There is a widely held belief within the fengshui fraternity that if a master opens his luopan on certain days, ill fortune will befall him, even sudden death. I was most intrigued by this tradition, and decided to do some research into its background, for I certainly don’t want to die for practising fengshui on the wrong days! (kia si?)
The classical name of the so-called Master Killing Days (杀师日) is luohou Days (罗侯日). luohou is the Chinese transliteration of the name “Rahu” borrowed from Vedic Astrology. (Everybody knows Chinese people cannot pronounce the ‘r’.)
In astronomical/astrological language, Rahu is the ascending lunar node, which is the point at which the Moon’s orbit crosses the Ecliptic from South to North. In a geocentric model of the universe this node is seen (calculated) to move in a cyclical pattern against the background constellations very much like the apparent motion of the Sun, the Moon and the other 5 visible planets. Vedic Astrology therefore treats Rahu as a virtual planet. In Chinese metaphysics, a planet is also called a Star. That’s how Rahu became a Star.
[Just to complete the story, Rahu has a twin brother called “Ketu”. That’s the descending lunar node diametrically opposite Rahu. The Chinese also borrowed the word and changed it to jidu (计都). It too became a Star in Chinese metaphysics.]
Rahu’s (and also Ketu’s) significance in astronomy is that when the moon passes through a node, there’s a possibility of a solar or lunar eclipse. A Chinese mythological tale has it that Rahu momentarily swallows the sun or the moon. That of course is strictly for the birds. My apologies for bringing it up at this learned forum.
Now Rahu, or luohou, has a spatial significance in Chinese metaphysics. It is defined as the Mountain (as in the 24-Mountain plate) immediately in front of the Grand Duke in any one year. As the Grand Duke progresses from one Branch Mountain to the next, it must pass through luohou. It is considered potentially harmful for a new house or tomb to face luohou. The logic goes something like this: just as it is hazardous to sit facing the Grand Duke (as with the Year Breaker), so is it potentially hazardous to stare at the Grand Duke during the latter’s relocation to his new station in the new year. In its spatial form luohou is called “luohou patrolling the Mountains” (巡山罗侯).
Having said that, this Star is only regarded as a second order negative Star. No big deal.
So far so good. All this is pretty well documented in the classics.
Now somewhere in the course of history, Rahu, or luohou, also took on a time dimension. Certain days became known as luohou Days, and it looked like our Star also developed homicidal tendencies. It set out to kill fengshui masters foolish enough to open their luopans on those days.
To make matters even more complicated, there are 3 sets of luohou Days, one governed by the year, another by the season, and the third by the month. These are set out below:
(1) Year based luohou Days
Year Branch:
子
丑
寅
卯
辰
巳
午
未
申
酉
戌
亥
Luohou Day:
癸酉
甲戌
丁亥
甲子
乙丑
甲寅
丁卯
甲辰
己巳
甲午
丁未
甲申
(2) Seasonal luohou Days
Season:
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Luohou Day:
乙卯
丙午
庚申
辛酉
(3) Monthly luohou Days
Month Interval:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Knot:
雨水
春分
毂雨
小满
夏至
大暑
处暑
秋分
霜降
小雪
冬至
大寒
Luohou Day:
亥
子
丑
寅
卯
辰
巳
午
未
申
酉
戌
Some books, including one by Master Lin Guoxiong (林国雄) and another by Master Chen Beisheng (陈倍生), both acclaimed fengshui masters in Hong Kong diligently listed the luohou Days, but neither book, and in fact none of the books I read, bothered to explain the basis on which these luohou Days were derived. In other words, how did our Star luohou suddenly become transformed into days? And why are these days so terrifying for the innocent fengshui master? My searches on the Internet did not produce any satisfactory answer either.
In fact, only a few of the books mentioned Master Killing Days at all. The date selection classic xieji (协纪辨方书, published in 1740 and arguably the most comprehensive of all date selection classics) described the spatial form of luohou but said nothing about luohou Days, much less their supposed effect on fengshui masters.
