TL;DR: In Lục Hào, the nguyên thần is the hào that generates the Dụng thần, the kỵ thần is the hào that controls the Dụng thần, and the cừu thần is the hào that controls the nguyên thần and generates the kỵ thần. These three hào form a closed cycle of generation and control around the Dụng thần: the nguyên thần nourishes the Dụng thần, the kỵ thần cuts down the Dụng thần, and the cừu thần reinforces the kỵ thần. Tăng san bốc dịch devotes two separate chapters to analysing when these three hào have power and when they are useless.
What are the nguyên thần (generating spirit), kỵ thần (restraining spirit) and cừu thần (enemy spirit)?
These three concepts are defined concisely in Tăng san bốc dịch, chapter 9, in the section "Dụng thần nguyên thần kỵ thần cừu thần chương": the line that generates the favourable element is called the nguyên thần (generating spirit), the line that restrains the favourable element is called the kỵ thần (restraining spirit), and the line that restrains the generating spirit and generates the restraining spirit is called the cừu thần (enemy spirit)[1].
In other words, every line in a hexagram is named according to its relationship with the favourable element, that is, the line representing the matter being asked about. The favourable element is the centre, and the remaining lines fall into two camps: the supporting camp (the generating spirit) and the opposing camp (the restraining spirit and the enemy spirit).
The nguyên thần is not a fixed line; it changes with the Dụng thần. When asking about parents the Dụng thần is the Phụ mẫu line: the Quan quỷ line generates Phụ mẫu and so is the nguyên thần, the Thê tài line conquers Phụ mẫu and is the kỵ thần, and the Tử tôn line, which conquers Quan quỷ and generates Thê tài, is the cừu thần. When asking about money the Dụng thần is the Thê tài line: the Tử tôn line is the nguyên thần, the Huynh đệ line is the kỵ thần, and the Phụ mẫu line is the cừu thần. These three names can therefore only be assigned after the Dụng thần has been chosen.
Why does the enemy spirit restrain the generating spirit and generate the restraining spirit?
The enemy spirit is the third link in the generating and restraining chain. It does not strike the favourable element directly; it strikes the favourable element's rear base. The enemy spirit weakens the generating spirit and at the same time reinforces the restraining spirit, making the restraining spirit stronger so that it can restrain the favourable element.
In the five phases, this relationship operates through the cycles of mutual generation and mutual restraint. Take the example of the favourable element being Wood. The generating spirit is Water (Water generates Wood). The restraining spirit is Metal (Metal restrains Wood). The enemy spirit is Earth, because Earth restrains Water (restrains the generating spirit) and Earth generates Metal (generates the restraining spirit). Thus Earth stands on the opposing side, draining the source that nourishes Wood and strengthening the force that destroys Wood.
Applying that definition to all five phases, the cừu thần always falls on the phase that the Dụng thần conquers:
| Dụng thần | Nguyên thần (generates the Dụng thần) | Kỵ thần (conquers the Dụng thần) | Cừu thần (conquers the nguyên thần, generates the kỵ thần) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | Water | Metal | Earth |
| Fire | Wood | Water | Metal |
| Earth | Fire | Wood | Water |
| Metal | Earth | Fire | Wood |
| Water | Metal | Earth | Fire |
When does the generating spirit have power, and when is it useless?
Tăng san bốc dịch chapter 10, in the section "Nguyên thần kỵ thần suy vượng chương", lists five cases in which the generating spirit has enough strength to generate the favourable element[2]:
| Case | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | The generating spirit is prosperous and strong, or is seated on the day or month, or is supported by the generating action of the day or month |
| 2 | The generating spirit moves and transforms into a return generation, or transforms into an advancing spirit |
| 3 | The generating spirit is in its long life and imperial prosperity phase on the day spirit |
| 4 | The generating spirit and the restraining spirit move together |
| 5 | The generating spirit is prosperous and moving, seated on emptiness and transforming into emptiness |
The last two cases need careful reading. In the fourth, the moving kỵ thần generates the nguyên thần, and the moving nguyên thần in turn generates the Dụng thần, a chain of generation, as in the Đại Quá hexagram in the examples below. In the fifth, the book rejects the habit of treating a line that sits on tuần không or changes into tuần không as useless: 'động bất vi không' (動不爲空), a line that moves is not counted as void, and it takes effect on the day the void is clashed or filled[2].
Conversely, the book sets out six cases in which the generating spirit does not have enough strength to generate the favourable element[2]:
- The generating spirit is in retreat and imprisonment, does not move, or moves but is in retreat and imprisonment and is wounded or restrained
- The generating spirit is in retreat and imprisonment and also meets self-emptiness or monthly destruction
- The generating spirit is in retreat and imprisonment, moves and transforms into a retreating spirit
- The generating spirit is weak and also cut off
- The generating spirit enters the three tombs
- The generating spirit is in retreat and imprisonment, moves and transforms into cut-off, transforms into restraint, transforms into destruction, transforms into dispersion
The book concludes: these cases are "vô dụng chi nguyên thần, tuy hữu như vô", meaning it is there but as if it were not[2].
