The Chinese Science of Fate Calculation

THE CHINESE SCIENCE OF FATE-GALCULATION by Chao WeiWei- pang* pang* CONTENTS

II .

III.

H i s t o r y : 1 ) o r ig ig i n, n, 2) 2) be be f o orr e t he he T Jang Dy nasty, 3) L i HsiiHsii- chung, chung, 4) Hsii T su- p^ng1 and Hsii TaTasheng The Doctrine of the 5 Elements and System of the 10 Stems and the 12 Branches The 4 Pillars and Fatal Periods

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T he he O ld ld M e t h o d : 1 ) b ir ir t h a nd nd death of the 5 elements; 2) official emolument; 3) fate, horsey w e al th; th ; 4) body bod y ; 5) the f ac to r s considered together V . T he he Ne Ne w M e t h o d : 1 ) of fi fic ial，2) s e a l, 3) wealth, wealth, 4) food, food, 5) 5) a conclusion V I. Conclusive Remarks

“F ate- calculatio calculation” n” is the the liter al tr ansla tion of the Chin Chinese ese term fuei- ming 推命 . It is is al also c a ll e d lu- ming 祿命 , which mean meanss “offic “official ial emolu em olume ment nt and a nd lim l im it of life ，，，because i t is s upposed upposed to be an a r t t o for f oreca ecast st the officia officiall rank one one w ill get and how how long on one w ill live. It is on one branch of Chin Chinese ese fate- tellin telling. • It is a common belief of some old peoples that the heavenly bodies ar e of influen influence ce over over the destinies destinies of human beings beings . T here is no no doub doubtt the Chinese Chinese fat e- calculation calculation took its root in this conception conception，，but it g rew y in- yang and the 5 elements, and up in the field of the doctrine of yinconsequently it became a science quite different from astrology. The doctrine of the 5 elements is of great importance in Chinese folk lore. Near ly ev ery where we can find its application. application. T he present paper is the first attempt of the author to investigate its manifestations in the various aspects of Chinese life. I.

H IS IS T O R Y O F C H I NE N E S E F A T E - C A L C U L A T IO N 1 . T he O r ig ig in in

Some scholars, past and present, have given their respective answer s as as to when the Chi Chinese nese fatecalculation calculation sys tem orig inated. Most * T he author is indebted indebted to Mr. L i Hsin- wu 李龛午 ;ân assista nt of the Departme nt of Sociology Sociology of the the Fu- jen Univer sity , fo r the ex planation planation of some diffi difficu cult lt points points in the books books of Chinese Chinese fatecalculation calculation.. 279

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of them are inclined to push its origin to a very remote period, but their arg uments uments are not con conclusive. clusive. Fir s t, Li Lix T s'ai 呂才 of the T ， ang dynas ty said tha t the fatecalculation calculation id idea had had been been ver y f louris hing during the We W e s t H a n per iod1 io d1.. He point e d out t ha t S ung Chung Ch ung 宋忠 and Chia I idiculed the deceit deceit of fatetellers and 賈證 at the beg inning of the Hans r idiculed that Wang Ch’ung 王充 during the East Han period expounded the theory of physiognomy. physiognomy. In fac t w hat Sung Chung Chung and and Chia Chia I ridiculed ridiculed was fate fate-telling in the general meaning of the word; it cannot prove the existence of the fatecalculation calculation based based on the the principles of the 5 elements elements in the Han dynasty. dynasty. In Wa ng Ch' Ch'ung's ung's Lun Heng 論衡 the problem of fate is surely much discu discussed ssed and phys phys iognomy is often r efer red to but fatecalculation calculation is never mentioned. mentioned. Contr ar y to the the idea idea of L il T s’a s’a i，this f ac t can be tak en as neg ativ e eviden evidence ce of the the ex istence istence of fatecalculation calculation in the Han dynasty . If it had ex ex isted, isted, Wa ng Ch， ung would have have mentioned it in his his discussions. Secondly Se condly,, C h， ao K ung- w u 露公武 of the Sung dynasty pushed the or ig in to a more ancient ancient per period2 iod2.. He pointed pointed out as ar g ument tha t the the names of the 5 elements and those of the heavenly stems had existed at the times of the Hsia and Shang dynasties and that Cheng Hsilan 鄭玄 of the Han dynasty in h*is commentary to the Shih Ching mentioned the auspiciousness or unauspiciousness of the six things, viz. the years, season seasons, months, months, days, star s and luna r conjunctions. conjunctions. T here is no no dou doubt bt that the 10 stems and 12 branches originated very early, and the doctrine of the 5 elements arose, though comparatively later, not later .than the period of the the Wa r ing States. B ut their existence existence cannot cannot prove that they they wer w er e used the n f o r f ate - calcula cal culatio tion. n. W ha t Cheng Che ng Hs uan ua n say s can only be taken as evidence of the existence of the idea that one’s fate, good or bad, bad, is conn connected ected w ith the the time when on one is born. It cannot prove the the ex istence istence of the. the. method of fatecalculation calculation.. Thirdly, Sung Lien 宋濂，a scholar of the Ming dynasty, wrote an essay, Discuss ions on Fate - telling 祿命辨 3; he copie c opied d all a ll t h a t C h， ao Kung- wu had said and and did not attr ibute the orig in of the the method method of fatefatecalculation to any definite time. Las tly，Wu tly，Wu ChinChin- fang 吳震方 4，a scholar of the Ch’ing dynasty, contr ar y to the aboveabove- mentio entioned ned three, dated the origin to too late a period. A ccor ding ding to to him Chi Chinese nese fatefate-- calculatio calculation n was invented by by L i Hsii- chung chung 李虛中 of the the T ang dynasty. ynasty. The scholar Chao I 趙翼 5，a 1 ) C hi u T ’a ’a ng ng S hu hu 奮唐書，chiian 79. 2) ChiinChiin- chai T u- shu Chih 郡齋讀書志，chiian 14. 3) 4) 5)

Sung HsiiehHsiieh- shih We n Chi 采學士文集，cM an 16. T u- shu Chih Chih-- i 讀書質疑，in the Shuo- ling 說鈴 • Hai- yii T s’ung s’ung K ’ao 晓餘叢考，chiian 34.

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of them are inclined to push its origin to a very remote period, but their arg uments uments are not con conclusive. clusive. Fir s t, Li Lix T s'ai 呂才 of the T ， ang dynas ty said tha t the fatecalculation calculation id idea had had been been ver y f louris hing during the We W e s t H a n per iod1 io d1.. He point e d out t ha t S ung Chung Ch ung 宋忠 and Chia I idiculed the deceit deceit of fatetellers and 賈證 at the beg inning of the Hans r idiculed that Wang Ch’ung 王充 during the East Han period expounded the theory of physiognomy. physiognomy. In fac t w hat Sung Chung Chung and and Chia Chia I ridiculed ridiculed was fate fate-telling in the general meaning of the word; it cannot prove the existence of the fatecalculation calculation based based on the the principles of the 5 elements elements in the Han dynasty. dynasty. In Wa ng Ch' Ch'ung's ung's Lun Heng 論衡 the problem of fate is surely much discu discussed ssed and phys phys iognomy is often r efer red to but fatecalculation calculation is never mentioned. mentioned. Contr ar y to the the idea idea of L il T s’a s’a i，this f ac t can be tak en as neg ativ e eviden evidence ce of the the ex istence istence of fatecalculation calculation in the Han dynasty . If it had ex ex isted, isted, Wa ng Ch， ung would have have mentioned it in his his discussions. Secondly Se condly,, C h， ao K ung- w u 露公武 of the Sung dynasty pushed the or ig in to a more ancient ancient per period2 iod2.. He pointed pointed out as ar g ument tha t the the names of the 5 elements and those of the heavenly stems had existed at the times of the Hsia and Shang dynasties and that Cheng Hsilan 鄭玄 of the Han dynasty in h*is commentary to the Shih Ching mentioned the auspiciousness or unauspiciousness of the six things, viz. the years, season seasons, months, months, days, star s and luna r conjunctions. conjunctions. T here is no no dou doubt bt that the 10 stems and 12 branches originated very early, and the doctrine of the 5 elements arose, though comparatively later, not later .than the period of the the Wa r ing States. B ut their existence existence cannot cannot prove that they they wer w er e used the n f o r f ate - calcula cal culatio tion. n. W ha t Cheng Che ng Hs uan ua n say s can only be taken as evidence of the existence of the idea that one’s fate, good or bad, bad, is conn connected ected w ith the the time when on one is born. It cannot prove the the ex istence istence of the. the. method of fatecalculation calculation.. Thirdly, Sung Lien 宋濂，a scholar of the Ming dynasty, wrote an essay, Discuss ions on Fate - telling 祿命辨 3; he copie c opied d all a ll t h a t C h， ao Kung- wu had said and and did not attr ibute the orig in of the the method method of fatefatecalculation to any definite time. Las tly，Wu tly，Wu ChinChin- fang 吳震方 4，a scholar of the Ch’ing dynasty, contr ar y to the aboveabove- mentio entioned ned three, dated the origin to too late a period. A ccor ding ding to to him Chi Chinese nese fatefate-- calculatio calculation n was invented by by L i Hsii- chung chung 李虛中 of the the T ang dynasty. ynasty. The scholar Chao I 趙翼 5，a 1 ) C hi u T ’a ’a ng ng S hu hu 奮唐書，chiian 79. 2) ChiinChiin- chai T u- shu Chih 郡齋讀書志，chiian 14. 3) 4) 5)

Sung HsiiehHsiieh- shih We n Chi 采學士文集，cM an 16. T u- shu Chih Chih-- i 讀書質疑，in the Shuo- ling 說鈴 • Hai- yii T s’ung s’ung K ’ao 晓餘叢考，chiian 34.

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littl e later , criticized W u ChinChin- fang, pointing out out that the metho method d of fatefatecalc ulation develop developed ed to a ver y c omplicated omplicated sy stem in the the time of L i Hsiisiichung but but it was not not invented invented by him. him. Pr of. T eng eng Chih Chih-- ch’ ch’爸 ng 部之誠 3 of the the Y enching Univer sity has held held the same same opini opinion on as as W u ChinChin- fang and says tha t Hsii- chu chung was the tz u of L i Mi- ch’ ch’ien 李彌乾 . I n f a c t L i Mi- ch， ch， ien w as a Buddhis B uddhistt a s tr onomer1and onome r1and was w as not no t one and the same pers on as the famous fate- calculator calculator L i Hsii- chu chung. Surely the belief in fate existed in China from very early times7. On one hand it was believed that fate was determined or given by Heaven; on the other hand tha t one’s one’s fat e, g ood ood or bad, was conne connected cted w ith the time , auspiciou auspiciouss or unau unauspiciou spicious, s, in w hich one one was born. Fr om the the Shih Ching we can quote a few lines expressing this idea: “O Heaven who gave me birth! W hy w as it such an inaus ina uspic picious ious t im e ? ” 8 “I was born at an inauspicious time. It happened that Heaven was in great anger.”9 But it was in the Han dynasty that the problem of fate was most discussed by schol scholars. ars. T he prev ailing theory theory of that time was the the doctrine doctrine of the the three kinds of fate 三命說 advanced advanced by Confuciani Confucianists sts . A ccording ccording to it there there are are th three kind kinds of fa te : 1 ) The normal normal fate 正命，th a t is also al so called ca lled great fate 大命，fa te of longe v ity 壽命 or fate received received (fr om Heaven) 受命，2) The fate following behaviour 隨命 . I t me me a ns th t h a t if i f on one behaves well, good luck and happiness will /tome ; otherwise misfortune must arr ive. 3) T he thir d kind includes includes those those who meet wit h gr eat dis asters or misf ort unes, althoug h they show good behaviours. behaviours. It is called called fate suffered 遭命 . In such such a classifi classificati cation on,, the seco secon nd and and third k ind of fate are in fact exceptions from fate in the real sense of the ： wor w or d. Such a doctrine seems to have originated in an atmosphere of extreme belief belief in fate. It was an antithesis antithesis to the thoug ht of the the time. time. The beliei in fate, especially the belief in the connection between fa te and the time of bir th ，was only only the ideological ideological backg round of the the or ig in of fatecalculation calculation.. T he center center of fatecalculation calculation is the time in w hic h one is bor n as des ig nated nat ed by the sy stem st em of the 10 heav enly stems st ems and 12 ear thly branch branches. es. T herefore in order to know its orig in we must first make an inquiry into the development of the system. 6) Ku- tung tung Suo Chi 骨董瑣記，chiian 5. p. 22. 7) The etymological etymological evolution evolution of the the character ming 命 in ancient times is discussed discussed in detail by Fu Ssu- nien 傅斯年 in his his Hs ing Ming K u Hs iin Pien Pien-- chen chengg 1940. 0. 性命古訓辨證，Inst itute of Hist ory and Philolo g y , Aca demia Sinica, 194 8) 9)

