It was fun participating in a BaZi pop-quiz organized by JLim in the now ‘reborn’ fivearts.info forum… In this challenge, JLim asked;

“Today is Valentine's day.  Let's have a quiz about love... and separation.  Choose when this lady married and then quickly divorced; 2007 Ding Hai, 2009 Ji Chou, 2011 Xin Mao, 2013 Gui Si, 2015 Yi Wei. Please choose one year only, and your reasoning using any method (Bazi, ZWDS, Liu Yao, QMDJ, Meihua, Tarot, Mahjong divination etc.). +6 karma points for the correct answer with reasoning. A simple reasoning will do.  No karma point for correct answer but without reasoning at all. The Chinese hour is correct with or without adjustment to solar time. I will announce the answer after at least 15 people participate.  But I will only send my Bazi analysis by pm to those who participate.”

True enough, none of the 15 participants participated are BIG NAMES, liked – “You Know Who…”. Those participated are all small fries including JayTee. The Big Names have reputation to keep, imagine what if they answer wrongly? For the small fries liked JayTee, it is a good opportunity to test out their wits and to make sure that they are confident enough to just give – one answer, without having to revise their answer at one go… You just cannot simply say, maybe… might be… could be… in real audits. You have to know your arts well minus the guessing games. This challenge is even more interesting because, JLim wanted the participant to write down, how do they derive their decision… OMG… you must read the commentary as it is the most intriguing dynamics among the various arts on display from the so commonly known ZiPing to ‘No Name’ divination techniques all in one go – Superb! Yet, none of the 15 participants, I presumed, would have known who this BaZi chart belongs to…

Later, JLim broke the news by saying;

“The answer is 2011 XinMao.  She married and divorced in the same year!  Thank you to quiz participants!  Her husband was a policeman, who loved to gamble.  He gambled a lot of their money and lost everything.  Because of this, they got into a huge fight and divorced.  As of end of 2015, she was still single.  I see that she will marry twice in her life.  More Bazi details on how to see wealth loss, her marriage and divorce later through PM.”

Dawn upon the participants that only 4 out of the 15 make the correct predictions. Among these 4 are the so common technique of ZiPing BaZi served raw – no acrobatic pictorial method or something similar… Who says ZiPing BaZi cannot use? The aftermath was a series of self-reflections and soul searching and one in particular, caught our attention;

“The answer is right there! Mao clashes with Subject You and at the same time combines with the Object Xu. Very straight forward, yet is unseen. It is so much easier to read the hexagram when you know the answer eh?”

So, it does really make more sense with post-diction instead of pre-diction, right? That’s life… That is the reason why many BaZi teachers love to use post-diction of known celebrities to showcase their skills. It is simply very exciting when you work backward to narrow down to an observation. Only good teacher would do a life expose of all his/her students without prior notice in class to be testified by the students themselves… If your teacher don’t do that, you better run away far-far…

In fact, the good old fashioned, ZiPing BaZi has not really lost its teeth… Someone did say;

“There are many-many BaZi theories around.
The one used most often is referring to the month as the anchor.
Another theory refers to the month for structure only and not for strength.
Another refers to heaven, earth and man. Meaning calculated using all the 8 palaces.
The least well known theory refers to resources and resources only, nothing else…”
 
You can see, there are many ways to skin the cat… Yet, how many can it be used? That is the Question? 

​Assuming that it is not born in season, it is rendered a weak chart, favouring resource and self. Here we determined the strength of the Day Stem to be in consistent with modern ZiPing approach.
 
Fast forward, narrow down to the spouse star, high possibility is when the Xin辛 is protruding. Why we say, Xin辛 as the spouse star instead of the officer star? Someone did say, “Wei and BingXu are Spouse Stars, while Wu is Spouse Palace.”  This is one problem with ZiPing… What exactly is what?
 
Bing丙 is the officer star to Geng 庚. The Home Palace have Wei未 and Wu午 combination. Will that form fire? Mind you there is a constant clash between Chou丑 and Wei未, how to combine? Different school, different stroke again…
 
Assuming it does not, this Geng 庚 is still sitting on her officer Wu午. Is this officer官 star favourable to Geng 庚? Again this come to the question of Officer and Killing 官杀, different school, different stroke…
 
Someone suggests, “Mao combines to move Wei, so marriage occurred.” Look at this carefully, Mao卯 combine with Xu戌 also forming fire. Will it transform? Which season do we look into? Different school, different stroke… Will Wei未 combine after being clashed by Chou丑?
 
