火性炎上。次列五行之一。初无君相之名。唯主宰之帝。以神明为居。以照临为用。而同于炎上高明之施。此君之
所以为体也。然君虽以火为体。而火非君德。故君火不用。要其为不用者。以君有君之德以为用。而非以火用也。经曰。
君火以明。以明者。谓其照临之不爽也。诸家循其不用。见为徒立空名。遂改其文曰。君火以名。岂知此义者哉。地节
六位章曰。显明之右。君火之位也。君火之右。退行一步。莫知其故。此有说焉。显明之右。在卯辰之间。辰为天门。
乃帝之明堂。布政宣化之所。易所谓出震齐巽者也。凡帝之施化其德为大生。其用为太和。其体为纯干。备元亨利贞之
四德。以体元首出。虽主气于春分之一时。而终不夺春之施。此君之所以不用也。况以火用乎。然既不用矣。而曰退行
一步何也。少阴君火之后。为巳午之火令。使君以火用。则复行一步。巳午正当其令。岂复有相火之令。唯君不以火用。
而敛藏以退行于位前之寅。因起长生之丙火。使主巳午夏令。为夏官而治之。此相火所以欲其不愆于位。而代君之行事
也。自是而下。凡诸复行一步。悉皆臣职。则悉皆效用于君。此君之始终不以火用也。若夫司天。则君火既首出于甲子。
而该年则曰在天为热化。在地为苦化。居气为灼化。此既司化矣。而又曰不司气化。亦未有明其说者。岂知君火虽属子
午。而所谓热化苦化。一皆子午之化。而总非君主之司此气化也。君自穆清耳。岂遽改其德而司热令乎。所云灼化者。
君德在步而不宣。然威行自近而不可犯。故当其居气则有步逼之。逼之既近。安有不灼者耶。然此要非君火之用也。
The nature of fire is to blaze upward. It is listed as one of the Five Phases (Wu Xing). Initially, there were no names for "Monarch Fire" (Jun Huo) and "Ministerial Fire" (Xiang Huo). Only the Sovereign Emperor, residing in Spirit-Mind (Shen Ming) and utilizing illumination, shares in the blazing, high, and bright application. This constitutes the substance of Monarch Fire. However, although Monarch Fire takes fire as its substance, fire itself does not represent the virtue of the Monarch. Therefore, Monarch Fire does not employ the functional aspect of fire. The reason it does not employ it is that the Monarch utilizes his own virtue rather than the function of fire. The Classic states: "Monarch Fire achieves clarity through illumination." By "illumination," it means that its illuminating presence is without error. Various schools, following the notion of "non-action," viewed it as merely an empty title and thus altered the text to read: "Monarch Fire achieves distinction through name." How could they understand this meaning? In the Chapter on Six Steps and Six Qi (Di Jie Liu Wei Zhang), it says: "To the right of Xianming is the position of Monarch Fire. To the right of Monarch Fire, it retreats one step." No one knows the reason. There is an explanation: To the right of Xianming lies between Mao and Chen. Chen is the Heavenly Gate, the Bright Hall of the Emperor, where policies are issued and transformations are proclaimed, corresponding to the I Ching's concept of "Zhen emerges and Xun aligns." In all the Emperor's applications of transformation, his virtue is Great Generation, his function is Supreme Harmony, and his substance is Pure Qian (Heaven), possessing the four virtues of Yuan, Heng, Li, and Zhen. Emerging as the Head, although he governs the qi at the spring equinox, he ultimately does not usurp the generative action of spring. This is why Monarch Fire does not actively function. How much less so by employing the function of fire? Since it does not function, why does it say "retreats one step"? After Shao Yin Monarch Fire comes the fire command of Si and Wu. If the Monarch were to use the function of fire, he would advance one step further, making Si and Wu directly under his command, leaving no room for Ministerial Fire's command. Precisely because Monarch Fire does not use the function of fire, but instead gathers and hides, retreating to the Yin position before his station, he initiates the Born-Long Bing Fire (Ministerial Fire) to govern the summer command of Si and Wu, acting as the Summer Official to manage it. This is why Ministerial Fire desires not to err from its position and to act on behalf of the Monarch. From then on, all instances of "advancing one step" are the duties of ministers, all serving the Monarch. Thus, Monarch Fire never uses the function of fire from beginning to end. Regarding the ruling qi of Heaven, since Monarch Fire first appears in the Jia Zi year, that year is described as having heat transformation in heaven, bitterness transformation in earth, and scorching transformation in the resident qi. Although this involves governing transformation, it is also said that it does not govern qi transformation, yet no one has clearly explained this. How could they know that although Monarch Fire belongs to Zi and Wu, the so-called heat and bitterness transformations are entirely transformations of Zi and Wu, and altogether do not constitute the Monarch personally governing qi transformation. The Monarch remains in serene clarity; how could he change his virtue to govern the heat command? The so-called "scorching transformation" occurs because the Monarch's virtue resides in the step but is not openly displayed; however, his authority naturally extends from near and cannot be violated. Therefore, when in the resident qi position, there is a pressure approaching from nearby. Once approached closely, how can there be no scorching? Yet this ultimately is not the function of Monarch Fire.