What is the Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny (or Ba Zi)?

The Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny or Ba Zi is a branch of study of Chinese Metaphysics Science. The Four Pillars Chart is derived from the Date of Birth of a Person using the Chinese Solar Calendar, which is also known as the Hsia Calendar or Farmer’s Calendar. This chart can be use to forecast the destiny and characteristics of an individual and the relationships and interaction between the individual with the surrounding environment:

The theory behind the study of four pillars is that The Sun, Moon, Earth; planets in the Solar System emit cosmic energy (chi) all the time. This Cosmic energy is not constant but varies with time depending on the relative positions of the planets.

The Chinese has discovered a few thousand years ago that at any point of time the energy field (chi) surrounding us can be mapped and represented by a combination of 22 characters known as the Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthy Branches. This in turn is known as the Hsia Calendar. This calendar is also used for feng shui and for another branch of Chinese Astrology known as Purple Star astrology.

When a person is born and takes the first breath of air, the influence of this cosmic energy on the newborn is said to map the destiny and characteristics of that particular person.

The typical Four Pillars chart (Ba Zi) consist of two charts; the main chart and the secondary chart. The main chart is represented by Eight Characters arranged into Four Columns representing the year, month, day and hour of the date of birth obtained from the Hsia Calendar. The secondary chart otherwise known as the Luck Pillar chart consists of a set of pillars with each pillar representing a period of 10 years of an individual’s life.

An example of a Four Pillars (Ba Zhi) chart for a male individual born on 28th June 1988 between 5pm to 7pm. is as shown. The arrangement of the Four Pillars chart is based on its original form and its read from right to left.

Yin Water Gui	Yang Wood Jia	Yang Earth Wu	Yang Earth Wu	Heavenly Stems
Metal You	Wood Yin	Fire Wu	Earth Chen	Earthly Branches
Hour Pillar	Day Pillar	Month Pillar	Year Pillar

Example of the secondary chart for the above individual is shown as follows. This chart will be different if the individual is a female but the main chart will be the same.

10-YEAR LUCK PILLARS

63	53	43	33	23	13	3
Yin Wood Yi	Yang Wood Jia	Yin Water Gui	Yang Water Ren	Yin Metal Xin	Yang Metal Geng	Yin Earth Ji
Earth Chou	Water Zi	Water Hai	Earth Qu	Metal You	Metal Shen	Earth Wei
72	62	52	42	32	22	12

From the Four Pillars chart by studying the interaction of the characters with each other, one can tell the characteristics of an individual and the relationship between the individual with the surrounding environment:

The Four Pillars chart can also forecast the strength and weakness in our destiny which represents the ups and downs of life by comparing the interaction of the Four Pillars chart with the 10-Year Luck Pillars.

In the study of Ba Zi, one has to understand the characteristics and meanings of the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. Upon understanding these characters, the interaction of these characters between each other can be used to foretell the story.

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