BaZi: SMTH - 论正官 - Direct Officer part 2

Continuation from the previous post, SMTH discussing Direct Officer.


官止一二，无财有印，身弱无妨，
When there's one or two Officer, wealth is absent while Seal is present, Weak Self is okay.


若四柱皆归背禄，宜推岁运向背, 财官旺地何如？
If the four pillars all belongs to BeiLu (against Fortune), it is beneficial to look at the Luck pillar and Annual Pillar to see which is for and against, how was the LP / AP when Wealth and Officer are strong?


Trey - 背禄 BeiLu - Back against Fortune, is a classical term that refers to the outputs Food God and Hurting Officer when they are not auspicious in the chart. Such as Jia DM has Bing and Ding as BeiLu. 背 Bei means back, turning its back on something while the word 禄 Lu could means Fortune or Salary.


若财官满目，日主衰弱，不能负荷，徒劳无用，运至财煞旺乡，多染痨瘵，但有七煞行运复遇，便是徒流之命。
If the chart is full of Wealth and Officer, DM is weak, it cannot carry the burden, futile and useless, when LP goes to Wealth and Devil, causes lungs infection, if 7K is seen repeatedly on the LP, the person will have a life in prison (criminal life).


又曰甲生酉月，辛金正禄，若见丁伤，支中无局，时引归衰败死绝之地，或有制合去之衰绝之火，岂能伤其旺禄。
It is also said that Jia born in the month of You, Xin metal as the True Fortune (Direct Officer), if Ding Hurting Officer is seen, and there's no frame in the branches,on the branches the Hurting Officer has Qi in stages of Waning, Failing, Death and Extinction, or if there's a counter or combination that put off the Waning and Extinct (weak) Fire, how can it hurt the prosperous Fortune (Direct Officer)


Trey - If a Direct Officer structure sees a Hurting Officer protruding in the HS, it is regarded as very inauspicious, however if the Hurting Officer is weak i.e when

1. There's no frame (triple combo or half triple combo) in the branches that supports the Hurting Officer
2. In the other branches (Year, Day and Hour) Ding Fire falls into the state of very weak Qi such as the stage of Waning (Shuai), Failing (MuYu), Death (Si) or Extinction (Jue),
3. When Hurting Officer is countered or combined, e.g. Jia has Ding Fire as Hurting Officer, Gui would counter Hurting Officer, Ren would combine the Hurting Officer.


Under these circumstances, it's not possible for Hurting Officer to counter the Direct Officer.
若时引官星临衰败死绝之位，反引丁火归生旺之乡或临煞地，降官失职，祸生无疑。

If in the branches, the Qi for Direct Officer is weak (under the stages of Shuai, Bai, Si and Jue), an on the contrary, Ding Fire has supports from the branches or when it comes to the devil's land, it signifies demotion and the lost of job, unavoidable disasters.


时为归息之地，吉凶全在时消息。
The hour, is the place of return and rest, auspiciousness and inauspiciousness depends on the news at the Hour.




Trey - The Hour Pillar plays a very significant role in a BaZi chart. If we use the analogy of a tree, the year Pillar is likened to the roots of a new sprout, it's the base of a tree, a good root system will ensure the healthy growth of the tree. The month pillar is the period of sprouting to growing new branches, twigs and leaves, it signifies the development stage of the new tree. Day pillar represents the flowering period, the time when the grower anticipates the harvests. The hour pillar represents the fruits, the harvest period. It is when one gets to reap what he has sowed. Good or bad harvest depends on the hour pillar.


日主用神太盛，宜时以节制之；日主用神渐衰，宜时以补助之。柱中虽有凶神，时能节制，亦不能为祸。此看命之要法也。
If the Useful God for the DM is too strong, it's beneficial for the hour to moderate; if the Useful God for the DM is weak, it's beneficial for the hour to assist Even if the pillars have some inauspicious gods, but it can be moderated by the hour pillar, it cannot become misfortune. This is an important point to be considered when reading a Life (chart).


又曰甲生丑月，内有辛金，又值酉时，己是重犯，若天干复透辛多，更行西方，力不胜任，变官为鬼，旺处必倾，多致灾夭，须有合制方吉。
It is also said, Jia born in the month of Chou, within there's Xin metal, also it was born in the hour of You, it is already a repetition, if in the Heaven there's many Xin metal protruding, and (the LP) goes west, (DM) strength is not capable of handling its responsibility, thus Officer turns into Ghost (7K), (7K) prosperous place will collapse, many leads to disasters and short life, there must be combination or control to make it auspicious.


