Background materials for 4-Pillars Class PAGE 1

© 2005, International School of Feng Shui, all rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF FENG SHUI

Minnesota, USA

Background Materials
for 4-Pillars Class
The following pages are written for students who have no background on 4-
Pillars of Destiny to familiarize themselves with the basic terms.

It is also intended for students who have taken 4P classes from other teachers
who may have different translations of 4P terms , so students can compare the
terms before coming to class.

We have tried to keep the original meaning of 4P terms in the translation AND
also keep the phonetic patterns of the terms. Both original Chinese and pin-yin
transliterations are provided for those who can read Chinese.

Don’t worry if you do not understand these terms for the time being. We will go
over these in class with additional helpful information.

There are some examples of tables in this document. Our class manuals are
different from other schools in that we use tables extensively to condense and
contrast large amount of information for high speed learning. There will be over
100 tables in the 4P class manuals.

For class schedule and location, please check;

http://www.midwestfengshui.com/schedule.htm

For Asia location, please click

http://www.fengshuiexpress.com

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HEAVENLY STEMS AND EARTHLY BRANCHES

Introduction
This section is written for students who are not familiar with the 10 Heavenly Stems (HS),
12 Earthly Branches (EB) concepts and the Chinese 60 Jia Zi calendar system. We will
keep it simple and avoid long theories and historical stories.

The 10 HS and 12 EB is the ABC and 1-2-3 of Chinese metaphysics—Chinese

astrologists use it, Traditional Chinese Medicine uses it, Feng Shui uses it…. It is used
as a numbers, as directions, as spatial representations, as representations of human
organs, as weather system, as calendar systems…. And it works well with diverse
systems of metaphysics for centuries.

No wonder the Chinese sometimes compare HS and EB to the invention of compass

and paper.

Originally, 10 HS are used for counting days and 12 EB for keeping track of months.
Then these two systems of calendar is combined to one system called 60 jia-zi system.

If you know the 24 Mountains in Feng Shui, you already know most of the 12 HS and 10
EB.

Figure 1: 24
Mountains in
Feng Shui

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10 Heavenly Stems

According to legends, 10 Heavenly Stems was created during the reign of the Yellow
Emperor (5000+ years ago). It was used to count days.

Representations of 10 Heavenly Stems

Element WOOD FIRE EARTH METAL WATER
Yang Stems jia bing wu geng ren

Yin Stems yi ding ji xin gui

Directions east south center west North

24mountain Zhen Li Center Dui Kan
location
6 Animals Green Red phoenix Snake White tiger Black turtle
dragon
Seasons Spring Summer 4 mid- Autumn Winter
seasons
Produce bing/ ding wu/ ji earth geng/ xin ren/ gui jia/ yi wood
fire metal water
Suppress wu/ ji earth geng/ xin ren/ gui jia/ yi wood bing/ ding
metal water fire
Clashes Jia clashes Bing clashes
geng ren
Yi clashes Ding clashes
xin gui

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12 Earthly Branches

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Well, it is hard to count with only 10 Heavenly Stems, so the ancient astronomers had
created 12 more items to play with—here comes the 12 Earthly Branches.

Representations of 12 Earthly Branches

Yang Zi Yin Chen Wu Shen Xu
Branches
Element water Wood earth fire metal earth
Animal Rat Tiger Dragon Horse Monkey Dog
Season Winter Spring Spring Summer Autumn Autumn
Direction North NE SE South SW NW
Hour 23:00- 3:00- 7:00- 11:00- 15:00- 19:00-
1:00 5:00 9:00 13:00 17:00 21:00
Month 11thmonth 1stmonth 3rd month 5thmonth 7thmonth 9thmonth

Yin Branches Chou Mao Si Wei You Hai

Element Earth Wood Fire Earth Metal water

Animal Ox Rabbit Snake Ram Rooster Pig
Season Winter Spring Summer Summer autumn Winter
Directions NE East SE SW West NE
Hour 1:00- 5:00- 9:00- 13:00- 17:00- 21:00-
3:00 7:00 11:00 15:00 19:00 23:00
Month 12thmonth 2ndmonth 4thmonth 6thmonth 8thmonth 10thmonth

Interactions between 12 Earthly Branches

There are more interactions between earthly branches than heavenly stems. Here we
only mention the ones that are important.

1. EB 6 Clashes: This one is simple—simply count to 7 and the location is the branch
that clashes with the originating element. For example, start counting 7 branches from
Chou—Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu and Wei-- so Wei (ram) clashes with Chou (ox).

