Misconceptions of BaZi Revisited

This week, I would like to discuss a couple of philosophical points on BaZi. As a consultant, practitioner and indeed life-long student of BaZi myself, I have discovered common misconceptions through my study, contemplation, practice and consultations - and they seem to pop up often!

Perhaps you already know or have come to realize these points yourself, but I would like to share them with you anyway:

1. A person's life is not cast in stone.

As practitioners, we get questioned and challenged on this point all the time. The naysayers out there (and we know there are quite a few of these negative people out there) say, "If something's already destined, then what's the point in knowing?"

We study a subject like BaZi to understand the as-is and not the will-be. We come into this world with a blueprint of our key personality traits and background. These then interact with what comes into our lives through complex universal workings (the dynamic Luck Pillars and so on).

We change our destinies by changing ourselves first and foremost. This causes our reactions to situations to change (the degree of which depends on how much personality change has been affected). Then, our actions change and as a result, our destiny and path change. Even though we cannot change the Luck Pillars - which set the overall tone of our life during a certain period - the actual manifestation of events and outcomes can be RADICALLY different depending on what occurs prior to that point in time.

Therefore, in my opinion, there is no point in using BaZi to seek answers to questions like "When will I die?" or "Can you tell me whether I'll be a single-digit multimillionaire by my 'wealth pillar' aka LP 49?". Firstly, you can meet with death even during the BEST Luck Pillar if the circumstances are "ripe" enough and secondly, what you do NOW and PRIOR to LP 49 will set off the circumstances that can determine exactly how much wealth you will have accumulated by LP 49!

In general, the further the goal, approach and outlook, the more of one's destiny one can carve out and indeed change.

2. BaZi should NOT be limiting.

In my multifaceted lifestyle, I also often come across the positive, super-motivated types (you know, the kind who are all revved-up to do ANYTHING) who refuse to believe there are any sort of destiny forces at play. These are the ones who refuse to believe there is a greater cosmos out there besides their own selves.

Again, most of what is mentioned in (1) above is relevant here. Instead of perceiving knowledge of BaZi as a limitation, we really should use it to EMPOWER ourselves. We use the information to gain an understanding of ourselves, our circumstances and also the past.

In our earthly life, we cannot change basic things like our ancestral and parental background - these are set circumstances. However, having a good understanding of these can really make a huge difference. After all, family background has a profound influence on our personality. We can then examine the why's and how's and utilize such understanding to affect change for the better. These alone present a wondrous reason for wanting to "know" more through BaZi!

What about the Day Master? Yes, having a thorough understanding of the Day Master helps identify our innermost, basic nature. Ms Skeptic might say, "Aha! Isn't that limiting?" Yet, I can safely say that even if Ms Skeptic refuses to admit it, she will find that - after all the doing and trying, trials and tribulations and intense soul searching - returning to the true Ms Skeptic (as reflected by her Day Master) is pretty much what she was looking for in the first place.

Toh Kong Eu
MA Instructor