Master Lin Guoxiong simply listed the luohou Days preceded by a brief statement that says, “There is an old saying that … etc.” He stopped short of saying that he agreed with this old saying.
Master Chen Beisheng was more forthright. He openly disputed the validity of these Master Killing Days, and stated categorically that he often violated this traditional taboo and no harm came to him.
[As a matter of interest, the xieji classic set out to debunk many traditional date selection formulae that lacked logical basis, and Master Chen’s book went even further to discredit certain questionable practices. I would strongly recommend Master Chen’s book to Chinese literate readers interested in learning more about date selection. The book is entitled “玄空择日秘诀” published by “久鼎出版社”. The xieji is supposed to be the most comprehensive treatise on date selection ever published, but I would only recommend it to other die-hard students.]
In summary, each fengshui master or student will have to decide for himself whether or not to observe the so-called Master Killing Days.
What do I think? Well, I’m inclined to believe they were convenient excuses drummed up by olden day fengshui masters who wanted a holiday every now and then.
Traditionally fengshui masters were not known to be the most industrious of breeds, but they did have a fertile imagination. What better way is there to spend a day playing hookey, and yet be able to wallow in the sympathy of one’s employers?
How to Calculate the Chinese Solar Equivalent date (Ba Zi) for any western dates without using the Ten Thousand Year Calendar? Part 2 of 2
by Henry Fong
In the last article, we learnt how to calculate the year and month pillar without referring to the ten thousand year calendar.
In this article, we will learn a method to do the same for the day and hour pillar. There are at least a few mathematics formulas to calculate the heavenly stem and earthly branch for the day but here is the one that I feel is the easiest to learn and use. The first step is to derive the ‘Number’ using the following formula.
Number = 5 (x-1) + (x-1)/4 + 15 + y
Where x is the last two digit of the year and y is the number of days from the 1st of Jan to the day in question.
Example: 15th June 1957. x = 57 (last two digit of the year 1957)
(For the new millennium you must add 100 to the last two digits. Example: 12th March 2004. x = 104 (last two digit of 2004 plus 100)
To calculate the value for ‘y’ we need to know if the year is a leap year or not. This is very straightforward. Any Shen (Monkey), Zi (Rat) and Chen (Dragon) year is a leap year and has 29 days in the month of February! The rest have 28 days in February.
Example: 15th June1957 1957 is a You (Rooster) year. It is not a leap year and February has 28 days.
Example: 12th March 2004 2004 is a Shen (Monkey) year. It is a leap year and February has 29 days.
From Calendar101 we know that Jan, Mar, May, July, Aug, Oct and Dec has 31 days while the other remaining months except Feb has 30 days.
Therefore to calculate the number of days from the 1st of Jan to the date in question we simply add them up.
Example: 15th June 1957 Y = No of days in Jan + No of days in Feb + …… + 15 days in June Y = 31 (Jan) +28 (Feb) +31 (Mar) +30 (Apr) +31 (May) +15 (Jun) Y = 166 (Note: Since 1957 is not a leap year, February has 28 days)
Example: 12th March 2004 Y = No of days in Jan + No of days in Feb + 12 days in March Y = 31 (Jan) +29 (Feb) +12 (Mar) Y = 72 (Note: Since 2004 is a leap year, February has 29 days)
Let’s calculate the ‘Number’ for both the examples.
Example: 15th June 1957
Num = 5(x-1) + (x-1)/4 + 15 + y Num = 5(57-1) + (57-1)/4 + 15 + 166 Num = 5(56) + 56/4 + 15 + 166 Num = 280 + 14 + 15 + 166 Num = 475
Example: 12th March 2004
Num = 5(x-1) + (x-1)/4 + 15 + y Num = 5(104-1) + (104-1)/4 + 15 + 72 Num = 5(103) + 103/4 + 15 + 72 Num = 515 + 25.75 + 15 + 72 Num = 627.75 Num = 627 (take the absolute value)
To derive the Heavenly Stem of the day, we calculate the remainder of the ‘Number’/10.
