Explanation of the Five-Graves Corpse-Lying Lesson

### Standard mnemonic When Jia or Yi meet Metal, the tomb gate opens; when Bing or Ding meet Water, weeping rises in decay. When Wu or Ji meet Wood, disaster is certain; when Geng or Xin meet Fire, mourning clothes arrive. When Ren or Gui meet Earth, it cannot be avoided — the Five Graves, Corpse-Lying, clash and overcome, bringing calamity. ### Case 1 A lesson used for the earth-god temple on a Ren mountain: fourth day of the ninth month, Dingchou year, Chen hour. **Dingchou · Jiyou · Gengchen · Gengchen** This is precisely "Geng and Xin meet Ding," and Ding carries the Chou tomb; therefore when Geng and Xin meet Fire, mourning arrives. Further, by orthodox five-phase form, the day and hour enter the Chou tomb, the sitting mountain Ren enters the Chen tomb, and You Metal enters yet another tomb. Moreover, this lesson wished to use the structure of "Five Ghosts Carry Wealth," but the sitting mountain is Wood; in autumn the form is weak and cannot carry the load, so instead it brought the loss of people. This lesson therefore injured no fewer than five persons in succession. ### Case 2 A burial lesson: Qian mountain, Xun facing; twelfth day of the ninth month, Renchen year, Zi hour. **Renchen · Gengxu · Gengshen · Bingzi** Still "when Geng and Xin meet Fire, mourning clothes arrive." Day and month are both Geng; what is most taboo is Bing Fire pressing down upon them. Chen is the Water tomb, Bing the Fire tomb; moreover Chen and Xu clash. Although there is no Chou tomb, Zi conceals a combination with it, and its force is insufficient. Therefore even though this lesson did not fully form the Five-Graves Corpse-Lying pattern, it still produced misfortune. Separately, the sitting mountain is Water; in the Xu month, Earth counter-overcomes it, so the mountain form is weak. Within the lesson there is a Lu star to support it, so it is not judged a great calamity.