The Direct Resource — The Third Pattern

In Lesson 15 we met the Seven Killings (七殺), the god that attacks the body and is turned to greatness by control. Now the study turns to the chapter's answer to that attack — the Resource Seal (印綬), the god that gives birth to the Day Master. The classic opens with a rule of its own: “The Resource Seal delights in giving birth to the body. Direct and Indirect are both fine Patterns, so Wealth and Resource are not split into Direct and Indirect — they are read as one Pattern.” This lesson works through the chapter's own thirteen charts, and two more the commentary adds from the chapter on luck, asking the same six questions of each: how it is fixed, what god it uses, what god assists it, whether it forms or fails, how high it stands, and which luck it wants.

The Resource, and what it wants

The whole chapter asks one question: between the Resource and Wealth, Officer, Killings, and Eating God — who gives birth to whom, who controls whom, who came first, and who is too much or too little. Resource revealed with the Officer (印透官) is the cleanest road: the Officer does not only feed the Resource, it can itself be the use — unlike the Killings, which are only ever used through something else. So when the body is strong and the Resource strong, there is no fear of excess, so long as the Officer star is pure. Counsellor Zhang's chart is the example: Bing Yin, Wu Xu, Xin You, Wu Zi. Xin Metal born in Xu month, Wu Earth Resource revealed in the month and hour stems, Bing Officer revealed in the year stem to feed it.

Carrying Wounding Officer and Eating God is noble when the Expression is controlled and cannot harm the Officer. Secretary Zhu's chart proves it: Bing Xu, Wu Xu, Xin Wei, Ren Chen. Ren Wounding Officer in the hour stem is controlled by Wu Resource in the month stem. The Marquis of Linhuai's chart proves it the other way: Yi Hai, Ji Mao, Ding You, Ren Yin. Ji Eating God in the month stem is controlled by Yi Resource in the year stem — and the clash between Mao and You, Wealth clashing with the month's Resource, is recorded as a flaw, not a failure, because the classic still calls the chart noble. When the Resource is heavy, use Eating God to drain the body and let its excellence show: the Number One Scholar Li's chart, Wu Xu, Yi Mao, Bing Wu, Yi Hai. Bing Fire born in Mao month, Yi Resource revealed in the month and hour stems, Wu Eating God revealed in the year stem to release the excess. But the warning follows at once: if the Resource is shallow and the body light, and layer upon layer of Eating God is used, that is a cold and poor Pattern.

Using the Seven Killings through Resource is a use born of need: the Killings are not a fine thing, but they give birth to the Resource, so they are used when there is something lacking — either the body heavy and the Resource light, or the body light and the Resource heavy. The Number One Scholar Mao's chart is the second kind: Ji Si, Gui You, Gui Wei, Geng Shen. Gui Water born in You month, Xin Resource in the month branch, Ji Killings revealed in the year stem to feed it. Counsellor Ma's chart is the first: Ren Yin, Wu Shen, Ren Chen, Ren Yin. Ren Water born in Shen month, Geng Resource in the month branch, Wu Killings revealed in the month stem. But if body and Resource are both heavy and the Killings are still used, the classic says it plainly: “not solitary, then poor.” Using the Killings and carrying Eating God as well — controlled, and giving birth, and draining, all at once — is noble whatever the body and the Resource weigh. The commentary adds Counsellor Sun's chart for this road: Yi Chou, Xin Si, Ji Si, Geng Wu. When the Resource is many, use Wealth to hold back the excess: Secretary Wang's chart, Xin You, Bing Shen, Ren Shen, Xin Hai. Ren Water born in Shen month, Geng Resource in the month branch, Xin Resource revealed in the year and hour stems, Bing Wealth revealed in the month stem to restrain them — “so long as the root is deep, there is no fear that Wealth will break the Resource.” But if the Resource is light and Wealth heavy, with no Peer to rescue it, that is Wealth coveting and breaking the Resource, a poor and low Pattern. The commentary adds the rich man's son for this road: Geng Shen, Bing Yin, Bing Shen, Yi Wei. Yi Resource in the hour stem is joined away by Geng Wealth in the year stem, and the only Resource is gone.

Three more roads close the chapter. Resource heavy, Wealth light, with Eating God revealed: Wealth and Eating God give birth to each other, so light is not light — the chart can reach wealth, though not nobility. Except when Eating God joins with Resource: Supervisor Niu's chart, Geng Yin, Yi You, Gui Hai, Bing Chen, where Yi Eating God joins Geng in the year stem instead of draining the body, is noble on that ground. And the Wealth joined away to keep Eating God — Ji Wei, Jia Xu, Xin Wei, Gui Si — is noble the same way. Resource with Officer and Killings both revealed: make it clear by joining the Killings away or by controlling them, and either way it is noble. Xin Hai, Geng Zi, Jia Chen, Yi Hai joins the Killings away and keeps the Officer; Ren Zi, Gui Mao, Bing Zi, Ji Hai controls the Killings with Wounding Officer. Turning the Resource into the Peer: abandon the Resource and go to Wealth and Officer instead. Prefect Zhao's chart, Bing Wu, Geng Yin, Bing Wu, Gui Si, does exactly that. And the last road, the Peer keeping the Killings and the Resource — Geng Xu, Wu Zi, Jia Xu, Yi Hai — where Yi Peer in the hour stem removes Wealth and keeps the Killings and the Resource, is noble too, though the classic adds that this Pattern is, after all, hard to look at, and should be read with care.

