The Time System of Bazi Prediction

Translator's note. The working manual for reading a single year. Three mechanisms, in order: chaotic activation of a ten god, the storage vaults and what may enter them, and the eight ways a useful and an unfavourable god can interact across a year. The vault rules are the part worth slowing down for — Lü derives them from soil behaviour (mud, ore, frozen gravel, farmland) rather than from the classical tables, and says outright that the traditional rules fail in practice. Seven worked cases follow, with the actual outcome after each reading.

1. The problem of ten gods in chaotic motion

In annual-cycle prediction, when four or more stems and branches of the same element are activated, that element's ten god is treated as being in chaotic motion.

Chaotic motion is, by definition, inauspicious. Which kind of misfortune it is depends on what that ten god represents.

1. The wealth star in chaotic motion

(1) Loss of money.

(2) For a man, the wealth star stands for wife and lover. In chaotic motion, marriage and emotional life are unstable and damaged.

(3) For a small child, the wealth star means being reunited with family and getting the toy he has longed for. In chaotic motion, separation from family, loss of the beloved toy.

(4) At specific positions, illness of particular organs. (Note: any ten god can stand for illness.)

2. The officer-and-killer in chaotic motion

(1) Injury, illness, disaster.

(2) Deterioration of the job, removal from post, arrest.

3. The parallel-and-rob in chaotic motion

(1) Money taken from you.

(2) Disputes and trouble.

4. The owl-seal in chaotic motion

(1) Running into troublesome matters.

(2) Losing or selling a car; damage to the house, or selling it.

(3) The company does not fold, but moves premises.

5. The eating-and-wounding in chaotic motion

(1) Reckless investment fails, money is lost, costs cannot be recovered quickly.

(2) Inviting lawsuits and disputes.

(3) Disaster to children. Not necessarily injury or illness — it may be a long separation from them.

2. The storage vaults

1. Chen is the water vault. It can take in ren, gui, hai, zi (water) and also chou, wei (earth).
2. Xu is the fire vault. It can take in bing, ding, si, wu (fire) and also chou, wei (earth).
3. Chou is the metal vault. It can take in geng, xin, shen, you (metal).
4. Wei is the wood vault. It can take in jia, yi, yin, mao (wood).

Note: chou and wei earth do not take each other into storage, but each can enter the chen earth vault and the xu earth vault. Chen and xu do not take each other into storage, nor do they enter any other vault.

Wu and ji earth enter the chen and xu vaults; they cannot enter the chou and wei vaults.

Why is it read this way?

In plain terms: chen earth is thin mud; xu earth is ore and rock; chou earth is frozen ground and gravel; wei earth is good farmland. Traditional fate studies hold that xu earth does not generate metal. That does not match the facts and does not survive practice. All earth generates metal. The original meaning of metal was ice and snow; the extended meaning came later.

Chou is frozen ground and gravel; wei is good farmland. Consider: does chou earth not generate wood? In the northeast, before the thaw, grass has already pushed up through the ground. Winter wheat in Hebei and Shandong survives in frozen soil — a good example. Wei, good farmland, generates every kind of wood. Put frozen ground, gravel or farmland into thin mud and the mud's function remains. Put them on ore and rock and plants still grow — the rock's function remains, and the function of xu earth is reinforced. But mix frozen ground, gravel and farmland together and all their functions weaken. That is why these two do not take each other into storage. Whether something goes into storage depends on whether the vault's function survives; if the vault's function is gone, both have become waste and cannot enter. By the same token, thin mud and ore have nothing to do with each other — add mud to ore in a smelter and no iron comes out. So chen and xu do not take each other. Entering storage is a form of cooperation: earth entering an earth vault is earth cooperating with earth. If two earths cannot cooperate and cannot profit each other, they cannot enter each other's storage. In practice this method of reading storage holds up; the traditional method does not. Wood enters the wei vault because wei's function can still operate and the wood can profit. Metal is ice and snow, so it can enter chou, the vault of frozen ground and gravel. Water running into thin mud strengthens both — hence water enters the chen vault; a mudslide is the proof. Water flooding good farmland destroys the soil's function and the crops die. A mountain under permanent snow is like the metal-generating function of xu earth. Gravel and farmland both come from ore and rock, so chou and wei enter the xu vault. Fate prediction is prediction of the actual world, of every blade of grass and every tree in it. Abandon that kind of rational analysis of the actual world and every purely theoretical, taken-for-granted conclusion about storage is wrong.

3. The auspicious and inauspicious meaning of each mode of interaction

In annual-cycle prediction, looking at the time system alone:

1. The useful god clashes the unfavourable god: the useful god's auspicious meaning appears, and the unfavourable god's auspicious meaning also appears. The unfavourable god clashes the useful god: the useful god shows its inauspicious meaning, and the unfavourable god also shows its inauspicious meaning.

2. The useful god combines with the unfavourable god: both the useful god's auspicious meaning and the unfavourable god's inauspicious meaning appear, but the auspicious predominates. The unfavourable god combines with the useful god: both appear, but the inauspicious predominates.