Remainder
Heavenly Stem
1
Jia 甲
2
Yi 乙
3
Bing 丙
4
Ding 丁
5
Wu 戊
6
Ji 己
7
Geng 庚
8
Xin 辛
9
Ren 壬
10
Gui 癸
In the example of the 15th June 1957, the ‘Number is 475. When we divide this number by 10 we get 47 and a remainder of 5. From the table 5 is ‘wu’ 戊which is the Heavenly Stem of the day (Also known as Day Master in Ba Zi)
In the example of the 12th March 2004, the ‘Number’ is 627. When we divide this number by 10 we get 62 and a remainder of 7. From the table 7 is ‘geng’庚 which is the Heavenly Stems of the day.
To derive the earthly branch of the day, calculate the remainder of the Num/12 and compare against the table below.
Remainder
Earthly Branch
1
Zi 子
2
Chou 丑
3
Yin 寅
4
Mao 卯
5
Chen 辰
6
Si 巳
7
Wu 午
8
Wei 未
9
Shen 申
10
You 酉
11
Xu 戌
12
Hai 亥
In the example of the 15th June 1957, the remainder of 475/12 is 7 which is equivalent to the earthly branch ‘wu 午’. Thus the stem and branch combination of the 15th June 1957 is Wu Wu (戊午).
In the example of the 12th March 2004, the remainder of 627/12 is 3 which is equivalent to the earthly branch of ‘Yin 寅’. Thus the stem and branch combination of the 12th March 2004 is Geng Yin (庚寅)
Calculating the stem and branch of the hour pillar is much simpler.
From BaZi 101 we know that Zi hour is between 11 to 1 am, Chou is between 1 am to 3 am and so on. Please refer to the table below for the rest of the hours.
Hours
Earthly Branch
11 pm to 1 am
Zi 子
1 am to 3 am
Chou 丑
3 am to 5 am
Yin 寅
5 am to 7 am
Mao 卯
7 am to 9 am
Chen 辰
9 am to 11 am
Si 巳
11 am to 1 pm
Wu 午
1 pm to 3 pm
Wei 未
3 pm to 5 pm
Shen 申
5 pm to 7 pm
You 酉
7 pm to 9 pm
Xu 戌
9 pm to 11 pm
Hai 亥
If you are born at 10 am, it is Si hour, if you are born at 9.15 pm it is Hai hour and so on.
This is the easy part. What about the heavenly stem of the hour? For this we need to look at the day master. Let’s take the example from above of someone born on the 15th Jun 1957 at 4.30 am.
We know that the stem of the day (or day master) is ‘wu’ and we know from the above table that 4.30 am noon is ‘yin’ hour.
If we know the heavenly stem at Zi hour, we can derive the stem at any other hour by just moving forward in the heavenly stems sequence. For example if the stem at Zi hour is Jia, then the stem at Chou is Yi (a step forward), the stem Yin is Bing (another step forward in the sequence of the heavenly stems) and so on.
To derive the stem at the first (Zi) hour all you need to do it remember the table below.
Stem of the Day
Jia
Yi
Bing
Ding
Wu
(Or Day Master)
Ji
Geng
Xin
Ren
Gui
Stem of ‘Zi’ Hour
Jia
Bing
Wu
Geng
Ren
(Note: You may observe that the stem of the first or ‘Zi’ hour is always an ‘odd number’ or ‘yang’ stem.)
Let’s get back to the example of the 15th Jun 1957 (Day Master ‘wu’) at 4.30 am.
From the table above, we see that the stem of the first or ‘Zi’ hour is Ren. For the next hour which is Chou the stem is simply ‘Gui’ (the next stem in the sequence of heavenly stem). Chou is followed by ‘Yin’ and the next stem in the sequence is ‘Jia’. Hence the stem branch combination of Yin hour on the 15th June 1957 is ‘Jia Yin’.
