Indirect Resource

What Indirect Resource represents

Indirect Resource supplies support to a Day Master that needs nourishment. This generating relationship underlies its associations with protection, education and knowledge. A teacher's guidance or knowledge passed down in books offers an analogy: something outside the learner helps that person develop. Direct and Indirect Resource belong to the same Resource group and share these meanings.1, 2

Indirect Resource’s support can accompany restraint. Jia Wood generates Bing Fire, its Eating God. Ren Water can generate Jia but also control Bing: it supports Jia while restraining the Fire Jia produces. This second relationship explains the name Dao Shi, or overturning Food. Whether useful Eating God activity is damaged depends on what Bing was doing.1

“Indirect” identifies the shared polarity. Assigning it a fixed meaning such as an unconventional profession, isolation or genius does not explain what it does in a particular arrangement.

How to find Indirect Resource

For a Jia Day Master, Ren generates it through Water generating Wood. Both are yang, so Ren is Indirect Resource. With a yin-Wood Yi Day Master, the same Ren becomes Direct Resource; Yi's Indirect Resource is yin-Water Gui.

A branch’s contained stems are its hidden stems, where Indirect Resource can also appear. Hai contains Ren and Jia. Relative to a Jia Day Master, Ren generates Jia and shares its yang polarity, making it Indirect Resource; the other Jia is Friend. Comparing the two hidden stems separately gives two different names.1

Indirect Resource’s support: Water nourishing Wood

Supporting the self means supporting the Day Master. For Jia Wood, Ren Water’s generation is Indirect Resource’s direct support. If Geng Metal is also present, it controls Wood and shares Jia’s yang polarity, making it Seven Killings. Geng can also generate Ren, creating another relationship:

Geng Metal (Seven Killings) → Ren Water (Indirect Resource) → Jia Wood (Day Master)

Geng generating Ren and Ren generating Jia is called Killings–Resource generation. Resource receives generation from Seven Killings and passes support to the Day Master. This path can supply needed help when Jia is weak and Geng strong. Ren must itself be able to act: Earth controls Water, so heavy Earth control may limit its support for Wood.1, 2

If Jia and Ren are already strong, more Water may be unnecessary. Fire generated by Jia can instead give Wood an outlet. Eating God and Hurting Officer are the two relationships generated by the Day Master, collectively called Output. A suitable productive release through them is called expressing refinement; Zi Ping Zhen Quan considers this function with both kinds of Resource.3

Indirect Resource controlling Eating God: Dao Shi and the Owl

Bing Eating God is generated by Jia, but can itself generate Wu Earth or control Geng Metal. Wu, controlled by Jia, is Indirect Wealth; Geng, controlling Jia, is Seven Killings. Bing can therefore generate Wealth or restrain Killings, and Ren controlling Bing may affect either function:

Damage by Indirect Resource to an Eating God serving a needed function is called the Owl taking away Food. San Ming Tong Hui also calls Dao Shi the Owl and distinguishes cases without Eating God, which it discusses simply as Indirect Resource. Suitable restraint on Indirect Resource may also prevent harm to Eating God. Indirect Resource names a relationship; taking away Food describes its effect on Eating God. Finding Ren alone does not establish both.1

The reverse case matters too. If the Day Master is weak and Eating God excessively strong, continued output is the problem. Resource can then support the Day Master while moderating Eating God. Qian Li Ming Gao distinguishes these opposing situations. The issue is whether Eating God was excessive or insufficient, rather than whether the phrase “taking away Food” sounds unfavorable.2

What changes when Indirect Wealth controls Indirect Resource

For Jia, Wu Earth is Indirect Wealth and Ren Water is Indirect Resource. Earth controls Water. If excessive Ren is obstructing a needed Bing Eating God, Wu's restraint on Ren may reduce that interference. This is the use of Wealth to control the Owl.

If Jia instead depends on a relatively weak Ren for support, Wu controlling Ren damages a needed source of nourishment. The same phase relationship can curb excessive Resource or impair essential support.2, 3

Indirect and Direct Resource compared

Indirect Resource generates the Day Master with the same polarity; Direct Resource does so with the opposite polarity. Both can support the Day Master, receive Officer or Seven Killings energy, and control Output. The distinction does not divide them into a harmful and a beneficial star.

Indirect Resource particularly requires attention to the Food relationship: what Eating God is doing, whether Resource obstructs it, and whether restraining it is actually needed. Direct Resource also controls Output—for example, Gui Water controls Fire—so this controlling capacity does not belong exclusively to Indirect Resource.

FAQ

Can Indirect Resource be used with Hurting Officer?

Yes. Pairing Hurting Officer with Resource uses Resource to support the Day Master while restraining excessive Hurting Officer. Both Direct and Indirect Resource can perform these functions. A weak Day Master and strong Hurting Officer may need them; slight Hurting Officer with an already strong Day Master may instead have its useful expression suppressed by more Resource.

Does abundant Indirect Resource imply advanced education or unusual interests?

The count only records occurrences of the relationship. Its function also depends on season, support within branches and surrounding interactions. Learning is one traditional association, but neither the association nor the count can be converted into a qualification or a field of study.

References

• Wan Min Ying, San Ming Tong Hui, Siku Quanshu edition, vol. 5: Resource; Dao Shi; Indirect Officer.
• Wei Qian Li, Qian Li Ming Gao: Six Gods.
• Zi Ping Zhen Quan, with Xu Le Wu’s commentary: Resource.