XinggeWhat Does Po Jun Govern?
〈問破軍所主若何？〉
The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu, Volume 1: Rhapsodies, questions on the stars, and chart patterns · Original text with translation
Introduction
This is the Po Jun question in the Zhu Xing Wen Da Lun (Questions and Answers on the Stars) in volume one of the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu: 「問破軍所主若何？」, what does Po Jun govern? Po Jun belongs to water and is the seventh star of the Northern Dipper; 「在天為殺氣，在數為耗星」, in heaven it is killing qi and in a fate it is the draining star, and its transformed qi is drain. The Quan Shu judges Po Jun's character very negatively: violent, fierce and cunning, getting on with few people, treating the six relations as enemies; only in its temple in Zi and Wu, and for people born in Jia or Gui years who fit the pattern, does it speak of wealth and rank. The chapter has only one voice, the answer, in five segments:
- Segments 1 to 2: Po Jun's nature; people born in Jia or Gui years fit the pattern; fallen and with malefic stars, a craft and disability; a woman clashed and broken is lewd and shameless; with Zi Wei, Zi Wei loses its authority; meeting Tian Fu, falsehood; meeting Zi Wei and Tan Lang, petty theft.
- Segments 3 to 4: the results of sharing a degree with Lian Zhen and Huo Xing or Ling Xing, Ju Men, Tian Xing and Hua Ji, Wu Qu, and the civil stars; Tian Liang can restrain its evil and Lu can relieve its wildness; seated in Zi or Wu with Tan Lang and Qi Sha embracing it, 「威震華夷」, its might shakes China and the foreign peoples.
- Segment 5: palace-by-palace verdicts for Po Jun in the twelve palaces.
The translation renders the original's meaning literally. 'Hua Yi' means China and the foreign peoples on all sides, 'Tai Ge' the central organs of the court, and 'Wang Lei' thin and sickly.
1答曰：破軍屬水，北斗第七星也，司夫妻、子息、奴僕之神。居子午入廟，在天為殺氣，在數為耗星，故化氣曰耗。主人暴凶狡詐，其性奸猾，與人寡合，動輒損人。不成人之善，善助人之惡。
TranslationThe answer: Po Jun belongs to water and is the seventh star of the Northern Dipper, the spirit that governs spouse, children and servants. In Zi and Wu it enters its temple. In heaven it is killing qi; in a fate it is the draining star, so its transformed qi is called drain. It makes a person violent, fierce, cunning and deceitful; his nature is treacherous and sly, he gets on with few people, and at every turn he harms others. He does not help others accomplish good, but is good at helping others do evil.
- 化氣曰耗
- Po Jun's nature transforms into drain; drain means consumption and damage.
- 寡合
- Getting on with few people.
Po Jun's transformed qi is drain: in heaven it is killing qi, in a fate the draining star. The Quan Shu's verdict on its character is the worst of the fourteen main stars: 「暴凶狡詐」, 「不成人之善，善助人之惡」. But the same passage says 「居子午入廟」, and Po Jun in Zi or Wu is the Ying Xing Ru Miao (hero star in its temple) pattern, a top grade. So the verdict on Po Jun depends heavily on its position.
「司夫妻、子息、奴僕之神」 is Po Jun's pairing with palaces, and it relates to its 'drain': spouse, children and subordinates are all relationships that make one give and spend. Read today, Po Jun has another side: restless with the status quo and willing to break the old and build the new, with 'drain' as the price of breaking first and building later. On a Xingge chart Po Jun is Miao in Zi and Wu and Xian in Mao and You.
2虐視六親如寇讎，處骨肉無仁義，惟六癸六甲生人合格主富貴。陷地加殺沖破，巧藝殘疾，不守祖業，僧道宜之。女人沖破淫蕩無恥。此星居紫微則失威權；逢天府則作奸偽；會紫貪則鼠竊狗盜。
TranslationHe treats the six relations as enemies and shows no kindness or duty toward his own flesh and blood. Only people born in any of the six Gui or six Jia years fit the pattern and have wealth and rank. In a fallen place with malefic stars clashing and breaking it, a craft and disability, and the ancestral estate is not kept; it suits monks and Daoist priests. A woman clashed and broken is lewd and shameless. When this star is with Zi Wei, Zi Wei loses its authority; meeting Tian Fu, it practises falsehood; meeting Zi Wei and Tan Lang, it is a petty thief.
- 寇讎
- Enemies, foes.
- 六癸六甲
- Gui years and Jia years; the sixty-year cycle has six of each.
- 鼠竊狗盜
- Petty thieves.
- 逢天府
- Under the standard placement method, Po Jun and Tian Fu never meet in the same palace or the San Fang Si Zheng; the Your chart check does not mark this line.
