings make control and subjugation effective.
Wealth and Officer in the month's command bring blessings when encountered and high, strong Emolument and position. Peers seize blessings. Direct Officer fears Emolument; Emolument avoids Seven Killings. Encountering them in annual influences readily brings calamity.
The Officer star welcomes being revealed; revelation brings purity and distinction. Killings concealed and Officer revealed hide the evil and display the good. Mixed Officer and Killings bring poverty to a weak self. An even balance of Officer and Killings brings distinction through combining away Killings.
Officer in the year and Hurting Officer in the month make the ancestor strong and father weak. Officer meeting Death and Extinction makes offspring difficult to obtain. The Wealth star should be concealed: stored Wealth is abundant. Flourishing Wealth generating Officer brings less distinction and more riches.
Wealth meeting Long Life brings ten thousand qing of fertile land. A Wealth star bearing Depletion brings abandonment of children and separation from the wife. Wealth should not meet Robber; much Resource is excellent. Much Wealth breaking Resource brings punishment and injury as well.
Indirect Wealth in the configuration must bring windfall wealth. Direct Wealth suffering robbery brings considerable disaster to the wife. Wealth first and Resource afterward instead form blessings; Resource first and Wealth afterward form humiliation.
Resource Seal and Peers welcome Wealth's domain; Resource without Peers avoids Wealth's domain. Wealth, Officer, and Resource Seal greatly avoid Peers. Hurting Officer and Seven Killings instead assist in creating authority.
Indirect Wealth in the hour fears meeting siblings. Wealth encountered in the month does not avoid Peers. Flourishing Wealth generating Officer makes the husband lead and the wife follow. Light Wealth meeting Robber brings three wives raising the tray respectfully to eyebrow height.
Wealth, Officer, and Resource Seal, when broken, achieve nothing. Removing Killings, Hurt, Owl, and Robber brings blessings. Take Wealth as father and Resource as mother; with both complete, the father-tree and mother-flower flourish together.
The Wealth star obtaining Emolument gives the father a long life. Resource Seal injured brings the mother's death early in life. Direct Officer meeting Resource brings smooth reputation and profit. Hurting Officer meeting Wealth brings riches and honor naturally.
Resource Seal injured makes the ancestral estate difficult to preserve. Light Wealth being robbed leaves the household desolate. Yin and yang losing their positions bring the death of both parents. The source of Wealth robbed brings the father's death first.
Wealth in Extinction and Officer in Imprisonment bring a late wife and late children. In a woman's flourishing configuration, Food and Officer bring refined children and an honored husband. The year clashing with the month's command describes a traveler away from home. Light Wealth with Robber and Depletion describes a wanderer.
Peers supporting the self bring joy among siblings. Hurt and Owl both present bring timid children and a foolish wife. Elder brother in Chu and younger brother in Qin: the configuration falls into Emptiness. Father in the south and son in the north: the self resides in Extinction.
Strong Hurting Officer and a weak master bring death upon entering Tomb. Heavy Killings and a light self make the fixed allotment hard to escape. Heavy Killings and many Robbers bring the father's death on foreign soil. Hurt and Owl gathered together bring a child's death in another land.
Seven Killings meeting the configuration make whipping and beating hard to escape. Three Punishments meeting Robber put a cangue on one's shoulders and chains on one's body. Peers forming a configuration make one a bridegroom several times. Learning and broad knowledge come from encountering Birth in the hour.
A lean Horse and broken Officer leave one trapped in impoverished surroundings. Flourishing Emolument and abundant Wealth bring prominence on the road to office. Resource Seal meeting Birth should make the mother worthy and distinguished. Indirect Officer returning to Emolument must make the father prominent and honored.
Killings meeting Long Life make a woman attract a poor husband. The wife's star losing command brings separation midway. The father's star arriving at Storehouse means that the father should die first. Peers meeting Emolument bring a high name to siblings.
The day meeting Emptiness and Widowhood often brings separation from a living wife. The hour meeting Solitude and Vacancy often brings unworthy children. Day stem and branch of the same kind harm Wealth and injure the wife. The self's branch matching the year breaks and scatters the ancestral foundation.
Hurting Officer meeting Officer creates a hundred kinds of misfortune: minor cases injure the body, while severe cases bring imprisonment. Hurting Officer in the year leaves the parents incomplete; in the month, it leaves the siblings incomplete.
