一 What it is
What Sickness (Bing) Means in the Twelve Phases
Sickness (病, Bing) is the seventh of the twelve growth phases: the stage after Decline (Shuai) and before Death (Si), describing a reference stem's energy as less outwardly expressed, not a medical condition, constitution, or health forecast. Think of a tree in late autumn: it still stands and holds reserves, but its visible growth has slowed and its energy turns inward. That is cycle imagery, not a diagnosis.
Bing 病 is a phase name, not the Fire stem Bing 丙. The phase is looked up from a reference stem and branch, so the same branch does not place every hidden stem in Sickness. For Jia, Sickness falls at Si. Yet inside Si, hidden Geng has Birth, hidden Bing has Adulthood, and hidden Wu has Adulthood. Si gives Jia no Wood root, though Jia can still root in other branches. A visible month Ding at Si sits at Emperor, and a visible hour Ji at Si also sits at Emperor.
Phase is not a strength score, and it is not the same as an element being absent. Same-element root is not same-stem root. The weights 1, 0.5, and 0.3 are calculator convention. Yang stems run forward, yin stems reverse, and Earth follows Fire in this convention. Changing the column does not change the phase of an identical reference-stem and branch pair; changing the reference does not change a branch's hidden stems. Ten Gods relate to Jia; phases are reference lookups.
二 Where to find it in your chart
Where to Read Sickness in the Interface
Your Four Pillars shows the Day stem above the Day branch, with hidden stems as small characters beneath. Element balance gives weighted totals, and Day Master strength is a separate scored estimate. The current main UI has no dedicated Twelve Growth Phases row, so copy your reference stem and target branch into the table below. Sickness (Bing 病) is the seventh phase, after Decline and before Death; it is not the Fire stem Bing 丙. Treat it as reduced outward expression within a cycle, not a health diagnosis, constitution claim, or medical advice.
How the Lookup Works
- Yang stems move forward, yin stems reverse; Earth follows Fire in this convention.
- The ten-row table identifies only the branch matching Sickness for each stem; it is not a complete phase matrix or interactive calculator.
- Jia at Si is Sickness, yet Si hides Geng (Birth), Bing (Adulthood), and Wu (Adulthood). One branch does not place every hidden stem in Sickness.
- Si gives Jia no Wood root, though other branches may root Jia. A visible month Ding at Si is Emperor; a visible hour Ji at Si is Emperor.
- Phase differs from strength score or an element being absent. Same-element root is not same-stem root; weights 1, 0.5, 0.3 are calculator convention.
Input Checklist
- Confirm the Day stem, then read its phase against each branch.
- Use the actual Day stem for a Day Master reading; Jia appears only in examples.
- Changing column does not change the phase of an identical reference-stem/branch pair; changing reference does not change branch hidden stems.
- Two later worked-chart tables contain both Jia-phase and own-pillar-stem phase rows; an unknown hour leaves the hour reading unconfirmed.
- To calculate your chart, record all four pillars first.
三 How to read it
How to Read the Sickness Phase
Sickness (病, Bing) is the seventh of the Twelve Growth Phases, following Decline (衰, Shuai) and preceding Death (死, Si). It describes reduced outward expression within a cycle, not a medical condition, constitution, or health forecast. The pinyin Bing here is the phase name 病; it is unrelated to the Fire stem 丙, also romanized Bing. Keep the characters distinct: 病 is a stage label, 丙 is a Heavenly Stem.
Lookup is a reference-stem-to-branch match. Yang stems run forward through the branch sequence, yin stems reverse, and Earth follows Fire in this convention. Jia 甲 meets Sickness at Si 巳. Yi 乙 meets it at Zi 子, Bing 丙 and Wu 戊 at Shen 申, Ding 丁 and Ji 己 at Mao 卯, Geng 庚 at Hai 亥, Xin 辛 at Wu 午, Ren 壬 at Yin 寅, and Gui 癸 at You 酉. In example A, the month pillar Ding 丁 over Si 巳 gives the Jia Day Master Sickness; in example B, the hour pillar Ji 己 over Si 巳 does the same. Changing the column does not change the phase of an identical reference-stem/branch pair, and changing the reference stem does not alter a branch's hidden stems.