Shih Ching, HsiaoHsiao- ya, Hsiao- pien 小牟 . Shih Ching, Ta- ya, Jou- sang 棄桑，

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A cc or ding to T s’ai Y un g ’s 蔡扈 Yueh- ling Chang - chil 月令章句 7 the invention of this system is due to Ta Nao 大撓，a ministe r of Huangti, who “studied the properties of the 5 elements and calculated the rev olving motions of the constellation (Urs a M a jo r )’’，and thereupon devised the 10 stems to designate the days and the 12 branches to designate the months10. Huang- ti is a mytholog ical emper or ; the inve ntion of the stems and branches by his ministe r is of course not believable. B ut it is probably true that the 10 stems were originally names of a cycle of 10 days . T he Y in people, as we can see in the oracle inscr iptions, counted days by hsiin 旬 i.e. a cycle of 10 days. In the Tso Chuan 左傳 it is also said that there were 10 suns in the sky; and an ancient legend says that Hou I 后弈，the famous a rc her, had shot down 9 suns and only one was le f t12. T he Chinese call the sun and the day by the same name. It may be because in ancient times the people counted days by ten and called them by ten different names, then they said there were ten suns -in the sky . Howeve r, it must be in a very r emote time that the 10 stems were used to denote the cycle of 10 days ，because in the oracle insc riptions of the Y in per iod, the most ancient document preser ved, the s ex agenary cycle, which is formed by combining the 10 stems with the 12 branches ， had been used in designating the days. 11

The 12 branches were originally called 12 ch， en 辰 or lunar conjunctions. T hey are equal in number to the 12 months of the year, there for e they are used to desig nate the months. T he Chinese hours are also designated by the 12 branches; and most recent of all, the day was divided into 12 hours designated by the branches. A ccor ding to Ku Yen- wu 顧炎武 it is firs t found in the annotation by T u Y u 杜預 of the Chin dynasty to the Tso Chuan. 13

T he year is generally designated by a stembranch. A ccording to Liu Shu 劉極 14 and K u Yen- wu15 this began fr om the 5th year of W ang Ma ng (13 A .D.) . From the above consideration we see that the days were designated by the 60 stem- branches and the months by the 12 eart hly branches f rom ver y early times, but t hat the desig nation of y ears by the stem- branches are comparativ ely later facts . T he fatecalculators use the day, month and y ear, in w hich one is born, as designated by the s tem- branches to repres ent one’s fate . (A t fir st the hour was not used.) A nd the stem10) Wu- hsing Ta- i，chapter I, section 2. 1 1 ) Chao- kung, 5th and 7th year. 12) Huai- nan T zu 推南子，Pien- ching Hsiin 本經訓 . 13) Jih- chih Lu 月知錄，cM an 20. 14) T 'ung- chien W ai Chi 通超外紀，Preface to the Table of Contents. 15) Jih- chih Lu, chiian 20.

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branch of the year is held to be more important than that of the day in the older sy stem of fatecalculation. Hence, the orig in of the Chinese fatecalculation cannot be very early. It cannot be earlier than the time w hen the year s were fir st desig nated by the 60 stem- branches, viz. the period of W an g Mang. We have said，in the Lun Heng, a book written in the Later Han dynasty, the problem of fate is much discussed but fatecalculation is never mentioned.16 Moreover , the corresponding* element of the stembranch of the birth- ye ar is take n as the most importa nt factor in the fate- calculating.17 The system that each stembranch has a corresponding eleirênt is not found in any book of the Han dynasty , though its inve ntion is tr adit ional ly held to be due to Kuei- ku Tzu 赵谷子，who is said to have liv ed in the Chou dynast y. The earlies t book in which it is mentioned, as fa r as we kno w ，was w ritte n by Kuan Lo 管車§•in the period of the T hree K ing doms18. T heref ore, in most probability the fatecalculation originate d in the later years of the Later Han dynasty. 2.

Famous Fate- calculators before the T ’ang Dynast y

T he first ex pert fate- calculator we know i n Chinese history is K uan Lo. He was able to fore- tell tha t he would not live beyond 47 or 48 years. He said,
Cf. p. Cf. p.

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18) Cf. nex t section. 19) Sa n K uo Chih 三國志，chiian 29. 20) Chapter II I, section 4. 2 1 ) About the containing note see page 292. 22) Liang Shu 梁書 chiian 5 1 . His wor ks are mentioned in the T ， ung C hih 通志，I_w e n L i i e h 塾文略

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Sun Seng- hua 孫僧化，w ho wrote the L u- ming S hu 祿命書，2 cMan23. Hsii Tsun 許遵，an ex pert div iner and fate- teller in t he period of the Emperor Shen- wu 神武帝 of Ch， i. He was able to fore- tell tha t he would not become rich and noble, nor suf fe r an untimely deat h24. We i Nin g 魏寧，hig h advis er of Empe ro r Wu- ch’Sng 武成帝 of Ch ， i. Once the Emperor g ave him the day, month and year of his bir th but said that they were those of another man, and asked him to tell the fa te of the man. He sa id，“T his man is r ich and noble to the utmost ex tent, but he w ill enter his g rav e this y ear • ” In point of fac t the Empe ro r died that year 25. , In the Sui dynasty Hsiao Chi 蕭吉，tzi^ Wen- hsiu 文休，w as a scholar of w ide knowledge and ex pert in fatecalculation. In the 4th y ear of K ， ai- huang.開皇：（ A .D. 594) he prese nted a memor ial to the Em peror to prais e him according to the principles of fatecalculation. He wrote the Wu- hsing Ta- i，5 chiian, and some other work s26. A nother ex pert fate- calculator of the Sui dynasty w as L in Hsiao- kung 臨孝恭， whose w or k on fate- calculat ion was entitled L u- ming S hu 祿 ; 命書，20 chiian21. A ll the books of fate- calculat ion before the T ’ang dynas ty hav e been los t ex cept Hs iao C hi， s Wu- hsing Ta- i，which chiefly deals w ith the ge neral principles of the 5 elements but only occasionally w ith fatecalculation. B ut in the Chiu T’ang Shu 舊唐書 *we can find a par ag raph of L u T s’a i’s cr iticis m on fatecalculation.28 It makes reference several times to the L u- ming S im ，which is probably a book written by Sun Seng- hua or by L in Hsiao- kung. Fr om it we see tha t fatecalculation had developed to a very complicated stag e before the T ang s and it was not different in essentials from the calculation of the later day schools. 3.

L i Hsii- chung

The famous fatecalculators of the T ’ang dynasty were Monk I- Hsing 僧一行，Sa ng Tao- mao 桑道茂 and L i Hsii- chung. Monk Weil- hsing, whose famil y name was Chang, a native of C h’ang- lo 昌樂， chou 魏州，w rote the Lu- ming Shih 祿命詩，1 chiian. Sang Tao- mao Pei Shih 北史，chiian 新唐書，I- wen Chih. 24) P ei S hih, chuan 89. 25) ibid. 26) ibid. 27) ibid. 23)

28)

chuan 79.

His wo rk is mentio ned in the Hs in T ， ang Shu

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was a famous div ine r and fate- teller in Ch’ang- an 安長 in the period of Ta- lin 大麟（ 767- 779); he wrote the L u- ming Yao- chileh 祿命要訣，1 chiian. T heir books are now lost29. T he most famous f ate- calculator of the T ’ang dynasty was L i Hsii- chung, tz u Ch’ang- jung 常 j容， who got the chin- shik degree in the 11th year of Cheng- yiian 貞元 (795) and was an imperial censor in the period of Yiian- ho 元和（ 827- 835) • It is said in his Epitaph written by Han Yii 韓愈，a famous essay ist of the T ’ang dynasty , th at he had deep knowledge in every subject, especially in the doctrine of the 5 elements. From the reciprocal actions of the stems and branches of the day, month and year in which one was born he considered and inferred the length or shortness, dignity or humbleness of one’s life, and foretold that a certain time or ye ar w ould be fav oura ble or - - unfavourable to one; then one tr ied to use the fav ourable and avoid the unfav ourable. He never f ailed. B ut his method was so complicated tha t no one could follow it.30 ung- huei 三命通會 he learned the method A cc or ding to the San- ming T ， of fatecalculation fr om L i M i 李泌 and L i M i f r om Monk I- hsing31. L i Hsii- chung’s Ming Shu 李虛中命書 is the oldest book of fatecalculation ex isting now. Its tex t is now ascribed to Kuei- ku T zu ua n S hu but only its notes to L i Hsii- chung. A ccor ding to the Ss u- ku C h， Tsung Mu 四庫全書總目 it probably was originally a book of the T’ang dynasty, but it seems to have interpolations from later times, ，四柱 32，w hich orig inate d in the S ung because the term “four pillars ’ dynasty, and some official titles of the Sungs are found in the second pa r t; it is ascribed to Kuei- ku Tz u in order to dazzle the reader33. It may be true that the Ming Shu was originally w ritte n by L i Hsii- chung. Of all the bibliographies compiled under the Sungs no one assigns its author ship to Kuei- ku T zu but all t o L i Hsii- chung34. 29) Chiu T ’ang Shu, chiian 191. T heir work s are mentioned in t he T ， ung Chih, I- wen Liieh. 30) Wu- pai- chia Chu Ha n ChJang- li Wen- chi 五茛家注韓昌黎文集，chiian 28. 3 1 ) chiian 3 ，Tzu- p*ing Shuo- pien 子平說辨 . 32) Cf. p. 294. 33) chiian 109, tzu- pu 子部，shu- shu 數術 2. 34) In the bibliogr aphies compiled in the S ung dynasty L i Hsii- chung^ Ming Shu is mentioned under differ ent titles ; In the I- wen Chih of the S ung S hih 宋史藝文志 it is mentioned as L i Hsii- chung Min Shu Ko- chii 李虛中命書格局，2 chiia n; in the I- wen Liieh of the T ， ung C hih it is entitled L i Hsii- chung M ing Shu 季虛中命術，1 chuan, and Ming Shu Pu- i 命書補遺，1 chiian ; in C h’ao K ung- w u， s T u- shu Ghih 雜公武讀書志 it is Li Hsii- chung’s Ming S h u 李處中命書 3 chuan.


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L i Hsii- chung held a prominent position in the histor y of Chinese fatecalculation. It is a pity tha t the prese nt edition of the Ming S huZ5^ is incomplete and w ith later inter polations. We have no w ay of recon ung- huei the ancient st ruct ing his method. A ccording to the San- ming T ， fatecalculators used the stembranch of the y ear in w hich one was born, but L i Hsii- chung- used that of one’s bir th ニ day, as the leading factor, and thus he made a change in the method of fate- calculation36. Howev er, as the Ming Shu shows, he belonged to the old school. 4.

