六壬法教

The Yuan Hai Zi Ping (渊海子平, "The Oceanic Source of Xu Ziping's Method") is the foundational text of the entire BaZi tradition. Its most revolutionary contribution: shifting destiny analysis from the Year Pillar to the Day Pillar — making the Day Stem (日主 rìzhǔ) the center of analysis. This single innovation by Xu Ziping (徐子平, 10th century) transformed Chinese fate calculation permanently.

The text was compiled and edited by Xu Dasheng (徐大升) of the Song Dynasty. It functions more as an anthology of established knowledge than a single-authored work, preserving the foundational formulas that all subsequent BaZi schools rely upon.

One of the Yuan Hai Zi Ping's most distinctive contributions is the complete Na Yin (納音, Nàyīn) system — assigning a specific Five-Element quality to each pair of the 60 Jia Zi (六十甲子). Na Yin literally means "absorbed sound" or "received tone," the idea being that each Jia Zi pair resonates at a specific elemental frequency. The 60 Jia Zi are divided into 30 pairs, each receiving a poetic elemental designation that describes the nature of its qi.

The Na Yin system pre-dates the standard Heavenly Stem Five-Element approach and was the dominant framework of the San Ming (三命) tradition. While modern Zi Ping analysis relies primarily on stem-branch elements, Na Yin retains value for understanding the underlying resonance character of a birth year pair — the texture and quality of the natal qi that the stem-branch system alone may not fully capture.

Widely regarded as the single most important classical BaZi text, the Di Tian Sui (滴天髓, "The Marrow Dripping from Heaven") represents the most distilled, essential wisdom of fate analysis — as though dripped down from the heavens themselves. The text's unique contribution is its Ti Yong (體用) philosophical framework, which elevates BaZi from a technique into a full metaphysical philosophy.

Authorship layers: Original verses attributed to Jing Tu (京圖, Song Dynasty); expanded and annotated by Liu Bowen (劉伯溫, Ming Dynasty strategist); transformed into a practical manual by Ren Tieqiao (任鐵樵, Qing Dynasty) with hundreds of real chart examples; further commented by Xu Le Wu (徐樂吾, Republican era).

Where the Di Tian Sui is philosophical and poetic, the Zi Ping Zhen Quan (子平真詮) is logical and procedural — the most systematic and methodologically rigorous of all BaZi classics. Author: Shen Xiaozhan (沈孝瞻, Qing Dynasty, approximately 1750s). Its annotator Xu Le Wu (徐樂吾) produced the most widely-read commentary, though Mangpai scholars sometimes dispute his interpretations.

The Qiong Tong Bao Jian (穷通宝鉴, Ming Dynasty) is the most practical of the BaZi classics — a methodical prescriptive guide. For each of the Ten Heavenly Stems in each of the twelve months, it provides specific prescriptions of which elements are required (and which are forbidden) to achieve a successful chart. This "seasonal adjustment" (調候 tiáo hòu) approach has become an entire sub-school of BaZi analysis.

The core principle: a Day Master out of season needs elements that counterbalance the seasonal excess. Cold charts need warmth; hot charts need cooling; dry charts need moisture; flooded charts need earth.

The Qing Nang Jing (青囊经, "The Green Satchel Classic") is one of the oldest and most revered texts in the Feng Shui tradition. Traditionally attributed to Huang Shigong (黄石公, "The Old Man of the Yellow Stone"), the semi-legendary strategist who transmitted secret arts to Han Dynasty strategist Zhang Liang (张良). The green satchel (青囊) refers to the cloth bag in which secret texts were kept — implying this text contains the innermost secrets of geomantic practice.

The Tian Yu Jing (天玉经, "Jade of Heaven Classic") is the core text of the Li Qi (理气 — Patterns of Qi) school of Feng Shui, specifically associated with the Jiang Xi / San He (江西/三合) tradition. Author: Yang Yunsong (楊筠松, also known as Yang Jiupin / 楊救貧 "Yang Who Saves the Poor"), the great Tang Dynasty Feng Shui master who is considered the founder of the Jiang Xi school. He held an official position in the Tang court's observatory before retreating to Jiangxi province during the dynasty's fall.

Also by Yang Yunsong , the Han Long Jing (撼龍經) is his masterwork on Xing Shi (形勢 — Forms and Configurations) Feng Shui — the art of reading the physical landscape. Where the Tian Yu Jing deals with compass directions and qi patterns (Li Qi), the Han Long Jing deals with what the eyes can see: the shapes of mountains, the flow of ridgelines, the forms of peaks and valleys. "Shaking" (撼 hàn) evokes the awesome power of the dragon's geological movements.