Cai Xiqiong
From ancient times to the present, the birth of every theory of destiny has been closely and vitally bound up with the idea of “the unity of heaven and humanity.” What the unity of heaven and humanity offers of greatest practical value to fortune-telling is the resonance between heaven and humanity.
In the study of destiny there is a very common phenomenon: the same BaZi (Four Pillars of Destiny) chart corresponds to several or even many different people. Those seeking readings, of course, do not know this, but if a fortune-teller is unaware of it, he makes himself a laughingstock, because it is bound to send his reading of destiny in the wrong direction. So, given this, how should a fortune-teller explain it? Clearly, if the resonance between heaven and humanity plays no part and one looks only at the BaZi chart, the answer is bound to be inaccurate.
Does this make fortune-telling a fallacy? Yet in reality there are many cases of uncannily accurate predictions. After a period of careful reflection on this, I have drawn the following conclusions.
1. Ordinary fortune-tellers read a client's BaZi only “by the book.” Their conclusions inevitably give the same or similar predictions for several different people who share the same BaZi, when in fact their destinies differ greatly. This is hard to justify.
2. What most fortune-tellers call accuracy is only a relatively rough picture, not one hundred percent precision.
3. Knowing some circumstances, the fortune-teller infers others from existing phenomena, along with important events that may happen in the future, but cannot improve or change the outcome for the client.
4. The fortune-teller uses the resonance between heaven and humanity, or divinatory methods of destiny, and enters wholeheartedly into the client's energy field.
5. The fortune-teller goes beyond ordinary resonance between heaven and humanity, as if occupying a fifth-dimensional space, and knows the client's affairs like the back of his hand.
Clearly, the first three situations occur often among ordinary people; as long as a destiny reader is still an ordinary person, he can reach only these three levels.
For more than ten years, my persistent effort to raise the accuracy of my predictions has been mostly a matter of deliberately cultivating my ability to resonate with heaven, or using divinatory methods of destiny to infer the whole picture from a single phenomenon. In an actual reading I throw myself wholeheartedly into the BaZi chart, but even so I reach only rough accuracy, and precision only occasionally.
Fortune-tellers who reach level 4, or even level 5, of predictive ability are not easy to meet. The only one I have seen who reached level 5 was Master Peng. When he spoke of someone's affairs, he would go on at great length, every sentence exact—unlike some of the fortune-tellers or “great masters” I have visited, who name just one point or a few. Naming only one point or a few sounds quick and accurate, but in fact it falls far short of pointing the way through fortune-telling or resolving the difficulties in a person's destiny.
A professional fortune-teller must always keep in mind that he is relieving the client's worries and difficulties. The analysis of destiny must be thorough and must resolve the client's real questions; it must not be perfunctory.
I have found that most sincere clients are willing to cooperate with our analysis. For topics meant for discussion and research, one should discuss and even argue without preconditions in a setting where everyone is interested; this helps improve one's own judgment. Some people use readings merely as a way of testing others, to compare levels of skill. And there are clients with ulterior motives who have only a smattering of knowledge themselves yet are unwilling to seek instruction sincerely; they deliberately magnify problems to set up a “great master” image of independent insight, in pursuit of fame and gain.
To reach level 4 or level 5 of reading, one must first hold this profession in awe and treat clients responsibly. This requires self-cultivation, and continual self-cultivation. Master Peng once taught me that fortune-telling is a form of reverse cultivation.
Only now do I feel it: as long as one persists in reverse cultivation, even if one cannot transcend the Three Realms, one can in the end fully unlock and analyze a BaZi chart brought sincerely for a reading, and point out the right road for the person.
Take, for example, a young man who came to me for a reading:
Male chart: Geng Wu, Ding Hai, Xin Mao, Ji Chou
Major Luck Cycles: age 16 Ji Chou, age 26 Geng Yin
Since the beginning of spring this year I had been busy writing the companion textbooks for my system of destiny analysis and had stopped taking readings. But this man begged me again and again for a detailed reading, so I could only agree to try a reading while chatting online; I did not agree to a detailed written reading.
