On Wealth (Lun Cai)

Wealth is what I control — the things I put to use — and because it can generate the officer it is reckoned fine. Money and goods, wife and concubine, ability, and the post horse: all these belong to wealth.

Wealth welcomes a deep root and should not be too exposed; yet revealing one stem for clear use is what a structure most welcomes, and is not counted as exposure. Even outside the month's useful god, as when yin reveals yi or mao reveals jia, one such is no fault — only too many makes it exposed. Yet when prosperous wealth generates the officer, exposure is not dreaded either, for exposure guards against robbers: when wealth generates the officer the robbers retire, as when a treasury of money and grain has an officer to guard it — though the silver lies open, who dares rob it? The chart of Councillor Ge — ren shen, ren zi, wu wu, yi mao — is not its wealth exposed? Only because it generates the officer is it not dreaded.

The noble forms of the wealth structure are several. There is prosperous wealth generating the officer: with a strong body, no revealed wounding officer and no mixed seven killings, this is a noble structure.

There is the wealth structure using the food god to generate it: with a strong body and no revealed officer, and a touch of peer or robber, it feels all the more full of feeling. The chart of Vice Minister Yang — ren yin, ren yin, geng chen, xin si — is one. If the officer is revealed while the body is weak, the structure is spoiled.

There is the wealth structure paired with the seal: wealth alone is not noble, and pairing with the seal supports the body, so that rank comes through the seal. The chart of Councillor Zeng — yi wei, jia shen, bing shen, geng yin — is one. Yet wealth and seal should stand side by side; in yi wei, ji mao, geng yin, xin si, yi and ji do not get on, and however good the rest, it is only modest wealth.

There is the use of the food god together with the seal: if food and seal do not obstruct each other, or if a hidden officer is present so that the food is removed and the officer protected, both are noble. The chart of Wu, second in the palace examination — geng xu, wu zi, wu zi, bing chen — has geng and bing separated by two wu, so they do not check each other: food and seal do not obstruct. The chart of the Earl of Pingjiang — ren chen, yi si, gui si, xin you — has food and seal checking each other, yet the wu officer hidden in si is to be preserved, so the food is removed to protect the officer. The reverse reduces the fortune.

There is the wealth structure using the wounding officer: when wealth is not very prosperous while peers are strong, one reveals a wounding officer to transform them. In jia zi, xin wei, xin you, ren chen, jia is revealed out of the wei vault; meeting xin as a robber, ren transforms the robber and generates wealth — the chart of Academician Wang. But when wealth is prosperous and there is no robber, revealing the wounding officer is harmful instead, for the wounding officer is not a fine thing by nature; it is used only when wealth is light and robbers are revealed, as a last resort. When wealth is already prosperous, why trouble to use it? It would only let wealth meet the wounding and die, destroying the very instrument that generates the officer — what rank or wealth could one hope for?

There is the wealth structure carrying the seven killings: either the killings are combined away and the wealth preserved, or the killings are controlled and the wealth generated — both noble. The chart of the top graduate Mao — yi you, geng chen, jia wu, wu chen — combines away the killings and preserves the wealth; the chart of Censor Li — geng chen, wu zi, wu yin, jia yin — controls the killings and generates the wealth.

There is the wealth structure using killings and seal: partisanship with the killings is an aversion, and the seal transforms it, making a wealthy structure; for winter earth meeting this it is noble too. The chart of Vice Minister Zhao — yi chou, ding hai, yi hai — transforms the killings and at the same time breaks the freeze, and does not reveal wealth to muddle the seal: hence its rank. But if the wealth structure uses killings and seal while the seal stands alone and wealth and killings are both revealed, it is not only not noble but not even wealthy.

As for a ren day born in wu or a gui day born in si, revealing wealth alone and yet noble: the month command also holds a hidden officer. The chart of Minister Lin — bing yin, gui si, gui wei, ren xu — is one. And a ren day born in si, revealing wealth alone and yet noble, because bing is revealed and wu stored, so the killings are abandoned and the wealth taken up: what is fine is kept, and the rest discarded. The chart of Wang, Grand Coachman — bing chen, gui si, ren xu, ren yin — is one.

As for robbers and blade being too heavy, one abandons wealth and takes up the killings: the chart of a certain Minister — bing chen, bing shen, bing wu, ren chen — is a change upon a change.