On the Ten Celestial Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches - 10
Original Text
丙生子月，时逢巳禄，不以为正官之格，归禄帮身，而以为日禄归时，逢官破局。
辛日透丙，时遇戊子，不以为辛日得官逢印，而以为朝阳之格，因丙无成。
财逢时煞，不以为生煞攻身，而以为时上偏官。
癸生巳月，时遇甲寅，不以为暗官受破，而以为刑合成格。
癸生冬月，酉日亥时，透戊坐戌，不以为月劫建禄，用官通根，而以为拱戌之格，填实不利。辛日坐丑，寅年，亥月，卯时，不以为正财之格，而以为填实拱贵。
乙逢寅月，时遇丙子，不以为木火通明，而以为格成鼠贵。
八字本有定理，理之不明，遂生异端，妄言妄听，牢不可破。如论干支，则不知阴阳之理，而以俗书体象歌诀为确论；论格局，则不知专寻月令，而以拘泥外格为活变；论生克，则不察喜忌，而以伤旺扶弱为定法；论行运，则不问同中有导，而以干支相类为一例。
究其缘由，一则书中用字轻重，不知其意，而谬生偏见；一则以鹆书无知妄作，误会其说，而深入迷途；一则论命取运，偶然凑合，而遂以己见为不易，一则以古人命式，亦有误收，即收之不误，又以己意入外格，尤为害人不浅。
如壬申、癸丑、己丑、甲戌，本杂气财旺生官也，而以为乙亥时，作时上偏官论，岂知旺财生煞，将救死之不暇，于何取贵？此类甚多，皆误收格局也。如己未、壬申、戊子、庚申，本食神生财也，而欲弃月令，以为戊日庚申合禄之格，岂知本身自有财食，岂不甚美？又何劳以庚合乙，求局外之官乎，此类甚多，皆硬入外格也。
人苟中无定见，察理不精，睹此谬论，岂能无惑？何况近日贵格不可解者，亦往往有之乎？岂知行术之人，必以贵命为指归，或将风闻为实据，或探其生日，而即以己意加之生时，谬造贵格，其人之八字，时多未确，即彼本身，亦不自知。若看命者不究其本，而徒以彼既富贵迁就其说以相从，无惑乎终身无解日矣！
官以克身，虽与七煞有别，终受彼制，何以切忌刑冲破害，尊之若是乎？岂知人生天地间，必无矫焉自尊之理，虽贵极天子，亦有天祖临之。正官者分所当尊，如在国有君，在家有亲，刑冲破害，以下犯上，乌乎可乎？
以刑冲破害为忌，则以生之护之为喜矣。存其喜而去其忌则贵，而贵之中又有高低者，何也？以财印并透者论之，两不相碍，其贵也大。如薛相公命，甲申、壬申、乙巳，戊寅，壬印戊财，以乙隔之，水与土不相碍，故为大贵。若壬戌、丁未、戊甲、乙卯，杂气正官，透干会支，最为贵格，而壬财丁印，二者相合，仍以孤官无辅论，所以不上七品。
若财印不以两用，则单用印不若单用财，以印能护官，亦能泄官，而财生官也。若化官为印而透财，则又为甚秀，大贵之格也。如金状元命，乙卯、丁亥、丁未、庚戌，此并用财印，无伤官而不杂煞，所谓去其忌而存其喜者也。
然而遇伤在于佩印，混煞贵乎取清。如宣参国命，己卯、辛未、壬寅、辛亥，未中己官透乾用清，支会木局，两辛解之，是遇伤而佩印也。李参政命，庚寅、乙酉、甲子、戊辰，甲用酉官，庚金混杂，乙以合之，合煞留官，是杂煞而取清也。
至于官格透伤用印者，又忌见财，以财能去印，未能生官，而适以护伤故也。然亦有逢财而反大贵者，如范太傅命，丁丑、壬寅、己巳、丙寅，支具巳丑，会金伤官，丙丁解之，透壬岂非破格？却不知丙丁并透，用一而足，以丁合壬而财去，以丙制伤而官清，无情而愈有情。此正造化之妙，变幻无穷，焉得不贵？
取运之道，一八字则有一八字之论，其理甚精，其法甚活，只可大略言之。变化在人，不可泥也。
如正官取运，即以正官所统之格分而配之。正官而用财印，身稍轻则取助身，官稍轻则助官。若官露而不可逢合，不可杂煞，不可重官。与地支刑冲，不问所就何局，皆不利也。
正官用财，运喜印绶身旺之地，切忌食伤。若身旺而财轻官弱，即仍取财官运可也。
正官佩印，运喜财乡，伤食反吉。若官重身轻而佩印，则身旺为宜，不必财运也。
正官带伤食而用印制，运喜官旺印旺之乡，财运切忌。若印绶叠出，财运亦无害矣。
正官而带煞，伤食反为不碍。其命中用劫合煞，则财运可行，伤食可行，身旺，印绶亦可行，只不过复露七煞。若命用伤官合煞，则伤食与财俱可行，而不宜逢印矣。
此皆大略言之，其八字各有议论。运中每遇一字，各有研究，随时取用，不可言形。凡格皆然，不独正官也。
Interpretation
In the case of someone born in the month of Zi under the Bing day stem, and having the Si hour which represents the "gathering of good fortune" (Lu), instead of being regarded as a pattern of the "proper official" (Zheng Guan), it is a situation where the "gathering of good fortune" supports the day stem. It is considered as the "day's good fortune gathering at the hour", and when there is an "official" element, it breaks the pattern.
If Bing Fire appears on a Xin Metal day and there is Wuxu at the hour, we don't consider it as a situation where the Xin day master gets an official star and meets with a seal star. Instead, we regard it as the Chaoyang pattern, because Bing Fire cannot achieve success.
When wealth meets the evil star at the hour pillar, it should not be regarded as the evil star attacking the self in life, but as the partial official at the hour pillar.