Zi Chou Yin Mao Chen Si

Wu Wei Shen You Xu Hai

2. EB 3-Unity (San He Combinations): This one is the triangular or 60 degrees

relationship between EB. There is a distance of 3 branches between branches that have
this triangular relationship. EB 3-combinations are used very often in the calculation of
sha-related formula. So make sure you know these 4 combinations:

Water 3-unity: shen-zi-chen

Fire 3-unity: yin-wu-xu
Metal 3-unity: si-you-chou
Wood 3-unity: hai-mao-wei

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3. EB 3-Meeting (San Hui formations) : This one is the relationship between a group
of 3 branches within the same overall direction. This is like saying “the south is famous
for fire” (fire formation in the south) and so on. EB 3-meeting is used primarily in San
Sha calculations. Here are the combinations:

water 3-meeting: hai-zi-chou

fire 3-meeting: si-wu-wei
metal 3-meeting: shen-you-xu
wood 3-meeting: yin-mao-chen

5-ELEMENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEAVENLY STEMS AND

EARTHLY BRANCHES

5-Elements 10 Heavenly 12 Earthly branch 12 Earthly branch Earthly branch

stems 3-unity 3-meeting 6-combinations
WOOD Ding + Ren Hai + Mao + Wei Yin + Mao + Chen Hai + Yin

FIRE Wu + Gui Yin + Wu + Xu Si + Wu + Wei Mao + Xu

Wu + Wei

EARTH Jia + Ji Chen, Xu, Chou, Wei Chen, Xu, Chou, Zi + Chou
Wei

METAL Yi + Geng Si + You + Chou Shen + You + Xu Chen + You

WATER Bing + Xin Shen + Zi + Chen Hai + Zi + Chou Si + Yin

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60 JIA ZI CALENDAR SYSTEM

With the invention of 10 HS and 12 EB, ancient astronomers had created a

sexagesimal (60-years cycle) calendar system based on it. Here is the logic
behind:

10 Heavenly Stems
Yang Stems jia bing wu geng ren
Yin Stems yi ding ji xin gui

12 Earthly Branches
Yang Zi Yin Chen Wu Shen Xu
Branches
Yin Branches Chou Mao Si Wei You Hai

By picking a yang stem to pair with a yang branch and a yin stem to pair with a
yin branch, a system of 60 different combinations is created. For example, jia
pairs with zi, which is the first pair of the 60 unit cycle, hence the system is called
Jia Zi system.

The Chinese use the same system to count hours (2 western hours is equal to
one Chinese hour), months and years, so there is

„ one Jia Zi hour cycle in 5 days

„ one Jia Zi month cycle in 5 years
„ one Jia Zi in 60 years
„ one Jia Zi has three 20- year cycles or period
„ one Jia Zi is called one Xuan
„ Three Xuans is equivalent to 180 years or 9 periods of 20 years

Maybe you are still confused with these jia zi names. If I tell you the current year
is 2005 and next year is 2006, you should have no problem understanding it. Jia
Zi system is the same, except it uses 10 HS and 12 EB to name the years,
instead of using numbers. So this year is yi-you year (wood rooster year) and
next year is bing-xu year (fire dog) year.

A major difference between the jia zi system and a number system is that jia zi
system is a multidimensional system that also works with other metaphysical
systems with diverse meanings like seasons, directions and etc., whereas the
number system is a one dimension system.

