Master Jiang on the Nine Uglinesses

Difficult childbirth, madness, consumption, choking disease (dysphagia), dying in prison, beheading or strangling, poisoning, sudden death, fire disaster. These nine matters are called the Nine Uglinesses. Though each has its own pattern, they all fall under the blazing of fire-toxin. When fire meets water, fire and water contend, forming the 'blood basin.' Though called blood basin, there is: (1) bleeding, flooding blood, and blood debility; (2) the conceptus being pressured and overcome; (3) Rob and Companion meeting Killing. With any of these, difficult childbirth is certain. Again, when fire appears in the four pillars and water surfaces through the stems to provoke fire, there is blood exposure — and this may mean madness: (1) excess fire; (2) the blaze rushing against water; (3) metal corresponds to the lungs, water to the kidneys, wood to the liver — the three water channels' qi cut off. With these, madness is certain. When fire does not surface through the stems, yet the earth is scorched, phlegm-fire consumption results: (1); when metal sits within fire, metal has no ground to stand on — though dependent, it governs lung wheezing (2); when the mountain-side transforms Eating God into Owl Seal, it becomes illness-blood; or when Seal and Owl transform into wealth, it governs poison (3). With these, one dies of toxins. When the year branch is blocked and the day/time branches overcome one another for long without feeling, it is 'locking the throat' (1); when the four pillars' Hurting Officer connects … Choking — unable to carry down food — or lacking Wife-Wealth to open the throat (1); being able to carry down food (2); a lasting metal qi that breaks the lung and sets the diaphragm against it (3). Then food cannot go down the belly, and choking disease is inevitable. Whenever the prison-and-cage pattern appears, there are hundreds of hard cases easy to recognize; it responds as soon as the year branch meets water or fire. Again, the beheading-and-strangling pattern is precisely chasing and driving, overcoming the mountain, pressing and crushing it — it responds when the year or month stems and branches meet water and fire. Or when water and fire clash too violently, or when Owl is excessive; even without pressing and chasing, it is still beheading and strangling. Again, Owl transforming into Killing and Killing transforming into Owl in the day and time stems and branches — when the year or month meets fire, it governs poisoning; and the sudden-death pattern is likewise of this class. Madness, dying in prison, beheading and strangling — all end in paralysis and death; poisoning. When all five patterns are malign together, the pattern notes list only thirteen examples as models; deduce the rest by analogy. **Sanfu's note:** What is commonly called the Nine Ugliness spirits are Ren-Zi, Ren-Wu, Wu-Zi, Wu-Wu, Ji-You, Ji-Mao, Ding-Mao, Ding-You, and Xin-Mao. This discussion, however, does not follow that system. The outline is as follows: - **Difficult childbirth:** fire and water contending; the conceptus pressured and overcome; Rob and Companion meeting Killing. - **Madness:** fire meeting water that surfaces and provokes fire; again excess fire provoking water; metal, water, and wood — the three channels' qi cut off. - **Consumption:** if fire does not surface through the stems, the earth is scorched or interior phlegm-fire forms consumption; metal sits in fire without root; the mountain-side transforms Eating God into Owl Seal, forming illness-blood; and Seal/Owl transforming into wealth becomes poison. Example according to these principles: A Kun-mountain residence, pillars Jia-Xu, Geng-Wu, Ding-Hai, Bing-Wu. This chart is a Kun-mountain house built by a family surnamed Huang; madness responded as above. For the Mao-mountain Geng-Officer and Jia-Rob both govern what the elderly face. In this Kun-mountain residence, Geng overcomes Jia's Officer, governing one old man and one young person; in difficult childbirth, Geng overcomes — Mao's conceptus does not appear, yet the first pregnancy's blood-pulse has already stirred. In Jia-Xu the fetal form is not yet shaped, and the miscarriage comes with blood and death. On the Mao-mountain, Ren and Jia within Hai engender and support it, so there is dying in prison. This Kun-mountain residence has no such danger of dying in prison. Bing and Ding fire engender the mountain, baking its scorched earth; Hai water lightly intervenes, and father and son come to blows — also because of profit and unfilial conduct, the father reports and sends the son to prison. Within half a month the fire exits; Hai water is wealth. Wealth governs the woman; her woman withers with fire — a steaming-dry illness. On the Mao-mountain there are descendant thieves; because Bing and Ding fire are excessive, they chase and drive them out, turning misfortune into fortune. Only left and right warfare remains. Fire governs blood, hence dying of poisoning again. The Ding fire within Xu is long sealed in the tomb, ghost to metal. To this day there are still madmen; the lineage is fairly abundant, owing to the beneficence of Bing and Ding fire engendering the mountain. **Sanfu's note:** Kun mountain is earth, so Jia wood is the Officer; on the month stem Geng overcomes it, and moreover Mao's conceptus is combined away by Xu, so the fetal form is not shaped. Day and time: Wu and Hai water cut each other off — because of quarrels. Day and time cutting each other off is why father and son fight; and Hai water is wealth, so it is for profit that the unfilial act. Bing fire enters Xu's tomb, hence sending the son to prison. And within Xu, Ding fire is ghost to metal; metal is the sitting mountain's child, hence madness. Only because Bing and Ding fire engender the mountain is the lineage vigorous. Moreover, Kun mountain is earth and is flourishing in the Wu month; yet the ghost hangs overhead with no transformation, so it is not a auspicious chart. Also, Xu and Hai transform; all the rest can supplement the mountain. When the mountain is vigorous the lineage can be vigorous; but though the ghost lacks qi, it awaits its time, so the chart is inauspicious. Another example: a Shen-mountain house leaning to Kun, pillars Bing-Zi, Ren-Chen, Ren-Zi, Xin-Chou. In this chart Bing fire with no fall means dying; Chen earth imprisoned means dying in prison; Xin metal draining means dying of depletion; Chou and Chen earth stripped away means dying in miscarriage; Bing fire overcome means dying in childbirth; Zi as Yang Rob means dying as a criminal. Stems and branches yang are the woman; the month is ancestors and parents; the day is brothers; the hour is the response of descendants. This chart is celebrated in a Bing-Zi year — a Shen-mountain house leaning to Kun built by a Huang family — for Shen belongs to yang metal, so metal is the host. Ren-Zi belongs to yang water, so yang water is the guest. The single Xin metal on the hour is a Rob, serving as the host star, yet drained on the day and month stems by Ren water, which drains metal. The Rob is brothers with no qi, and further over-drained by excess water, so it governs the brothers suffering from cold illness. The Xin hour is the descendants' position, and young males likewise govern dying of cold illness. **Sanfu's note:** In a Chen-month a Kun residence has qi; still, the ghost hangs overhead with no transformation, and this is an inauspicious chart, similar to the one above. Zi and Chou combine but find it hard to complete; Chen earth is broken again, so it governs dying in miscarriage. Zi as Yang Rob — and it is said: 'When the Yang Rob meets Owl, beware of death in prison' — hence dying as a criminal.