Let’s take another example, 12th Mar 2004, this time at ‘Wei’ hour.
We know from the calculation above that this is a ‘Geng’ day. From the table above, the stem of the first hour is ‘Bing’. The stem branch combination is ‘Bing Zi’. The second hour is thus Ding Chou, the next hour is Wu Yin, followed by Ji Mao, Geng Chen, Xin Si, Ren Wu and finally arriving at Gui Wei.
The above method is normally used in conjunction with the finger counting method. All you need to know is the stem of the ‘Zi’ hour and you simply run the sequence of the heavenly stems until you reach the desired hour!
How to Calculate the Chinese Solar Equivalent date for any western dates without using the Ten Thousand Year Calendar? Part 1 of 2 by Henry Fong
The normal way to find out the Chinese Solar or Hsia Calendar equivalent of any western date is to refer to the Ten Thousand Year Calendar Book. Another way it is to use my on-line Ten Thousand Year Calendar.
But what if you need to do a Ba Zi consultation and are caught off-line and without a 10000 year reference in your hands? What if you life depended on it? Can you save yourself?
In this article and the next, you will learn how!
Let’s start with the heavenly stem and earthly branch of the year. Assign a number from 1 to 10 to each of the heavenly stems as shown in the table below.
Stems
Jia
Yi
Bing
Ding
Wu
Ji
Geng
Xin
Ren
Gui
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
Next, take the last two digits of the year minus 3. For example for 1993, you take 93 – 3 = 90. Take the last digit which is 0. From the table above 0 is Gui which is the heavenly stem for the year 1993.
Let’s try another example. Let’s take 2006. The last two digit is 06 or 6. Take away 3 and you have a remainder of 3 which is Bing. For any year where the last two digit is less than 3, e.g. 2001, you take a last two digit and add 10 to it.
(Please note that the Chinese solar year starts on or around the 4th February, any date prior to this date belongs to the previous year)
To calculate the earthly branch, you need to brush up on your division. First assign the numbers 1 – 12 to the earthly branches as shown in the table below:-
Branch
Zi
Chou
Yin
Mao
Chen
Si
Wu
Wei
Shen
You
Xu
Hai
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Next, take the last two digit of the year. If it is 12 or less, then read the branch of the table above. If it is 13 or higher, then divide it by 12 and take the remainder. For the year 1993, the last two digits are 93. Divide 93 by 12 and get a 7 plus remainder of 9. Add 1 to the remainder which gives 10. If you refer to the table above, 10 is the earthly branch of You.
Therefore the stem branch equivalent for 1993 is Gui You.
For years greater that 1999, you add 100 to the last two digit of the year. For example for 2006, you add 100 to the last two digits 06 to give 106. Divide 106 by 12 and you get 8 plus a remainder of 10. Add 1 to 10 gives you 11 with is the earthly branch of Xu. And true enough 2006 is the year of Xu or the Dog!
With the year out of the way, let us focus on finding the stem and branch of the month.
In the Hsia Calendar system the earthly branch of the first month is always Yin and it starts on either the 4th of 5th of February. This is followed by Mao in the second month which usually starts on either the 6th or 7th March. Next come Chen, then Si and so on until Chou. For the starting dates of the rest of the months please refer to this Chinese Solar Calendar article.
Unlike the months, the first heavenly stem of every year is not fixed. The objective is to determine the heavenly stem of the first month for any particular year. If you can do that, you can easily figure out the stem branch combination for any other months. For example if the first month is Ren Yin, the next month will be Gui Mao, followed by Jia Chen and so on which are the next stems and branches in the normal sequence of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
Here is what you need to do to determine the stem of the first month. Write down the stems in the format below over three lines. The first and second line is the normal sequence of the stems running for left to right. The third line is also the normal sequence with the exception that it consists only of the yang stems (Jia, Bing, Ding ..) and it starts with Bing instead of Jia.