Hidden stems carry their own reference relationships. At Si 巳 the hidden stems are Bing 丙 (weight 1), Geng 庚 (0.5), and Wu 戊 (0.3). For Jia, Si is Sickness, yet hidden Geng finds Birth there, while hidden Bing and Wu find Adulthood. The same branch therefore does not place every hidden stem in Sickness. Si holds no Wood root, so it cannot root Jia directly, though Jia may root in other branches such as Chen 辰 or Mao 卯. A same-element root is not a same-stem root, and an absent element is not the same as a phase label.
Phase and strength are separate calculations. The weights 1, 0.5, and 0.3 are calculator convention, not phase values. In example A, visible month Ding at Si is Emperor, and in example B, visible hour Ji at Si is Emperor; the branch's phase for those stems differs from Jia's Sickness at the same branch. A target-phase table lists only Sickness matches, so nonmatching stem/branch pairs require the full matrix in the linked overview. Treat these labels as traditional symbolic vocabulary for cycle position, not as predictions about health or life events.
| Reference stem | Sickness branch | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| 甲 | 巳 | forward |
| 乙 | 子 | reverse |
| 丙 | 申 | forward |
| 丁 | 卯 | reverse |
| 戊 | 申 | forward |
| 己 | 卯 | reverse |
| 庚 | 亥 | forward |
| 辛 | 午 | reverse |
| 壬 | 寅 | forward |
| 癸 | 酉 | reverse |
四 When the reading changes
Month Sickness, Hour Sickness: Same Label, Different Column
In chart A, Jia day master meets Si in the month, so the day-master phase row reads Sickness (Bing 病). The hour sits at Wu, which is Death for Jia. In chart B, the same Jia day master meets Si in the hour, so Sickness appears there instead. The check is simple: locate the branch, then read the Jia row of the matrix. The bounded interpretation is that the phase label attaches to that stem-branch pair in that column; it does not describe a life period, personality or health outcome.
Changing the Reference Stem Changes the Phase, Not the Hidden Stems
Si hides Bing, Geng and Wu at weights 1, 0.5 and 0.3. For Jia, Si is Sickness, yet hidden Geng has Birth in Si, hidden Bing has Adulthood, and hidden Wu has Adulthood. Those are separate lookups, not contradictions. When you are choosing the reference stem, keep the branch fixed and change only the stem row. Changing the reference does not alter Si's hidden stems. The practical check is to write the reference stem beside the branch before reading any phase.
Hidden Root and Resource Do Not Override the Phase
Jia has no Wood root in Si, but other branches may root Jia; in chart B, Mao in the year carries hidden Yi, a same-element root rather than a same-stem root. Meanwhile Zi in the day pillar hides Gui, Jia's Direct Resource. Neither fact changes Jia-at-Si from Sickness. Phase is a reference-stem/branch lookup, not a strength score, and it is not the same as an element being absent. Read the phase row first, then note roots and resources separately so the two layers are not conflated.
Visible Stems and Unknown Hour Time
In chart A, visible month stem Ding at Si reads Emperor on its own row, while the Jia day master at the same Si reads Sickness. In chart B, visible hour stem Ji at Si also reads Emperor. The pillar stem and day master use different reference rows, so one branch can show two labels. If the hour is unknown, do not assign an hour phase; report only the known columns. Yang stems run forward, yin stems reverse, and Earth follows Fire in this convention, so the same branch yields different labels across stems.
五 Worked chart examples
These two calendar-screened teaching charts share a Jia Wood Day Master. They are not client histories or predictions, and several placements differ between them.
| Position | Year | Month | Day | Hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem | 戊 | 丁 | 甲 | 庚 |
| Branch | 辰 | 巳 | 子 | 午 |
| Ten God | Indirect Wealth | Hurting Officer | Day Master | Seven Killings |
| Hidden stems | 戊 Indirect Wealth (1) 乙 Rob Wealth (0.5) 癸 Direct Resource (0.3) |
丙 Eating God (1) 庚 Seven Killings (0.5) 戊 Indirect Wealth (0.3) |
癸 Direct Resource (1) | 丁 Hurting Officer (1) 己 Direct Wealth (0.5) |
| Jia Day Master phase | 衰 Decline | 病 Sickness | 沐浴 Bath | 死 Death |
| Own pillar stem phase | 冠带 Youth | 帝旺 Emperor | 沐浴 Bath | 沐浴 Bath |
Weighted element totals: Wood 1.5, Fire 3, Earth 2.8, Metal 1.5, Water 1.3.
