Learn how hidden combinations are defined through visible and concealed stems, why schools use different lists, and how to avoid double-counting them.
Chinese
暗合
Editorially reviewed:
Overview
Hidden Combination (暗合) describes a combination inferred through concealed access, usually between a visible stem and a compatible hidden stem or through a branch’s hidden-stem structure. It is not one universally fixed pair table. A reliable page must declare its school convention, identify the actual stems and branches, test access and roots, and keep the result below a clear visible combination unless stronger evidence exists.
At a glance
Mechanism
Combination inferred through concealed stem access
Convention
Pair lists differ across schools and software
Evidence
Actual hidden stems, roots, access, and chart layer
Weight
Usually below a clear visible stem combination
Double count
Do not score one contact as several independent relations
Boundary
Hidden does not mean secret behavior or affair
Declare the hidden-combination rule set
State whether the system recognizes visible-to-hidden stem contact, branch-based shorthand, or a narrower list.
Without that declaration, another reader cannot reproduce the result.
Publish the school convention.
Name the underlying stems.
Verify concealed access and support
Locate the branch containing the hidden stem and assess whether that stem has seasonal, rooted, or exposed support.
A buried, remote, or heavily damaged stem should not receive the force of a visible adjacent pair.
Show the hidden-stem path.
Scale force to accessibility.
Avoid double-counting the same evidence
The same branches may already participate in harmony, clash, punishment, harm, or break.
Record one underlying contact once, then describe its modifiers instead of adding several scores for the same symbols.
Map shared evidence.
Separate labels from independent force.
Reject secret-event literalization
暗合 does not prove an affair, hidden contract, conspiracy, private income, or secret illness.
Such claims require direct evidence; the chart term only describes a concealed technical route.