First Line
Jia
Yi
Bing
Ding
Wu
Second Line
Ji
Geng
Xin
Ren
Gui
Third Line
Bing
Wu
Geng
Ren
Jia
Let’s say that you want to find out the stem of the first month of the year Ding You. If you refer to the first two lines of the table above, you will see that Ding is in the fourth column. Now refer to the stem on the third line directly below Ding. What do you see? Ren, right? Therefore the stem-branch combination of the first month in Ding You year is Ren Yin.
Let’s take another example. Take the year Gui You. Gui is the last column on the second line. Immediate below Gui on the third line is Jia. Therefore the stem-branch combination of the first month in Gui You year is Jia Yin.
Suppose that the person is born on the 24th April in 1993, a Gui You year. February is the 1st month, March is the 2nd followed by April which is the third month. If February is Jia Yin, then March is Yi Mao and April which is the third month is Bing Chen. The table below should give you a clearer picture.
Month
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Stem
Jia
Yi
Bing
Ding
Wu
Ji
Geng
Xin
Ren
Gui
Jia
Yi
Branch
Yin
Mao
Chen
Si
Wu
Wei
Shen
You
Xu
Hai
Zi
Chou
In the next article, you will learn how to find the day pillar (stem-branch combination) as well as the stem for any of the bi-hour.
There exist a Chinese Pregnancy Calendar that can predict the sex of a baby.
It is believed to be unearthed from an ancient tomb approx 700 years ago. During the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911 AD) it was kept by castrated servants in the palace and shown only to members of the noble household.
By the late Qing dynasty, China was in turmoil. The joint forces of nations conquered and siege the capital. Many precious items including this Chinese Pregnancy Calendar were taken away. It apparently fell into the hands of the English nobles who translated and used it. After that the whereabouts was unknown until it showed up again later.
Origin of the Chinese Pregnancy Calendar
Pregnant Women
This Chinese Pregnancy Calendar whose origin is unknown is reputed to be based on the Yin Yang, Five elements and the Bagua or Eight Trigram and its prediction is believe to be quite accurate.
In order to predict the sex of the baby, you need the month of conception and your age based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.
If you are born before the Chinese Lunar Calendar, you Lunar Calendar age is simply your current age plus one. Why plus one? The ancient Chinese takes the 9 months that you spent in your month’s womb into consideration. For example if you are born June 1980. According to the western calendar you are 26 years old in the year 2006. But according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar you are 27 years old (include the 9 months in your mother’s womb).
The Lunar month is much harder to figure out. You can use this Calendar converter to compute. Just enter the date of conception and you can get the lunar equivalent month.
For example the lunar month of the western date 22 September 2006 is the Eight Month.
n this article I will share with you a technique for selecting auspicious wedding dates – Chinese style. There are many ways to skin a cat. Like that, there are also many ways to calculate auspicious Chinese wedding dates. And even within a certain way or method, the steps or scope can differ. For example some practitioners only take the birth data of the groom and bride. Others factor the birth data of the in-laws into the computation.
Chinese Almanac
To understand Chinese wedding date selection better, you need to know the basis of Chinese time-keeping using the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. So please jump over there for a good read before you proceed.
I must caution that whatever I share with you below is not THE ONE AND ONLY method for selecting auspicious wedding dates. So you should not be surprise if you come across another way.
Let’s start. Do you know the Chinese Zodiac animal sign of your year of birth? If you do not know, you can easily find out using the tools that are available on the net. There is a clash relation between the animals of the Chinese zodiac. For example the Rat clash with the Horse, while the Rabbit clash with the Rooster etc. You can read about it my article on Chinese Astrology Compatibility.
Now let’s say you are a Rat. Since the Rat has a clash relationship with the Horse, then you should not get married in the year of the Horse. That is it. Let’s take another example. If you are a Rabbit, then you should not get married in the year of the Rooster as the Rabbit clash with the Rooster.
Some practitioners eliminate the clash months as well. For example if you are a Rat, you should not marry in a Horse year as well as a Horse month (typically around June). Similarly if you are a Rabbit, you should not get married in a Rooster year and Rooster month (typically around November).
