五行
wǔ xíng · Five Elements
The Five Elements (五行, wǔ xíng) — wood, fire, earth, metal and water — are the categories BaZi uses to classify the stems and branches of a chart and to describe how they act on one another. Two fixed cycles govern them: generation (wood→fire→earth→metal→water→wood) and control (wood→earth→water→fire→metal→wood). Neither cycle is good or bad in itself.
Deep Oracle Editorial Team · 2026-10-22 · 2 min read
Reference tables
| Element | Produces | Produced by | Controls | Controlled by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 木 | 火 | 水 | 土 | 金 |
| 火 | 土 | 木 | 金 | 水 |
| 土 | 金 | 火 | 水 | 木 |
| 金 | 水 | 土 | 木 | 火 |
| 水 | 木 | 金 | 火 | 土 |
A phase's strength in a chart is not a count. It is read first from the month branch — the 旺相休囚死 scale below — and then from whether a stem is rooted in the branches. A phase that holds the month can outweigh one that appears more often but is out of season.
| Element \ Month | 子 | 丑 | 寅 | 卯 | 辰 | 巳 | 午 | 未 | 申 | 酉 | 戌 | 亥 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 木 | 相 | 囚 | 旺 | 旺 | 囚 | 休 | 休 | 囚 | 死 | 死 | 囚 | 相 |
| 火 | 死 | 休 | 相 | 相 | 休 | 旺 | 旺 | 休 | 囚 | 囚 | 休 | 死 |
| 土 | 囚 | 旺 | 死 | 死 | 旺 | 相 | 相 | 旺 | 休 | 休 | 旺 | 囚 |
| 金 | 休 | 相 | 囚 | 囚 | 相 | 死 | 死 | 相 | 旺 | 旺 | 相 | 休 |
| 水 | 旺 | 死 | 休 | 休 | 死 | 囚 | 囚 | 死 | 相 | 相 | 死 | 旺 |
Worked example
Worked example (solar 1985-01-05 4:00, male):
This chart's pattern is 正印格; the day master is 偏旺.
Four wood/water-heavy pillars with no metal at all. The absence of one element is descriptive, not a verdict: what matters is whether the chart's dominant force has an outlet, not whether all five boxes are filled.
Related terms
Classical sources cited
- 《子平真诠·论十干十二支》
- 《尚书·洪范》
- 《渊海子平》
- 《三命通会》
Lookup tables are generated from this site's chart engine; quotations are verified against the cited works.
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