Luck: fifteen bureaus, one rule

The chapter on taking luck (論印綬取運) states its rule first: “Taking luck for a Resource Pattern is dividing it by the bureau the chart belongs to. One word of luck must be read against the stems and branches of the chart as a whole.” Resource with the Officer: with the Officer revealed and the Resource heavy, Wealth luck turns fortunate, and the Eating God direction is the most favourable of all. Using the Officer and carrying Expression: luck loves a flourishing Officer and the Resource's home; Expression harms, and the Killings need not be feared. Resource using Eating God: Wealth luck turns fortunate, Eating God luck is favourable too; but Officer luck brings disaster, while Killings luck can turn to blessing. Resource using the Killings: luck loves Expression and a strong body; the moment Wealth country appears, harm arrives at once. Using the Killings and carrying Expression: luck loves a strong body and the Resource's home, Expression is beautiful too, and meeting the Officer or Wealth is all unfavourable. Wealth light and Resource many, using Wealth to reduce the Resource: luck loves Wealth country and the ground where Eating God gives birth to Wealth. Resource with Officer and Killings contending: luck loves Eating God and Wounding Officer, and a flourishing Resource and body; reveal the Officer and Killings again and walk into Wealth luck, and disaster is immediate. The Peer keeping the Killings and the Resource: still read by Resource transforming the Killings; only Wealth ground is feared, the rest can be walked. Wealth coveting and breaking the Resource: luck loves the Peer's ground, Officer and Resource also flow, Wealth country is feared. Turning the Resource into the Peer: luck loves the flourishing ground of Metal and Water — the ground of Wealth and Officer — and the ground of Wood and Fire is feared. The four bureaus the chapter does not divide on its own — Resource heavy with Wealth light and Eating God revealed, Wealth joined away to keep Eating God, Resource shallow with the body light using layer upon layer of Eating God, and body and Resource both heavy using the Killings — are read by the supporting-and-restraining rule: the light body and shallow Resource love Resource and a strong body and fear Eating God and Wealth; Wealth and Eating God giving birth to each other love Wealth and Eating God ground.

The checker: six questions, asked together

The checker reads a chart in the chapter's own order. Fixing: four ways qualify — the straight Pattern; tomb Resource, where the month is a tomb and a branch combination's god is the Resource; the month-qi-as-the-rule, where the month branch's own qi is the Resource even though the earlier rule would fix another god by a revealed stem, as in Counsellor Ma's, Prefect Zhao's, the Wealth-joined-away chart's, and Counsellor Sun's charts; and anything else is “not applicable” — the 1949 chart, an Officer Pattern, and Mao Zedong's chart, a Killings Pattern, are answered with that blank, and the blank is recorded, not hidden. Control: only a revealed stem or a combination god counts, plus the month branch's own Resource standing in place and the day branch's own Resource close to the body; a god that merely hides in a branch, never reaching a stem or a combination, is treated as no control at all. Heaviness: the Resource is heavy at five places or more on the same scale as the last two lessons — two for a revealed stem, two for a branch's own qi, one for middle or remaining qi, one more for a stem standing on long life, office, or emperorship — and light at three or fewer; Wealth is heavy at six; Expression piled layer upon layer at five. Wealth and Resource: Wealth breaks the Resource only when the Resource is light, Wealth heavy, no Peer comes to the rescue, and no Officer is revealed to carry Wealth into Resource; Wealth joined away, Wealth removed by the Peer, Wealth carried into Resource by the Officer, and Wealth used to restrain an excess of Resource are all counted as no breaking. And joining is counted stem by stem, first join takes the stem — one stem joins one stem only, and what the joining turns into decides everything: joined into Resource it protects the Resource, joined into Wealth it breaks it, joined into anything else it takes one Resource stem away and leaves the rest standing. Clash: the chapter says nothing about clash breaking the Resource, so a clash that reaches the month branch, where the other branch's own qi is Wealth that controls the Resource, is recorded as a flaw and never judged a failure on its own. Turning the Resource into the Peer counts only when the combination stands: a combination met by a clash breaks, and a month branch struck by a clash breaks the turn — Counsellor Ma's half-combination of Shen and Chen is broken by two Yin branches clashing the month, so his chart is read as Resource using the Killings; Prefect Zhao's half-combination of Yin and Wu stands unclashed, so his chart turns. The verdict is fourfold — formed, formed with a flaw, failed but rescued, or failed — and a rescue only counts for the flaw it actually rescues: Expression controlling the Wounding Officer does not save a chart whose Wealth has broken the Resource, and the three failures with no rescue — Wealth coveting and breaking the Resource, a light body with shallow Resource using layer upon layer of Eating God, and body and Resource both heavy using the Killings — are failed outright wherever they appear. Rank is judged only for charts that stand, and this chapter calls every noble Pattern simply “noble” without ranks of its own, so the checker divides only “noble” from “wealthy but not noble”; luck follows the bureau the chart belongs to; and the climate table from Lesson 11 is checked alongside.

