Competing Combination in Bazi (爭合)
Learn how one Heavenly Stem meeting multiple eligible partners creates competing combination, how proximity changes force, and why no partner wins automatically.
Overview
Competing Combination (爭合) occurs when one Heavenly Stem has more than one eligible partner from the fixed Five-Combination table. Every pairing remains visible, but exclusivity and effective force are reduced. Pillar distance, roots, season, Day-Master status, clashes, and access decide whether one route dominates or all remain partial.
At a glance
- Trigger
- One stem has two or more canonical combination partners
- Immediate effect
- Combination force is divided rather than duplicated
- Priority evidence
- Proximity, roots, season, and Day-Master role
- Boundary
- Competition does not prove romantic rivalry
- Candidate routes
- Every eligible partner stays visible in the evidence map
- Reported status
- Dominant route, divided contact, or unresolved competition
Map every exact partner before choosing a route
Confirm that each claimed contact belongs to the fixed Five-Combination table.
Show the shared stem, both partners, their pillars, and whether each is natal or supplied by timing.
- Require canonical pairs.
- Publish every eligible route.
Compare access without inventing an automatic winner
Adjacent contact generally has more access than a distant Year–Hour route.
Seasonal support, roots, and a Day-Master participant may change emphasis, but each criterion must be stated.
- Compare topology and support.
- Do not choose by narrative preference.
Reduce exclusivity before testing transformation
Rival access weakens a clean one-to-one combination and can leave both contacts partial.
Transformation still requires its own target-phase test after rivalry, clashes, and preserving roots are resolved.
- Dampen rather than duplicate force.
- Keep transformation as a second decision.
Keep technical rivalry out of personal accusations
爭合 does not prove an affair, jealousy, indecision, betrayal, or a workplace contest.
Use real evidence for relationships and disputes; the chart term only describes competing symbolic access.
- No third-party accusation.
- No event guarantee.
Sources and editorial basis
- 《三命通會》 (Sanming Tonghui)《三命通會》卷二十干合化與妒合諸論：同一干另遇合伴時須比較位置、根氣及能否專合A historical compilation covering stems and branches, Ten Gods, Nayin, Shen Sha, and multiple classical pattern systems.
- 《子平真詮》 (True Explanations of Ziping)《子平真詮評註》「論十干合而不合」：另有所合與遠近使相合效力分流，形式配對不等於唯一有效路徑A major reference for month-command, structure, and contextual Bazi interpretation.
- OpenFate Editorial Methodology爭合頁列出全部標準配對，再以距離、月令、根氣和競合排序，不用技術競爭推定第三者或現實衝突OpenFate separates deterministic chart calculation, traditional interpretation, and modern editorial explanation.