Sanming Tonghui, Volume 5: The Six Formats -- Official, Wealth, Seal, and Food
三命通會·卷五
Sanming Tonghui, Volume 5: The Six Formats -- Official, Wealth, Seal, and Food
三命通會·卷五
On the Ancients' Establishment of Seal, Food, Official, and Wealth Terminology
論古人立印食官財名義
徐子平論格局，獨以印、食、官、財四者為綱。其立名之義云何？蓋造化流行天地間，不過陰陽五行而已。
Xu Ziping discussed chart formats using exclusively Seal, Food, Official, and Wealth as the four guiding principles. What is the meaning behind these names? Creation flows between Heaven and Earth through nothing other than yin-yang and the five phases. Using Jia-Yi [wood] as an example: from the day-stem's perspective, what generates me is Ren-Gui Water; what I generate is Bing-Ding Fire; what overcomes me is Geng-Xin Metal; what I overcome is Wu-Ji Earth. Thus the ten stems are all accounted for. What generates me has the meaning of parent -- hence named 'Seal' (印綬). Seal means 'shade'; shou means 'to receive.' Like parents who shade and shelter their descendants, so descendants receive their blessings. In the court, officials receive seal and sash to certify their authority. An official without a seal has no basis for action; a person without parents has no one to rely on. What I generate has the meaning of offspring -- hence named 'Food Spirit' (食神). Food means consuming, as insects consume objects. The insect fed becomes sated; the person fed is nourished. Creation uses the child to provide sustenance -- the way of filial piety. What overcomes me has the meaning of submission to authority -- hence named 'Official-Killer' (官煞). Official means governed. Killer means harmful. The court gives a person an official post and the person's body belongs to the state, obeying its orders, going through fire and water without daring to disobey, until the coffin closes. This is how officialdom 'kills.' What I overcome has the meaning of what I control -- hence named 'Wife-Wealth' (妻財). Like a person establishing a household and acquiring property who needs a wife's assistance.
徐子平 (Xu Ziping): Xu Ziping (徐子平) was a Five Dynasties / early Song period (10th century) fate calculator traditionally credited with transforming the older three-pillar system into the four-pillar (Bazi) system by adding the hour pillar. His emphasis on the day-stem as the primary indicator of self, and his classification of the other elements as Official, Wealth, Seal, and Food based on their five-phase relationship to the day-stem, became the foundation of all subsequent Bazi practice. The system is sometimes called 'Ziping methodology' (子平法) in his honor.
On the Proper Official
論正官
正官者，乃甲見辛、乙見庚之例。陰陽配合，相制有用，成其道也。故正官為六格之首，止許一位，多則不宜。
The Proper Official is the case of Jia seeing Xin, or Yi seeing Geng -- yin and yang pairing together, mutual constraint put to use, completing the Way. Therefore the Proper Official is the foremost of the six formats, permitting only one position -- more than one is inadvisable. For the Proper Official, first examine the month command, then the rest. The breath of the five phases is strongest when it is the month's current season. Moreover, the four pillars each govern a segment of life: the year governs until fifteen (too early), the hour governs after fifty (too late). Therefore only the month command is considered the true position. Jia day born in You month, Yi in Shen-Si month, Bing in Zi month, Ding in Hai month, Wu in Mao month, Ji in Yin month, Geng in Wu month, Xin in Yin-Si month, Ren in Wu-Wei-Chou month, Gui in Chen-Si-Xu month -- all constitute the proper vital breath. If the official star additionally appears transparently in the Heavenly Stems -- such as Jia seeing Xin-You, Yi seeing Geng-Shen -- this is called 'stored in the Branch, transparent through the Stem.' No additional official stars should appear elsewhere. The day-master must be healthy and vigorous, with both wealth and seal supporting it. The chart must show no injury from the Killer, no greed-combination forgetting the official, and no robbery dividing the fortune. The major cycles should lead toward official territory. This is a chart of great wealth and high nobility.
The Proper Official (正官) format is the most prestigious of the six standard Bazi formats. It represents legitimate authority: the element that properly controls the day-master in a yin-yang complementary relationship (yang stem controlled by yin metal, or vice versa). The ideal is a single, uninjured Official Star in the month pillar, supported by Wealth (which generates the official element) and Seal (which protects the self from the official's pressure). This format traditionally indicates government service, stable career advancement, and social respectability.
Other Formats in Volume 5
卷五其他格局
天福貴人、天元作祿、歲德正官、時上正官、官印祿庫、相刑遇貴、三合遇貴、金木間隔、水火既濟、金火相成、天元坐煞、時上一位貴、年上七煞、官煞混雜、專祿要制、棄命從煞、官煞去留雜論
[Volume 5 continues with extensive discussions of specialized formats and variations:] 'Celestial Fortune Noble Person' -- when the official star sits in its salary position with additional noble-person support. 'Heavenly Stem Creates Its Own Salary' -- when the day-stem's official element appears directly in the day Branch (e.g., Geng-Wu: Geng metal sitting on Wu fire, its official). 'Official-Killer Mixed' (官煞混雜) -- the problematic situation where both the Proper Official (yin controlling element) and the Seven Killer (yang controlling element) appear simultaneously, creating confused authority. Solutions include removing one or the other, or having a Food Spirit control the Killer. 'Abandoning Destiny to Follow the Killer' (棄命從煞) -- when the day-master is so weak and the Killer so overwhelming that resistance is futile; instead, the person thrives by submitting completely to external authority. 'Water-Fire Already Crossed' (水火既濟) -- the auspicious format where fire and water are in perfect balance, each constraining the other's excess. 'Gold-Fire Mutual Completion' (金火相成) -- metal refined by fire into useful implements, representing talent shaped by adversity.
The 'Abandoning Destiny to Follow the Killer' (棄命從煞) format is one of the most counterintuitive concepts in Bazi theory. When the day-master element is extremely weak with no support, and the controlling (killer) element is overwhelming, the normal reading (disaster, oppression) is reversed: the person succeeds by completely aligning with the dominant force. This is interpreted as someone who achieves high position through total dedication to a powerful institution or authority figure. The concept has parallels to the Daoist principle of yielding to overwhelming force.
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