TL;DR: The Six Clashes are six pairs of opposing earthly branches within the cycle of 12 branches: Tý clashes with Ngọ, Sửu clashes with Mùi, Dần clashes with Thân, Mão clashes with Dậu, Thìn clashes with Tuất, Tỵ clashes with Hợi. The book Tăng san bốc dịch records 'xung giả tán dã', meaning a clash disperses, so an inauspicious matter meeting a clash dissolves, while an auspicious matter meeting a clash easily breaks apart. But a clash can also open a storehouse, break a deadlock, and in some cases turn out to be a good thing, depending on whether the useful god is strong or weak.
What Is the Six Clashes of Earthly Branches?
The six clashes are six pairs of earthly branches positioned opposite each other in the twelve-branch cycle, exactly six positions apart. They are Tý clashing with Ngọ, Sửu with Mùi, Dần with Thân, Mão with Dậu, Thìn with Tuất, Tỵ with Hợi. In bốc dịch, clash is not merely a geometric relation between branches but a concrete force acting on a line, a hexagram, and the dụng thần (the line representing the matter asked about). The Tăng san bốc dịch records clearly: 'xung giả tán dã', meaning clash disperses. From this comes the principle 'an inauspicious matter meeting clash dissolves, an auspicious matter meeting clash should not'. But the story does not stop there, because clash can also open the storehouse, break deadlock, and in some cases is actually favorable.
What Are the Six Clash Pairs and Their Positions in the Twelve Branches?
The twelve earthly branches begin with Tý and proceed in order: Tý, Sửu, Dần, Mão, Thìn, Tỵ, Ngọ, Mùi, Thân, Dậu, Tuất, Hợi. Each clash pair is two branches six steps apart, that is, opposite each other across the center of the circle. The table below lists the six clash pairs with their positions and corresponding five phases:
| Clash pair | Position in the twelve branches | Five phases |
|---|---|---|
| Tý clashes with Ngọ | 1 and 7 | Water clashes Fire |
| Sửu clashes with Mùi | 2 and 8 | Earth clashes Earth |
| Dần clashes with Thân | 3 and 9 | Wood clashes Metal |
| Mão clashes with Dậu | 4 and 10 | Wood clashes Metal |
| Thìn clashes with Tuất | 5 and 11 | Earth clashes Earth |
| Tỵ clashes with Hợi | 6 and 12 | Fire clashes Water |
By the five phases, four of the pairs set two conquering phases against each other: Tý Ngọ and Tỵ Hợi are Water against Fire (Water conquers Fire), Dần Thân and Mão Dậu are Metal against Wood (Metal conquers Wood). The other two pairs, Sửu Mùi and Thìn Tuất, are Earth meeting Earth. In the Tăng san bốc dịch, Dã Hạc lão nhân writes that clash must be judged 'tất kiêm dụng thần nhi ngôn' (必兼用神而言), that is, together with whether the dụng thần is strong or weak, not from the clash pair alone[1].
The Mechanism of Clash in Bốc Dịch
The Lục xung chapter of the Tăng san bốc dịch lists six ways of clashing: first, the day or month clashing a line; second, a hexagram that is itself a six-clash hexagram; third, a six-harmony hexagram changing into a six-clash hexagram; fourth, a six-clash hexagram changing into a six-clash hexagram; fifth, a moving line changing into a line that clashes back at it; sixth, line clashing with line[1]. For a single line the book distinguishes further: a line clashed by the month is called nguyệt phá; a line meeting the day's clash is ám động; a line that is hưu tù (out of season) and meets the day's clash is called nhật phá. The book adds that when the dụng thần is strong it is 'tuy xung bất phá', clashed yet not broken, while a fallen dụng thần is 'hung nhi hựu hung', inauspicious and more so[1].
The day's clash can also give force to a static line. The Ám động chapter says: a static line that is prosperous and is clashed by the day is ám động (靜爻旺相日辰沖之爲暗動), and ám động 'has its welcome and its unwelcome sides' depending on whether that line generates or conquers the dụng thần[1]. In an example in the Lục xung chapter, in the Tỵ month on a Mậu Tuất day, asking about money, the hexagram Phong Lôi Ích was obtained; the Tài line Thìn earth on the thế position was in tuần không, the Tuất day clashed it, which the book calls 'xung không điền thực' (沖空塡實, clashing the void fills it), and it records that the money came that same day[1].
Clash Opens the Storehouse: What Is the 'Mộ Khố' Matter of Thìn Tuất Sửu Mùi?
