Yuan Hai Zi Ping — Deep Ocean of Ziping

In one line: The great compendium of the Ziping school — the first systematic compilation of Xu Ziping's Four Pillars method and the foundation of all later BaZi scholarship.

Background

Compiled by Xu Dasheng (徐大升) during the Song dynasty, drawing on Xu Ziping's surviving methods. The name "Yuan Hai" (deep ocean) speaks for itself: the book's contents are as deep and vast as an abyss or sea — the founding classic of Ziping BaZi.

In his preface, Xu Dasheng wrote: "The method of Ziping takes the Day Stem as the master, the year as root, the month as seedling, the day as flower, and the hour as fruit. By examining birth, flourishing, death, exhaustion, rest, confinement, control, and transformation, one determines a person's fortune or misfortune. The logic is inescapable — what room is there for doubt?"

Book Structure (80+ Chapters)

Five Core Discussions

1. On Taking the Day as Master (The Foundation)

I once studied the accounts in the History of the Tang, where Li Xuzhong used the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches of a person's birth year, month, day, and hour — along with their generating and controlling relationships — to assess the nobility or baseness, longevity or early death of one's destiny. His method was already remarkably thorough! It was not until the Song era that the Ziping system emerged: taking the Day Stem as the master, the year as root, the month as seedling, the day as flower, and the hour as fruit — examining birth, flourishing, death, exhaustion, rest, confinement, control, and transformation to determine a person's fortune or misfortune.

The Four Pillars and their positions:

• Year Pillar: the root (ancestral legacy, childhood)
• Month Pillar: the seedling (parents, youth)
• Day Pillar: the flower (self and spouse)
• Hour Pillar: the fruit (children, old age)

The Ten Gods in five categories:

Nobility and baseness, longevity and early death — none escape these five:

1. Officer (divided by yin and yang into Direct Officer and Seven Killings)
2. Wealth (divided by yin and yang into Direct Wealth and Indirect Wealth)
3. Generating qi (Direct Seal and Indirect Seal)
4. Draining qi (Food God and Hurting Officer)
5. Same kind (Rob Wealth and Yang Blade)

2. On the Month Branch (The Governing Framework)

Take the Day as master. First examine what the Day encounters: is the Day Master strong or weak? Then see what Pattern the Earthly Branches form — the balance of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Next, determine which of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth is flourishing in the Month Branch. Then look to the Annual Luck to see what is flourishing there. Only then should you proceed to the detailed analysis below.

Three steps for analyzing the Month Branch:

1. The Month Branch is the governing framework — first identify its element
2. Flourishing, prosperous, resting, confined, or dead — find which element is flourishing
3. Combine with the Day Master to select the favorable element

3. Stem-Branch Imagery (Verses on the Ten Stems)

Jia Wood

Jia Wood, first of the Heavenly Stems in rank, has neither branch nor root of its own; to endure a thousand years between heaven and earth, it must be buried fathoms deep in sand and clay. Hewn into ridgepoles and beams — that is Metal's work; forged into a great blade — that is Fire's doing.

Yi Wood

Yi Wood sends its roots down deep, thriving only in sunlit ground, never in shade; adrift and drifting, it dreads an excess of Water — how could it endure the bitter bite of Metal's blade?

Bing Fire

Bing Fire is plainly the sun itself, establishing the great order from what is upright and true; its vast radiance gazes far beyond a thousand leagues, its great flame reaches to the eight wild horizons.

Ding Fire

Ding Fire takes the form of a single candle flame; in the sun's presence, its light is swallowed whole. In season it can cast a thousand catties of iron; out of season it struggles to melt an inch of gold.

Geng Metal

Geng Metal, dull and stubborn by nature, once shaped by Fire, dreads the land of Water; born in summer's southeast, it is over-refined; born in autumn's northwest, it shines all the same.

Xin Metal

Xin Metal is pearl and jade by nature, most at home in gentle warmth and clear, sandy water; its refinement asks nothing of Fire's furnace — it thrives instead on the nurture of moist, yielding earth.

Ren Water

Ren Water surges vast, a hundred rivers converging, spilling across the world without shore or bound; when stems and branches pile high, it floods and drifts — meeting Fire and Earth together, its very source runs dry.

4. On the Direct Officer (80+ Lines, Core Chapter)

The Direct Officer is the correct qi of heaven and earth, the wellspring of refined qi. It holds the power of bestowal and deprivation; it carries out the work of judgment and punishment. It is the most potent god in the entire chart.

Seven principles governing the Direct Officer:

• The Officer Star favors being revealed — when revealed, it stands noble and high
• The Officer Star favors being strong — when strong, it carries weight
• The Officer Star cherishes Wealth — for Wealth generates Officer
• The Officer Star guards the Seal — for the Seal protects the Officer in return
• The Officer Star abhors mixture — Seven Killings must be kept clearly distinct
• The Officer Star dreads the Hurting Officer — when Hurting Officer meets Officer, a hundred calamities follow
• The Officer Star fears being clashed — a clash brings only harm

5. On Yang Blade (With Favorable and Unfavorable Elements)

Yang Blade is where the Five Elements reach their utmost extreme — flourishing beyond further flourishing, strong beyond further strengthening. It is no crude lump of iron, but refined gold.

Wu Wu · Wu Wu · Wu Wu · Jia Yin: This chart possesses both Blade and Killings in full measure, and furthermore uses Wu Fire as the Seal — hence its nobility. As the Xi Ji Pian puts it: "A Wu day in a Wu month — do not read this as Blade; when the hour meets Jia Yin, read it instead as Seal."

