Calendar and timing
Hidden movement (An Dong)
By Vi Nhật Sơn · Updated
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Hidden movement (An Dong) — what is it? Hidden movement is a still, Prosperous line set moving by a clash from the Day; three things are needed at once: still, Prosperous or Excessive, and clashed.
As a concept, Hidden movement is a still line, Prosperous, that is set moving by a clash from the Day.
The three factors of a line in Hidden movement
So to determine whether a line is in Hidden movement or not, we need all three of the following factors at once; if one of the three is missing it does not count as Hidden movement:
- The line is still
- Prosperous, or of Excessive strength
- Clashed by the Day
Such a line is then called a line in Hidden movement.
Example: on a Geng Chen day, in the Yin month:
| Parents | Xu Earth | Self | ||
| Siblings | Shen Metal | |||
| Officer line | Wu Fire | |||
| Parents | Chen Earth | Resp. | ||
| Wealth | Yin Wood | |||
| Offspring | Zi Water |
The Parents line at Xu Earth coincides with the Day and so counts as Prosperous, and it is clashed by the Day, so it becomes Hidden movement.
How Hidden movement differs from open movement
A line in Hidden movement is read as an ordinary moving line, but it differs from an ordinary moving line (otherwise called open movement) in this: it has no changed line.
A line in Hidden movement counts as an ordinary moving line, with the addition of being Prosperous, so it acts directly on the other lines of the hexagram without any need to judge its Strength again.
Besides, a line in Hidden movement also reports a matter that is happening at present, in the way a moving line does. For example: the Qian hexagram read on a Zi day in the Yin month — if Parents is the Target line, then at the very moment of asking there is someone helping with a Parents matter.
The timing of a line in Hidden movement
As to the timing of a line in Hidden movement, in near events it answers within the day of asking (note that it does not answer at the hour); if distant, it will be the moment of that line's own branch or of its combination, as with an ordinary moving line.
Example: on a Bing Chen day, in the Yin month, reading about an examination:
| Parents | Xu Earth | |||
| Siblings | Shen Metal | Resp. | ||
| Officer line | Wu Fire | |||
| Siblings | Shen Metal | |||
| Officer line | Wu Fire | Self | ||
| Parents | Chen Earth |
Reading an examination, Parents is the Target line, and both the Target line and the Self line need to be Prosperous. The Target line coincides with the Day and so counts as Prosperous, and clashed by the Day it becomes Hidden movement. The Self line is generated by the Month and so counts as Prosperous. The result was news of passing the civil service examination within the day.
Notes on a line in Hidden movement
One note on a line in Hidden movement: in the case where there is no Target line in the hexagram, if we take the Month as the Target line and the Day clashes that Month, we likewise read the line taken from the Month as being in Hidden movement. In the case of a Prosperous Hidden line whose Flying line has been lost for some reason and which the Day clashes, that Hidden line likewise counts as being in Hidden movement. Both of these cases arise only when the Target line does not appear in the hexagram.
Where a line in Hidden movement is combined by the Month or by the changed line, we still have to wait for the moment when the combination of this line in Hidden movement is clashed apart, and that is the moment of timing. But where another moving line combines with the line in Hidden movement, we do not count the two lines as combined, because by the rule for two lines combined with each other it is enough to clash one of the two.