Heavenly Stem · 9 of 10
Ren壬
/ɹʌn/
Ren is the ninth of the ten Heavenly Stems, and it is the Ren in the name Da Liu Ren. It is yang Water and belongs to the north. Ren has no cell of its own on the chart: it lodges on Pig, so wherever the chart shows Pig, read Ren.
- 甲JiaYang Wood
- 乙YiYin Wood
- 丙BingYang Fire
- 丁DingYin Fire
- 戊WuYang Earth
- 己JiYin Earth
- 庚GengYang Metal
- 辛XinYin Metal
- 壬RenYang Water
- 癸GuiYin Water
Term details
| Chinese | 壬 |
|---|---|
| Pinyin | rén |
| Standard name | Ren |
| First mention | Ren (Yang Water 壬) |
| Order | 9 of 10 |
| Element | Water |
|---|---|
| Yin or yang | yang |
| Lodges on | Pig 亥 of the Earth Plate |
| Patron by day | Snake 巳 |
| Patron by night | Rabbit 卯 |
Etymology
The original sense of 壬 is unknown. Proposals include a spindle for thread, a carrying pole (the original form of 任 "to bear"), and a double-bladed axe.
The Shuowen Jiezi, the Han dynasty dictionary, assigns it to the north: "yin reaches its limit and yang is born", and reads the form as a person carrying a child, the source of 妊 "pregnant". After Pig comes Rat, and that is the order of birth. Ren is ninth among the ten Heavenly Stems.
The Old Chinese pronunciation is reconstructed as *n[ə]m (Baxter and Sagart). Middle Chinese was nyim, with an initial n far from today's rén.
Significations
- direction and time
- the north
Source text
Ren is the place the three lights do not reach. Ren's salary is at Pig, where the six yins are complete, and the light of sun and moon is dimmed on arriving there.
壬是三光不照之位，壬祿在亥，六陰俱足，日月之光至此損照。
Sources: 大六壬指南 卷一、卷二; 六壬直指 壬申日寅将、癸巳日亥将; 毕法赋注解 物类课