Hsii T zu- p'ing and Hsii Ta- sheng

A nother promine nt fate- cal culator af ter L i Hsii- chung was Hs ii T zu- p'ing 徐子平 . About his life we know very little. It is said that his name was Hsii Chii- i 徐居易，T zu- p， ing was his tzu, and he was a her mit in Hua- shan 華山 in the per iod of the Five Dy nasties (908- 960)37. He is so famous in fate- calculating tha t his name has become a common ien ter m for fatecalculation fr om the Ming dynasty. T he Chi- niao P ，己瘧編 say s，“A t the pres ent time there are diff ere nt schools of fatetellers : the school of Tzu- p， ing ，the school of the five stars , etc. T he scholars and officials are glad to consult w ith the T zu- p， ing school， because it is reasonable and often hits rig ht in f ore- telling one’s life, r ich or poor, honourable or humble. It is said tha t in the Sung dynas ty a ma n，whose name was Hsii Tzu- p’ing ，was ex pert in fat e- calc ulating ; the fatecalculators of later generations who followed his method were simplycalled T zu- p’ing*.”38 T he inve ntion of the new method of fatecalculation is generally ascribed to him. Hsii T zu- p'ing wr ote a Commentary to the Lao- lu T zu S an- ming Hsiao- hsi F u 路錄子三命消息賦，a book of fatecalculation prev ailing very much in the Sung dynasty . The author of this book is unknown. The Chih- chai Shu- lu Chieh- t’i 直齋書錄解題 says about it, “T he pres ent book is considered by the fatecalculators as the ir proper canon. Its style is vulgar . Probably it is w ritt en by a man who f or money calculates fat e f or people in the stre et.，， 39 T he SSu- k'u Ch’uan S hu Tsung Mu says, “This books is first mentioned in the I- wen Chih 藝文志 of the Sung Shih 宋史，and accor ding to Ch’ao Kung - w u^ Tu- shu Chih 35) T he pres ent editions ，the Mo- hai Chin Hu 愚海金壶 edition and the Shoushan- ko Ts’ung- shu 守山閣邀書 edition，of the Ming Shu are repr ints of the Ssuk’u Ch’uan Shu 四庫全書 edition， w hic h copied the te x t f r om the Y ung - lo T a T ien 永樂大典 • It is composed of 3 chiian. 36) chiian 3，T zu- p^ng Shuo- pien. 37) L iu Y ii 劉玉，Chi- niao P ’ien，in the Shuo F u 說郛，chin 17. 38) ibid. 39) chiian 12.

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i t began to circulate in the period of Hsiian- ho 宣和 and Chien- yen 建炎 (1119- 1131). Hence we consider it was wr itten by a man of the Nort h S ung dy nasty ，， .40 The San- ming Hsiao- hsi F u had, besides Hsii T zu- p'ing, four commentators in the Sung dyriasty: 1 ) L i T ’ung 李企 from I-ch’un 宜春 (K ian g s i), who wrote his commentary in the 4th year of Chia- yu 嘉祐 (1087). 2) Wa ng T ’ing- Kuang 王廷光，whose book was offered to the emperor in the 5th year of Hsuan- ho (11 23 ). 3) Monk T ’an- Y ing 僧鋒璧，nativ e o f Chia- ho 嘉禾 (Chekiang), and a monk at the temple T， uei- chu A n 退居蕃 in L in- an 臨安 . He had deep knowledge In the theory of the I Ching and he interpreted the San- min Hsiao- hsi Fu from the point of view of this theory . He finished his commentary in the 1st y ear of Chien- yen (1 127). 4) Tung- fang* Ming ■東方明，whose com mentary was entitled San- ming F u S hu 三命賦疏メ1 A similar book .to the above is the San- ming Chi- mi F u 三命ネ旨迷賦 . Its author is also unknow n; its commentary is said to have been added by Y ao K ， o 岳河 of the Sung- dynasty . A ccor ding to the Ssu- kfu C h’uan S hu T sung M ufA2 it is really a book written under the Sungs, because it was quoted by some Y iia n and Ming aut hor s ; but it is questionable to ascribe its comments to Yao K ， o，thoug h he was definitely a man who knew the method of fatecalculation. A thir d Sung dynasty book of fatecalculation tha t s till exists is the Yu- chao T ing C hin Ching 玉照定眞經，1 chiian. It is said to have been w ritt en by K uo P ， u 郭璞，a scholar of the Chin dynast y and to hav e been commented on by Chang Yiing* 張願 . In fact it is not mentioned in any bibliography compiled during the Sungs but a few Y iian and Ming authors quoted it. Therefore the Ssu~kfu Ch’uan Shu T sung M祝43 says that probably both the text and comments were written Chang Yung, about whose life we know nothing. A famous fate- calculator at the end of the Sung* dy nas ty was Hs u Ta- sheng 徐大升，a nativ e of C h’ien- t’ang 錢塘 . A c cor ding to the San- ming T ， unghhuei，af te r Hs ii Tzu- p'ing- a n ex pert fate- calculator was named Ch， ung- hsii T zu 冲虛子；he taught his method to Monk Taoliung 道拱 and Tao- hung we nt to Ch， ien- t， ang and taug ht it to Hsii 40)

chiian 109，tzu- pu, shu- shu 2.

4 1 ) A Sung edition of this book with the above four men’s commentaries still ex ists. It is entitled Hsin- pien Ssu- chia Chu- chSeh Ching- chin Lo- lu T zu Hsiao- hsi Fu 新編四家註解經進络子消息賦 . In the present paper this book is qtroted as San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu. 42)

chiian 109, tzu- pu, shu- shu 2.

43)

ibid.

(


288

T a- sheng44. It is the method employed by the fatecalculators of the prese nt time. T he San- ming T ’ung- huei ascribes the authorship of the Sa n- ming Y ilan- y uan 三命淵源 and the Ting Chin Lun 定眞論 to Hsii ua n S hu T sung MuAS a book entitled Ta- sheng. B ut in the Ssu- k'u Ch， Tzu~pfing San- ming Y uan- y ilan Chu 子平 ' 三命淵源註，1 chiian, is said to have been w rit ten by Hsii T zu- p'ing and annotated by L i Ch ， in- fu 李欽夫，a T aoist prie st of the Y iia n dynasty . T his is probably the same book as the San- ming Y iian- y uan mentioned in the San- ming T ’ung- hueir and probably the T ung- huei is rig ht, because i f Hs ii T zu- p， ing had w rit ten such a book, some ea rlie r bibliog raphie s w ould have mentioned it.. A book w it h a sirfiilar titl e, Y uan- hai T zu- p'ing 淵海子平，w hich is t he most popular book of fatecalculation at the present time, claims to be a book of Hsii Ta- sheng. Some chapter s of it ar e noted “to be tak en out of” or “to be the same as” the Y imn- yuan. In most probabiK ty this is the San- ming Y ilan- yimn enlarg ed and re- edited by a Mi ng fate- calculator. In the Ming dynasty no famous fat e- calculator can be compared w it h L i Hsii- chung of T ’ang and Hsti Tzu- p‘ing of Sung. B ut a book on the method of f ate- calculation, including nearly every detail of it, was w rit ten in the Mi ng dy nas ty by W an Min- ying 离民英 • It is the San- ming T ung - hue i, 12 chuan. Since the Ming dynast y it has been considered as the encyclopedia of f ate- calculation and was ve ry popular. I I.

T H E D O C T R IN E O F T H E 5 E L E M E N T S A N D S Y S T E M OF THE 10 STEMS AND 12 BRANCHES

Bef ore we deal w ith the method of fatecalculation we must f irst explain the general principles of the 5 elements and their application to the 10 s t e m s ,12 branches and 60 stem- branches. T he doctrine of 5 elements was first systematically expounded and applied to the successive changes of dynasties in the history by Chou Yen 都衍，a scholar dur ing the period of the Wa r ing States.46 Thence it was also applied to other phenomena. T he tw o foundamenta l principles of the doctrine are : 1 ) The 5 elements overcome one another 五行相勝 • The order is: water 一 > fire — > m e t a l — > wood — > earth — > [ water] . T his principle is later generally stated as follows: “the 5 elements destroy one another” 五行相趙 . 2) T he 5 elements produce one another 五行相生 . The order is: wood — > fire — > earth 一 > m e t a l — > w ater 一 > [ wood] . 44) 45) 46)

chiian 3，T zu- p*ing Shuo- pien. chiian 110, tzu- pu, shu- shu lei ts ， un- mu. Shih Chi 史記，chiian 74.

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Fr om the above two principles are derived two secondary principles : 3) The principle of co ntr ol 相制 . In the case that element A Is destroyed by B but C destroys B ，then it is said tha t C can control B and that A is not destroyed. T his relat ion is shown below : Wood destroy s e a r th; Metal ” w ood; Fire ” metal; Wate r ” f ir e ; ，， w ater; Earth

metal control s it, fire ” water ” ea rth ” ,， wood

In this connection the controling element is always produced by the element to be destroyed. A ccor ding to s ome fatecalculators a n element to be produced by another is said to be the offspring of the other. Hence the controling element is the son of the destroyed and it can control the destroyer of its father . T his is often compared to the fact that the son can take revenge for the father. 4). T he principle of dissolution 相化 . In the case that element A is destroyed by B but C produces A , the n it is said tha t C can dissolve the destruction. Wood destroys ea r th; fire dissolves i t . Fire ” metal; earth ” E ar th ” w ate r; m e t a l ” Metal ” w ood; w ater ” W ate r ” fir e; wood ”

c

Fire can produce earth, earth is increased, therefore wood cannot destroy it. T he others are ex plained similar ly 47. The doctrine of the 5 elements was probably brought into connection with the 10 stems and 12 branches through its application to the changes of the weather in the course of the year. In ancient books we find this applic at ion in thr ee dif fer ent way s. Fir stl y , the year is divided into 5 equal parts, each consisting of 72 days and belonging to one element. From the day chia- tzu 甲子 afte r the winter solstice the element wood begins to govern for 72 days> then from the day ping- tzu 丙子 fire begins, fr om wu~ tzu 虎子 earth, fr om keng^tzU 庚子 metal and from jen- tzu 壬子 w ater 48. By such" an applic ation of t he 5 elements accor ding to the order of producing one -another, as a result, the stems chia, ping, wu, king and je n are connected -w ith the 5 elements. The other 5 stems, i 乙，ting 丁，chi 己，hsin 辛，and kuei 癸 mig ht be inserted then accordingly into this arrangement. 47) Ta-i. 48)

Concerning1the general principles of the 5 elements see Hsiao Chi’s Wu- hsing K uan T zu 管子， Wu- hsing p- ien 五行篇 .

F o lk 】. V o l . v , 19

、

290

CHA O W E I- P A NG

To apply the principle of the 5 elements to the course of the year as mentioned above is quite regular, but it does not correspond to the f our seasons and 12 months. In order to adjus t the arr ange ment the second and th ir d way arose. T he second way i s : each season belongs to one element but the last month of summer^ i.e. the 6th month, belongs by its elf to one element. In s pring the plants beg in to grow , ther efor e spring- is supposed to belong to the element wood; in sumnier weather is hot, theref ore summer belongs to fire. A ccor ding to the order of the 5 elements producing one another, after fire is earth and after earth is metal, but because in autumn the leaves fall from the trees and most vegetables die, it should belong to metal of which the cutting and killing instruments are made, therefore the last month of summer is put under the control of earth. T he w inter is considered to belong to wat er, only because it comes after autumn and water is next to metal in the order of production.49 T he third way is the same as the second, but, instead of the sixth month, the 18 days at the end of each season belong to earth. Sometimes it is also said that the 4 last months of the 4 seasons belong to earth,50 We have 'said that fr om very early times the Chinese used the 12 branches to designate the 12 months. A s a res ult of apply ing the principle of the' 5 elements to the course of the year in the third way, the 12 branches were also brought into connection w ith the 5 elements. T he corresponding- re lations hip of the 5 elements w ith the 4 s e a s o ns ,12 m o nt hs ,10 stems and 12 branches is shown below :51 Table I 5 elements

10 stems

4 seasons 12 months

12 branches

wood

spring (months 1-3)

chia i

甲こ

y i n 寅 m a o 卯

fire

summer (months 4-6)

ping ting

丙丁

已戊

earth

the last 18 days of each season

chi

戍已

metal

autumn (months 7-9)

keng hsin

庚幸

w at er

w inte r (months 10-12)

] en kuei

壬癸

49) 50)

■ , n e . s s : h s u e , o u

辰采戍进

A

shen y ou

酉

ha i tz u

亥子

Huai- nan T zu, Shih- tso Hsiin 時則訓 . L i Chi, Yueh- ling 月令 .