「惟六癸六甲生人合格主富貴」: Po Jun takes Hua Lu in Gui years and Hua Quan in Jia years, and with Lu or Quan it turns from draining to pioneering. The section on star combinations says 「破軍子午宮無殺官資清顯至三公」 (see Star Combinations: Po Jun), and also names people born in Jia or Gui years as fitting the pattern.
The three combinations in the second half: 「居紫微則失威權」, Zi Wei and Po Jun share a palace in Chou and Wei and face each other in Chen and Xu; see the Zi Wei chapter's verdict of disloyalty and lack of filial piety. 「逢天府則作奸偽」, as the note explains, cannot be completed on a chart. 「會紫貪則鼠竊狗盜」: Zi Wei and Tan Lang share a palace in Mao and You, and Po Jun is always in Tan Lang's trine, so when Zi Wei and Tan Lang sit in the Life Palace, Po Jun is always in the San Fang. The condition is really a problem of Zi Wei and Tan Lang themselves, magnified by Po Jun.
3與廉貞火鈴同度則決起官非；與巨門同度則口舌爭鬥；與刑忌同度，則終身殘疾。與武曲入財位則東傾西敗；與文星守命一生貧士。遇諸凶結黨破敗，遇陷地其禍不輕。惟天梁可制其惡，天祿可解其狂。若逢流殺交並，家業蕩空。
TranslationIn the same degree as Lian Zhen, Huo Xing and Ling Xing, lawsuits are sure to arise; in the same degree as Ju Men, quarrels and fights; in the same degree as Tian Xing and Hua Ji, disability all one's life. Entering the Wealth Palace with Wu Qu, it topples in the east and fails in the west; guarding the Life Palace with the civil stars, a poor scholar all one's life. Meeting the malefic stars in league, ruin; in a fallen place, the harm is not light. Only Tian Liang can restrain its evil, and the heavenly Lu can relieve its wildness. If it meets the year's malefic stars crossing it, the family fortune is swept away.
- 與巨門同度
- Po Jun and Ju Men never share a palace on a chart, so 'same degree' here is closer to meeting from other palaces; the Your chart check does not mark this line.
- 東傾西敗
- Toppling in the east and failing in the west: losing money everywhere.
- 文星
- The civil stars: Wen Chang and Wen Qu.
- 天祿
- A Lu star: Lu Cun or Hua Lu.
Like the Ju Men chapter, this passage is a table of 'Po Jun meeting such-and-such a star': Lian Zhen with Huo Xing or Ling Xing raises lawsuits, Ju Men quarrels, Tian Xing and Hua Ji disability, Wu Qu in the Wealth Palace losses on every side, the civil stars in the Life Palace a poor scholar for life. Wu Qu and Po Jun share a palace in Si and Hai, Lian Zhen and Po Jun in Mao and You, and both can be found on a chart.
「惟天梁可制其惡，天祿可解其狂」 has a chart problem: under the placement rules Tian Liang never enters Po Jun's San Fang Si Zheng, so 'Tian Liang can restrain it' can only be understood through luck periods or as a matter of nature. A Lu star can share the palace or meet it, and Po Jun with Hua Lu or Lu Cun gives its draining force a source of income. 「與文星守命一生貧士」 is interesting: Wen Chang and Wen Qu are the stars of study, yet together with Po Jun they mean poverty, probably because Po Jun's destructiveness keeps a scholar from pursuing office in peace.
4與文曲入於水域，殘疾、離鄉。遇文昌於震宮，遇吉可貴。若女命逢之，無媒自嫁，喪節飄流。凡坐人身命居子午，貪狼七殺相拱則威震華夷。或與武曲同居巳宮，貪狼拱亦居臺閣。但看惡星何如？甲癸生人入格，到老亦不全美也。
TranslationEntering a water place with Wen Qu, disability and leaving one's home. Meeting Wen Chang in the Zhen palace, with lucky stars it can be noble. If a woman's chart meets it, she marries herself without a matchmaker, loses her chastity and drifts about. Whenever it sits in a person's Body or Life Palace in Zi or Wu, with Tan Lang and Qi Sha embracing it, its might shakes China and the foreign peoples. Or, with Wu Qu together in the Si palace and Tan Lang embracing it, one also sits in the high councils of state. But look at how the evil stars stand. People born in Jia or Gui years enter the pattern, yet even in old age it is not wholly fine.
- 水域
- A water place: a palace of the water element, Hai or Zi.
- 震宮
- The Zhen palace: Mao.
- 華夷
- China and the foreign peoples on all sides.
- 臺閣
- The central organs of the court, such as the Department of State Affairs: high office.
