Day Master strength: five grades from very strong to very weak

Day Master strength in Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi) is judged by weighing three things together: what the month branch gives the Day Master, how heavy its roots in the branches are, and whether its allies outweigh its opponents. The result falls into one of five grades: very strong, strong, balanced, weak or very weak. No grade is bad; each has its own strengths and its own points to be mindful of.

The two previous lessons covered roots, and being in season with allies and opponents. This lesson puts the three together to answer one question: is your Day Master strong or weak, and how far does it go?

The Day Master is the stem of the day pillar, and it stands for you. Almost every step in looking at a chart first needs to know the Day Master’s strength: whether it can carry Wealth, Authority and Output, the things that call on it to exert itself, and whether it needs support more, or an outlet more. That is why the classics place strength so near the front: Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓) says that whoever truly understands this has grasped more than half of the art.

能知衰旺之真机，其于三命之奥，思过半矣。

Our translation: Know the true workings of strong and weak, and you are more than halfway into the depths of the study of destiny.

Strength is weighed

To judge strength, look at three things, and look at them together.

The month branch. A Day Master born in the month when its own element is in command is in season. One born in the month when its Resource element is in command is supported by the month branch: the month generates the Day Master. Both are help from the month, both count when strength is weighed, and of the three things this is the heaviest share. A Day Master born in any other month is out of season.

Roots. A branch whose hidden stems hold the Day Master’s own element gives it a root. A root on the arrival or peak stage is a heavy root. The birth stage is also a heavy root for a yang Day Master; a yin Day Master’s birth stage has a strength of its own, covered in the lesson on the twelve life stages, but it does not count as a heavy root. A root on the stored stage or in a residual stem is a light root; but the Dragon, Dog, Ox and Goat hold Earth as their main stem, so for an Earth Day Master they are heavy roots. However many stems of the same element stand on the stems above, they cannot match one solid root in the branches.

Allies and opponents. Peer and Resource stems, and Resource hidden in the branches, are on the Day Master’s side: these are its allies. Wealth, Authority and Output either spend its strength, control it, or drain it, and stand on the other side: these are its opponents. The Day Master’s own element in the branches is counted under roots.

The three often disagree, which is why The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) and Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century) warn again and again against drawing a conclusion from any one of them. Take Yang or Yin Wood born in its own season: if Yang and Yin Metal show on the stems and the branches hold the Monkey and the Rooster, so that Metal comes in force while Wood has few helpers, it cannot be strong. This is called being in season yet not strong. Now take Yang or Yin Wood born in a Monkey or Rooster month: if Peers and Resource are stacked up and there are roots in the branches, it cannot be weak either. This is called being out of season yet not weak. The month branch weighs most, but the year, day and hour pillars each add or take away their own share.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stems in Season Yet Not Strong, Out of Season Yet Not Weak; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Strong and Weak

So strength is not counted; it is weighed. See which side holds the month branch, which side has the heavier roots, and which side has more helpers. When all three point the same way, the conclusion is clear. When they pull against each other, compare which share weighs more: a single heavy root can often hold up a Day Master that is out of season, while opponents that come in numbers, each with roots of their own, can also hold down a Day Master that is in season.

When you read The True Interpretation of Ziping, you will see that it keeps one pair of words, thriving and declining (旺 · 衰), for the season alone, and another pair, strong and weak (强 · 弱), for the number of helpers alone, and asks the reader to look at the two pairs separately before judging them together. The five grades in this series follow the way Dripping Heavenly Marrow uses its words for strong and weak: for the conclusion reached after weighing all three together.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stems in Season Yet Not Strong, Out of Season Yet Not Weak

Five grades

The weighing lands on one of the five grades below. No grade is bad: each has its strengths, and each has points to be mindful of.

