Rhapsody Pointing Out the Maze of the Three Destinies (Luoluzi of the Song)

一氣肇判兮，兩儀定位；五行周流兮，萬物從類。其麗乎天也，為星為辰；其為乎人也，五常五事。在物之靈，惟人以貴。粵自支干，論其貴賤，以逆氣定其否泰。盛則復衰，窮則更生，有純有雜，有濁有清。相養所以相助，相擊所以相成。

The rhapsody says: the one qi (氣) of chaos first divided, and the Two Modes of Heaven and Earth each fixed their positions; the Five Phases circulate and return, and the ten thousand things are born each according to their kind. This one qi, attached to Heaven, becomes sun, moon, and stars; appearing in the human person, it becomes the “Five Constants” of humanity, righteousness, ritual, wisdom, and trust, and the “Five Affairs” of countenance, speech, vision, hearing, and thought. Among the ten thousand things those that have spirit, only humans are most noble. Calculating destiny begins from the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, judging a person’s nobility and lowliness, and using the qi that runs contrary to the natal destiny to decide whether there is openness or blockage. When things flourish to the extreme they turn again to decline; when they are exhausted to the end, another turning arises. The matching of the Five Phases has the pure and the mixed, the turbid and the clear. Mutual generation is how they assist one another; mutual clash and conquest is how they complete one another.

得者君臣之義，以克而推夫婦；和者剛柔相濟，以類而求兄弟。二陰和柔，兩陽爭競，太過者暴，不及者徐。莫若壽而長生，莫若夭而喪命。不刑不起，不沖不發；以沖則動，以破而賤。合則少兮，受寡助之力；鬼則多兮，招毀謗之端。

The rhapsody says: when the Five Phases obtain their places and each is at rest, this accords with the duty of ruler and minister; taking the relation of mutual conquest to calculate, one can look at husband and wife. Those that are mutually harmonious are hard and soft assisting each other; taking the relation of like seeking like to look, one can calculate brothers. When two yin stems in the destiny are paired, they are harmonious and soft; when two yang stems stand together, they contend with each other. Those whose strength is excessive have a violent temperament; those whose strength is insufficient act slowly. The best is a destiny that occupies Birth and enjoys long life; the worst is a destiny that occupies Death and Extinction and perishes young. Without going through Punishment, the mechanism of qi does not arise; without going through Clash, the configuration does not issue. Therefore meeting Clash means movement; meeting Break means lowliness. Those with too few combinations in the destiny obtain little help; those with too many “ghosts” that conquer the self will invite slander and defamation.

粵自三元主本，五行是先。天地合兮分貴賤，兄弟和兮類金鞍。祿生旺兮則分節鉞，馬交馳兮掌握兵權。滿堂金玉，定見財官之庫；盈門冠蓋，須知官貴之餘。學堂多合兮登上甲之弟，貴科有助兮為館合之儒。疊鳳池則佩三公之印，官印全則□使者之車。

The rhapsody says: in calculating destiny one should take the “Three Origins”—Heavenly Origin of the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Origin of the Earthly Branches, and Human Origin of the hidden stems—as the root, and take the generation and conquest of the Five Phases as the first importance. Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches combining above and below: from this nobility and lowliness are distinguished. When peer-gods of the same kind are mutually harmonious, it is like riding side by side, sharing gold saddles. When the Emolument star sits on the prosperous ground of Birth and Approaching Office, one can receive the staff of pennants and battle-axes, that is, serve as a great officer commanding troops; when Courier Horses race in crossing, one can hold military authority. Those whose halls are full of gold and jade necessarily see in the destiny the storehouses of wealth and of office; those before whose gates official canopies gather in clouds must know it is because official nobility has surplus. Those whose “School Hall” position has many combinations can pass the first class of the examinations; those whose “Noble Subject” has stars coming to assist can be Confucian scholars in the academy halls. When the Phoenix Pool—the position of the Secretariat—appears overlapping, one can wear the seals of the Three Dukes; when Officer star and Seal are both complete, one can ride the envoy’s carriage—this sentence has a missing character in the base text, marked with a box; by the sense it should be a verb such as “ride,” and is not conjecturally supplied.

