The Classics · 3 of 4
Zi Ping Zhen Quan 子平真诠
structure, stated clearly
What it is
The Qing-dynasty text (by Shen Xiaozhan, 18th century) that gave the structure doctrine its definitive form — and the book most modern courses on 格局 are quietly teaching. If Yuan Hai Zi Ping is the founding compilation and Di Tian Sui the poetry, Zhen Quan ("the true explanation") is the textbook: systematic, argued, example-driven.
What's in it
One organising move, executed for a whole book: take the month command (月令) — the dominant qi of the birth month — as the chart's frame, name the structure after the god it projects, then classify every structure by what completes it and what breaks it (成格 and 败格), and every rescue by what restores it (救应). Officer structures want protection and purity; Killing structures want control; output structures want a discharge path. The book is a decision tree written in Qing prose.
One famous idea
用神专求月令 — "the useful god is sought first in the month command." Not the whole of later doctrine (other schools broaden the search, and the term 用神 itself is used differently across texts — a genuine, known divergence), but the clearest single starting rule ever stated for reading structure.
How to read it today
First among the four, once the glossary's Stage 2 makes sense — its logic is the most transferable to modern minds. Its limits are also real: charts the month-command frame fits badly are exactly where teachers earn their keep. The eight regular structures on this site's glossary follow its scheme; how the Yixin Academy curriculum extends the frame to hard cases is lineage material.
Want this text unpacked line by line, against a real chart?
learnwithyixin.com/courses →What is a BaZi structure (格局)?
A chart's organising pattern, usually named from the dominant god in the month branch — Zi Ping Zhen Quan is the classical text that gave this doctrine its definitive, systematic form.
Is Zi Ping Zhen Quan beginner-friendly?
The friendliest of the four classics, once the fundamentals (the glossary's Stage 2) make sense — its logic is the most transferable to a modern reader.