三刑 (Branch Penalties, Xiāng Xíng) — “Mutual Penalties”. Four classical penalty patterns where branches harm each other through structural conflict. The 刑 register indicates self-imposed difficulty, legal complications, and patterns of self-undoing.
BaZi 三刑: classical interaction patterns
Branch penalties (相刑) describe four structural patterns where earthly branches enter mutually-damaging configurations. Unlike clashes (which are forced from outside) or harms (which are passive friction), penalties carry a register of self-imposed difficulty — patterns where a person's own actions or structural choices produce harm. Classical doctrine reads penalties as one of the most-watched chart features for legal complications, professional ethics violations, and the kind of self-undoing that deserves chart-aware attention.
The branch penalties register is one of five classical interaction patterns (沖合刑害) that BaZi practitioners look for when reading a chart. The other four are clashes (沖), trines (三合), hexes (六合), penalties (三刑), and harms (六害). A complete chart reading identifies all activated configurations across the four pillars and reads them in the context of the Day Master, the Useful God, and the luck-pillar transitions.
Frequently asked questions
What are BaZi branch penalties?
Four classical penalty patterns where branches harm each other through structural conflict. The 刑 register indicates self-imposed difficulty, legal complications, and patterns of self-undoing. The classical 三刑 register is one of the five branch-interaction patterns BaZi practitioners look for when reading a chart's four pillars (year, month, day, hour).
How many branch penalties are there?
4 classical branch penalties are recognised in the standard BaZi doctrine. Each is listed above with its branch combination, classical register, and link to the dedicated reference page.
Are branch penalties always bad?
No. The default register is self-imposed difficulty, but the actual impact on a chart depends on which elements are involved, where in the chart they appear, what the Day Master needs, and which luck pillar is currently operating. Chart-aware reading is the only way to know whether a specific configuration helps or harms a specific chart.
BAZI 1:1 CONSULTATION
Get a chart-aware BaZi reading for your specific question.
Master Sean Chan’s BaZi consultation reads your full four-pillar chart against your specific question — including which branch clashes, trines, hexes, penalties, and harms are activating in your chart, and what they mean for the issue you’re working through.
Master Sean Chan’s free BaZi Calculator plots your full four-pillar chart from your birth date and time. Use it to see which branches are present in your chart and identify the interactions that may be activating.
Master Sean Chan’s BaZi Bootcamp covers the full doctrine of branch interactions — clashes, trines, hexes, penalties, harms — and how they activate in luck-pillar transitions. Teaches the methodology these reference pages deliberately omit.