Sanming Tonghui, Volume 11: Classical Prose Collections -- Qixiang, Liushen, Zengai, Xixi, Mingtong, Xiji, and Jishan

[The 'Qi-Phenomena Chapters' (氣象篇) consist of four sections that analyze the overall 'weather pattern' (氣象) of a natal chart -- the gestalt impression that emerges from the interplay of all elements:] Section 1: Fundamental principles of chart balance. 'Yang that is unyielding without centrality becomes harmful through excess; yang that can accommodate yin -- that is the way of auspiciousness.' Charts dominated by yin softness without yang structure produce small-minded scheming; charts with yang vigor tempered by yin produce the bearing of a gentleman. Extremes are analyzed: excessive cold (pure yin in winter), excessive heat (pure fire before the summer solstice), excessive rigidity (single-minded use of one element without flexibility), excessive clarity (metal-water charts without warmth), and excessive attachment (elements too tightly bound to one relationship). Section 2: Paradoxes of chart relationships. 'Though one has married a wife, she does not recognize her husband' -- when the official star exists but is blocked by intervening elements. 'A father without sons is not necessarily alone; a son with a father may still be orphaned' -- when expected generating relationships are disrupted. Discussion of the principle that 'what has died cannot die again' (an element at its death position does not become worse in later cycles). Section 3: Cosmological chart images. The 'Great Forest Dragon' (戊辰, Wu-Chen) meeting the Heavenly River water across the four storehouses produces a chart of imperial caliber -- the author notes the Ming dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhong's chart as an example. The 'Long-Flow Dragon' (壬辰, Ren-Chen) returning to the great sea represents another pattern of supreme authority, illustrated by the philosopher Wang Yangming's chart. Section 4: The metaphor of the horse and rider. 'A horse with an arrow at its head is born in Qin and dies in Chu; a horse whipped from behind travels from north at dawn to south at dusk' -- analysis of the Courier Horse star in day and hour positions, and how clashes and combinations determine whether travel brings fortune or ruin. Discussion of appearance versus reality: 'Plain in form but bright in spirit' (chart that looks weak but has hidden strengths) versus 'handsome in appearance but dull in mind' (chart that looks strong but has concealed flaws).

[The 'Six Spirits Chapter' (六神篇) provides advanced analysis of the six key chart relationships -- Official, Wealth, Seal, Food Spirit, Seven Killer, and Injury Official -- focusing on non-obvious interactions and exceptions to standard rules:] 'Proper Official wearing the Seal is not as good as riding the Horse [Wealth]' -- when the day-master is strong and official stars are light, adding more Seal (which strengthens the self further) is less beneficial than adding Wealth (which generates the official). This reverses the standard preference for Seal over Wealth. 'Seven Killer using Wealth -- how could one want the Salary position?' -- when following the Killer format, encountering one's own salary (which strengthens the self) causes the person to resist the Killer rather than submit, leading to disaster. 'Seal encountering Wealth loses its post; Wealth encountering Seal gains promotion' -- the complex dynamic where Seal (credentials, protection) is destroyed by Wealth (material gain), but in certain configurations, Wealth generating Official which then generates Seal produces a virtuous cycle of advancement. 'One horse in the stable, no one dares chase it; one horse in the wild, everyone pursues it' -- when wealth is openly displayed in the chart (transparently positioned), others recognize it as rightfully yours; when wealth is hidden in storehouses, competitors plot to steal it through combination and clash. [The chapter treats each relationship pair with multiple conditional scenarios, demonstrating that no element is inherently good or bad -- its value depends entirely on the chart's overall configuration and the day-master's strength.]

