The book “Connection and Fusion of the Three kinds Destinies” ，called 《三命通会》。It was written by Wan Minying (万民英，1522-1603)，a famous Chinese military strategist，educator，and forecaster of the Ming Dynasty。This is a complete dictionary of the theory of the Fate Of Eight Characters。
Why is this book called Three kinds Destinies？Wan Minying did not directly say the answer。He only mentioned the Fate Of Eight Characters，which is the fate of man，then the fate of man represented by the stars，and the third fate，which is the fate arranged by Heaven。Sun Zhengzhi (孙正治，1957- ) said in “Dripping Heavenly Marrow Zhengyi（《滴天髓征义》）” that after the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty in ancient China，astrological magicians calculated fate based on the Trunk Of Sky (天干) and Branch Of Earth (地支) to which the year，month，and day of a person’s birth belonged，so it was called the “Three Lives（三命）”。It can be said to be both three destinies and can be considered as three destinies。
The content we are going to talk about is the “Four Branches of Literature of Sorcery and Mathematics Initial Collection Series III（《四库全书术数初集三》）” published by Beijing Hualing Publishing House（华龄出版社），edited by Xie Lujun（谢路军），proofread by Zheng Tong（郑同），and printed in June 2006 — “Augmentation and Correction with the Connection and Fusion of the Three kinds Destinies（《增广校正三命通会》）”。We would like to express our special thanks to the publishers and editors of this book。
Wan Minying said in the preface of this book that the ancient Fuxi Emperor drew Eight Gua diagrams and wrote “Zhou Yi(《周易》)” according to “RiverMap（河图）” and “LuoBook（洛书）”，and took mathematics and calculation to the extreme，so as to explore the truth between heaven and earth，but it also caused the secret of heaven and earth to be revealed。In the “A book that is proficient in Taiji diagram(《太极图通书》)” written by Zhou Maoshu (周茂叔，also known as 周敦颐，1017-1073) ，Discusses Anode-air (Yang） and Cathode-gas（Yin），and Five Elements (五行) in detail，the theories of the two have been taken to the extreme，Zhou Yi’s mathematics and calculations are proved。Moreover，the contents of human nature and destiny has become richer。Until Zhou Yi’s theory and mathematics are completely unified，it will not violate the laws of nature to create all things。At that time，ordinary astrologers relied on the prompts of nature to calculate the year，month，day，and hour from the time of a person’s birth，and named it “four Pillars (四柱) “——the Fate Of Eight Characters（八字命），saying that it was a person’s destiny。This set of theories was invented by Luo luzi (珞琭子) after the Qin (秦)，Han (汉)，Wei (魏) and Jin (晋) dynasties in ancient China，and the theories were already complete by Li Xuzhong (李虚中) in the Tang (唐) Dynasty，and then prospered when Xu Juyi (徐居易 ，also known as Xu Ziping，徐子平) in the Northern Song (宋) Dynasty。
Wan Minying also said，a careful examination of the doctrines of the people mentioned above cannot say that what they say is unreasonable。But Anode-air (Yang） and Cathode-gas（Yin），and Five Elements，they all circulate and run between heaven and earth，and there is a mutually transformed relationship between them such as grow or restrain，which constitutes the most basic truth。Many of the terms which have thus been added to the calculation of the whole of man’s fate are explanations which are forced together of incomprehensible or irrelevant truths or things。The vulgar forecasters who deceive the world，do not understand the truth of the transformation of Anode-air (Yang） and Cathode-gas（Yin），and claim to know their fate just by reciting books such as “Yuanyuan (《渊源》) ” or “Yuanhai (《渊海》) “。If you ask them what the ancient people were talking about on the basis of fate，they will not know how to answer。Even some people who can answer are careless and shallow，and even stubborn，inflexible，and unable to comprehend。It’s no wonder that when it comes to predicting their fate，sometimes accurately，sometimes not。