Hurting Officer in the day makes a spouse difficult to obtain; in the hour, it leaves no succession of descendants. Many combinations indicate obscurity; many clashes indicate ill fortune. Many Chen bring a liking for extravagance; many Xu bring a liking for lawsuits.
Hour and day in Emptiness make wife and children difficult to have. The hour seated in Decline and Defeat brings disaster if not death. Repeated Resource Seals harm children. Hurting Officer throughout the Four Pillars leaves children unsettled.
Killings in the hour meeting a clash, with Yang Blade unrestrained, often bring childbirth difficulties to women and punishment and injury to men. Injured Resource Seal brings the mother's loss early in life. The source of Wealth robbed brings the father's early fall.
Siblings and self flourishing bring loss to the father's life. Much Wealth breaking Resource brings early harm to the mother. Hour and day directly clashing injure wife and children. The day communicating with the month's command obtains ancestral support to settle the self.
A flourishing self without support leaves the ancestors and enters a religious community. The day breaking and clashing with the governing outline snaps the marriage string and then restrings it. Seven Killings in the hour leave no son in the configuration. Food Spirit in the stems makes any son necessarily distinguished.
Without injury there is no distinction; illness is exceptional and should be received. The subtle principle lies here. Using Fire brings concern over Water; using Wood brings concern over Metal. Their relative weight is difficult to distinguish; the lightness of misfortune becomes clear of itself.
Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai form the Four Births configuration. With the useful influence and self strong, encountering it brings blessings. Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei form the Four Tombs configuration: men obtain prosperity, while women encounter solitude.
Qi advances and retreats; the configuration's influences contend. Advancing qi does not die; retreating qi does not live. A useful governing outline most fears punishment and clash. A clash with the cycle is moderated; a clash with the useful influence is inauspicious.
The stems and branches of the Four Pillars welcome combination and transformation. Wealth and Officer entering Storehouse do not rise without clash. Robber and Blade entering the palace describe a minister of lofty halls. Returning Emolument and Reverse Clash, with Blade and Hurt, reveal distinction.
Hurt, Blade, and Killings bring authority when a man encounters them. Metal Spirit and Returning Emolument are avoided in a woman's configuration. Heavy Killings with Resource bring honor that is one's own. Yang Blade and Seven Killings bring a renowned official career.
A flourishing self without support belongs among Buddhist and Daoist renunciants. Peach Blossom and Rolling Waves describe people in prostitution. Refined qi losing command describes a scholar of clarity. Self and Resource both strong bring few illnesses throughout life.
Heavenly and Monthly Virtue lending aid bring no calamity even in Extinction. A declining self obtaining transformation holds a position close to Heaven's court. The Officer star in the eighth month greatly avoids Mao and Ding. Ding and Mao control and break it, whether sympathetic or unsympathetic.
Peers, Robbers, and Yang Blade are greatly avoided in a Wealth pattern. Annual influences and cycles clashing or combining must bring disaster or illness. Seven Killings under restraint find blessings upon meeting Officer. Yang Blade meeting a clash necessarily brings calamity.
Killings transforming into Resource bring early selection and examination success. Flourishing Wealth generating Officer brings inheritance of the estate in youth. Hurting Officer meeting Resource brings distinction beyond words. Metal Spirit proceeding through Water cycles brings a declining self and premature death.
Resource Seal meeting Wealth, with Wealth repeated in the cycle and Death or Extinction beneath the seat, must return to the Yellow Springs. A flourishing self without support harms Wealth and injures the wife. Flourishing self and Resource bring financial losses and no marriage.
The self arriving in a Bathing year may bring concern over danger from Water. The configuration controlled by Officer must guard against Water disasters. Excessive Resource Seal leaves one childless in old age. Excessively flourishing Hurting Officer very readily injures the husband.
Officer, Killings, Wealth, and Food, without breaking, bring purity and distinction. Killings, Hurt, Owl, and Blade find excellence in their selection for use. Repeated Food Spirits require avoiding Wealth's domain. Flourishing Killings without injury avoid proceeding into Wealth's region.
Emolument entering the wife's palace means living on the wife's emolument. Resource arriving at the children's position means receiving honor through the children. Flourishing, mixed Killings describe people of specialized arts. Wealth and Emolument generating the Horse describe people in trade.
The Horse falling into Emptiness brings withdrawal and wandering. Emolument clashed with and broken brings departure to another land. A one-sided appearance of Emptiness brings separation and injury among relatives. Officer and Killings both removed bring the loss of father and mother in youth.
