Zi Ping Zhen Quan (True Commentary on Ziping)

In one line: The definitive work of the Pattern School, systematically discussing how to derive the Useful God and analyze pattern transformations — an essential classic for any student of BaZi.

Background

Written by Shen Xiaozhan (沈孝瞻), a Jinshi (进士, presented scholar) of the Qing Qianlong era. Building on earlier classics like Yuan Hai Zi Ping (Deep Ocean of Ziping), San Ming Tong Hui (Comprehensive Treatise on the Three Destinies), and Shen Feng Tong Kao, Shen provides a more detailed and standardized treatment of the rules for deriving the Useful God and analyzing pattern transformations.

Later scholars have praised it: "Of the old books, the two most complete and refined are Di Tian Sui (Drops of Heavenly Marrow) and Zi Ping Zhen Quan. Every later school of BaZi, with all its many words, cannot transcend their scope. Like rivers and the sun and moon, they are indispensable."

This project uses Zi Ping Zhen Quan Ben Yi (《子平真诠本义》, the Huang Dalu interpretation, completed in 2001): containing Shen's original text, Huang's verse-by-verse commentary, and practical case studies — closer to the "original meaning" than Xu Lewu's annotated version.

Core Position (the "Backbone" of the Book)

Through careful analysis of Shen's text, Huang Dalu proposes a revolutionary claim:

Modern popular BaZi books — in their use of Useful God, Aversion God, Favor God, and Pattern concepts — have almost entirely deviated from the original meaning of the classics like Yuan Hai Zi Ping, Zi Ping Zhen Quan, and Shen Feng Tong Kao!

Huang Dalu's "Four Questions" challenging modern BaZi:

1. Why "Focus on the Month Branch" when choosing the Useful God? Modern books actually criticize this approach as "rigid and pedantic"
2. Are Useful God and Pattern the same thing? Shen treats them as one; modern books separate them into different chapters
3. Should a "non-auspicious" Useful God be "used in reverse"? Modern books treat Useful God as the very root of life, with no "non-auspicious" Useful Gods at all
4. Did the ancients ever mention Balance, Support/Restraint, Mediation, or Climate Balance? These words cannot be found anywhere in Shen's original text

Huang Dalu's conclusion:

The "Useful God" in the classics like Zi Ping Zhen Quan is simply the usable element from the Month Branch and the character that defines the Pattern. There is fundamentally no "Useful God" of the sort modern books describe — with its supposed balancing, supporting, mediating, and climate-balancing functions.

Book Structure (15 Chapters)

Chapter 1: On the Useful God (the Core)

Shen's Original Text

The BaZi Useful God focuses on the Month Branch; the Day Stem is matched with the Month Branch, and depending on generating and restraining, the patterns are distinguished. Wealth, Officer, Seal, and Output are the auspicious Useful Gods and are used directly; Killings, Hurting Officer, Indirect Seal, and Blade are the inauspicious Useful Gods and are used in reverse. When it should be direct, be direct; when it should be reverse, be reverse. Proper combinations all become noble patterns.

4 Core Principles

1. Focus on the Month Branch — the Useful God must be derived from the Month Branch
2. Useful God = Pattern — 4 auspicious Useful Gods (Wealth, Officer, Seal, Output) + 4 inauspicious Useful Gods (Killings, Hurting Officer, Indirect Seal, Blade)
3. Auspicious: use directly; Inauspicious: use in reverse — inauspicious Useful Gods should be "controlled" or "abandoned"
4. Proper combinations form noble patterns — the key is the harmony of favor and aversion

Useful God: Direct vs. Reverse — General Rules

Auspicious and used directly:

• Wealth favors Food God (Shi Shen) to generate it, generating Officer to protect Wealth
• Officer favors transparent Wealth to generate it, generating Seal to protect Officer
• Seal favors Officer/Seven Killings (Qi Sha) to generate it, Rob Wealth (Jie Cai) to protect Seal
• Output favors a Strong Day Master (Ri Zhu) (Shen Wang) to generate it, generating Wealth to protect Output

Inauspicious and used in reverse:

• Seven Killings favor Output/Hurting Officer to control them, avoids Wealth/Seal to support them
• Hurting Officer favors pairing with Seal to control it, generating Wealth to transform the hurt
• Blade favors Officer/Seven Killings to control it, avoids having no Officer or Killings at all
• Month Robbery with transparent Officer to control it, uses Wealth and transparent Output to transform robbery