3. The useful god punishes or harms the unfavourable god: both meanings appear, half auspicious and half not.

4. The unfavourable god enters storage, and the vault has no relation to the day master: the unfavourable god shows an auspicious meaning.

(An unfavourable god in the original chart can only enter a vault belonging to the annual cycle; without the annual cycle, the ten gods in the chart cannot enter storage. For example, chou and wei earth, and wu and ji earth, in the chart enter storage only in a chen year or a xu year. If an unfavourable earth in the chart enters the annual vault and the vault has no relation to the day master, that unfavourable god shows an auspicious meaning.)

5. The useful god enters storage, and the vault has no relation to the day master: ordinary, a normal state.

6. The day master is in the vault: every ten god in the vault now has a relation with the day master inside it. The useful god shows its auspicious meaning, the unfavourable god its inauspicious meaning. If the ten gods in the vault have a generating relation among themselves, the final judgement follows the god at the endpoint.

7. Vault clashing vault: the active vault — including all the ten gods inside it — shows its full auspicious or inauspicious meaning. The passive vault, including all its ten gods, loses its meaning entirely.

8. When the passive vault is clashed, any ten god inside it that also appears in the chart shows its meaning too.

Note: generating and controlling apply only in relation to the day master. A useful god generating the day master is auspicious. A useful god controlling the day master means the officer-and-killer: seven auspicious, three inauspicious.

(That is the entire secret and the entire set of judgements for reading by the time system. Understand the four vaults, know that twenty of the sixty stem-branch pairs are vault years, and you can read twenty years accurately by vault alone. Most inaccurate readings happen when a vault appears — traditional fate studies simply freeze when they meet one.)

Whether the day master has a relation to the vault:

1. The day master sits on the vault, or the vault punishes, clashes, combines with or harms the day branch — then the day master has a relation to the vault.

2. What ten gods may be in the vault:

A. The stems and branches of the element taken into storage. In the wei vault, for instance, a quantity of wood.

B. Ten gods that have a punishing, clashing, combining or harming relation with the vault. A clash is generally negligible.

Suppose the annual cycle is a chen year. If the chart contains mao wood (a harming relation), shen metal (combining), you metal (combining), zi water (combining, and also entering storage), ren water (entering storage), gui water (entering storage), hai water (entering storage), chou earth (entering storage), wei earth (entering storage), wu earth (entering storage) and ji earth (entering storage), all of these can enter the annual chen vault. If your day master happens to be wu or ji earth, or ren or gui water, then in the chen year you meet every ten god that has entered the vault: meet a useful god inside and something auspicious happens; meet an unfavourable god inside and something bad happens. Suppose the mao wood in the chen vault is a thug, the shen metal a villain, the zi water a bomb — go into that vault and you meet the thug's fists, the villain's extortion, the bomb's blast. Once we can read a bazi through its vaults, separating useful from unfavourable gods, the time system alone will read twenty of sixty years correctly. Traditional bazi does not know which ten god is active and which is passive, cannot separate the principal contradiction from the secondary one, and so its accuracy is very low. A clash may be treated as non-entry, but a clash still creates a relation — a clash collapses at a touch. The chen earth vault is a house; once it becomes a house its own meaning is largely lost, and a house has no auspicious or inauspicious meaning in itself. Grasp these eight rules and the time system alone will read eighty per cent of people correctly. For people with a common destiny it reaches one hundred per cent. For the exceptionally brilliant and the exceptionally unlucky it cannot — those require the bazi model and the three systems. In other words: by the time system alone, no theory whatsoever reaches one hundred per cent.

Case one: male — Jiayin, Renshen, Jiachen, Xinwei

Luck cycle: Dingchou. Annual cycle: Wuxu.

1. In the wuxu year, under the dingchou cycle, the earth wealth star is in chaotic motion.

1. Xu punishes chou and punishes wei — a punishing and also a vault relation, so in the wuxu year the earth does not fully enter storage. Xu is also the fire vault, taking ding fire into storage.

1. Xu clashes the day branch chen earth, and xu carries ding fire to the day branch: there is information of incoming money. Xu clashing chen earth sets it in chaotic motion, so the chaotic-motion information exists — but the energy of the motion is reduced. Wealth star in chaotic motion: money comes and money goes.

1. Xu punishes wei; xin metal, at the gate, is the useful god and is activated, standing for something auspicious. When the officer-and-killer is the useful god it is also, for a man, more auspicious than not. The auspicious content is career progress, but under pressure.

Fact: that year he did take in money, and his career did develop.

Case two: male — Wuchen, Bingchen, Bingshen, Wuzi

Luck cycle: Jiwei. Annual cycle: Wuxu.

1. In the wuxu year under the jiwei cycle, earth is in chaotic motion — the eating-and-wounding in chaotic motion. That means reckless investment and foolish decisions.

