Volume 2: The Four Auspicious Structures · Chapter 37
On the Food God (Lun Shi Shen)
Shen Xiaozhan (Qing Dynasty)
The Food God, and What It Is Paired With
The food god drains the self, and is loved because it generates wealth. Shen's examples run through the pairings: food with wealth (the classic fine structure), food stored but wounding revealed (a hard temper), summer wood using dry wealth (rank by the military), killings and seal instead of wealth, and the two great exceptions to the rules — metal-and-water food welcoming the officer it normally dreads, and summer wood tolerating the seal that normally seizes the food.
Classical Verse & Annotated Translation
Line-by-line alignment between Classical Chinese and precise English translation.
食神本属泄气，以其能生正财，所以喜之。故食神生财，美格也。财要有根，不必偏正叠出，如身强食旺而财透，大贵之格。若丁未、癸卯、癸亥、癸丑，梁丞相之命是也；己未、壬申、戊子、庚申，谢阁老之命是也。
Note: 【食神生财】食神虽泄气，却能生正财 ⇒ 美格；须财有根，不必偏正叠出。【两例】梁丞相（癸日）、谢阁老（戊日）皆食神生财之贵。
The food god is by nature a draining of qi, and is welcomed because it can generate proper wealth. So the food god generating wealth is a fine structure. The wealth must be rooted and need not show both proper and oblique; when the body is strong, the food god prosperous and wealth revealed, the rank is great. Ding wei, gui mao, gui hai, gui chou is the chart of Minister Liang; ji wei, ren shen, wu zi, geng shen is the chart of the Grand Secretary Xie.
藏食露伤，主人性刚，如丁亥、癸卯、癸卯、甲寅，沈路分命是也。偏正叠出，富贵不巨，职甲午、丁卯、癸丑、丙辰，龚知县命是也。
Note: 【藏食露伤主性刚】伤官透而食神藏 ⇒ 主人刚烈。【偏正叠出富贵不巨】正偏财并见则财驳杂，格局不大。⚠️ 底本作「职甲午」，「职」字于文义无着（疑衍）；两源同文，照录不改。
When the food god is stored and the wounding officer revealed, the person is hard by nature: ding hai, gui mao, gui mao, jia yin, the chart of Commander Shen. When proper and oblique both appear, rank and wealth are not great: jia wu, ding mao, gui chou, bing chen, the chart of Magistrate Gong.
夏木用财，火炎土燥，贵多就武。如己未、已巳、甲寅、丙寅，黄都督之命是也。
Note: 【夏木用财】火炎土燥，财（土）不得滋润 ⇒ 贵多就武。⚠️ 底本作「已巳」（当作「己巳」）；两源同文，照录不改。
Summer wood using wealth: with fire blazing and earth dry, rank mostly comes by the military. Ji wei, ji si, jia yin, bing yin is the chart of Commander-in-chief Huang.
若不用财而就煞印，最为威权显赫。如辛卯、辛卯、癸酉、己未，常国公命是也。若无印绶而单露偏官，只要无财，亦为贵格，如戊戌、壬戌、丙子、戊戌，胡会元命是也。
Note: 【不取财而就煞印】威权显赫之格。【单露偏官而无财】煞无财党 ⇒ 亦可贵。
If wealth is not used but killings and seal are taken up, the authority is most illustrious: xin mao, xin mao, gui you, ji wei, the chart of the Duke of Chang. And if there is no seal but the oblique officer alone is revealed, then so long as there is no wealth it is a noble structure: wu xu, ren xu, bing zi, wu xu, the chart of Hu, first in the metropolitan examination.
若金水食神而用煞，贵而且秀，如丁亥、壬子、辛巳、丁酉，舒尚书命是也。至于食神忌印，夏火太炎而木焦，透印不碍，如丙午、癸巳、甲子、丙寅，钱参政命是也。食神忌官，金水不忌，即金水伤官可见官之谓。
Note: 【金水食神用煞】贵而且秀。【夏木食神透印不碍】夏木火炎，得印（水）润泽 ⇒ 不为夺食。【食神忌官，金水不忌】即「金水伤官喜见官」（调候之故）。
When a metal-and-water food god uses the killings it is both noble and refined: ding hai, ren zi, xin si, ding you, the chart of Minister Shu. As for the food god dreading the seal: where summer fire blazes and the wood is scorched, a revealed seal does no harm — bing wu, gui si, jia zi, bing yin, the chart of Councillor Qian. The food god dreads the officer, but metal and water do not: this is what is meant by the metal-and-water wounding officer welcoming the officer.
至若单用食神，作食神有气，有财运则富，无财运则贫。
Note: 【单用食神】食神有气而无财，则富贵全看财运（运来财则富）。
As for using the food god alone: if the food god has qi, then luck on wealth brings riches and luck without wealth brings poverty.
更有印来夺食，透财以解，亦有富贵，须就其全局之势而断之。至于食神而官煞竞出，亦可成局，但不甚贵耳。
Note: 【印夺食而透财解】财能制印 ⇒ 食神得救，亦有富贵。【官煞竞出】食神格见官煞并透，局虽成而贵不大。
Where the seal comes to seize the food god and wealth is revealed to dissolve it, there can be rank and wealth too, but the whole chart's momentum must be judged. And where the food god has officer and killings both contending, a structure can still form, though it is not very noble.
更有食神合煞存财，最为贵格。
Note: 【食神合煞存财】如乙庚合（食与煞合）而使财不为煞所党 ⇒ 最贵。
Where the food god combines with the killings and preserves the wealth, that is the noblest structure of all.
至若食神透煞。本忌见财，而财先煞后，食以间之，而财不能党煞，亦可就贵。如刘提台命，癸酉、辛酉、己卯、乙亥是也。其余变化，不能尽述，类而推之可也。
Note: 【财先煞后，食以间之】财在年、煞在时，中间隔食神 ⇒ 财不能党煞 ⇒ 仍可贵。【类而推之】全章收束。
As for a food god revealing the killings: wealth is by nature dreaded — yet if wealth comes first and the killings after, with the food god between them, the wealth cannot give partisanship to the killings. And rank may still come: gui you, xin you, ji mao, yi hai, the chart of Commander Liu. The remaining variations cannot all be told; extend them by analogy.
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