Meaning and Context
Bazi (八字) translates to "eight characters"—referring to the eight Chinese characters that encode your birth time. These come from four pillars: Year, Month, Day, and Hour, each expressed as a pair of Heavenly Stem (天干) and Earthly Branch (地支).
In traditional Chinese culture, Bazi serves as a language for discussing personality tendencies, relationship dynamics, career patterns, and timing. It's closer to a symbolic analysis system than a deterministic prediction tool.
- Four Pillars: Year (ancestry/early environment), Month (parents/career environment), Day (self/spouse), Hour (children/later life)
- Eight Characters: 4 Heavenly Stems + 4 Earthly Branches = 8 characters total
- Day Master: The Day Stem represents "you" in the chart—all other elements relate to it
Classical Roots
The modern Bazi system is attributed to Xu Ziping (徐子平) of the Song Dynasty, who refined earlier methods to center analysis on the Day Pillar. Key classical texts include "Yuanhai Ziping" (渊海子平) and "Sanming Tonghui" (三命通会).
Another foundational quote from Sanming Tonghui explains the origin of the four pillars:
Structure and Relationships
A Bazi chart is structured as four columns (pillars), read from right to left traditionally. Each pillar has two rows: Heavenly Stem on top, Earthly Branch below.
- 10 Heavenly Stems: 甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸 (Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui)
- 12 Earthly Branches: 子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥 (Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai)
- Each stem/branch has Five Element and Yin/Yang attributes
- Hidden Stems: Earthly Branches contain "hidden" stems that add depth to analysis
Relationships between pillars include: combinations (合), clashes (冲), harms (害), and penalties (刑). These modify how elements interact and affect chart dynamics.
How to Read It
Reading Bazi is layered. Start simple, add complexity gradually:
- Identify Day Master: What element are you? What's its yin/yang polarity?
- Check seasonal strength: Is Day Master strong or weak in the birth month?
- Map Ten Gods: What roles do other elements play relative to Day Master?
- Look for combinations and clashes: What interactions modify the basic structure?
- Consider Luck Pillars: How do 10-year cycles bring different elements into play?
How It Shows Up in FateFolio
In FateFolio's Bazi tool, your chart is presented as structured sections: the Four Pillars visualization, elemental distribution, Ten Gods analysis, and personalized guidance.
- Visual chart: See your eight characters with element colors and hidden stems
- Strength analysis: Day Master strength with seasonal context explained
- Ten Gods breakdown: What each God means for your chart specifically
- Actionable framework: Guidance framed as options and trade-offs, not guarantees
Common Misconceptions
Many misunderstandings come from treating Bazi as a fortune-telling machine rather than an analytical framework:
- Treating it as deterministic fate prediction rather than pattern analysis
- Over-focusing on single elements while ignoring overall structure
- Assuming "missing element = bad luck" without considering chart balance
- Taking online auto-generated interpretations as absolute truth
- Ignoring the importance of Luck Pillars (timing) in chart reading
Sources and Quotes
All quotes and references are linked to accessible sources for verification. Classical text punctuation may vary by edition.
Quoted excerpts
「凡看命，以日干为主。」
「人禀天地之气而生，故有年月日时，谓之四柱。」
References
- 《渊海子平》（明·万民英） · Chinese Text Project
- 《三命通会》（明·万民英） · Chinese Text Project
- Chinese Astrology (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Encyclopædia Britannica