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THE SHORT ANSWER
The Ten Gods classify another stem in relation to the Day Master; they are not ten standalone personality types. Identify the direction of the element relationship, then compare yin-yang polarity. This produces a label you can check. Change the Day Master, and the same other stem can acquire a different label.
- Five relationship groups split into matching and differing polarity. “Direct” and “indirect” are inherited names, not moral or quality ratings.
- Fix the reference stem first. Yi is Indirect Wealth relative to Xin; a worked table for Jia cannot be reused without recalculation.
- A branch can contain several hidden stems and therefore several Ten Gods relationships. One branch label cannot preserve all of that detail.
Matching polarity: yinXin → 比肩 / Peer
Different polarity: yangGeng → 劫财 / Rob Wealth
Matching polarity: yinGui → 食神 / Eating God
Different polarity: yangRen → 伤官 / Hurting Officer
Matching polarity: yinYi → 偏财 / Indirect Wealth
Different polarity: yangJia → 正财 / Direct Wealth
Matching polarity: yinDing → 七杀 / Seven Killings
Different polarity: yangBing → 正官 / Direct Officer
Matching polarity: yinJi → 偏印 / Indirect Resource
Different polarity: yangWu → 正印 / Direct Resource
The framework compares five groups with the Day Master: same element, what I produce, what I control, what controls me, and what produces me. Matching and differing polarity give, respectively: Peer and Rob Wealth; Eating God and Hurting Officer; Indirect and Direct Wealth; Seven Killings and Direct Officer; Indirect and Direct Resource. Each pair lists matching polarity first. The table applies this framework to Xin Metal.
These are relationship labels
The Ten Gods classify the relationship between a heavenly stem and the Day Master. First identify the element relationship: the same element, what it produces, what it controls, what controls it, or what produces it. Matching or differing yin-yang polarity divides those five groups into ten.
For example, Jia is yang Wood and Yi is yin Wood. With Jia as the Day Master, another Jia is 比肩 (Peer), while Yi is 劫财 (Rob Wealth). English translations vary, so the Chinese terms help when comparing references.
Work through a Jia Wood example
Each pair below compares the other stem with Jia. Recalculate the relationship when the Day Master changes.
- Same element: Jia is 比肩 (Peer); Yi is 劫财 (Rob Wealth).
- Wood produces Fire: Bing is 食神 (Eating God); Ding is 伤官 (Hurting Officer).
- Wood controls Earth: Wu is 偏财 (Indirect Wealth); Ji is 正财 (Direct Wealth).
- Metal controls Wood: Geng is 七杀 (Seven Killings); Xin is 正官 (Direct Officer).
- Water produces Wood: Ren is 偏印 (Indirect Resource); Gui is 正印 (Direct Resource).
A complete relationship table for Xin Metal
| Relationship to Xin | Matching polarity: yin | Different polarity: yang |
|---|---|---|
| Same element: Metal | Xin → 比肩 / Peer | Geng → 劫财 / Rob Wealth |
| Metal produces Water | Gui → 食神 / Eating God | Ren → 伤官 / Hurting Officer |
| Metal controls Wood | Yi → 偏财 / Indirect Wealth | Jia → 正财 / Direct Wealth |
| Fire controls Metal | Ding → 七杀 / Seven Killings | Bing → 正官 / Direct Officer |
| Earth produces Metal | Ji → 偏印 / Indirect Resource | Wu → 正印 / Direct Resource |
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways.
A traditional name is not a literal outcome
Direct Wealth does not guarantee a high salary. Hurting Officer does not accuse someone of harmful behavior, and Seven Killings is not a prediction of disaster. These are inherited category names with further traditional interpretations, not measured probabilities or judgments of character.
A fuller reading may consider season, hidden stems, positions and combinations. Interpretive schools do not all treat those factors in the same way. Rating a whole chart from one label skips the assumptions that the interpretation depends on.
Try checking one relationship yourself
Find the Day Master, choose another visible stem, and work out its element relationship and polarity. Wenbu’s English chart uses short reflection labels: Responsibility corresponds to 正官 (Direct Officer), and Challenge to 七杀 (Seven Killings). These differ from the traditional English names above. A branch can contain several hidden stems; the element diagram counts visible characters rather than scoring the Ten Gods.
