The Ba Zi (八字), or Four Pillars of Destiny, is determined based on a person’s year, month, day, and hour of birth, with each digit corresponding to a Five Element (五行) attribute. The following rules are used to determine the Five Element attributes of the Ba Zi:
1. The last digit of the birth year corresponds to the Five Element attribute:
0, 1: Metal (金). 2, 3: Water (水). 4, 5: Wood (木). 6, 7: Fire (火). 8, 9: Earth (土).
2. The birth month corresponds to the Five Element attribute:
January, February: Water (水). March, April: Wood (木). May, June: Fire (火). July, August: Earth (土). September, October: Metal (金). November, December: Water (水).
3. The birth day corresponds to the Five Element attribute:
1, 11, 21, 31: Wood (木). 2, 12, 22: Earth (土). 3, 13, 23: Fire (火). 4, 14, 24: Wood (木). 5, 15, 25: Earth (土). 6, 16, 26: Fire (火). 7, 17, 27: Metal (金). 8, 18, 28: Earth (土). 9, 19, 29: Metal (金). 10, 20, 30: Water (水).
4. The birth hour corresponds to the Five Element attribute:
Zi hour (子时, 23:00-01:00): Water (水). Chou hour (丑时, 01:00-03:00): Earth (土). Yin hour (寅时, 03:00-05:00): Wood (木). Mao hour (卯时, 05:00-07:00): Wood (木). Chen hour (辰时, 07:00-09:00): Earth (土). Si hour (巳时, 09:00-11:00): Fire (火). Wu hour (午时, 11:00-13:00): Fire (火). Wei hour (未时, 13:00-15:00): Earth (土). Shen hour (申时, 15:00-17:00): Metal (金). You hour (酉时, 17:00-19:00): Metal (金). Xu hour (戌时, 19:00-21:00): Earth (土). Hai hour (亥时, 21:00-23:00): Water (水).
By applying these rules, one can derive the Five Element attributes of a person’s Ba Zi, thus understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their Five Elements, as well as their interactions.
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