Trey - This is similar to ZPZQ concept of 动静 movement and stillness, Heaven is moving and Earth is still, the only time when the earth moves is when there's a combination among the branches. Like this example, when DM Jia is born in the month of Chou, it can be a mixed Qi Direct Officer structure, when the hour pillar is You, You and Chou combines and earth moves, Direct Officer structure becomes real. When there's only one Xin metal protrudes, the chart will be considered auspicious, the Direct Officer on Heaven has strong support from the frame at the branches. But there's more than one DO in Heaven it becomes repetition, with the strong support from earth, the Officer turns into Devil, if DM strength is weak, Devil will attack DM and cause misfortune.


若自身乘旺，如甲寅、乙卯等日，更有印生助，官星虽多亦不为害。
If DM rides on prosperity, like Jia Yin or Yi Mao days, and there's also Seal to engender and assist, abundant DO stars would not be harmful.


甲生戌月，虽坐火库，若不成局，无党不能为害。
Jia born in the month of Xu, although it sits on fire storage, if it does not becomes a frame, or become a party, it cannot be harmful.


Trey - Xu month is fire storage, with residual Metal Qi and innate Earth Qi, In this case, metal is considered strong as fire engenders earth engenders metal. However if there's no metal frame, i.e. Shen-You-Xu, there's not party (many DOs), it cannot be regarded as harmful.


又曰取官星不必专泥月令支辰，或月干，或年日时支干，只一处有，不曾损伤，皆可取用。
Also it is said that to use the Direct Officer star, it does not necessarily have to come from the Month Decree; the Month Stem, or Year and Day Stems or branches, there's only one place (with DO) exists, and its not broken or injured, it can be used (as the Useful God).


Trey - There's an old system that tries to establish charts as Officer structures first before considering other structures, reason being Officer is the leader of the gods.


故经云：明干有气明干取，明干无气暗中取。若明干无气，引归地支，或有助托，运行得地，亦不减月内官星之福。
As the old classics says: If the apparent stems has Qi, take it from the apparent stems, if the apparent stems has no Qi, take it from the obscurity. If the apparent stem has no Qi , (DO exists) only in the branches, or if there's support (for DO), when the LP goes to a good place, it will not reduce the fortune of the Officer star that is in the month branch.


This paragraph talks about the DO in the month branch, if Officer is not seen on the stems, it can be taken from the month EB, as long as it has support, it can still be an auspicious chart.
又曰凡论官星，略见一位食神坐实，便能损局，惟月令隐禄，见食却为三奇之贵。大要看官食虚实何如，若官星坐实，合神略虚，随官助贵；合神坐实，官星渐弱，官随合神，谓之贪合忘官。

Also it is said that for DO (structure), if one Food God is seen sitting strongly, that will damage the structure, unless the DO is hidden in the Month Decree, seeing Food God will be regarded as the Three Wonders (SanQi). Largely, the strength of the Officer or Food has to be determined, if the Officer star sits strongly, the combination god unreal (weak), then it would follow the Officer to assist nobility; if the combination god sits strongly, Officer star is weak, it will follow the combination god, being greedy of combination and forgets Officer.


Trey - This tells that Officer star does not like to see Food on the Stems because Food can combine with Officer, for example a Jia DM uses Xin as Officer, Bing as Food, Bing Xin combination is the combination between Food and Officer. If it combines, it has to be seen which of the two gods has more support from the roots. If Officer has more support, it is considered auspicious and vice versa

This could also explain the resultant element listed in ZPSYJD.

For example, Jia uses Bing as Food and Xin as Officer, if Jia is born in the month of Si, Bing and Xin combination will transform to Fire instead of Water according to the classics. In this case, Officer will only be gone after combination.

On the other hand, if Jia is born in the month You, with Xin and Bing protruding, Xin will combine with Bing to Metal, which can only strengthen metal. IMO that is what the text above meant.

