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Chapter 26 of 50
基础知识
Today, let's discuss the Six Harms of Earthly Branches.
The Six Harms, also known as the Six Clashes (Liù Chuān). "Clash" and "Harm" are two different names for the same set of Earthly Branch relationships, with completely identical connotations. They should be understood uniformly as: covert destruction and mutual injury.
According to the San Ming Tong Hui: "Because the yin and yang qi of day and night interact, the Six Combinations arise; from the Six Combinations, the Six Harms are born; because of the Six Harms, the yin and yang qi of day and night are feared. The Six Harms are the points where the twelve branches insult and battle one another." This passage explains the root cause of the Six Harms: it is precisely because of the Six Combinations that the Six Harms come into being. 🌱 The Six Combinations represent cordial relations between Earthly Branches—mutual courtesy, support, and unity; the Six Harms, by contrast, represent relationships of mutual insult, aggression, oppression, and even resentment. One could say that the Six Combinations are "harmony on the surface," while the Six Harms are "rivalry behind the scenes."
The Six Harms have no impact on the overall quality of a chart's configuration, but they exert enormous influence on six relatives, emotions, health, and personality—these cannot be overlooked. The "six" in Six Harms corresponds to the "six" in six relatives; "harm" is the harm of damage. Relatives affected by harm generally experience unfavorable fortune.
There are six pairs of Harms:
| Pairing | Name |
|---|---|
| Zi-Wei Harm | Prominent Family Mutual Harm |
| Chou-Wu Harm | Officer-Ghost Mutual Harm |
| Yin-Si Harm | Prosperity(Stage) Mutual Harm |
| Mao-Chen Harm | Youth Overpowering Elder Mutual Harm |
| Shen-Hai Harm | Prosperity(Stage) Mutual Harm |
| You-Xu Harm | Jealousy Mutual Harm |
The Six Harms have no directionality—the two harmed branches injure each other mutually. Let's analyze them one by one.
Wei contains Ji Earth, Ding Fire, and Yi Wood, with strong Earth as the dominant force; Zi contains Gui Water, which is abundant Water. Both are thriving branches, evenly matched rivals. Wei uses its Earth nature to overcome and harm Zi Water. In this relationship, Wei holds the initiative because Earth inherently overcomes Water in the Five Elements.
However, Wei is the vault of Wood, and the Gui Water within Zi can equally retaliate by harming the Ding Fire within Wei (Water overcomes Fire), while also nurturing the Yi Wood inside Wei (Water generates Wood). Thus, when Wei harms Zi, the result is: 🔥 "Kill one thousand enemies at the cost of three thousand of your own" (Gui Water overcomes Ding Fire, injuring Wei itself), while also having "three thousand turned against you" (Gui Water generates Yi Wood, covertly dividing Wei's strength). Although Zi Water appears weaker in the Five Elements, it operates relentlessly behind the scenes, gradually dismantling Wei's power. 🌊
Wu is the Emperor Stage of Fire, the most blazing Fire; Chou is the Graveyard of Metal, the place where Metal is buried. Fire overcomes Metal, and Fire is Metal's Officer-Ghost (what overcomes me is the Officer-Ghost), hence the name "Officer-Ghost Mutual Harm." 🔥
In this pair, Wu Fire holds the advantage. The Ding Fire within Wu can overcome the Xin Metal within Chou, but multiple relationships coexist simultaneously:
The relationships are extremely complex, with each one corresponding to different symbolic meanings in a BaZi chart. 🔥🌊 Although Wu Fire is strong, the Gui Water in Chou can still launch covert attacks, creating a pattern of overt overcoming with hidden injury.
Yin is the Prosperity Stage of Wood, and Si is the Prosperity Stage of Fire (while Si also contains Geng Metal, which is at its Growth Stage within it). Both are in highly vigorous states, at the same level with neither willing to yield—at swords' points. ⚔️
Furthermore, Yin and Si also share a Punishment relationship, and the dual action intensifies their mutual conflict. Yin Wood can naturally generate Si Fire, but this generation is "generation unwilling to generate"—the Jia Wood within Yin is a Partial Seal, like a stepmother who feeds you but still mistreats you because you're not her own child. Hence, Punishment and Harm appear together.
