Type of BaZi Four Pillars of Destiny charts and its Terminology
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
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There are more than a few thousand names being given to BaZi charts.
It can be based on the name of “Useful god”, the sitting star at the spouse palace, the sitting star at the month branch, wood frame combination and so on.
For example, when the branches form a wood frame it is called Extreme wood曲直格, form a Fire frame it is called Extreme fire炎上格, form a Earth frame it is called Extreme earth稼墙格, and when they form metal frame it is called Extreme metal從革格, and for Water frame it is called Extreme water 潤下格.
No matter what names is given, they cannot run away from the following 4 group of BaZi charts.
1. Day Master 日元 Weak 弱格.
2. Day Master 日元 Strong 旺格.
3. Day Master 日元 Extreme weak 從格.
4. Day Master 日元 Extreme strong 專格.
The above four type is extremely important as it determines which are your favorable stars and which are your bad stars. It this is wrong, the luck will turn 180 degree.
So next time when you heard someone gave a name to a particular chart and no matter how horrible and scary it may sound or how magnificient the name can be, the type of chart still cannot run away from the above 4 types.
And reading the chart will still follow the basic rules and fundamental.
When come to read other school BaZi chart, some time it is very confusing especially for beginners.
There are no standardization in the translations of all the BaZi 4 Pillars of Destiny terms.
Different masters from different schools use their own terms to their own personal preferences. Basically there are three major rules used in the translations:
1. Pin yin “Sound like translations”: This give a translation based on the sound of the Chinese phrase.
For examples “食神” becomes “Shi Shen” and “傷官” becomes “Shang Guan”. This is helpful when you study BaZi from different schools and books.
2. Literally: This simply gives a direct translation and often sound scary, For examples, “shi-shen食神” is translated as “food god”, “xi sha七殺” becomes “7-killings”, “shang-guan 傷官” becomes “hurting officials” and so on.
The problem with this translation is that many of us especially the beginners may have certain perceptions towards certain terms as “bad” or negative because it sounds horrible.
No doubt in some classical fengshui or BaZi scroll, many writers considered “xi sha七殺” or “7-killings” is very bad.
But it is useful also under some circumstances. The truth is, each one of the “10 deities or 10 gods” can be positive or negative depending on the layout or composition of the Four Pillars chart.
When some stars is good, we called them “useful god (yong shen 用神)”. And when we using the term “Gods” it sometimes sound religious or to some superstitious. But BaZi plus FengShui is no religious but actually more on statistical in nature.
3. Translated based on their meaning: This translates the stars based on the understanding of the translator. For example, shang-guan 伤官 are as intelligence/aspirations. Once they see shang-guan 伤官, they said this guy is very talented and artistic without taking into the consideration of the Day Master’s strength. This can be very wrong.
And for different people they have different understanding of the wordings, so the translations can sometimes be very confusing. The translated terms should not influence the perception of the readers and students.
My point of view is that we should combine them.
The following is the list of the common translations of 4 Pillars’s “10 gods” or “transformation stars”:
Stem and Branch 天干地支
The above four characters in the chart are the Stem 天干 "tian kan".
The below four characters are the Branch 地支 "de zi".
Day Master 日元
The Day Master 日元 "Ri Yuen" is the day stem.
This represent our self element. The strength of this day master is the most important part of the chart as it indicates your favorable stars and unfovarable stars.
Four Pillars of Destiny - 10 Gods 十神 "xi shen"
Chart 1. Ten Gods 十神
"Direct Resource" Zheng-yin 正印 (印)
Yang “+” The element with the different polarity that produces our day master.
Others: direct resource, resource/education, proper resource, main funds, proper care, mother-star, willingly nourished.
"Indirect Resource"Pian-yin 偏印 (卩)
Yin “-” The element with the same polarity that produces our day master.
Others: indirect resource, resource/education, guardian.
"Rob wealth" Jie-cai 劫财 (劫)
Same element and different polarity (Yin-Yang) as the Day Master.
Yang “+” stands for polarity “yang“, not necessarily means good!)
Others: rob wealth, competitor, unfriendly partner.
"Friends" Bi-jian 比肩 (比)
Same element and same different polarity (Yin-Yang) as the Day Master.
Yin “–” peer (“-” stands for polarity “yin“, not necessarily means bad!)
Others: friends, buddies.
"Hurting officer" Shang-guan 伤官 (伤)
Yang “+” The element with the different polarity that our day master produces.
Others: hurting officer, intelligence/aspirations, drastic talent, actor-star, offending-star.
"Food god" Shi-shen 食神 (食)
Yin “-” The element with the same polarity that our day master produces.
Others: eating god, intelligence/aspirations, gracious output, artist-star, food-star, emotional IQ i.e. EQ.
"Direct wealth" Zheng-cai 正财 (财)
Yang “+” The element with the different polarity that our day master suppress.
Others : direct wealth, wealth, proper wealth, earned wealth, earned property, property-star, possession.
"Indirect wealth" Pian-cai 偏财 (才)
Yin “-” The element with the same polarity that our day master suppress.
Others: indirect wealth, wealth, unbecoming wealth, unexpected wealth, unexpected property, windfall star, godsend wealth, unexpected possession.
"Direct officer" Zheng-guan 正官 (官)
Yang “+” The element with the different polarity that suppress our day master.
Others: direct officer, power/status, proper power, discipline, the obedience one.
"7 killings" Qi-sha 七杀 (杀)
Yin “-” The element with the same polarity that suppress our day master.
Others: 7-killings, power/status, unbecoming power, unbecoming discipline, evil star, the stern.
STEM AND BRANCH INTERACTIONS
Five Stem Combinations (天干五合) “wu he”
– combinations
Stem Clashes (天干相剋 )“xiang ke”
– clashes and countering
Six Branch Combinations (地支六合) ”liu he”
– combinations
Six Branch Clashes (地支六冲) “liu chong”
– clashes
Branch 3-Meeting (地支三会) “san hui”
– frame, directional combinations
Branch 3-Unity (地支三合) “san he”
– 3-harmony, triangular branch combinations, 60-degrees combinations
Half 3-Unity (半地支三合) “ban san he”
– semi/half 3-harmony
Branch Six Harms (地支六害) “liu hai”
– harms
Earthly Branch Six Damages (地支六破) “liu po”
– destruction
Branch 3-Penalties (地支三刑) “san xing”
– punishment
Branch Self-penalties (自刑) “zi xing”
– self-punishment
Others terms
Favorable element (“Yong Shen”) 用神
– “useful god”: the element that a chart needs most
Unfavorable element (“Ji Shen” ) 忌神
– “annoying god”: the element that hurts the chart most
Supporting element (“Xi Shen” ) 喜神
– “happy god”: the element that nurtures the favorable element
Vengeful element (“Chou Shen” ) 仇神
– “vengeance god”: the element that nurtures the unfavorable element
Trivial element (“Xian Shen” ) 閑神
– “trivial god”: the element that does not affect Day-master much
Transformation platform (“Fa Shen”) 化神
– “transformation god”: the element needed for combination and transformation to take place
My personal preference is to make the translated terms as neutral as possible, so as not to influence the reader’s perception. Each of these 10 “stars” or “gods” can be good or bad depending on the combination of the natal chart and luck periods.
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