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Chapter 104 of 135
Xing Ping Hui Hai — Compendium of Stars and Zi Ping
Ode of the Five Elements' Principles and Dynamics
Tracing the wisdom of ancient sages and drawing from the experiences of predecessors. Discussions on life and death are entirely based on the theories of Guiguzi; the deduction of changes and dynamics originates from Master Xu (Xuziping). When yang is born, yin dies; when yang dies, yin is born. The cycle of reversal and compliance reveals transformations. 🌱 Yang Wood is born in the month of Hai and dies in the month of Chou (Ox refers to Chou), making survival and demise easily discernible. Yin Wood spans the month of Wu and encounters Hai, revealing fortune and misfortune. Gen (Yin) generates Bing Fire but meets You (Rooster) in death; Dui (You) generates Ding Fire but is harmed by Yin (Tiger). Wu Earth is hidden in Yin and vanishes in the West (You); Ji Earth is born in You but perishes in Gen (Yin). Geng Metal thrives when encountering Si (Snake), but meeting Zi (Rat) in fortune brings difficulty. Xin Metal faces life and death in the month of Zi in the Xun (Si) region; Ren Water is born in the month of Shen and hidden in the Zhen (Mao) direction. Gui Water, born in the month of Zi, enjoys ample wealth and status, but encountering Shen (Monkey) in fortune brings disaster. The life and death of the Ten Heavenly Stems are judged similarly, and creation must be analyzed through principles.
This treatise on destiny is the most profound.
Additionally, when authority (Official) and blade (Yang Blade) both appear, balance leads to the rank of nobility. Midway disasters may occur, but fortunes supporting official strength can resolve them; lifelong wealth and honor require harmony between the self and the killing element. The highly noble use wealth rather than officials; those in power use wealth rather as opposed to the seal. The seal relies on the killing element for growth; officials flourish due to wealth. When the Eating God comes first and the Seven Killings follow, both fame and achievement are attained. You breaks Mao, Mao breaks Wu, resulting in both wealth and fame. Enjoyment of blessings comes from the return of the Five Elements to their禄 (lu) positions; longevity arises from the balance of the Eight Characters. Dim fire (weak fire) loses its light in earth (Jiagu); yin wood exhausts its energy in fire (Bing Ding). When fire is weak, it may still have a flame; when metal is solid, it makes no sound. Water overflowing causes wood to float, indicating living wood; thick earth burying metal refers to yang metal. Excessive water brings danger; bright fire leads to extinction. Over-refined yang metal results in a changed pattern and a life of奔波 (busyness); yin wood returning to its root and gaining strength ultimately leads to a weak self. Heavy earth obscures fire's light, but encountering wood makes it useful; excessive water drifts wood aimlessly, and only when earth fortune arrives can it flourish.
When the Eating God precedes and the Killing element follows, control is achieved, hence a noble destiny. Excessive water brings danger, akin to the natural principle of things reversing at their extremes.
The Five Elements must not be overly extreme; the Eight Characters require balance. Earth restraining water flow ensures full fortune and longevity; weak earth and excessive wood inevitably lead to harm. Fortunes meeting the primal energy may result in premature death. Abundant wood signifies benevolence; thin earth indicates lack of trust. Water returning to its root in strength requires wisdom; firm metal upholds righteousness and capability. Metal and water intelligence may lead to a tendency for indulgence; mixed water and earth often result in foolishness. Long life is achieved through balance; premature death comes from imbalance. Chen and Xu restraining and clashing inevitably lead to legal troubles or exile. Zi and Mao harming each other signify a lack of etiquette and virtue. Abandoning the seal for wealth clarifies bias and correctness; abandoning wealth for the killing element discusses flexibility and rigidity. The Hurt Officer without wealth to rely on may be clever but will inevitably be poor. The Eating God controlling the killing element encountering the Owl God results in poverty or premature death. Men with many Yang Blades will likely remarry; women encountering the Hurt Officer must marry again. Poverty and failure arise from injuries at the peak of strength; loneliness and widowhood occur when the wealth god is robbed. Abandoning the killing element and retaining the official leads to fortune; abandoning the official and retaining the killing element brings authority.