Fifteen charts, worked through

Counsellor Zhang — Bing Yin, Wu Xu, Xin You, Wu Zi. Xin Metal born in Xu month: Wu Resource revealed in the month and hour stems, Bing Officer revealed in the year stem, the Officer star pure. The verdict is formed with a flaw, and noble — Resource revealed with the Officer. The commentary on the luck chapter reads the same chart differently, taking the hour's Zi Water as the use, a Wounding Officer of Metal and Water that drains the Metal's excellence; the checker keeps both readings side by side.

Secretary Zhu — Bing Xu, Wu Xu, Xin Wei, Ren Chen. Xin Metal born in Xu month: Wu Resource revealed in the month stem, Ren Wounding Officer revealed in the hour stem, controlled by Wu. Formed with a flaw, and noble — using the Officer and carrying Expression, with Ren controlled by Wu.

The Marquis of Linhuai — Yi Hai, Ji Mao, Ding You, Ren Yin. Ding Fire born in Mao month: Yi Resource revealed in the year stem, Ren Officer revealed in the hour stem, Ji Eating God revealed in the month stem and controlled by Yi. Formed with a flaw, and noble — using the Officer and carrying Expression, with Ji controlled by Yi. The Mao–You clash, Wealth clashing with the month's Resource, is recorded as a flaw only: the classic still calls the chart noble, and the commentary agrees that Wealth, however flourishing, does not break the Resource here.

The Number One Scholar Li — Wu Xu, Yi Mao, Bing Wu, Yi Hai. Bing Fire born in Mao month: Yi Resource revealed in the month and hour stems, Wu Eating God revealed in the year stem to release the excess. Formed with a flaw, and noble — Resource heavy, using Eating God. The luck chapter's commentary writes the hour as Ji Hai instead of Yi Hai, so that Wu and Ji Eating God are both revealed; the checker reads both versions and gives both the same bureau and the same verdict.

The Number One Scholar Mao — Ji Si, Gui You, Gui Wei, Geng Shen. Gui Water born in You month: Xin Resource in the month branch, Ji Killings revealed in the year stem to feed it, the body light and the Resource heavy. Formed with a flaw, and noble — Resource using the Killings, in the light-body-heavy-Resource form. The commentary disagrees about the body itself: the chapter and its commentator both call it light, while a later annotator says the Resource and Peers stand close to the body and it should be read as strong enough to carry Wealth and Officer. The checker records all three readings and follows the chapter.

Counsellor Ma — Ren Yin, Wu Shen, Ren Chen, Ren Yin. Ren Water born in Shen month: Geng Resource in the month branch, Wu Killings revealed in the month stem, the body heavy and the Resource light. Formed with a flaw, and noble — Resource using the Killings, in the heavy-body-light-Resource form. The Shen–Chen half-combination would turn the Resource into the Peer, but the month branch Shen is clashed by Yin in the year and the hour, so the combination breaks and the chart is read as Resource using the Killings.

Counsellor Sun — Yi Chou, Xin Si, Ji Si, Geng Wu. Ji Earth born in Si month: Bing Resource in the month branch's own qi, Xin Eating God revealed in the month stem, Geng Wounding Officer revealed in the hour stem, Yi Killings revealed in the year stem. Formed, clean — using the Killings and carrying Expression. The month's Pattern would be read as the Blade, whose god is the Day Master itself, so the checker reads the month's own qi as the Resource and takes the chart as a Resource Pattern.

Secretary Wang — Xin You, Bing Shen, Ren Shen, Xin Hai. Ren Water born in Shen month: Geng Resource in the month branch, Xin Resource revealed in the year and hour stems, Bing Wealth revealed in the month stem to restrain the excess. Formed, clean — Resource many, using Wealth. The joining is counted stem by stem: one Bing joins one Xin, and what it turns into is Water, a Peer, so the hour's Xin still stands and the Resource is protected. The chapter's proof that the root is deep is left for a human eye: by the checker's count Bing Wealth has no root in the branches, only two places, and the joining turns Wealth into a Peer rather than a restraint — both readings are kept.