1. Interaction: the annual wu takes its position at the year stem and at the hour stem. Xu earth can take jiwei earth into storage, but this year the earth does not enter storage, and the bing fire day master also enters storage. The day master entering storage is inauspicious: some source of income will be lost. This year, do not invest recklessly; keep operations conservative.

Case three: male — Bingyin, Gengzi, Renyin, Xinhai

Luck cycle: Guimao. Annual cycle: Wuxu.

1. In the wuxu year under guimao, the parallel-and-rob water is in chaotic motion.

1. Interaction: the annual wu combines away the luck-cycle gui, reducing the water's chaotic motion; xu earth combines with the day-branch yin wood (officer-and-killer combining with eating-and-wounding is auspicious, since the officer-and-killer is the useful god). The officer-and-killer stands for benefactors, the eating-and-wounding for career. Meeting a benefactor's help develops one's career.

The annual xu earth takes bing fire into storage, and xu, carrying wealth, enters a relation with the day-branch yin wood: auspicious information of incoming money.

Actual feedback: career developed with a benefactor's help, and money came in.

Case four: male — Gengxu, Bingxu, Xinsi, Jihai

Luck cycle: Xinmao. Annual cycle: Jiawu.

1. In the jiawu year under xinmao, there is no chaotic motion.

1. Interaction: jia clashes geng (wealth clashing parallel), which is not close to the day master; jia combines with ji (wealth combining with seal) — the wealth star at the gate, auspicious information of incoming money. Wu combines with xu, not close to the day master, but it activates the bing fire useful god, the officer-and-killer — auspicious. The officer-and-killer as useful god stands for meeting benefactors and career development.

If this person had been born in the wuxu hour, the earth would be close to chaotic motion:

1. In the jiawu year under xinmao, earth is close to chaotic motion.

1. The bing fire useful god, officer-and-killer, combines with the body (six auspicious, four inauspicious) — and for a man the officer-and-killer is bad.

1. The annual wu fire combines with xu, and wu earth, the unfavourable god, arrives at the gate: inauspicious.

Case five: male — Wushen, Jiazi, Yihai, Dingchou

Luck cycle: Jisi. Annual cycle: Wuxu.

1. In the wuxu year under jisi, the earth wealth star is in chaotic motion (check whether the moving wealth star is close to the day master). In fact it is not close.

1. Interaction: wu takes its position at the year stem and shen metal is also activated; shen metal first combines with the month-branch zi water, and its relation with the day branch is slight and of little significance. So the auspicious meaning carried by shen metal, the officer-and-killer, is small, and the danger it carries is also small. Because the annual xu earth takes ding and si fire into storage, ideals are hard to realise.

1. This year's wealth star in chaotic motion has little to do with the day master, so the loss is benign.

Fact: he spent money building a house at home. Projects away from home could not be completed; ideals were hard to realise.

Case six: male — Dingsi, Renzi, Renxu, Bingwu

Luck cycle: Wushen. Annual cycle: Wuxu.

1. In the wuxu annual under wushen, the earth officer-and-killer is close to chaotic motion. The fire wealth star is close to chaotic motion.

1. Interaction: the annual wu takes its position at the luck-cycle stem, activating shen metal. The annual xu takes ding, si, bing, wu fire into storage and, carrying the wealth star, returns to the day branch — auspicious information, incoming money. So this year the wealth star's chaotic motion does him little harm.

Fact: his income exceeded his expenditure.

Case seven: male — Jiayin, Dingchou, Jiaxu, Jiaxu (short in stature)

Luck cycles: Gengchen, Xinsi. Annual cycles: Bingxu, Dinghai, Wuzi.

First, the stature judgement. In the original chart wood is the unfavourable god. There is the month-stem ding fire draining it, and the hour-stem jia wood supporting the body; on paper the day master is balanced. In fact he grew up short, which means the hour-stem jia wood, an unfavourable god, did not perform its unfavourable function — auspicious. And the month-stem ding fire, the useful god, did perform its useful function — also auspicious. So being short is one of the conditions of an upper-grade fate.

Second, the time system.

1. In the bingxu year under gengxu, the earth wealth star is in chaotic motion. The unfavourable wealth star is also closely related to the day master, which makes it that year's greatest danger. Fact: he invested and spent money.

1. In the dinghai year under xinsi there is no chaotic motion. Ding fire, the eating-and-wounding, at the gate: incoming money. Hai water, the useful god, combining with yin: also auspicious.

Fact: that year income was relatively large.

1. In the wuzi year under xinsi, zi combining with chou activates the month-branch ding fire, the eating-and-wounding, so there is still wealth information. But the energy is far smaller than in the dinghai year, because in dinghai the ding fire eating-and-wounding stood directly at the gate, and its activating energy was greater.

1. In the jiawu and yiwei years under xinsi: in jiawu, wood is the unfavourable god, but wu fire, the useful god, combines to the day master's side, and there is still wealth information. In yiwei, the hour wood, parallel-and-rob, is the unfavourable god, and the wealth star is also unfavourable: information of loss.

Fact: in those two years there were disputes, lawsuits and loss of money.