The Five Elements in Bazi (五行)
Learn how Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water classify chart symbols, interact through generation and control, and differ from literal substances.
Overview
The Five Elements—or more precisely Five Phases—classify every Bazi stem, branch, and hidden stem as Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water. Their generating and overcoming cycles organize support, output, wealth, authority, and resource relationships. Count alone is insufficient: season, roots, visibility, interactions, and usefulness determine effective force.
At a glance
- Five phases
- Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water
- Generating cycle
- Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water
- Overcoming cycle
- Wood → Earth → Water → Fire → Metal
- Chart carriers
- Stems, branches, and hidden stems
- Strength evidence
- Season, roots, exposure, support, drain, and control
- Boundary
- Technical phases, not literal body substances
Every chart symbol has a canonical phase
Each stem has one phase and polarity; each branch has a primary phase plus canonical hidden stems that may include other phases.
Keep the branch’s phase and its hidden-stem contents separate. Otherwise the same evidence can be counted twice.
- Use one canonical mapping table.
- Preserve visible and hidden sources.
Generation and control describe directed relationships
Generation indicates one phase producing or supporting another; overcoming indicates regulation or pressure. The direction is fixed, but the result depends on relative force.
Too much generation can drain the source, and weak control may fail or provoke counterpressure. No arrow is automatically favorable or harmful.
- Name source and target.
- Assess whether the relationship is operational.
Strength is more than how many symbols appear
A phase can be numerous but out of season, rootless, hidden, combined, or controlled. A single symbol can be strong when seasonally commanded and deeply rooted.
Measure distinct evidence once and disclose the weighting method. Count, strength, usefulness, and favorable role are separate conclusions.
- Separate quantity from effective force.
- Do not infer usefulness from strength alone.
Five Phases are not medical or lifestyle prescriptions
A missing or weak phase does not diagnose an organ, nutrient deficiency, personality defect, or environmental need.
Colors, objects, foods, careers, and directions cannot be prescribed from a phase label as though it were clinical or scientific evidence.
- No health diagnosis from elements.
- No guaranteed remedy from symbolic correspondence.
Sources and editorial basis
- 《淵海子平》 (Yuanhai Ziping)《淵海子平》五行生剋諸論：木火土金水的生剋與旺衰取用A foundational Ziping reference for branch months, hidden stems, roots, and stem-branch relationships.
- 《滴天髓》 (Dripping Heavenly Marrow)《滴天髓》「旺衰」「源流」等篇：數量不等於有效力量或吉凶A core later text on Bazi balance, seasonal strength, and relational reading.
- OpenFate Editorial Methodology五行頁分開存在、力量、流通與對命局的功能，不以缺什麼補什麼定論OpenFate separates deterministic chart calculation, traditional interpretation, and modern editorial explanation.