Calendar and timing

Near and distant matters

By Vi Nhật Sơn · Updated 2026-09-18

Việc gần – việc xa

Near and distant matters — what is it? Near and distant matters: in the Yi this is referred to four time axes — Hour, Day, Month, Year. Near goes by Hour and Day, distant by Month and Year.

Near and distant matters: whether a matter is near or distant in the Yi is referred to four time axes, namely Hour, Day, Month and Year.

The four time frames

Near and distant gathers together all the states that depend on a time frame, and a near matter is by nature different from a distant one.

In principle we have four time frames — Hour, Day, Month and Year — and a near matter is taken by default to be an event counted within the two frames of Hour and Day, while a distant matter is counted by the two frames of Month and Year.

The cases where near and distant differ

The difference between these two frames is counted in a number of cases:

Resting
The Advancing line with a Weak moving line
The Retreating line with a Prosperous moving line
A Resting changed line controlling a Prosperous moving line
A matter of no fixed time with a Prosperous Target line controlled by the Month

All the cases above have this in common: there is a change of state according to the scale of the matter.

The near–distant frame and the Turning-point principle

The near–distant frame is quite different from the Turning-point principle, although both distinguish different natures of a moving line within one and the same state. The Turning-point principle divides a single frame of reference into two stages, while the near–distant frame distinguishes each separate time frame in order to decide the nature of a line. That is the basic likeness, but in each particular property of the state there will be differences.

With Resting

With Resting, for matters that have the character of an event, we divide into two sides, distant and near: distant counts as Prosperous and near counts as Weak. But in the case of a moving Resting line, its action on the cases of draining, generating and the Hostile line is like that of other Prosperous lines. In the situation of a Resting Opposing line with a Prosperous Target line, however — that is, where by nature the moving Opposing line is weaker than the Target line — we count this Opposing line as not strong enough to control the Target line, and then we set this near–distant property aside and count only that, before the timing of the damage, the damage always happens; and if it is a line controlling the Self line, that is a disadvantage to oneself. The moment of success for the matter then does not lie at the timing of the Target line but at the moment this Resting line is clashed, and at that point, whether it falls at the Hour, the Day, the Month or the Year, this Resting line counts as lost and the matter succeeds.

To spell this situation out: before it succeeds, this event always meets disadvantages and obstacles with the characteristics of this Resting line. To know who it is, just look up the characteristics of the line against the Five Elements and the Six Spirits, and from there, if you want to avoid it, avoid it beforehand. Note that in this case the result will be a success whether you avoid it beforehand or not. If it can be put out at the start, so much the better; if not, just refer it to inner and outer and do the opposite, and it will be avoided.

Intervening by physical means

Here we begin to make clear what it means to intervene by physical means, through space, time and people together.

Intervention here means changing, or being about to change, or resolving a danger that has appeared, so that the final result of the event is no longer unfavourable compared with what we are after. For example, if we know that this journey is dangerous, then the easiest thing is not to go. So if going is unavoidable, there is nothing for it but to know when the mishap will come and where it comes from. Then, when the moment comes, we avoid the places and the people and the other factors that could cause this disadvantage, and so escape the mishap.

The question arises whether what we know is really the future. For in a similar setting, or with one person resembling another, is what we avoid really the thing that does harm? On the frame of inner and outer, it is broad enough to get past this question: inner is the near space, outer is the far space. From there we simply refer it to the character of the matter asked about — as with going far away, the fixed space one lives in counts as near and the space outside counts as far — and from that other matters are judged in the same way.