Six Relations and the Subject–Response lines

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In BaZi, the useful element is a central reference; in Six Lines divination, the Subject and Response lines establish the positions of the parties, while the Six Relations classify the matters involved. In the system presented in Zeng Shan Bu Yi, the branch arrangement becomes intelligible only after the Subject line and these relationships have been identified.

Sources Zeng Shan Bu Yi

Core principles

Reference points: Subject and Response

  • Subject line: oneself, one's locality and one's own affairs: whatever the question, this line represents the querent's capacity, circumstances and present condition. In this traditional reading, a void, weakened, clashed or controlled Subject line suggests that an apparently achievable outcome may prove difficult to benefit from, or may change along the way.
  • Response line: the other party, another place, an opponent or a destination: it represents the matter or person being asked about, or the destination being considered.
  • First rule of practical interpretation：Generation or combination between Subject and Response is auspicious; control or clash points to breakdown. For partnerships, marriage proposals, loans and other dealings between two sides, the source article treats opposing clashes, especially a strong Response controlling the Subject, as signs of separation, failure or conflict.

Assigning meanings through the Six Relations

The categories called Parents, Siblings, Offspring, Wife–Wealth and Officer–Ghost express five basic relationships of generation and control. They are symbolic correspondences for natural and social matters. Their conventional meanings are:

  1. Parents line: what generates me: documents, contracts, vehicles, boats, property, travel and labor, elders and protection. In an examination question it may represent results or an admission letter; in a home purchase, the property deed.
  2. Siblings line: what shares my element: friends and partners, but also competition for resources and obstacles to wealth. In a financial question, a very strong moving Siblings line is traditionally read as difficulty earning money, losses or costly competition.
  3. Offspring line: what I generate: good fortune, medicine, recreation, younger people and relief from difficulties. It counters the Officer–Ghost category, associated with pressure, illness or adversaries. In traditional illness divination, its movement is interpreted as an image of effective treatment and relief.
  4. Wife–Wealth line: what I control: money, wealth, supplies, a wife, servants in the historical social model, and possessions that one controls, allocates or consumes.
  5. Officer–Ghost line: what controls me: officials, superiors, illness, hostile people, thieves, heavy pressure and sudden adversity. For office or public recognition it can symbolize promotion; for illness or safety, the same category is interpreted as a threatening image, including danger to life in the source's traditional terminology.

Zeng Shan Bu Yi states:

“世为己，应为人。世应相生相合，诸事皆吉；世应相冲相克，百事无成。”

“The Subject is oneself; the Response is another. When they generate or combine with each other, all affairs are auspicious; when they clash or control each other, nothing succeeds.”

NoteIn this model, Subject stands for the querent and Response for the environment or other party. Combination is pictured as two people embracing and accomplishing something together; clash and control as two people fighting and preventing the outcome. This illustrates the basic Subject–Response logic used in Six Lines interpretation.

Liu Yao foundations · 4 articles in this volume

Yin, yang, trigrams and casting a hexagramZeng Shan Bu YiSix Relations and the Subject–Response linesZeng Shan Bu YiThe Six Spirits: symbolic detailsZeng Shan Bu YiAuxiliary stars in Six Lines: what to retainZeng Shan Bu Yi

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