On the Seal (Lun Yin Shou)

The seal is welcomed for generating the body, and proper and oblique alike are fine structures; hence wealth and seal, unlike the other gods, are discussed together without dividing proper from oblique. The seal structure also takes several forms. There is the seal revealing the officer: the proper officer is not taken merely as something that generates the seal but can itself be used — unlike the use of killings. So when the body is strong and the seal prosperous, excess need not be feared; the only requirement is that the officer star be clear and pure. The chart of Councillor Zhang — bing yin, wu xu, xin you, wu zi — is one.

Yet there are charts carrying wounding or food that are noble. The chart of Minister Zhu — bing xu, wu xu, xin wei, ren chen — has ren controlled by wu, so it does not wound the officer. And the chart of the Marquis of Linhuai — yi hai, ji mao, ding you, ren yin — has ji controlled by yi, so ji does not obstruct the officer.

There is the seal structure using wounding or food: when the body is strong and the seal prosperous, excess is feared, and the wounding or food drains the body for its refinement. The chart of the top graduate Li — wu xu, yi mao, bing wu, yi hai — is one. But if the seal is shallow and the body light, and layer upon layer of wounding or food is used, that is a cold and poor structure.

There is the use of the oblique officer: it is not a fine thing in itself, and is used by way of its generating the seal, only when nothing else will do. Hence some deficiency is required — the body heavy and the seal light, or the body light and the seal heavy — for it to have any character. The chart of the top graduate Mao — ji si, gui you, gui wei, geng shen — has a light body and heavy seal. The chart of Councillor Ma — ren yin, wu shen, ren chen, ren yin — has a heavy body and light seal. But when body and seal are both heavy and the seven killings are used, the result is either loneliness or poverty.

There is the use of killings together with wounding or food: the killings are used and yet controlled, the body is generated and yet drained; whatever the strength of body or seal, such charts are noble.

There is the structure with much seal using wealth: when the seal is heavy and the body strong, wealth is revealed to check the excess and is used by expediency; so long as its root is deep there is no fear of wealth breaking the seal. The chart of Vice Minister Wang — xin you, bing shen, ren shen, xin hai — is one. But if the seal is light and wealth heavy with no robbers to rescue it, that is greed of wealth breaking the seal — a poor and lowly structure.

Even where the seal is heavy, the wealth light and wounding or food also revealed, wealth and food generate each other, so what was light is not light; the chart may then reach wealth, though not rank. Yet there are charts that carry the food god and are noble — why? The chart geng yin, yi you, gui hai, bing chen, that of Niu the registrar: yi combines with geng and so does not generate gui, and this is why it is noble. Where wealth is combined away and the food god preserved, the same reasoning extends. Ji wei, jia xu, xin wei, gui si is such a chart — combining away wealth to preserve the food god — and it is noble.

There are also seal structures revealing both officer and killings: whether the killings are combined away or brought under control, both are noble. In xin hai, geng zi, jia chen, yi hai the killings are combined away and the officer kept. In ren zi, gui mao, bing zi, ji hai the officer and killings are brought under control.

As for the seal transforming into the rob, and being abandoned in favour of wealth or officer — the chart of Prefect Zhao, bing wu, geng yin, bing wu, gui si — that is a change upon a change.

There is also the seal revealing the seven killings with robbers preserving both killings and seal; this too can be noble, as in geng xu, wu zi, jia xu, yi hai. Yet such a structure is in the end hard to read and should be examined with care.