Next you would want to narrow down the range. Let’s say the first quarter of the following year. The first step is to eliminate all inauspicious dates within this period. Highly Inauspicious dates include Year Breaker days (where the branch of the year clash with branch of the day), Month Breaker days (where the branch of the month clash with the branch of the day) and the Personal Clash Day (where the branch of your year of birth clash with the day). For example if you are born in the year of the Rat, then you should not get married on any Horse day.
There are other inauspicious days such as the Four Extinct and Four Departure Days, the Impoverish or No Wealth Days etc. This is where things differ again. Some practitioners eliminate all of these days. Some others eliminate some of them. It all depends on their lineage.
Now you have a set of calendar days from Jan 1st to Mar 31st with the inauspicious and personal clash days crossed out. The remaining days are either auspicious or at worse neutral. So how do you select a good date from the bunch?
For me, I will filter them using the Establish Divest 12 Gods method (also known as the 12 Day Officers with Shen Sha method). In this method every 12 days or so forms a cycle. Each day of the cycle is given a name, has a characteristic and is suitable for certain purpose. For example the first day of the cycle is “Establish” and it is suitable for activities that involve a beginning such as engagement, starting a job, beginning construction or seeking knowledge. Others like “Divest” is suitable for cleaning, demolition and repairs which others like “Succeed” days are suitable for most endeavours.
12 Day Officer
Suitable for Marriage
Establish
Depends
Divest
No
Full
Yes
Balance
Yes
Set
No
Hold
Yes
Break
No
Danger
No
Succeed
Yes
Receive
Depends
Open
Yes
Close
No
Please refer to the table for the names of the day officer. I have also indicated which days are suitable for marriage.
You can find out the Officer of the day by referring to the Chinese Almanac of the year or some reference text. Cross out those days that are not suitable for marriage. By now you should have a much reduce calendar set of days. In practice you may want to wed say only on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. If so, you cross the others days and end up with an even further reduced set of days.
Are the remaining days suitable for marriage? The answer is technically yes but. But what? Professional practitioners will go one step further to figure out the stars (or energy) that influences the day. Some days are influence by positive energies, some of which are highly auspicious for marriage. Some days are not. So you see, the days are not equal and some are better than the rest.
I will not be able share with you how to figure out the energies that influence each day. It will take another article (more likely a chapter). Maybe I will do it someday. Meanwhile I hope the above is enough for you to get you going.
I remembered an incident from a few years back. I received a call from a client. He said that the date which I selected for him to move (house) was, according to his mother-in-law, an inauspicious date. It made me very nervous. I was very concerned. Did I make a mistake? Well I could, as I am human after all.
The moment I got back to my office, I switched on my computer, picked up a date reference and check the date again, not once but many times. To my relieve it was an auspicious date. Why then did his mother in law say it was an inauspicious date?
So I ask him for an explanation. He said the date that I have painstakingly selected for him using the Chinese calendar happen to be the 4th in the Gregorian or Western calendar. The 4th in Chinese sounds like “die” and is hence inauspicious!
I had to then explain to him that Feng Shui date selection uses the Chinese calendar and an auspicious date can fall on the 4th on the Gregorian calendar. He said that he understands but it is his mother-in-law and it is better not to go against her. Well mother-in-law wins some of the time!
The same thing happened on another occasion. This time my client said that his mother-in-law referred to the Chinese Almanac (Tong Sing or Tung Shu) and said that the date selected is not suitable for moving.
The first thing that came to my mind is maybe he should ask his mother-in-law to set the date for him. But that would be very immature of me. And so I explained to him.
There are many date selection techniques. In fact so many that Emperor Qian Long (1711 – 1799) commissioned his officials to write a text that combines astronomy and astrology using Chinese and western astronomical data that were available at that time. This book called Xie Ji Bian Fang Shu became a cornerstone classic for the study of date selection and the basis of the Chinese Almanac. The Chinese Almanac is popularly used for selecting dates for marriage, business opening, contract signing, travel, prayers etc
The methods listed in this book are by no means the be all and end all of date selection. Other method continues to flourish e.g. the Grandmaster Dong Superior Days, the Purple White method etc.
