What is "Ba Zi" fortune-telling？
In short, "八字算命" refers to constructing a person's fate based on their birth time (生辰), forming a fate chart with eight characters (known as "生辰八字"), and analyzing the interplay of the Five Elements represented by these characters to predict one's destiny. This method is commonly known as "Ba Zi Fortune-telling" or "Four Pillars Prediction."
By converting the birth year, month, day, and hour into the traditional Chinese Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, a set of four time concepts, called "Four Pillars," is obtained. For instance, for someone born on March 10th, 1980, at 12 o'clock noon according to the Gregorian calendar, this would correspond to the Heavenly Stem "庚申," Earthly Branch "己卯," Day "壬午," and Hour "丙午." Each pillar contains two characters, totaling eight characters altogether. The essence of "八字算命" lies in analyzing the interactions and balances among the Eight Characters to forecast a person's lifelong fortune.
The Eight Characters (Ba Zi) and Date of Birth
1. According to the calculation rules of Ba Zi fortune-telling, regardless of the Gregorian or Lunar calendar, they both need to be converted into the chronological status of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. Therefore, both the Gregorian and Lunar calendars can be used for calculations, and the difference between your birthdates in the Gregorian and Lunar calendars is merely a numerical conversion.
2. In ancient China, one time period (时辰) was equivalent to two modern hours. For example, "Wu Shi" (午时) corresponds to the modern time range of 11:00 to 13:00. Ba Zi fortune-telling only needs to be accurate within the time period (two-hour range), and there is no need to be precise to the minute.
