Four Pillars of Destiny (Bazi)
The Four Pillars of Destiny is known as 'eight characters of birth time', namely Sheng
Chen Ba Zi, shortly as Bazi in Pinyin. As an important component of Chinese fortune
telling, the 'four pillars' refers to the year, month, day and hour pillars of a birthday in
Chinese solar calendar and each pillar has two characters, eight characters (Ba Zi) in total.
Two characters in each pair are made up of one character from the Heavenly Stems and
one from the Earthly Branches.
The theory of the Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny is based on Yin Yang and Wu Xing,
and the pillars are represented on the basis of the heavenly stems & earthly branches.
Year Pillar
– Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly branches combines and create a sexagenary
cycle (See this chart to find the year pillar. If your birth year is not in the 60-year circle, it
can be calculated by extrapolation from the figures.) Here is a quick way to convert a
year in western calendar into the one represented by stem and branch.
Year's Heavenly Stem – Last number of a year will indicate the year's stem
Jia Yi Bing Ding Wu Ji Geng Xin Ren Gui
4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
Year's Earthly Branch – the reminder (1-11) of the year divided by 12 will indicate the
year's branch
Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu Wei Shen You Xu Hai
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0 1 2 3
Take the year 1985 for example. Last number 5 refers to Yi. 1985 divided by 12 equals
an integer 165 with a reminder of 5. Number 5 refers to Chou. So 1985 is Yi Chou year.
Month Pillar
– Month pillar has fixed early branches, lunar January to October represented by Yin,
Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai, Zi and Chou. The heavenly stem is
changing according to the year pillar. In fact, the division of two month branches is
usually up to the 24 solar terms. From the Beginning of Spring which regarded as the real
start of a year, the branch shifts every two solar terms. The representation by lunar
months is only an only an approximation.
Earthly Branches and 12 Months
Branch Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si
Lunar Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr.
Qingming-
Daxue- Xiaohan- Lichun- Jingzhe- Lixia-
Solar
Xiaohan Lichun Jingzhe Qingming Mangzhong
Lixia
Branch Wu Wei Shen You Xu Hai
Lunar May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct.
Mangzhou- Xiaoshu- Liqiu- Bailu- Hanlu- Lidong-
Solar
Xiaoshu Liqiu Bailu Hanlu Lidong Daxue
Day Pillar
– The recondition to know a day's stem and branch, one should remember the stem and
branch of the first day of that year in Chinese lunar calendar. Then, Chinese calendar has
bigger and lesser month, respectively having 30 or 29 days. One stem-branch cycle needs
60 days. If the stem and branch of the first day of that lunar month has been known, there
is a way to extrapolate any day within the month, by the different extrapolation rules
applied to bigger and lesser months.
Hour Pillar
– Similarly, the heavenly branches of the hour pillar is fixed. Jia hour refers to 23:00-
01:00, and so forth. The heavenly stem of each day is up to the stem and branch of the
day pillar.
Earthly Branches of 24 Hours (12 Shi Chen)
Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si
23:00-00:59 01:00-02:59 03:00-04:59 05:00-06:59 07:00-08:59 09:00-10:59
Wu Wei Shen You Xu Hai
11:00-12:59 13:00-14:59 15:00-16:59 17:00-18:59 19:00-20:59 21:00-22:59
Here is the Bazi chart interpretation for an individual born at 18:00, on April 12, 1985
(lunar February 23, 1985) in western calendar for example. Generally, a yellow calendar
book is necessary to help find the accurate pillars. Now, it is very easy to find an online
Ba Zi calculator.
Pillars Hour Day Month Year
Heavenly Stems Ding Ding Geng Yi
Wu Xing/Yin Yang Yin Fire Yin Fire Yang Metal Yin Wood
Earthly Branches You Chou Chen Chou
Wu Xing/Yin Yang Yin Metal Yin Earth Yang Earth Yin Earth
It has only eight characters, but the relation of the eight characters is very complicated.
According to the Bazi analysis theory, year pillar represents ancestors and parents; month
pillar represents brothers and sisters; day stem represents oneself; day branch represent
spouse; hour pillar represents offspring. In addition, the heavenly stems have their own
characteristics which are related to the Five Elements (Wu Xing). The missing element in
a baby's Bazi will be usually added into its name as an action of compensation. Among
the ten heavenly stems, there are compatible and opposite relations. While among the
earthly branches, the relations are more complex, combination, clash, restriction, harm,
etc. Abundant relationships may have accurate explanation on the luck of one self or
relatives.
The ancient people believed that birth time is a kind of Qi (aura, something of spirit).
People born in the Wei hour have an aura field of Wei. If the birth time is in Wei hour but
closing to Shen, the aura field has changed gradually to that of the Shen hour. The Four
Pillars of Destiny was created based on vague time, as the time division in ancient time
could not be accurate as it is in modern times. So, are there any errors if calculating the
Ba Zi because of the time difference? An individual is unique replying on the
combination of time, space and spirit. While the Four Pillars mainly talks about time,
occasionally space but non spirit. It is an outcome of Chinese metaphysics which is
special, interesting but the accurate is debatable.
- Last modified on Dec. 26, 2019 -