「與文曲入於水域，殘疾、離鄉」 and 「遇文昌於震宮，遇吉可貴」 are one bad and one good, and can be compared with the Tai Wei Fu's 「文耗居寅卯，謂之眾水朝東」 (see Tai Wei Fu): a civil star with Po Jun in Yin or Mao, water flowing east and never returning, usually read as toil and running about. Yet here Wen Chang in Mao 'with lucky stars can be noble'; the Quan Shu's verdicts on the civil stars with Po Jun are themselves inconsistent.
「坐人身命居子午，貪狼七殺相拱則威震華夷」: Qi Sha, Po Jun and Tan Lang always sit in trine with one another, and when Po Jun is in Zi or Wu, Tan Lang and Qi Sha always embrace it from the San Fang, so the condition is really just Po Jun in the Life Palace in Zi or Wu. With Wu Qu and Po Jun together in Si, Tan Lang shining from the trine is likewise fixed. The last line, 「甲癸生人入格，到老亦不全美」, shows that even when Po Jun fits a pattern something is always lacking, the Quan Shu's basic attitude to the draining star.
5在身命陷地，棄祖離宗；在兄弟骨肉參商；在夫妻不正，主婚姻進退；在子息先損後成；在財帛如湯澆雪；在疾厄致尪羸之疾；在遷移奔走無力；在奴僕謗怨逃走；在官祿主清貧；在田宅陷度，祖基破蕩；在福德多災；在父母破相刑剋。
TranslationIn the Body or Life Palace in a fallen place, one abandons one's ancestors and leaves one's clan. In the Siblings Palace, flesh and blood are like the stars Shen and Shang. In the Spouse Palace, it is not proper, meaning a marriage that goes back and forth. In the Children Palace, loss first and success later. In the Wealth Palace, like hot water poured on snow. In the Health Palace, it brings a thin and sickly illness. In the Travel Palace, rushing about without strength. In the Friends Palace, servants slander, resent and run away. In the Career Palace, it means poverty. In the Property Palace in a fallen degree, the ancestral foundation is squandered. In the Fortune Palace, many disasters. In the Parents Palace, a marred appearance and harm to family.
- 如湯澆雪
- Like hot water poured on snow: a figure for money melting away at once.
- 尪羸
- Thin and sickly.
This passage lists Po Jun's results in the twelve palaces, almost all of them consumption, separation and ruin, written the same way as segment 2 of the Ju Men chapter. The most vivid is the Wealth Palace's 「如湯澆雪」: hot water poured on snow melts it in an instant, meaning money comes fast and goes just as fast.
Note that the first line's condition is the Body or Life Palace in a fallen place, that is, Po Jun in a weak position such as Mao or You, before 「棄祖離宗」 applies. The verdicts for the other palaces give no brightness, but by the Quan Shu's logic Po Jun in Miao or Wang places such as Zi, Wu, Chen and Xu is much lighter. The Wealth Palace chapter says 「破軍在子午宮，多有金銀寶貝蓄積」 (see Wealth Palace), the exact opposite of 'hot water poured on snow' here. When reading lists like this, always go back to the brightness and the transformations.
Base text (Wikisource, partly in simplified Chinese)
FAQ
What does Po Jun govern in the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu?
The Quan Shu says Po Jun belongs to water and is the seventh star of the Northern Dipper; in heaven it is killing qi, in a fate it is the draining star, its transformed qi is drain, and it governs spouse, children and servants. It makes a person violent, fierce, cunning and sly, getting on with few people and quick to harm them, not helping others do good but good at helping them do evil; only people born in Gui or Jia years fit the pattern and have wealth and rank.
What pattern is Po Jun in Zi or Wu?
The answer says Po Jun 「居子午入廟」, is in its temple in Zi and Wu, and also 「凡坐人身命居子午，貪狼七殺相拱則威震華夷」. Later writers call Po Jun in the Life Palace in Zi or Wu Ying Xing Ru Miao, the hero star in its temple.
What does the Quan Shu say about Po Jun in the Spouse Palace?
The answer says Po Jun 「在夫妻不正，主婚姻進退」: not proper in the Spouse Palace, meaning a marriage that goes back and forth. The same passage says that in the Siblings Palace kin never meet, in the Children Palace there is loss first and success later, in the Wealth Palace it is like hot water poured on snow, in the Career Palace it means poverty, and in the Parents Palace a marred appearance and harm to family.
What does 'meeting Zi Wei and Tan Lang means petty theft' mean?
The answer says Po Jun 「會紫貪則鼠竊狗盜」: Po Jun meeting Zi Wei and Tan Lang makes a petty thief. The same passage says that with Po Jun in the same palace as Zi Wei, Zi Wei loses its authority, and that meeting Tian Fu it practises falsehood.
Main stars in this section