The specific manifestation: the Jia Wood in Yin overcomes the Wu Earth in Si, bullying the weak. Although Si contains Geng Metal that can counter-overcome Jia Wood, the Geng Metal in Si is at its Growth Stage, like a newborn baby whose strength is still minimal, forced to endure humiliation and carry a heavy burden. 🌱
Mao is vigorous Wood, like a young or middle-aged person full of energy; Chen is the residual energy of Wood, resembling an aged elder with waning vitality. Thus this pair is called "youth overpowering elder." Mao holds the initiative in this relationship, directly oppressing Chen Earth. 🌱
It's worth noting that Chen contains Yi Wood, which collaborates with Mao Wood from within, preventing Chen Earth's internal structure from being solid. Mao Wood's strength can thus penetrate deep into Chen's interior, causing even greater damage.
Shen is the Prosperity Stage of Metal, and Hai is the Prosperity Stage of Water; both are thriving branches. The relationship network in Shen-Hai Harm is extremely complex:
These three form a circular overcoming cycle, evenly matched, with no clear hierarchy. When encountering Shen-Hai Harm, one may simply take both branches as injured. But one point demands special attention: Shen Metal is naturally supposed to generate Hai Water (Metal generates Water)—this is the principle of "harming despite the desire not to harm"—though they inherently have a generating relationship, harm turns it into mutual injury, like repaying kindness with enmity, which is deeply lamentable. 🌊
You is vigorous Metal, and Xu is the Vault of Fire (a Fire vault in decline). You Metal feels that Xu Earth has already decayed and cannot truly overcome it, so it harbors resentment and refuses to submit—hence the name "Jealousy Mutual Harm." 🔥
Generally speaking, the Ding Fire in Xu overcomes You Metal, and You Metal is injured. In most cases of You-Xu Harm, You Metal ends up harmed. This is because although Ding Fire is hidden within a vault, Fire's overcoming of Metal is an essential, substantive injury; no matter how strong You Metal is, it struggles to fully resist. This point requires special attention in practical chart analysis.
The essence of the Six Harms is "covert injury." Unlike the open confrontation of Clash or the tangled complexity of Punishment, Harm is a hidden, cumulative destructive force. It does not directly attack the chart's overall configuration, yet it continuously exerts negative influences on life's details—six relatives, health, emotions, and more.
Harm originates from Combination—it is precisely because of closeness that betrayal and damage arise. This reflects a philosophical view of mutual generation and overcoming between yin and yang: where there is union, there must be separation; where there is intimacy, there must be estrangement; where there is kindness, there must be grievance. The Six Harms remind us: the deepest wounds often come from our closest relationships.
In modern life, the Six Harms can be understood as hidden conflicts and subtle depletion:
In actual chart analysis, the application of the Six Harms requires attention to the following:
The wisdom of the Six Harms reveals the complexity of relationships. Between people, there isn't merely "Combination" and "Clash"—more often, there exists a subtle, ambiguous middle state of simultaneous cooperation and injury. This reflects the depth of traditional Chinese philosophy's observation of human nature: it does not reduce the world to black and white, but acknowledges that every relationship can simultaneously contain love and hate, generation and overcoming, support and depletion.
"Because of the Six Combinations, the Six Harms arise"—Combination and Harm are two sides of the same coin. The flip side of intimacy is the possibility of mutual hurt. Understanding this allows one to approach chart reading without excessive optimism or pessimism, instead facing life's ups and downs with equanimity.
In contemporary BaZi studies, some scholars have drawn analogies between the Six Harms and the concept of "passive-aggressive behavior" in modern psychology, finding that the relational patterns described by the Harms closely align with the interpersonal dynamics of "surface cordiality with covert rivalry." Other researchers have analyzed the Harms through systems theory, suggesting that they essentially describe sustained, low-intensity friction within a system—friction that is not fatal in itself, yet through long-term accumulation exerts profound influence on systemic stability.