It is Good to be Creative (1)

Chinese Metaphysics consists of living systems. They are living in the sense that they are not passed down by extraterrestrial beings from outer space and passed down from generation to generation without changes.

In the study of Four Pillars of Destiny, the late Mr. Wu Jun Min 吴俊民 invented the theory of changing the Year Pillar at Dong Zhi 冬至起年. He had some followers and I am of the opinion that his attitude was right.

However, I am also of the opinion that his findings are premature as he failed to establish a complete system. Merely moving the starting point of a year to Winter Solstice is definitely not enough. The beginning of a year should also be the beginning of a month – the first month of the year. Thus, the month should also begin at Zhong Qi 中氣 and not Jie 節. The word Zhong 中 should also be omitted from the term Zhong Qi 中氣 because it is not the middle of a month but the beginning of a month now.

The way luck pillars are derived should also change. Instead of counting the birth day towards the previous/next Jie, the counting should be towards the previous/next Qi. This is because Qi instead of Jie is the beginning of a month now.

If anyone wants to do research work in this direction, he is most encouraged. I find Mr. Wu’s case studies simply disprove his ideas. I showed the case of Astrologer Liu of Min Xiong 民雄柳相士 in an article I wrote on this blog several months ago. If anyone wants to advocate that the month begins with Qi instead of Jie and the year begins with Winter Solstice, it becomes legitimate provided convincing case studies accompany the hypothesis.

Joseph Yu