In bốc dịch and tứ trụ (four pillars), Thìn, Tuất, Sửu, Mùi are called the four mộ khố (tomb-storehouses). The Sinh vượng mộ tuyệt chapter of the Tăng san bốc dịch gives: Metal is entombed at Sửu, Wood at Mùi, Water and Earth at Thìn; the general note on timing takes Fire as entombed at Tuất[1]. In the book, mộ means stagnation (墓者，滯也): when a line enters its tomb the matter is held up. That general note has the phrase 'nhập tam mộ câu hỷ xung khai' (入三墓俱喜沖開, all three kinds of entombment welcome being clashed open), with an example: the line in charge is Ngọ fire, fire is entombed at Tuất, and the matter is answered later on a Thìn day. The Lục hợp chapter, discussing a tam hợp (three-harmony) formation, also says that if one line is entombed, one waits for the day that clashes it open (有一爻入墓者待沖開之日成之)[1]. This is the textual basis in the book for the phrase 'clash opens the storehouse'.
The book records two hexagrams as examples. In the Tuất month on a Giáp Dần day, a man asked whether he would pass the metropolitan examination at once; the thế line Ngọ fire, carrying Quan quỷ, was entombed in the Tuất month and, moving, changed into Tuất. Dã Hạc judged that the following Thìn year would 'clash open the tomb-storehouse' and be the time the list was posted, and the book records that it turned out so. In the Thân month on a Kỷ Sửu day, a man asked about an illness; the thế line Dậu metal was entombed in the Sửu day, and the book records that he rose on a Mùi day, the day that clashes the Sửu tomb open[1]. Both times the book attaches the condition that the thế line is prosperous; elsewhere it writes that when the thế line is void, broken or hưu tù there is 'chung vô thành nhật', never a day of success.
When Is Clash Good, When Is Clash Bad?
The Tăng san bốc dịch says clearly: 'phàm chiêm hung sự nghi ư xung tán, chiêm cát sự nhi bất nghi'. Meaning: an inauspicious matter meeting clash is favorable, because clash disperses the inauspicious; an auspicious matter meeting clash is not favorable, because clash disperses the auspicious. But this rule must be placed in relation to the dụng thần. If the dụng thần is prosperous, meeting clash may still do no harm, and sometimes even activates. If the dụng thần is weak, meeting clash is even more dangerous.
An example in the Tăng san bốc dịch: in the Dậu month, on an Ất Mùi day, asking whether a son long gone from home was alive, the hexagram Khôn, a six-clash hexagram, was obtained. The Tử tôn line Dậu metal on the thế position sat on the month branch and was generated by the Mùi day, so Dã Hạc judged 'the son will surely return', and the book records that he later did[1]. Conversely, the book says that when a six-harmony hexagram changes into a six-clash hexagram every matter is 'tiên hợp hậu ly', first joined then parted, and gives a hexagram from the Tỵ month, Giáp Dần day, asking about engaging a tutor for a son, Bĩ changing into Càn: Dã Hạc judged that it would not last, and the book records that two months later the son fell ill and died and the tutor left[1].
Comparing Viewpoints
The Trích Thiên Tủy is a tứ trụ (four pillars) text and looks at clash differently. The base text says 'chi thần chỉ dĩ xung vi trọng': among the relations between branches, clash weighs most; the original note explains that a clash is necessarily a conquest and so necessarily sets things moving. On the four storehouses the base text says 'sinh phương phạ động, khố nghi khai', and the original note says Thìn Tuất Sửu Mùi should be clashed open. Nhậm Thiết Tiều, in the Trích Thiên Tủy xiển vi, does not simply follow this: he writes that clashing the four storehouses 'is sometimes fitting and sometimes not', calls the saying that a tomb-storehouse prospers when clashed an error of later writers, and remarks on one chart that to insist the four storehouses must be clashed is a one-sided argument[2]. So on this very question of clash opening the storehouse, the bốc dịch book and the tứ trụ book, and even the original note and the later commentator within one book, do not speak with one voice.
Suggestions for Application Today
Gợi ý của Nhật Nguyệt: on meeting the word clash in a hexagram or a chart, it is worth asking which book is speaking and what condition comes with it. The Tăng san bốc dịch always ties clash to whether the dụng thần is strong or weak; the Trích Thiên Tủy xiển vi even rejects the idea that a storehouse prospers when clashed. These are conventions of particular schools of divination, not verified, and should not serve as grounds for decisions about money or other major matters.