[The 'Rhapsody on Aversion and Affection' (憎愛賦) is a lengthy prose-poem that systematically catalogs which chart configurations are 'loved' (auspicious) and which are 'hated' (inauspicious):] 'The richest of the rich comes from purity; the poorest of the poor comes from conflict. The noblest of the noble comes from refinement and substance; the basest of the base comes from reversed injury.' 'Brocade scholarship comes when the noble horse meets the Academy of Learning. Broad-mindedness comes when water and fire harmonize in the temperament.' The rhapsody covers: the role of major cycles (大運) versus annual rulers (太歲) in timing fortune; how the six combinations and seven killers produce opposite effects; conditions for career advancement (salary meeting its generating position), property acquisition (wealth combining in the right season), and commercial success (courier horse pathways being unobstructed). On character assessment: 'The ambitious and domineering type has encountered the partial official and robbery blade gaining power. The serene and contemplative type has met the Flower Canopy at the position of solitude.' Each stem is correlated with temperament: Jia-Yi are humane and generous; Bing-Ding are fierce and resolute; Geng-Xin are decisive but may lack gentleness; Ren-Gui are strategic and scheming. [The rhapsody concludes with a meditation on the limits of chart analysis: 'Even with a turning-heaven, axis-shifting stratagem, without the fortune to build achievement, success remains impossible' -- citing the historical figures of Fan Zeng, Tao Yuanming, and Du Fu as examples of brilliant men whose charts did not support worldly success.]

[The 'Rhapsody on Waxing and Waning' (訊息賦), attributed to Luoluozi (珞琭子, an enigmatic figure possibly of the Six Dynasties period), is one of the oldest and most revered texts in the Bazi tradition. It consists of eight sections with extensive commentary by multiple annotators including Xu Ziping, Tan Ying (a Buddhist monk), and Wan Minying himself:] Section 1: Cosmological foundations. 'The Prime Qi preceded Heaven; clarity and turbidity are received naturally. The Three Powers are established as images; the Four Seasons are deployed as the year.' The stem is treated as Heaven's salary (天元), the branch as the human fate (人元), and the nayin as the earthly body (地元). The forward and backward flow of salary through the twelve stages of life is established. Section 2: The author's self-introduction. 'Your servant came from the wilds of Lan, and from youth admired the True Wind.' The principle of waxing and waning (消息) -- that creation involves both growth and decay in constant alternation -- is established as the text's central theme. Section 3: The logic of hidden combinations and invisible relationships. 'No combination yet having combination' -- when elements not visibly present in the chart are activated through hidden salary positions. 'Getting one and dividing into three' -- when a single salary position activates multiple combinations through indirect chains. Section 4: Life-cycle analysis. 'The Three Meetings of salary are the Long Life, the Emperor's Peak, and the Storehouse -- the most auspicious positions. The Five Periods of disaster are Decline, Illness, Death, Defeat, and Extinction.' Detailed rules for assessing when cycle transitions bring fortune versus calamity. Sections 5-6: Advanced timing principles. How to determine the 'front five years' and 'back five years' of each major cycle; the relationship between annual rulers (太歲) and major cycles; the method of 'facing three, avoiding five' for directional fortune. Section 7: Diagnostic applications. 'Rely on yin to examine yang's calamity; depend on yang to mirror yin's disaster.' Methods for predicting health crises, family disasters, and career setbacks from the interplay of natal chart and temporal cycles. Section 8: The limits of prediction and the role of moral cultivation. 'When evil luminaries arrive yet there is joy, estimate a great vessel; when fortune stars come yet disaster erupts, this marks a villainous person.' The text's concluding admonition that moral character ultimately shapes how chart energies manifest.