Bathing meeting Killings sends the bodily soul to Fengdu. The original influence offended and then injured again sends the spirit to the courts of the Sacred Peaks. Flanking Emolument and Flanking Nobility spread one's name through a province. Official Talisman and Death Talisman bring recurring imprisonment and lawsuits.
Blessings failing to be blessings mean that an auspicious spirit meets ill fortune. Achievement failing to be achieved means that the pattern is seen to break. Clash and punishment in the birth hour bring lifelong repeated shortages. Robber in year and month brings lifelong solitude and poverty.
Resource meeting Flowery Canopy brings an honored place in the literary academy. Deep-rooted learning comes from Water residing in Ren and Gui. Kindness, gentleness, and amiability come from Wood riding Jia and Yi. Dry yang and abundant Fire belong to Bing and Ding's region.
A high name and weighty emolument come from Qian Metal meeting early. Hall of Learning meeting nobility especially benefits teachers and Confucian scholars. The day's Emolument returning to the hour finds a path into the blue clouds. A Geng day and Shen hour, with revealed Wealth, bring Returning Emolument.
Ren Riding the Dragon's Back finds Xu unsympathetic. Many Yin bring riches; many Chen bring honor. Heavenly Origin as a single qi, with earthly influences of the same kind, brings a position among the Three Dukes, though it indicates violent death.
A single character in the heavenly stems is clear and unmixed. Though the pattern is pure and noble, there are two marriages. Day Virtue and Metal Spirit meeting flourishing Earth in the month bring achievement and reputation, yet the ancestral estate is scattered.
Metal Spirit accompanied by Killings finds a flourishing self exceptional. Proceeding through Fire's region as well brings timely reputation and profit. Rescue among the Five Phases means no worry at what seems worrying. Emptiness in the four seasons means no joy upon hearing good news.
Metal Spirit on a Jia day particularly suits Fire's restraint. Metal Spirit on a Ji day: what use is Fire's restraint? The six Jia born in spring with Metal Spirit in the hour do not rise in Water's domain; heavy Earth makes reputation genuine.
Jia or Ji in the Chou month, with Metal Spirit in the hour and Killings in the month stem, lose sight in both eyes. A Jia day in the Yin month with Wealth revealed in season establishes an occupation among the nine professions through a northwest course.
A Ji day in the Mao month with a fierce Metal Spirit, when Peers do not flourish, brings violent injury, death, and extinction. Two Bing in the heavenly stems and Yin throughout the earthly branches, proceeding further into a generating cycle, bring death when misfortune arrives.
Flourishing Fire with two Yin, with Water and Metal in the month's command, finds rescue in Water's domain; seeing Earth punishes the self. A Ji day in a Wu month, with a Fire spirit lacking qi and much Water and Metal, necessarily has dim eyes.
Xin Metal in a Chen month and Geng Metal with a Chou Storehouse bring poverty and solitude in reverse cycles and great wealth in forward cycles. Xin Metal on a Hai day with Xu in the month's command must guard against eye disease when a Water cycle first begins.
Much Metal without Fire brings frustration in achievement and reputation. Heavy Wood without Metal wastes the years. Metal and Water exceptionally clear suggest first-class examination success. Metal meeting Fire's refinement brings early ascent of the golden steps.
Xin Metal meeting Fire and seeing Earth forms punishment. Geng Metal meeting Fire with Earth revealed forms reputation. Ren and Gui with much Metal, born in You or Shen, gain distinction when Earth flourishes and suffer harm when Fire flourishes.
Gui turning toward Si's palace has Wealth and Officer binding Resource. Cycles reaching the south must raise reputation and profit. The Hurting Officer pattern brings no distinction to women. Repeated Officer stars describe promiscuous people.
Officer star and Peach Blossom bring praiseworthy blessings and emolument. Killings star and Peach Blossom bring Qin in the morning and Chu at the tomb. A Geng day and Shen hour with a Metal configuration in the pillars and meetings and combinations among branch origins bring Hurting Officer and robbery of the wife.
A Jia day under Qian's governing outline welcomes Peers upon seeing Killings. Roots planted in a Metal month avoid movement into Mao Wood. Ren and Gui in Kan's palace, with Wu and Xu in the branches and Peers in the stems, find eastward movement auspicious.
Jia and Ji in Zhen's palace with many Mao bring premature death. Whether cycles move forward or backward, Zi and Shen bring blessings. Rootless yang Wood born in the Chou month turns distinguished with much Water but breaks with much Metal.
The six Jia seated on Shen with Zi seen three times must guard against violent death when cycles reach the north. Rootless yin Water gains distinction in Fire's domain; rootless yang Water immediately fears it.