5 1 ) The corresponding relationship of the 5 elements with the 10 stems and 12 branches is f or mulate d as follows in the Huai- nan T zu, T*ien- wen Hs iin 天文訓：甲乙寅卯木也 •丙巳丁午火也 •戊己四季土也 . 庚辛申酉金也 . 壬癸亥子水也 .

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The doctrine of the 5 elements also includes the 5 points of the compass in its system. Ea st belongs to wood, South to fire, Center to ear th, Wes t to metal and Nort h to water . A s ‘soon as the 10 stems are connected respectively with the 5 elements, they are consequently also bro ug ht into connection w ith the 5 points. Howev er, the 12 branches ar— e only divided into 4 part s a nd connected w it h 4 points (no ce nter). T he connections of the 5 or 4 points w ith the 10 stems and 12 branches are shbwn below : ■ N.

N.

(jen, kuei)

(

U 1

Center (w u， chi)

(ping, ting)

( c h i E. a , )

E.

y ou

1

ud‘ip /

1

. a

\

The stems and branches are originally only names and bear no meaning a t all. B ut as soon as they ar e connected w ith the 5 elements, each is considered to have the same nature as the element w ith w hith it is related. T he stem chia, for instance, is supposed to have the same nature as wood, and it is said in the terminology of the doctrine of the 5 elements that chia belongs to wood in natur e. S imila rl y the stem ping is said to belong to fire. Fur ther mor e, the stems and branches are considered to produce and destr oy one anothe r as the 5 elements. For instance, according to the principle of production, fire is produced by w oo d; the n \ chia is supposed to be able to produce ping. Similar ly the braneh ss u which belongs to fire is supposed to destroy shen which belongs to metal. In the same way the principles of control and dissolution can be applied to the stems and branches. Besides the four foundamental principles directly borrowed from the doctrine of the 5 elements, there are still some derivative principles. 1 ) The harmonies among stems 天千相合 . It is shown in Table I that the 10 stems are grouped into 5 pairs, e 钱cli pair belonging* to one element. But. of each pair the fir st stem is, said to be a y ang one and the second a y in one. A y ang stem is considered as the husband of


292

the y in stem which, according to the principle of destruction, is destroyed by it. Fo r ex ample, chia is a y ang stem，belong ing — to wood, and chi is a y in stem belonging to earth; wood destroys earth; then chia is the husband of chi. Husband and w ife are harmonious. S imilarl y i is harmonious with keng, ping with hsin, ting with je n, and w u with kueL 2) The harmonies among branches. T he 6 pairs of harmonious branches are for med according to the 12 divisions of the ecliptic. T hey ou，y in with hai, mao with are as follows: T zu is harmonious with ch， hsu, chfen with y ou, w u with w ei, Sind ssu with shen. T hey are called the 6 harmonies of the branches 支元六合 . B) T he 6 collisions of branches 六衝 . This is formed according to the 12 points of the compass indicated by the 12 branches. T he branches in opposition (in the diag ram on page 1 5) collide w ith each ou with wei, y in with shen, mwo with y ou， other, viz. tz u with w u, ch， ch’en with hsii and ss u with hai. ou and 4) T he 6 injurie s of branches 六害 • T zu and w ei，ch， w u, y in and ssu, mao and ch， en，shen and haiネ you and hsii injure each other. In fatecalculation harmo ny is good, inj ur y is bad, and collision is sometimes good and sometimes had.52 ^

By combining the 10 stems and 12 branches the Chinese sexagenary cycle is for med. Ea ch combination of a stem and a branch (w hich is designated as stembranch in the present artic le) has a cor res ponding element. T his connection was made thf oug h the application of the principle of the 5 elements to the 5 musical notes 五音 . There are 12 regulators of music 十二律，each containing 5 note s; altog ether t here ar e 60 notes. T hey are represented by the 60 stem- branches. Ea ch of the 5 notes belongs to one element. Consequently, each of the 60 notes, and also each of the 60 combinations of stem and branch, belongs to one element. T he element to w hich a stembranch belongs is called the “ conta ining note” 納音 of the stembranch. T hen each stembranch is supposed to bear the same nature as its containing note and to have the power of producing or destroying another. Of the 60 containing notes 12 belong to one and the same element, but they are said to bear different natures and are symbolized by different • objects of the s ame kind. T he 60 concrete objects symbolizing- the 60 notes are called “symbols of the containing notes” 納音象 . T ra ditionally the inve ntion of these symbols is held to be due to T ungfang Sho 東方朔 of the Han dynasty, but in truth it cannot be so early. A s f a r as we know , one of the m is mentione d in the Y ing S hih 程史 ^3，a book of the Sung dynasty, and they are all mentioned for the first time 52) 53)

T he ex planation of all these principles is found in the Wu- hsing Ta-i. chiian 15，Y ang Ke n I- ming 播良 _ 命 .

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in the Chfo~keng I/w 綴耕錄 54 by T ’ao Tsung- i 陶宗儀 at the end of the Y uans. In view of the fac t tha t no book of fatecalculation of the Sung dynasty makes mention of them, it seems probable that they were invented in the last years of the Sungs, T he 60 containing1 notes and their symbols are as follows: Table II stem- branches

symbols

containing notes

chia- tzu i- ch’ou

me tal

jen- she n kuei- you

metal

the gold in the sea 海中金

the s teel on the sw ord- blade 劍鋒金

the gold on the white candle

keng- shen hsin- ssu

metal

chia- wu i-wei

metal

jen- y in kuei- mao

metal

keng- hsii hsin- hai

metal

the gold of the hairpin 奴釧金 .

ping- yen ting- mao

fire

the fire in the stove

chia- hsii i- hai

fire

wu- tzu chi- ch， ou

fire

白蠟金

the gold in the sand 沙中金

the gold on the paper money 金箔金

爐中火

,

the fire on the hill- top 山頭火

the thundering fire ..霹靂火

pin^- shen ting- you

fire

the fire at the foot of a hill A 山下：：

chia- shen i-ssu

fire

the fire of a lamp under cover

wu- wu chi- wei

覆燈火犬上火

wu- ch’eu chi- ssu

wood

jen- wu kuei- wei

wood

keng- yin ^ hsin- mao

the heavenly fire

fire

the wood of a great forest 大林木

the w illo w wo od 楊柳木

wood

chiian 20. 5 In his W u Tsa- tsu 五雜組，chiian 6. Jih- chih Lu, chiian 21. 6 通俗榻，chiian In the T'ung- su P ie n 、

the wood of the pine or cypres s 松柏木

4

7

10<

294

CHA O W E I- P A NG

Table II ( Continued) stem- branches

containing notes

symbols

wu- hsli chi- hai

wood

jen- tzu kuei- ch， ou

wood

the wood of the mulbery tree 桑柘木 ] |

wood

the wo od of the po me g ranat e

keng- shen hsin- you ^ keng- wu hsin- wei wu- yin chi- maa

平地木

,

石榴木

earth

：

the wayside earth 路傍土

the ear th on the city- wall

earth

城頭土

ping- hsu ting- hai

earth

keng- tzu hsin- ch’ou

earth

the earth on the roof of a house 屋上土

the earth on the wall 壁上土

wu- shen chi- you

earth

, ping- ch， en ting- ssu

earth

ping- tzu ting- chû

w at er

chia- shen i-you

w at er

jen- ch'en kuei- ssu

w at er

ping- wu ting- wei

w at er

chia- y in i- mao

w ater

jen- hsii kuei- hai

w at er

I II .

the wood on a plain

’

the earth of the highway station 大驛土

the earth in the sands 沙中土

’

the brook water 澗下水

the spring water in a well 井京水

. the flow ing w at er 县流水

the water of the heavenly river 天河水

the water of a great stream 大溪水

the water of the sea 大海水

T H E F O U R P IL L A R S A N D F A T A L P E R IO D S

The hour, day, month and year in which one is born are called the “four pillars” 四柱 of one’s fa te by the fatecalculators.^ Ea ch of the f our pillars is desig nated by a stembranch, a combination of one heav enly stem and one earthly branch. A ltogether the four pillars consist of eight chara cter s, 4 stems and 4 branches. T herefor e, they are also called ‘‘eight characters” 八字 and the a r t of fatecalculation is hence some times called “judgment of eight characters” 批八字 . .

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Ha n Y ii of the T ， ang dynast y said .that L i Hsii- chung used the stems and branches of the day, month and year in which one was born to judg e one’s fat e. He did not mention th6 hour. Hence scholars of lat er times , such as Hsieh Chao- chih 謝肇蹄！ ] 55，K u Y en- wu56, etc., said th a t L i Hsii- chung and his predecessors did not use the hour in fatecalculation. B ut Chai Hao 濯溷 57 pointed out tha t in the follo w ing line of a T’ang poem the term eight characters was found: 八字如相許 • 終辭尺組尋 . (If the eight characters permit, I w ill at last give up the purs uing of the one foot long ribbon of the s ea l). T his line is quoted fr o 平 a poem written to a Buddhist monk by Wu Jung 吳融 5g. It may he that the term ‘eight characters' used here was a term of Buddhism, nothing to do w ith fat e- calculation, because in B uddhis m the characters 生滅滅已寂滅爲樂 are called ’eig ht character s， .59 In anot hej poem wr itte n to a monk by the same author the term is also found: 別來如夢亦如雲，八字微言不復聞 • （ Since we part ed, it is like a dream and a cloud; the delicate talk s on B uddhism are heard no more.) It is definite tha t 八字微言 here means the delicate talk s on Buddhism. Hence, w hat Ch'ai Hao says cannot prove the ex istence of the fate- calculating ter m ‘eight char acter s’ and the use of the hour in the calculation in the T ， ang* dynasty. ' However , in the pres ent edition of L i Hsii- chung’s Ming Shu the hour, day, mont h and the month of preg nancy are called the fo ur pillar s, 6(> and in the San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu and the San- ming Chih- mi Fu the month of preg nancy is also used as a fa ctor in the calculation. T he science of fate - calculation is also called San- ming or three fates 三命 which tak es its origin from the classification of fate into three kinds in the Han dynasty , but some fatecalculators say tha t it means the three pillars , day, month and year. Furt her more , some calculators call the science fates” 五命，because they include the hour and the month of pregnancy.60 . It seems probable that in the e arlie r period the fatecalculators w orked w it h only the day, month and year, f r om the Sung dynas ty they ； w orke d w it h the hour also and some even included the month of preg nancy ， but after the Sung dynasty the latter was not considered so important. A s we have said, the Chiriese gene rally desig nate the day and year by stem- branches, but the month and hour only by ear thly branches.61 B ut the fatecalculators can easily know the stems of the month and hour 58) 59) 60) 6 1 ) be found

T his poem is fo und in the Ch， uan T ’ang S hih 全唐詩，chiian 25.1 S an Chiao Chih- kuei* 三敎指歸，chiian 2. Chun- chai T u- shu Chih, chiian 14.In case the stem- branches of the birth day and year are unknown, they can in the Wan Nien Li 萬年曆 or Calendar of Ten Thousand Years.


296

accor ding to tw o verses. These verses are said to be old verses even in the San- ming T ung - huei ぬ of the Ming dynasty. T he verse to know the stem of the month from that of the year is:

甲 B 之年丙作首丙辛之歲尋庚上更有戊癸何處起

乙庚之歲戊爲頭 — T* 壬壬位順行流甲寅之上好追求

E x plana tion: In the Chinese calendar the first month is always designated by the branch y in, the second month by mao, and so on. A ccording to the fir st sentence of this ver se in the years of chia (chia~tz-u, chia- hsii, chia- shen, etc.) or chi (chi- ssu, chi- mao, chi- ch， ou， etc.); the stem of the first month is ping, in other w ords, the stembranch of the first month is ping- yin, and accordingly the second month ting- mao ，and so on. T he other sentences say tha t in the years of i or keng the stem of the firs t month is in the years of ping or hsin that of the first month is keng, in the years of ting or je n that of the first month is jpn, and in the years of v m or kuei that of the first month is chia. T he verse to know the stem of the hour fr om that of the day i s :

甲己還作甲丙辛從戊起戊癸何方發

乙庚丙作初丁壬庚子居壬子是直途

E x pla na tio n: The Chinese diviae the day into 12 hours (each equals two wes tern hours ) and the firs t hour 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. is alway s . the second by cKou, and so on. A ccor ding to denoted by the branch tzu， this verse, in the days of the stem chia or chi the stem of the first hour is also chia^，in the day s of i or kSng that of the first hour is ping; m the days of ping or h^sin that of the first hour is w u; in the days of ting or je n that of the first hour is king and in the days of w u or kuei that of the first hour is je n. ■ T he fatecalculators tell one’s destiny using as a base, besides the y iln 運 . The fo ur pillars , the decennial periods of f ate k nown a s 、 character y iin literally means revolution; it refers to the revolution of the sun along the ecliptic as the Chinese thinks. T he ecliptic is divided into 12 divisions; one’s life is compared to the ecliptic, its full number of years is supposed to be 120，and 10 years make one period. 62)

chiian

2,

Lun Tun Yiieh Shih 論遁月時 .

