BaZi Relations Terms: Combine, Meet, Clash, Punish, Harm, Break and Stem Combinations

Stems act on stems and branches on branches: they combine, clash, punish and harm. This group sorts out the names of those relationships and what each one means.

Index of this group

• Seven Branch relations
• Combination
• Meeting
• Arch
• Clash
• Punishment
• Self-Punishment (Chen, Wu, You, Hai)
• Harm
• Break
• Five Stem Combinations
• Four Stem Clashes
• Fu Yin and Fan Yin

12 terms

Seven Branch relations 刑沖破害合會拱

The seven Branch relations are how BaZi sorts the ways Earthly Branches interact: combination and meeting are alliances, clash and punishment are collision and grinding, break and harm are small damage and hidden injury, and the arch summons an absent branch. Read more →

Combination 合

In BaZi, Combination is attraction, alliance, binding. Five Stem combinations: Jia-Ji, Yi-Geng, Bing-Xin, Ding-Ren, Wu-Gui. Tendency: closeness, alliance (good or bad depends on who gets combined away, and whether it transforms). Read more →

Meeting 會

In BaZi, Meeting is Directional Meeting (same-direction qi gathering). Four bureaus: Yin-Mao-Chen → East Wood, Si-Wu-Wei → South Fire, Shen-You-Xu → West Metal, Hai-Zi-Chou → North Water. Tendency: one element surges, rewriting the chart’s strength balance. Read more →

Arch 拱

In BaZi, Arch is empty-spirit distant combination, something from nothing. Two kinds: arch-combination (arching a bureau’s peak) and arch-embrace (arching a Noble / Prosperity star). Timing: it pays off the year a Luck Pillar or year “fills it in”. Read more →

Clash 沖

In BaZi, Clash is the six Branch clashes (head-on collision). Six pairs: Zi-Wu, Chou-Wei, Yin-Shen, Mao-You, Chen-Xu, Si-Hai. Tendency: turbulence, change, drive (not all bad). Read more →

Punishment 刑

In BaZi, Punishment is tangling, attrition. Three Punishments: Yin-Si-Shen (Ingratitude), Chou-Xu-Wei (Bullying), Zi-Mao (Discourtesy). Tendency: disputes, injury/illness, litigation, inner attrition (hidden wounds). Read more →

Self-Punishment (Chen, Wu, You, Hai) 自刑（辰午酉亥）

In BaZi, Self-Punishment (Chen, Wu, You, Hai) is a Punishment (self-punishment). Four kinds: Chen-Chen, Wu-Wu, You-You, Hai-Hai. Tendency: overthinking, circling worries, self-consumption. Read more →

Harm 害（穿）

In BaZi, Harm is also called piercing. Six pairs: Zi-Wei, Chou-Wu, Yin-Si, Mao-Chen, Shen-Hai, You-Xu. Tendency: hidden wounds, suspicion, kin discord, backstabbers, hidden ailments. Read more →

Break 破

In BaZi, Break is small damage, flawed success. Six pairs: Zi-You, Mao-Wu, Si-Shen, Yin-Hai, Chou-Chen, Xu-Wei. Tendency: small damage, a hitch midway, close then part. Read more →

Five Stem Combinations 天干五合

The Five Stem Combinations pair each yang stem with the yin stem five places on: Jia-Ji make Earth, Yi-Geng Metal, Bing-Xin Water, Ding-Ren Wood, Wu-Gui Fire. A pair truly transforms only when the month and the whole chart support it. Read more →

Four Stem Clashes 天干四沖

The Four Stem Clashes set stems of the same polarity whose elements control each other: Jia-Geng, Yi-Xin, Bing-Ren and Ding-Gui. Wu and Ji Earth sit in the center and do not clash. A clash reads as a pull between ideas or directions. Read more →

Fu Yin and Fan Yin 伏吟

Fu Yin is when a luck pillar or year repeats one of your natal pillars exactly, often read as the same lesson coming round again. Its opposite, Fan Yin, where stem controls stem and branch clashes branch, often reads as a reversal. Read more →

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