Volume 3: Inauspicious & Special Structures · Chapter 41
On the Wounding Officer (Lun Shang Guan)
Shen Xiaozhan (Qing Dynasty)
The Qi of Refinement
The wounding officer is inauspicious by name and yet is where refinement lives; men of letters are mostly found here. Shen gives the several ways it is used — with wealth, transformed into wealth, paired with the seal, using wealth and seal at once, using killings and seal, and the one exception where the officer it normally dreads is welcome — and throughout insists on climate, strength, like and dislike being weighed together rather than any single rule.
Classical Verse & Annotated Translation
Line-by-line alignment between Classical Chinese and precise English translation.
伤官虽非吉神，实为秀气，故文人学士，多于伤官格内得之。而夏木见水，冬金见火，则又为秀之尤秀者也。其中格局比他格多，变化尤多，在查其气候，量其强弱，审其喜忌，观其纯杂，微之又微，不可执也。
Note: 【伤官为秀气】伤官虽凶神，却是「秀气」所在 —— 文人才士多出此格。【夏木见水 / 冬金见火】调候得宜则秀之尤秀。【不可执】伤官变化最多，须逐层细审。
Though the wounding officer is not a favourable god, it is in truth the qi of refinement, and so men of letters and learning are mostly found within the wounding officer structure. And summer wood meeting water, winter metal meeting fire, are refinement at its most refined. Its structures are more numerous than others and its changes more varied still: one must examine its climate, weigh its strength, judge its likes and dislikes, and observe its purity or mixture — subtly, again subtly, never bound to one form.
故有伤官用财者，盖伤不利于民，所以为凶，伤官生财，则以伤官为生官之具，转凶为吉，故最利。只要身强而有根，便为贵格，如壬午、己酉、戊午、庚申，史春芳命也。
Note: 【伤官用财】伤生财、财生官 ⇒ 转凶为吉，为伤官第一利；须身强有根。【史春芳命】即其例。
So there is the wounding officer using wealth: the wounding officer does not benefit the people and is therefore inauspicious; but when the wounding officer generates wealth, the wounding becomes the instrument that generates the officer, turning ill into good — hence it is most favourable. So long as the body is strong and rooted it is a noble structure: ren wu, ji you, wu wu, geng shen, the chart of Shi Chunfang.
至于化伤为财，大为秀气，如罗状元命，甲子、乙亥、辛未、戊子，干头之甲，通根于亥，然又会未成局，化水为木，化之生财，尤为有情，所以伤官生财，冬金不贵，以冻水不能生木。若乃化木，不待于生，安得不为殿元乎？
Note: 【化伤为财】如辛日亥月，亥卯未会木局则伤官（水）化为财（木）⇒ 秀气之极。【冬金不贵】冻水不能生木；但若会木成局（化而非生）则反成大贵。
As for the wounding officer transforming into wealth, that is refinement in the highest degree. The chart of the top graduate Luo — jia zi, yi hai, xin wei, wu zi — has jia in the stems rooted in hai, and hai also gathers wei into a structure, transforming water into wood: the transformation generates wealth and is all the more full of feeling. This is why a wounding officer generating wealth in winter metal is not noble — frozen water cannot generate wood. But where it transforms into wood, it needs no generating: how should he not be first in the palace examination?
至于财伤有情，与化伤为财者，其秀气不相上下，如秦龙图命，己卯、丁丑、丙寅、庚寅，己与庚同根月令是也。
Note: 【财伤有情】财与伤同根月令（如己与庚同通丑），彼此有情 ⇒ 秀气与「化伤为财」相当。
As for wealth and wounding having feeling for each other, its refinement is on a par with transforming the wounding into wealth: the chart of Qin of the Dragon Diagram Pavilion — ji mao, ding chou, bing yin, geng yin — has ji and geng both rooted in the month command.
有伤官佩印者，印能制伤，所以为贵，反要伤官旺，身稍弱，始为秀气。如孛罗平章命，壬申、丙午、甲午、壬申、伤官旺，印根深，身又弱，又是夏木逢润，其秀百倍，所以一品之贵。然印旺极深，不必多见，偏正叠出，反为不秀，故伤轻身重而印绶多见，贫穷之格也。
Note: 【伤官佩印】印制伤为贵；但须伤旺、身稍弱方见秀气。【孛罗平章命】伤旺（午）、印深（壬）、身弱，且夏木得水 ⇒ 一品之贵。【伤轻身重而印多】印无伤可制、反成累赘 ⇒ 贫穷之格。
There is the wounding officer paired with the seal: the seal can control the wounding and so brings rank; yet here the wounding officer should be prosperous and the body slightly weak for refinement to appear. The chart of Boluo, Grand Councillor — ren shen, bing wu, jia wu, ren shen — has a prosperous wounding officer, a deeply rooted seal and a weak body, and is summer wood meeting moisture: its refinement is a hundredfold, and its rank is of the first order. Yet when the seal is at its deepest it need not appear often; proper and oblique showing together is not refined but the reverse. So where the wounding is light, the body heavy and seals many, it is a poor structure.
