Nayin 纳音 · sound element #22 of 30
Water that arrives from above rather than collecting below: rain, and therefore not subject to the usual controls on water.
| Term 纳音 | 天河水 — Water of the Milky Way (tian he shui) |
|---|---|
| Element of the image | 水 Water |
| Pillars it covers | 丙午、丁未 — Bingwu and Dingwei (pair #22 of 30) |
丙午丁未，气当升降，在高明火位，有水沛然作霖，以济火中之水，惟天上乃有，故曰天河水
Why the name: Bingwu and Dingwei — the qi is at the point of rising and falling, in the high bright seat of fire, and there is water pouring down in season to relieve the fire-within-water; only heaven has it, hence Water of the Milky Way.
天河水者，乱洒六野，密沛千郊，淋淋泻下银河，细细飞来碧落，此乃天上雨露
Water of the Milky Way: scattering wild over the six directions, drenching a thousand suburbs; pouring down from the Silver River drop on drop, drifting in from the blue vault thread by thread; this is the rain and dew of heaven, and the ten thousand things all depend on it.
Wu and Wei are midsummer fire — the last place one would look for water. The derivation makes that the reason for the image: fire at its height is exactly the condition under which rain becomes necessary.
The practical consequence San Ming Tong Hui draws is unusual and worth stating plainly: 银河之水，土不能克 — earth cannot control this water. In the ordinary cycle earth dams water; rain falls through it. The image overrides the abstract relation, which is the clearest case in the sixty of nayin being read on its own terms rather than by element logic.
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.
Enter a birth date, time and longitude — the calculator returns the four pillars, the hidden stems, the nayin and the ten gods, with true solar time applied.
Open the chart calculator →涧下水 Water in the Ravine · 泉中水 Spring Water · 长流水 Ever-Flowing Water · 大溪水 Great Stream Water · 大海水 Great Ocean Water · all thirty →