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原出吕才蛮灭之说，只以男女年，浪立数目，配合相成，名曰合婚。妄立天医福德为上婚，游魂归魂为中婚，五鬼绝命为下婚。其谬甚矣。安可只以男女二年命，舍去月与日时，而能论人婚配者乎？若是有理，则天下之议婚者，俱择上中二婚者而配之，择下婚者而舍之，其书其易而不难，宜乎天下先天奇之妇，丧偶之矣。夫何后世又有孤孀之患者？分虽出于宿世之所定，而亦由于议婚者之明也。然议婚之礼，人道之端，亦不可不慎也。其理当何如耶？但当看男命，带比肩劫财重者，心择妇命带伤官食神重者配之。若妇命带伤官食神重者，必择男命带比肩劫财重者配之。此系合婚之正理。岂可以吕才上中下三婚无根之说，无据之理，而议人之婚配也耶！吕才说之谬，不足信也明矣。
Overall Paraphrased Translation
This passage is derived from Shenfeng Tongkao and critiques the marriage matching method proposed by the ancient figure Lü Cai. Lü Cai carelessly paired couples based solely on their birth years, categorizing them into three types: Tianyi Fude (upper marriage), Youhun Guihun (middle marriage), and Wugui Jueming (lower marriage). The author considers this approach utterly absurd 🤦. How can marriage matching rely solely on the year pillars of the man and woman while ignoring the complete eight characters (year, month, day, and hour pillars)? If this method were truly effective, then everyone in the world would choose upper or middle marriages and avoid lower marriages, and there would be no widows or widowers. Yet, the reality is that loneliness and widowhood still exist, proving the method's unreliability. The author emphasizes that the correct principle of marriage matching is: if a man's fate is heavy with比肩 (comparable peers) and劫财 (robbing wealth), he should be paired with a woman whose fate is heavy with伤官 (hurting officials) and食神 (eating gods), and vice versa. This is a reasonable approach based on the balance of the five elements in the eight characters, rather than relying on Lü Cai's unsubstantiated three-marriage classification. Lü Cai's theory is clearly erroneous and not credible.
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