The rich man's son — Geng Shen, Bing Yin, Bing Shen, Yi Wei. Bing Fire born in Yin month: Jia Resource in the month branch, Yi Resource revealed in the hour stem, Geng Wealth in the year stem. Yi and Geng join, and what they turn into is Metal — Wealth. The only Resource is joined away, and the chart fails outright — Wealth coveting and breaking the Resource, a poor and low Pattern with no rescue.

Supervisor Niu — Geng Yin, Yi You, Gui Hai, Bing Chen. Gui Water born in You month: Xin Resource in the month branch, Yi Eating God revealed in the month stem, Bing Wealth revealed in the hour stem. Formed with a flaw, and noble — Resource heavy, Wealth light, with Eating God revealed, and noble because Eating God joins Resource: Yi joins Geng in the year stem and does not drain the body.

Wealth joined away to keep Eating God — Ji Wei, Jia Xu, Xin Wei, Gui Si. Xin Metal born in Xu month: Wu Resource in the month branch, Jia Wealth revealed in the month stem, Gui Eating God revealed in the hour stem. Formed with a flaw, and noble — Wealth joined away to keep Eating God: Jia and Ji join, and what they turn into is Earth, the Resource itself, so Wealth is turned into Resource and Eating God is kept.

Joining the Killings away, keeping the Officer — Xin Hai, Geng Zi, Jia Chen, Yi Hai. Jia Wood born in Zi month: Gui Resource in the month branch, Geng Killings revealed in the month stem, Xin Officer revealed in the year stem, Yi Peer revealed in the hour stem. Formed with a flaw, and noble — Resource with Officer and Killings both revealed, made clear by joining the Killings away. The commentary reads this chart differently, saying the joining has nothing to do with it and the chart is used entirely by the Resource; the checker follows the chapter for the bureau and keeps the commentary's reading in the note.

Officer and Killings with control — Ren Zi, Gui Mao, Bing Zi, Ji Hai. Bing Fire born in Mao month: Yi Resource in the month branch's own qi, Gui Officer revealed in the month stem, Ren Killings revealed in the year stem, Ji Wounding Officer revealed in the hour stem. Formed with a flaw, and noble — Resource with Officer and Killings both revealed, made clear by Wounding Officer controlling the Killings. The commentary again reads it by the Resource alone, doubting that Ji Earth, so slight, could control the rushing Water; the checker follows the chapter for the bureau and keeps the doubt in the note.

Prefect Zhao — Bing Wu, Geng Yin, Bing Wu, Gui Si. Bing Fire born in Yin month: Jia Resource in the month branch, Geng Wealth revealed in the month stem, Gui Officer revealed in the hour stem. Formed with a flaw, and noble — turning the Resource into the Peer and going to Wealth and Officer: the Yin–Wu half-combination stands, the month branch is unclashed, and the Resource turns to the Peer. The commentary reads the use as Wealth giving birth to Officer; a later annotator reads the whole chart as following the flourishing qi; the checker follows the commentary and keeps both readings in the note.

The Peer keeping the Killings and the Resource — Geng Xu, Wu Zi, Jia Xu, Yi Hai. Jia Wood born in Zi month: Gui Resource in the month branch, Wu Wealth revealed in the month stem, Geng Killings revealed in the year stem, Yi Peer revealed in the hour stem. Formed, clean — the Peer removes Wealth and keeps the Killings and the Resource. The classic adds that this Pattern is, after all, hard to look at, and should be read with care.

And the running anchors: Mao Zedong's chart — Gui Si, Jia Zi, Ding You, Jia Chen. Ding Fire born in Zi month, a Seven Killings Pattern: Jia Resource revealed in the month and hour stems transforms the Killings and feeds the body, and this chapter has nothing to say about it. The 1949 chart — Ji Chou, Gui You, Jia Zi, Ren Shen — is an Officer Pattern, and this chapter has nothing to say about it either.

What this means in a reading

The Resource is the Pattern most readers get wrong in the opposite direction from the Killings: they read it as safety, and forget that safety can smother. A chart with Resource everywhere and nothing to use it is a chart with no outlet — the body is fed and fed, and nothing is ever done. What matters is never the Resource alone. It is what meets it — an Officer pure enough to feed it, Expression controlled enough to release it, Killings placed to give birth to it, or Wealth placed to restrain it — and whether the Resource is heavy or light, and whether the body can carry what the Resource gives. And it is the order they arrive in, and what the joining turns into: the same Wealth and the same Resource make a noble Pattern or a broken one, depending on which stem joins which, and what the two become. That is why the chapter matters for readings: it stops the reader from calling a chart good because the Resource is present, and makes them ask what the Resource is doing, and what is keeping it honest. Next on the desk is the chapter's fourth Pattern — the Eating God, the god that drains the body into excellence.