又曰正官格，要行印乡，即是逢官看印，柱中原有印随，官因轻重，日干强弱，以观所以之运，身弱印轻，要补其印，身旺官轻，要补其官，行伤官运即是背禄，行身旺运即是逐马。
It is also said, if it's a Direct Officer structure, LP should undergo Seal, which is Seeing Officer must look at Seal, this must be according to the strength of Officer, DM and Seal, if DM is weak, Seal is weak, then the Seal must be supported, if Self is strong and DO is weak, then DO must be supported. Undergo Hurting Officer LP is BeiLu, (turning against the Fortune), going through Self prosperous Luck would be ZhuMa (chasing after the Horse)




Trey - 背禄逐马 BeiLu ZhuMa, turning against the Officer and chasing the Horse is a BaZi saying that indicates conditions that cause damage to the Officer (Fortune) and Wealth (Horse). 背禄 BeiLu refers to a strong DM with a strong output, consequently output would harm the Officer, while 逐马 ZhuMa refers to a strong DM with a strong Parallel or, RobWealth.




Okay, that's all for today's post. More translations coming soon.

BaZi: SMTH - 论正官 - Direct Officer

Direct Officer

三命通会 San Ming Tong Hui says:

正官者，乃甲见辛、乙见庚之例。阴阳配合，相制有用，成其道也。故正官为六格之首，止许一位，多则不宜。正官先看月令，然后方看其余。
Direct Officer, is like Jia meeting Xin, Yi meeting Geng. The matching of Yin and Yang, Mutually countering makes it useful because that completes the Tao. Thus Direct Officer is regarded as the Leader of the 6 structures, only one is allowed, many is more beneficial. Direct Officer must firstly be analyzed from the Month's Decree, after that the rest can be analyzed.


以五行之气，惟月令当时为最，况四柱各管年限，年管十五，失之太早，时管五十后，失之太迟。故只此月令为正，余格例此。
With the Qi of five elements, only the Month Decree that represent the current season is most important, furthermore the four pillars each takes control of periods, Year controls (before) fifteen (years of age), if it's lost then it's too early, hour controls after fifty (years of age), if it's lost then it's too late. Thus only the Month's decree is regarded as the true, the other structures (follow the) same (concept).




According to this paragraph, the strongest Qi of the five elements comes from the Month as it also denotes the season, besides, each of the Pillars denotes a certain age period in a person's life. For example the Year Pillar represents before 15 years of age, the Hour Pillar represents after 50 years old.


甲日生酉月，乙生申巳，丙生子，丁生亥，戊生卯，己生寅，庚生午，辛生寅巳，壬生午未丑，癸生辰巳戌月，皆为正气。
Jia day born in the month of You, Yi born in the month of Shen or Si, Bing born in Zi, Ding born in Hai, Wu born in Mao, Ji born in Yin, Geng born in Wu, Xin born in Yin or So, Ren born in Wu, Wei or Chou, Gui born in Chen, Si or Xu, all these are True (Direct) Qi.


These are matching of DM with Month EB where a DO structure can be established.


官星更天干透出，如甲见辛酉，乙见庚申之例，谓之支藏干透，余位不宜再见，又须日主健旺，得财印两扶，柱中不见伤煞，行运引至官乡，大富大贵命也。
When the Officer star is protruded in HS, such as Jia meeting Xin You, it's named Hidden in Branch and Protruding in Stem, it's not good for other places to meet (DO) again, also the DM needs to be strong and prosperous, and having Wealth and Seal supporting (Officer), in the pillars Hurt and Devil are not seen, when the Luck goes to Officer, it's a life of great wealth and nobility.


The best grade of DO structure should have the following characteristics:

1. DO is hidden in the month EB and protrudes in HS
2. Only a single DO protrudes.
3. DM is strong
4. Has Wealth or Seal to support or both to support DO
5. Does not see Hurting Officer or 7K


When all these criteria are met, and the LP goes into the elements for DO, then the person would enjoy great success.


大忌刑冲破害、伤官七煞、贪合忘官、劫财分福，为破格。
Highly inauspicious is Punishment, clash, break and harm, Hurting Officer and 7 Killing, greedy of combination and forgotten officer, Rob Wealth to divides fortune, these are broken structures.

A DO structure dislikes

1. Punishment, Clash, Break and Harm
2. Hurting Officer, which is regarded as Hurting Officer seeing Officer, hundreds of extreme disasters "伤官见官,为祸百端"
3. Greedy to combine, thus forgetting (its function as) Officer, Such as Jia DM with Xin as DO, meeting Bing in the HS will combine Xin, so Xin is lost. However, if Xin is strongly rooted or has a frame in the EB supporting it, it will not totally lose its function.
4. Rob wealth, as RW always compete for Wealth and Officer. 争官夺财, this is likely to happen when the position of the Rob Wealth is close to the DO and Wealth.