Then for Feng Shui, the popular methods include the Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection and the Seven Direct and Four Extras Heavenly Star Method.
The results are not always the same.
So how do I approach date selection. I use Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection as the basis. Or in other words the dates selected must be a good date using the Xuan Kong Da Gua method. Then among the selected dates, I look out for those who are also auspicious using the Establish Divest 12 Gods method (used in the Chinese Almanac) and the Grandmaster Dong method. With the 12 Gods methods I watch out for those with good stars. So a date that is normally not slated for moving can be used if there are auspicious and suitable stars on that day.
Finally for the superstitious, I eliminate those whose Gregorian date is 4th (sounds like die) or 14th (sounds like surely die) or 24th (sounds like easy to die)!
So the next time a practitioner gives you a date that is not auspicious on the Chinese Almanac, it may not necessarily be a bad one. There are other factors to consider.
Selecting an auspicious date or a good date for important functions is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture. The Chinese believe that if you select an auspicious date, the good ‘qi’ of the day will support your activity and increase the chances of success.
In the old days special auspicious dates (and time) are selected for a variety of activities that include travelling, seeking medical treatment, cleaning, installing machinery, purchasing livestock and even execution!
Nowadays, date selection is used mostly for engagement and marriage, opening business, burials, renovations, moving and house warming.
There are a number of date selection techniques but most if not all of them start by eliminating inauspicious dates. Then auspicious dates are selected from the remaining dates using a variety of methods.
Most date selection techniques factor in highly inauspicious days such as “Month Breaker”, “Year Breaker” and “Personal Clash Days” into the calculation. In addition to these high inauspicious days, other inauspicious days such as the “Four Extinct and Departure days”, the “No Wealth or Impoverish Days”, “Master Killing Days” etc may also be considered depending on the activity.
As an example, “Master Killing Days” are eliminated for renovation and moving but are acceptable for other activities. And “No Wealth or Impoverish days” are not selected for any wealth or business activities.
The techniques for selecting auspicious days differ. For example Grandmaster Dong has a methodology for calculating what is known as Grandmaster Dong’s Superior Days. Then there is the 12 Day Officer Method which is usually used in conjunction with the daily positive and negative “Shens” or “Energies”.
The Great Sun Formula makes use of the directional relationship of the 24 Knots and Qi (24 sub-seasons).
The Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection method on the other hand searches for dates where the Da Gua element number of the four pillars of the year, month, date and time are in harmony based on either the He Tu Combination, Combination of 10 or Five Element combinations.
Selecting a good day is not an easy task. For example the Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection course is quite complex and classes normally takes 3 to 4 full days.
That brings me to this classic question. Does selecting an auspicious day for engagement and marriage guarantees a happy and lasting marriage?
The answer is a flat no. It depends a lot more on the couple’s destiny and luck cycle. Plus how strong is the love! There is a Chinese saying, “Have love, water is enough to keep your from hunger!”
Are you trying to find the equivalent Chinese dates for any Gregorian dates? If so, you are at the right place. But before I show you how, you may be interested to know that there are two Chinese dates for each Gregorian date.
Four Pillars
Why? It is because there are two popular Chinese calendar systems in use today. The first is known as the Chinese Yang or Solar Calendar. As the name suggest this calendar is based on the earth’s rotation around the sun. It is also known as the Xia Calendar (name after the period that it was developed) or the Farmer’s Calendar (initially developed as an aid in farming). This calendar is also the basis for most Feng Shui systems. It is quite similar to the Gregorian calendar which is also a sun-based system.