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60 JIA-ZI TABLE

GROUP JIA-ZI JIA-XU JIA- JIA-WU JIA- JIA-YIN

SHEN CHEN
Yang 甲子 甲戌 甲申 甲午 甲辰 甲寅
Jia-zi Jia-xu Jia-shen Jia-wu Jia-chen Jia-yin
Wood- Wood- Wood- Wood-fire Wood-earth Wood-wood
water earth metal
Yin 乙丑 乙亥 乙酉 乙未 乙巳 乙卯
Yi-chou Yi-hai Yi-you Yi-wei Yi-si Yi-mao
Wood- Wood- Wood- Wood- Wood-fire Wood-wood
earth water metal earth
Yang 丙寅 丙子 丙戌 丙申 丙午 丙辰
Bing-yin Bing-zi Bing-xu Bing-shen Bing-wu Bing-chen
Fire-wood Fire-water Fire-earth Fire-metal Fire-fire Fire-earth
Yin 丁卯 丁丑 丁亥 丁酉 丁未 丁巳
Ding-mao Ding-chou Ding-hai Ding-you Ding-wei Ding-si
Fire-wood Fire-earth Fire-water Fire-metal Fire-earth Fire-fire
Yang 戊辰 戊寅 戊子 戊戌 戊申 戊午
Wu-chen Wu-yin Wu-zi Wu-xu Wu-shen Wu-wu
Earth- Earth-wood Earth- Earth-earth Earth-metal Earth-fire
earth water
Yin 己巳 己卯 己丑 己亥 己酉 己未
Ji-si Ji-mao Ji-chou Ji-hai Ji-you Ji-wei
Earth-fire Earth-wood Earth- Earth- Earth-metal Earth-earth
earth water
Yang 庚午 庚辰 庚寅 庚子 庚戌 庚申
Geng-wu Geng-chen Geng-yin Geng-zi Geng-xu Geng-shen
Metal-fire Metal-earth Metal- Metal- Metal-earth Metal-metal
wood water
Yin 辛未 辛巳 辛卯 辛丑 辛亥 辛酉
Xin-wei Xin-si Xin-mao Xin-chou Xin-hai Xin-you
Metal- Metal-fire Metal- Metal- Metal-water Metal-metal
earth wood earth
Yang 壬申 壬午 壬辰 壬寅 壬子 壬戌
Ren-shen Ren-wu Ren-chen Ren-yin Ren-zi Ren-xu
Water- Water-fire Water- Water- Water-water Water-earth
metal earth wood
Yin 癸酉 癸未 癸巳 癸卯 癸丑 癸亥
Gui-you Gui-wei Gui-si Gui-mao Gui-chou Gui-hai
Water- Water- Water-fire Water- Water-earth Water-water
metal earth wood

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4P TERMINOLOGY
HEAVENLY STEMS (HS)

Heavenly Stem Five

Combinations (天干五合)
z 甲 Jia-wood and 己 ji-earth
combine to wood
z 乙 Yi-wood and 庚 geng-metal
combine to metal
z 丙 Bing-fire and 辛 xin-metal
combine to water
z 丁 Ding-fire and 壬 ren-water
combine to wood
z 戊 Wu-earth and 癸 gui-water
combine to fire

Note: These combinations are based

on He-Tu “yin-yang pair” numerology.

HS Clashes (天干相剋 )“ke” (bi-directional)

z 庚 Geng-metal clashes 甲 jia-wood
z 辛 Xin-metal clashes 乙 yi-wood
z 甲 Jia-wood clashes 戊 wu-earth
z 乙 Yi-wood clashes 己 ji-earth
z 戊 Wu-earth clashes 壬 ren-water
z 己 Ji-earth clashes 癸 gui-water
z 壬 Ren-water clashes 丙 bing-fire
z 癸 Gui-water clashes 丁 ding-fire
z 丙 Bing-fire clashes 庚 geng-metal
z 丁 Ding-fire clashes 辛 xin-metal

Note: The clash or “ke” here means “subduing” or “conquering”. It works both ways, for
example, geng-metal clashes jia-wood will lose to jia-wood if the season is spring when
wood is strong. So jia-wood can also clash geng-metal. HS clashes are clashes
between opposing elements of SAME polarity or gender.

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Notes:
Straight grey lines are “EB 6-clashes”
Curvy grey lines are “EB 6-combinations
Brown straight lines are “EB 6-harm”

EARTHLY BRANCHES (EB)

Earthly Branch
Six Combinations (地支六合) ”he”

z 子 Zi and 丑 chou combine to earth (wet

earth)
z 寅 Yin and 亥 hai combine to wood (strong wood)
z 卯 Mao and 戌 xu combine to fire (weak fire)
z 辰 Chen and 酉 you combine to metal (stretchable metal)
z 巳 Si and 申 shen combine to water
z 午 Wu and 未 wei combine to fire (southern strong fire)

Earthly Branch Six Clashes (地支六冲) “chong” (bi-directional)

z 子 Zi clashes 午 Wu —unstable life

z 卯 Mao and 酉 you -- worrisome and problem mingling with relatives and peers
“Zi- wu- mao- you” clashes are called as“4-cardinal clashes”. The stronger
element will survive and the weaker lose. For example, zi-water clashes wu-fire, wu-fire
loses. But if there are more than one wu-fire or wu-fire is in season (wu month), then
wu-fire can clash zi-water and win.

z 辰 Chen clashes 戌 xu -- sentimental and a weakling

z 丑 chou clashes 未 wei —runs into obstacles when doing business/ activities
“chen- xu- chou- wei” clashes are called as tomb-storage clashes”. Since these are
basically earth with hidden elements, after the clash, earth will survive and hidden
element will disappear, resulting in stronger earth.