For practice, compare Xin with Jia: Metal controls Wood and the polarities differ, giving Direct Officer. Compare the same Xin with Yi and the polarities match, giving Seven Killings. To go further, ask the Agent to explain the calculation first, then the additional assumptions behind an interpretation.
Read three visible stems, then unpack one branch
Use Yi You / Wu Zi / Xin Si / Ren Chen, checked for December 23, 2005 at 08:37 in Asia/Shanghai, civil time and a midnight boundary. The exercise derives relationship names, not an overall chart rating.
Circle Xin, the yin Metal Day Master. Yi, the year stem, is yin Wood. Metal controls Wood, so this is the “what I control” group. Both stems are yin, which makes Yi Indirect Wealth relative to Xin.
Examine Wu, the yang Earth month stem. Earth produces Metal: “what produces me.” Their polarities differ, making Wu Direct Resource. Its location in the month pillar does not make it the reference for the other stems.
Ren, the hour stem, is yang Water. Metal produces Water and the polarities differ, giving Hurting Officer. Wenbu’s English chart uses the shorter reflection label Innovation for this relationship; keep the Chinese 伤官 when comparing references.
Unpack Chen into its hidden stems Wu, Yi and Gui. Relative to Xin, these are Direct Resource, Indirect Wealth and Eating God. Classifying the visible branch as Earth does not mean every hidden stem is Earth or that the branch has only one relationship.
Check the reference by changing it deliberately: relative to Geng, yang Metal, the same Yi becomes Direct Wealth. An accidental change of Day Master can therefore make an entire relationship table appear inconsistent.
A checkable explanation names the Day Master, the other stem, the element direction and the polarity comparison. Reporting only “Wealth” or “Hurting Officer” leaves out the reasoning a learner needs.
Key terms
- Polarity
- Jia, Bing, Wu, Geng and Ren are yang; Yi, Ding, Ji, Xin and Gui are yin. Compare both stems.
- Produces me / I produce
- Opposite directions: the other element generates the Day Master’s element, or the Day Master’s generates the other.
- Officer and Killings
- The group that controls the Day Master: differing polarity gives Direct Officer; matching polarity gives Seven Killings.
Common questions
Is the Day Master itself a Peer?
The lookup relationship of Xin to another Xin is Peer. In a chart, however, the day stem is the reference point. Wenbu labels that position Day Master instead of presenting it as an additional Peer occurrence.
Why do English translations differ?
Translations emphasize different aspects of inherited terms. Wenbu’s Learning corresponds to 正印, often called Direct Resource; Innovation corresponds to 伤官, often called Hurting Officer. Match the Chinese name and underlying relationship before concluding that two calculators disagree.
Does Direct Officer imply management ability?
The classification does not measure professional ability or the probability of a promotion. Traditional interpretation adds conditions such as position, season and combinations; a real career judgment needs evidence about skills and circumstances. A label can prompt a question without answering it.
Sources and their scope
The primary implementation mapping; all ten Xin relationships and the Chen hidden stems were checked against it.
Documents Wenbu’s day-stem reference, Day Master label and shorter English reflection labels.
Traditional interpretations are not established predictions. See the source notes for context.
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Get the complete text, diagram descriptions and sources in an open format. These files contain public knowledge only.
ADDITIONAL PRACTICE · 2026-10-25
Read the Ten Gods as relationships, not job labels: a reference-point map and vocabulary exercise
To read the Ten Gods without turning them into life predictions, break every name into four parts: who the Day Master is, which other stem is being compared, which way the element relationship runs, and whether the two polarities match. The name is shorthand for those four steps, not a judgment about income, rank or character. This page adds a reference-point map and a vocabulary exercise to the existing Jia Wood and Xin Metal examples: write the relationship first, the name second, and only then discuss inherited interpretations. That way you can follow the chart labels and recalculate when the Day Master changes, instead of treating Direct Wealth or Seven Killings as a job label or an event forecast.
