(By Parnassus – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28500461)

Previously we explored yin and yang, the five elements, and the relationship between them. The polarities and the elements should not be seen as static phenomena. They are constantly flowing and changing, in the process producing the ten thousand things.

One of the keys to unlocking the secrets of Chinese metaphysics is to understand the interaction between the elements. The elements in themselves are simply energies in their pure forms. The interaction between them reveals how the energies manifest in reality. The elements should not be viewed in isolation from each other.

For example, suppose you plot someone’s bazi chart. You decide to count the number of times various elements appear in the chart. While this is a critical step, it doesn’t reveal much information by itself. It only shows you how much of each element the chart holder has. To understand the chart, you need to go one step beyond.

Suppose the client is lacking in a certain element. Is this a major weakness, or a blessing in disguise? Or suppose the client has a lot of another element. Is it a strength, or does it signal major roadblocks? What should the client do if he possess an imbalanced chart?

To answer these questions, we must understand how the elements in the chart interact with each other. Analyzing concepts like the 10 Gods and auxiliary stars are no doubt important. However, unless you understand how the elements in the chart interact with each other and how it influences the chart holder’s life, you will not have a complete understanding of the chart and how to see these higher-order concepts in perspective.

Divination methods like bazi and qimen dunjia give insight into a person’s destiny. But if the chart is read improperly, it could lead someone astray. Instead of building a satisfying career and a happy life, a person could find himself working a terrible job, facing relationship woes, and down in the dumps. All because he pursued a path based on a shallow understanding of bazi.

It’s one thing to gamble with your future like this. Quite another if you have dependents counting on you, or if you are guiding someone else.

Bazi and qimen dunjia are powerful tools for taking charge of your destiny—but only if you know how to read the charts right. To do this, you need to know the five elements and the cycles that govern them.

The Elemental Cycles

The elements interact with each other in two main ways: generating and conquering. One element produces a second element, and is in turn controlled by a third element. In this section, we will explore the nature of these cycles.

The Generating and Weakening Cycles

The generating cycle shows how one element produces another. This is how the generating cycle works:

• Earth produces metal (metal is mined from the earth)

• Metal produces water (water condenses on metal)

• Water produces wood (plants absorb water)

• Wood produces fire (wood ignites into flame)

• Fire produces Earth (fire leaves behind ashes)

The word used for ‘generating’ is ‘sheng’: 生. 生 has the connotation of birth. As a mother gives birth to a child, an element uses up its own energy to create a second element.

Generating is not necessarily positive. It simply describes the dynamic between two elements: that the generated element is strengthened at the expense of the generating element. This must be read in context.

In a qimen dunjia forecast, if the outcome palace produces the asker palace, then it usually signals a positive outlook. However, in a qimen dunjia destiny profile, if the destiny palace produces the palace with the Heavenly Grain star, this implies that the person is likely to fall sick easily.

When too much of the second element is created, the first element is weakened. This leads to the weakening cycle:

• Metal depletes earth (destruction from strip-mining)

• Water depletes metal (rust)

• Wood depletes water (cloth soaking up water)

• Fire depletes wood (exhaustion of fuel)

• Earth depletes fire (fire break, putting out fire with sand)

Weakening is not necessarily always negative. For example, in feng shui, a common cure for the five yellow sector is to place six metal objects in the afflicted area. This is because five yellow is associated with earth, and metal depletes earth.

The Conquering and Insulting Cycles

The conquering cycle shows how one element overcomes a second. This is how the conquering cycle flows:

• Earth conquers water (canal directing a river)

• Water conquers fire (water dampening fire)

• Fire conquers metal (fire melts metal in a furnace)

• Metal conquers wood (blade carves wood)

• Wood conquers earth (roots parting and stabilising soil)

The word used for ‘conquering’ is 克. More than just destruction or overcoming, 克 also has the connotation of ‘control’. When employing the conquering cycle, the goal is not to obliterate the target element, but merely to bring it under control, so that it becomes useful, or at least harmless.

Suppose someone is naturally courageous. Too much courage leads to recklessness, and recklessness leads to harm. Courage should therefore be tempered with caution, so that the person will look before he leaps. In the same way, if someone has too much of a certain element, a possible cure is to use the conquering cycle to attain balance.

When there is too much of the conquering element, then the conquering cycle goes into overdrive. It becomes the destroying cycle. This is how it works by analogy:

• Earth obstructs water (dam)

• Water extinguishes fire

• Fire vaporises metal

• Metal chops wood (deforestation)

• Wood depletes earth (over-cultivation depletes soil nutrients)

The destroying cycle signals that the target element is so weakened as to become useless. This creates an imbalance in the overall system. Traditional Chinese metaphysics abhors imbalance, and so it does not normally employ the destroying cycle in applications, only as a warning sign that one element is overpowering the other.

When there is too much of the target element, then instead of the conquering cycle, the insulting cycle takes place.

• Water insults earth (water turning soil to mud)

• Fire insults water (vaporization of water)

• Metal insults fire (conducting heat away)

• Wood insults metal (blunting axe from over-use)

• Earth insults wood (rotting wood)

As with the destroying cycle, the insulting cycle usually isn’t used in a cure, but rather as a signal.

When the destroying and/or insulting cycles appear, it is a sign that the weaker element should be strengthened, or the stronger element be weakened, or both. Ideally you should do both, bringing both elements into balance in a single step. If that is not possible, then the practitioner must conduct a careful analysis to determine the best course of action. He must always keep in mind the dynamics of the five elements, and how his solution might affect the overall chart.

Thus far we’ve covered a lot of theory, with a smattering of applications. This series of posts laid the groundwork for understanding Chinese metaphysics. Without an understanding of the fundamentals, advanced applications will fail.

In the next post, we will examine how to apply the five elements and the elemental cycles into practice. Until then, if you need our services, check out our website here!

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