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z 寅 Yin clashes 申 shen —sentimental type

z 巳 Si clashes 亥 hai – interfere with others’ business
“Yin-shen-si-hai” clashes are considered as “clashes of 4 horses resulting in both parties
being hurt with increasing animosity.

.
Earthly Branch Six Harm (地支六害) “hai” (bi-directional)
-- also known as “six penalties” (xing) sometimes. Whichever clashes the element that
one combines is called “hai” or harm.

z 子 Zi and 未 wei harm each other

z 丑 chou and 午 Wu harm each other
z 寅 Yin and 巳 Si harm each other
z 卯 Mao and 辰 Chen harm each other
z 申 shen and 亥 hai harm each other
z 酉 you and 戌 xu harm each other

Earthly Branch Six Damages (地支六破) “po” (bi-directional)

-- 6 damages consist of 6 pairs within 3 groups—the tomb-storage group (chen-xu-chou-
wei), the 4-cardinal group (zi-wu-mao-you)
and the 4-horse group (yin-shen-si-hai).
Each element is spaced out by two notches.

z 子 Zi and 酉 you damage each other

z 午 Wu and 卯 Mao damage each other

z 申 shen and 巳 Si damage each other

z 寅 Yin and 亥 hai damage each other

z 辰 Chen and 丑 chou damage each

other
z 戌 xu and 未 wei damage each other

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Earthly Branch 3-Meeting (地支三会) “san hui”

-- 3-meeting is also called as “seasonal combination” or “directional combination”. It is
the accumulation of energy of similar nature in one region. For example, the elements si,
wu and wei are in the south and is the “fire 3-meeting”

„ Si, wu, wei region is “fire 3-meeting”

-- represents the south, fire and summer

„ Shen, you, xu region is “metal 3-meeting”

--represents the west, metal and autumn

„ Hai, zi, chou region is “water 3-

meeting”
-- represents the north, water and winter

„ Yin, mao, chen region is “wood 3-

meeting”
-- represents the east, wood and spring

Earthly Branch 3-Unity (地支三合)

“san he”
-- 3-unity is also called as “triangular
combination” because the elements form a
60 degree triangle. It is based on the five
element property of “12 life stages”.

„ Yin, wu, xu form a “fire 3- unity”

-- represent a fire formation because fire
was born in yin, become prosperous in
wu and entombed in xu.

„ Shen, zi, chen form a “water 3-unity”

--- represent a water formation because water was born in shen, become prosperous
in zi and entombed in chen..

„ Hai, mao, wei form a “wood 3-unity”

--- represent a wood formation because wood was born in hai, become prosperous in
mao and entombed in wei
..
„ Si, you, chou form a “metal 3-unity”
--- represent a metal formation because metal was born in si, become prosperous in
you and entombed in chou..

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Half 3-Unity (半地支三合) “san he”

-- this formation has half the power of 3-unity formation. The combination must have
one middle or cardinal element (zi, wu, mao or you). For example, shen-zi or zi-chen is
considered as “half water 3-unity” whereas shen-chen is not.

Earthly Branch 3-Penalties (地支三刑) “san xing”

and Self-penalties (自刑) “zi xing”
“3-penalties” are derived from matching “3-
unity” and “3-meeting” formations.

Penalty of Ingratitude 无恩之刑

Yin penalizes Si 寅刑巳
Si penalizes Shen 巳刑申
Shen penalizes Yin 申刑寅
-- so yin, shen and si form a 3-penalty

Penalty of Upper-hand Bullying 恃势之刑

Wei penalizes Chou 未刑丑
Chou penalizes Xu 丑刑戌
Xu penalizes Wei 戌刑未
-- so wei, chou and xu form a 3-penalty.

Penalty of impertinence 无礼之刑

Zi penalizes Mao 子刑卯
Mao penalizes Zi 卯刑子
-- so zi and mao form a 3-penalty.

