寅卯辰三会

成方之义

The name 寅卯辰三会木局 refers to a gathering of three earthly branches that occupy the east and stand adjacent to one another in the twelve-branch sequence. Because the three branches are consecutive rather than separated by intervening positions, the configuration is called 成方, meaning the formation of a directional region. The three branches Yin, Mao, and Chen belong to the wood direction, and their union is therefore a wood gathering.

This group corresponds to spring. Within the three branches, Mao represents the middle month of spring, the time when wood qi is most fully expressed. Yin begins the season and Chen closes it, so the triad spans the opening, the height, and the close of the eastern seasonal movement. The term 成方 is used precisely because the three branches form one continuous block along the branch circle, unlike configurations built from alternating positions.

In practice, a chart is examined through the four branches of the year, month, day, and hour pillars. When all three branches Yin, Mao, and Chen appear among those four positions, the 寅卯辰三会木局 is considered complete. When only two of the three are present, the condition is called a half gathering, and its force is lighter than that of the full triad. The full configuration concentrates the energy of the three branches into the wood direction.

与三合之别

The 三会 system and the 三合 system are distinct methods of branch combination. The 三会 takes three adjacent branches and gathers them into one directional field. The 三合 takes three branches that are not consecutive and unites them through a different structural principle. The traditional comparison says that 三会 selects three positions, like companions who share a path, whereas 三合 selects paired positions, like husband and wife depending on one another.

In the 寅卯辰 case, the branches are consecutive and all belong to the east, so the union is immediate through proximity. In a 三合 wood formation, the branches are Hai, Mao, and Wei, which are separated in the branch sequence and joined through a birth, peak, and storage relationship. The 三会 therefore emphasizes regional unity, while the 三合 emphasizes functional completion across distance. Although both systems can produce a wood gathering, the 寅卯辰 configuration is a 三会, not a 三合, and its wood nature comes from the shared eastern position of the three branches.

四正与四墓

Within the 寅卯辰三会木局, Mao holds a special role as the 四正 branch of wood. The 四正 branches are the four cardinal branches that stand at the midpoint of the four seasons: Mao for the middle of spring, Wu for the middle of summer, You for the middle of autumn, and Zi for the middle of winter. Mao is therefore the central branch of the wood direction and occupies the position of wood at its flourishing stage, called 帝旺.

Chen is the 四墓 branch of this triad. The 四墓 branches are the four branches that close the seasons and hold a storage function: Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei. Chen is assigned the duty of collection and storage. In the 寅卯辰 triad, Chen acts as the closing branch after Yin and Mao, and its role is to gather and contain.

A critical point is that the qi stored in a 四墓 branch is not necessarily the same as the element of the direction in which that branch sits. Chen is the storage branch of water in the 三合 system. The 三合 water formation is Shen, Zi, and Chen, and Chen serves there as the water repository. When Chen appears in the 寅卯辰三会木局, the stored water qi supports the wood of the gathering, because water generates wood. Thus Chen, although placed at the close of the eastern wood region, stores water rather than wood, and that stored water feeds the collective wood force.

The four storage branches derive their assignments from the 三合 system. Shen, Zi, and Chen form the water bureau, with Chen as the water storehouse. Hai, Mao, and Wei form the wood bureau, with Wei as the wood storehouse. Yin, Wu, and Xu form the fire bureau, with Xu as the fire storehouse. Si, You, and Chou form the metal bureau, with Chou as the metal storehouse. The 三会 system borrows these same four branches. In the case of 寅卯辰, the borrowed branch is Chen, whose water storage becomes a generative support for the wood gathering.

命例

One engine-computed chart shows the four pillars as 壬寅，癸卯，戊申, and 丙辰, with the pattern identified as 正官格. In this chart, the year branch is Yin, the month branch is Mao, and the hour branch is Chen. The three eastern branches appear together across the year, month, and hour pillars, forming the 寅卯辰三会木局. The relation therefore falls on the year and month and hour pillars. The day branch is Shen, which does not interrupt the completion of the triad, because the three required branches are all present among the four pillars. Once the three branches are seen together, the condition is met, regardless of which pillar carries the remaining branch. The wood gathering draws the force of Yin, Mao, and Chen into one directional field.

When the 寅卯辰三会木局 is complete, the strength of the three branches converges into the wood direction. The original dominant qi of each branch is said to weaken markedly, because the branches no longer act primarily as separate units. The power of the gathering depends also on how closely the three branches are arranged among the four pillars. When the three branches lie near one another in the pillar sequence, their combined force is stronger; when they are separated, the gathering still forms but its cohesive power is less. This rule applies to inspection of the branch positions in the year, month, day, and hour pillars.

Worked example (solar 1962-03-11 7:00, male, computed by this site's engine):

Pattern: 正官格 · Strength: 极弱 (engine verdicts)

常见误区

A common misunderstanding is to treat Chen as a wood storehouse simply because it stands at the end of the eastern wood region. In the 三合 system, Chen stores water, not wood. Its placement in the 寅卯辰 triad does not change that storage assignment. The wood gathering uses Chen as the closing branch of the eastern region, but the qi stored inside Chen remains water, and in the 寅卯辰 configuration that water supports the wood through the generative cycle. The branch Chen therefore performs two roles at once: it closes the eastern region and supplies stored water to nourish the gathered wood.

Another error is to treat the 寅卯辰三会木局 as equivalent to the 三合 wood bureau of Hai, Mao, and Wei. The two formations share the wood element, but their structures differ. The 三会 is based on adjacency and shared direction. The 三合 is based on a birth, peak, and storage relationship spread across three non-adjacent branches. The comparison of companions on a shared path and husband and wife in mutual dependence expresses this difference. When only Yin and Mao appear without Chen, or Mao and Chen without Yin, the condition is not the full 寅卯辰三会木局. It is at most a half gathering, and its force is weaker than the complete triad.