火性炎上。次列五行之一。初无君相之名。唯主宰之帝。以神明为居。以照临为用。而同于炎上高明之施。此君之
所以为体也。然君虽以火为体。而火非君德。故君火不用。要其为不用者。以君有君之德以为用。而非以火用也。经曰。
君火以明。以明者。谓其照临之不爽也。诸家循其不用。见为徒立空名。遂改其文曰。君火以名。岂知此义者哉。地节
六位章曰。显明之右。君火之位也。君火之右。退行一步。莫知其故。此有说焉。显明之右。在卯辰之间。辰为天门。
乃帝之明堂。布政宣化之所。易所谓出震齐巽者也。凡帝之施化其德为大生。其用为太和。其体为纯干。备元亨利贞之
四德。以体元首出。虽主气于春分之一时。而终不夺春之施。此君之所以不用也。况以火用乎。然既不用矣。而曰退行
一步何也。少阴君火之后。为巳午之火令。使君以火用。则复行一步。巳午正当其令。岂复有相火之令。唯君不以火用。
而敛藏以退行于位前之寅。因起长生之丙火。使主巳午夏令。为夏官而治之。此相火所以欲其不愆于位。而代君之行事
也。自是而下。凡诸复行一步。悉皆臣职。则悉皆效用于君。此君之始终不以火用也。若夫司天。则君火既首出于甲子。
而该年则曰在天为热化。在地为苦化。居气为灼化。此既司化矣。而又曰不司气化。亦未有明其说者。岂知君火虽属子
午。而所谓热化苦化。一皆子午之化。而总非君主之司此气化也。君自穆清耳。岂遽改其德而司热令乎。所云灼化者。
君德在步而不宣。然威行自近而不可犯。故当其居气则有步逼之。逼之既近。安有不灼者耶。然此要非君火之用也。
火的性质是向上燃烧。它位列五行之一。起初并没有“君火”和“相火”的名称。只有作为主宰的帝王，以神明为居所，以光照为功用，而同于向上燃烧、高明广大的施予。这就是君火的本体。然而，君火虽然以火为本体，但火并不是君德的体现。所以君火不直接使用火的功能。之所以说不使用，是因为君主有君主的德行来发挥功用，而不是依靠火的功能。经典说：“君火以明。”所谓“以明”，是指其光照没有差错。各家顺着它“不用”的说法，认为只是徒然设立了一个空名，于是修改经文说：“君火以名。”哪里知道这个深意呢？《素问·六节藏象论》中说：“显明之右，君火之位也。君火之右，退行一步。”没有人知道其中的缘故。这里有一种解释：显明的右边，位于卯和辰之间。辰是天门，是帝王的明堂，是颁布政令、宣化德行的地方。也就是《易经》所说的“震卦出而巽卦齐”。凡是帝王的施化，其德行是大生，其功用是太和，其本体是纯阳（乾），具备元、亨、利、贞四种德行。它以元首之身出现，虽然主司春季分时的气运，但最终不夺取春季的施化之功。这就是君火不直接发挥作用的原因。何况是用火的功能呢？既然已经不用了，为什么说“退行一步”呢？在少阴君火之后，是巳午之火的主令时期。如果让君火用火的功能，就会再向前行一步，那么巳午正当其令，哪里还有相火的主令呢？正因为君火不以火的功能为主，而是收敛隐藏，退行到位置之前的寅位，从而兴起长生的丙火（相火），使其主司巳午夏季的时令，作为夏官来治理。这就是相火想要不偏离位置，而代替君主行事的原因。从此往下，凡是各种“复行一步”的情况，都是臣子的职责，都效用于君主。这就是君火从头到尾都不以火功能为主的原因。至于司天之气，君火既然首先在甲子年出现，那么该年就说在天为热化，在地为苦化，居气为灼化。这既然已经主管化育了，却又说“不司气化”，也没有人能阐明其中的说法。哪里知道君火虽然属于子午，但所谓的热化、苦化，全都是子午的化育，总不是君主亲自司管这种气化。君主自身保持清静无为罢了，怎么会改变他的德行去主管热令呢？所说的“灼化”，是因为君德的所在步骤并不宣扬显露，然而威严自然从近处施行而不可侵犯。所以当处于居气的位置时，就有逼近之势。逼近既已靠近，怎么会有不灼热的呢？然而这终究不是君火的功能表现。
The nature of fire is to blaze upward. It is listed as one of the Five Phases (Wu Xing). Initially, there were no names for "Monarch Fire" (Jun Huo) and "Ministerial Fire" (Xiang Huo). Only the Sovereign Emperor, residing in Spirit-Mind (Shen Ming) and utilizing illumination, shares in the blazing, high, and bright application. This constitutes the substance of Monarch Fire. However, although Monarch Fire takes fire as its substance, fire itself does not represent the virtue of the Monarch. Therefore, Monarch Fire does not employ the functional aspect of fire. The reason it does not employ it is that the Monarch utilizes his own virtue rather than the function of fire. The Classic states: "Monarch Fire achieves clarity through illumination." By "illumination," it means that its illuminating presence is without error. Various schools, following the notion of "non-action," viewed it as merely an empty title and thus altered the text to read: "Monarch Fire achieves distinction through name." How could they understand this meaning? In the Chapter on Six Steps and Six Qi (Di Jie Liu Wei Zhang), it says: "To the right of Xianming is the position of Monarch Fire. To the right of Monarch Fire, it retreats one step." No one knows the reason. There is an explanation: To the right of Xianming lies between Mao and Chen. Chen is the Heavenly Gate, the Bright Hall of the Emperor, where policies are issued and transformations are proclaimed, corresponding to the I Ching's concept of "Zhen emerges and Xun aligns." In all the Emperor's applications of transformation, his virtue is Great Generation, his function is Supreme Harmony, and his substance is Pure Qian (Heaven), possessing the four virtues of Yuan, Heng, Li, and Zhen. Emerging as the Head, although he governs the qi at the spring equinox, he ultimately does not usurp the generative action of spring. This is why Monarch Fire does not actively function. How much less so by employing the function of fire? Since it does not function, why does it say "retreats one step"? After Shao Yin Monarch Fire comes the fire command of Si and Wu. If the Monarch were to use the function of fire, he would advance one step further, making Si and Wu directly under his command, leaving no room for Ministerial Fire's command. Precisely because Monarch Fire does not use the function of fire, but instead gathers and hides, retreating to the Yin position before his station, he initiates the Born-Long Bing Fire (Ministerial Fire) to govern the summer command of Si and Wu, acting as the Summer Official to manage it. This is why Ministerial Fire desires not to err from its position and to act on behalf of the Monarch. From then on, all instances of "advancing one step" are the duties of ministers, all serving the Monarch. Thus, Monarch Fire never uses the function of fire from beginning to end. Regarding the ruling qi of Heaven, since Monarch Fire first appears in the Jia Zi year, that year is described as having heat transformation in heaven, bitterness transformation in earth, and scorching transformation in the resident qi. Although this involves governing transformation, it is also said that it does not govern qi transformation, yet no one has clearly explained this. How could they know that although Monarch Fire belongs to Zi and Wu, the so-called heat and bitterness transformations are entirely transformations of Zi and Wu, and altogether do not constitute the Monarch personally governing qi transformation. The Monarch remains in serene clarity; how could he change his virtue to govern the heat command? The so-called "scorching transformation" occurs because the Monarch's virtue resides in the step but is not openly displayed; however, his authority naturally extends from near and cannot be violated. Therefore, when in the resident qi position, there is a pressure approaching from nearby. Once approached closely, how can there be no scorching? Yet this ultimately is not the function of Monarch Fire.