Pengzu taboos: the two sayings beside a date
The Pengzu taboos are short traditional warnings selected by a day’s Ganzhi, its stem-and-branch name. In the daily pair, the first saying belongs to the heavenly stem and the second to the earthly branch. They are drawn from ten stem sayings and twelve branch sayings. The title Pengzu Baiji (彭祖百忌), literally “Pengzu’s hundred taboos,” is not a count of the sayings displayed beside one date.
How a date selects its two sayings
The selection is direct. A Jia day takes the Jia saying, regardless of which branch accompanies it. A Zi day takes the Zi saying, regardless of its stem. The Atlas selects both from the ordinary civil-day stem and branch, without using the month or the reader’s birth details.
The stem saying repeats every ten days and the branch saying every twelve. Their complete pair returns after sixty days, the least common multiple of ten and twelve. The repeated warnings follow the cycle’s structure rather than a fresh assessment of circumstances on each date.
The complete twenty-two-saying reference
The tables retain the Chinese wording of the almanac’s twenty-two sayings. Their warnings and threatened consequences belong to the traditional verses. Several terse expressions need the explanation following the tables.
The ten heavenly stems
| Stem | Chinese saying | English reading |
|---|---|---|
| Jia 甲 | 甲不开仓财物耗散 | On a Jia day, do not open a granary: wealth and goods will be depleted. |
| Yi 乙 | 乙不栽植千株不长 | On a Yi day, do not plant: a thousand plants will fail to grow. |
| Bing 丙 | 丙不修灶必见灾殃 | On a Bing day, do not repair a stove: calamity will follow. |
| Ding 丁 | 丁不剃头头必生疮 | On a Ding day, do not shave the head: sores will develop. |
| Wu 戊 | 戊不受田田主不祥 | On a Wu day, do not acquire fields: misfortune will befall their owner. |
| Ji 己 | 己不破券二比并亡 | On a Ji day, do not break a contract document: both parties will suffer ruin. |
| Geng 庚 | 庚不经络织机虚张 | On a Geng day, do not set up weaving: the loom will stand idle. |
| Xin 辛 | 辛不合酱主人不尝 | On a Xin day, do not prepare fermented sauce: the owner will not taste it. |
| Ren 壬 | 壬不泱水更难提防 | On a Ren day, do not release water: it will be harder to guard against danger. |
| Gui 癸 | 癸不词讼理弱敌强 | On a Gui day, do not engage in litigation: your case will be weak and your opponent strong. |
The twelve earthly branches
| Branch | Chinese saying | English reading |
|---|---|---|
| Zi 子 | 子不问卜自惹祸殃 | On a Zi day, do not seek divination: you will bring misfortune upon yourself. |
| Chou 丑 | 丑不冠带主不还乡 | On a Chou day, do not hold a cap-and-sash ceremony: the person will not return home. |
| Yin 寅 | 寅不祭祀神鬼不尝 | On a Yin day, do not make ritual offerings: spirits will not partake. |
| Mao 卯 | 卯不穿井水泉不香 | On a Mao day, do not dig a well: its water will not be sweet. |
| Chen 辰 | 辰不哭泣必主重丧 | On a Chen day, do not weep: further bereavement will follow. |
| Si 巳 | 巳不远行财物伏藏 | On a Si day, do not travel far: wealth and belongings will be hidden away. |
| Wu 午 | 午不苫盖屋主更张 | On a Wu day, do not thatch or roof a house: its owner will change. |
| Wei 未 | 未不服药毒气入肠 | On a Wei day, do not take medicine: poison will enter the intestines. |
| Shen 申 | 申不安床鬼祟入房 | On a Shen day, do not position a bed: harmful spirits will enter the room. |
| You 酉 | 酉不会客醉坐颠狂 | On a You day, do not receive guests: drunkenness will lead to wild behaviour. |
| Xu 戌 | 戌不吃犬作怪上床 | On a Xu day, do not eat dog meat: uncanny troubles will reach the bed. |
| Hai 亥 | 亥不嫁娶不利新郎 | On a Hai day, do not marry: it will be unfavourable for the bridegroom. |
Wu 戊, the fifth stem, and Wu 午, the seventh branch, are different characters and select different sayings. English without characters or tone marks can obscure that distinction.
Difficult wording and the name Pengzu
Several sayings refer to activities more specific than their shortest English equivalents suggest. The Geng saying’s jingluo (经络) belongs to a weaving context: its second half explicitly names the loom. Reading it as a reference to acupuncture meridians would miss that context.
The cap and sash in the Chou saying refer to ceremonial dress and a rite of assuming status, often understood as a coming-of-age ceremony. The wording is broader than ordinary getting dressed. The Ji saying concerns a contract document, but the terse phrase poquan (破券) does not unambiguously identify the documentary act. “Break a contract document” should not be treated as a precise modern legal instruction.
The Ren saying contains the uncommon expression 泱水, yangshui. “Release water” is a provisional reading, and the exact operation remains uncertain. The Chinese wording is retained rather than silently replacing it with a more familiar expression.
Pengzu is a legendary figure renowned for extraordinary longevity. He appears in the Zhuangzi, in “Xiaoyao You,” in that role. His name gives the sayings their traditional attribution, but it does not establish that he composed this twenty-two-saying collection.
Pengzu taboos and activity lists
Pengzu sayings depend on the day’s stem and branch. Daily Yi and Ji, the suitable activities and activities to avoid, also depend on the month’s stem-and-branch name. A repeated Pengzu pair therefore need not be accompanied by an identical activity list in another month.
Some prohibitions overlap with longer date-selection rules. Installing a bed on Shen days, marrying on Hai days and roofing on Wu 午 days also appear among the restrictions in the Xieji Bianfang Shu. Those longer entries include other conditions, so the short sayings do not reproduce the complete rules for the activity.
The medicine saying is a historical taboo, not medical guidance. It should not be used to postpone necessary treatment or stop prescribed medicine.