Balance in the Five Elements is prized. A destiny with the Hurt Officer pattern and wealth will be either noble or rich; without wealth, one may be clever but destined for poverty.
Encountering the Hurt Officer but gaining the husband star indicates a destiny with wealth and vitality. Meeting the Owl God and losing descendants signifies shallow fortune and lack of heirs. Three Xu clashing with Chen brings deep misfortune; two unblemished stems align fame and benefit. Bingzi and Xinmao meeting leads to excessive indulgence (overindulgence in wine and pleasure). Zi, Wu, Mao, and You all present result in confusion from wine and pleasure. Heavenly stem killing revealed without control indicates low status; earthly branch wealth hidden and secretly growing signifies uniqueness. Wealth leading to fortune occurs when the Yang Blade aligns with the year's fortune. Greed and suspicion arise from encountering the Owl God in destiny, often due to illness. Adopting a son as heir, taking a righteous woman as wife. Day and time pillars meeting Mao and You indicate migration from birth. A lifetime of piety and belief in deities stems from encountering Xu and Hai in creation. Yin restraining yin, yang restraining yang, the wealth god becomes useful. Many officials without real authority lead to danger from excessive strength; many killing elements without real harm result in no danger; excessive wealth without real wealth brings disaster when fortunes turn to the killing element.
Those with Zi, Wu, Mao, and You all present must align with a pattern to be noble; those without a pattern are mostly poor and lowly. Excessive wealth gods often indicate a destiny of servitude.
Entering a pattern but losing one's root results in a lifetime of missed opportunities; Four Pillars returning to the root and gaining strength lead to early prosperity. Wood encountering its kind brings honor, nobility, and advancement. Using the Owl God in destiny indicates wealth from managing businesses. Wealth and officials both failing lead to death; the Eating God encountering the Owl God results in demise. Dragon hidden in Hai and Mao brings profit in trade (benefiting from commerce). Dingsi solitary鸾 (lonely phoenix) cooperates to become a clever poetic woman (symbol of a talented woman). Day pillar encountering naked bathing indicates impurity and promiscuity (improper conduct). Day禄 residing in the hour pillar and encountering wealth leads to purity, nobility, and wealth. Returning禄 with wealth brings fortune; returning禄 without wealth inevitably leads to poverty. Mixed wealth and seal result in lifelong hardship;混乱 (chaos) of bias and correctness leads to certain injury.
The Grand Year fears clashes; the Yang Blade dislikes conflicts and penalties. Gui combining with Wu indicates lack of affection between young and old. Many lack benevolence when Geng is disturbed by Bing. How can one encounter the正官 (proper official) four times yet receive no salary? It is because meeting the七煞 (seven killings) brings fame. Those who neither follow nor transform remain stagnant in official careers; those who follow and transform achieve illustrious fame and achievement. Transformation into禄 and strength leads to life; transformation into禄 exhaustion leads to death. Leading among monks and Taoists, the use of the killing element is反而轻 (instead light); holding台宪 (high official) positions, the偏官 (partial official) gains its place. Meeting in the land of life, prime years bring no禄; time returning to defeat and extinction, old age lacks a peaceful end. Ding encountering Mao wood meets Jitu Owl God and Eating God individuals; Hai is divine nectar, meeting You metal results in a wine-loving guest. Wealth encountering prosperous land brings many blessings; officials meeting long life ensure必然荣 (certain honor). Ding born in You metal, Bing and Xin meeting it leads to no heirs. Wealth approaching the killing element, the father dies away from home. Eight专 (special) days with similar branches, years and fortunes of killing bring多凶 (much misfortune). Mastery of this treatise ensures accurate discernment of nobility and lowliness.