T H E C H IN E S E S C IE N C E O F F A T E - C A L C U L A T IO N

2-97

The fatal periods of one man are different from'those of another; they are formed in the following w a y : For a man with a y ang stem in his birth year or a woman with a y in stem, the number of days from the birth- day to the nex t monthly f e s tiv a l 月節 63 is divided by 3; the quotient is the number of years from which age he or she will begin the first decennial period of fate; the first period is represented by the steinbranch which, according to the sexagenary cycle, follows that of the birthmonth. Fo r example, a ma n is born in the hour ssu of the 24th day of the 12th month of the year chia- tzu. T he first monthly festival afte r his birth is the beginning of spring in the hour shen of the 29th day of the same month.. It is 5 days and 3 hours or 63 hours f r om his bir th to t he f e s t iv a l .6 3 + 3 ニ2 1 . Ever y 3 years represents one year, then every 3 hours represents one month. 21 months makes one year and 9 months. Then the first fatal period of this man will begin When he is one year and 9 months old. (A ccor ding to the Chinese rec koning of age he is said then to be three years old.) T he stembranch of his birthmonth is ting- ch'on, then his first decennial period of fate will be wu~ yin，the second period chi- maot and so on. Fo r a man w ith a y in stem in his birth- year or a woman w ith a yamg stem the method is a little different. T he number of days fr om the birth- day to the last monthly f estiv al is divided by B; the quotient is the number of years from which age he or* she will begin the first decennial period of fate, and it is represented by the stembranch which, according to the order of the sex agenary cycle, comes before th a t of the birthmonth. Fo r ex ample, a man is born in the ou. T he monthly fes tival before 16th day of the 1st month of the year i- ch， his birth is the beginning of spring which occurs in the 1st day of the 1st month. It is 15 days fr om his birth- day to tha t fes tival. T hen his firs t fatal period begins when he is 5 years old, and it is represented by ting4 ch’ou，because his bir th- month is w u- yin,u This method is devised probably on the basis of the comparison of one’s lif e of 120 years to the 12 months. A decennial period is equal to one month and one ye ar to B days. T he Chinese thinks tha t a body should be in the w omb for 10 f ull months,, but in ge neral it lasts onT^y about 9 months, therefore the time from birth to the first festival is supposed to belong still to the time of being in the womb and the first decennial period of fate begins after the years in proportion to that time 63) Of the 24 fes tivals of the y ear 12 are called monthly fe stiv als ; each month has one. They are: B eginning1of S pr in g ; 立春，W ak ing of Insects 驚楚，Ch^ng- ming 猜明，B eg inning of S ummer 立夏，Be arded G r ain 芒種，Sl ig ht Heat 小暑，B eg inning W hite De w 6 露，Cold Dew 寒露，Beginning of W in te r 立冬，Great of A ut um n 立秋， Snow 大雪，S lig ht Cold 小寒 . , 6 4 ) Fo r the method of form ing one’s decennial periods of fate see San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chân shang, p. 2 or San- ming T ung- huei, chiian 2 , lun Ta- yiin 論大運•

298


in the ra tio of one year to 3 days. For the same reason the stembranch of the firs t decennary is that w hich follows the stembranch of the birthmonth. The decennial period of fate is called the “great fatal period” 大運 in contra st w ith the annual period ,of fa te w hich is called the “ small fa ta l period” /J、運 . The annual period of fate of a man begins at the firs t year w ith the stembranch ping- y in，and proceeds according* to the order of the sexagenary cycle; that of a woman begins at the first y ear w it h jen^shen and proceeds revers ely. T he annua l period is not considered so importa nt as the decennary .65 T he fatecalculators judge one’s fa te by one’s 4 pillars and fa ta l periods. The 4 pillars forecast the destiny of the whole life but the fat al periods can modify it in the respective periods of years. T he for mer ar e compared to the plants and the latter to the seasons. T hey say t hat a plant will flourish: in a favourable season and will die in an unfavourable one, but, in the flourishing season, if it is a tree, it will have plenty of leaves and flowers, but, if a small herb, it cannot. T herefore, the 4 pillar s are considered more important than the fatal periods. In f ate- calculation there ar e some general principles concerning* the f our pillar s and the. fa ta l periods. Here we shall ex plain only two impor ta nt ones. T he San- ming Hsiao- hsi F uGQ says that ‘high’ 崇 is precious and 'strange ' 奇 is valuable. A s to w hat is called ‘hig h’ the interpreter s hold differ ent ideas. A ccording to W ang T ’ing- kuang it means that “what is above produces what is below” 上生下 . Concr etely speaking, the element of year, according to the principle of production, produces that of the month, that of the month produces that of the day and that of the day produces that of the hour. A ccording to L i T ’ung it means tha t the Ele ment of the stem produces that of t he branch. T here are two groups of ‘strange’ stems; each consists of three stems and thus they are known as the 'three strange ones’ 三奇：んping, ting and chia, w u, keng. In some lat er books the stems je n, kuei, hsin are also regarded as thre e str ang e ones.67. A man in whose 8 character s one of the three groups of strange stems is found will get a high position and is, therefore, know n as a noble. Besides these there are still some other rules such as the virtue of the heaven 天德，the v ir tue of the month pi 德，etc.，w hic h are borrow ed fr om Chinese ast rolog y and beyond the scope of fateca lcula tion.68 65) San- ming T'ung- huei, chiian 2，L un Hsiao- yun 論小運 . * 66) Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian shang , p. 7. 、 67) San- ming T ， ung- huei，chiian 3 ，L un Sa n- ch， i 論三命. 68) A bout the v irtue of the heave n and the v irtue of the month see San- ming T， ung- huei，chiian 3. ‘

T H E C H I N E S E S C I E N C E O F F A T E - C A L C U L A T IO N

299

T he fatecalculators may be divided into tw o gr oups according to how they use the 4 pillars . F ir st, those w ho take the year as the chief factor and draw their conclusions from the reciprocal actions between it and the other three pillar s. T his method is used by fatecalculators of earlier times and it is generally called the old method 古法 . Secondly, those who take the day as the chief fac tor . T heir method is called- the new or modern method 今法 . It is used by the Hzu- p'ing school. These two methods will be explained in detail in the following chapters. IV .

T HE OLD MET HOD

T he old method takes the bir th year as the chief factor. In t he fat e- calculator ^ ter minolog y the heavenly stem of the year is called the heavenly y uan 天元 or heavenly element, the earthly branch is called the earthly y iian 地元 and the cont aining note of the stembranch is called the human y uan A 元 • T ogether they are called the three y iia n 三元 69. The heavenly y iia n predicts the ‘official emolument’ 祿 of the man. In other words, the calculators judge from it whether the man will become a gov er nmental official or not. T he ear thly y iia n predicts the ‘fate’ 命 w hic h signifies the lim it of lif e. T he human y iia n predicts the ‘body’ 身 w hich signifies the character and abilit y of the man. 1 . Bir th and Death of the 5 Elements In order to e x plain how the fatecalculators judge one’s emolument, fate and body from the three y iia n ，we must fir st ex plain the bir th and death of the 5 elements and that of the 10 stems in the course of the y ear . T his is evolved f r om the rel ation between the 5 elements and the 4 seasons. A ccording to Table I on page 290 each season belongs to one element. Conver sely it is said tha t ixn each season one element is flour ish— ing a nd then the 4 other elements appear | n other f our phases. A ltog ether in each season the 5 elements assume five different phases : to be flourishing 王 to help 相 , to retire 体 to be imprisoned 囚 and to die 死 . For ex ample, in the spring the element wood is said to be flourishing. Fir e is said to help wood, because, according to the principle of production, fire is produced by w ood，fire is considered to be the s on of wood and the son helps the fa ther . T hen wat er retires , because water produces wood and it is the father of wood; w hile the son is in v ig our，the father retires. Metal destroys wood, but the fire which helps wood can destroy metal; 69) The desig nation of the 3 y iian var ies in different books. T he above sys tem is that of L i Hsii- chung^ Ming Shu, chiian chung, p. 5. T he ste^n of the birth- year ' i is alway s called hte heavenly yiian, but in the San- mmg Hsiao- hsi Fu (chiian hsia p. 4, 9.) the branch is called the human yiian and the containing note is called the ear thly y iian. B ut this var iation does not change the whole sys tem; they agree in assigning the functions of th^ branch and the containing note in the calculation.

. C H A O W E I- P A N G

300

therefore it is said that in spring metal is impris oned. Wood destroys earth; while wood is flourishing earth dies70, The phases of the 5 elements in the other seasons are explained similarly, They are shown in Table III. Table III

spring

summer

6 th month

autumn

w inter

5 eleme nts 、 wood fire w at er

flourishes

retires

is im pr is o ne d dies

helps

helps

flourishes

retires

is imprisoned

dies

retires

is imprisoned dies

helps

flourishes

helps

flourishes

retires

flourishes

retires

is imprisoned

metal

is impris oned dies

earth

dies

helps

It can be seen in the above table that each element has five phases in the year. T he order is : to help, to be flouris hing, to retire , to be impris oned and at la^t to die. It seems tha t each element is supposed to be a man who lives his life in the fo ur seasons. Whe n he is young he can only help his father; then he grows up and flourishes; afterwards he re tire s and is impris oned and at last dies. T his idea is more concretely expressed in the 12 phases which the 5 elements assume in the course of the 12 months. T he 12 phases ar e : to receive breath 受氣，to be in the wor ub 胎，to be nourished 養，to be born 生，to bathe 沐浴，to w ear cap and girdle 冠帶，to become an of fic ia l 臨官，to flouris h 王，to become w eak 衰，to get sick 病 and to die 死 . To receive breath means to receive breath from the parents; it is the supposed beginning of a child in the womb. To be nourished means to be nourished in the womb. To bathe perhaps refers to a custom of washing a child three days after birth, and to wear cap and girdle refers to the old* ceremony of capping冠禮 which is held fo r a young man of twenty years old. For the other items no ex planation is necessar y. T he 5 elements beg in this cycle in diff er ent months. T he 12 months are gener ally denoted by the 12 branches. Hence the fatecalculators g enerally do not say tha t a ce rta in element assumes a cer tain phase in a certa in month but at a cer tain branch. T his is shown in T able IV . T able IV is made according to the Wu- hsing Ta- i (Chapter I V ) ，but the fatecalculators of later times changed it in some points 71. Fir s t, 70) Wu- hsing Ta-i, chapter IV , Lun Ssu- shih Hsiu- wang 論西時休王 . 7 1 ) Y uan- hai T zu- p， ing，chiian 1.

Table IV to be nourish ed

to be in the w omb

to re ceive breath

to be born

to bathe

to wear cap and girdle

to be come an official

to be flourish 、 come w ea k

to get sick

to be buried

mao

ch’en

ss u

wu

we i

shen

yo u

hsii

to die

%

tz u

ch， ou

y in

ch， ou

y in

mao

ch’en

ssu

wu

wei

.j ch’en

ss u

wu

wei

shen

yo u

hsii

wei

shen

yo u

hsti

ha i

ch’ou

mao

ssu

wu

hsii

hai

tz u

metal

y in

ma o

w at er

ss u

wu

earth

ha i

tz u

fire

ha i

yo u

shen

wo od

ch’en

tz u

ch’ou

hai

tz u

ch’ou

y in

mao

ch， en

yo u

ch’en

shen

wei , ^ -- - - - - -

- -- --

according tb this table the cycle begins with the receiving of breath, but according to some cal culators of lat er time's it begins w ith the ite m ‘to be bor n，，w hich is sometimes desig nated as ‘to grow up’ 長生 by them. Secondly, the ite m ‘to be burie d’ is sometimes designated as ‘to be stored up’ 庫 and ‘to receiv e bre ath，changes t o ‘to be ex tinct，絕 . Thirdly，according tb later books the element earth lives its cycle of life in a differ ent w ay fr om the above. They say that its cycle of life,, is the same as that of the_ element fire which produces ear th. T able V is made a ccor ding to the ex planations of lat er .fatecalculators.

