Bǐng

三命通會 卷二 sets 丙 (Bǐng) in the middle of the sky, sun and lightning above, furnace and forge below. It is yang fire, third of the ten, and 淵海子平 opens its poem by simply calling it the sun. In 三命通會 the sun picture even supplies a reason for its stage points: the fire climbs from the east, sinks in the west, and so has its birth at 寅 and its death at 酉.

The verse runs like a character sketch. Fierce fire mocks frost and snow and can forge the hard metal 庚, yet on meeting the soft metal 辛 (this copy prints 逄 for 逢, to meet) it falters, because the commentary says the two combine and the fire turns weak. Earth is called its child and water its lord, so much earth draws out kindness and strong water draws out loyalty. In 寅, 午 and 戌, the Tiger, Horse and Dog, the fire is already roused, and adding 甲 dries it to ashes.

As a day master 丙 has 庚 as Indirect Wealth and 辛 as Direct Wealth, 戊 and 己 as Eating God and Hurting Officer, 壬 and 癸 as Seven Killings and Direct Officer. Set beside the verse, the table is a surprise, because the verse praises this fire for loyalty under strong water, and the commentary's water includes 壬, the stem with the name that sounds worst. The 甲 of the last line is an Indirect Resource, and a small note in the commentary marks it as help arriving where there is already plenty. Modern popular books turn the sun image into a warm, open personality, a reading this verse does not give.