BaZi Calculator · Four Pillars of Destiny
Free online BaZi chart — stems & branches, Ten Gods, hidden stems, NaYin, symbolic stars, luck pillars, element strength and structure
Luck Pillars
Ten years to a pillar · the axis of a life
Luck · Annual Pillars
One pillar a year · the season in command
What is BaZi (the Four Pillars)?
BaZi, the Four Pillars of Destiny, is the core method of classical Chinese astrology. A person's birth year, month, day and hour each form a "pillar" of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch — eight characters in total. The Day Stem is the Day Master, representing the person; the other seven characters interact with it through the five-element cycle to form a complete natal chart.
A professional Four Pillars chart shows not only the eight characters but also the Ten Gods, hidden stems, NaYin elements, voids, the twelve life stages, symbolic stars, luck pillars, element strength, the Life/Body Palaces and Fetal Origin, plus structure and climatic favourable elements. This tool computes all of them at once, supports solar, lunar and eight-character input with true-solar-time correction, and is free with no sign-up.
How to chart BaZi: four steps to your natal chart
Charting is deterministic calendar computation — these four steps let you read any BaZi chart.
- 1
① Fix the birth time
BaZi rests on an exact hour. For cross-region or boundary Zi-hour (23:00/01:00) births, correct longitude with true solar time first.
- 2
② Lay out the four pillars
Set the month pillar by the 24 solar terms and the hour stem from the day stem to get all eight characters.
- 3
③ Annotate the elements
List the Ten Gods, hidden stems, NaYin, voids, life stages and stars for each pillar, and tally element strength.
- 4
④ Luck pillars & favourable element
Arrange luck pillars by yin/yang direction, compute the start age, then judge the favourable element from structure and climate.
Every step above is automated here — enter your birth details and tap "Chart" to get the full result at once: pillars, Ten Gods, hidden stems, NaYin, stars, luck pillars, element strength and structure.
What a BaZi chart shows: the ten core elements
Understand these ten elements and the whole Four Pillars chart opens up.
- Stems, Branches & the Four Pillars
- Ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches pair into the sixty Jia-Zi. Year, month, day and hour each take one pair — the four pillars, the skeleton of the chart.
- Day Master & the Ten Gods
- The Day Stem is the Day Master. Measured against it, the other characters yield the Ten Gods (Friend, Rob Wealth, Eating God, Hurting Officer, Wealth, Officer, Killings, Resource…), which drive structure and analysis.
- Hidden Stems
- Each branch hides 1–3 stems (primary, middle, residual). The commanding stem of the month branch is decisive for structure and the favourable element.
- NaYin Elements
- Each pair of the sixty Jia-Zi carries a NaYin element (e.g. Gold in the Sea), thirty in all, used in compatibility, date selection and analysis.
- Symbolic Stars (ShenSha)
- Auspicious stars (Nobleman, Academic, Travelling Horse, Peach Blossom…) and inauspicious ones add nuance and warnings alongside structure — treated as secondary in the classics.
- Luck Pillars & Annual Luck
- Luck pillars run from the month pillar, ten years each; the annual pillar interacts with the chart to shape each period. The tool links annual, monthly and daily luck.
- Element Strength & Favourable Element
- Judge the Day Master's strength from the season, roots and stems, then choose the favourable and unfavourable elements by strength, climate and mediation.
- Chart Structure
- The month branch defines normal and special structures (Officer, Killings, Wealth, Eating, Hurting, Resource, Lu, Yang Blade, Follow, Transformation…), whose success sets the chart's level.
- Void & Life Stages
- Voids (two stem-less branches from the day pillar's cycle) weaken forces that land on them; the twelve life stages (Birth, Bath … Peak … Tomb, Death) gauge a stem's state within a branch.
- Life / Body Palace & Fetal Origin
- The Life Palace (month + hour), Body Palace (day + hour) and Fetal Origin form the "seven pillars" with the four pillars — auxiliary coordinates for advanced reading.
- True Solar Time
- China uses one standard time (120°E) yet local solar time can differ by over an hour. Boundary Zi-hour births especially need true-solar-time correction.