T H M C W I ^ M

E 的

W C I W N C W O F F ' A T E C A L C U L A T l O M

S O I

3 0 C O O W A

Table V to be born

to bathe

to wear to.be cap and come an girdle official

to flourish

mao

to be come we ak

to get sick

ch’en

ss u

to die

to- be buried

to be in the w omb

to be nourish ed

shen

you

hsii

hai

tz u

ch’ou ch， en

to be extinct

%

wo od

hai

tz u

ch， ou

y in

fire

y in

mao

ch， en

ssu

wu

we i

shen

you

hsii

w at er

ssu

earth

shen

metal

y in

j w u

j wei

you

hsii

hai

tz u

mao

ch， en

ssu

w u

ch’ou w ei

< shen

wu

wei

yo u

hsii

hai

tz u

ch’ou

yi n

mao

y in

ma o

ch’en

ssu

wu

hsU

hai

tz u

shen

yo u

wei ch， ou

We have said in the las t chapte r tha t the 10 stems - are gr ouped into 5 pa ir s ; each pair belongs to one element and is supposed to have the same natur e as that element. By combini ng this with Table V each stem is said to undergo the same changes through the course of 12 months as the element to which it belongs. In other wor ds, each stem is compared to a ma n a nd is supposed to live its life fr om bir th to death in the course of 12 months. B ut the two s tems w hich belong to one element are not completely the same in nature. The first one belongs to the y ang principle and the second belongs to the y in principle. Ac cording to the yin- yang theory, yang is contrary to y in in nature. T herefore, the y ang stem is sai d to be. born at the time whe n the y in stem is dead, and vice vers a. Moreover , in the course of the 12 months the y ang stem lives its life accor ding to the natur al order of the months (i.e. fro m 1 st month to 12th month), while the y in stem r ever sely 72. The bir th and deat h of the 10— stems is s hown in T able V I. 72)

San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian shang, p . 1.

O w w

-i

p a n g

3 0 C O O W A

Table V to be born

to bathe

to wear to.be cap and come an girdle official

to flourish

mao

to be come we ak

to get sick

ch’en

ss u

to die

to- be buried

to be in the w omb

to be nourish ed

shen

you

hsii

hai

tz u

ch’ou ch， en

to be extinct

%

wo od

hai

tz u

ch， ou

y in

fire

y in

mao

ch， en

ssu

wu

we i

shen

you

hsii

w at er

ssu

earth

shen

metal

j w u

j wei

you

hsii

hai

tz u

mao

ch， en

ssu

w u

y in

ch’ou w ei

< shen

wu

wei

yo u

hsii

hai

tz u

ch’ou

yi n

mao

y in

ma o

ch’en

ssu

wu

hsU

hai

tz u

shen

yo u

O w w

-i

p a n g

wei ch， ou

We have said in the las t chapte r tha t the 10 stems - are gr ouped into 5 pa ir s ; each pair belongs to one element and is supposed to have the same natur e as that element. By combini ng this with Table V each stem is said to undergo the same changes through the course of 12 months as the element to which it belongs. In other wor ds, each stem is compared to a ma n a nd is supposed to live its life fr om bir th to death in the course of 12 months. B ut the two s tems w hich belong to one element are not completely the same in nature. The first one belongs to the y ang principle and the second belongs to the y in principle. Ac cording to the yin- yang theory, yang is contrary to y in in nature. T herefore, the y ang stem is sai d to be. born at the time whe n the y in stem is dead, and vice vers a. Moreover , in the course of the 12 months the y ang stem lives its life accor ding to the natur al order of the months (i.e. fro m 1 st month to 12th month), while the y in stem r ever sely 72. The bir th and deat h of the 10— stems is s hown in T able V I. 72)

San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian shang, p . 1.

T a M

Table V I to be born

to bathe


wu

tz u ssu

ping

y in

mao shen

we i

ting wu chi keng hsin je n kuei

ha i

yo u y in yo u

y in

ch’ou ch’en

chia i

ma o shen

mao

mao yi n

ch’en

ssu

wu

wei ch’en

wu ssu

ssu wu

wu

ss u

ssu tz u shen

wu

we i

hai y ou

hsii

mao

y in

(

to be to come an flourish official.

hsii ch’ou

.

shen

,to be come we ak ch’en

to get sick

to die

‘ to be buried

to be extinct

to be in the wo mb yo u

to be nourish ed

ss u tz u

wu

wei

shen

ch’ou

ha i

hsii

you

shen

wei

shen

yo u y in you

hai tzu

ch’ou

mao

hsu ch’ou

tz u

ch’en

hsii

hsii ch’ou

hai

hai tz u

hsii

ch’ou

yi n mao

hai, mao

wei ch， en

shen ma o

hsii wei

ha i wu

tz u ssu

y in yo u

mao

ch’en

shen

wei

yo u

yo u shen

hai

tz u

ch’ou

tz u

hai

hsii

y in

ch’en

U u ..

ssu wu

hsii we i

ch’ou ch， en

yi n

ch’ou

wu

we i ch， en

ss u

C S N H S M

S C I E N C E O F F A T M C A L O U L A T I O N

T a M

Table V I to be born

to bathe


to be to come an flourish official.

chia i

tz u ssu

ch’ou ch’en

y in

wu

mao

mao yi n

ping

y in

mao

ch’en

ssu

wu

ting

yo u y in

shen

wei ch’en

wu ssu

ssu wu

we i

wu

ss u

wu chi keng hsin je n kuei

ha i

yo u

ma o shen

ssu tz u shen

wu

we i

hai y ou

hsii

mao

y in

(

.

hsii ch’ou

304

shen

,to be come we ak ch’en

to get sick

to die

‘ to be buried

to be extinct

to be in the wo mb yo u

ss u tz u

wu

wei

shen

ch’ou

ha i

hsii

you

shen

wei

shen

yo u

ch’ou

mao

y in you

hai tzu

tz u

ch’en

hsu ch’ou

hsii

hsii ch’ou

hai

hai tz u

hsii

ch’ou

yi n mao

hai, mao

wei ch， en

shen ma o

hsii wei

ha i wu

tz u ssu

y in yo u

mao

ch’en

shen

wei

yo u

yo u shen

hai

tz u

ch’ou

tz u

hai

hsii

y in

ch’en

U u ..

ssu wu

hsii we i

ch’ou ch， en

yi n

ch’ou

wu

we i ch， en

ss u


2.

to be nourish ed

T he Official Emolument

Now we may re turn to our question as to how t he fatecalculators judg e one's fat e fr om the thr ee y iian. Fir s t, how they judg e one's official emolument from the heavenly y iia n or the heavenly s tem of the birth y ear. T he rule is : T he ea rthly branch at which, ac cording to T able V I ， the stem becomes an official, is its emolument73. Fo r ex ample, i f a ma n is born in the year chia- tzu, then the branch y in represents his emolument. If he is born in the fir st month, he is said to have emolument and to become a governmental official in the future, because the stem chia becomes official at y in and the first month is designated by y in. In the fatecalculators usage it is said that the emolument of chia'is at y in 甲 ,祿在寅 P the emolument of i is at mao, etc. In judg ing whether a man has emolument or not, the month is most i mpo r ta nt; it seems tha t most fatecalculators do not tale the branch of the day and hour into consideration. Besides the above rule there ’are some secondary rules. If a man is born in a month wmch is in order before the month of his emolument ， he is said ‘to be facing towards emolument ，向祿 , tha t is also a prediction of his becoming honourable and rich in the future but it is not so good as, to have the emolument. Contr ar ily , if the month in which one is born is in order after the month of emolument, one is said ‘to have the emolument behind his back’ 背祿 , w hich is a bad indication74. If one has in his eight characters both the branch before the emolument branch and that after it, this is called the ‘emolument upheld’ 拱祿 and is also a sign

C S N H S M

S C I E N C E O F F A T M C A L O U L A T I O N

304


2.

T he Official Emolument

Now we may re turn to our question as to how t he fatecalculators judg e one's fat e fr om the thr ee y iian. Fir s t, how they judg e one's official emolument from the heavenly y iia n or the heavenly s tem of the birth y ear. T he rule is : T he ea rthly branch at which, ac cording to T able V I ， the stem becomes an official, is its emolument73. Fo r ex ample, i f a ma n is born in the year chia- tzu, then the branch y in represents his emolument. If he is born in the fir st month, he is said to have emolument and to become a governmental official in the future, because the stem chia becomes official at y in and the first month is designated by y in. In the fatecalculators usage it is said that the emolument of chia'is at y in 甲 ,祿在寅 P the emolument of i is at mao, etc. In judg ing whether a man has emolument or not, the month is most i mpo r ta nt; it seems tha t most fatecalculators do not tale the branch of the day and hour into consideration. Besides the above rule there ’are some secondary rules. If a man is born in a month wmch is in order before the month of his emolument ， he is said ‘to be facing towards emolument ，向祿 , tha t is also a prediction of his becoming honourable and rich in the future but it is not so good as, to have the emolument. Contr ar ily , if the month in which one is born is in order after the month of emolument, one is said ‘to have the emolument behind his back’ 背祿 , w hich is a bad indication74. If one has in his eight characters both the branch before the emolument branch and that after it, this is called the ‘emolument upheld’ 拱祿 and is also a sign of becoming a hig h official75. Fo r e x ample, for a man whose heavenly y iian ou (i.e. 12th is chia, y in is his emolument; if he is born in the month ch， month), he is facing towards his emolument; if in mao (i.e. 2nd month), he has his emolument behind mm; if he has in his 8 characters both ch， ou and mao, then it is said that he has the upheld emolument. Moreov er, the bra nch which- destroy s the emolument branch is a bad indicatio n. Fo r ex ample, .the bra nch shen destroys the emolument branch y in of chia. In such case, it is said that the emolument is destroyed 破祿 76. Besides the emolument another factor which is called the school 學堂 is also connected w ith the< heavenly y uan and may be dealt w ith bere. The fatecalculators say tha t the branch at which the heavenly y uan gr ows up in T able V I is the school77. It is an indication of the lea rning of the man. Fo r example, fo r a man whose heavenly y iian is cttia, hai is the 73) 74) w u, we i, 75) ,76) 77)

San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian shang, p. 1-2. ibid. T he order of the 12 branches are: tzu, ch， ou ， y in, mao, ch ， en，ssuP she n, y ou, hsu, ha i. Sari- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian hsia, p . 13. San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian shang, p. 1-2. San- ming T ’ung- huei，chiian 3, L un Hsueh- fang Tzii- kuan 論學堂詞館 .

T H E C H IN E S E S C IE N C E O F FA T E - C A L C U L A T IO N

305

school; if it is found in his 8 characters, the calculators w ould say that he w ill be a scholar. — _ 3.

