BaZi is a wealth of knowledge, it is a bunch of hypotheses made by the ancient Chinese by observing how nature works around them. BaZi practitioners don't have to be artistic or creative to analyze a chart, nor they need an imaginative brain that can visualize all kinds of images and then translate those imagination into real life events. That's baseless, reading BaZi is not painting pictures. I personally find that practice incorrect, if a BaZi chart can be read like painting pictures, different practitioners would paint different pictures, then we have so many pictures and so many different opinions for the same chart. That does not make sense to me. What the practitioners actually need is a strong fundamental understanding about the theories and hypotheses that builds the knowledge.
Like every fields of knowledge, BaZi is rooted in the classical. The knowledge probably started back in the Autumn and Spring Period 春秋时代 in ancient China, which is like 2700 years ago. The knowledge has been evolving ever since, the evolving theories just never derail themselves from the tracks of YinYang and the Five Elements.
The knowledge of Life or BaZi as we know today is based on the teaching of Xu ZiPing of Tang dynasty, ZiPing method takes the Day Stem as the Master, that is what we call the DayMaster, and analyze the chart based on the interactions between the 10 Gods and they DayMaster. Before Xu ZiPing invented this method, there was already WuXing 五星 method, the method that analyze based on the Year Pillar, NaYin and ShenShas. As a matter of fact, the application of ShenShas predates the use of DayMaster. Ever wonder why some ShenShas are derived from the Year Pillar? Many of the old masters knew about this, they knew that the knowledge of Life is not solely determined by ZiPing, that is why they authored books to include information from both smethods. Even though ZiPing and WuXing are different, there are some similarities between the two.
Master Xu LeWu wrote:
今之妄谈星辰者，皆未究其源流也。
Nowadays, there are people who absurdly discuss the stars because they do not know their origins.
子平之法，从五星衍变而成，五星以年为主，以星辰判吉凶。
ZiPing method was evolved from WuXing, WuXing uses the Year as the Master, and the stars to determine auspiciousness and inauspiciousness
星辰各有盘局，逐年不同，故子平法之初，亦以年为主。
The stars have their own structures that changes from year to year, that is why in the beginning of ZiPing method, the Year was still regarded as the Master.
试观古本，如《李虚中命书》、珞碌子《三命消息賦》，之徐子平、释昙莹、李同、东方明诸家注疏，可知其时看法，仍以年为主也。
Try to look at vlassical books such as The Life Book of Li XuZhong and the commentaries from authors such as Xu ZiPing, Shi TanYing, LiTong and Dong FangMing of Luo LuZi's Poetic Essays "The News of Three Lifes". One can know that at the time, Year was regarded as the Master.
至明万育吾氏之《三命通会》，乃有年为本日为主之说，则看法之改变，实始于明代，距今数百年耳。
Until the Ming dynasty, SanMing TongHui by Master Wan YuWu regards the Year as the Base and Day as the Master, the method of analyzing actually began in the Ming Era, which is a few hundred years ago.
《兰台妙选》专谈格局，而其星辰也，纳音也，皆从年取，许多名词，尚承五星之书，未尝改变。
The book of "Wonderful Selections of the Orchid Stage' discusses only structures, and the Stars and NaYins are all taken from the Year, there are many nouns that are inherited from WuXing books that have not changed.
今之看法，既易年以日，星辰纳音，已无所用。借以作考，固未尝不可，凭以断祸福，宁不为识者所笑耶？
The method we use today has changed from the Year to Day, the Stars and NaYins are no longer in use. But if we use them as reference, that is not not-allowable , but if it is used to determine disasters and blessings, rather not it be laughable by the knowledgeable people?
Master Xu LeWu knew the differences between ZiPing and WuXing, and he recommended that the Stars can be used as references. This had been the common practice in Ming and Qing dynasty, books like SMTH, SFTK, XPHH are all encyclopedic on both methods. ZPZQ and DTS on the other hand, teach only theories from ZiPing and ignore completely theories from WuXing. One thing that I admire about Master Xu is that he quotes the classics and neo-classics in his works, something that modern authors should do more often, so that we can keep track and verify the sources.