Someone suggests, “Xin as Rob Wealth is inauspicious in this chart.” Look at this carefully again… How can Xin辛 be an unfavourable god to a weak Geng 庚? Isn’t a weak chart favours Self and Resource?   
 
Maybe this is the reason, “The chart works by Geng combining with Yi, but Xin clashing Yi is inauspicious, leading to wealth loss.” Look at this extreme carefully… How do Geng庚 combine with Yi乙 when it is so far apart? Really, cannot figure this out…  
 
The final straw, “The divorce happened in LP Bing Xu, because this LP is the "arrival" of Xu to punish Wei and Mao AP also combines to trigger Xu.”, Look at this extreme carefully… XinMao 辛卯 cannot just come and combine away without negotiating with BingXu 丙戌. Don’t even know if such has already been activated yet… Again, different school, different stroke…

​GengWu 庚午 lady as was described by one website – “… the KING maker. Geng the raw iron is useless when it is not forge, with Ding fire, it forge itself into Axe - a tool that know no fear. Geng the most vicious sitting on Ding its very own Direct Officer which is the cardinal force. This give it the ability to be righteous. Ding fire shine the clear path in times of darkness, it’s the very fire that remove fear, remove all doubt. GengWu has a resilient personality. They get thing done quickly and swift. Ding give them clear sight and detail while still being elegant like the night star in a clear sky.”
 
When Bing meet Xin – “Bing 丙 Fire + Xin 辛 Metal = Water. Water epitomized being stray and betrayal. Bing 丙 Fire is passion while Xin 辛 Metal is beauty, over indulgence in woman, wine & music. Chinese has a saying that see money (Xin) turn into Water 见财化水. Fire countering metal. Bing丙 Fire, pictorially liked a Sun, now will literally melting away the small Xin 辛 Metal.” We seriously don’t know how could that be? The Sun only make the metal shines brighter! “In exchange the transformation produce Wisdom (Water). Transformation only happen in the month of Chen (辰) Dragon, Shen (申) Monkey, Hai (亥) Pig & Zi (子) Rat.”
 
In conclusion, she is hype out being get thing done quickly and swift and marrying the guy. Only to find that see money (Xin) turn into Water 见财化水. Trouble. She took the noble step as Geng the raw iron is useless when it is not forge, with Ding fire, it forge itself into Axe - a tool that know no fear. She divorce him. End of story…

​Let’s contemplate on one of this statement –

1. Is Useful God 用神 useful? Or
2. Is there such thing as useful god 用神?
3. How many times when your useful god appear and your life got no improvement?

Very thought provocative questions… but we love it…

​In contemporary BaZi 八字, the emphasis is in the strength 强弱 of the Day Stem 日主元神. A strong or weak chart will determined the Useful God 用神. This Useful God 用神 is naturally the element favourable to the chart. A weak chart needs to be strengthened and a strong chart needs to be weakened. The elements that strengthened the weak chart or weaken the strong chart are called Favourable God 吉神 while the reverse are called Unfavourable God 忌神. It is useful when you know how to determine the strength 强弱 of the Day Stem 日主元神. This could pose a lot of challenges especially with different schools holding different points of view about many other miscellaneous criteria, supposing the rule of combination and transformations, the rule on earth seasons and so forth… They never seem to agree with one another often resulted in cases liked, strong but not so strong, weak but not so weak…
 
In classical approach, the emphasis is on the Useful God 用神, not the Day Stem 日主元神. This Useful God 用神 is the God in-command 用事之神, determined by the Month Commander月令. It is not necessarily to be your Favourable God 吉神, as it could just be an Unfavourable God 忌神 as well. Therefore, the traditional approaches boil down to the quality of the Useful God 用神. These qualities are known as Having Affection 有情 or Having Strength 有力. Having Affection 有情 means the Useful God 用神 is being used the appropriate ways and Having Strength 有力 means the Useful God 用神 is being used to strengthen the Day Stem 日主元神. They mean different things altogether. It is useful when you know how to use the Useful God 用神 in the manner of Having Affection 有情 or Having Strength 有力 in a way that Favourable God 吉神 are supported and protected, Unfavourable God 忌神 are restraint and transformed. 