金殺夾貴兮有兵有權，旺祿得地兮為富為壽。得印媛者可論為官，多破官者宜求避位。三奇遇貴而推順逆之祥，天乙最吉而分兮旦夜之主。攀鞍主積財鉅萬，偏官必出於雜流。夾祿夾馬重職高官，拱庫拱印必富必貴。

The rhapsody says: when the inauspicious killing transformed from Metal’s qi clasps the Noble from both sides, this person has both troops and authority; when the Emolument star is prosperous and assisting and moreover sits on auspicious ground, this person is both wealthy and long-lived. Those who obtain the Seal’s warm and thick support can be judged to hold office; those whose Officer star is repeatedly clashed and broken had better avoid the seat early. When the “Three Marvels” noble spirits further meet the Noble, one must separately calculate their auspiciousness according to direct and reverse motion; the “Heavenly Unity Noble” is most auspicious, and one must further distinguish the two seats of day-noble and night-noble, each governing one according as one is born by day or by night. Those whose destiny carries “Climbing the Saddle” can accumulate a household fortune of myriads; those who rise from “Partial Officer” mostly come from the miscellaneous streams of clerks. Those whose Emolument and Horse clasp from both sides hold heavy office and high rank; those whose Storehouse and Seal arch from both sides are necessarily both wealthy and noble.

財居八敗則官爵歇減，運入陽刃則財物耗散。禍敗發於元亡，妨害生於孤寡。孰謂大車屈路，莫入溝壑之深；芳草連天，不居狼藉之地。既愛克害之餘，又忌刑破之厄。伏喪榮慶，因運遇於孤宮；拜命號啕，蓋生逢於鬼馬。

The rhapsody says: when the Wealth star falls in the position of the “Eight Defeats,” official rank and emolument will decline and be cut; when the great cycle walks into the “Yang Blade,” money and goods will be dissipated. Disaster and ruin arise from “Original Chen” and the “Perishing Spirit”; obstruction and harm are born from “Solitary Chen” and “Widowed Lodge.” Who says that a great cart taking a winding road is necessarily bad? So long as it does not fall into a ditch both deep and dangerous, it is well. Fragrant grass stretching to Heaven is of course lovely, yet it should not grow on filthy, disordered ground—this is to say that auspicious and inauspicious must be seen according to the position occupied. One both likes leftover qi after conquest and harm that can be used for oneself, and dreads the hardship brought by Punishment, Clash, Break, and Harm. Hidden mourning within celebration is because the walking cycle has met a palace that is solitary and without support; wailing and weeping on the day of receiving office and bowing to the mandate is because at birth one met “Ghost” and “Courier Horse” standing together.

劫煞兼凶兮成寇盜徒死之流，空亡無氣兮聚僧尼吏曹之舍。觀旁合之遠近，究祿馬之向背。奇食沖破兮虛則無財，祿馬同位兮官祟顯位。權柄重兮驛馬之交合，考服多兮白衣之有氣。支干掩擊，敗於天元之方；神煞合併，發於空亡之地。

The rhapsody says: those whose destiny carries “Robbery Sha” (劫煞) and further has inauspicious stars will become people of the class of thieves, prisoners, and violent death; those who fall in “Empty Perishing” with no generating qi at all mostly gather in monasteries of monks and nuns and in the offices of clerks. One must look at how near or far the neighboring combining stars and spirits are, and must investigate whether the Emolument star and Courier Horse face toward one or turn away. When “Marvel” and “Eating God” are clashed and broken, the configuration falls empty and there is no wealth; when Emolument and Horse occupy the same position, official fortune is illustrious and rises high. Authority is heavy because Courier Horses meet and join; mourning is frequent because the qi of white garments—that is, mourning clothes—is in full force. Earthly Branches and Heavenly Stems mutually conceal and strike; the image of defeat appears on the side of the Heavenly Stems. The various spirit-killers gather and arise together; their verification issues in the place of Empty Perishing.