Feeling those problems above，Wan Minying collected the books of the ancients everywhere，and all the contents related to the Five Elements of Anode-air(Yang） and Cathode-gas（Yin），or the theory of stars and fate，the grows between them，or restrains，or transformations，etc.，no matter how big or small the problem is，he will inevitably study in depth，looking for the origin or basis of the theory，until he comes to the correct answer。After long-term persistence and unremitting efforts，Wan Minying finally became enlightened，and he could explain the reasons for various theories and views on fate。Wan Minying proposed that people have differences between men and women，old and young，as well as differences in the external environment，as well as differences in blessings and the degree of evil，which determine that everyone’s fate is different，even if they have the same time of birth。What’s more，Wind And Water Magic (风水术) has wonderful effects on changing fate，cultivating Cathode-gas（Yin） Virtue (阴德，or 阴骘) can change the fate of the heavens，everything in life，you can’t just rely on the time of birth——the Fate Of Eight Characters，thinking that these things are destined to happen in the future。If a person can calculate the Fate Of Eight Characters，and can master them，and can calculate them as accurately as the gods，then he is a person whose knowledge runs through heaven and earth，whether it is longevity or death，poverty or wealth，naturally there is no way to miss his palm。
Wan Minying wrote the “The Connection and Fusion of the Three kinds Destinies” in the sixth year of Wanli (万历六年) in ancient China（1578 AD），200 years later，in Forty-four years of Qianlong（乾隆四十四年，1779 AD），Ji Yun (纪昀，1724 AD – 1805 AD)，the editor-in-chief of the Complete library in the Four Branches of Literature (《四库全书》)，he praised the book for getting the essence of the prediction the Fate Of Eight Characters，and it can be used by forecasters all the time。Four Branches mean that they were divided into four sections：Classics（经），History（史）, Miscellaneous Sayings（子）, and Poetry（集），they were a kind of classification of classical books in ancient China。
“Classics（经部）” refers to the dogmas of politics and religion，compendium ethics and moral norms in ancient society，mainly Confucian classics。It is divided into ten categories，such as Zhou Yi（《周易》），Books（书），Poems（诗），Rituals（礼），Spring and Autumn（《春秋》），Classic of Filial piety（《孝经》），Total Righteousness of the Five Classics（五经总义），Four Books（《四书》），Music（乐） and Philology（小学）。Such as “four books and five classics（四书五经）”，”Six classics（六经）”，”thirteen books（十三书）”，”The consensus reached in the White Tiger Temple（《白虎通义》）” ，and so on。
“History（史部）” refers to various types of historical works，which are divided into 15 categories，such as official history，chronicle，end of chronicle，miscellaneous history，imperial decree sonata，biography，historical notes，records，seasons，geography，official officials，political books，catalogues，and historical reviews。Such as “Historical Records（《史记》）”，”Hanshu（《汉书》）”，”Three Kingdoms（《三国志》）”，”Zi Zhi Tongjian（《资治通鉴》）” and so on。
“Sayings(子部）” refers to the study of all academic genres since the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period，that is，all Zi hundred schools of Buddhism and Taoism religious works，divided into Confucianism，military，legalists，farmers，doctors，astronomical algorithms，numbers，art，records，miscellaneous，similar books，novelists，interpreters，Taoism and other 14 categories。Such as “Xunzi（《荀子》）”，”Laozi（《老子》）”，”Zhuangzi（《庄子》）”，”on Heng（《论衡》）” and so on。
“Poetry（集部）” refers to the works of ancient poetry，prose and prose，that is，the collection of prose，antithetic prose，poetry，ci（词），sanqu and literary criticism，drama and other works of one or more writers in the past，which are divided into collections, anthologies and other collections。Such as “Yuefu poetry Collection（《乐府诗集》)”，”Ancient Poetry collection（《古诗集》）”，”Tang poetry（《全唐诗》）”，”Guwen Guanzhi（《古文观止》）” ，and so on。
But Ji Yun also pointed out Wan Minying’s shortcomings。Most of Wan Minying uses the Formal Official（正官）, Formal Seal（正印）, and Formal Money（正财） to carry out various discussions，but he does not know that the Biased Official（偏官）, Biased Seal（偏印）, and Biased Money（偏财） can also play a unique role；the Provide Ingredients（食神）can serve Ingenuity（秀），but he does not know that the Disobey Management（伤官）can take it by surprise。Therefore，Ji Yun thinks that Wan Minying’s understanding was relatively paranoid，and it has not yet reached the level of his own claim of free application。Moreover，Ji Yun thinks that Wan Minying’s theory of the Origin of the Fetus（胎元），etc.，many parts of these theories are inaccurate and unfulfilled today，those of us who calculate fate only need to understand the general meaning of Wan Minying’s the Fate Of Eight Characters theory and understand how to use it flexibly，that will do.。Moreover，there are many differences between the text of Luo Luzi quoted by Wan Minying and the text recorded in the “Great classic of Yongle（《永乐大典》）”，it may be that Wan Minying did not see the real version，but mistakenly believed the version in his own hand，which is not his mistake。
