Following structures
A Day Master too weak to stand, or too strong to check, follows the chart’s strongest current. See whether yours follows, how truly, and which kind.
By Sheng Pin Kai·Last updated
In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), a following structure is a chart whose Day Master is too weak to stand, or too strong to be checked, and so goes with the strongest current in the whole chart. The books tell a true follow from a false one and name the kinds by what the chart follows. The structure is still taken from the month first, and the follow is read as a layer on top of it.
The lesson on Day Master strength noted that the nature of the force changes at the two ends, very weak and very strong. At those ends, some charts follow.
Take the structure first, then look for a follow
This series first takes the structure from the month, then sees whether the Day Master meets the conditions for following. If it does, the following structure is a layer on top of the structure, and the structure is still recorded. The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) lists following Wealth and following Seven Killings among its miscellaneous structures, taken only when the month offers nothing to use; see the lesson on outer structures.
The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Miscellaneous Structures; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On When to Use Outer Structures
True following and false following
Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓) divides following into true following and false following.
True following. The Day Master has not a single root in the branches, and no Resource or Peer in the four pillars supports it, while Wealth or Authority is overwhelming. It cannot hold itself up and can only go with the strongest current.
False following. The Day Master is just as unable to stand, but the chart keeps a little support: a light root, or Peers or Resource that are themselves broken by Wealth or held down by Authority. The Day Master cannot lean on them and still goes with the strongest current, only not fully.
Dripping Heavenly Marrow says a true follow is rare, and that a false follow can still achieve something. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century) adds that a false-following chart can also pick up when it meets a fitting decade phase.
Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Image of Following; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · False Following; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · False Following, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · False Following
Yang and yin stems differ in how readily they follow. Dripping Heavenly Marrow points this out in its chapter on the heavenly stems, and Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) explains: a yang stem with even a slight root in the branches, or with a rooted Resource, stays weak but does not follow; a yin stem facing heavy Wealth or Officer follows even with a trace of root.
Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Heavenly Stems; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Ten Stems and Twelve Branches
The kinds of following
从象不一，非专论财官而已也。Our translation: Following takes more than one form; it is not a matter of Wealth and the Officer alone.
Besides following Wealth and following Authority, Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated lists four more: following dominance, following strength, following the energy and following the momentum.
| Kind | What the chart looks like |
|---|---|
| Following Wealth | The Day Master is rootless and unsupported; Wealth fills the chart |
| Following Authority | The Day Master is rootless and unsupported; Authority fills the chart |
| Following Output | Output forms a momentum, the month branch is Output, and the chart also has Wealth |
| Following the momentum | The Day Master is rootless and unsupported; Wealth, Authority and Output are all strong, so it cannot follow any one of them alone |
| Following dominance | Peers fill the four pillars, Resource generates them, and no Authority checks them |
| Following strength | Resource and Peers are stacked up, the Day Master is in season, and there is not a trace of Wealth or Authority |
| Following the energy | Whatever the ten relationships, the chart’s momentum leans to two elements, such as Wood and Fire, or Metal and Water |
Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping sorts them by the month branch: a Day Master of the same element as the month follows strength or dominance; one of a different element, sitting on its spent stage, follows Authority, Wealth or Output.
Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Image of Following; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On When to Use Outer Structures
Following Output is different from the other kinds. Dripping Heavenly Marrow treats it in its chapter on the flowing pattern, in a verse that says, in our translation, that going out the door one sees only the child, and the child’s energy builds the gate. The child is Output, the element the Day Master generates. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated explains the verse line by line: seeing only the child means much Output; building the gate means the month branch is Output; the Day Master’s strength does not decide it, because even Peers in the four pillars go on to feed Output; and the chart also needs Wealth, so that Output generates Wealth and the energy flows.
Dripping Heavenly Marrow · The Flowing Pattern; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Flowing Pattern
How to look at the following layer
In the following layer, what the chart follows leads: what goes with it is welcome, and what goes against it is a point to be mindful of. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping sums it up: what a following structure least welcomes is anything that goes against its dominant momentum.
| Kind | Welcomes | Be mindful of |
|---|---|---|
| Following Wealth | Output, Wealth | Peers contending for Wealth, and Authority draining Wealth; Output already in the chart turns the Peers’ energy toward generating Wealth |
| Following Authority | Wealth, Authority | Output checking Authority, and Resource draining it; Peers do not suit either |
| Following Output | Output, Wealth | Resource, Authority |
| Following the momentum | Whichever of the three is strongest; if the three are even, Wealth to bring Output and Authority into harmony | Peers, Resource |
| Following dominance | Peers, Resource; with light Resource, Output is good too | Authority; Wealth stirs the Peers to contend |
| Following strength | Resource, Peers | Wealth, Authority |
| Following the energy | The two elements the momentum lies in | Elements that go against the momentum |
What the chart follows has needs of its own. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated gives an example: a Metal Day Master following Wood Wealth, born in spring with Water feeding the Wood, has too much Wood and welcomes Fire to channel it; born in winter, with too much Water setting the Wood afloat, it welcomes Earth to bank it and Fire to warm it.
Dripping Heavenly Marrow · The Image of Following, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Image of Following; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Flowing Pattern; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Miscellaneous Structures; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Miscellaneous Structures
Try it on your chart
- Write down the structure taken from the month, and the grade from the lesson on Day Master strength. If the Day Master is very weak or very strong, or the month branch is Output, or Output forms a momentum, read on.
- If the Day Master is very weak, find every root it has, heavy or light, and the Resource and Peers in the four pillars. With not a single root and no support, and Wealth or Authority filling the chart, write true following; with a little support left but held down, write false following.
- Use the first table to decide which kind of following it is. If the Day Master is very strong, see whether it follows dominance or strength.
- Use the second table to write down the elements it welcomes and those to be mindful of.
- Write the following structure beside the structure, as a layer on top of it. If the day stem combines with a neighboring stem, read the lesson on transformation structures next.
See also: Day Master strength: five grades from very strong to very weak
See also: Support or restrain: which elements your chart welcomes
See also: Combined structures, overlay structures and “transforms into”
See also: Transformation structures
See also: Outer structures: when the month offers no structure
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