Volume 2: The Six Relations (Liu Qin Lun) · Chapter 45
The Idle Spirits (Xian Shen)
Attributed to Jing Tu (Song); commentary tradition by Liu Bowen (Ming)
Modern Digest & Life Relevance
Leave the bystanders alone
Not every element in a chart is doing something. One or two neutral spirits can simply be left in place — removing them changes nothing, and disturbing them can start a chain of side effects. The chapter's second stanza turns this into an image of a traveller who will not be detained by the household: on the decisive ground, act as if it were your own. Read it as advice about intervention: spend your efforts where the structure is actually decided.
Key Concepts:Useful God (Yong Shen)