Strength and interactions
Tomb (Mu)
By Vi Nhật Sơn · Updated
Mộ
Tomb (Mu) — what is it? The Tomb (entering the Tomb) divides into two states, Prosperous and Weak; a Prosperous line in the Tomb becomes usable once the Tomb is clashed.
The Tomb divides into two states, Prosperous and Weak, and a Prosperous line and a Weak line entering the Tomb are not the same.
| Element | Tomb at |
|---|---|
| Metal | Chou |
| Wood | Wei |
| Fire | Xu |
| Water · Earth | Chen |
The Prosperous Tomb and the Weak Tomb
Say it is Prosperous: in a situation that is not urgent, and not a matter of people, clashing the Tomb makes it usable — except in the case of a moving Source line, where a moving Source line means the matter is spoilt outright; and except again in the case of a moving Opposing line, where one waits until the Tomb is clashed and the matter succeeds, because the Opposing line generates the Source line which generates the Target line. The general rule for such problems as Void meeting the Tomb, Break meeting Extinction, or a Source line in the Tomb, is that the Source line of the line in the Tomb itself has to be moving. For example:
On a Ding Wei day in the Yin month, asking about the health of a child, the hexagram The Cauldron (Ding) came out changing into Duration (Heng):
| Siblings | Si Fire | ○ | Offspring · Xu Earth | |||
| Offspring | Wei Earth | Resp. | ||||
| Wealth | You Metal | |||||
| Wealth | You Metal | |||||
| Officer line | Hai Water | Self | ||||
| Offspring | Chou Earth |
In this hexagram the Target line coincides with the Day and is generated by a moving Source line, so by rights it should be the image of the illness clearing within the day; but on the Hai day it reported the child lost. Lost because the moving Source line changed into the Tomb and could no longer generate for the Target line: the Target line was like a tall tree with no root left, and nothing could be done. Lost on the Hai day because Hai clashes Si and the Source line was lost.
But in this same hexagram, suppose Yin Wood in the inner trigram were moving (everything that wants to come into play has to be in a moving position: as the Opposing line is only read when moving, so with the Source line, except for the Target line or the Self line) — then it could be saved, saved on the Chen day, because at that point Chen clashes Xu and the Source line can work, forming the chain Parents generating Siblings generating Offspring.
That is the particular case; basically, with a Prosperous Target line, questions of health, money and career all need only wait until the Tomb is clashed, but the scale of the matter must be judged clearly to know whether that is a day, an hour, a month or a year. Asking about a child with a cold, the time to recovery isn't counted in years; asking about a business, the time isn't read in days. That's all.
Example: on a Chen day in the Hai month, a child is ill and the Target line is Hai, so it clears on the Xu day. This in turn has to do with the Month establishment, since Offspring coincides with the Month, so it will clear within the month.
The Tomb is used only with the Day
Besides, it is worth noting that the Tomb is used only with the Day. Why must this be repeated so often? Because it bears on the life stages: mistaking the Day and the Month for one and the same thing leads to mistakes in the life stages.
The principle of this school, that is, of "the Yi of Sơn", is that you may be right or you may be wrong — that isn't what matters; but right or wrong, you must understand why it came out that way. This holds generally for ordinary life too.
A special note here: with romance, if the Target line is in the Tomb, then at the moment the Target line is clashed there will be a new romance, and not success with this one. Or if the question is about meeting a partner and the Target line is in the Tomb, the matter usually fails; but if one knows how to act on it actively by pressing the matter, it will succeed in the case where the Target line is Prosperous.
The Opposing line and the Hostile line entering the Tomb
Where the Opposing line moves and is in the Tomb: if the Opposing line is Prosperous, something will happen answering at the moment the Tomb is clashed; if the Opposing line is Weak, something happens at the clash of the Tomb as well, but if the Target line is Prosperous there is only a hitch at that moment and it will be got through, so there is nothing to worry about.