Traditionally, useful God 用神 is derived from the Month Branch that is commonly known as a Month Commander月令. A branch may concealed more than one elements. The Commanding God 用事之神 must be the most dominant element hidden within the Month Branch. This is to qualify as the Commanding God 用事之神 of a particular Solar Term. How to decide on the most dominant element is again, different school different stroke… This Month Branch may also subject to movement and stillness 动静. As to how it move and kept still 动静 is again, different school different stroke… This is a problem! Ultimately, there is a Useful God 用神 subject that one understand clearly as to how to identify the dominant element and determine its movement and stillness 动静.
​
Modern approach, useful God 用神 is derived from the strength of the Day Stem 强弱. This goes by the mantra of In-Season 挡候, In-Location 挡位 and In-Formation 挡局.These three factors that contributed to the Day Stem 日主元神 require the Useful God 用神 to arbitrate 扶抑, to medicate 病药 or to adjust 调候. There is a Useful God 用神 of different technique for different situation. Ultimately, reaching to a near perfect chart of CaiGuan Yin 财官印.

This is a compounded question. First, how many times when your Useful God appear? Second, if it appears, why your life got no improvement?

Let’s attempt the first limb of the question. Useful God may appear many times, through the dynamic part of your BaZi – the Luck Pillar and the Annual Pillar. Assuming, that your useful god is fire. This year DingYou 丁酉 may bring about the fire Qi require. A number of Chinese Academies such as Money squeezing Academy of chinese metaphysics (MsAocm), may say that DingYou 丁酉 comes in after LiChun 3 February 2017, Friday 10:36pm. Therefore you suppose to bank in money during this day to activate the “丁”… Is that true?

We also need to ask when is the actual arrival of the Useful God 用神? One conventional way state that, the first half of the year is governed by Ding 丁 while the second half is governed by You 酉? Is that also true? When will the Ding丁 or the You 酉 have impact on you? Will the You 酉 TaiSui full-fledged force be impacted upon you on the Yin寅 month or the Si巳-You酉-Chou丑 month or the Chen辰 month? Many stroke, different outcome.
​
One method probably coined Qi Flow Method 氣流法 go as far as to measure the actual progresses or retrograde of these elements through various means such as star conjunctions, planetary movements and eclipses. In such case, even if the Ding丁 is observed, with the real absent of the fire Qi, will you still get to enjoy the fire Qi? Probably such gave the answer to the second limb of the question - even when your useful god appear why your life still got no improvement? 

This is an interesting chart.

Yi wood born in summer, supported by the branch and but not the stem. Technically a weak chart. So, favoring water, metal and wood. Liked the chart of the millionaire, he too should have been a millionaire indeed? With rooted resource, wealth and self, yet this person is only of a working class. Why? So, does owning a so called, "Cai, Guan and Yin" means a millionaire chart? Think about it... Then, what happened to him at the following day, with technically, in DingHai Luck Pillar?

辛 戊 癸 己
酉 午 酉 丑

Here is another example of "Cai Guan Yin". There is a reason to call it in the order of Cai, Guan and Yin, being resource is kept to the left. In this chart it is called Yin, Guan and Cai, a reverse order. What difference would that make? Anyway, it is still Cai, Guan Yin structure. Not supported by season, neither are the stems and the branches with the exception of Xin. Can this chart be a fake follower chart? Officer and wealth rooted. He is a well to do corporate figure. Only 2 roots as compared to 3 roots and yet make such a big difference, why?

I gathered a number of emails pertaining to the topic of Cai GuanYin and I took the liberty of saying it is quite a number of fans for Cai GuanYin. One question remains, is Cai GuanYin a perfect chart? Along our experiences of reading charts we found that profiling Cai GuanYin to the profile of a Tycoon is rather misleading. There is a subtle different between a Cai GuanYin chart of a rich guy with the Cai GuanYin chart of a poor one. Rooted-ness and Stem-liness are just one of the criteria and there are many more to come.