Generally, the Grand Year and Yang Blade both prefer harmony and dislike clashes. 🤝
Ode of the Five Elements' Generation and Restraint
Great are the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, the origin of all things, rooted in heaven and earth, the foundation of all phenomena. They hold the mechanism of yin-yang transformation and the function of timing and depth. Thus, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth have no fixed form; generation, restraint, transformation, and dissolution offer endless principles. 🌍
For example, dead wood (rootless wood) particularly needs living water (flowing water) for prolonged moisture. Like stubborn metal (unrefined metal), it most desires the red furnace's tempering. 🔥 Sun fire fears forest wood as an enemy (fire fears excessive wood, which counter-restrains); beam material seeks the ax as a friend (wood needs metal for shaping). Fire separated by water cannot melt metal; metal sunk in water cannot restrain wood. Living wood fears iron burying its roots (metal restraining wood); dead metal dislikes mud covering its top (earth burying metal). If Jia and Yi (wood) wish to unite (wood flourishing), they must undergo striking and shaping (needing metal pruning); Ren and Gui (water) can reach the five lakes (water flourishing) because they possess a merging flow nature. Chu wood (inferior wood) cannot withstand a sharp ax; true pearls (precious metal) fear bright furnaces. Weak willow (soft wood) and tall pine (hard wood) differentiate decline and strength in timing; inch metal and foot iron vary in rigidity and softness by energy. On the陇头 (thick earth), sparse wood is hard to疏通 (dredge); fire within a furnace is反而遮蔽 (instead obscured) by wet mud. Can dew nourish rotten wood? Can wall tops produce precious metal? Successful swords and halberds (metal) are harmed when encountering the fire region (metal meeting fire melts); built city walls (earth flourishing) worry about injury when reaching the wood region (wood restrains earth). Gui and Bing meeting create an neither clear nor cloudy phenomenon (water and fire battling); Yi and Ding born in winter bring neither cold nor warm days. Extremely sharp metal embracing water (metal and water generating each other); the bluntest metal leaves its homeland (rootless metal). Jia and Yi encountering strong metal, the spirit returns to the west兑 (metal restraining wood); Geng and Xin meeting flourishing fire, energy scatters in the south离 (fire restraining metal). Dry earth and blazing fire leave metal with no reliance; floating wood and overflowing water make fire unable to generate. In the九夏 (midsummer), melting metal (summer fire restraining metal) cannot control hard and strong wood; in the三冬 (midwinter), wet earth (winter earth cold) cannot dam overflowing waves. Light dust and gathered earth are no foundation for living wood; wasted iron and dissolved metal already nourish flowing water. Flourishing wood can make metal break itself; weak earth is instead bullied by wood. Fire without wood eventually extinguishes its light; wood without fire obscures its essence. Yi wood born in autumn is as easy to break as decaying and withered material (autumn metal restraining wood); Geng metal dying in winter sinks in sand and falls into the sea without difficulty (winter water draining metal). Frost-covered grass has no use for encountering metal (metal restraining weak wood); unearthed metal cannot overcome wood (weak metal unable to restrain wood). Fire emits smoke before flaming; water remains wet after flowing.
Generally, cold water does not flow, cold wood does not sprout, cold earth does not generate, cold fire is not fierce, and cold metal does not melt—all deviate from heaven and earth's righteous energy. Yet, all things are unformed at birth and perish after maturity. The mechanism of transcending mundanity and entering sainthood, the wonder of escaping death and returning to life, form without likeness and transform without shape. Strengthening function is不如 (not as good as) strengthening the root; lush flowers are不如 deep roots. For instance, north metal (cold metal) clings to water and sinks; south wood (warm wood) flies as ash and sheds its form. East water flourishes wood and sticks to its source; west earth solidifies metal and empties itself. Fire obscured by earth is all excessive; the Five Elements prize balance. Seek through principle, speak with caution, and explore the cold pool until the bottom is seen (investigate thoroughly).
Water and wood in休囚 (rest and imprisonment) indicate stubbornness and dullness; metal and fire in旺相 (flourishing and appearance) signify beam material and timber. Weak fire cannot melt metal; sunken metal cannot restrain wood. Living wood (yang wood) fears metal; flourishing dead metal is buried by earth. Rotten wood in休囚 (rest and imprisonment) is like true pearls (metaphor for precious metal); weak willow (Renwu, Guiwei—water and wood), tall pine (Gengyin, Xinmao—wood). Fire nuclei wood to generate light; wood relies on fire for illumination—this speaks of failing to attain balanced energy. Destiny is born from the primal energy; function comes from the monthly order's useful god. ⚖️
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