Strong and weak

As long as the Day Master is rooted in the branches, it can bear Wealth, Authority and the Food Star, and it can also take on the Hurting Officer and the Seven Killings. That is the strength of a strong Day Master: it stands up to what life brings and can carry responsibility. A weak Day Master is not necessarily without force; its strength lies in drawing on help, and when support is there it works very well with it.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated and the original notes to Dripping Heavenly Marrow also note that there is weakness within strength and strength within weakness: even the strongest Day Master has places that need protecting, and even the weakest has ground it can stand on. So judging a chart strong or weak gives only the general direction; the details still have to be looked at one by one.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Strong and Weak; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Strong and Weak, original notes

The two ends: very strong and very weak

Why list very strong and very weak apart from strong and weak? Because at the extremes the nature of the force changes. The classics say that what is strong to the extreme cannot be reduced, and what is weak to the extreme cannot be topped up. In its chapter on strong and weak, Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated goes further, treating overly strong and very strong, and overly weak and very weak, as two separate levels, and pointing out that the closer a chart comes to either end, the more the natures of the five elements turn around, so the way of looking at it must change as well.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Strong and Weak, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Strong and Weak

A very strong chart usually looks like this: in season, with the branches joined into a seasonal combination or three harmony of the Day Master’s own element, allies filling the chart, and opponents unable to hold their ground in the branches. Pressing against it then tends to provoke a rebound. Very weak is the reverse: not a single root to be found in the branches, very few helpers, and opponents filling the chart. Scattered support then mostly comes to nothing. At both ends, some charts are understood by going with the strongest current in the whole chart; that is taken up in the lesson on following structures.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Seasonal Combinations and Three Harmonies; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Substance and Function

Balanced

When the month branch, roots, and allies and opponents are roughly even, and the Day Master leans neither strong nor weak, it is balanced. The classics hold balance in high regard: Dripping Heavenly Marrow says that whoever recognizes the true principle of balance has a full command of the subtle workings of the five elements.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Balance

Yet the original notes to that chapter of Dripping Heavenly Marrow also say that a chart leaning strong or weak can achieve a great deal as well; it does not have to be balanced. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated goes further: a chart that is not balanced often has a very pure energy, and such a person is clear about what they like and dislike. That is this lesson’s position: the grades describe the shape of the force, not a ranking.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Balance, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Balance

One more point to be mindful of: some balance is only just held, for example when the roots are few and light, or the helpers only barely hold off the opponents. Such a balance sits near the edge. When weighing it, note which way it leans; this point comes up again later, with decade phases and annual phases.

Weigh your own Day Master, step by step

1. Find the Day Master and look at the month branch: is the Day Master in season, supported by the month branch, or out of season? The first two are both help from the month.
2. Go through the four branches one by one, find the Day Master’s roots, and sort them into heavy and light. For a yang Day Master the birth stage counts as a heavy root; for a yin Day Master it does not.
3. Among the stems and the hidden stems, sort out the allies and the opponents.
4. Weigh them together: when all three point the same way, strong or weak is clear; when they pull against each other, compare which share weighs more.
5. Then check the two ends. Do the branches join into a seasonal combination or three harmony of the Day Master’s element, and do the opponents have roots? That shows whether it has reached very strong. Is there not a single root in the branches? That shows whether it has reached very weak.
6. If it is balanced, note which way it leans.

After strength

Strength in itself is neither good nor bad; it is the starting point for looking at a chart. When Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) discusses choosing the useful element, its first step is to set the Day Master against the month branch and see how strong or weak it is; only then does it turn to support and restraint. The next lesson picks up from here: once you know the strength, how to see which elements a chart welcomes.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Useful Element

Try it on your chart

Once you have finished this lesson, take out your own chart and do three things:

• Following the steps above, give your Day Master a grade: very strong, strong, balanced, weak or very weak.
• Using the month branch, the roots, and the allies and opponents, explain how that grade was weighed, rather than just remembering a conclusion.
• If it is balanced, write down which way it leans; if it sits at either end, consider whether it should be understood by going with the strongest current in the chart.

See also: Roots: heavy and light

See also: In season, allies and opponents

See also: Support or restrain: which elements your chart welcomes

See also: Following structures