That aside, the other thing that I want to write about is the difference between traditional vs modern ZiPing. I use word ZiPing instead of BaZi, because I don't think there's a modern version of WuXing. Traditional vs modern as in Master Shen XiaoZhan ZPZQ and Liu BoWen DTS vs Master Xu LeWu ZPZQPZ and Master Ren TieQiao DTS. If you have not read any of these books and don't know what I'm saying, don't worry, it's going to be more confusing.
Traditional ZiPing takes the Month's Decree as the Useful God, as in Chapter 8 ZPZQ, Useful God. Modern ZiPing, however takes the balancing element as the Useful God (or the Climate adjuster etc), under the same chapter in ZPZQPZ, it is written
原文：八字用神，专求月令，以日干配月令地支，而生克不同，格局分焉。财官印食，此用神之善而顺用之者也；煞伤劫刃，用神之不善而逆用之者也。当顺而顺，当逆而逆，配合得宜，皆为贵格。
Original text: The useful God of Bazi, seek only from the month's decree, with the Stem of the Day matching with the Month Decree Branch, engendering and countering are different, structures are distinguished. Wealth, Officer, Seal and Food, these are benevolent useful gods, thus should be used in a 'follow' / favorable manner; Devil, Hurting, Robbing and Blade, these are not benevolent gods, used in a reversed / 'against' manner. When it should be in a follow manner and it is in that manner, and when it should be in a reversed manner and it is in a reversed manner, the matching and combination are beneficial, all are noble structures.
徐注：用神者，八字中所用之神也。神者，财、官、食、印、偏财、偏官、偏印、伤官、劫刃是也。八字中察其旺弱喜忌，或扶或抑，即以扶抑之神为用，故用神者，八字之枢纽也。所取用神未真，命无准理，故评命以取用神为第一要义。取用神之法，先求之于月令之神，月令者当旺之气也。如月令无可取用，乃于年日时之干支中求之。用虽别求，而其关键仍有月令。譬如月令禄劫印绶，日元盛旺，劫印不能用，则别求克之泄之之神为用；用虽不在月令，而别求之关键，则在月令也。若四柱克泄之神多，日元转弱，则月令劫印，依然可用。故云用神专求月令，以日元配月令地支，察其旺衰强弱而定用神也。
Master Xu commentary: Useful God, is the God that is used by the BaZi, the Gods are Wealth, Officer, Food, Seal, Indirect Wealth, Indirect Officer, Indirect Seal, Hurting Officer, Rob and Blade. Within the BaZi, look at its Strong/Weak and Likes/Dislikes, to support or to restrain, that would use the God that supports or restrains as the Useful God, Useful God is the fulcrum of BaZi. If the Useful God that is determined is not correct, then the analysis cannot be accurate, thus determining the Useful God is the most important part of analyzing a Life (BaZi). The method of determining Useful God, at first must be taken from the month's decree as the God in the month decree is having the prosperous Qi. If there's nothing usable within the month's decree, then it should be searched from the Year, Day and Hour Stems and Branches. Even though the Useful God is taken from somewhere else, the crucial point is still at the month's decree. For example if the month's decree is 'Lu', Rob or Seal and the DM is prosperous, then look for other that counters or exhausts the DM as the Useful God; even though the Useful God is not from the month's decree, the crucial point is still the month's decree. If in the four pillars, there are many Gods that exhausts and counters the DM, DM becomes weak, and the Rob and Seal from the month's decree can be used. That is what meant by 'Useful God seek only from the month's decree' and DM is matched with the EB of month decree, look if it is prosperous or waning, strong or weak to determine the Useful God.
取用之法不一，约略归纳，可分为下列五种：
There's more than one way to determine the Useful God, in summary, it can be categorized into five ways as below:
一）扶抑。日元强者抑之，日元弱者扶之，此以扶抑为用神也。月令之神太强则抑之，月令之神太弱则扶之，此以扶抑月令为用神也。
1. Support and Restrain. DM that is strong is restrained, DM that is weak is supported, that is the Useful God from Support and Restrain. If the God of the month decree is too strong, it is restrained, if the God of the month decree is too weak, it is supported, that is to Support or Restrain the month's decree as the Useful God
二）病药。以扶为喜，则以伤其扶者为病；以抑为喜，则以去其抑者为病。除其病神，即谓之药。此以病药取用神也。
2. Sickness and Medicine, if (DM) is favorable to be supported, then (the God) that injures the supporter is the sickness. if (DM) is favorable to be restrained, then (the God) that get rids of the restrainer is the sickness. The God that eliminate the sickness is called medicine. This is Sickness and Medicine Useful God.