凶衰者招禍殃，吉旺者招喜慶。吉凶相半，進退流滯。力微則徐行，氣盛則旋蹶。別生衰於三主，定根本於四柱。短夭者命□克刑，遐齡者身居庫墓。宅舍莫居衰敗之方，田園要臨吉祥之地。奇暗合之吉神，喜生成之旺相。承旺相則貴中有貴，歷空虛則遇如不遇。

The rhapsody says: inauspicious stars that further occupy declining ground invite calamity; auspicious stars that further occupy prosperous ground invite celebration. When auspicious and inauspicious each hold half, advance and retreat are obstructed and not smooth. Those whose strength is slight walk slowly; those whose force of qi is too flourishing instead fall quickly. To distinguish prosperity and decline, one looks at the three ruling stars of year, month, and day; to determine the root of the destiny, one looks at the Four Pillars of year, month, day, and hour. Those who die young have their natal destiny receiving conquest and punishment (here the base text has a missing character, marked with a box; by the sense it should be a word such as “suffer,” and is not conjecturally supplied). Those of long life and high age mostly have the body-palace sitting on storehouse and tomb ground. Dwellings should not be built in declining directions; fields and gardens should adjoin auspicious land. What is valuable is an auspicious spirit that combines in secret; what is glad is prosperous and assisting qi that generates in order. Those who receive prosperous and assisting qi are nobility added to nobility; those who pass through the waste of Empty Perishing, even if they meet an auspicious star, it is as if they had not met it.

復推陰錯陽差，天羅地網，天沖地擊，伏吟反吟。又取於支干喜厄，必辨其神將扶持。六害四煞之中，五鬼三刑之上。陰刃為妨夫之煞，陽刃為兵傷之神。交六虛為敗絕之方，入空亡為困鈍之地。天祿刑破，定分厄兆；太歲沖壓，所為不成。

The rhapsody says: one must further calculate the several configurations of “yin error and yang discrepancy,” “Heavenly Net and Earthly Web,” “Heavenly Clash and Earthly Strike,” and “Hidden Chant and Reverse Chant”: yin error and yang discrepancy is stems and branches wrongly matched in yin and yang; Heavenly Net and Earthly Web is the trap of Chen and Xu; Heavenly Clash and Earthly Strike is the stem clashing and the branch striking; Hidden Chant is identity with the natal destiny, Reverse Chant is clash with the natal destiny. One must also take from the stems and branches what they like and what they dread, and must further distinguish which spirit-generals come to support. In looking at destiny one must attend to what is within the Six Harms and Four Sha, and what is above the Five Ghosts and Three Punishments. The “Yin Blade” is an inauspicious sha that harms the husband; the “Yang Blade” is an inauspicious spirit that governs wounds from weapons. Meeting the “Six Empties” is a direction of defeat and extinction; falling into Empty Perishing is a place of hardship and dullness. When the emolument on the Heavenly Stems is punished and broken, the omen of hardship is fixed; when the Grand Year comes to press and clash, none of the things one does can be accomplished.

逢真官者則遷位臺省，重天乙者則置身廟堂。劫主兇暴，元主敗亡。多動搖者臨二八之門，多哭泣者臨喪吊之歲。財在長生，自營卓立；印臨天乙，累世邑封。乙干土多兮死於正祿之地，己人水盛兮夭於建命之宮。金主困於盛夏，丙祿絕於孟冬。

The rhapsody says: those whose destiny meets “True Officer” can be promoted to important posts in the Censorate and the Departments; those for whom the “Heavenly Unity Noble” appears overlapping can place themselves in the ancestral hall of the court. “Robbery Sha” governs a violent temperament; “Original Chen” governs decline and death. Those whose actions are often wavering and unsettled have destiny occupying the two gates of the second and eighth months, the equinoxes of spring and autumn; those who weep much through life have the passing year walking into the years of “Mourning Gate” and “Mourning Guest.” Those whose Wealth star sits on Birth can manage for themselves and stand out independently; those whose Seal and Heavenly Unity Noble arrive together have fiefs through successive generations. Those of Yi Wood day-stem with much Earth in the destiny will die in the place of the proper emolument, because wealth is many and the body is weak, and the emolument-ground instead becomes a dead end; those of Ji Earth with water too flourishing will die young in the palace of established destiny, because much water washes Earth away. Those of prosperous Metal are constrained in high summer, because summer Fire conquers Metal; the emolument of Bing Fire is in Si, and when early winter Water is prosperous it is extinguished.

