The Transmutation and Dominance of the Five Elements 五行休王是指什么

It is one of the important tenets of the Five Elements theory in the Han Dynasty in China, referring to the fact that the mutual generation and intermittent mutual restriction of the Five Elements each prevail in their respective times.

The Five Elements also denote the five vital Qi, and the waxing and waning of these energies through generation and restriction give rise to the distinctions of the dominant energy, the auxiliary energy, the resting energy, the imprisoned energy, and the exhausted energy.

The Transmutation and Dominance of the Five Elements

Volume 96 of the Taiping Scripture, The Great Precept of Enduring Humiliation in Imitation of Heaven and Earth, Sincerity in Oneness with the Gods, states: Those endowed with abundant dominant and auxiliary energies shall be noble and long-lived; those with excessive resting, exhausted and imprisoned energies shall suffer frequent illnesses and an early death.

Volume 116 of the Taiping Scripture, A Secret Formula, explains this: The imperial energy is like heaven, cherishing life and delighting in giving; the dominant energy is like earth, constantly nurturing and valuing virtue; the auxiliary energy and the subtle energy are like humans, who have no fixed principles and change often; the declining, dying, imprisoned and perishing energies are like all things in the world, prone to constant disorder and ferocity. The imperial energy and the dominant energy are collectively called the imperial and dominant energy; the dominant energy and the auxiliary energy are jointly named the dominant and auxiliary energy—both preside over auspiciousness and goodness. The resting energy, the imprisoned energy and the exhausted energy are referred to as the imprisoned and exhausted energy, or the resting, imprisoned and dying energy—all governing ferocity and misfortune. The matching of the five energies (dominant, auxiliary, resting, imprisoned, exhausted) with the Five Elements is adapted to the changing times.

According to Spring and Autumn Yundoushu, a apocryphal text of the Han Dynasty: In the four seasons, the dominant element rests; that which the dominant conquers perishes; that which the auxiliary conquers is imprisoned. For example, in the three months of spring, wood is dominant; water generates wood, so water rests; wood conquers earth, so earth perishes; with wood dominant, fire is auxiliary. That which the dominant generates becomes the auxiliary; that which the auxiliary conquers is imprisoned. Fire conquers metal, so metal is imprisoned in the three months of spring. In spring, wood is dominant, fire is auxiliary, earth perishes, metal is imprisoned, and water rests.

Xiao Ji of the Sui Dynasty elaborated on this theory in The Great Meaning of the Five Elements: In spring, wood is dominant, fire auxiliary, water resting, metal imprisoned, and earth perishing; in summer, fire is dominant, earth auxiliary, wood resting, water imprisoned, and metal perishing; in the sixth lunar month, earth is dominant, metal auxiliary, fire resting, wood imprisoned, and water perishing; in autumn, metal is dominant, water auxiliary, earth resting, fire imprisoned, and wood perishing; in winter, water is dominant, wood auxiliary, metal resting, earth imprisoned, and fire perishing.