When a person is born in the fourth month of the lunar year under the Gui day - stem and the time is the Jia - Yin hour, instead of regarding it as the hidden official being damaged, it is regarded as forming a favorable pattern through the combination by punishment.
In the winter month of the Gui year, on the You day and at the Hai hour, with Wu showing on the Heavenly Stem and sitting on Xu, instead of regarding it as the monthly robbery and the established prosperity (Jianlu), it is considered that the official element roots through, and it is regarded as the pattern of arching Xu, which is unfavorable when filled. For the Xin day sitting on Chou, in the Yin year, the Hai month, and the Mao hour, instead of regarding it as the pattern of the proper wealth, it is considered as filling and arching the noble pattern.
When the person with the earthly branch "Yi" meets the "Yin" month and the time is "Bingzi", it is not considered as the brightness of wood and fire, but as the pattern of the noble rat being formed.
The eight characters in one's birth date (year, month, day, and hour in the Chinese lunar calendar) actually follow certain principles. Due to the lack of understanding of these principles, heresies have emerged. People spread and believe in these wild claims, and such wrong ideas are deeply ingrained. For example, when discussing the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, they don't understand the principle of yin and yang and regard the vulgar rhymes about their forms in books as the absolute truth; when discussing the patterns, they don't know to focus on the monthly branch in the birth chart and instead rigidly adhere to external patterns, thinking they can be flexibly applied; when discussing the interactions of the five - elements (birth and restraint), they don't examine the favorable and unfavorable factors and simply take strengthening the weak and weakening the strong as the fixed rule; when discussing the fortune - changing cycles, they don't distinguish the differences within the similarities and treat the similar Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches in the same way.
Upon investigating the reasons, firstly, some people fail to understand the true meanings of the words in the books, whether they are used lightly or heavily, and thus wrongly develop prejudices. Secondly, they regard the books on fortune - telling as the works of the ignorant and blindly make random speculations, misunderstand the theories therein, and thus fall deeper into the wrong path. Thirdly, when analyzing people's fates and fortunes, they happen to find some coincidences, and then firmly believe their own opinions to be unchangeable. Fourthly, there are some wrongly - collected ancient fortune - telling formulas. Even if the collections are correct, they add their own ideas to form so - called "unusual cases", which is extremely harmful.