Shen's Critique of Modern BaZi (Original Text)

Modern people don't know to focus on the Month Branch, and then they treat every stem and branch in the Four Pillars as belonging to the Month Branch's jurisdiction, to observe favor and aversion. Even when they see a Direct Officer (Zheng Guan) paired with a Seal, they think it's "Officer and Seal both complete," the same as a Seal-using Officer; when they see transparent Wealth and an Food God, they don't recognize it as Wealth meeting Output, but as "Output generating Wealth," the same as an Output-generating-Wealth case... All this comes from not knowing the Month Branch and rashly choosing the Useful God.

When the Month Branch Has No Useful God

But there are also cases where the Month Branch has no Useful God — what to do? If Wood is born in Yin or Mao, and the Day and Month are the same, the Day Master itself cannot be the Useful God; we must look at the Four Pillars for transparent Officer, Killings, Output, or Wealth, and choose the Useful God separately.

Order of selection:

1. Officer first, if any (Authority Stars (Guan Sha) Pattern)
2. If no Officer, discuss Output (Output/Wealth Pattern)
3. If Output/Wealth doesn't work → Seal/Friend (Bi Jian) strong Pattern
4. If none of the six → Day Master is strong with no support, retreat into monastic life

Chapter 2: On Useful God Transformation (the Subtle)

Shen's Original Text

The Useful God is governed by the Month Branch, but the Month Branch hides several stems, and so the Useful God undergoes transformation. For example, in the twelve branches, except for Zi, Wu, Mao, You, the rest all hide stems — not just the four storage (库). Take Yin: Jia is the main qi, like the prefecture having a prefecture seat; Bing is its long-life, like a deputy prefecture; Wu is also long-life, like an assistant. If the Yin month is the root, and Bing is transparent rather than Jia, then we know the prefecture isn't presiding, but the deputy is in charge. This is the source of transformation.

4 Types of Transformation

Transformed well, the pattern is more beautiful; transformed poorly, the pattern is broken.

Practical Example (Yi Wood Woman)

Companion Wealth Day Seal Yi Wu Yi Ren Hai Yin Mao Wu Major luck: Ji Mao, Geng Chen, Xin Si, Ren Wu, Gui Wei, Jia Shen

Analysis: Yi Wood born in Yin month is the Month Robbery Pattern; because the branch contains Wu, Yin-Wu combine Fire, and the Month Robbery Pattern becomes an Output Pattern. The Month Stem is Wu (Earth, Wealth), and Output generates Wealth. Result: The native went into business early in life, amassed a fortune of a million, enjoyed a harmonious marriage, and had four distinguished sons.

Chapter 3: On Useful God Purity vs. Mixed (Practical Fortune/Misfortune)

Shen's Original Text

When the Useful God has transformations, within those transformations we further distinguish pure and mixed. Pure is auspicious, mixed is inauspicious.

Pure (Auspicious) — Two Helping Each Other

Mixed (Inauspicious) — Two at Odds

The ancients said: "One pattern, two patterns — minister or chancellor; three patterns, four patterns — condemned to the common ranks."

Chapter 11: On Useful God with Climate (Integrating Climate Balance)

Shen's Original Text

Therefore, Seal meets Officer — this is called Officer-Seal both complete, and no one is not noble. But winter Wood meeting Water, even with transparent Officer, is hard to be noble; the reason is that Metal is cold and Water freezes even more, and frozen Water cannot generate Wood — that is the logic. When Day Master and Seal are both strong, transparent Output becomes noble — all Seal patterns are like this. But used for winter Wood, it is especially elegant, for winter Wood meeting Fire can not only drain the Day Master but also balance the climate.

The Relationship Between Climate and Patterns

• Summer Wood: climate first, pattern second (too hot, needs Water)
• Winter Wood: climate first, pattern second (too cold, needs Fire)
• Spring/Autumn Wood: pattern first, climate second (moderate climate)

5 Classic Practical Examples (Selected from Huang Dalu's Interpretation)

Example 1: Wu Wu Wu Wu · Jia Yin (Blade Favorable/Aversion Section Original)

Wu Wu Wu Wu · Jia Yin

Analysis: This chart has both Blade and Killings, and uses Wu Fire as the Seal, hence noble. Original source: Xi Ji Pian (《喜忌篇》) "Wu day Wu month, do not treat as Blade; hour meets Jia Yin, instead treat as Seal"

Example 2: Yi Wood Woman (Amassed a Fortune)

Yi Wu Yi Ren Hai Yin Mao Wu

Analysis: Yi Wood born in Yin month, Month Robbery Pattern; the Wu character half-combines Fire, transforming Robbery into Output; Wu Earth Wealth Star, Output generates Wealth. Amassed a fortune of a million, four distinguished sons.