如甲生酉月，见卯为冲、酉为刑、午为破、戌为害、丙为合、乙为劫、丁为伤克、庚为混杂、须是官星纯一，五行和粹，方以正官论。
Like Jia born in the month of You, seeing Mao is clash, Wu as break, Xu as harm, Bing as combination, Yi as Rob, Ding as Hurt and counter, Geng as mingle, what is needed is a pure Officer star, five elements in harmony and unmixed, only that is regarded as True (Direct) Officer.


This paragraph gives some examples of some inauspicious factors that could affect the DO structure. DO does not want to be mixed with 7K, the situation is called 官杀混杂, Officer and Killing mix and mingle, resulting in a broken structure. DO structure wants to stay clear and pure, DO should not be punished, clashed, broken, harm, robbed, combined, hurt or mixed.


若见前忌柱中，虽有物去之，亦不纯粹，若官星结局，又有财资扶，非行身旺地不发。
If these inauspicious factors are seen in the pillars, even though there are other factors that could remove them, it is still not pure, if DO star forms a frame, and there's also Wealth to support, if the LP does not go to the place where DM prospers, the person would not have success.

DO star forms a frame means there's a elemental frame formed in the EB, for example Jia uses You as Officer, and Si-You-Chou combine to form an Officer frame. When a chart has a strong Officer supported by its frame and wealth, DM needs support from the LP to be successful. This conforms to ZPZQ concepts of 有情 (affection) and 有力 (strength). A chart with DO supported by its frame and wealth is considered affectionate 有情, however it lacks the strength aspect as a DO frame usually denotes a weak DM. So in order to fulfill the concept of 有力, LP needs to support DM.

OK, that's all for today's post, I'll continue translating the same chapter in the coming post.


Have a nice day.

BaZi: Between Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch.

BaZi: Between Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch.

It had been a very hectic week and I could not update the blog as much as I wanted. I tried to write something but I could not think of anything because of exhaustion, most of my posts are left unfinished.

Anyway, in this post I'd like to translate a part of ZPZQ about the differences between HS and EB and how they function in a BaZi chart.

ZPZQ says:
原文：命中喜忌，虽支干俱有，而干主天，动而有为，支主地，静以待用，且干主一而支藏多，为福为祸，安不得殊？

Even though HS and EB have their own favorable and unfavorable (element, character), Stems primarily represent Heaven, it is moving and it acts, Branches primarily represent Earth, it is still and awaits use, and Stem is mainly one (element) while Branch hides many (elements), as fortune or misfortune, don't they have their own uniqueness? 

This paragraph tells some very important points, a BaZi chart is divided into Heaven and Earth, Heaven is occupied by the Stems, which belong to a certain single element and the Earth is occupied by the branches that are made of mixed elements. Also, Heaven moves and Earth is still, Heaven acts and Earth awaits, this sentence might be difficult to understand for non-classically trained practitioners so let me try to explain.

Heaven, the stems are the elements that 'acts' in a BaZi chart, that is because they moves, they engender and counter, support and exhausts. 

Earth, the branches are Gods that wait for instruction from Heaven, that is because they are 'still' (unmoving). The branches do not engender or counter, they punish, clash, break and harm (刑冲破害)

So when we choose a Useful God, we usually choose the one that protrudes to the Heaven, for example Jia born in Yin month with protruding Jia is regarded as JianLu structure, with the Useful God being Jia, a parallel. If Bing fire protrudes, then the chart is regarded as a Food God structure, with Bing Fire being the Useful God.

ZPZQ gives some examples here:

譬如甲用酉官，逢庚辛则官煞杂，而申酉不作此例。

For example Jia uses You Officer, meeting Geng and Xin, it becomes 'Officer and Devil mixed' (which is inauspicious), but Shen and You are not regarded as Such. 

If Jia wood is born in the month of You, metal takes command, if Geng protrudes, it's a 7K structure, if Xin protrudes, it's a Direct Officer structure, if both protrudes it's considered as DO mixed with 7K, a broken structure. However if we see Shen and You both existing in the earthly branches, we do not take them as DO mixed with 7K.

