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夫干犹木之干，强而为阳；支犹木之枝，弱而为阴。昔盘古氏明天地之道，达阴阳之变为三才。首君以天地既分之后，先有天而后有地，由是气化而人生焉，故天皇氏一姓十三人，继盘古氏以治，是曰天灵淡泊，无为而俗自化，始制干支之名，以定岁之所在。其十干曰：于逢、旃蒙、柔兆、疆圉、着雍、屠维、上章、重光、玄、昭阳；十二支曰：困敦、赤奋若、摄提格、单于、执徐、大荒落、敦洋、协洽、滩、作噩、阉茂、大渊献。蔡邕独断曰：“干，干也。其名有十，亦曰十母，即今甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸是也；支，枝也。其名十有二，亦曰十二子，即今子丑寅卯辰已午未申酉戍亥是也。”谓之天皇氏者，取其天开于子之义也；谓之地皇氏者，取其地辟于丑之义也；谓之人皇氏者，取其人生于寅之义也。故干支之名在天皇时始制，而地皇氏则定三辰，道分昼夜，以三十日为一月，而干支始各有所配。人皇氏者，主不虚王，臣不虚贵，政教君臣所自起，饮食男女所自始，始得天地之气而有子母之分，于是干支始有所属焉。至于伏羲仰观象于天，俯观法于地，中观万物与人，始画八卦以通神明之德，以类万物之情，以作甲历而文字生焉。逮及黄帝授河图，见日月星辰之象，于是始有星官之书。命大尧探五行之情，占斗纲所建，于是始作甲子配五行纳音之属。
Essence of Stems and Branches: The Heavenly Stems are like the main trunk of a tree 🌳, strong and associated with Yang 🔥; the Earthly Branches are like the branches and twigs 🌿, pliant and associated with Yin 💧. After Pangu separated heaven and earth, the Celestial Sovereign Clan (thirteen people sharing one surname) inherited the way of governance, followed the laws of nature, and society was governed through non-action. At this time, the names of the Ten Heavenly Stems (Yufeng → Jia, Zhanmeng → Yi, Rouzhao → Bing, Jiangyu → Ding, Zhuoyong → Wu, Tuwei → Ji, Shangzhang → Geng, Chongguang → Xin, Xuan → Ren, Zhaoyang → Gui) and the Twelve Earthly Branches (Kundun → Zi, Chifenruo → Chou, Shetige → Yin, Chanyu → Mao, Zhixu → Chen, Dahuangluo → Si, Dunyang → Wu, Xieqia → Wei, Tan → Shen, Zuo'e → You, Yanmao → Xu, Dayuanxian → Hai) were first created to mark the passage of time.
Evolution of the Three Sovereigns:
Civilizational Leap:
Fuxi 🔮 observed the patterns of heaven, earth, and all things, created the Eight Trigrams symbols to communicate with deities and classify all phenomena, and formulated the Jiazi calendar 📜, promoting the birth of writing. During the era of the Yellow Emperor 🗺️, inspired by the River Chart, stellar positions were recorded. Da Yao was commanded to investigate the characteristics of the Five Elements and the direction pointed by the Big Dipper 🧭, ultimately perfecting the system of matching Stems and Branches with the Five Elements and Na Yin.
From "Pangu separating heaven and earth" to "the Yellow Emperor establishing the calendar", it reflects the ultimate pursuit of a sense of order in Chinese civilization—summarizing the chaotic universe into a knowable, operable symbolic system. This thinking of "encoding nature" bears a striking resemblance to contemporary artificial intelligence's logic of parsing the world with algorithms 🤖.
| Field | Related Concepts | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar | Jiazi Calendar, Lunar Calendar | Sexagenary cycle combined with lunar cycle |
| Five Elements | Na Yin Five Elements, Dou Gang Jian Yue | Sound attributes and spatial orientations of Stems/Branches paired with Five Elements |
| I Ching Studies | Symbolism of the Eight Trigrams | Fuxi's Eight Trigrams' symbolic classification of all things |
| History | Legends of the River Chart and Luo Writing | Evidence of interaction between ancient civilization and astronomy |
Further Reading
🌟 Key Reminder: The ancient names of the Stems and Branches (e.g., "Zhanmeng", "Dayuanxian") were simplified into the modern common names by the Han Dynasty. When studying, there's no need to force memorization of the ancient names; focus on understanding their symbolic logic and philosophical connotations.
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