We went online after seven in the evening. Seeing this BaZi, I only promised to do my best to unlock the chart and point out the general direction. Later I found that he knew something of the subject himself, which made things easier: once I had unlocked his chart, he could check many things against it himself.
Unlocking a BaZi chart takes basic skill. Unlocking a chart is like solving a geometry problem correctly: once it is truly solved, everything becomes clear.
Once the chart is unlocked, fellow practitioners or anyone who knows a little will find, on checking it against their own past, that it fits well. As for the future, the fortune-teller's guidance can serve as a reference, but it is better still to project from one's own circumstances.
Yesterday afternoon I had things to do and spent several more hours out in the sun—it being the dog days, I was exhausted. In the evening I was not in form at first; I even forgot to check which element was in command of the season, just tossed off a few remarks, and not one was accurate. Of course he gave no reply, but I sensed it, and could only tell him plainly: I have not yet unlocked your chart; let me think about it.
When I calmed my mind and entered a certain state with a responsible attitude, I soon worked it out: this was a chart pattern in which Ren Water was in command of the season and needed to devote all its strength to controlling and transforming the Seven Killings. The reasons: he is a southerner, and though Xin was born in the tenth month it was not cold, so Ding was not needed; and if the chart were a Follow Wealth pattern (Hai, Mao, and Chou hiddenly combining into a Wood frame), Ding Fire would be even more unfavorable. Looking separately at the roles of Hai, Mao, and Chou, all three were working against Wu Fire.
Fully unlocking a BaZi chart cannot be done without corroboration, and the Xingzong star method is often my means of corroboration. I found that his Children Palace was in Chou and received Taiyin, the Moon, and at night the Moon is very strong. So I determined that Ji Chou, standing in the children's position, was the first Favorable God. Following this line of thought, before I had even made any judgment about his affairs, he began to talk: 2009, the year when the year and the luck cycle coincided, had been his best year. But I told him clearly: your Useful God is the Ren Water hidden in Hai; the Metal in your chart helps the self and is favorable; the Earth in your chart helps remove Fire and, by transforming the Killings and generating the self, is even more favorable. “You are best suited to finance and accounting, and you are a very busy man.” These last two judgments I derived in passing, easily and naturally, without any preconceptions. To my surprise, he had indeed graduated from a university of finance and had always worked in financial accounting; this year he wanted to transfer formally to a securities company and was already working under a manager at a securities firm, so busy he could hardly bear it.
From his positive response this time, I could see he had regained his confidence in me. Following the same line of thought, with Metal and Water as favorable and useful, I pointed out his biggest problem. Look: Hai Water wants both to control and combine with Ding Fire and to go off and generate Wealth—how could he not be busy? But the biggest mistake in all this busyness is Hai Water going to generate Mao Wealth. I told him that Mao Wealth has no need of being generated here; Hai Water must concentrate on controlling the Killings. Greed for Wealth generates the Killings: once the Wealth qi is good, petty people multiply and the pressure becomes more than you can bear. Sure enough, that is how his Jia Wu year went. He later replied with something I have forgotten, the gist being that he worried he would not be able to seek wealth. I told him that forgetting Wealth to remove the Killings is the principle of destiny; in real life it means concentrating on your work without becoming greedy, and wealth will come of itself.
Now that he fully trusted me, I spoke boldly and openly to him: the root of the illness in your chart is Wu; skimming the boiling water to stop it boiling is not as good as pulling the firewood from under the pot. Of course, I went on to read many more things for him: career, marriage, health, and so on.
On marriage, I judged that he was still unmarried, and so he was. Some things I did not pronounce on; he checked them himself and reported back, and they were exactly right. Once one grasps the thread of a BaZi chart, many problems are solved at a stroke. I think that accurate judgment is only a means; enabling the other person to take hold of their own destiny and set their thinking right is where the true meaning of fortune-telling lies.