Classical Texts古典文献

The poetic peak of destiny analysis, compiled in the Ming dynasty. A classic that describes chart reading through metaphor and verse.

Di Tian Sui is traditionally attributed to Liu Bowen (Liu Ji, 1311-1375), the great strategist of the Ming dynasty who aided Zhu Yuanzhang in unifying China. It is the poetic summit of destiny analysis. In the Qing dynasty, Ren Tiejiao added a detailed commentary (Di Tian Sui Chanwei), establishing the form in which the text is transmitted today. The distinctive mark of this work is its approach to chart reading not as a mechanical judgment table but as the observation of the flow of qi. The strength of the Five Elements, Seasonal Adjustment, the choice of the Favorable Element — all are drawn in metaphor and verse. Phrases such as "Spring does not receive Metal" (春不容金) show the reader a depth that exceeds formula. Chen Suan, Minister of Rites in the early Qing, wrote: "To exhaust the feelings of stems and branches, to penetrate the transformations of Yin and Yang, to seek the true principles of destiny without attachment to structural patterns — this path's depth stands supreme among the arts of fate-reading." Bazen Sanmei places this posture — "seeking the true principles of destiny without attachment to structural patterns" — at the very root of its reading.

A Qing-dynasty synthesis of the theory of the Ten Gods and Structural Patterns by Shen Xiaozhan.

Zi Ping Zhen Quan is the work of the Qing-dynasty jinshi scholar Shen Xiaozhan (18th century). The name "Zi Ping" traces back to Xu Ziping (10th–11th century Northern Song). Xu Ziping systematized the Day-Master-centered reading method, and the reading method bearing his name came to be called the Zi Ping method. Shen Xiaozhan re-crystallized this method from the vantage of the Qing. At the heart of the book lies the theory of the Ten Gods and of Structural Patterns. The qualities of the Ten Gods — from Friend and Rob Wealth to Indirect Resource and Direct Resource — and the classification into Inner and Outer Patterns, together with the derivation of the Favorable Element for each, are recorded with precision. Much of the contemporary understanding of the Ten Gods in BaZi and Sanmei rests on the framework established here. Bazen Sanmei, too, places its foundation for reading the Ten Gods in Zi Ping Zhen Quan.

An encyclopedic masterwork of destiny analysis by Wan Yuwu of the Ming dynasty.

San Ming Tong Hui is the comprehensive treatise of destiny analysis by Wan Yuwu (Wan Minying) of the Ming dynasty. It is one of the great monuments in the history of destiny scholarship, organizing comprehensively the vast accumulation of theories, techniques, and case studies up to its time. If Di Tian Sui represents poetic depth and Zi Ping Zhen Quan represents the system of the Ten Gods and Structural Patterns, San Ming Tong Hui represents the breadth of destiny analysis. From foundational concepts to applied techniques, from theories of auspicious stars to collections of case studies — nearly every subject related to destiny analysis is included. To know the thickness of the classical tradition, San Ming Tong Hui cannot be passed over. Bazen Sanmei draws from the vast accumulation of knowledge in this work those classical insights applicable to the contemporary reading.

A Ming-dynasty classic on the Favorable Element of Seasonal Adjustment. Also known as Lan Jiang Wang.

Qiong Tong Bao Jian is a specialized text on Seasonal Adjustment (調候), compiled by Yu Chuntai of the Ming dynasty. It is also known as Lan Jiang Wang (欄江網). Later re-edited in the Qing dynasty, it transmits to the present in its established form. At the heart of this work lies a finely articulated correspondence: for each of the ten Heavenly Stems (甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸), which Element is required when born in which month (season). Fire 丙 (the sun) born in summer burns too strongly and needs Water; Water 壬 (the ocean) born in winter freezes and needs Fire — in this way, the Element that adjusts the seasonal imbalance of a chart is specified concretely. The treatment of the "Seasonal Adjustment Favorable Element" in Bazen Sanmei is grounded in the system of Qiong Tong Bao Jian.

The foremost of the Five Classics of Confucianism. The foundational text of Eastern thought, articulating the transformations of Yin-Yang and the dynamic structure of the cosmos.

The I Ching stands at the head of the Five Classics of Confucianism. Through the sixty-four hexagrams, it systematizes the transformations of Yin-Yang and the dynamic structure of the cosmos. Its origins are ancient, traced to the Zhou dynasty (around the 11th century BCE). Behind every stream of Eastern thought, including destiny analysis, stands the I Ching. The posture of Bazen Sanmei — to see duality in Overcoming, as represented by "Water and Fire Already Crossed" (水火既済, the 63rd hexagram) — descends directly from the Yin-Yang vision of this work. Each of the sixty-four hexagrams emerges from combinations of Yin and Yang, describing the movement of situations and the dynamics of relationships. The I Ching is the upstream of destiny analysis. The reading of a chart, in its depths, connects to the worldview of the I Ching.

The earliest systematic classic of destiny analysis, by Xu Dasheng of the Song dynasty.

Yuanhai Ziping is the systematic classic of destiny analysis traditionally attributed to Xu Dasheng (also known as Xu Ziping) of the Southern Song dynasty. It is the earliest surviving systematic treatise of destiny analysis. It is the canon that organizes the Day-Master-centered reading opened by Xu Ziping. "Yuanhai" means the deep and vast sea, indicating that this work is the broad foundation of destiny analysis. After Xu Dasheng, the text was expanded and re-edited in the Ming dynasty, establishing the form transmitted to the present. If Zi Ping Zhen Quan is the Qing-dynasty re-crystallization, Yuanhai Ziping is the source of that stream. The "Zi Ping tradition" to which Bazen Sanmei returns has its origin in this work.

A Qing-dynasty distillation of the essentials of destiny analysis by Chen Suan.

Ming Li Yue Yan is the concise synthesis of destiny analysis by Chen Suan (陳素庵) of the Qing dynasty. Chen Suan was Minister of Rites in the early Qing — a scholar who held a senior state office. "Yue Yan" means "to state the essentials concisely." Chen Suan organized the core of destiny analysis from the vantage of a Confucian scholar, and crystallized it in this work. His evaluation of Di Tian Sui — "to exhaust the feelings of stems and branches, to penetrate the transformations of Yin and Yang, to seek the true principles of destiny without attachment to structural patterns" — also reveals one face of his thought. This work occupies an important position in the stream that treats destiny analysis as thought as well as technique.

A Ming-dynasty classic of destiny analysis by Zhang Shenfeng (Zhang Nan). Also called Shen Feng Tong Kao — Ming Li Zheng Zong.

Shen Feng Tong Kao is the work of Zhang Shenfeng (Zhang Nan) of the Ming dynasty. Its full title is Shen Feng Tong Kao — Ming Li Zheng Zong. It is positioned as one of the important works of Ming-dynasty destiny analysis. The distinctive mark of the text is its "Theory of Sickness and Remedy" (病薬論). It offers the perspective of finding "sickness" (imbalance or obstruction) within a chart and the "remedy" (adjusting Element) that heals it. The modern concept of the "Sickness-Remedy Favorable Element" begins with Zhang Shenfeng. Zhang Shenfeng opened a diagnostic way of reading the chart. Just as a physician finds an illness and prescribes medicine, the chart's imbalance is found and adjusted — this insight lives on in contemporary chart reading.