Cast & Chart

Sickness

A chart describes tendencies in a traditional system. It cannot decide health, money, law, marriage or children.

In the classical sources

十曰病,万物病,如人之病也

Tenth is Sickness: all things sicken, as a person sickens.

三命通會 卷二

About this stage

病 means illness, and the simile could not be shorter. This is a step in a cycle that belongs to a stem and its element, and it has no bearing on anyone's body. It comes at 巳 for 甲, 申 for 丙, 亥 for 庚 and 寅 for 壬.

As a plain sequence, the stage sits between 衰 and 死. 三命通會 lists it, with 死, 絕 and 败, among the four dislikes, a label about its rank in the scheme. The ten gods are untouched by it, since they depend on stems alone, and the same branch may hold a Direct Resource or any other name.

Where this text comes from

The order of the twelve stages follows 五行大義 volume 2 and 三命通會 volume 2 on Wikisource. The calculator uses that order for wood, fire, metal and water. Works disagree about earth.

The English name follows common modern usage. The wording here is our own plain summary.