Our student of BaZi workshop has so much knowledge regarding such to take home as one of them was saying, "I thoroughly enjoyed Master Ng's Bazi class. His easy style of teaching made learning fun and naturally, encouraged students participation. All questions were answered. Unlike other masters where some answers would only be made available at higher modules. Most importantly, he offered a different perspective to Bazi reading and his interpretations and disclosures were striking. Those three days of learning had been very enlightening. Thank you Master Ng and your organizing team, David and Lenny".

As for the new year 2011 to come, we are planning for another workshop stretching for at least 6 days for our students covering both BaZi and FengShui simultaneous applications. Our students knew well the depth we had covered in ourpreparatory workshop and there is much more to come, to gear up one to be a competent practitioner.

Back to Cai GuanYin, one email we received was quite fascinating as an Indonesian Chinese was thinking along that he has inherited a Cai GuanYin formation and being a weak day master, he would had benefited from it. The following correspondence with him would had shed some light into the nature of Cai GuanYin.  As his BaZi has been made available in other blogs, we had taken some steps to keep it anonymous. 

Please feel free to comment if you have any doubt.

J: I always wondered what's with the fascination with the structure of "Cai GuanYin" ? Excuse me, let me introduce myself. My name is J and I know BaziDiary and have met him one time in Penang and talked Bazi over Soft Drinks in KFC. Anyway, I have heard that the structure of Self, Output, and Wealth is better than "Cai GuanYin". What are your thoughts on "Cai GuanYin" charts? Pleased to meet you. P.S. My chart is also "Cai,Guan,Yin" with all elements rooted as well as self and a weak DM. I am trying to learn more the nature of this interesting yet peculiar structure. 

YiBaZi: Can you share your Bazi with us? I do not know where to start but to just say that most millionaires are this structure. There is some exceptional case which we had discussed at length during the last workshop. If you understand the significant of a weak chart, you will understand why cai guanyin is so crucial. Hope to meet you someday.

J: I was surprised that you would reply back. BaZiDiary has posted my chart on his site under "law of attraction". You might want to see that first to know his comments on my chart. No, Cai GuanYin was ever mentioned. I found out about it during September this year. By the way, I disagree on his view that my DM is strong just because it's born in the supporting season. However, I will be interested to know your views and what is not and please do let me know if you want more information to confirm with me. By the way, is my chart going to be posted on your blog? And oh yeah, I am not a millionaire YET. I want to believe the remaining LP I have will help me to achieve my dreams. One more thing about my chart, I don't know if it has any significant whatsoever, but all the right stars fall in the right palace in my chart, Grandparent star is in my year branch, mother star is in my month branch, wife star is in my day branch and children star is in my hour branch. My chart is strange. Anyway, I hope to meet you soon too if you ever come to Australia or I go to Penang again.

YiBaZi: Let me look at your chart first and revert to you for more information. Yes, you are right,my approach and BaZiDiary are somewhat different as we may be from different school.Just for curiosity, are you an Indonesian Chinese?

J: Yeh, it just made me sound desperate which I am not that kind of a person. Yes, I am a Chindo (Chinese Indonesia). BaZiDiary learn all his skills from JY and I don't really apply much from JY himself. Not saying he is bad. What I consider good is when the reading is accurate in reading future not only past. Since I have been studying my chart for quite sometimes I'm sure we can have good banter about my chart. As matter of fact let me start a sneak yet critical preview about my chart. My useful God is fire and it is in season as well as rooted. The bad thing about my chart is the FanYin involving month branch and day branch an It is quite severe one.

YiBaZi: No wonder you did not match up a Cai Guan Yin profile! You are a strong chart, my friend! So, BaZiDiary has given you a correct interpretation as to the strength of your chart. Just be a little careful when the Wei comes in.

J: Now I am a strong chart? I thought it was weak due to the fan yin involved. I might be a one of this confusing chart like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey charts. Why do I say my DM is weak because in year of BIngXu 2006 I was having a great year that time? If I were strong then BingXu year would be awful for me. Just out of curiousity, Cai guanyin don’t work with strong DM?

YiBaZi: Your chart is easy to read. It is not because I agree with Chris the way a chart's strength is determined only by the month, it is because of something else which I do not wish to disclose. Wouldn't it is strange when BingXu comes in; you would have screwed up, but not? Why? If you understand the rules of transformation, you will see the true picture. A Cai GuanYin is preferred for a weak chart. When the LP and AP come in, a weak chart is better in handling the 5 elements compared to the rest.

