"Bazi 八字" is the abbriviated term used to mean the more academic term "Si Zhu Tui Ming Shu 四柱推命術". The term "Four Pillars" is the translation of "Si Zhu 四柱" and is, in fact, more picturesque.
Each year, month, day and hour is represented by a binomial of Tian Gan 天干 and Di Zhi 地支 which is to be distinguished as their functions and implications are different. We can say that one is the more visible part while the other is the more important background. Each part can represent a person/people or a situation/event.
The natal chart tells us the spiritual structure of a person, his character and the likely limits of achievement. This is largely influenced by the 10 year Pillar and each 1 year Pillar that comes after the person's birth. This accounts for the new environment and people the person will meet.
It is quite obvious that the character of the person leads to the probable reaction to what he encounters. However, we must not forget that education and experience can change the character of a person. This is why there is a part of life that we can control. In Chinese, there is a saying "人定勝天" (Man can surely win over Heaven). This does not mean that Human force can beat Heavenly force. It tells us that we can change the outcome of a situation brought to us by Heaven through our determination and effort.
Heaven can decide what to give us but cannot determine how we react and thus the outcome.
JY
3 comments:
Dear Joseph,
`I would also mention the "environment" as a major factor. It is not only the effort/reaction (or lack of it) that will lead to a different outcome.
Two people may be born with just the same 4P. But one is born as the 6th child to some family in a poor slum, the other is born as the only child in a wealthy family.
Obviously their lives will evolve differently from the very beginning.
Just like we can sow 2 seeds. One falls in fertile land, the other in some very dry desert.
Both seeds may sprout, but it is not unlikely that the plant in the desert will wither and die after a few days.
Yet both seeds had identical DNA.
The 4P chart is like a seed.
Factors like effort, circumstances and "chance" will greatly alter the outcome.
Danny
Dear Danny,
You are right. We must not forget the Earth factor. It contributes a lot too. The Earth influence can help or obstruct human effort and affect the outcome.
JY
Dear all,
Not long ago I read an article about the Mosuo – a matriarchical society in China.
Men don´t have much or any power positions, marriages do not exist, romance seems to be most important. The families are led by females. Men do live with their mothers.
The Mosuo are an interesting example of the relativity of what is “good” and “bad” according to 4P and if a persons character fits into the environment or how a character plays out at all within the “given” society.
When something is appreciated by the environment then usually there is well being while the “wrong” environment might cause stress which creates suffering and sickness.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,627363,00.html
http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_curiosity/2004-05/11/content_47041.htm
BWT Maybe we can compare a human being with a cell –both have to communicate with their environment for making a living. For a human the environment is the family/society etc. – for a cell it´s the extracellular matrix.
Actually researchers experiment with cells, observing their behaviour within different artificial extracellular matrixes. The result so far is that cells definitely communicate with their environment and more - the environment can let them die or let them grow and flourish. The extracellular environment can obviously change the genetical program of the cell.
In some experiments the researcher could change the “job” of a cell (tissue cell/fibroblast) slightly, while changing the environment only a little bit. So maybe if the change of the environment is completely against the basic function of the cell - the change of the programming fails and the cell dies.
This research group also got interesting results of testing reaction of human skin cells within different levels of stress (frequencies).
So Feng Shui could also be considered as changing the "extracellular matrix" of a human being, a change of the environment with the result of reprogramming the behaviour of a human being.
Antje
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