Teaching Chart A: Jia at Si Sickness
In chart A, the Day Master is Jia 甲 and the month branch is Si 巳. The Sickness phase, Bing 病, is the seventh stage, following Decline and preceding Death. It describes reduced outward expression within the twelve-stage cycle, not illness, constitution, or medical advice. The phase label is symbolic vocabulary with a key limitation: it is a reference-stem and branch lookup, not a health or life prediction.
Jia at Si is Sickness. The visible month stem is Ding 丁, a Hurting Officer relative to Jia. Ding at Si is Emperor, so the month stem's own phase differs from the Day Master's phase at the same branch. This shows that changing the reference stem changes the phase result even when the branch stays fixed.
Si hides Bing, Geng, and Wu. For Jia, hidden Bing is Eating God and sits at Adulthood; hidden Geng is Seven Killings and sits at Birth; hidden Wu is Indirect Wealth and sits at Adulthood. The same branch does not put every hidden stem in Sickness. Si contains no Wood root for Jia, yet Jia can still root in other branches, such as the year branch Chen, which hides Yi Rob Wealth.
Contrast the hour position: Geng at Wu is Death for Jia, while the hour stem Geng at Wu is Bath. Phase is not the same as a strength score or an element being absent.
| Position | Year | Month | Day | Hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem | 丁 | 癸 | 甲 | 己 |
| Branch | 卯 | 丑 | 子 | 巳 |
| Ten God | Hurting Officer | Direct Resource | Day Master | Direct Wealth |
| Hidden stems | 乙 Rob Wealth (1) | 己 Direct Wealth (1) 癸 Direct Resource (0.5) 辛 Direct Officer (0.3) |
癸 Direct Resource (1) | 丙 Eating God (1) 庚 Seven Killings (0.5) 戊 Indirect Wealth (0.3) |
| Jia Day Master phase | 帝旺 Emperor | 冠带 Youth | 沐浴 Bath | 病 Sickness |
| Own pillar stem phase | 病 Sickness | 冠带 Youth | 沐浴 Bath | 帝旺 Emperor |
Weighted element totals: Wood 2, Fire 2, Earth 2.3, Metal 0.8, Water 2.5.
Teaching Chart B: Hour Sickness, Month Youth
In Chart B, the Day Master is Jia 甲. The hour pillar is Ji 己 over Sickness (Bing 病) at 巳. This is a target-phase lookup for Jia at 巳, not a statement about Ji. Ji at 巳 is Emperor, because Earth follows Fire in this convention. The hour stem and the hour branch therefore carry different phase rows.
Compare this with Chart A, where Jia at 巳 appears in the month. Both charts place Jia at 巳, so both show Sickness. Changing the column does not change the phase of an identical reference-stem and branch pair. Chart B is not a controlled one-variable experiment against Chart A; they are simply different charts.
Inside the 巳 branch and its hidden stems, Geng has Birth, Bing has Adulthood, and Wu has Adulthood. The same branch does not put every hidden stem in Sickness. Jia has no Wood root in 巳, but Jia can still find root elsewhere: here the year branch 卯 holds Yi, a same-element Wood root, at weight 1. Separately, the day branch 子 holds Gui Direct Resource at weight 1, and the month branch 丑 holds Gui Direct Resource at 0.5; those Water stems provide resource support, not Wood roots.
Phase is symbolic vocabulary, not a health diagnosis, constitution, or strength score. It is not the same as an element being absent.
Reader Check
- Identify the Day Master and the target branch.
- Look up that stem-branch pair in the phase matrix.
- List the branch hidden stems and their own phases separately.
- Check roots and resources in other branches before judging support.
六 What the lookup counts
In this table, each of the ten reference stems assigns Sickness to exactly one of the twelve branches: ten cells out of the 120 stem–branch lookup cells. This is a property of the lookup grid, not the percentage of people, births or complete charts containing the phase. The convention is Yang forward, Yin reverse and Earth following Fire. Record the reference stem and pillar position before interpreting a match.