Check position and unpaired branches separately

What exactly does a whole-chart badge claim?

A screen may show Fu Yin (伏吟) or Fan Yin (反吟) above a chart without telling the reader which fields were compared. Did the program check every star, one duty star, the doors or matching stems? The label by itself cannot answer that question. Its scope has to come from the method that produced it.

This matters because a relation demonstrated for one star need not hold for a door in the same arrangement. It also has little to do with the calculation of void branches, despite the three terms often appearing beside one another in reading guides.

Here, Fu Yin is illustrated by a star at its home position and Fan Yin by the corresponding opposite-position example in the cited text. Kong Wang (空亡) is illustrated separately through the two branches absent from a group of ten stem–branch pairs. These are limited structural exercises, not three interchangeable descriptions of a stalled event.

A source example separates the star from the door

In the Siku Dun Jia Yan Yi, Tian Peng over its own home counterpart illustrates Fu Yin, while Tian Peng over Tian Ying illustrates Fan Yin. Tian Peng's home is Kan 1; Tian Ying's is Li 9, opposite Kan 1. The two examples can therefore be recorded without guessing at a full chart.

Open the full-size diagram

Original BaZiFlow structural comparison. Star examples follow Dun Jia Yan Yi, volume one; branch calculation and mapping use the specified modern implementation. No full-chart outcome is inferred.

The same work's Yang-one, Yin Wood Ox (乙丑) example places Tian Peng at 9 and Rest at 2. The star is opposite its home at 1, but the door has not moved to its own opposite palace at 9. A statement about the star cannot silently become a statement about the entire door layer.

The duty-chief and duty-door record explains those independent destinations. To describe an entire arrangement as Fu Yin or Fan Yin, use the definition and coverage required by the stated method. One correctly identified relation does not prove every omitted field.

Find the two branches without consulting a star

For a separate exercise, list the Yang Wood Rat (甲子) group: Yang Wood Rat, Yin Wood Ox, Yang Fire Tiger (丙寅), Yin Fire Rabbit (丁卯), Yang Earth Dragon (戊辰), Yin Earth Snake (己巳), Yang Metal Horse (庚午), Yin Metal Goat (辛未), Yang Water Monkey (壬申) and Yin Water Rooster (癸酉). The branch sequence covers Rat (子) through Rooster (酉). Dog (戌) and Pig (亥) are the two branches not paired with stems in this group of ten.

That absence is the basis of the void-branch example here. It does not mean a palace contains no symbols, a person is absent or an event has failed to occur. Those statements require information that the pairing exercise does not provide.

The cited, fixed version of atopx/qimen calculates the two unpaired branches from a cycle value. Its palace-branch table maps both Dog and Pig to Qian 6. Under that declared data mapping, two branches can point to one palace. There is no reason to invent a second palace just to match the number of branches.

This is a description of that implementation's arithmetic and mapping. It is not an endorsement of every pattern definition in the library, a universal school rule or evidence of predictive accuracy. The source's scope is kept as narrow as the claim being checked.

Empty is a marker, not a delete command

If a palace is associated with a void branch under a chosen method, preserve its existing stars, doors and stems in the record. The marker and the placed contents can coexist. Removing the contents would destroy the information needed to inspect the original arrangement.

The time basis also matters. A civil instant has a day stem–branch pair and a time stem–branch pair, among other fields. A calculation using the day group should be labeled as such; a calculation using the time group should retain that scope. The abstract Yang Wood Rat example here does not choose between them for an unspecified practice.

Do not import a day-based convention from six-line divination and relabel it as a Qimen time-group result without checking the method. Nor should one pillar's pair be applied to every chart layer. Record the actual pair used, its group and the resulting two branches so that the calculation can be repeated.

A boundary-setting change may affect that input. If the underlying date or time convention changes, identify the affected calculation rather than retaining an old void marker on a new chart. A familiar label is not a substitute for a matching version of the data.

Keep three questions in three records

For the positional exercise, the record might read “star: Tian Peng; current palace: 9; home: 1; opposite relation.” For the branch exercise, it might read “selected group: Yang Wood Rat; unpaired branches: Dog/Pig; mapping: Qian 6 under the named table.” Neither record proves the other.

Matching stems on two layers, a star at home and a whole layer repeating are likewise distinct claims unless the selected definition explicitly connects them. Naming the object and comparison baseline makes an overextended label easier to spot.

Traditional interpretations may connect these terms with repetition, reversal or something not yet realized. Such associations do not establish that a real situation must be delayed, reversed or nonexistent. The choice of significator and palace still has to explain which object bears on the question.

When only one star is known, report the local position. When only the branch pairing is known, report the missing pair. Stopping at the supported scope preserves the useful result while making clear what further interpretation has not yet earned.