J: Thanks for your help in casting a light on the strength of my chart. I kind of understand where are you coming from now. Too bad I got all the right stars and now it is a strong chart.Well, according to ShenSha which I dun like using, my month branch is in Kong Wang but the Wei LP is already over and my life is much better now. Thanks for your help.

The correspondences continue…

My question is, Mr J has been reading more than hundred charts and yet the most profound and fundamental question of the strength of the chart is still prevailing and that has not account to, the accuracy of catching of the useful gods or YongShen. This may not be an isolated case. Unless otherwise, one speaks out liked Mr J did, one will not understand as to why after investing a fortune in BaZi courses and consultations, readings the chart is still way off the actual life events.Something must be so damn wrong, somewhere.  It proof s one thing, you are still your own best teacher. 

We would like to hear your view.

BingBazi introduces us a near perfect chart for discussion, apparently a date selections for C-Section. Jia wood born in winter. Strong self? If it is a weak chart, then on a superficial level, everything seems to fall into place. Perfect star in the correct palace? No clash, punishment and of the sort. Impeccable stillness. Is that really so?  It is a blessings that the students of the currently completed workshop has an opportunity to understand more layers beyond just strong or weak. More importantly do you think this is a chart befitting an emperor?

HongKong FeiXing Master Li Kui-Ming (李居明) needs very little introduction. He hits some sense in most of our FengShui discourse especially so to the layman. One statement that he made was that – do you know why most of the poor remains poor and the rich remains rich? If you ask the poor to shift out from their current home due to bad FengShui, they most likely not able to do it. Therefore they are poor. But, when you ask the rich to move out of the current house for a better FengShui house somewhere, they would do it without giving a second thought! Therefore, they are rich! So, really don’t even think of doing FengShui or even engaging FengShui master for an advice, if you are poor. Don’t even think of spending your hard earned money in courses liked – Millionaire mind through FengShui or Getting rich with FengShui if you are poor! It simply cannot make magic for the poor… but for the rich and about to be wealthy, yes indeed – Good FengShui complements you because you will make the changes for the sake of getting richer… well, not necessary greedier. That include the magic techniques of ShengJi and the other bullshit stuffs.

Master Li has also a secret to share that, if you desperately needs to know what a good FengShui for the rich, go and live with the rich people… Their luck cannot be that bad after all and even how bad their FengShui could turn out to be, they can never be worse off than those poor people living in poor and low cost neighborhood. By the same token, even if you need to pay hefty rent to stay in a “dog house” within the rich neighborhood, do so and that is his secret of getting rich and famous, as can be witnessed today. Better, don’t even think of becoming a FengShui master if you cannot afford to live lavishly, as your lifestyles portray your competency of your skills. This is the epitome of what they called, charity begins at home… prosper thyself before others. Because of this paradigm that sounds so true, some Bolehland Conmasters take the opportunity to bring students to measure old graves, especially old rich man’s graves including their homes, believing it is Great FengShui!

Well, Master Li is not alone in such thinking. In some time ago when YCH is still kicking, the junior FengShui celebrity also did that with a company of his good buddies. See, what they are today, with the exception of a few that couldn’t made it up to the bar! Super rich with abundant opportunities to “advice” property developers… Imagine, how poor could their clientele be? With rich client instead of the poor, they always have good track records to showcase that their FengShui works! That is because, If you ask the poor to shift out from their current home, they most likely not able to do it. Therefore they are poor. But, when you ask the rich to move out of the current house for a better FengShui house somewhere, they would do it without giving a second thought! Therefore, they are rich! Therefore, it is really an idiot to think that Yang YunSong is also known as the savior of the poor. This is blasphemy! He should be known as the savior of the rich! By the way, the junior FengShui celebrity proud and arrogantly reflect such of his masters that they are a bunch of theorists who can quote anything offhand but when come to use FengShui to prosper themselves, see they still live like wage earners… Assuming this logic is correct, let’s look at a case in Bolehland…

(First published in Yifengshui 20092012)

Tycoon Li has an illustrated lifestyle. He does not need any of the royal decorum such as Dato, Tansri, Tun and so forth. He employs people with such decorum to run his work. He has not even an O-level education. His life is liked a modern day emperor which will put any of the “cow-gate” minister into envy. Strangely, he is also a strong believer of FengShui. He spent a fortune to engage a master from the mainland. Besides traveling in first class, Tycoon Li displayed his baroque connections with mayors and other politically connected good friends, to have their pictures taken while the master's stay in Bolehland.
 