With a Wuyin day master, why fear flourishing Killings? Exposed Fire brings fame; arriving Water brings wandering. Rootless Jia and Yi fear Shen and You. Meeting Killings in combination necessarily makes both Woods decay.
Rootless yang Fire must avoid Water's domain; rootless yin Fire finds rescue there. Spring Wood with much Water describes the poor and lowly. Winter Water with abundant Metal describes a person weak at the origin.
Wood completing a combined configuration brings achievement and reputation of its own. Metal seated in a threefold combination brings endless wealth and honor. Water returning to a threefold combination describes a person of glory and splendor. Fire arriving in a combined configuration brings high position and weighty authority.
Food Spirit generating Wealth surpasses Wealth and Officer. Making it turbid brings low standing; making it clear makes the road level. This method is mystery upon mystery: recognizing it makes one an immortal. Students receiving it should not transmit it even for a thousand gold pieces.
Translator's note: The English begins with a full translation of the source heading, which itself states a rule. All 101 body paragraphs are retained, including the repeated sequences and their opposing rules. These include Resource-before-Wealth versus Wealth-before-Resource, a clash with the cycle being auspicious versus moderated, the differing root, Storehouse, branch-combination, and Water/Fire conditions, and yin Water versus yin Fire. The supplied Cheng, Ji's palace versus Si's palace, Merchant Officer, early emergence in benevolence, Qin in the morning and Chu at the tomb, and both Woods decaying are not silently replaced with more familiar readings. Some clauses are textually uncertain. The historical claims concerning gender, health, longevity, religion, and punishment are translated as the source's assertions.
Discourse on a Weak Self
Rootless yang Wood born in the Chou month turns distinguished with much Water, but breaks with much Metal.
Rootless Yi Wood born in the Chou month turns distinguished with much Metal, but breaks with Fire and Earth.
Rootless Bing Fire with Zi and Shen both present, without restraint or generation, brings poverty and low standing to the self.
The six Jia seated on Shen, with Zi seen three times: when the cycle reaches the north, guard against violent death.
Bing arriving at Shen greatly avoids yang Water. With restraint and a strong self, flourishing brings reputation and profit.
Ji entering the Hai month fears encountering yin Wood. The month meeting Resource that generates it naturally brings blessings.
A Ji day meeting Killings, with flourishing Resource and concealed Wealth, gains high distinction and ample Wealth when cycles turn southeast.
Renyin and Renxu with yang Earth revealed, without admixture of the Officer star, bring an exalted name and manifest Emolument.
Rootless yin Water gains distinction in Fire's domain.
Rootless yang Water immediately fears Fire's domain.
Dingyou is yin and yielding and does not fear much Water. Revealed Peers are instead avoided within the pattern.
With a Wuyin day master, why fear flourishing Killings? Exposed Fire brings fame; arriving Water brings wandering.
A Gengwu day master with blazing Fire in the branches obtains distinction through Earth but dislikes Water.
Xin Metal with a weak self enters a pattern under Mao's governing outline.
Guiyou with a declining master forms a pattern upon seeing Wealth.
Rootless Guisi with repeated Fire and Earth gains an illustrious name through revealed Wealth, but becomes lowly when a root is exposed: the Abandoning the Allotment to Follow Wealth pattern.
Discourse on Abandoning the Allotment to Follow the Killings
Rootless Jia and Yi fear Shen and You. Meeting the Killings in combination necessarily brings decay to both eyes.
Rootless Jia Wood born in the Chou month turns distinguished with much Water, but breaks with Metal and Earth.
Yi Wood in the You month finds Water exceptional. With a root, Chou brings Extinction; without a root, Yin brings danger.
Yi Wood seated on You, with Geng and Ding revealed and the two Storehouses returning to the root: gains and losses of the Solitary Spirit.
Bing Fire under Shen's governing outline, without a root, follows the Killings. With a root it flourishes in the south; losing the root shortens life.
Rootless yang Fire must avoid Water's domain.
Rootless yin Fire finds rescue in Water's domain.
Yin Fire in the You month abandons its allotment and follows Wealth. In the north it enters the pattern; the south brings disaster.
Wu and Ji in the Hai month, weak in self, are abandoned. Infer the same for the Mao month; roots, Robbers, and Peers are disliked.
Rootless Geng Metal in Yin's palace with a Fire configuration gains distinction in the south, but must guard against a shortened lifespan.