三）调候。金水生于冬令，木火生于夏令，气候太寒太燥，以调和气候为急。此以调候为用神也。
3. Adjusting Climate, Metal Water born in Winter months, Wood and Fire born in Summer months, the climate is either too cold or too parched, then to adjust the climate is urgent. This is Climate adjustment as Useful God.
四）专旺。四柱之气势，偏于一方其势不可逆，惟有顺其气势为用，或从或化，及一方专旺等格局皆是也。
4. Turning Prosperous (as in Follow chart or transformed Chart). The Qi and intensity of the four pillars, if they are is prosperous at one side, it should not go against its intensity, then only follow its intensity can be used, to follow or to transform, those that are one sided and structures that turn prosperous.
五）通关。两神对峙，强弱均平，各不相下，须调和之为美，此以通关为用也。
5. Getting through the Pass (some people call mediator). Two gods that are mutually confronting, equally strong or weak, both are equal, then harmony is needed to be good, that is to use 'connecting the pass'
Originally ZPZQ categorized the Gods into two groups, the benevolent Gods and not benevolent Gods, the benevolent Gods should be used in the 'follow' way and the not benevolent Gods should be used in the 'against' way. However, in Master Xu commentary, he did not say anything about benevolent and not benevolent Gods, or the way they are used. He wrote something that is completely different from what the original text meant. What Master Xu proposed as Useful God is not really invalid in my opinion and I do not think they are wrong even though it contradicts the original text. It's just that the concept of Useful God by Master Xu is not the same as the concept of Useful God by Master Shen. In my opinion, Master's Xu Useful God concept is almost the same as the Minister God concept by Master Shen. What Master Xu proposed are actually some basic concepts derived from many classics:.
1. 扶抑 FuYi - Support and Restrain, is a fundamental concept contained in Chapter 9, The Great Meaning of Five Elements, a very early classic written by Lv Cai. However, the original concept in The Great Meaning is different from the one proposed by Master Xu. (AFAIK, Master Xu was not the first person to propose the concept, it had been around for sometime before the Ming dynasty). This FuYi concept is widely applied by contemporary BaZi analysts. Even though balance is a very important point in BaZi, the DM, Useful God and BaZi in overall must not be analyzed in this way (in my opinion). This cause a gross over-generalization that overlooks many important concepts of BaZi, like the ones below for example.
2. 病药 BingYao - A popular concept in SFTK, which is derived from 五言独步,
有病方为贵, 无伤不是奇 - With sickness, medicine is noble, without injury it is not wonderful. A popular phrase that says charts with a Taboo God and a Rescue Response (in ZPZQ terms) are good charts.
3. 调候 TiaoHou - Climate adjustment, a basic concept of BaZi, I have the ZPZQ section translated. DTS also discuss this topic in chapter 29 寒暖 Cold and Warmth and 30 燥湿 parched and wet.
4. 专旺 ZhuanWang - Turning Prosperous, a concept that is applicable to Follow and Transformed structures. ZPZQ agrees to this point of view.
5. 通关 TongGuan - Getting through the Pass, a concept contained in chapter 20 DTS, Liu BoWen annotated that there are many hindrances that can be considered as the Pass,
Liu BoWen wrote:
中间上下远隔，为物所间，前后远绝，或被刑冲，或被劫占，或隔一物，皆谓之关也。
In between, top and bottom, or separately further away, with something in between, from to back is very far, or if it is punished or clashed, or if it robbed or occupied, or if it is separated by one thing, these are all called the 'Pass'
These 5 concepts of Useful Gods proposed by Master Xu are very commonly applied by modern BaZi practitioners, they are all derived from the classics. That is what I meant when I say contemporary is rooted in the classical. I have read articles by modern practitioners that call the classics illogical and erroneous, and thus I feel the need to write this article. Things that we do not understand does not necessarily mean they are illogical, it just means that we do not understand enough to explain what they are.
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