Every time I teach ‘The Art of BaZi’, I get insights into why people who learn BaZi face difficulty and challenges getting beyond the basics into the realm of interpretation. I like to understand why people have difficulty learning certain aspects of BaZi because it informs the process of teaching but also serves to indicate in what way the subject can be made easier to understand. As it stands currently, the areas that trip up students remain consistently similar and familiar and so I thought I’d highlight them in this post by way of enabling new and existing students of BaZi to understand where they may potentially become intellectually imperiled by the subject.
The primary and most fundamental reason why beginners have difficulty progressing to the intermediate level of BaZi (which involves a measure of interpretation/analysis but not a detailed level) is simply a lack of respect for the subject. Often there is no lack of interest but for some reason, there seems to be this notion that it is either absurdly easy or absurdly difficult. It is neither of these extremes. It is like ANY OTHER SUBJECT or SKILL – it requires time, effort, practice and focus in order for any outcomes to be obtained.
This lack of respect for the subject often manifests in one very common feature and that is the absence of the Fundamental Basics. What are the fundamental basics? Essentially, it is learning to read the 22 characters that form the 10 Stems and the 12 Branches. Now, I often hear the clarion call ‘But I am not Chinese Educated’.
So what?
It often comes as a shock to many people that I am also not Chinese educated. Chinese education affords zero advantage in the study of metaphysics or for that matter, BaZi specifically. Sure, it helps a little by way of making it easier to LEARN how to write the characters but writing is less important than RECOGNITION of the character and also knowing WHAT IT REPRESENTS. You may write the ugliest Mao 卯 character on this planet (mine looks ugly as any student who has seen me write it in class will attest) but as long as you know Mao = Rabbit = Earthly Branch of the Season of Spring = 3-5am = month of March .
Well, who cares if it looks like a worm on the page when you write it?
Some students argue that they should be allowed to the leeway to read the characters in Pinyin script or in the English equivalents. I don’t see any reason why this is the case. If one is serious about learning and mastering BaZi, then learning 22 characters is not a great effort. You could do it in 22 days theoretically, assuming you write one character 100 times per day.
So up there in the top 2 reasons why students struggle with learning how to interpret BaZi is a very elementary one: they simply haven’t mastered the recognition of the characters. This is like trying to read Le Monde without knowing a single word of French.
The second of the top 2 reasons why students struggle with learning how to interpret BaZi is that IF they can recognise the characters, they don’t know how the characters inter-relate with each other.
Taking the example above again of Mao – knowing the inter-relationship between the characters means knowing that Mao = Peach Blossom Star = part of 亥 卯 未 = part of 寅 卯 辰 = Combines with 戌 Dog = Clash with 酉Rooster = Harm with 辰 Dragon = Punishment with Rat 子 = Destruction with Horse 午.
So whenever a chart is being discussed, the students get lost because they can’t follow the discussion of what is going on. They don’t know or see what is going on in the chart and so get lost half way through the discussion.
This of course is easily rectified – I tell my students to simply take a RED PEN and spend at least 5 minutes circling all the relevant interactions WITHIN the chart (those who have seen my Youtube video will also note that was done – FOR A REASON!).
So, assuming a student recognises the characters and knows the interactions, why is there still an inability to interpret at the intermediate level? (if you are an MA student, completing Module 2 would be regarded as Intermediate). This is where most people get tripped up: the 10 Gods.
Again, with the 10 Gods, it’s all about the simple basics. What each 10 God means by way of THE ELEMENT (10 stems) that represents each 10 God, CHARACTER TRAITS, by way of RELATIONSHIP and by way of OBJECT OR SUBJECT is often not in the immediate radar for most students. (note for Module 2 students of MA, character traits is heavily covered as part of the syllabus, as are relationships – Object or Subject less so granted by now well covered in JY’s 10 Gods book and two Power of X books).