Self-penalties (自刑) “zi xing”

This is based on the principle of same polarity
repels. The following has self-penalties:

„ Wu and wu
„ Chen and chen
„ You and you
„ Hai and hai

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10 TRANSFORMATION STAR ABBREVIATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS

CATEGORY Category Stands for 10 STARS Abb PEOPLE
rev.
“BI-JIE” Represents wealth/ Bi-jian BJ sibling, peer, friends,
比劫 income for weak DM 比肩 co-worker, biz partners
Jie-cai JC Ditto, opposite gender
劫财
“YIN” Represents reputation, Pian-yin PY Mother for female and
印 talent and health for 偏印 grandpa for male; older
weak DM (day-master) relative; unexpected help
Zheng-yin ZY Older relative, mentor,
正印 teacher, mother for male,
grandpa for female

“CAI” Stands for wealth for Pian-cai PC Mistress/ father for male;
财 strong DM, loses wealth 偏财 mother-in-law for female
if seen by a weak DM

Zheng-cai ZC Wife for male; father for

正财 female
“SHI- For strong DM, it stands Shi-shen SS Junior generation,
SHANG” for talent, gaining wealth 食神 student, subordinate,
食伤 from one’s talent daughter for female
Shang-guan SG Junior generation,
伤官 student, subordinate,
grand-daughter and
grandma for male; son
for female
“GUAN- Represents career and Zheng-guan ZG Boss, superior, teacher;
SHA” jobs 正官 husband for female;
官杀 daughter for male
Qi-sha QS Second husband or lover
七杀 for female; son for male

NOTES: These 4P terms may sound awkward, but you need to remember it as
advanced formulas are all written in terms of these categories. If you are new to 4P, you
may want to recite the abbreviations in this way:

Bi-jian 比肩 = BJ peer; Jie-cai 劫财 = JC peer

Shi-shen 食神 = SS output; Shang-guan 伤官 = SG output
Pian-cai 偏财 = PC wealth; Zheng-cai 正财 = ZC wealth
Qi-sha 七杀 = QS power; Zheng-guan 正官 = ZG power
Pian-yin 偏印 PY resource; Zheng-yin 正印 ZY resource

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Here is the basic principle:

Wealth = what I control

Pian-cai 偏财 = PC wealth; Zheng-cai 正财 = ZC wealth
Note:: Pian-cai is also called as “non-regular income” and zheng-cai as “regular income”.

Power = what controls me

Qi-sha 七杀 = QS power; Zheng-guan 正官 = ZG power
Note: Some teachers translate Qi-sha as “7-killings” and “informal official” . Zheng-guan
is also translated as “formal official”

Resource = what gives birth to me

Pian-yin 偏印 PY resource; Zheng-yin 正印 ZY resource
Note: Zheng-yin is sometimes translated as “official seal”.

Output = what I give birth to

Shi-shen 食神 = SS output; Shang-guan 伤官 = SG output
Note: Some teachers translate shi-shen as “eating god” and shang-guan as “hurting
official”

Peers = what is identical to me

Bi-jian 比肩 = BJ peer; Jie-cai 劫财 = JC peer
Note: Bi-jian is also translated as “parallel” and jie-cai as “robbing wealth”

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FIVE ELEMENTS SUMMARY

ELEMENT: WOOD FIRE EARTH METAL WATER

Direction East/ SE South NE, Center, SW West/ NW North

Number 3,4 9 2,5,8 6,7 1

Season Spring Summer transition Fall Winter

climate wind heat dampness dryness cold

Color Green Red Yellow White Black

Supplement blue purple beige silver grey
color brown pink gold

Stem jia bing wu geng ren

(pinyin) yi ding ji xin gui

Branches yin si chou/ wei shen zi

(pinyin) mao wu chen/ xu you hai

Supports fire earth metal water wood

Destroys earth metal water wood fire

Taste sour bitter sweet pungent salty

Small rancid burnt fragrant rotting putrid

Body
organs
Yin organ Liver Heart Spleen Lungs Kidney
Yang organ Gall bladder sm. Intestine stomach lg. Intestine bladder
Orifice eyes tongue mouth nose ears
Tissue Tendons blood vessels muscles skin bones

Emotion Anger Joy Pensiveness Grief Fear

Meaning growing moving productive leadership flexibility

activity warmth security conducting tranquility
life passion awareness hard yielding

Shapes rectangular triangular, square circular, oval amorphous

tall/ thin pointed, horizontal domed, irregular
vertical zipzag, short/wide arched, curved
narrow diamond flat spherical wavy

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