Bazi | What has Nature/ Dates got to do with our Personality?
I was pleasantly surprised recently to come across a thesis written by a group of students from the National University of Singapore – Faculty of Science (Department of Mathematics) titled “ Deriving the Eight Characters” [1] or the more commonly known term “Bazi”, as part of a project from their GEM (General Education Module).
In the document, they wrote that ancient Chinese originally utilized this system to keep track of dates and the system can be traced back to about 4,000 years ago.
In my previous article ‘Bazi | What has Nature got to do with our Personality and Health?’, I wrote about the concept of “Yin and Yang” and the “5 elements” as the basis in Chinese studies related to Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as Chinese Metaphysical Science.
- Yin and Yang Balance
- Yin represent inactivity, femininity, coldness, compression, darkness, and submission and the Moon.
- Yang represent activity, movement, masculinity, expansion, heat and the Sun
- This duality must be in balance or else disease of the mind, personality and body will occur.
- Five Elements
- Earth, Metal, Water, Wood & Fire
Thus, going back to the above title, what has nature or the ancient Chinese way of tracking dates got to do with our personality or characteristics? The question can be answered by the way the ancient dates are recorded, they are recorded in accordance to the 5 elements with both the Yin and Yang perspective.
So where do the Five Elements exist in nature? The Answer – It is everywhere. The Wood element can be represented by trees, living plants – where we see the nurturing behaviour of a tree – providing shade and habitat for others. The Fire element: the Sun and light – providing warmth and direction in darkness. The Earth element: Mother Earth and fertile soil – providing the numerous food source, minerals and opportunities for human kind. The Metal element: the minerals, steel, iron-ore and precious metals mined and utilized by mankind. The Water element: Ocean, water ways, rain and mist that has provided mankind’s early means of transport, trading and nourishment for the plants and living things on earth.
In understanding our personality through the ‘8Characters’ or Bazi system, we utilize the Five Elements to understand the characteristics, motivations and interaction style of each person. The different profiles in the Bazi personality profiling system[2] approach life, interact with others and are motivated in different ways. Similar to the Big Five Personality traits[3] described in modern psychology, Bazi studies classify personalities into:
- 5 elements (Metal-Factual, Water-Flexibility, Wood-Nurturing, Fire-Passion and Earth-Trust)
- Combining the 5 elements with the Yin and Yang perspective, we have 10 different day elements that each person can be born on:
- Yang Wood, Yin Wood
- Yang Fire, Yin Fire
- Yang Earth, Yin Earth
- Yang Metal, Yin Metal
- Yang Water, Yin Water
[themify_video src=”https://youtu.be/qsqEIkRsqfg” ]
Unleash Your Intrinsic Talent – Yin and Yang
In the next few articles, I will go into more detail on the differences in characteristics and motivations of individuals born on different day elements or traditionally, we call it “Bazi Day Master”, as the element of the day that we are born on influences our perception of the world; how we are motivated; how we interact with others and is a crucial component on how we would make choices and take actions.
Thank you for taking time to read my post as I embark on the quest to simplify and explain the principles of this 2000-year-old metaphysical study on human behaviour.
Find out what is your day element by click on this link : http://bazicalculator.janetyung.com/. For more information and details about the 2000-year-old Bazi metaphysical study, you can click on this:http://happyandsuccess.com/about-bazi.
By Janet Yung amazon.com/author/janetyung
The author of the Being Happy and Successful series:
References:
[1]National University of Singapore – Faculty of Science (Department of Mathematics) : GEM 1506K: Heavenly Mathematics -. Highlights of Cultural Astronomy. Grp : 73. Grp members: Chen Jiahui. Cheong Hui Sian. Koh Chiat Hua Lydia, Oct 2015, http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/gem-projects/hm/0203-1-73-eight_characters.pdf
[2]Terms used from Joey Yap’s Bazi Profiling System
[3]Costa, P.T.,Jr. & McCrae, R.R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
