二十四山向盤是由八干、四維、十二支組成八卦分佈八方，一卦統三山，共二十四山。八干為甲、乙、丙、丁、庚、辛、壬、癸。四維為乾、坤、艮、巽。十二支為子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥。

中宮為戊己土，五黃皇極。

八卦配三山：

坎配壬子癸三山   離配丙午丁三山

艮配丑艮寅三山   坤配未坤申三山

震配甲卯乙三山   兌配庚酉辛三山

巽配辰巽巳三山   乾配戌乾亥三山

 

二十四山又分天地人三元，天元龍領卦之中氣名曰父母，地元龍不與父母同行名曰逆子，人元龍與父母同行名曰順子。

 

二十四山各有陰陽之排列。然十二地支之陽陰何謂，原因是受地支所藏之天干陰陽所影響。

地支所藏天干口訣：

子宮癸水在其中，

丑癸辛金己土同，

寅宮甲木兼丙戊，

卯宮乙木獨相逢，

辰藏乙戊三分癸，

巳中庚金丙戊叢，

午宮丁火並己土，

未宮乙己丁共宗，

申位庚金壬水戊，

酉宮辛字獨豐隆，

戌宮辛金及丁戊，

亥藏壬甲是真踪。

 

 

辰戌原係陽土，與戊比和；丑未原係陰土，與己比和。同時受乙癸辛丁及癸辛丁乙之分變，使之無力納於天地之中。

 

至於八天干是原本它屬之陰陽而已。

甲為陽木，乙為陰木，丙為陽火，丁為陰火，庚為陽金，辛為陰金，壬為陽水，癸為陰水。

四維之乾、坤、艮、巽。四位都為陽，此係河洛之大用，如一六合之為七，為奇數屬陽，寄乾。如二七合之為九，為奇數屬陽，寄坤。如三八合之為十一，為奇數屬陽，寄艮。如四九合之為十三，為奇數屬陽，寄巽。

 

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Twenty-four mountains

 

(Translator’s note: Twenty-four directional positions are poetically known as “24 mountains”. They are not referred to the mountains in the landscape. It is used to describe the orientation, which is illustrated by the sitting and facing directions respectively. Co-incidentally, the sitting direction at the back is also known as the “mountain” position, and the orientation in the front is also called the “facing” direction or “water” direction. They are usually measured by using the Lo Pan after aligning its edge with that of a building.)

 

The name of 8 heavenly stems, 4 trigrams and 12 terrestrial branches are employed for the nomenclature of these 24 mountains. They are located in the eight trigram sectors in the eight directional positions respectively. Each t trigram sector thus governs three mountains.

 

The 8 heavenly stems are Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Geng, Xin, Ren and Gui.

The 4 trigrams, located at the inter-cardinal positions are Qian, Gen, Sun and Kun.

The 12 terrestrial branches are Zi, Chou, Ren, Mou, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai.

The centre is occupied by the heavenly stems Wu and Ji, which belongs to the earth element, and is known as the “ultimate supreme”.

What are the mountains in each trigram?

 

The table below shows the mountains in each trigram

 

Trigram	Mountains
Kan	Stem Ren	Branch Zi,	Stem Gui
Li	Stem Bing	Branch Wu	stem Ding
Gen	Branch Chou	Trigram Gen	Branch Yin
Kun	Branch Wei	Trigram Kun	Branch Shen
Zhen	Stem Jia	Branch Mao	Stem Yi
Dui	Stem Geng	Branch You	Stem Xin
Sun	Branch Chen	Trigram Sun	Branch Si
Qian	Branch Xu	Trigram Qian	Branch Hai

 

Each of the 24 mountains is allocated to a defined Yuan position of the eight trigram sectors. The three-yuan positions are the “heaven”, “earth” and “man” yuans. The heaven-yuan represents the mainstream vital energy of the trigram and is called the “parents”. It directs the order in allocating stars in the magic square. The earth-yuan proceeds in the direction against that of the “parents”, so it is called the “rebellious son”. The man-yuan follows the direction of the “parents” and is called the “obedient son”.

Kan坎	Ren壬	Zi,子	Gui癸
Li 離	Bing丙	Wu午	Ding丁
Gen 艮	Chou丑	Gen艮	Yin寅

 

Kun 坤	Wei未	Kun坤	Shen申
Zhen震	Jia甲	Mao卯	Yi乙
Dui 兑	Geng庚	You酉	Xin辛
Sun巽	Chen辰	Sun巽	Si巳
Qian乾	Xu戌	Qian乾	Hai亥

 

yin陰， yang陽

rebellious son逆子，parents父母，obedient son順子

heaven天 ，earth地 ， man人

Each mountain has its own yin-yang property. The yin-yang attribute of the terrestrial branches, however, is more complicated as it is influenced by the type of hidden heavenly stems. The following table enlists the 12 terrestrial branches and their hidden heavenly stems.

 

Terrestrial branch	Hidden heavenly stems
Zi	Gui
Chou	Gui, Xin, Ji
Yin	Jia, Bing, stem-Wu
Mao	Yi
Chen	Yi, Gui, stem-Wu
Gi	Bing, Geng, stem-Wu
Wu	Ding, Ji
Wei	Yi, Ding, Ji
Shen	Ren, Geng, stem-Wu
You	Xin
Xu	Xin, Ding, stem-Wu
Hai	Ren, Jia

 

Branches Chen and Xu have yang-earth attributes. They are supported by Stem-Wu. Similarly, Branches Chou and Wei have yin-earth attributes. They are supported by Stem-Ji. However, as these terrestrial branches also receive mixed influences from Yi, Gui, Xin, Ding, and Gui, Xin, Ding, Yi, they are not qualified to settle in the centre.

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The yin-yang and five element properties of the 8 heavenly stems are listed as below.

 

Heavenly stem	Yin-yang and five element property
Jia	Yang Wood
Yi	Yin Wood
Bing	Yang Fire
Ding	Yin Fire
Geng	Yang Metal
Xin	Yin Metal
Ren	Yang Water
Gui	Yin Water

 

The trigrams Qian, Kun, Gen, Sun are in the four inter-cardinal positions and they all  have yang property. With reference to the Yellow River diagram and the Luo Shu Chart, 1 and 6 will combine when they are in conjunction. This results in 7, which is an uneven (yang) number, and affiliated in the Qian position. Similarly, 2 and 7 combine as 9, which is also an uneven (yang) number, affiliated in the Kun position. 3 and 8 combine as 11, which is an uneven (yang) number, affiliated in the Gen position. 4 and 9 combine as 13 which is an uneven (yang) number, affiliated in the Sun position.

Each mountain occupies 15 degrees in the compass. For a direction lying in the central portion of a mountain that is within 3.5 degrees from midline, it is within the principal direction. However, if the direction lies beyond 3.5 degrees from midline and up to the border of a neighbouring mountain, it is called substitute direction.