Example 3: Man Abandoning Day Master to Follow Wealth

Wu Jia Yi Bing Xu Yin Chou Zi

Analysis: Yi Wood born in Yin month, Month Robbery Pattern, transparent Bing Fire (Hurting Officer), branch has Xu but no Wu → cannot transform into Fire. Only in the Wu Wu major luck does it transform into Fire → amassed wealth of more than a million.

Example 4: Li Houqi (Author of 100 Methods of Fortune-Telling)

Wu Jia Jia Jia Yin Yin Xu Zi

Analysis: Jia Wood born in Yin month, Month Robbery Pattern, branch forms a Water frame.

Example 5: Vastly Wealthy but Not Noble

Gui Xin Bing Ji Mao You Chen Hai

Analysis: Gui Water born in Mao month, Mao Wood is Seal — would normally be Officer-Seal Pattern, but Ji Earth caps Hai Water with a restrain, so the chart takes on the meaning of abandoning Officer for Output, becoming a Wealth-favoring-Output Pattern, hence vastly wealthy but not noble.

5 Major Contributions (to Later BaZi)

1. Focus on the Month Branch — elevating the Month Branch to the core of Useful God selection
2. Auspicious and Inauspicious, two paths — dividing the 8 Useful Gods into auspicious (Wealth, Officer, Seal, Output) and inauspicious (Killings, Hurting Officer, Indirect Seal, Blade)
3. Useful God = Pattern — Useful God and Pattern are unified, not separate
4. Useful God Transformation Theory — how Month Branch transparency or combinations cause pattern transformation
5. Success-Failure-Rescue Theory — Pattern (Ge Ju) success or failure hinges on whether there is a rescuing element

Shen's 4 Major Critiques (Restored from Original Text)

1. Critique of "Not knowing to focus on the Month Branch": "Modern people don't know to focus on the Month Branch, and then they treat every stem and branch in the Four Pillars as belonging to the Month Branch's jurisdiction, to observe favor and aversion"
2. Critique of "Rash Useful God selection": "When they see a Direct Officer paired with a Seal, they think it's 'Officer and Seal both complete'" — mismatched labels
3. Critique of "Useful God cannot be harmed": Yue Tan Fu (《月谈赋》) "A pattern may be taken or not taken; a Useful God may be abandoned or not abandoned"
4. Critique of "Climate Balance and Support/Restraint": Shen's original text contains no such words as "balance, support/restraint, mediation, climate balance"

Relationship to Other Classics

Learning Path Recommendations

Step 1: Read "On the Useful God" Original Text Repeatedly (7 times)

The opening 200 characters of Shen are extremely information-dense

Step 2: Master the 4 Types of "Useful God Transformation"

Wealth to Officer / Killings to Seal / Hurting Officer to Wealth / Month Robbery to Output

Step 3: Master "Purity vs. Mixed" Judgment

Two helping each other = Pure (auspicious); Two at odds = Mixed (inauspicious)

Step 4: Practically Reference Chapters 11–12

The relationship between climate and patterns + the importance of the Supporting God

Step 5: Cross-Reference Other Three Classics

• Cross Qiong Tong Bao Jian for month-branch climate
• Cross Di Tian Sui for Day Master strength
• Cross San Ming Tong Hui for case studies

Study Recommendations

• ✅ Best for: Beginners starting BaZi from zero
• ⚠️ Difficulty: ★★★☆☆ (complete system, beginner-friendly)
• 📖 Recommended edition: Huang Dalu's Zi Ping Zhen Quan Ben Yi (the project's digital edition is included)
• 🎯 Learning path: Read alongside Di Tian Sui — one for Pattern, one for Qi-Li

🔗 Related reading: Di Tian Sui (Qi-Li School) · Qiong Tong Bao Jian (Climate method) · San Ming Tong Hui (Case library)