| | Feng: Thunder and fire interact dynamically, firmness and softness disperse; when qi accumulates it becomes obscure, movement brings clarity. The Yijing says: "Build a grand house, shroud the family in darkness, peer through the door, and find it desolate as if no one is there; after three years without meeting, calamity will come." Fire and wood are divided into images, corresponding to accumulated yin, and they form a relationship of concealment and revelation with Zhen. Yin in the most exalted position signifies a chaotic world; when ministers appear to respond, ruler and minister are obscured from each other. The state of the world can thus be known: when ministers are strong and the ruler is weak, it marks the beginning of a time of disorder. Jian was born between Wu Zi and Ji Si. Thunder and fire vibrating together is called Feng; it should correspond to noon, when the summer solstice brings accumulated yin. Feng should be in its proper position, and thus good or ill fortune becomes evident. The accumulation of calculations begins from Ji Si to Ren Chen, cycling back and forth repeatedly. The Five Planets begin from Weiwei at Taibai, and the wall constellation descends to Geng Shen. Divide the climate into twenty-eight parts; upper wood and lower fire, qi is pure yang, while yin arises internally. Yang energy becomes mixed, the upright nature collapses, extreme disorder leads to reversal, becoming a wandering soul. Entering accumulated yin, yin and yang rise and fall, returning inversely to their origin. Transformation occurs between existence and non-existence; omens of good or ill fortune may appear in what is present, or in what is absent. The nature of yin and yang cannot be fixed as a single definite image; within the Eight Trigrams, yang disperses yin, and yin disperses yang. The two forces interact to form a substance; sometimes hidden, sometimes revealed. Hence the Xi Ci says: "One yin and one yang is called Dao." The outer trigram Zhen descends with yin into Ming Yi.
|