I will now translate a short text of Chinese electional astrology, the Pengzu Bai ji = 彭祖百忌, "Ancestor Peng's hundred prohibitions" This is possibly the simplest text of Chinese Electional astrology there is, but AFAIK has never been translated into English. This blogpost is a republication of a twitter thread I did in about 2020. Ancestor Peng's Hundred Prohibitions shows the inauspicious activities for each of the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. To use a western analogy, it is no more complex than using the day of the week to find auspicious days to do something. The present version was derived from the Baidu text https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BD%AD%E7%A5%96%E7%99%BE%E5%BF%8C, which agrees with most printed sources. I have however referred to two other compendia of electional astrology, the Aspects of Auspiciousness almanac 象吉通書, and the Ao's head almanac 鰲頭通書 for alternate entries.
As a matter of background, The Chinese measure time using two cycles, one of ten terms which represents the 5 “Chinese elements” in their Yin and Yang forms), called the Heavenly stems, and one of 12 terms, which is the familiar chinese zodiac animals.The 2 cycles run concurrently, so the end result is the combinations of heavenly stems and earthly branches repeat every 60 terms.
Now, years, months, days and two-hour periods of each day are all assigned such terms. For the purposes of this text we are looking at the terms associated with the day. If you know the stem and branch associated with each day, The text shows what you should not do for on that day- hence its name
For example, the day I first posted this text on twitter-- 20 march 2020 was the day of the Yang Water Dog 壬戌, the 59th term of the cycle. as today has the Heavenly stem of Yang Water, I should not attempt to brew. As today has the earthly branch of the Dog, I should also not attempt to eat dogs.Similarly, As the next day was the day of the Yin Water Pig 癸亥, I should also not attempt to sue anyone, or get married. Furthermore As the sexagenary cycle is also used to number hours, some sources say that the prohibitions apply to the hours of the day as well.
Jia: Yang Wood 甲不開倉，財物耗亡； Do not open a storeroom on Jia; Wealth and objects will be lost
Yi: Yin Wood 乙不栽植，千株不長； Do not plant on Yi; No plants will grow
Bing: Yang Fire 丙不修灶，必見灾殃； Do not build a stove on Bing; It would invite disaster
Ding: Yin Fire 丁不剃頭，頭主生瘡； Do not shave the head on Ding; It would cause boils on the head
Wu: Yang Earth 戊不受田，田主不祥； Do not receive land on Xu. It is inauspicious for the owner.
Ji: Yin Earth
己不破券，二比并亡；
Do not make agreements on Ji , Neither would benefit.
Now, years, months, days and two-hour periods of each day are all assigned such terms. For the purposes of this text we are looking at the terms associated with the day. If you know the stem and branch associated with each day, The text shows what you should not do for on that day- hence its name
For example, the day I first posted this text on twitter-- 20 march 2020 was the day of the Yang Water Dog 壬戌, the 59th term of the cycle. as today has the Heavenly stem of Yang Water, I should not attempt to brew. As today has the earthly branch of the Dog, I should also not attempt to eat dogs.Similarly, As the next day was the day of the Yin Water Pig 癸亥, I should also not attempt to sue anyone, or get married. Furthermore As the sexagenary cycle is also used to number hours, some sources say that the prohibitions apply to the hours of the day as well.
<The heavenly stems>
Jia: Yang Wood 甲不開倉，財物耗亡； Do not open a storeroom on Jia; Wealth and objects will be lost
Yi: Yin Wood 乙不栽植，千株不長； Do not plant on Yi; No plants will grow
Bing: Yang Fire 丙不修灶，必見灾殃； Do not build a stove on Bing; It would invite disaster
Ding: Yin Fire 丁不剃頭，頭主生瘡； Do not shave the head on Ding; It would cause boils on the head
Wu: Yang Earth 戊不受田，田主不祥； Do not receive land on Xu. It is inauspicious for the owner.
Note: Some sources such as wenku.baidu.com/view/7733b1c48 interpret this to mean all trading is unsuitable.
Geng: Yang Metal 庚不經絡，織機虛張 Do not meddle with the meredians on Geng; The body will be harmed.