Xinsi is yin and yielding, with Officer and Killings in Rest and Imprisonment. Luck cycles and age periods adding Metal bring intelligence and distinction.
A Ren day under Xu's governing outline, with Gui stem and the Wei month: cycles welcome the east, but a clash brings Extinction.
Abandoning the allotment to follow Wealth requires gathering Wealth.
Abandoning the allotment to follow Killings requires gathering Killings.
Following Wealth avoids Killings; following Killings welcomes Wealth. If the configuration encounters root qi, its life ends without doubt.
Translator's note: "Gui stem and the Wei month" follows this passage's supplied wording, although Xu has just been named as the month's governing outline. The two Storehouses and Solitary Spirit clause remains compact and uncertain. The damaged-eye and lifespan assertions are retained as historical claims.
Five-Character Verses of Unequaled Insight
Only a configuration with illness becomes distinguished; without injury it is not exceptional. If the illness is removed within the pattern, Wealth and Emolument follow together.
Yin and Mao with much Metal and Chou: poverty and wealth move high and low. In the southern region fear meeting Shen; in the north do not see You.
Established Emolument born in the governing month welcomes Wealth and Officer revealed in the stems. The self should not flourish again; only an abundant source of Wealth is welcome.
Thick Earth often meeting Fire, Metal returning and flourishing in autumn, and Water and Wood flooding in winter all leave reputation and profit empty and floating.
Jia and Yi born in Mao instead find much Metal auspicious. Repeated Killings are undesirable; Fire's region provides clothing and food.
Fire avoids western You. In the twelve stages of Long Life, Bing dies at You.
Sinking Metal fears Water's domain. In the twelve stages of Long Life, Geng dies at Zi.
The Wood spirit should not see Wu. In the twelve stages of Long Life, Jia dies at Wu.
Water arriving within Mao is injured. In the twelve stages of Long Life, Ren dies at Mao.
The Earth mansion should not proceed to Hai; Assuming Office lies in Si's palace. Its root flourishes in the south; do not meet the west or north.
In the Yin Day Facing the Sun pattern, with no root and the month's establishment at Chen, there is still distinction in the west; only invasion by Fire is feared.
Yi Wood born in You should not meet a complete Si and Chou. Wealth and honor lie in Kan and Li's palaces; poverty remains in Shen and You.
When Killings are present, discuss only Killings; only without Killings discuss the useful influence. So long as the Killings star is removed, do not fear a heavy governing outline.
Jia and Yi meeting Shen have Killings and Resource generating one another secretly. Wood flourishing and Metal also flourishing must put ceremonial cap and robe upon the body. Repeated Li Fire is feared; the north instead proves effective. Though Water should be seen, a direct clash with the governing outline is still feared.
The Officer star flourishes in the eighth month, and Jia meets autumn qi in depth. Wealth and Officer both receiving assistance naturally bring prosperity in reputation and profit.
The Crooked and Straight pattern born in a spring month meets Geng and Xin in the stems. Southern Li warrants an inference of wealth and honor, while Kan's region remains inauspicious.
Jia and Yi born in the third month, with Geng, Xin, Xu, and Wei present, and Chou's palace and Ren and Gui's positions: why worry about seeing no root? Luxuriant Wood suits Metal and Fire; a declining self has Ghosts forming a barrier. In the hour distinguish west from north; in relative weight distinguish east from west.
The Womb pattern in the hour, with Resource Seal communicating through the month and cycles assisting Killings and Officer, brings official position up to the Three Dukes.
Two Zi do not clash with Wu; two Yin do not clash with Shen. The Obtaining One and Dividing Three pattern treats Wealth, Officer, and Resource Seal alike. A cycle meeting control and breaking ends one's life in the Yellow Springs.
With advancing qi, Death is not death; with retreating qi, Birth is not birth. There is no rising or flourishing through the years; punishment in youth is still avoided.
The Indirect Wealth pattern in the hour avoids Peers in the stems. Generation from the month and a flourishing master add noble qi and abundant blessings.
A cycle runs for ten years, divided between upper and lower into five years each. First examine the annual influence, then deeply understand the coming and going ten-day sequences.
The single noble influence in the hour is concealed within the branches. The day master must be firm and strong before reputation and profit possess qi.
Translator's note: The source's abbreviated branch lists, the "Obtaining One and Dividing Three" label, and the hour/direction comparison are retained without filling in unstated rules. The supplied explanatory notes naming the twelve stages are translated as part of the text. The divinatory judgments are historical claims.
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