The Heavenly Doctor

A disciple once asked about the method of deriving the Heavenly Doctor, saying the books are confused, so I shall sort it out point by point.

The common Heavenly Doctor derivation:

By year — Zi   Chou   Yin   Mao   Chen   Si   Wu   Wei   Shen   You   Xu   Hai.
Heavenly Doctor — Mao   Xu   Zi   Wei   You   Hai   Chen   Yin   Si   Wu   Chou   Shen.

This is actually the method of deriving Heavenly Doctor from the traveling year and must not be confused; it should be calculated according to the traveling year, taking the Great Yin of the twelve traveling-year spirits.

Thus the traveling-year Heavenly Doctor is: Mao Xu Zi Wei You Hai Chen Yin Si Wu Chou Shen.

And according to the daily Heavenly Doctor method:

The Heavenly Skill of Fate-Cutting says: The Heavenly Doctor is Mao in the first month, Pig arrives in the second; the third follows Chou, the fourth seeks Wei; fifth Snake, sixth Rabbit, seventh rests at Hai; eighth Chou, ninth Goat, tenth Si remains; eleventh again seeks upon Mao; twelfth sits upon Hai as the healer. If the sick person has this line in the hexagram, it surely indicates a famous physician whose medicine is effective.

That is, the twelve months: Mao Hai Chou Wei Si Mao Hai Chou Wei Si Mao Hai.

However, this method is flawed: only in Jia and Ji years may this pairing be followed, because the Zi month meets Jia. Its source is the daily Heavenly Doctor method — not something to pair by year.

Daily Heavenly Doctor method: Jia and Ji at Mao, Yi and Geng at Hai, Bing and Xin at You, Ren and Ding at Wei, Wu and Gui at Si.

That is, the daily Heavenly Doctor method: following the ten stems, arrange circularly over the five branches Mao, Hai, Chou, Wei, Si.

The yearly Heavenly Doctor method places Chuansong (Courier) upon Tai Sui; Taiyi below is the Heavenly Doctor.

Chuansong is Shen. Place Shen upon Tai Sui; the position below Si is sought to be the Heavenly Doctor — Shen is four positions in reverse from Si.

Thus Tai Sui counted four positions in reverse — the latter four positions are the Heavenly Doctor. Hence one obtains: You Xu Hai Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu Wei Shen — taking the Heavenly Virtue of the twelve spirits of Tai Sui.

Therefore if one uses the month or the branch, one should derive according to the monthly Heavenly Doctor:

It is also said: For the Heavenly Doctor in yang months, place Daji upon the month establishment; below Gongcao is the Heavenly Doctor, below Chuansong is Bian Que. In yin months, place Xiaoji upon the month establishment at Gongcao.

In yang months, placing Daji (Chou) and counting to Yin gives the Heavenly Doctor — that is, counting one position to the solar position. In yin months, placing Wei and counting to Yin — counting seven positions — so yang months use the Removal (Chu) day, and yin months use the Break (Po) day.

It is also said: The Heavenly Doctor always places Shenhou upon the present hour; below Gongcao is the Heavenly Doctor, below Chuansong is the Heavenly Shaman; below Congkui is the Heavenly Master. Place Shenhou upon Tai Sui.

There are also those who place according to Shenhou. Shenhou is Zi — this is actually reverse counting; thus using Yin (Open) as the Heavenly Doctor, using Shen (Close) to fix Bian Que, using You (Balanced) as the Heavenly Master. Reverse counting means hanging the qi down to the branch.

It is also said: Whenever a patient does not recover, one should treat them from the Heavenly Doctor, avoiding no taboos. Wherever the treatment occurs, a hundred ghosts dare not approach the Heavenly Doctor’s place; even if there are fierce spirits, one need not avoid.

It is also said: For every patient, have them sit toward the birth qi. Treat the person sitting with their back to the Heavenly Doctor. Place fire on Bian Que, apply moxa; the person sits with their back to the Heavenly Doctor.

It is also said: The method of deriving the monthly birth qi: first month at Zi (dead qi at Wu), second month at Chou (dead qi Wei), third month at Yin (dead qi Shen), fourth month at Mao (dead qi You).

Deriving the birth-qi direction: Xu Hai Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu Wei You. That is, taking the Open day; there is also a formula:

First and seventh: Zi Wu; second and eighth: Chou Wei; third and ninth: Yin Shen; fourth and tenth: Mao You; fifth and eleventh: Chen Xu; sixth and twelfth: Si Hai.

This is truly the same principle.

There is also an ancient edition of the Golden Mouth Formula that says:

Five branches after the month establishment are the Heavenly Doctor: first Xu, second Hai, third Zi, fourth Chou, fifth Yin, sixth Mao, seventh Chen, eighth Si, ninth Wu, tenth Wei, eleventh Shen, twelfth You. Their opposites are the Earth Doctor.

This is the Punishment and Death Sha. The Yin Hidden says: “The Heavenly Punishment, Death, Robbery, Orphan, Widow, Two Depletions, and Great Sha — one must meet repeated calamities, emerging orphaned, widowed, broken, and extinguished.” The Comprehensive Guide to Liu Ren says: “Furthermore, when Gou and Hu are added to the year destiny in the transmission, punishing and harming the day and hour, it indicates execution at the market court.” It is only suitable for interrogating ghosts and driving away evil.

However, according to the Establishment and Removal system, these are all taken from the Completion day. If one speaks of the Heavenly Doctor, only those refining elixirs and compounding medicines need use it; and its opposite is the Earth Doctor, which is the Full day — the meaning is the same.

The ancient Golden Mouth text speaks of cases entering the lesson with illness that can be saved — this does not accord. Only because the shen-sha are confused and disordered does divining illness encounter the Heavenly Doctor without verification.

Thus, in all medical books that record methods of deriving treatment, placing the Monthly General upon the hour and deriving the Heavenly Doctor upon the sick person’s year — it is none other than yang uses Removal, yin uses Break.

There is also:

On the Heavenly Doctor: first month Chou, second month Yin, third month Mao, fourth month Chen, fifth month Si, sixth month Wu, seventh month Wei, eighth month Shen, ninth month You, tenth month Xu, eleventh month Hai, twelfth month Zi.

This saying must be wrong. First month Chou, second Yin, third Mao — this is the Blood Branch Sha. This sha injures the human body; how can it be the Heavenly Doctor? Those born on a Mao day in a Chen month — in the third month, Mao is this sha, so one violates the Blood Branch; this can be verified.

The Thousand-Gold Beneficial Formulas and the Taiping Sage-Benefit Formulas, the Yellow Emperor’s Bright Hall Moxibustion Classic, and others say: first month Mao, second month Yin, third month Chou, fourth month Zi, fifth month Hai, sixth month Xu, seventh month You, eighth month Shen, ninth month Wei, tenth month Wu, eleventh month Si, twelfth month Chen.

This reckoning is cited most often in medical books; the reverse sequence follows star degrees and cannot be ignored. The error of counting five branches forward from the month establishment should stem from this — this calculation is very easy: in a Zi month, Si is already five steps off.