Yang Blade: favorable and unfavorable elements:

• Favors: Officer and Killings to control it (only with control does it become noble)
• Avoids: an absence of both Officer and Killings (then it turns inauspicious)
• Avoids: a clash (clashing shatters the Pattern)

Eight Methods of Shen Qu (Rare Patterns)

The Eight Methods of Shen Qu: shining, returning, ghost, hidden, belonging, kindred, following, transforming. — Yuan dynasty, the Jinshi scholar of Cao Tang, Mr. Ding

Women's Eight Methods (Reading Women's Charts)

Reading a woman's destiny differs greatly from reading a man's. The Jinshi scholar of Cao Tang, Mr. Ding, composed the original Eight Methods of Shen Qu — shining, returning, ghost, hidden, belonging, kindred, following, transforming. The Women's Eight Methods, by contrast, focus entirely on the husband star and the children star.

The Women's Eight Methods:

1. The husband star is well placed
2. The children star holds authority
3. Both husband and children are pure and clear
4. The Hurting Officer meets the Direct Officer
5. Officer and Killings are mixed together
6. Peach Blossom arrives with a combination
7. The Lonely Phoenix and Widowed Star
8. Rolling Peach Blossom

The Lonely Phoenix Sha:

The Wood Tiger sits widowed, without a husband; the Gold Pig — how can she have a groom? The Red-Yellow Horse lies down alone; the Black Mouse keeps watch in an empty room. It presides over a woman's widowhood and a man's solitude.

Hidden Stems Complete Verse for Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches (24 Solar Terms Hidden-Stem Verse)

From the twenty-third day of Lichun, Bing Fire takes charge; the remaining days, Jia Wood governs as the flourishing theme. At Jingzhe, Yi Wood has not yet come to power; at the Spring Equinox, Yi Wood's authority is fully established. At Qingming, Yi Wood presides for ten days, then Gui Water floods in for eight; in the three days before Grain Rain, Wu Earth flourishes — the precise span of Earth's dominance must be examined with care. At Lixia, hidden Wu Earth again takes the lead; past the noon of Grain Fullness, Bing Fire blazes bright. At Grain in Ear, Ji Earth is well suited; after a pause of seven days, Earth rises high. At the Summer Solstice, yin is born and yang reaches its limit — Bing and Ding Fire flourish, and Earth extends its reach. At Minor Heat, Ding Fire flourishes for ten days, then Yi Wood is fragrant for three, and Ji Earth asserts its might for three; at Major Heat, Ji Earth holds sway for ten days. At the Beginning of Autumn, Ren Water rises for ten days; at the End of Heat, Geng Metal is excellent for fifteen. At White Dew, Geng Metal flourishes for seven days, then Xin Metal walks alone for eight. At Cold Dew, Xin Metal governs for seven days, then Ding Fire returns and Water descends for eight; at Frost Descent, Ji Earth holds for fifteen days, and the mixed qi within may be drawn upon freely. At the Beginning of Winter, Gui Water flourishes for seven days, and Ren Water bustles for eight; at Minor Snow, Ren Water surges for seven days, then Jia Wood turns fragrant again for eight. At Major Snow, Ren Water governs for seven days; at the Winter Solstice, Gui Water swells and ripples all the more. At Minor Cold, Gui Water nurtures for seven days, then Xin Metal hides in the Ox storehouse for eight; at Major Cold, Ji Earth prevails for ten days — the skilled practitioner examines every detail with care.

Practical application: Each solar term spans roughly 15 days. The first 7–10 days are governed by one stem, and the remaining days by the next.

Six Enduring Contributions

1. Established the Four Pillars method: using the year, month, day, and hour pillars to read destiny
2. The Ten Gods system: a clear distinction between direct and indirect, forming a complete framework
3. The Shen Sha system: a systematic catalog of auspicious and inauspicious symbolic stars
4. Pattern prototypes: Direct Officer, Hurting Officer, Food God, Yang Blade, and others
5. The Women's Eight Methods: specialized patterns for reading women's charts
6. A treasury of verses and treatises: the Mind Mirror Verse, the Hundred Verses, the Treatise on Establishing the True, and more

Relationship to the Other Four Classics

Suggested Learning Path

Step 1: Memorize the Stem-Branch Imagery Verses (10 Stems + 12 Branches)

These verses are the essence of Yuan Hai Zi Ping — fully half the book's substance is condensed into these 22 poems.

Step 2: Master the Eight Methods of Shen Qu

Understand the Following Patterns, Transformation Patterns, hidden moaning and returning cries, and other rare chart formations.

Step 3: Read On the Direct Officer Carefully

This 80-line core chapter is the heart of the book. Grasp its seven governing principles.

Step 4: Consult the Six Relatives Volume

On Father, Mother, Siblings, Spouse, and Children — required reading for anyone who reads charts for questions about family.

Step 5: Study the Women's Eight Methods

Essential reading for those who specialize in consultations on women's charts.

Step 6: Keep the Verses and Treatises Close at Hand

The Mind Mirror Verse, the Inch-of-Gold Marrow-Searching Discourse, and the Chapter on Favorable and Unfavorable — a practical reference you will return to again and again.

Study Recommendations

• ✅ Best for: Understanding the history of BaZi's development, with a practical reference you can keep returning to
• ⚠️ Difficulty: ★★★★☆ (the scope is vast — selective reading is a must)
• 📖 Recommended edition: Ming-dynasty corrected edition of Yuan Hai Zi Ping (the project's digital edition is based on this text)
• 🎯 How to approach it: Read it as historical source material and reference work; for hands-on practice, turn to Zi Ping Zhen Quan

🔗 Related reading: Zi Ping Zhen Quan (Pattern school compendium) · San Ming Tong Hui (Case library) · Di Tian Sui (Qi-Li method)