So it is not uncommon for a student to not be able to identify the 10 God that co-relates to each of the 10 Stems in a given BaZi chart. ie: if given the chart of a Wu Earth Day Master, they would NOT be able to work out on the fly what Jia Wood and Yi Wood for example, co-relate to by way of the 10 Gods (Answer: 7 Killings and Direct Officer). Seeing as there is already a struggle at the ELEMENT level, it is no surprise that the CHARACTER TRAIT, RELATIONSHIP, OBJECT OR SUBJECT aspect also becomes a struggle. The sole exception of this of course is the Direct Wealth/Indirect Wealth Stars, which invariably everyone knows but yet knows at skin deep level.
Other common errors of students when it comes to the 10 Gods:
- Selective memory/learning – since most people learn to interpret for themselves, they invariably only know the 10 Gods as it relates to THEMSELVES and their own Day Master. So when confronted with a chart that doesn’t involve the same DM as themselves, they’re clueless. [Lesson: if you want to really learn BaZi, even if it is for yourself ONLY, learn the 10 gods for all the 10 Day Masters]
- Minimal knowledge of character traits that each of the 10 Gods represent.
- Minimal knowledge of which RELATIONSHIPS each of the 10 Gods represent. This in my view is really no excuse since this at its most basic level is super straightforward: Wealth = Spouse (for men), Father (for both genders), Resource = Mother (for both genders), Output = Children (for women), Influence = Spouse (for women), Children for men, Rob Wealth/Friend = Partners or Siblings
Great article. Finding myself at the level when you know all the theory but when you see a real chart – ok you can make assumptions about character. But reading “real” events is almost impossible. Especially for someone else. That’s why trying to get into those Combos, EB interactions – at least they supposed to point out on some events…But again I am so confused with these concepts of Influence for women and Wealth for men…I just cannot get or have seen a vulgar interpretation of it so far. Like “when Influence element comes in HS of Year – chances to get married” – clear rubbish!! But why there is such a linkage? For example wealth, resource is understandable but how understand these linkages to family members? Or is it just by-products of Confucianism out there and has no practical meaning? I mean can you give an example as an experienced practitioner that these associations with family members actually work?
Sounds to me like your basics are a bit off. Influence Element (Direct Officer/7 Killings) is the Spouse Star for women, whilst the Wealth Element (Direct Wealth/Indirect Wealth) is the Spouse Star for men. Without really knowing what your background is (as you know, I was formerly an MA instructor and so I would only be able to know what MA students know since I taught the M1/M2 syllabus for quite a bit) it is not possible to understand why you have the difficulties that you have expressed. Different schools use different terms and so at times students of BaZi post stuff here which I find it difficult to understand what is being said. And btw, you shouldn’t be making assumptions about character – you should be able to KNOW the person’s character with extensive detail, which is the key to forecasting outcomes.
I studied Bazi without instructors, without courses, without books. That’s the reason why. Self-taught.
Actually just without formal courses. Other than that have read special literature
Also question is Bazi a rough 30% of a determinant of people’s lives? Otherwise Bazi consultants would be all powerful and could read even person’s deaths. Which is God-like. And it takes only going through a course like you say – it is quite easy if due effort and understanding are put into it…So what is it true about the “share” of Bazi in people’s lives?
33% – not all encompassing. There is this thing called Free Will. I suspected as much that you have learnt through informal means. Self-taught students usually tend to have lots of little bits of information but face challenges putting the picture together in the absence of good practical training.
No offence, Just trying to understand, You can delete my comments!
I also self-taught for 8 years in the art of reading; and 1’m English-educated. As I always believe that it’s the character that determines one destiny; my reading usually focuses on one’s usefulness/managerial capacity versus his contexts e.g. one’s capacity/action/reaction versus works/influences/support. I find Bazi is a useful tool in hiring right people to right jobs.
B, I know folks who have taken M3 and M4 and are still blurr because essentially, the techniques and methodology are not clearly transcribed in the course content. There are a lot of missing bits like how to read children’s luck before their first LP. Experience is an important factor. Learning Bazi is a bit like learning to ride a bicycle. No one person can really tell you how to do so apart from the learner himself experimenting heavily and taking a few knocks in the process.