How strong or weak is the restraining spirit?
Tăng san bốc dịch also divides the restraining spirit into two clear groups. Five cases in which the restraining spirit moves and restrains or harms the favourable element[2]:
- The restraining spirit is prosperous and strong, or meets the generating support of the day, month or moving lines, or is seated on the day or month
- The restraining spirit moves and changes into a line that generates it in return (hồi đầu sinh)
- The restraining spirit is prosperous and moving, moves, is seated on emptiness and transforms into emptiness
- The restraining spirit is in its long life and imperial prosperity phase on the day spirit
- The restraining spirit and the enemy spirit move together
The book calls this group "như phủ kích chi kỵ thần" (如斧戟之忌神), a kỵ thần like an axe and a halberd, and says every matter asked about is greatly inauspicious[2].
Seven cases in which the restraining spirit, though moving, cannot restrain the favourable element[2]:
- The restraining spirit is in retreat and imprisonment and does not move, or moves but is in retreat and imprisonment and is restrained by the day, month or moving lines
- The restraining spirit is static and seated on emptiness or destruction
- The restraining spirit enters the three tombs
- The restraining spirit is weak, moves and transforms into a retreating spirit
- The restraining spirit is weak and also cut off
- The restraining spirit moves and transforms into cut-off, transforms into destruction, transforms into restraint, transforms into dispersion
- The restraining spirit and the generating spirit move together
This group is the "vô lực chi kỵ thần", the powerless restraining spirit, and every matter turns from inauspicious to auspicious[2].
A concrete example in Tăng san bốc dịch
The book gives an example of the nguyên thần and the kỵ thần moving together. In the Tỵ month on an Ất Mùi day, a man asking about his own illness obtained the hexagram Trạch Phong Đại Quá changing to Hỏa Phong Đỉnh[2].
The Thế line Hợi water is the favourable element. The Mùi earth line is the restraining spirit moving to restrain Hợi water. But the Dậu metal line, the generating spirit, also moves. The restraining spirit Mùi earth does not directly restrain the favourable element; it generates the generating spirit Dậu metal, and Dậu metal then generates Hợi water. The generating and restraining chain turns from mutual restraint into mutual generation, "hóa hung nhi vi cát"[2].
However, Hợi water was clashed by the Tỵ month and conquered by the Mùi day, that is, it was in nguyệt phá and conquered as well, so the book writes that even with support it could not rise, like a tree without roots, "hàn cốc bất hồi xuân". The book records that the man died on a Quý Mão day, the day that clashed away the nguyên thần Dậu metal[2]. The book calls this a Dụng thần without root: even a strong nguyên thần can hardly generate it.
Another example, in chapter 9: in the Thìn month on a Mậu Thân day, asking about a father who had recently fallen ill, the hexagram Càn vi Thiên changing to Phong Thiên Tiểu Súc was obtained[1]. The hexagram has three Phụ mẫu lines: Tuất earth, Thìn earth and the changed line Mùi earth. The book takes Thìn earth as the Dụng thần because it sits on the month branch. The nguyên thần is Ngọ fire (fire generates earth). The kỵ thần is Dần wood (wood conquers earth). Dần wood, clashed by the Thân day, is in ám động and conquers Thìn earth, hence the illness is grave. Ngọ fire moves but changes into Mùi earth; Ngọ and Mùi combine, so it cannot generate Thìn earth. Dã Hạc judged that on a Sửu day, which clashes Mùi earth away and frees Ngọ fire from the combination, the illness would recede; the book records that the father rose from bed on a Sửu day[1].
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestions for reading a hexagram through the generating spirit, restraining spirit and enemy spirit
When interpreting a hexagram, the first step is to determine the favourable element, and from there to draw out the three layers of relationship. Whether the generating spirit has power depends on its prosperity or decline, not merely on whether it is present in the hexagram. A generating spirit that is in retreat and imprisonment, has entered the tomb, or has transformed into retreat cannot easily exert its effect even if it generates the favourable element. The same goes for the restraining spirit: if it is restrained by the day or month, or transforms into emptiness or destruction, it is nothing to worry about.
The enemy spirit is often overlooked by beginners, but it is the decisive link in many cases. When the restraining spirit and the enemy spirit move together, the power to restrain and destroy the favourable element increases considerably. Conversely, if the generating spirit and the restraining spirit move together, the generating spirit can transform a situation of restraint into one of generation, as in the example cited from Tăng san bốc dịch.
The most important point that Tăng san bốc dịch emphasises is that the favourable element must have a root. If the favourable element has no root, even a powerful generating spirit cannot generate it, and a powerless restraining spirit gives no cause for joy. This is the foundational principle for assessing the whole configuration of generation and restraint in a Lục Hào hexagram.