時傷日月，家財自破；祿畏歲運，禍殃並至。三刑全則僕馬驚蹶，七煞聚則為官貶。更怕逢納甲之災，干遇是臨頭之煞。宅墓逢鬼兮難免其禍，絕處遇墓兮上保扶持。財命並死，遇冥司之限；主本俱弱，為陰使之追。沐浴衰微，親姻哭送；骨肉顛倒，親戚分離。

The rhapsody says: when the hour pillar wounds and conquers the day pillar and month pillar, household money naturally breaks and is ruined; the Emolument star most fears the passing year and great cycle coming to clash—once they clash, calamities arrive together. Those with the Three Punishments complete will have even servants and horses startled and thrown; those with the Seven Sha gathered, if they hold office, will necessarily be demoted. Still more to be feared is disaster brought by Matching Stems paired with hexagrams; what is met on the Heavenly Stems is precisely the inauspicious sha pressing down on the head. When the positions of house and grave meet a “ghost” that conquers the self, disaster is hard to avoid; conversely, if on extinct ground one meets a tomb-storehouse, one can still obtain a little preservation and support. When Wealth star and destiny-lord fall together into the place of death, that is meeting the limit of the nether office claiming the life; when day-lord and natal destiny are both weak, that is being pursued by the runners of the yin realm. When the destiny walks “Bathing” and the atmosphere is declining, relatives and in-laws will come to weep and send off; when the order of flesh and bone is inverted and disordered, kin will scatter and separate.

五鬼多而□勢兮，麾旌前引；三元衰而煞旺兮，喪車疾馳。將喜不喜而為迎運之休，欲切末切而有末交之福。初臨沐浴，卻福慶崢嶸；乍入長生，尚自心憂坎坷。真所謂：丙丁有貴兮遇酉亥以當榮，戊己無財兮歷已午而不遇。武須持於金土，文欲兼於水火。

The rhapsody says: those with many “Five Ghosts” and further having power (here the base text has a missing character, marked with a box; by the sense it should be a word such as “have,” and is not conjecturally supplied), when they go out have banners leading in front—that is the image of distinction. Those whose Three Origins are weak and inauspicious sha vigorous have a funeral cart racing past—that is the image of death. About to be glad and in the end not glad: that is leftover qi of the old cycle not yet exhausted when receiving the new cycle. About to be fitting and in the end not fitting: that is a remaining portion of blessing still left at the junction at the end of the cycle. Just stepping into the ground of “Bathing,” blessing and celebration instead rise in distinction; just entering the country of “Birth,” the heart still worries over hardship—thus auspicious and inauspicious cannot be rigidly bound to the names. This is truly what is meant: people of Bing and Ding Fire whose destiny carries a noble spirit, meeting You and Hai, are instead illustrious; people of Wu and Ji Earth with no wealth in the destiny, walking through Si and Wu ground, still do not meet opportunity. Those who practice the military must rely on Metal and Earth; those who follow letters must have both Water and Fire.

奇儀重犯須防六甲之刑，祿馬同鄉更忌五行之破。貴於引從兮豈怕祿刑，祿是庚辛兮不愁金煞。水火逢土以傷，木遇金而擊發。與庫乃畏於刑沖，財印最嫌於衰絕。以旺絕為生死之基，以刑合為愛恂憎之侯。月凶衰兮早歲寒儒，胎貴旺兮生於世胄。刑傷於胎則害母，鬼戰其息則異母。