[The 'Rhapsody of Luminous Comprehension' (明通賦) is the most practically oriented of the rhapsodies in Volume 11, consisting of five sections that systematically review every major chart format with specific example charts and conditional rules:] Section 1: The standard formats. Proper Official format -- requiring monthly command with no damage, exemplified by specific chart combinations. Proper Wealth format -- wealth derived from the month command without clash. Proper Seal format -- 'Month Seal accompanying the day without wealth breath, called the Seal Ribbon's name.' Day Salary Returning to Hour -- 'No official star, named Azure Cloud Finding the Path.' Monthly Seven Killer -- 'When Killer and self are both strong, one becomes a black-hatted prime minister.' Section 2: Extended format analysis. Established Salary encountering wealth, official, or seal; the three Blade formats (month, day, and hour); the relationship between monthly command control of the Seven Killer and bodily strength. Detailed treatment of how the Food Spirit and Injury Official interact with wealth generation. Section 3: Advanced configurations. How to handle mixed Official-Killer charts through selective removal; the dynamics of wealth-seal interaction when both are present; the 'Background Salary' (背祿) or Injury Official format and its reliance on wealth for success. Extended discussion of the Established Salary format's specific needs. Section 4: Special formats and lookup tables. The Six Yin Courts the Sun, Six Yi Rat Noble, Zi-Chou Reaching Si, Ren Riding the Dragon's Back, Well-Railing Fork, and other specialized formats, each with specific chart examples and conditional prohibitions. The five-phase special formats (Crooked-Straight, Blazing-Up, Following-Revolution, Moistening-Down) and their characteristic strengths and weaknesses. Section 5: Practical rules for common chart problems. How robbery-of-wealth affects different formats; the interaction of Blade and Seal when they share the same Branch; timing of career advancement through cycle analysis; the conditions under which apparent contradictions (Injury Official meeting Official, Background Salary encountering wealth) produce positive outcomes. [The Mingtong Fu is cross-referenced throughout with the Xiji Pian (喜忌篇), indicating that these texts were designed to be read together as a comprehensive practical handbook.]

[The 'Chapter on Favorable and Unfavorable Factors' (喜忌篇) is one of the two most widely memorized texts in the Bazi tradition (alongside the Jishan Pian). It consists of terse, aphoristic statements that serve as a quick-reference summary of essential rules:] 'Four pillars arranged, Three Powers next divided. Focus on the day's Heavenly Stem, match it with the eight characters' stems and branches.' 'When the hour encounters Seven Killer, seeing it is not necessarily inauspicious. If the month controls and the stem is strong, that Killer conversely becomes a power-seal.' 'Wealth, official, seal, and salary complete, stored within the four seasonal months. Official star and wealth breath at the Long Life, stationed at Yin-Shen-Si-Hai.' Format-specific rules follow: the Geng-Shen hour meeting Wu day as Food Spirit; Ren riding the dragon's back at Chen; the six-Yi Rat Noble at Zi hour; proper and inverted Salary-flying formats; the Six Yin Courts the Sun format; the prohibition against mixing official and killer stars. 'Established Salary at the monthly command, do not dwell in the ancestral home; upon seeing wealth and official, fortune naturally arises.' 'The Blade and Robbery at the hour -- most dreaded. When year and cycle both arrive, calamity strikes immediately.' 'The ten stems' Background Salary delights in seeing wealth stars at year and hour. Cycle reaching Shoulder-to-Shoulder is called Background Salary Chasing the Horse.' [The chapter ends with the principle of moderation: 'Yin and yang are rarely measurable; one cannot push by a single rule. One must receive the centrally harmonious qi, then distinguish noble from base.']

[The 'Chapter on Continuing Goodness' (繼善篇) is the companion text to the Xiji Pian, presenting the foundational principles of Bazi analysis in a series of paired statements:] 'Humans receive Heaven and Earth; fate belongs to yin and yang. Living within the canopy of creation, all is contained in the five phases.' 'To know noble from base, first observe the monthly command as the guiding principle. To determine fortune from misfortune, focus on the day-stem as the primary foundation.' 'The use-spirit must not be damaged. The day-master most benefits from health and vigor.' 'Rich and also noble -- certainly because wealth is vigorous and generates official. Neither long-lived nor prosperous -- certainly because the self is declining and meets ghosts.' 'Ren born at the Wu position is called Salary and Horse in the Same District. Gui day seated facing the Si palace is Wealth and Official in Double Beauty.' On health and longevity: 'Metal weak encountering the blazing-fire territory -- blood illness without doubt. Earth hollow meeting the wood-vigorous district -- spleen injury is certain. Sinew pain and bone ache all arise from wood being injured by metal. Eyes dim and vision dark must be from fire suffering water's conquest.' On the five-phase combinations: 'Jia meeting Ji in prosperity -- certainly harboring an upright and centered heart. Ding encountering Ren in excess -- certainly committing licentious and errant disorder.' [The chapter concludes: 'Thus the five phases must not be lopsided or withered; one must receive the centrally harmonious qi. If one can further eliminate distracting thoughts, chart reading will have neither error nor mistake.']