- Classical Sources
- Structure follows Zi Ping Zhen Quan and climatic use follows Qiong Tong Bao Jian, with reference to Di Tian Sui, San Ming Tong Hui and Yuan Hai Zi Ping.
Four Pillars (BaZi) Chart — FAQ
延伸阅读
名人命例与流年通览，都可一键回到排盘工具对照。
Related charting tools
Beyond BaZi charting, these tools share the same Four Pillars roots.
Related Reading
Explore the I Ching and traditional Chinese culture
Celestial Stems Unfolding and the Hidden Shield Transformed: A Unified Mathematical-Metaphysical Inquiry into the Information Volume of Bazi and Qimen Dunjia
Starting from the mathematical structure of Taiji, the Two Modes, Four Images, and Eight Trigrams in the Book of Changes, this article systematically explores the information-carrying capacity of Bazi and Qimen Dunjia as divinatory systems. Through analysis of Yin-Yang, the Five Phases, the Hetu and Luoshu, and other classical mathematical foundations, it seeks to provide a unified perspective for measuring and comparing the information volume of these two arts.
The Mystic Pivot of Earthly Order: A Study on the Ancient Origins of the Six Combinations and Qi Transformations of the Twelve Earthly Branches
This article offers an in-depth investigation into the pre-Qin, high-antiquity origins and inner rationale of the Six Combinations and their Qi transformations among the Twelve Earthly Branches (e.g., Zi-Chou combining to transform into Earth). Through textual examination of the Earthly Branches' origins, their connection with Jupiter's orbital cycle, the correspondences between the twelve months and the twelve sovereign hexagrams, and the spatial positioning of the four Earth-branches at the four inter-cardinal directions, the essay reveals the profound astronomical and yin-yang philosophical underpinnings of the Earthly Branch system as a cornerstone of Chinese metaphysical arts.
The Profound Principles of the Five Combinations of the Heavenly Stems and Various Scholarly Conjectures: An Age-Old Mystery from the Hetu and Luoshu to Celestial Astronomy
The Five Combinations of the Heavenly Stems (Jia-Ji combining into Earth, Yi-Geng into Metal, Bing-Xin into Water, Ding-Ren into Wood, Wu-Gui into Fire) constitute one of the most fundamental yet mysterious theories in Chinese metaphysical arts. This article delves into the profound principles behind them, analyzing various conjectures and demonstrations of 'combination and transformation of qi' from dimensions including the Hetu numerology, celestial astronomy, and the Five Phases and Six Qi system, revealing the cosmic vision underlying this ancient law.
Rising Together to the Ranks of Lords: Innate Equality and the Pre-Qin Vision of Self-Cultivation, Compared with Western Freedom and Equality
Starting from a brief episode in the Analects, in which the noble Wenzi of Wei promotes his own household steward, Zhuan, to stand alongside him among the lords, this essay reads that small event against the great declarations of freedom and equality since the Renaissance: the West places its ideal at the starting line, while the pre-Qin thinkers built the ideal into lived reality.
Structure, Ethics, and Ontology of the Jiaren (Family) Hexagram in the Zhouyi
This article offers a deep exploration of the philosophical significance of Hexagram 37 'Jiaren' (Family) in the Zhouyi (Book of Changes), analyzing the relationship between the Wind-over-Fire trigram image and the Way of the family, and elucidating the foundational status of 'family' in ancient social structures through pre-Qin Confucian thought on 'roots' (ben) as found in Confucius, Mencius, and the Great Learning.
Grain and Fire as Autumn: The Severance of Heaven and Earth and the Onset of Solemn Killing at Liqiu
This article offers an in-depth interpretation of Liqiu (Start of Autumn) among the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, drawing on pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist philosophy, the original meanings of Chinese characters, and astronomical-phenological perspectives. By examining the etymological roots of 'qiu' (autumn) as grain-and-fire, the astronomical coordinate of 135° solar longitude, and the image of Hexagram Pi (Standstill) from the Yijing — 'Heaven and Earth do not interact' — it reveals Liqiu as the pivotal moment when all things shift from 'growth' to 'gathering,' illuminating the virtue of Metal, the onset of solemn killing, and the ancient roots of the autumnal grief tradition.