Volume 1: Foundations & Useful Gods · Chapter 15
On the Critical Role of the Supporting God (Lun Xiang Shen)
Shen Xiaozhan (Qing Dynasty)
The Supporting God Decides Whether the Structure Holds
A useful god sets the direction, but something else has to make the structure actually work. Shen Xiaozhan calls that the support, and argues that injuring it is worse than injuring the day master itself. Through a run of worked examples he shows how one well-placed stem can combine an obstacle out of the way, and how one extra stem can undo that help. The chapter closes on the limits of rules: every chart has to be judged on its own ground.
Classical Verse & Annotated Translation
Line-by-line alignment between Classical Chinese and precise English translation.
月令既得用神，则别位亦必有相，若君之有相，辅者是也。如官逢财生，则官为用，财为相；财旺生官，则财为用，官为相；煞逢食制，则煞为用，食为相。然此乃一定之法，非通变之妙。要而言之，凡全局之格，赖此一字而成者，均谓之相也。
Note: 【相神】辅佐用神的那一位，好比君有相。【用 / 相】用神定方向、相神使其成。相神不是固定的字，而是「全局赖之以成」的那一位。
Once the month has yielded a useful god, some other position will hold its support, as a ruler has a minister, someone who assists. If the officer is fed by wealth, then officer is the useful god and wealth is the support. If wealth is strong and produces officer, then wealth is the useful god and officer is the support. If seven-killings is controlled by output, then killings is the useful god and output is the support. These are fixed rules, not the art of adapting. Put briefly: in any structure, whatever single character the whole chart depends on to come together is called the support.
伤用神甚于伤身，伤相甚于伤用。如甲用酉官，透丁逢壬，则合伤存官以成格者，全赖壬之相；戊用子财，透甲并己，则合煞存财以成格者，全赖己之相；乙用酉煞，年丁月癸，时上逢戊，则合去癸印以使丁得制煞者，全赖戊之相。
Note: 【伤相甚于伤用】相神一破，成格立刻变败格，所以伤相比伤用更重。【合去…以成格】用天干相合把碍事的那一位合走，是本段三例的共同机制。
To injure the useful god is worse than to injure the day master; to injure the support is worse than to injure the useful god. Take jia using the direct officer at you, with ding showing and ren present. The structure forms only because ren combines away ding, the injuring output, and keeps the officer: everything rests on ren as support. Take wu using the wealth at zi, with jia showing alongside ji. The structure forms only because ji combines away jia, the killings, and keeps the wealth: everything rests on ji as support. Take yi using the killings at you, with ding in the year, gui in the month and wu in the hour. The killings are controlled only because wu combines away gui, the resource, leaving ding free: everything rests on wu as support.
癸生亥月，透丙为财，财逢月劫，而卯未来会，则化水为木而转劫以生财者，全赖于卯未之相。庚生申月，透癸泄气，不通月令而金气不甚灵，子辰会局，则化金为水而成金水相涵者，全赖于子辰之相。如此之类，皆相神之紧要也。
Note: 【会局】三支相会成局，可改变某一支原本的性质（如卯未会木、子辰会水）。【转劫以生财】地支会局把「劫财」转成「生财」，正是相神的作用。
Gui born in the hai month, with bing showing as wealth: the wealth meets the month's robbery, but mao and wei come together and turn water into wood, converting the robbery into something that feeds the wealth. All of it rests on mao and wei as support. Geng born in the shen month, with gui showing and draining its qi: since it does not reach the month, the metal's qi is not fully effective, but zi and chen form a meeting and turn metal into water, so that metal and water hold each other. All of it rests on zi and chen as support. Cases like these show how critical the support can be.
相神无破，贵格已成；相神相伤，立败其格。如甲用酉官，透丁逢癸印，制伤以护官矣，而又逢戊，癸合戊而不制丁，癸水之相伤矣；丁用酉财，透癸逢己，食制煞以生财矣，而又透甲，己合甲而不制癸，己土之相伤矣。
Note: 【相神无破，贵格已成】相神不被破坏，格局就成立。【相伤】本来能制住忌神的那一位被合走，制衡失效，格随之破。
Where the support is unbroken, the noble structure is already made. Where the support is injured, the structure fails at once. Take jia using the officer at you, with ding showing and gui, the resource, present: gui controls ding and protects the officer. But then wu appears, gui combines with wu and can no longer control ding, and the gui support is injured. Take ding using the wealth at you, with gui showing and ji present: ji controls gui, the killings, and feeds the wealth. But then jia appears, ji combines with jia and can no longer control gui, and the ji support is injured.
是皆有情而化无情，有用而成无用之格也。凡八字排定，必有一种议论，一种作用，一种弃取，随地换形，难以虚拟，学命者其可忽诸？
Note: 【有情化无情】本来配合得宜（有情）的组合被破坏，转为无情。【随地换形】八字无定法，须逐盘审势，不能套公式。
In every such case, what was favourable turns unfavourable, and what was useful becomes useless. Once a chart is set out, there is always one line of reasoning, one function, one thing to keep and one to set aside. It changes shape with the situation and cannot be decided in the abstract. Can a student of fate afford to neglect this?
Does your natal chart carry this sacred energy?
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