T he Fate, We alth and Horse

Secondly, we ex plain how the fatecalculators judge the f ate 命 or limit of life from the earthly y uan. The element to which the ear thly branch of the birth- year belongs is the representative of the fate. The calculators judg e of it by the month in which one is born. If t he element is flourishing in that month according to T able I I I ，it signifies that the man will live a long life; on the contrary, if it retires or is imprisoned in that month, he will die prematurely78. Moreover, one’s fate, long or short，is also determined by the reciprocal actions between- the fate branch and the other branches in the 8 characters. T he branches harmonious w ith it are good s ig ns ; those w hic h collide w ith, injure or punish it, are bad ones79. Of the har monious branches one kind — the 6 har monious branches — we have ex plained. T here is still another kind which may be dealt w ith here. T his k ind is called the 3 harmonious branches 支元三合， L et us see T able V . T he element wood is born at hai, flourishes at mao and is stored up at weL These 3 branches, hai，mao and w ei, are called the 3 harmonious branches of wood. S imilarly , y in，w u and hsii are the 8 harmonious branches of ou are the 3 harmonious branches of me ta l; and shen, fire; ssu, you and ch， tz u and ch’en are the 3 harmonious branches of water . T here are no harmonious branches of ea rth80. T he 6 collisions and 6 injur ies of branches have been ex plained in Chapter II I. T he 3 punishments 三刑 are closely connected with the 3 harmonious branches. H a i ， mao， wei, 'the 3 ou. harmonious branches of wood, are said to be planished by ha i，tzu, ch， T he 3 punishments are very difficult to explain. It is tr aditionally explained as follows: Hai, tzu, ch’ou are the 3 branches of the North; wood is produced by w at er and the No rth belong s to w ater ; then North produces wooa and is hence considered as the root of wood. The branches and leaves of a tree fa ll on its root when they ar e cut off. T herefore when the 3 harmonious branches of wood meet with the branches of the North, it is said tha t the fo rme r are punished. T he 3 harmonious branches of en，because most w at er {shen, tzuf cti'en) are punished by y in, mao, ch， rivers in China flow from the West to the East; y in, mao，cWen are the 3 branches of the Ea s t; the fatecalculators think tha t when the 3 branches of water meet with those of the East, it signifies that the former have come to the ir end. T he 3 harmonious branches of fir e are punished by ssu, wu and w ei, the 3 branches of the South; and the 3 harmonious 78) 79) 80)

San- ming hsiao- hsi Fu, chuan shang, p. 1-2, ibid. 、 Wu- hsing Ta-i, chapter II.

F o lk l. V o l . V , 20

306


branches of metal are punished by shen, you and ss u，the 3 branches of the Wes t. T he South belongs to fir e; the Wes t belongs to matal. T he fire and meta l do not move ，even thoug h they ar e ruined. T herefore, they are said to be punished when they meet with the branches of their re spectiv e direct ions81. T he 3 harmonious stems of each element and the branches by which they are punished are put in the following table: Table YII 5 elements

3 harmonious branches

3 punishments

hai, mao, we i

ha i, tzu, ch， ou

fire

y in, wu, hsii

ssu, wu, wei

metal

ssu, y ou, ch， ou

shen, y ou, hsu

w at er

shen, t zu, ch， en

y in, mao, ch， en

wood

earth

Closely connected with the 3 harmonious branches is the ‘post horse' 驛馬 . To ex plain it we have to come back once more to T able V . T he element wood is sick at ssu; ssu belongs to fire, which is produced by wood and is considered to be the son of wood. T he son can help the fa the r. Hence, when the harmonious branches of wood meet with ssu, it signifies that they meet w ith a helper w hile they are sick. It is jus t like when one comes to a posthouse and finds a horse when one is tir ed. T heref ore, the branch ssu is said to be the post horse of the 3 harmonious branches of wood. If a ma n，whose 'fat e' is hai, mao or wei, has ss u in his 8 character s, then it is said th at he has the horse. T he post horses of the 12 branches are as follows82:

5 elements wood fire

3 ha rmo nious br anches hai, mao, wei y in, w u, hs ii

ss u shen

metal

ssu, y ou, ch， ou

hai

w at er

shen, tzu, ch’en

y in

8 1 ) ibid. 82)

post horse

L i Hsii- chung’s Ming Shu, chiian chung, p. 5.

T H E C H I NE S E S C IE N C E O F F A T E - C A L C U L A T I ON

307

T he post horse is considered ver y impor tant by the fatecalculators. It is a good sig n. T hey say tha t a man of nobility must have both emolument and horse. A cc or ding to many fatecalculators, one， s ‘w eal th，財，being rich or poor，is closely connected w ith one’s fate. T hey say , ‘‘W ha t one destroys is one’s w ea lth.” Concretely s peaking, the element which, accor ding to the principle of destruction, is destroyed by the fate element, represents the wealth. Fo r ex ample, a man is born in the year chia- yin; the element wood is his fate ; wood destroys earth, the n ea rth is wealth. If he is born in a month in whicn the element earth gets prosperous, then it signifies that he will possess great wealth. 4.

The Body

Thirdly, the human y uan or the corresponding element of the stembranch of the year represents the ‘body’ 身 . It seems that this element was considered ver y im porta nt by the fatecalculators of ear lier times. K uan Lo, the earliest fate- calculator we know, said that by the containing note the fat e proper was judg ed. B ut later it w as not reg arded as being so import ant. For some calculators the body means the character and ability of the man. T hey say tha t a man has an analogous characte r and abilit y to the natur e of his body element. For example, the Lu- ming Shu says tha t a man of metal (i.e. the containing note of the stembranch being meta l) is strong- willed and st ubbor n; a man of wood is flowery and elegant; a man of water is wise and agre'eable; a man of fire is self estimated and irr itable ; a man of ea rth is fa ithf ul and open- minded.83 In L i Hsii- chun^s Ming Shu it is also said that one’s character is analogous to one’s body element modified by the other elements of the 4 pilla rs.84 F or some other fatecalculators body is also an indicat ion of a long or a short life. T hey judge it, vig orous or weak, in the same way as the fate. W hat destroys the body is called its d e v il 鬼 and is a bad indication, i f fo und in the 8 character s.85 Some fatecalculators r eg ard w hat the body destroys as the v/ealth.86 Ex amples are given in the nex t parag raph. 5.

T he Fact ors Considered T ogether

.

In the San- ming Hsia- hsi F u there is a discussion of the emolument, fate, w ealth, horse and body taken together.87 We may quote it here to 83) 84) 85) 86) 87)

Quoted in the Wu- hsing Ta- i, chapter 23. L i Hsii- chung*s Min g Shu, chiian chung, p. 5. San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian hsia, p . 11. W ang T ’ing- kuang held this idea. San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu, chiian hsia, p. 9-13.

308


conclude this chapter. Fir st , it says, if the fate and wealth is vigorous, the man will not be poor although he has the emolument behind his back. W ang T 'ing- kuang gives an ex ample of this. A man is bor n in the month ping- hsU ，i.e. 9th month, of the year keng- yin. T he we alth of this man is earth, which is flouris hing in the 9th month. (See T able III .) T here fore he will not be poor, though he has the emolument behind his back. Contr ar ily , i f the fate is weak a nt i the wealth is extinct, the man w ill be poor, althoug h he has emolument. For ex ample, a man is born in the en and the month ping- y in. T he containing note of chia y ear chia- ch， ch’en is fire，and his we alth is metal. (Wa ng T 'in^- kuang takes wha t ,the body destroys as w ealt h.) Metal is ex tinct at y in. The fate of this man is earth, of which y in is the devil. T herefore, his wealth is ex tinct and his fa te is weak . T hough his heavenly y uan chict has y in as its emolument, he will be a poor man. Secondly, if the body is prosperous and its devil is extinct, the ma n w ill live a long* life, al though his f ate be destroyed. Fo r ex ample, a man is born in the 1st month of the year ping- shen. T he body of this man is fire'; wate r is its devil. In the 1st month fire is born and w ater dies, therefore he w ill live a long life. Contrar ily, if the devil is vigorous but the body is weak, the man will die under age, although his fate is st rong . For ex ample, a man is born in the 4th month (i.e. ssu) of the y ear chi- ssu. T he body of this man is wood, of which metal is the devil. Wood gets sick at ss4 but metal grows up at it. T herefore the body is weak but its dev il is str ong . T his ma n w ill die prema tur ely . T hirdly, if the emolument and the horse are at the same branch, the man will be a hig*h official. Fo r ex ample, a man is born in the hour ping- yin of the day chi- hai of the month ting- ch， ou of the year chia- shen, His emolument and horse are both at y in. Contrarily, if a man has the emolument behind his back and runs after the horse.背祿逐馬，he w ill be ve ry poor. For e x am ple，a man is born in the 4th month of the ydar chia- hsil. His emolument is at y m and his horse is shen. He is born in the month ssuf which is in order after y in and before shen. He is said to have the emolument behind his back and runs after the horse. V .

T HE N E W MET HOD

■

T he new method of fatecalculation distinguishes itself fr om the old, firs t of all, in th at it does not use the birth- year but the birth- day as the chief faotor and judges the fate from the reciprocal actions of the day on one side and the year, month and hour on the other. Some fatecalculators of the new school compare the 4 pillar s to a plant. T he year is the root, the month is the sprout, the day is the

T H E C H I NE S E S C IE N C E O F F A T E - C A L C U L A T IO N

309

flower and the hour is the fr uits .88 T hey ar e also considered as the* repres entatives of one and one’s fa mil y . T he year represents the ancestry , the month the parents, the day one’s self and wife, and the hour the childr en.89 T he new method has a quite diff er ent system fr om the old. It is composed of four main headings: the official 官，wealth 財，s e a l 印 and food 食 . They are founded solely on the principles of production and destruction of the 5 elements. 1 . T he Off icial ' T he f our headings are s aid to hav e been for med by Hs ii T zu- p'ing, the founder of the new method,90 but in his comments to the San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu only discussions of the fir st tw o headings are found. T he official is also called ‘official and seal’ in his comments. To av oid confusing it is always called official in the present paper. The definition of the official is: What destroys me is the official. A cco rding to the new method, the heavenly stem of the birth- day is the heavenly y uan，which is supposed to be the representative of the man himse lf. It belongs to one ele ment; the element which destroys this element is reg arded as the official of the man. Fo r ex ample, a man is born in the day of the stem chia, which belongs to wood, wood is destroyed by metal, then metal is his official. T he stems keng and hsin，which belong to metal, represent his official. B ut, accor ding to the yin- yang theory, a y ang stem and a y in stem are harmonious; two y ang stems or two y in stems ar e one- sided. Chia and keng are y ang stems but hsin is a y in stem; therefore, hsin is said to be the proper official正官 of chia, and keng is the one- sided of fi cia l偏官 of it. On the contrary , for the man who is bor n in the year % w hich belong s to wood also but is a y in sbem, keng, is the proper official but hsin is the one- sided official. A n ear thly branch which destroys the heavenly y uan is also considered as an official. For example, the branch y ou is the proper official of chia, and shen is the. one- sided official of it .91 The proper official is an indication of becoming a governmental official in the futur e. B ut the one- sided official is a bad indication. It is also called the ‘kille r，or the ‘sev enth k ill er ’ 七煞，because it is alw ay s the seventh stem from the heavenly y iia n in the 10 stems. It w ill be better San- ming T ung- huei, chiian. T zti- p， in g San- ming Hsiao- hsi Fu Chu, chiian s hang, p. 1-2. \ l 8 9 / ung- huei，chiian 5, Lu n Ku- jen L i Y in S hih K uan T s， a i Ming- i \ lSan- ming T ， / \ 8 8 l /

論

9 0 H .

立印食官財名義 .

)/ ^

9 1

San- ming T ， ung- huei，chiian 5, L un Cheng- kuan and Lun P ’ien- kuan.


310

,if there is in the 8 characters a stem or bra nch which controls it. Fo r ex ample，fo r the man w hose heavenly y iia n is chia, keng is the killer; if the stem ping is found in the 8 characters, then the killer is controled. That a controled killer meets with the seal is an indication of becoming an official.92 ' It is better tha t the. official is fo und in the s tem- branch of the month. T he stembranch of the ye ar predicts the fa te befor e fifteen years of age, tha t of the hour predicts the fate after fif ty . It is too ear ly to find the official in the ye ar a nd.too late to find it in the hour.93 If the official is helped and supported by w eal th and seal, and there is no ‘injurer of the official’ and no killer in the 4 pillars, the man w ill become a hig h official when the stem or branch of his fatal period is also the official of his heavenly y uanM. The birth and death of the 5 elements in the course of the year plays an impor ta nt role in the new method as ex plained by Hsti T zu- p， ing. In the case of the official，he says, a man is born in the month w hen th^ element which is his official is flourishing, then he surely be a high official in the futur e; contr ar ily if the element dies, he wil l be a lay- man thoug h he has official in his 8 characters. Bas ing himself on this reason Hsii T zu- p'ing criticizes the emolument of the old method. A n ex ample may be quoted to illustr ate this point. A ccor ding to the old method the branch shen is the emolument of the stem keng, but according to the new method ting is the official of keng, Hs ii T zu- p’ing says tha t in the month shen，i.e. the seventh month, the fire of ting is sick and keng has no official a t all.95 Concerning the ‘facing to emolument，and ‘having emolument behind one’s back ’，Hsti T zu- p’ing also holds a diff er ent idea fr om t he when a ma n is bor n in a clviw fat e- calculators of old method. He, say s ， day and in autumn, and there is no ping or ting in his 4 pillars, then he is facing to the emolument, because the official of chia is metal, which is flouris hing in autumn. Contrar ily , if a man is born on the day jen- ivu and in the spring, then he has the emolument behind his back, because the official of je n is earth, which is dead in spring96. 2.

