Stage 3 · Term 29 of 34
Punishments 刑
Xíng
Three named branch groups that create friction without direct opposition — 寅巳申 (ungrateful), 丑未戌 (relying on power), 子卯 (disrespectful) — plus four self-punishing branches (辰, 午, 酉, 亥 when doubled). Subtler than clashes: tension among characters that "should" cooperate.
In the classics
The three named groups — 寅巳申 (ungrateful), 丑未戌 (relying on power), 子卯 (disrespectful) — plus the self-punishing branches (辰, 午, 酉, 亥 when doubled) are catalogued in 《三命通会》. The set here follows the engine-verified convention already live on this site.
In a chart
Punishment is friction without opposition: branches that should cooperate — some pairs even share harmony-frame membership — grinding instead. Classically it reads as internal costs: complications, entanglements, self-undermining patterns, disputes among allies rather than attacks from enemies. It is subtler than clash and easier to over-read; the tradition weighs a punishment seriously when it lands on loaded palaces or roots and lightly when it merely exists. Doubled self-punishing branches read as self-generated friction — the chart arguing with itself.
Worked example
A chart holding 寅 and 巳 carries two-thirds of the 寅巳申 punishment; an 申 year completes it. Note the same 巳申 pair sits in the combination table too — friction inside an attraction, which is exactly the flavour punishments describe.
Where beginners misread it
Treating punishments as karmic verdicts about character. They are interaction geometry — costs and complications, not moral judgments.
How this plays out in your chart depends on the whole structure — the chart-specific judgment taught in Yixin Academy's structured courses.
learnwithyixin.com/courses →What does Punishments mean in BaZi?
Three named branch groups that create friction without direct opposition — 寅巳申 (ungrateful), 丑未戌 (relying on power), 子卯 (disrespectful) — plus four self-punishing branches (辰, 午, 酉, 亥 when doubled). Subtler than clashes: tension among characters that "should" cooperate.