Life is a Journey

Some say life is a journey where there will always be ups and downs. There is someone who is always having a smooth journey throughout their life. On the other hand, there are also people who cannot make ends meet and always live from hand to mouth.  Others live in luxury their entire lives, yet some remain poor and disillusioned until their death; some has colorful life from being millionaire to bankrupt and become millionaire again. Everything boil down to the fact that nothing is fair in this world. Why is that so? In Chinese Meta Physics, this is called Destiny and Destiny is a Journey.

In Meta Physics, a person’s life Journey path is pre-defined. It is hardcoded at the time a person is born and it is called Bā Zì (八字) or 8 Characters in English. It is also called Sì Zhù (四 柱) or Four Pillars as the 8 characters form 2 sets each to become 4 Pillars. The 4 Pillars or 8 Characters are derived from the Chinese Solar Calendar (frequently referred to as the Xia Calendar as it was invented during China’s Xia Dynasty). The Chinese Solar Calendar, also known as the astrological calendar ,  documents the movement of stars from the point of earth when the earth rotates around the sun.

The character highlighted in red in the above sample 4 Pillars chart represents you. It is called the Day Master or Self and it represents all your characteristics. The characters on top are known as Heavenly Stem (天干- Tiān Gàn) and the bottom characters are referred as Earthly Branches (地支 – Dì Zhī). The one below the Earthly Branches is known as Hidden Heavenly Stem (藏干- Cáng Gàn).  Each Pillar can comprise of up to 60 combinations of Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch (it is called Jiǎ Zi- 甲子 combination). A particular date and time is represent by any of the 60 combinations, hence when a person is born on certain date and time, the 4 Pillars will represent the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch of the Year, Month, Day and Hour.

天 地 人 (Heaven, Earth and Man)

Some text mentioned about Cosmic Trinity of 天 地 人 (Heaven, Earth and Man). In the 4 Pillars, the top 4 Heavenly Stems – Heaven, the 4 Earthly Branches – Earth and finally the Hidden Heavenly Stems – Man. To accurately understand your life journey, an in-depth analysis is needed for Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches and Hidden Heavenly Stems.

一 命, 二运, 三风水

The ancient Chinese has one saying: 一 命, 二运, 三风水; first life, second luck and third Feng Shui. The “first life” basically means the 8 Characters or 4 Pillars. The “second luck” is the Luck Cycle, which will be described later. Finally, “Third Feng Shui” talks about the Qi flow in your living quarters that affects you. There is another saying where Bā Zì is diagnostic and Feng Shui is the prescription. This is because Bā Zì is fixed but you can take action in Feng Shui.

 一 命 (First Life)

To understand what is your life (as stated in “first life”), you need to understand the permutations between the Day Master and other characters in your chart. The other important character in your 4 Pillars is the Month Earthly Branch. This is called the season. This character will determine the strength of all other characters in your 4 Pillars. The 4 Pillars chart determine a person’s capacity. If we use the analogy of a plane as Life, then the 4 Pillars chart denotes the quality of the plane. A person with good chart is like an Airbus A380; big engine, state of the art design, big sitting capacity, pretty air stewardess and  able to fly long haul without refueling.

二运 (Second Luck)

The luck pillar determines the various luck cycles for your entire life. The luck pillars are derived from the 4 Pillars and are categorized into 10-year luck cycle per luck pillar. For general 10-year luck, the stipulated luck cycle will be used as a permutation against the 4 Pillars. Now, having a good plane is not enough. You have to make sure the journey is smooth. If you have a good plane and your flight patch is bumpy with air turbulence and bad weather, your life path would be full of obstacles despite having a good set of 4 Pillars. Drawing another similar analogy,  it would be like a person born to a wealthy family but going through bad luck and lose all the family fortune.

三风水 (Third Feng Shui)

This is the category that you have more room to manipulate. A lot people think that Life & Luck is cast in stone and there is nothing you can do about it. Well, for those who think so, then you will be forever stuck with what’s being defined in your destiny. Will explain more below. Anyway, Feng Shui talks about the Qi map in the place that you stay. The direction of your house is measure and the Qi map plotted. Analysis is done to utilize the good sectors as well as to remedy or avoid the bad ones. The location of your house is also important. This is because the Qi comes from the external environment. If the surrounding environment Qi is bad, how can the Qi in your house be good? Also, take note that when choosing a place to call home, a people with bad luck will tend to be attracted to a house with a less than desired Feng Shui. Too bad, that’s life. That’s when the engagement of bona fide Feng Shui practicioners come into play!

When to take action?

Cantonese has one saying: 落地哭三声, 好丑命生成. It means life is pre-defined and nothing you can do about it. Is that really true? Well, the reason for getting a Bā Zì analysis done and performing a Feng Shui audit on a house is to understand one’s capacity and what actions or remedies to take. As described above, Life is like a plane, Luck is your flying path and Feng Shui is really the plane hanger that you perform your regular maintenance. Knowing in advance your plane capacity, the condition of your flying path and the condition of your plane will enable you to plan the types of cargo you want to take. Translate that into real life, if your Life is destined to work for people – don’t start your own business. If you are into bad luck cycle, don’t take any drastic action. Although, you are in bad luck now, taking small action now will bring you big return later when your luck pillar turns to good. Not taking action is like accepting what’s been designed for you. As the saying goes, Attitude determines your Altitude. Taking action now will give you a head start later.

Written by Calvin Yap