Weighing a clash: uprooted or unharmed, and the storage branches

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), a clash is weighed in three steps: which side is stronger, what the clash strikes, and whether the struck branch is a growth, cardinal or storage branch. A strong branch clashing a weak one uproots it, while a weak branch clashing a strong one leaves it unharmed. A clash on the month branch, or on an element the chart relies on, weighs most.

Strength decides the outcome

Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓) says that when a strong branch clashes a weak one, the weak one is uprooted; when a weak one clashes a strong one, the strong one is roused. The original notes show both outcomes with the Rat and the Horse.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Earthly Branches; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Earthly Branches, original notes

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century) puts it in two lines:

得令者冲衰则拔，失时者冲旺无伤。

Our translation: A branch in season that clashes a weak one uproots it; a branch out of season that clashes a strong one leaves it unharmed.

A forceful clash, the book goes on, clashes the other side away, which helps if what goes is unfavorable and hurts if it is favorable; a forceless clash only rouses the other side. To tell which side is stronger, look first at which holds the month branch, then at which has more helpers. Water in the Rat controls Fire in the Horse, but if the Horse is the month branch, with Wood feeding Fire and no Metal feeding Water, the Horse can clash back at the Rat. Weigh strong and weak first, the book says, then look for characters that resolve the clash.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Earthly Branches

That is the difference between uprooted and unharmed. If the struck branch holds a root of the Day Master and is the weaker side, the root is uprooted and no longer counts; if it is the stronger side, the root stands. How heavy a root is comes in the lesson on roots.

What the clash strikes

Clashes of equal strength still weigh differently by what they strike. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) says a clash weighs more on the month branch than elsewhere, and more on a branch holding the element the chart relies on. The month branch is the chart’s frame, and the structure is taken from it, so The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) also says a punishment or clash on the month’s useful element is the most likely to break the structure.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Decade Phases; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations

On decade phases, The True Interpretation of Ziping also weighs a clash by what the chart favors: a decade phase that suits the chart makes the clash it brings lighter, and one that already goes against the chart’s needs makes it heavier. And a clash that strikes an element the chart does not want often helps by clearing it away.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Decade Phases; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations

Growth, cardinal and storage branches

The twelve branches fall into three kinds, and each takes a clash differently.

Growth branches: the Tiger, Monkey, Snake and Pig. These are where the elements are born, and the original notes say they fear a clash. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated explains that both sides are often hurt: when the Tiger and Monkey clash, Yang Metal in the Monkey controls Yang Wood in the Tiger, and Yang Fire in the Tiger controls Yang Metal in the Monkey, so neither is at rest. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping calls these the heaviest clashes of all, because the energy in these branches is newly born and still faint. Where a chart has such a clash, be mindful of it; what tends to ease it is another combination that binds one side, covered in the next lesson.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Earthly Branches, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Earthly Branches; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Clashing the Storage Branches; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Decade Phases

Cardinal branches: the Rat, Horse, Rabbit and Rooster. Here one element is at its peak, and the energy is at its purest. Dripping Heavenly Marrow says a clash on these needs close study. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping says such a clash can make or break: if it clears away an unfavorable element, it completes the structure; if it strikes a favorable one, it does damage. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated adds the season: when Metal and Water clash Wood and Fire in a spring or summer birth, Metal and Water are out of season and Wood and Fire are strong, so the clashing side comes off worse.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Earthly Branches; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Clashing the Storage Branches; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Earthly Branches

Storage branches: the Dragon, Dog, Ox and Goat. Each stores another element. The True Interpretation of Ziping holds that what a storage branch holds serves the chart when it shows on a stem or is drawn out by a combination; no clash is needed. For a Yang Wood Day Master born in a Dragon month, Yang Earth on the stems is Indirect Wealth, and the Monkey and Rat combining with the Dragon into Water give Resource. When what is used is Earth, an Earth stem showing above is the clearest use, and once revealed it serves without any clash.

When the stored element is not Earth, a clash tends to stir things up. Take a Dragon month with Yang Water on the stems and a Dog clashing the Dragon: for a Yin Earth Day Master, the Water is Wealth and the clash rouses the Rob Wealth in the Dog; for a Yin Fire Day Master, the Water is the Officer and the clash rouses the Hurting Officer in the Dog against it. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping adds that only the Water in the Dragon is storage, Earth being its main stem and Yin Wood its residual stem. For a Yang Wood Day Master with that Yang Water as Resource, the Dragon is the Water’s root, and a Dog clash uproots it.

When what is used in a storage branch is Earth, things differ. For a Yin Water Day Master born in a Dragon month with Yang Earth revealed as the Officer, a Dog clash does not break the structure: the Dragon and Dog are both Earth, so the clash stirs them without one controlling the other. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping also says a clash among the Dragon, Dog, Ox and Goat, Earth meeting Earth, does the least harm. So the book’s conclusion is about the Earth in a storage branch: the storage branches do not fear punishment or clash, but a punishment or clash does not necessarily complete the structure either.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Clashing the Storage Branches; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Clashing the Storage Branches

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated says much the same: when storage branches clash, first see whether what they hold is drawn out by the stems and branches of the four pillars; if it is not, and it has no bearing on the element in season, the clash does no harm.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Earthly Branches

Try it on your chart

1. List each clash you found in the previous lesson.
2. For each, note which side holds the month branch and which has more helpers: a strong branch clashing a weak one, or a weak one clashing a strong one.
3. Check whether the struck branch holds a root of the Day Master. If the root is on the weaker side, mark it uprooted; on the stronger side, unharmed.
4. Mark whether the clash touches the month branch, and which element the struck branch holds.
5. Mark the struck branch as a growth, cardinal or storage branch. For a storage branch, check whether what it holds shows on a stem or is drawn out by a combination.
6. Whether the struck element is one your chart relies on or one it does not want waits for strength and structure; whether a combination resolves the clash is the next lesson.

See also: Roots: heavy and light

See also: Branch clashes, punishments, harms and destruction

See also: How combinations and clashes resolve each other

See also: Hidden stems: what each branch holds