Example: on a Jia Yin day, in the Chou month, The Family (Jia Ren) changing into Increase (Yi), asking about the health of a child:
| Siblings | Mao Wood | |||||
| Offspring | Si Fire | Resp. | ||||
| Wealth | Wei Earth | |||||
| Parents | Hai Water | ○ | Wealth · Chen Earth | |||
| Wealth | Chou Earth | Self | ||||
| Siblings | Mao Wood |
Lost on the Xu day, because Xu clashes the Tomb and the Opposing line controls the Self line. In winter, Hai Water has vigour and does harm as usual, and it is combined by the Day besides.
But supposing it were the Yin month, then by Xu it would only grow a little worse and would be got through. A pity.
In the case of a moving Hostile line it is much the same, but the likeness isn't in the direct situation, except for health. If it is health, a Prosperous Hostile line means loss at the moment the Tomb is clashed. In other situations it reports indirect dangers: in business, for instance, one knows that at the moment the Tomb is clashed a person with the characteristics of the line will often ruin one and cost one capital — sometimes taking the money, or stealing, or lending it and losing it… — or the goods will spoil. Knowing the moment, one must guard completely, during that day or month, against everything with the related characteristics, and may then get out of it; as for unavoidable situations such as heavy rain and flooding damaging the goods, nothing can be done. With papers, as other entries have analysed, it will be spoilt.
But that is within unlimited space and time. In a situation within a limited stretch of space, or an urgent matter, if the Opposing line or the Hostile line is in the Tomb it does not matter: something happens only after that stretch is past, and within that time all is well. Likewise with the Target line: within the time before the clash comes, the matter will be spoilt.
Example: on a Geng Xu day, in the Yin month, going to a visa interview tomorrow, will it pass or fail? Abundance (Feng) came out changing into Darkening of the Light (Ming Yi):
| Officer line | Xu Earth | |||||
| Parents | Shen Metal | Self | ||||
| Wealth | Wu Fire | ○ | Officer line · Chou Earth | |||
| Siblings | Hai Water | |||||
| Officer line | Chou Earth | Resp. | ||||
| Offspring | Mao Wood |
The Self line falls on Parents and is generated by the Day, so it is Prosperous; the moving Opposing line is generated by the Month, but luckily the Opposing line is in the Tomb at the Day, and luckily tomorrow is only the Hai day, so nothing happens. It did pass; but on the Chen day the person fell off a motorbike, because the clash of the Tomb set the moving Opposing line to control the Self line.
The conditions under which the Tomb does not count
Note as well that under the following conditions the Tomb no longer counts:
- The Day or the Month clashes the Tomb at the moment of asking. For example, on a Xu day, a Zi Water line changing into Chen will not count as changing into the Tomb but as changing into Chen Earth, because the Day has then clashed away the Tomb of Water
- A moving line clashes the moving line that serves as the Tomb. For example: with the Chen line and the Xu line both moving, Zi Water will not count as in the Tomb at the Chen line, because the moving Xu line has then clashed away the Chen line. Note that this case arises only when the moving line is usable, that is, not changing into Void, not changing into Break……
- The Tomb line is Resting and is also controlled by the Month or the Day (the changed line included). For example: a Yin Wood line changing into Wei Earth — if read on a Yin day in the Zi month, it will not count as the Tomb, because the Wei Earth line is Resting–Confined and controlled by the Day
- The Tomb line (the changed line included) is Void or in Month Break, or the changed line of the Tomb line is Void or in Month Break — then the Tomb does not count. For example: Hai changing into Chen, where Chen is Void or in Break, or is clashed by the Day: we do not count Hai as being in the Tomb at Chen but only as Hai changing into control. Or with a Target line at Hai, if Chen moves and changes into Void or Month Break, this Chen will never count as the Tomb of Hai, but only as an ordinary moving line that is Void or in Month Break
See also
- Following the Officer into the Tomb
- Life stages — Void fears the Tomb
- Void — the Tomb meeting Void
- Excessive strength, Timing