The

Wealth

The definition of weal th is : W hat I destroy is the wealth. F or instance, the wealth of a man who is born in the day with the stem chia, 2)

ibid. ibid. 3) 4) ibid. ing ，chuan shang, p . 18. 丨 5) Tzu-p， 6 ) Tzfi- p’ing ，chiian s hang , p. 2. »

T H E C H IN E S E S C I E N C E O F F A T E - C A L C U L A T IO N

311

is the stem chi, Chia belongs to wood, chi belongs to earth, wood destroys earth, therefore chi is the wealth of chia. Similarly w u is the wealth of i. But w u is the one- sided weal th 偏財 of chia and chi is the one sided wealth of L T he principle of diff er enciating the proper wealth fr om the one- sided we alth is the same as tha t diff er enciating the proper f r om the one- sided official . Q h i is also considered as the wife of chia， therefore the wealth is also called ‘w ife and w e a lt h'妻貝オ. The branches ch'en，hsii, ch， ou，w ei are also the wealth of chia a nd i 97 I f t he w ealt h is found in the year or month, it is an indication that the man will inherit a great property from his ancestry and parents; if it is found on the day or hour, it predicts that he will become rich after his middle age. The proper wealth is an indication of getting the wealth which one should hav e; the one- sided we alth is tha t of g et ting unex pected we alth. It is better to find the wealth, official and seal all in the 8 char acte rs .98 Closely connected with the wealth is the ‘robber of wealth’ 规財， For example, for the heavenly y ikm i ，chia is the robber of wealth, because the wealth of i is w u and chi which belong to earth, and chia which belongs to wood can capture w u as its wife and destroy chi. Conversely, if chia is the heavenly y iian, then i is the robber of wealth. In one word, the two stems which belong to the same element are the robbers of weath f or each other. If a y ang stem is the heavenly y uan and meets with a y in robber of wealth, it predicts that the wife of the man will die not long after marriage; if a y in heavenly y iian meets with a y ang robber of wealth, it predicts loss of money." 3.

T he Seal

T he thir d heading is the seal. Under this heading there are two items: the ribbon attached to the seal 印絞 and the one- sided s e a l 印. T he fatecalculators say tha t v/hat produces me is the seal. Concretely speaKmg, the stem of the birth- day is the repres entative of the man, it belongs to one of the 5 elements, and according to the principle of produc tio n it is produced by another element. T he latte r element is the seal. For ex ample，for a man w ho is born on the day chia, water is the seal, because chia belongs to wood and wate r produces wood. T he stems kuei and ha i belong to water; kuei，a y in stem, is the seal- ribbon and ha i，a y ang stem， is the one- sided seal.100 In his commentary to the San- ming Hsiao- hsi F u Hsii T zu- p^ng has no explanation of the seal in general but only of the importance of the 97) 98) 99) 100)

San- ming T ung- huei，chtian 5，L un Cheng- ts， ai and Lun P ’ien_ts’ai. ibid. T zu- p'ing, chiian shang, p. 23. Tzu- p， ing ，chiian shang , p. 1-2.

San- ming T ， ung- huei，chiian 5，L un Y in- shoa0


312

seal- ribbon. He says that, fo r instance, fo r the stem chia, hsin is the official, it belongs to metal and can be destroyed by the fire of ting ，but kuei cati control ting and save the official hsin. A ccor ding to Chinese custom the certification of an official is the seal of his office; what keeps the seal from los ing is the seal- ribbon, therefore w hat keeps the official fr om losing* is know n as the seal- ribbon. A n official can order and control his subject s as long as he has the seal. Hence the fatecalculators think that it is as importa nt to the official as the soul to a man, and say that the seal in the 8 characters sig nifies the w ill and wis edom of the man. A man w ith the seal- ribbon w ill be clever and wise, merc iful and kind, fa t and healthy. I f he is an official, either civil or military, he will be the principal and not the se condary 101. It is bett er to find in one's char acter s the seal- ribbon co- ex isting w ith the official, but the seal may be damage d by too much w eal th.102 T he one- sided seal will be ex plained in the nex t s ection. 4.

T he Food

ノ

’

』

.

The ‘food，is also called ‘god of food’ 食神 . The definition is: W ha t I produce is the food. We had better ex plain it by an ex ample. For the heavenly y ik m chia, ping is the, food, because king is its killer and w u is its wealth, keng belongs to metal and w u belongs to e ar th，but ping ， w hich belongs to fire，can contr ol the kille r and produce the wealth. Similarly, the ：branch ss u is also its food. Ping and s M belong to fire, chia belongs to wood, wood produces fire, therefore it is said that what the heavenly y iian produces is the food.103 The stem ting belongs to the same element as ping ，but it is not considered as the food of chia. It is called the ‘injur e r of the official，傷官 . The official of chia is hsin ，which belongs to metal, and the fire to which tm g belongs can destroy it, therefore ting is said to be the injurer of the official of chia. Ping and ting belong to the same element but they are different in their relation to chia, because the former is a y in stem and the later a y ang one.104 Now we may explain the second item of the third heading, the one- sided seal, which is also called the ‘upsetter of f ood’ 倒食 . A s we have just explained, the food of chia is ping ，w hich belongs to f ire ; je n ， the one- sided seal of chia, belongs to water and destroys ping, therefore 101) 102) 103) 104)

San- ming T ’ung- huei，chiian 5，L un Yin- shou. ibid. San- ming T ’ung- huei，chiian 5，L un Shih- shen. San- ming T ung- huei, chiian 5, L un Shang- kuan.

Table VIII

chia

i

ping ting wu chi keng hsin ]'en kuei

314

proper official

one-sided official

proper w ea lth

one-s ided w ea lth

hs m y ou

keng shen

chi ch’oi we i w u

wu ch， en hsii chi ch， ou we i keng shen

je n ha i

keng shen

hsin yo u

kuei

jen ha i

ch*ei

hsin yo u

food

seal

w ea lth

official heavenly y iia n

ribbon kuei tz u

one-s ided seal ] en ha i

god of food

injurer of official

ping ssu

ting wu

kuei tz u

ting wu

ping ss u

mao

chia y in

wu ch’en hsii chi ch’ou we i

chi ch’ou wei wu ch’en hsu

ha i

kuei tz u

keng shen

hsin y ou

chia y in

ma o

、 m ao

chia y in

kuei tz u

je n hai

ting wu

ping ss u

keng shen

hsjn you

chia y in

mao

kuei tz u

ping ssu

ting w u

hsin yo u

keng she n

wu ch， en hsii chi ch’ou we i keng shen

je n hai

hsi yo u

ting ping ss u chi ch’ou we i w u ch’en hsii

je n ha i

Ping

ss u

mao

chia y in

chi ch， ou w ei

ting

chia y in

m ao

wu ch’en

ting w u

ping ss u

hsin y ou

ping ssu

ting wu

keng shen

w u a c h , h s e

match shoulder

robber of w ea th T W oH

chia y in

mao

pmg

chia y in

ss u

ting w u

ting w u

pmg ss u

kuei tzu

w u ch， en hsii chi ch， ou we i keng shen

chi ch， ou w ei w u ch， en hsii hsin yo u

kuei tzu

jen hai

hsin yo u

keng shen

chia y in

i mao

je n ha i

kuei tz u

i mao

chia yin

W I N M S E l S C I M N C U 0 ； P F A T U O A L C U L A T I O N

u

i

，

kuei tz u

je n ha i 3 1 3

e i

o


it is said to be the upsetter of food of chia, T hi^ is a bad indicat ion. A man who has it in his 8 char acters w ill be a ver y poor and mea n fel low or die imma tur el y .105 5.

A

Conclusion

In the above, nine items of the scheme of the new method have been ex plained. Of the 10 stems one is the heav enly y iian and the 9 others are supposed to act upon it respectively according to these items. For example, if i is the heavenly y iia n ，then chia is the robber of wealth, pin^g is the injurer of official，tm g is the god of food, w u is the Jproper wealth, chi is the one- sided wealth, keng is the proper official, hsin is the seventh killer, je n is the s eal- ribbon. and kuei is the upsetter of food. Whe n the same stem as the heavenly y iia n is found in the 8 characters, it is called the ‘match shoulder’ 比肩 . It is better to have the seventh kil ler to control it. Moreover , the branches ar e also supposed to have the respective relations. In T able V II I each stem is tak en as the heavenly y uan once and the delations of all stems and branches to it are shown. One’s f am ily is also predicted by the above- mentioned items. For a man the calculators firs t consider the w ealt h and the official. T hey say tha t when one has we alt h，then one can have a wif e. If one has the official，the n one can have chil dren. T he seal- cord represents one， s par ents ， because it produces the heavenly y ua n; and the match shoulder represents one’s brother s. If one of these items is destr oyed, it predicts the sickness

314


it is said to be the upsetter of food of chia, T hi^ is a bad indicat ion. A man who has it in his 8 char acters w ill be a ver y poor and mea n fel low or die imma tur el y .105 5.

A

Conclusion

In the above, nine items of the scheme of the new method have been ex plained. Of the 10 stems one is the heav enly y iian and the 9 others are supposed to act upon it respectively according to these items. For example, if i is the heavenly y iia n ，then chia is the robber of wealth, pin^g is the injurer of official，tm g is the god of food, w u is the Jproper wealth, chi is the one- sided wealth, keng is the proper official, hsin is the seventh killer, je n is the s eal- ribbon. and kuei is the upsetter of food. Whe n the same stem as the heavenly y iia n is found in the 8 characters, it is called the ‘match shoulder’ 比肩 . It is better to have the seventh kil ler to control it. Moreover , the branches ar e also supposed to have the respective relations. In T able V II I each stem is tak en as the heavenly y uan once and the delations of all stems and branches to it are shown. One’s f am ily is also predicted by the above- mentioned items. For a man the calculators firs t consider the w ealt h and the official. T hey say tha t when one has we alt h，then one can have a wif e. If one has the official，the n one can have chil dren. T he seal- cord represents one， s par ents ， because it produces the heavenly y ua n; and the match shoulder represents one’s brother s. If one of these items is destr oyed, it predicts the sickness or death of the relativ e it represents. Fo r a woman, the official is her husband. T he god of food and the injure r of official represent her children, because they are produced by the heavenly y iian. T he seal- cord represents her parents and the match shoulder represents her sisters106 V I.

CONCL US IV E R E M A R K S

T he above is but an outline of the two s ystems of Chinese fatecalc ulation. Y et it seems to suffice to show what it is in its essence. Having explained the whole system, the author would like to end with a few conclusive remarks. In construction, the idea of the three powers of nature 三才， heaven, earth and man, is embodied in the system of the old method and they are made its skelton, i.e. the three y iian. T he ideal lif e of the Chinese consists of happiness, emolument and longevity, which are idealized as 105)

San- ming T ûng- huei, chuan 5，L un T ao- shih.

106) San- ming T ， ung- huei，chiian 5，L un Ku- jen L i Y in S hih K uan T s’ai Ming- i. Cf. C hang Nan ’s Ming- li Cheng- tsung 張楠 , 命理正宗 chiian 3，K ， an- ming tsieh- chueh

看命捷訣 .

The Chinese Science of Fate Calculation

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