For example, in the case of the year of Renshen, the month of Guichou, the day of Jichou, and the hour of Jiaxu, originally it is a situation where the wealth in the mixed qi is prosperous and gives birth to the official qi. However, if it is considered as the hour of Yihai and regarded as the pattern of partial official at the hour, who would know that the prosperous wealth gives birth to the killing qi, and one would be too busy trying to save oneself from death. Where can one obtain nobility? There are many such cases, all of which are wrongly included in the patterns. Another example, for the year of Jihai, the month of Renshen, the day of Wuzhi, and the hour of Gengshen, originally it is a pattern where the eating god gives birth to wealth. But if one wants to abandon the governing qi of the month and regard it as the pattern of combined salary with Gengshen on a Wu day, who would know that one already has wealth and the eating god, which is already very good? Why bother to use Geng to combine with Yi to seek an official position outside the pattern? There are many such cases, all of which are forced into external patterns.
If people have no firm beliefs in their hearts and do not understand the principles clearly, when they see such fallacies, how can they not be confused? Moreover, there are often some inexplicable noble fates these days. How could they know that those who practice fortune - telling always take noble fates as their goal. They may take hearsay as solid evidence, or find out one's birth date and then add their own assumptions about the birth time, falsely creating noble fates. In most cases, the birth time in a person's eight - character horoscope is inaccurate, and even the person himself doesn't know it. If those who read fortunes do not get to the root of the matter but simply follow the theory because the person is rich and noble, it's no wonder that they will never understand it in their whole lives!
Although an official position that requires self - restraint is different from the so - called "Seven Killings", it is ultimately restricted by the latter. Why should we strictly avoid punishment, conflict, breakage, and harm to it and respect it so much? Don't we know that when a person lives between heaven and earth, there is no reason to be arrogantly self - respecting. Even the most noble emperor is still under the influence of heaven and ancestors. A proper official position represents what one should respect. Just as there is a ruler in the country and parents at home, to cause punishment, conflict, breakage, and harm to it is to act against superiors. How can this be allowed?
If one regards punishment, clash, break, and harm as inauspicious, then one will regard generation and protection as auspicious. Preserving the auspicious and removing the inauspicious leads to nobility. However, among the noble, there are differences in rank. Why is this so? Take the situation where both wealth and seal are revealed on the Heavenly Stems. When they do not interfere with each other, the nobility is of a high degree. For example, in the birth chart of Prime Minister Xue: Jia Shen, Ren Shen, Yi Si, Wu Yin. Ren represents the seal and Wu represents the wealth, separated by Yi. So, water and earth do not interfere with each other, thus resulting in great nobility. If the birth chart is Ren Xu, Ding Wei, Wu Jia, Yi Mao, it is a miscellaneous - qi proper official pattern, with the proper official revealed on the Heavenly Stems and assembled in the Earthly Branches, which is a most noble pattern. However, Ren (wealth) and Ding (seal) combine with each other. In this case, it is still regarded as an isolated proper official without support, so the person will not reach a rank higher than the seventh - grade.
If wealth and seal do not serve two purposes simultaneously, using only the seal is not as good as using only wealth. This is because the seal can protect the official and also drain the official, while wealth can generate the official. If the official is transformed into the seal and wealth is revealed, it is an extremely excellent and a pattern for great nobility. For example, in the horoscope of Jin, the top scholar, with the year pillar Yimao, the month pillar Dinghai, the day pillar Dingwei, and the hour pillar Gengxu. Here, both wealth and the seal are used, there is no harm - official, and the killing is not mixed. This is what is called removing the inauspicious and retaining the auspicious.
