Nayin 纳音 · sound element #9 of 30
Metal still in the ore: the pure colour is already there, the usable object is not.
| Term 纳音 | 白蜡金 — White Wax Metal (bai la jin) |
|---|---|
| Element of the image | 金 Metal |
| Pillars it covers | 庚辰、辛巳 — Gengchen and Xinsi (pair #9 of 30) |
庚辰辛巳以金居火土之地，气已发生，金尚在矿，寄形生养之乡，受西方之正色，乃曰白蜡金
Why the name: Gengchen and Xinsi, with metal seated in the ground of fire and earth, the qi has already come forth but the metal is still in the seam, lodging its form in the country of birth and nurture, receiving the true colour of the west; hence White Wax Metal.
白蜡金者，昆山片玉，洛浦遗金，交栖日月之光，凝聚阴阳之气，形明体洁
White Wax Metal: a shard of jade from Kunshan, gold left on the banks of the Luo; it lodges together with the light of sun and moon, and gathers the qi of yin and yang, form clear and body clean.
Chen and Si are late spring — the twelve-stage seat where metal is 养 and 长生, being nurtured and coming to birth. That is exactly what the derivation describes: the metal exists, the colour is right, and it is still underground.
So this is the metal that most wants fire. San Ming Tong Hui says 此金惟喜火炼，须炉中炎火 — it welcomes only the refining fire, and specifically Fire in the Furnace. Contained heat, not open flame: the pairing is the text being consistent with its own images rather than with the abstract five-element cycle, where all fire controls all metal alike.
Sources: 《三命通会》 (San Ming Tong Hui, Ming dynasty, 万民英) — chapters 论纳音取象 and 释六十甲子性质吉凶. Both passages above are quoted from a local plain-text edition and checked character by character by a test before this page can ship. Translations are ours.
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