Fundamental of Chinese Metaphysics 5: Interaction of Heavenly Stems 玄学基本知识 5: 天干相互关系

In Chinese Metaphysics, we believe that everything in this nature is a result of the constant movement and interaction of the 5 elements and it has the opposite two attributes called Yin and Yang. Heavenly stems are the Yin and Yang version of the 5 elements and it makes up 10 (Image 1: 10 Heavenly Stems).

Today, we are going to learn how these 10 Yin and Yang Heavenly Stems interact with each other. Like other interactions, it also contain combination and clash. This round, I'm not going to use any illustration because I foresee it might end up creating more confusion. Refer back to the 5 elements control cycle's illustration for the clashes if you want. As for the combination, I will use this interesting story that I found online.

在玄学的理念里，自然界各种事物都是五行不断的变化和相互作用出来的结果而自然界的一切事物都同时存在着相反的两种属性，被称为阴阳。天干就是五行的阴阳版，共有10个（图 1：十天干）。

今天，我们将学习这10阴阳天干如何互动。 与其它交互一样，它也包含相合和相冲。 这一轮，我不打算使用任何插图，因为我个人觉得这样会使读者更混乱。 如果您想看相冲的插图，您可以参考五行相克。至于相合，我将使用我在网上找到的有趣的故事来帮助大家有更好的理解，更容易记得。

Image 1: 10 Heavenly Stems 图 1：十天干

Heavenly Stem Clashes

Clashes can only happen when 2 heavenly stems with the same polarity meet together (YANG meets YANG or YIN meets YIN). It is like putting 2 magnets with the north pole end pointed together. This will result in the magnets avoiding each other. According to the 5 elements control cycle, we know that Metal control Wood. If we apply the clashes theory above, this means Yang Metal (Geng) clashes with Yang Wood (Jia) and Yin Metal (Xin) clashes with Yin Wood (Yi). The same mechanism also applies to the other elements' control cycles forms following table below (Image 2: Heavenly Stems Clashes).

天干相冲

天干相冲只有当两个极性相同的天干相遇时才会发生的（阳天干遇见阳天干/阴天干遇见阴天干），就像你把两根磁铁一起放在北极一样，它们会弹开。依据五行相剋关系，我们知道金是剋木的，如果依照天干相冲的理念来说就是阳金（庚）冲阳木（甲）和阴金（辛）冲阴木（乙）。同样的原理用在其它五行相剋关系里就会形成以下的图表 (图 2：天干相冲)。

Image 2: Heavenly Stems Clashes 图 2：天干相冲

Heavenly Stems Combinations

In contrast, a combination only happens when 2 heavenly stems with different polarity meet together (YANG meets YIN). There are 2 ways to remember this:-

1. If you noticed, the combination is in a sequence, you just need to remember the sequence of the 10 Heavenly Stems. Then arrange the first 5 (Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu) on the left row and the last 5 (Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui) on the right row. The side by side stems will be the combination like how I arranged them in Image 3.

2. This is where the story comes into place. The story's synopsis is very simple which is "Married sister saves brother". We take the Yang Heavenly Stem as brother and the Yin Heavenly Stem as sister. For example：-

• Jia is scared of Geng and he sends his sister Yi to marry Geng so Geng will not harm him as his brother-in-law.

• Geng is scared of Bing and he sends his sister Xin to marry Bing so Bing will not harm him as his brother-in-law.

• Bing is scared of Ren and he sends his sister Ding to marry Ren so Ren will not harm him as his brother-in-law.

• Ren is scared of Wu and he sends his sister Gui to marry with Wu so Wu will not harm him as his brother-in-law.

• Wu is scared of Jia and he sends his sister Ji to marry with Jia so Jia will not harm him as his brother-in-law.
  

天干相合

相反的，天干相合只发生在两个不同极性的天干相遇（阳天干遇上阴天干）。其实有两种记法。

1. 如果你稍微有留意的话，天干相合是跟着顺序的。你只需要记住10个天干的序列，然后将首五个天干（甲，乙，丙，丁，戊）列在左行， 再将剩下的（己，庚，辛，壬，癸）列在右排，并排的天干就是相合的天干如图 3。

2. 第二种记法呢就是用故事的方法。这故事其实很简单，就是“嫁妹救哥”。我们把阳天干当作是哥，阴天干是妹。例子：

• 甲害怕庚的伤害，把乙妹嫁给庚，庚就不会伤害大舅了。

• 庚害怕丙的伤害，把辛妹嫁给丙，丙就不会伤害大舅了。

• 丙害怕壬的伤害，把丁妹嫁给壬，壬就不会伤害大舅了。

• 壬害怕戊的伤害，把癸妹嫁给戊，戊就不会伤害大舅了。

• 戊害怕甲的伤害，把己妹嫁给甲，甲就不会伤害大舅了。

Image 3: Heavenly Stems Combinations 图 3：天干相合

Quote：

Same polarity rejects, different polarity attracts. 同性相斥，异性相吸。

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Fundamental of Chinese Metaphysics 1: The Five Elements 玄学基本知识 1: 五行

Fundamental of Chinese Metaphysics 2: 6 Combinations 玄学基本知识 2: 六合 Fundamental of Chinese Metaphysics 3: 3 Combinations 玄学基本知识 3: 三合 Fundamental of Chinese Metaphysics 4: 6 Clashes 玄学基本知识 4: 六冲