Let’s understand Ji Yun’s above paragraph word by word。Wan Minying’s book “The Connection and Fusion of the Three kinds Destinies ” is mainly argumentative essays，with very few practical examples，and it is interspersed with various arguments or explanations。In fact，even if you read all of his book，you may not be able to learn to know your own or other people’s the Fate Of Eight Characters.。But it’s okay for you to use this book as a reference book。For example，in the “Formal Official” section of the book，out of the ten Trunk Of Sky (天干)，he only cited two Trunk Of Sky ，the Jia Tree（甲木） and Yi Tree（乙木），and the remaining eight Trunk Of Sky ，he didn’t say it，and by default you will figure it out by yourself。For those who have never been exposed tothe Fate Of Eight Characters，the learning process can be very difficult。We go on to say，You Metal（酉金） is the Formal Official of Jia Tree（甲木）, and Jia Tree’s day is born in the month of You Metal，but he also believed that it was necessary to see whether a full Formal Official was a pure one before it could be considered a Formal Official。Geng Metal（庚金） is the Biased Official of Jia Tree，If both You Metal and Geng Metal appear in the Eight Characters，then this official is a chaotic official。According to this statement，then there is no benefit for the Formal Official to meet a Biased Official，that is，it negates the role of Biased Official。When Geng Metal is a Biased Official，if it encounters fire，then the role of Biased Official will become greater。In other words，the more useless the Biased Official is，the better his life。In addition，Bing Fire（丙火） is the Provide Ingredients of Jia Tree，the Provide Ingredients represents the intelligence and kindness of people，it is also called “spit out the fragrance（吐秀）”。
In fact，except for “Yuanyuan (《渊源》) ” and “Yuanhai(《渊海》) “，I think that those who study the Bazi（八字）——the Fate Of Eight Characters（八字命）， should also read “Dripping Heavenly Marrow（《滴天髓》）” and “Qiongtong Baojian（《穷通宝鉴》）”，the alias is called “Column River Net（《栏江网》）”。But none of the books mentioned above are the ones I really want。The reason is that I agree with what Wan Minying said，“Until Zhou Yi’s theory and mathematics are completely unified，it will not violate the laws of nature to create all things。” “The General catalogue of Four Branches of Literature · Sorcery and Mathematics Series II · Liuren Daquan《四库全书总目·术数二·六壬大全》” said，“The Great Six Responsible (called 大六壬) and Miraculous Eight Way Hide Jia (called 八门遁甲，or 奇门遁甲) and Miraculous Taiyi Mathematics (called 太乙神数)—— the world is called the Three Forms (called 三式)，and the Great Six Responsible，its transmission is especially。” People have a very high opinion of these three prediction techniques，it is because of the fact that the three of them have extremely high mathematical achievements。However，the aforementioned Eight Characters books are mathematically inadequate。Their mathematical achievements are mainly reflected in the accuracy，depth and comprehensiveness of the predicted results。
The mathematics in Zhou Yi is not only inseparable from Zhou Yi theory，but also often associated with spells。In August 2024，the very popular game “Black Myth: Wukong(《黑神话：悟空》)” contains many spells。Because the origin of Chinese magic is the theory of the Anode-air(Yang） and Cathode-gas（Yin）。The Miraculous Eight Way Hide Jia is known as the knowledge of the emperor，at the same time there are many legends of spells。It is generally believed that the magics in the Miraculous Eight Way Hide Jia is closely related to the relationship between Chinese Taoism。Now，at the top of Mount Wudang in China，or in the depths of White Horse Mountain in Shiyan，Hubei，and so on，friends from all over the world gather to practice Taoism。In novels such as “Journey to the West（《西游记》）” and “The Legend of the Gods（《封神演义》）”，there are a lot of descriptions of spells。Moreover，Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮，181-234)，an ancient Chinese military strategist，politician，strategist，inventor，and writer who was famous for his Miraculous Eight Way Hide Jia and Eight Gua Diagrams，is also said to have been proficient in magic。
The above is just the preface of The book “Connection and Fusion of the Three kinds Destinies“ and some basic background information，which we will elaborate on in the next article。