Note: In simple terms, moxibustion, & other traditional Chinese medical treatments that interfere with the body’s meridians (energy channels) should not be done on Geng, for fear of damaging the organs. The literal translation of this line is “Do not Warp and weft on Geng; the loom will be void”; as the term for meridians 經絡 literally refers to the the horizontal & vertical threads in a loom.
Xin: Yin metal
辛不合酱，主人不嘗；
Do not brew on Xin; it would not taste good.
辛不求醫，主人不當
Do not seek a doctor on Xin, It will not bode well for the patent
(this is an alternate version from a major date-selection compendium "The aspects of Auspiciousness almanac" xiangji tongshu 象吉通書)
Ren: Yang Water
1.壬不汲水，更難提防；
1. Do not Draw water on Xin, It would be hard to control.
(alternate) 2.壬不决水，更難提防；
2. Do not Release water on Xin, it would be hard to control
Note: The two websites have different interpretations of the phrase. This website https://www.d1xz.net/rili/jiri/art170028.aspx interprets drawing water from a well (the meaning of 汲)as bringing unexpected disasters on yourself, whereas https://www.ifreesite.com/calendar/pengzu.htm interprets it as meaning the water would be contaminated. An alternate version that is sometimes found is (2). This version has 决 instead of 汲. 决 means “release” or breach; this I interpret as breaching dykes and dams for irrigation.
癸不詞訟，理弱敌强； Do not sue on Gui; Your cause will be weak, the opponent’s cause strong.
<The earthly branches>
Chou: Ox 丑不冠带，主不還鄉； Do not perform the capping ceremony on chou; the person will not return to the village.
Note: Modern sources say this expands to putting on new clothes of any sort https://wenku.baidu.com/view/7733b1c489eb172ded63b718.html
Yin: Tiger
寅不祭祀，神鬼不嘗； Do not pray on yin. The spirts will not get [the offerings].
寅不祭祀，神鬼不嘗； Do not pray on yin. The spirts will not get [the offerings].
Mao: Rabbit
卯不穿井，水泉不香； Do no dig wells on Mao. The water will not be fragrant.
卯不穿井，水泉不香； Do no dig wells on Mao. The water will not be fragrant.
Chen: Snake
辰不哭泣，必主重喪； Do not weep on Chen; You will surely weep again.
Si: Snake 巳不遠行，財物伏藏； Do not travel far on Si; Wealth and objects will elude your grasp.
Wu: Horse 午不苫蓋，屋主更張
Do not cover [a house] with straw on wu. The houseowner will change.Nb: d1xz.net/rili/jiri/art1 interprets it as a prohibition on all forms of building; if this is ignored, the owner will be forced to sell the dwelling
Wei: Goat
未不服藥，毒氣入肠；
Do not make medicines on Wei; Poisonous Qi will enter the guts.
Shen: Ape
申不安床，鬼祟入房；
Do not position the bed on Shen. Ghosts will haunt the room.
You: Chicken
酉不宴客，醉坐颠狂； Do not banquet on You; Drunkenness and madness will result. 【象吉，鰲頭】 酉不出雞，今其耗亡
酉不宴客，醉坐颠狂； Do not banquet on You; Drunkenness and madness will result. 【象吉，鰲頭】 酉不出雞，今其耗亡
Alternate, from Aspects of Auspiciousness almanac 象吉通書, and the Ao's head almanac 鰲頭通書
Do not Let out chickens on You, bad news and death will be received at once.
Xu: Dog
戌不吃犬，作怪上床； Do not eat dogs on Xu. Ghosts and weird things will ascend to your bed.
戌不吃犬，作怪上床； Do not eat dogs on Xu. Ghosts and weird things will ascend to your bed.
Note. All the almanacs retain this oddly specific prohibition
Hai: Pig
亥不嫁娶，不利新郎； Do not marry on Hai; This is bad for the groom.
亥不嫁娶，不利新郎； Do not marry on Hai; This is bad for the groom.
【象吉，鰲頭】亥不出豬，再養難償
Alternate, from Aspects of auspiciousness almanac:
Do not send out pigs on Hai, it will be hard to rear them onwards.
No comments:
Post a Comment