However, when encountering the "injury" (a concept in traditional Chinese fortune - telling), the key lies in having the "seal" (another concept in traditional Chinese fortune - telling). When there is a mixed "killing" (a concept in traditional Chinese fortune - telling), the important thing is to make it pure. For example, take the case of someone participating in national affairs. With the birth time of Ji Mao, Xin Wei, Ren Yin, and Xin Hai, the official of Ji in the Wei branch appears on the Heavenly Stem, and the earthly branches form a wood combination. The two Xins resolve certain issues, which means encountering the "injury" and having the "seal". For the case of Li, the counselor, with the birth time of Geng Yin, Yi You, Jia Zi, and Wu Chen, Jia uses You as the official, but Geng metal causes a mixed situation. Yi resolves it, leaving the official and getting rid of the mixed "killing", which means purifying the mixed "killing".
As for those whose official pattern has the appearance of the 'injury officer' and uses the 'seal' element, they should avoid the presence of the 'wealth' element. This is because the 'wealth' element can remove the 'seal' and cannot generate the 'official' element, but instead protects the 'injury officer'. However, there are also cases where encountering the 'wealth' element leads to great nobility. For example, in the birth chart of Grand Tutor Fan, with the stems and branches being Ding Chou, Ren Yin, Ji Si, and Bing Yin. Among the branches, there are Si and Chou, which form a combination related to the metal element representing the 'injury officer'. Bing and Ding can resolve this situation. The appearance of Ren seems to break the pattern. But one may not realize that with both Bing and Ding appearing, using one of them is sufficient. Ding combines with Ren, thus removing the 'wealth' element, and Bing restrains the 'injury officer', making the 'official' element clear. Although it seems there is no harmony at first glance, in fact, it becomes more harmonious. This is precisely the wonderful and infinitely changeable nature of fate. How could such a person not achieve nobility?
The way to determine one's fortune: for each set of the eight characters (in Chinese fortune - telling), there is a corresponding theory. The principle is very profound and the method is very flexible. It can only be generally described. The changes depend on individuals and should not be rigidly adhered to.
When selecting the luck cycle based on the proper official, the configurations governed by the proper official should be classified and matched accordingly. If the proper official is combined with wealth and seal, when the body (the day master) is slightly weak, support for the body should be sought; when the proper official is slightly weak, support for the official should be provided. If the official is revealed, it should not be combined, mixed with the seven - kills, or have multiple officials. If there are punishments and clashes in the earthly branches, regardless of what configuration is formed, it is all unfavorable.
When the main official star is combined with the wealth star, it is favorable for the fortune to be in the regions where the seal and the prosperous self - element are present, and the eating - injury stars should be strictly avoided. If the self - element is prosperous while the wealth and the official stars are weak, then the fortune of the wealth and official stars can still be selected.
When the direct official is accompanied by the seal, it is favorable to have the fortune in the wealth sector, and the encounter with the eater and the output is actually auspicious. If the official is strong while the self is weak and accompanied by the seal, then it is better for the self to be prosperous, and there is no need for the fortune in the wealth sector.
When the true official is accompanied by the eater and the destroyer and the seal is used for restraint, the favorable fortune lies in the regions where the official and the seal are prosperous, and the wealth fortune should be strictly avoided. If the seals appear repeatedly, the wealth fortune will do no harm.
When the main official star is accompanied by the seven - killing star, the damaging eating stars are not a hindrance. If in one's horoscope, the robbing - wealth star is used to combine with the seven - killing star, then the wealth luck is feasible, the damaging eating stars are also feasible. When the body (self - element) is strong, the seal star is also feasible, except that the seven - killing star will be revealed again. If the damaging officer star is used to combine with the seven - killing star in the horoscope, then both the damaging eating stars and the wealth star are feasible, but it is not suitable to encounter the seal star.
These are just general descriptions. Each of the eight characters has its own discussions. Whenever a character is encountered in the fortune cycle, it requires individual study and should be utilized according to the circumstances, which is indescribable. This applies to all configurations, not just the "Zheng Guan" (the proper official) configuration.