[Postscript: Tycoon Li is known of the following characteristics. He owns 2 public listed companies and counting. He was declared a bankrupt but a very hardworking chap. He loves sports and luxury cars, by same token, he has many mistresses to his collection. He has about 21 children, many of them are grownups professionals and still counting... He shuns limelight and only work behind the veil. He is quite a notorious businessman of all trades and he preferred the term, shrewd businessman instead.]
 
Of all his advises, one became prominent. He said, Tycoon Li would only be prosperous if his empire is managed by people with surname Li. As a result, he uses his family to run his business. But Tycoon, liked him, needs proxies to do his camouflage in Bolehland. True blood to the idea of One Bolehland, he has Indian lawyers and Malay administrators to run his business, but none of them are Li. This is a problem. One good friend of his suggested to him, well that is not the problem at all. All is needed is to use their Chinese Name instead. So, the next morning, we see Dato MangGa Li Singh and Dato Li-zal Abihla clocking-in. 
 
The moral of the story is name selections beside BaZi, plays a significant role in one’s destiny. Why not change your name and see how true it is? Besides that let’s also look at his background…

(First published in Yifengshui 18042010)
 
Lately was invited to audit a typical wealthy China man's House. It was designed with the SanFen SanHe 三分三合 principles in mind and a SiHeYuan house 四合院 typology [for detail read davidyek.com/critics/traditional-chinese-architecture-modular-house. It has an internal court opens up to the sky. Where would the centre of the house be? The internal courts will open up to another 3 sided entrances with three different doors. How would a Flying Star chart be? The more challenging piece is the water flow which are so diverse and subtle. So, is the location of the water via its aquarium in relation to the house proper? 
 
The external pose some physically challenging Sha with the green dragon holdings sword 青龍論劍, as above the telecommunication structure with water falls features at the bottom, located at GenYin double mountain. House sitting Fire Structure with incoming at Yin and water exiting at Wu. That is significantly enough to tell the story as to why this wealthy China man has unresolved issues, the moment he shifted to this very new house, inclusive of the demised of his beloved mother whom was a healthy woman at the age of 80+ prior of moving into this mansion, in the month of Xu, year of Zi.
 
On a XuanKong level, although it is still considered a new house, there are apparently structural cracks at the skylights directly at the main door at the Qian sector. What does it means? If divination is done at the month of Chen, what does it portends? We will reserve more for the Private Blog, meanwhile as pointer, all of the sudden, we were told that XuanKong FlyingStar, of which the method expounded by Shen JuReng is a flawed methodology based on the following conclusions: -

1. Master Sheng JuReng pedigree is questionable as he is not from an authentic XuanKong Lineage.
2. It is only based on Master Sheng's own interpretations.
3. Sheng's method only based on the sitting and facing, thus 2 dimensional.
4. In order for such to work, it must conforms to the land form.
5. Sheng's hypothesis only works within the 4 structures.

Even with these above hypothesis, it is cumbersome to even superimpose the FlyingStar chart into the house plan of a huge mansion with multiple rooms and doors. Thus, it is a shame to learn that in the West, such methodology is still taught as a valid FengShui methodology as one dilemma is when we apply FlyingStar as an application, we forgot that, as with all valid system of FengShui, it has a body as principle to start with, but where is the body for FlyingStar?
 
[Postscript: Coincidentally, Tycoon Li’s mansion was designed to fulfil the SiHeYuan house 四合院 typology. In contrast of popular believe a SiHeYuan house 四合院 typology may not necessary means good FengShui… and we have another case as in Bolehland, read davidyek.com/yifengshui/-the-death-and-emptiness-of-zhang-bishis-mansion]

6.  Unfortunately, this master from China that Tycoon Li has engaged is a Shen's WuChang Pai Flying Star practitioner.