At a glance
- Reading focus
- Define useful-factor terminology through this work’s monthly-command argument.
Definition and details
The text emphasizes relations between monthly command and day stem before discussing useful factors, supporting factors, formation, failure and remedy. Define yongshen within that argument rather than replacing it with any modern phase-balancing definition. Read general discussion before patterns and cycles to establish where the reasoning starts and which conditions it assumes.
Structure and history
Hu Kun’s old preface records copying and association with Shen’s discussions, supplying evidence for the title and circulation narrative. Later annotated editions may reorganize chapters, add charts or change terminology. Identify the layers attached to names such as Shen Xiaozhan and Xu Lewu; a preface does not make every page one Qing manuscript.
A concrete example
The yongshen passage begins from monthly command and compares superficially similar official/seal or wealth/output relations. Mark monthly position, exposure and relational order to see why the text treats them differently. The transcription includes correction notes; preserve those rather than hiding them, so the wording underlying an explanation remains inspectable.
Context and limits
Internal coherence is a textual research question, not proof of personal destiny. Commentators can disagree over useful-factor definitions, so describe their premises without declaring one universally correct. Historicize status and family assumptions, avoiding judgments of morality, gender or health, and do not let one annotated edition stand for all surviving witnesses.
References & further reading
Historical sources document ideas and rules of their time, not empirical proof of predictive accuracy. Source notes identify the nature and scope of each reference.
- 子平真詮 · 胡焜序Primary / tradition source
Transcribed public-domain preface documenting copying, association with Shen and the title narrative, not efficacy evidence.
- 子平真詮 · 論用神Primary / tradition source
Public-domain passage with textual correction notes, allowing examination of monthly-command reasoning.