申亦辛之旺地，辛坐申酉，如府官又掌道印也。
Shen is also the prosperous place for Xin, Xin sits on Shen You is like the government officer who also has the seal of Tao. (I don't know what does the Seal of Tao mean)

逢二辛则官犯重，而二酉不作此例。
Meeting 2 Xins is regarded as double officer (which is not good), but seeing 2 You is not regarded as such.

辛坐二酉，如一府而摄二郡也，透丁则伤官，而逢午不作此例。
Xin sits on 2 You, is like a governor assimilating 2 regions, meeting Ding is regarded as Hurting Officer, but meeting Wu is not regarded as such.

丁动而午静，且丁己并藏，安知其为财也？
Ding moves and Wu is still, and Ding and Ji are both hidden, is it safe to know that it is wealth?

然亦有支而能作祸福者，何也？如甲用酉官，逢午酉未能伤，而又遇寅遇戌，不隔二位，二者合而火动，亦能伤矣。
Then there are branches that can be fortune and misfortune, why? such as Jia uses You Officer, meeting Wu, You still will not be injured, but also seeing Yin and Xu, they are not separated, 2 of them combine and fire moves, and that will cause injury (to the Officer).

即此反观，如甲生申月，午不制煞，会寅会戌，二者清局而火动，亦能伤矣。

And to look for the opposite perspective, Like Jia born in the month of Shen, Wu does not control 7K, seeing Yin and Xu, they clear the frame and fire moves, that also will injure (the 7K)

然必会有动，是正与干有别也。即此一端，余者可知。

That meeting will cause movement, that is the difference from the stems. From this one point, the others can be known.

Okay, the text says pretty much everything that we need to know about the difference between HS and EB and how they function in a BaZi chart. In summary, we analyze the interactions of Gods mainly from the Heavenly Stems, if there's a meeting or combination in the Earthly Branches, it will cause movement of the resultant elements, and that will influence of the interactions in the Heavenly Stems. 

Ciao

BaZi: Time adjustment

I personally use time adjustment to get the hour pillar. Reason being, back in ancient China, they did not have clocks on their walls, they did not use a standardized time system like we do today. What they had was a device that tells time by indicating the positions of the sun throughout the day and the year, a device named 圭 Gui, which is the same a sundial. In modern times, we no longer use sundials to tell the time, we have clocks which are set according to local timezone. The time displayed on the clock might not tell the correct position of the Sun, but it can be adjusted to Local Apparent Time LAT that tells exactly the position of the Sun.

Gui 圭

For time adjustment, I use a software recommended by the mods in Fivearts called Time Zone Master. The software is available for free here.

I find the software very useful although it took me some time to get used to its feature. In this post, I'd like to explain step by step on how to get the LAT with Time Zone Master.

Firstly we need the birth data of the person, just like we normally do when we want to plot a BaZi chart. We need the time, day, month, year and location of birth to get the LAT.

Let's take for example we need to adjust the time for a male born in KunMing China on 17/March/1980 4.35pm according to his birth certificate.

Next, run Time Zone Master, a little clock would appear somewhere on your screen, like this:

Notice that the clock says 'Spokane', that indicates that the clock is showing time at Spokane, United States,
so we need to change the clock location, from Spokane in United States to KunMing in China. In order to do that, right click on the wall, it will show a list, and choose 'Edit Clock Location'

After that a new Window will show up that looks like this:

The Location says WA, Spokane United States, we should change it to KunMing, China from the drop down list and click 'OK'

After that the Clock's name will change from Spokane to Kunming.

In order to explore the past time, we need to double click on the clock (left click), a new tab will show up - it says Explore Past, Present, Future, notice that there's a section for us to input the birth date, and another section to input the birth time. Let's change both according for the male born in KunMing on 17/March/1980 4.35pm

There are many tabs in the window, click on 'Solar' to display LAT.

The LAT for 17 March 1980 4:35PM in KunMing China is 4:17PM, meaning there's 18 minutes difference between the Standard time (which is LONT) in KunMing and the true Solar time. In this case, the hour pillar remains the same. However, had the man been born on 3.17PM (Shen hour) according to KunMing time, the LAT would be 2.59PM, (Wei hour).

After we get the correct time, we can proceed to plot the BaZi chart.

That's all for today's post. Have a nice day.