What is Chinese BaZi Astrology?

When I asked this question to my teacher Mr Zheng at the first time I met him, he asked me: ‘Have you heard about genetics?’ ‘Yes, of course.’ I replied. He said that the Chinese BaZi Astrology is a study into the formula of our DNA. Unlike the theory of genetics, which is a modern discovery, BaZi Astrology is a very ancient system.

The origin can be traced back to the era of Huang Di. Huang Di, also known as the Yellow Emperor, he is one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns. His mythical reign dates are 2698–2598 BC. At the time, the Imperial Scholars of astronomy were responsible for advising the Emperor on the well-being of the country by observing and charting the relationship between the Heaven and the Earth. Later, it was developed into a science which integrated with Yin-Yang philosophy, the theory of the 5 elements of nature, and Confucian morality. We call this science Chinese Metaphysics. Many classic texts were produced along the way, including King Wen’s Yi-Jing (I-Ching 易经) in the late 12th century BC, River Map Lo Book (He Tu Luo Shu 河图洛书) dated to 650 BC.

The Lo Shu square on the back of a small turtle (in the centre), surrounded by the signs of the Chinese zodiac and the Eight trigrams, all carried by a large turtle (which, presumably, stands for the Dragon horse that had earlier revealed the trigrams to Fu Xi, the legendary original human and the legendary originator of the Yi-Jing). This illustration was drawn by an anonymous Tibetan artist.

Chinese Metaphysics mainly consists of 5 areas of study; the Study of Destiny, the Study of Divination, the Study of Physiognomy, the Study of Medicine and the Study of Alchemy (命,卜,相,医,山). BaZi Astrology is part of the Study of Destiny. Grand Master Xu Ziping in the Song Dynasty (A.D 960-1279) is credited as the founding father of the BaZi systems that is widely practiced today. It is all about understanding people, their potential, the limitation and purposes of both you and those around you.

Like Western Astrology, we can discover aspects of life from a person’s BaZi chart, including, but not limited to: characteristics and talents, the health of human body, career development and wealth prospects, relationship with parents, spouse, friends and siblings. BaZi Astrology also discovers the timing and outcomes of certain actions and decisions in life. For example, what is the outcome of this new business or project? Should I continue working or go back to school? BaZi can be used as a tool of diagnosis on the life’s path and to generate a prescription. The prescription is about how to make a better choice to achieve the perfect state of your life. The ancient sages believe that the perfect state is the unity of material and spiritual self.

BaZi can also be used to forecast. This is done through the study of cycles in life. The Path of Life is not a straight line, but a wave band of variable widths with ups and downs. The general Phase of Fortune of a person’s life is 10 years. Each years, each months, each days and each hours are smaller cycles. Only when we know better about our lives, could we fulfil our potential and find the solution to a difficult situation from a holistic perspective.