有伤官兼用财印者，财印相克，本不并用，只要干头两清而不相碍；又必生财者，财太旺而带印，佩印者印太重而带财，调停中和，遂为贵格。如丁酉、己酉、戊子、壬子，财太重而带印，而丁与壬隔以戊已，两不碍，且金水多而觉寒，得火融和，都统制命也。又如壬戌、己酉、戊午、丁巳，印太重而隔戊已，而丁与壬不相碍，一丞相命也。反是则财印不并用而不秀矣。
Note: 【伤官兼用财印】财印本相克，须「干头两清而不相碍」；又须调停（财太旺带印、印太重带财）方为贵格。⚠️ 底本两处作「隔以戊**已**」，当作「戊己」；两源同文，照录不改。
There is the wounding officer using wealth and seal together: wealth and seal check each other and are not normally used together; the only requirement is that the two stems stand clear without obstructing each other. And it must be that where the generating wealth is used, wealth is too prosperous and carries the seal; where the seal is paired, the seal is too heavy and carries wealth — mediating to a middle, and so becoming noble. In ding you, ji you, wu zi, ren zi, wealth is too heavy and carries the seal, but ding and ren are separated by wu and ji so that neither obstructs the other; and since metal and water abound and feel cold, fire brings harmony — the chart of a Commander-in-chief. Again, in ren xu, ji you, wu wu, ding si, the seal is too heavy, separated by wu and ji so that ding and ren do not obstruct each other — the chart of a minister. The opposite means wealth and seal are not used together and there is no refinement.
有伤官用煞印者，伤多身弱，赖煞生印以帮身而制伤，如己未、丙子、庚子、丙子，蔡贵妃也。煞因伤而有制，两得其宜，只要无财，便为贵格，如壬寅、丁未、丙寅，夏阁老命是也。
Note: 【伤官用煞印】伤多身弱 ⇒ 煞生印、印帮身并制伤。【煞因伤而有制】伤与煞互相制约（两得其宜）；忌财者，财克印也。
There is the wounding officer using killings and seal: when the wounding is much and the body weak, one relies on the killings to generate the seal, so as to support the body and control the wounding — ji wei, bing zi, geng zi, bing zi, the chart of Consort Cai. And where the killings are controlled by the wounding, both are served; so long as there is no wealth it is noble — ren yin, ding wei, bing yin, the chart of the Grand Secretary Xia.
有伤官用官者，他格不用，金水独宜，然要财印为辅，不可伤官并透。如戊申、甲子、庚午、丁丑，藏癸露丁，戊甲为辅，官又得禄，所以为丞相之格。若孤官无辅，或官伤并透，则发福不大矣。
Note: 【伤官用官，金水独宜】即「金水伤官喜见官」；但须财印为辅，且伤官不可并透。【戊申甲子庚午丁丑】丁官得禄于午、戊印甲财为辅 ⇒ 丞相之格。
There is the wounding officer using the officer: other structures do not do this, but metal and water suit it alone. Yet wealth and seal must assist, and the wounding officer must not be revealed at the same time. In wu shen, jia zi, geng wu, ding chou, gui is stored and ding revealed, with wu and jia as assistants, and the officer takes its seat — hence a minister's structure. If the officer stands alone without assistance, or officer and wounding are both revealed, the fortune is not great.
若冬金用官，而又化伤为财，则尤为极秀极贵。如丙申、己亥、辛未、己亥，郑丞相命是也。
Note: 【冬金用官 + 化伤为财】两者兼备 ⇒ 极秀极贵。【郑丞相命】即其例。
Where winter metal uses the officer and the wounding transforms into wealth, it is refinement and rank at their highest: bing shen, ji hai, xin wei, ji hai, the chart of Minister Zheng.
然亦有非金水而见官，何也？化伤为财，伤非其伤，作财旺生官而不作伤官见官，如甲子、壬申、己亥、辛未，章丞相命也。
Note: 【化伤为财则见官无碍】伤既化为财，则作「财旺生官」论，而非「伤官见官」。【章丞相命】即其例。
Yet there are also non-metal-and-water charts that see the officer. Why? Because the wounding has transformed into wealth, so it is no longer the wounding: the chart is read as prosperous wealth generating the officer, not as the wounding officer meeting the officer — jia zi, ren shen, ji hai, xin wei, the chart of Minister Zhang.
至于伤官而官煞并透，只要干头取清，金水得之亦清，不然则空结构而已。
Note: 【官煞并透须取清】干头取清（去其一）则可用；否则格虽成而空。
As for a wounding officer with both officer and killings revealed: so long as the stems are cleared, metal and water take it cleanly; otherwise it is an empty structure.
Does your natal chart carry this sacred energy?
Discover your Day Master, Ten Gods configuration, and favorable timing with authentic Four Pillars calculus.