The rhapsody says: when the two kinds of noble spirit, “Marvel” and “Instrument,” appear overlapping, one must guard against punishment within the six Jia xun; when Emolument and Horse occupy the same palace, still more to be dreaded is the Break among the Five Phases. Destiny noble in having a lead in front and a following behind—how then would one still fear punishment on the emolument? If the emolument itself is Geng Metal or Xin Metal, one need not worry about Metal sha coming to wound. Water and Fire meeting Earth will be wounded; Wood meeting Metal will stir up incidents. Storehouse ground most fears Punishment and Clash; Wealth star and Seal most dislike falling on declining and extinct ground. Take prosperity and extinction as the foundation of life and death; take Punishment and Combination as the tokens of love and hate, closeness and distance. Those whose month pillar is inauspicious and declining are, in early years, poor scholars; those whose fetal origin is noble and prosperous are born into households of officials for generations. Those whose fetal origin suffers punishment and wound will harm the mother; those whose “ghost” wars with the breath in the womb will have half-brothers of a different mother.

更分四柱於支干，取驗一時之休咎。男宮當煞，定招年夭之災；妻位多凶，虛見鼓盆之嘆。火人金盛須保鞠子，水命土繁定為孀婦。食印長生則值鸞鳳之儀，祿馬互換則喜芝蘭之秀。詳其吉會，乃喜運並防災。寡宿宜避，孤神可具。從劫煞兮思虎之寡，守將星兮權謀之深。

The rhapsody says: further divide the Four Pillars into Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to look, and one can take the verification of the auspicious and inauspicious of a given stretch of time. If the children’s palace is pressed exactly by an inauspicious sha, one will certainly invite the disaster of children dying young; if the position of wife and concubines has many inauspicious stars, one cannot avoid uttering the “drumming the basin” sigh of losing a wife—the sigh of drumming the basin comes from the anecdote of Zhuangzi drumming a basin and singing when his wife died. People belonging to Fire with Metal too flourishing in the destiny must carefully protect and rear children; destinies belonging to Water with too much Earth in the destiny are fated to become widows. When Eating God and Seal both sit on Birth, there is a demeanor like the phoenix; when Emolument and Horse exchange their positions, one is glad to have sons and younger brothers outstanding like orchids. Look carefully at the places where auspicious stars gather: on the one hand be glad the walking cycle is smooth, on the other still guard against disaster. “Widowed Lodge” is suitable to avoid; “Solitary Spirit” must also be attended to together. Those whose destiny follows “Robbery Sha” have thoughts as solitary as a lone tiger; those whose destiny keeps the “General Star” have deep schemes.

膽怯者下有不順，性凶者干來上侵。文章明敏兮定須火盛，威武剛烈兮乃是金多。木盛則仁，惻隱之心；水多則聰，機巧之智。蓋土之性最重為貴，或居三舍之方，或占一生之地。既生則和，既克以制。四煞乃兇暴之象，六沖為不定之勢。噫！李廣不封，叔敖為相，皆天之命之有定，每人事之可測。通變有神，執方為遇，略得古人之遺蹟，約以今人賢而孰敢，博乎管窺，庶幾一悟。

The rhapsody says: those who are timid and cowardly have something uncompliant in the Earthly Branches below; those of a fierce temperament have the Heavenly Stems above coming to invade. Those whose writing is clear and quick necessarily have Fire’s qi flourishing in the destiny; those who are martial and fierce have too much Metal’s qi. Those with Wood’s qi flourishing have humanity, rich in the heart of compassion; those with much Water’s qi are intelligent, rich in clever wisdom. As for Earth, its temperament is the most thick and heavy, and therefore valuable; it either occupies the direction reached by the Three Combinations, or occupies the place of Birth obtained. Those that generate are harmonious; those that conquer are restrained. The “Four Sha” are the image of violence; the “Six Clashes” are the force of unrest. Alas! Li Guang to the end of his life was not enfeoffed as a marquis, yet Sun Shu’ao rose to the office of lingyin: these are all allotments of Heaven’s destiny already fixed—how could they be measured one by one by human affairs? Only those who understand change count as having spirit; those who cling dead to one method only meet luck. I have roughly gathered the traces left by the ancients, and constrained them in words people of today can understand; I dare not call myself worthy. I provisionally seek breadth by a view through a tube, and only hope the reader may from this have some awakening.