Volume 2: The Four Auspicious Structures · Chapter 31
On the Proper Officer (Lun Zheng Guan)
Shen Xiaozhan (Qing Dynasty)
The Officer Is What One's Station Requires One to Honour
The officer controls the self, yet unlike the killings it is honoured rather than feared — because no one stands self-exalted: even the Son of Heaven has Heaven and his ancestors above him. From that, the practice follows: punishment, clash, injury and harm are dreaded, while what generates and protects the officer is welcomed. Shen then grades the structure by how wealth and seal are arranged — kept apart, used singly, transformed, or met by the seal when wounding appears — and ends with a chart in which wealth is combined away and the structure grows nobler still.
Classical Verse & Annotated Translation
Line-by-line alignment between Classical Chinese and precise English translation.
官以克身，虽与七煞有别，终受彼制，何以切忌刑冲破害，尊之若是乎？岂知人生天地间，必无矫焉自尊之理，虽贵极天子，亦有天祖临之。正官者分所当尊，如在国有君，在家有亲，刑冲破害，以下犯上，乌乎可乎？
Note: 【官以克身】正官克日主，但其「克」是**管束**而非攻伐 —— 与七煞之别正在此处。【分所当尊】官为名分所当尊：如国之有君、家之有亲。【忌刑冲破害】伤官、刑冲即「以下犯上」，故名分所忌。
The officer controls the self. Though it differs from the seven killings, the self is still subject to its control — why then do we most dread punishment, clash, injury and harm to it, and honour it so highly? Know that no one between heaven and earth may stand self-exalted: even one raised to the dignity of Son of Heaven has Heaven and his ancestors above him. The proper officer is what one's station requires one to honour, as a state has its ruler and a household its elders. For punishment, clash, injury and harm to set the lower against the higher — how could that be allowed?
以刑冲破害为忌，则以生之护之为喜矣。存其喜而去其忌则贵，而贵之中又有高低者，何也？以财印并透者论之，两不相碍，其贵也大。如薛相公命，甲申、壬申、乙巳，戊寅，壬印戊财，以乙隔之，水与土不相碍，故为大贵。若壬戌、丁未、戊甲、乙卯，杂气正官，透干会支，最为贵格，而壬财丁印，二者相合，仍以孤官无辅论，所以不上七品。
Note: 【存喜去忌】官格之法：护官（印）、生官（财）为喜，刑冲破害为忌。【薛相公命】壬印与戊财之间隔乙木 ⇒ 财印不相碍 ⇒ 大贵。【孤官无辅】壬丁相合则财印俱失其用 ⇒ 官无辅而不上七品。⚠️ 底本第三柱作「戊甲」，非干支合法组合（疑有讹脱）；两源同文，照录不改。
Since punishment, clash, injury and harm are dreaded, generating and protecting the officer are welcomed. Keep what is welcomed and remove what is dreaded, and rank follows; yet within rank there are higher and lower grades — why? Take wealth and seal both revealed: if they do not obstruct each other, the rank is great. The chart of Minister Xue — jia shen, ren shen, yi si, wu yin — has ren as seal and wu as wealth, separated by yi, so water and earth do not obstruct each other, and the rank is great. Whereas ren xu, ding wei, wu-jia, yi mao is a mixed-qi proper officer revealed in the stems and gathered in the branches — the finest of structures — yet its ren-wealth and ding-seal combine with each other. And it is still reckoned a lone officer without support, which is why it does not reach the seventh grade.
若财印不以两用，则单用印不若单用财，以印能护官，亦能泄官，而财生官也。若化官为印而透财，则又为甚秀，大贵之格也。如金状元命，乙卯、丁亥、丁未、庚戌，此并用财印，无伤官而不杂煞，所谓去其忌而存其喜者也。
Note: 【单用印不如单用财】印能护官亦能泄官（官生印），财则径直生官。【化官为印而透财】官化为印、又透财生官 ⇒ 更秀。【金状元命】财印并用、无伤官、不杂煞 = 去忌存喜。
When wealth and seal are not both used, using the seal alone is not as good as using wealth alone: the seal can protect the officer, yet it can also drain it, whereas wealth generates the officer. And when the officer transforms into the seal while wealth is revealed, that is more refined still and a structure of great rank. The chart of the top graduate Jin — yi mao, ding hai, ding wei, geng xu — uses wealth and seal together, has no wounding officer and no mixed killings: this is what is meant by removing what is dreaded and keeping what is welcomed.
然而遇伤在于佩印，混煞贵乎取清。如宣参国命，己卯、辛未、壬寅、辛亥，未中己官透干用清，支会木局，两辛解之，是遇伤而佩印也。李参政命，庚寅、乙酉、甲子、戊辰，甲用酉官，庚金混杂，乙以合之，合煞留官，是杂煞而取清也。
Note: 【遇伤佩印】支会木局（伤）而两辛（印）制之 ⇒ 官星得护。【杂煞取清】甲用酉官（辛）而庚煞混杂，以乙合庚（合煞留官）⇒ 取清。
Yet meeting the wounding officer is answered by pairing with the seal, and mixed killings are best resolved by clearing them. The chart of Councillor Xuan — ji mao, xin wei, ren yin, xin hai — has ji's officer revealed clean from within wei, while the branches gather into a wood structure; the two xin dissolve it: this is meeting wounding and pairing with the seal. The chart of Councillor Li — geng yin, yi you, jia zi, wu chen — has jia using the you officer with geng's metal mixed in; yi combines with it, combining away the killings and keeping the officer: this is mixing killings and clearing them.
至于官格透伤用印者，又忌见财，以财能去印，未能生官，而适以护伤故也。然亦有逢财而反大贵者，如范太傅命，丁丑、壬寅、己巳、丙寅，支具巳丑，会金伤官，丙丁解之，透壬岂非破格？却不知丙丁并透，用一而足，以丁合壬而财去，以丙制伤而官清，无情而愈有情。此正造化之妙，变幻无穷，焉得不贵？
Note: 【官格透伤用印，又忌见财】财去印则伤无制（护伤而不护官）。【范太傅命】己日以丙丁为印、巳丑会金为伤、壬为财：丁合壬去财、丙制伤 ⇒ 反成大贵。
As for an officer structure that reveals the wounding officer and uses the seal: here wealth is again to be dreaded, for wealth can remove the seal without generating the officer, and so ends up protecting the wounding. Yet there are charts that meet wealth and become greatly noble. The chart of Grand Tutor Fan — ding chou, ren yin, ji si, bing yin — has a ji day, with si and chou in the branches gathering into a metal wounding officer, and bing and ding to dissolve it; is not the revealed ren a broken structure? But one does not see that with bing and ding both revealed, one is enough: ding combines with ren and the wealth is removed, bing controls the wounding and the officer is clear — without feeling, and all the more full of feeling. Such is the subtlety of creation, changing without end; how should it not be noble?
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