The other Chinese calendar is known as the Yin or Chinese Lunar Calendar. This calendar is based on the moon’s rotation around the earth. However unlike other lunar based calendar system, the Chinese felt the need to sync it with the solar calendar. Hence leap months are added here and there to fill the gaps and the most significant thing about this calendar is that the 1st day of the Chinese Lunar year fluctuates between late January and late February. This calendar is used to mark many Chinese festivals and the calendar system for some Chinese astrology system such as the Emperor Astrology system.
Chinese Solar dates are normally expressed as four pillars namely the year, month, day and hour pillar. Each pillar comprise of a heavenly stem and an earthly branch as shown in the diagram on the left. For dates only (without time) the hour pillar is omitted.
Chinese Lunar dates are usually expressed in month, day and year format, for example, “Lunar Month 7 Big (or Small) Year of the Fire Horse (1960)”. The Big or Small suffix after the month denotes whether that month has 29 or 30 days. The Gregorian year is normally added because Chinese years are repeated every 60 days. For example 1924 and 1984 are both year of the Wood Rat and it would be confusing without the Gregorian Year suffix!
So how does one find the equivalent Chinese dates? The answer lies in a reference book called the “Ten Thousand Year Calendar”. Until recently this book is published in Chinese only. However nowadays it is not difficult to find English language versions.
The book is published in such as way that you can find the Chinese Solar and Lunar dates at the same time. I will illustrate using the example below. Let’s say you want to find the Chinese dates for 3rd May 1969 (Ji You – Year of the Earth Rooster). You would flip the Ten Thousand Year calendar reference until you come to the year 1969 (marked in green). A portion of the reference book for 1969 is reproduced below.
Gregorian 3rd May is marked in pink. To the right is the Chinese Lunar day of the 17th marked in yellow. If you look straight up, the 3rd of May falls under the column March S (Third Month Small) marked in blue. Hence the Chinese Lunar date is “Lunar Month Three (March) Small Day 17 Year of the Earth Rooster (1969)”.
The Chinese Solar Calendar is trickier. We already know the year pillar. It is “Ji You”, Year of the Earth Rooster. The Day pillar is “Wu Yin” (marked in orange) which is next to the Gregorian 3rd May. But what about the month pillar?
This requires some knowledge of the 24 Knots & Qi or 24 Sub-Seasons. The first solar month include the sub-seasons “Spring Arrives” and “Rain Water” while the second solar month includes “Insects Awaken” and “Spring Equinox”. The third solar month includes “Clear Brightness” and “Grain Rice” while the fourth solar month includes “Summer Arrives” and “Small Harvest”. If you look up the month column you will see that “Summer Arrives” or the fourth solar month starts on the 20th lunar day or Gregorian 6th of May. Thus the 3rd of May falls within the third solar month which is “Wu Chen” (marked in Gray).
The Chinese Solar equivalent of the Gregorian 3rd May 1969 is hence “Wu Yin” day, “Wu Chen” month and “Ji You” Year!
Today most parts of the world use the western or Gregorian calendar system. The date of birth of most of us are also expressed the western calendar dates. This creates a lot of problems for Chinese astrology practitioners (and many others) as all systems of Chinese astrology are based on either the Chinese Lunar or Solar dates.
For example, Zi Wei Dou Shu, a system of Chinese astrology requires your date and time of birth according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar while BaZi or more popularly known as the Four Pillars of Destiny require the date and time according to the Chinese Solar or Hsia Calendar system!
On-line Chinese Calendar Converter
The answer comes in the form of a Chinese Calendar converter book known as the Ten Thousand Year Calendar. These books are available from most Chinese bookshop and it allows you to find the Chinese Lunar and Chinese Solar equivalent of any western date. Ten Thousand is an over statement as the books usually contain no more than 150 years of data. The phrase “Ten Thousand Years Calendar” is a direct translation from the Chinese name. The phrase “Chinese Calendar Converter” is just as appropriate.
Until recently these books are only available in Chinese. Today you can find English language versions of these Chinese Calendar Converter in many bookshops.
I am also please to offer you an alternative. If you are unable to get your hands on one of them in your area, you can try my on-line Chinese Calendar Converter.
