Rén 壬, the yang Water day master of BaZi

Rén 壬 is the ninth Heavenly Stem, yang Water, and the day master of any BaZi chart whose day stem it is. It is a vast expanse in the 滴天髓, clouds and marsh in the 三命通會, autumn dew in its sky. The verse makes it firm at the centre and flowing everywhere without blocking. As a day master it is rooted in 亥 and 申, comes into office in 亥 and combines with 丁.

Meaning

The 滴天髓 gives each stem a verse of eight short lines. For 壬 it reads, in the 輯要 text:

壬水汪洋，能洩金氣，剛中之德，周流不滯，通根透癸，沖天奔地，化則有情，從則相濟。

In our translation: Rén water is a vast expanse; it can drain the qi of metal. Firm at the centre in its virtue, it flows all round and never stagnates. Rooted, and with 癸 showing, it rushes up to heaven and races over the earth. Transformed, it is affectionate; following, it is helpful.

"Transformed" is its combination with 丁 (丁壬合); "following" (從) is the old term for a stem that gives way, here to the fire and earth of high summer, which, the commentary says, the water turns to rain. 任鐵樵's edition opens differently, 壬水通河, water that reaches the River, the Milky Way.

The 三命通會 pairs clouds in heaven with the marsh on earth and calls 壬 "dead water" (死水): the stored water of pools, born of 庚 metal in 申, which needs the bank of yang earth and is drained by yin wood. Its sky image is autumn dew. The 窮通寶鑑 sees the 壬 of the first month as the expanse that gathers every stream, wanting 庚 as its source so that it does not spread without limit.

Our chart calls 壬 ocean and river: intelligent, adaptable, resourceful and ambitious, with restlessness, and wanting too much at once, as its cost. That is EsoTerrier's modern image, labelled as ours.

In a chart

A 壬 day master has roots wherever 壬 is hidden in a branch: 申 Shēn (middle qi), 亥 Hài (main qi). Its 祿, the branch where its qi comes into office (臨官), is 亥; the branch after it, 子, is its blade (陽刃). It is born (長生) in 申 and, as a yang stem, runs the twelve stages forward from there; the stages are phases of its qi.

It combines with 丁 Dīng (天干五合), a pair the 三命通會 calls 淫慝之合 (the improper match), leaning to Wood; it clashes with 丙 Bǐng. Its own phase is strongest in winter.

To a 壬 day master the ten stems are: 甲 Eating God (食神); 乙 Hurting Officer (傷官); 丙 Indirect Wealth (偏財); 丁 Direct Wealth (正財); 戊 Seven Killings (七殺); 己 Direct Officer (正官); 庚 Indirect Resource (偏印); 辛 Direct Resource (正印); 壬 Friend (比肩); 癸 Rob Wealth (劫財). A second 壬 elsewhere in the chart is a Friend; the day stem itself is the Day Master and is not one of the Ten Gods.

What this page leaves out

The classical chapters on 壬 also say, in the idiom of their age, what such a chart means for rank, kin, marriage and fortune. We record that they do and repeat none of it. Nor do we say whether a 壬 day master is strong or weak, or which useful god it needs: the tradition weighs both, and EsoTerrier computes neither.

Correspondences

Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.

Opening of the 滴天髓 verse: 「壬水汪洋」 sourced
Sky image, 三命通會: Autumn dew (秋露) sourced
In heaven and on earth, 三命通會: In heaven clouds, on earth the marsh (在天為雲，在地為澤) sourced
The first month, 窮通寶鑑: In the first month 壬 is the vast expanse that gathers every stream; it wants 庚 as its source so that it does not spread without limit (正月壬水) sourced
Combination, 三命通會: With 丁: 淫慝之合 (the improper match) sourced
Nobleman star (天乙貴人): 卯 and 巳; a symbolic star we do not chart yet sourced
Academic star (文昌): 寅; a symbolic star we do not chart yet sourced
Our image, traits and challenge: Ocean and river: intelligent, adaptable, resourceful and ambitious; its challenge: restlessness, and wanting too much at once our construction
Ocean and river as the classical meaning: A modern image; the classics give the ones above disputed
First meaning of the character: Uncertain; the stems are first attested as day names of the Shang week disputed

How the schools read it

滴天髓, the verse: A vast expanse that drains metal and flows without blocking; affectionate when combined, helpful when it follows. Attributed to 京圖 of the Song or to Liu Bowen; one edition study dates the text mid-Ming or later.
任鐵樵, 滴天髓闡微 (after 1820): Opens 壬水通河, water that reaches the River, the Milky Way, for 壬水汪洋.
三命通會 (Ming): Clouds and the marsh; dead water, the stored water of pools; autumn dew.
窮通寶鑑 (Qing): The expanse that gathers every stream, wanting 庚 as its source.
Modern English teaching: The one-word image, ocean and river, a simplification of the classical images.
EsoTerrier: Shows ocean and river as its own image, labelled, beside the texts.

Claims about it

"Ocean and river" is the traditional meaning of 壬.
disputed

What the record shows: It is a modern teaching image, and ours on the chart. The 滴天髓 has a vast expanse (or, in 任鐵樵's edition, water that reaches the Milky Way); the 三命通會 has clouds, the marsh and autumn dew.
The day stem is itself a Ten God, the Friend (比肩).
false

What the record shows: A 壬 in another pillar is a Friend to a 壬 day master; the day stem itself is the reference point, labelled Day Master (日主) by every tool we surveyed.
A 壬 day master can be scored strong or weak, and its useful god computed.
disputed

What the record shows: The classics ground the useful god in at least four different ways. EsoTerrier computes neither the strength nor the useful god.
The classical chapters on 壬 tell a person's rank, marriage and length of life.
told as lore

What the record shows: The texts do make such pronouncements, in the idiom of their age. We take only their images and the logic of the phases.

Elsewhere on EsoTerrier

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Rén 壬, yang Water: the vast water that flows without blocking

Facts