Temperament (Xing Qing)

Character, read from the configuration

This is the book's psychology chapter. A chart whose qi is even produces a balanced nature; one that is turbid, lopsided, or withered produces a nature that goes against itself. From there the text reads specific dispositions: fire that is violent and dry flares when water and metal provoke it; water that races and softens is calmed or scattered by fire and earth. It notes how rigidity and yielding show up — the blade-and-knife structure postures when it can win and shrinks when it cannot; the wounding-officer structure is courteous when clear and harsh when turbid.

Two closing observations are worth keeping: when many spirits are all usable, the temperament has no fixed direction; when the hour branch is withered, the person starts with great energy and finishes poorly. Note that this chapter describes tendencies of temperament, not fixed character — and certainly not a person's worth.