Decline (Shuai) — The Sixth of the Twelve Stages
In a Nutshell
The sixth of the Twelve Stages: the turning point where the Five Elements' qi passes from flourishing to fading — Jia Wood's Decline falls on Chen.
Quick facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Stage position | Sixth of the Twelve Stages |
| Jia Wood's Decline | Chen |
| Yi Wood's Decline | Chou (yin stems count backward) |
What is Decline (Shuai)?
Decline is the sixth stage of the "Twelve Stages," marking the turning point where the Five Elements' qi shifts from flourishing to fading. The counting is yang-forward, yin-backward: take Jia Wood — Jia's Birth is at Hai, and counting forward, Hai is Birth, Zi is Bath, Chou is Coming of Age, Yin is Arrival, Mao is Peak, and the sixth position, Chen, is Decline. For the yin stem Yi Wood, Birth is at Wu, and counting backward — Wu is Birth, Si is Bath, Chen is Coming of Age, Mao is Arrival, Yin is Peak — the sixth position, Chou, is Decline. In other words, a Jia Wood Day Master meeting Chen, or an Yi Wood Day Master meeting Chou, is the Day Master traveling into the "Decline" ground.
The image of "Decline" is flourishing past its height: like fruit whose ripeness has peaked and whose qi begins to turn inward — from outward display to inward gathering. It sits between Peak (fifth) and Sickness (seventh), the transitional stage where energy turns from full to fading. When traditionally assessing the Day Master's Strength (Prosperous/Weak), "Decline" is read as the position where the Five Elements' qi begins to weaken — but strength calls must weigh the month branch and the whole chart, never a single stage alone.
The complete order of the Twelve Stages and the yang-forward / yin-backward rule are set out in the *San Ming Tong Hui* (Book 2, on the Five Elements lodging in the twelve palaces) and the *Zi Ping Zhen Quan* ("On the Life and Death of Yin and Yang"); the original passages are quoted below. MoZhu's Twelve Stages lookup tool uses the yang-forward / yin-backward counting and shows the stage of each of the Four Pillars' stems.
"Decline" describes only one link in the Five Elements' cycle of strength — one auxiliary concept for reading the Day Master's strength. This page introduces the stage's meaning, the lookup method, and the classical account, and draws no inferences from it.
Classical sources
"The Five Elements lodge in twelve palaces: Birth, Bathing, Cap and Belt, Official Post, Emperor, Decline, Sickness, Death, Grave, Extinction, Conception, Nurture, circling without end."
Plain words: The fixed order of the Twelve Stages.
Source: *San Ming Tong Hui*, Book 2, "On the Prosperity and Decline of the Five Elements and Their Lodging in the Twelve Palaces" — original: 五行寄生十二宫：长生、沐浴、冠带、临官、帝旺、衰、病、死、墓、绝、胎、养，循环无端，周而复始。
"The San Ming Ti Yao says: … ninth, Decline: the forms of things decline, as a person's qi declines."
Plain words: Decline is when strength starts to wane. Jia Wood is in Decline at Chen, Yi Wood at Chou.
Source: *San Ming Tong Hui*, Book 2, "On the Prosperity and Decline of the Five Elements and Their Lodging in the Twelve Palaces", quoting the *San Ming Ti Yao* — original: 《三命提要》云：……九曰衰，万物形衰，如人之气衰也。
"Yang gathers and advances, so it runs forward; yin disperses and retreats, so it runs backward. That is why Birth, Bathing and the rest differ, forward for yang and backward for yin."
Plain words: Yang stems count forward, yin stems backward, so the two stems of one element land on different branches.
Source: *Zi Ping Zhen Quan*, "On the Life and Death of Yin and Yang" — original: 阳主聚，以进为进，故主顺；阴主散，以退为退，故主逆。长生沐浴等项，所以有阳顺阴逆之殊也。
*For entertainment purposes only.*