Current complete en canonical article ↗Wenbu · BaZi guide ↗Wenbu · calculation conventions ↗
- Write Day Master, other stem, element direction and polarity before writing the name.
- The same other stem can change name when the Day Master changes, so example tables are not reusable.
- A branch can hold several hidden stems and therefore several relationships.
- The element diagram counts visible characters; it does not score Ten Gods strength.
Reference-point map: five directions × polarity → ten names (Xin, yin Metal, as reference)
- 01Centre: Day Master Xin, yin Metal
The day stem is the only reference point; write its element and polarity first, and compare every other stem against it.
- 02Same element: Metal and Metal
Matching branch: Xin → Peer. Differing branch: Geng → Rob Wealth.
- 03What I produce: Metal produces Water
Matching branch: Gui → Eating God. Differing branch: Ren → Hurting Officer.
- 04What I control: Metal controls Wood
Matching branch: Yi → Indirect Wealth. Differing branch: Jia → Direct Wealth.
- 05What controls me: Fire controls Metal
Matching branch: Ding → Seven Killings. Differing branch: Bing → Direct Officer.
- 06What produces me: Earth produces Metal
Matching branch: Ji → Indirect Resource. Differing branch: Wu → Direct Resource.
Current complete en canonical article ↗Current complete zh canonical article ↗
Why start with a reference point, not ten names
Memorising ten names is easy; knowing what each name is relative to is harder. The Ten Gods describe another stem in relation to the Day Master: first decide whether the element relationship is same element, what I produce, what I control, what controls me, or what produces me, then compare polarity. Change the Day Master and the same other stem may take a different name, so a worked table is a checking exercise, not a universal lookup.
A reference-point map fixes that order. Circle the day stem in the four pillars, write it as the reference, place the stem you want to compare beside it, and mark the element arrow and polarity between them. Fill in the name last. Even if you misremember a translation, you can return to a checkable calculation instead of labelling a whole chart from impression.
The reference-point map: five directions, two polarities, ten names
The map is not a single straight procedure but a lookup layout: the Day Master sits at the centre, and five direction lines radiate outward — same element, what I produce, what I control, what controls me, and what produces me. Each line then splits into a matching-polarity branch and a differing-polarity branch, and each branch holds one name. With Xin, yin Metal, as reference: same element gives Xin as Peer and Geng as Rob Wealth; what I produce gives Gui as Eating God and Ren as Hurting Officer; what I control gives Yi as Indirect Wealth and Jia as Direct Wealth; what controls me gives Ding as Seven Killings and Bing as Direct Officer; what produces me gives Ji as Indirect Resource and Wu as Direct Resource.
To use it, follow the direction line first, then stop on a branch. Take Yi, yin Wood: Metal controls Wood, so follow the “what I control” line; Yi and Xin are both yin, so stop on the matching branch and read Indirect Wealth. Change the reference to Geng, yang Metal, and Yi now differs in polarity, so the same line stops on the other branch and reads Direct Wealth. The map does not rank the branches; it only lets you say which line and branch a name came from.
Current complete en canonical article ↗Current complete zh canonical article ↗
Vocabulary exercise: turn names back into sentences, with an answer key
Rewrite each name as a relationship sentence, for example: “Yi relative to Xin: Metal controls Wood, both yin, Indirect Wealth.” Then rewrite the same sentence with a different reference: relative to Geng, yang Metal, the same Yi becomes Direct Wealth. Both sentences are valid because each states its reference; “Yi is Indirect Wealth” alone drops the essential premise.
A change-of-reference exercise needs an answer key to be self-checkable. Recalculate the earlier set with Geng, yang Metal, as Day Master: Yi, yin Wood, differs in polarity within the “what I control” group, giving Direct Wealth; Wu, yang Earth, matches within “what produces me”, giving Indirect Resource; Ren, yang Water, matches within “what I produce”, giving Eating God; Ding, yin Fire, differs within “what controls me”, giving Direct Officer. Compare your four sentences with these; if one disagrees, recheck the direction or polarity step rather than blaming the name table.
Current complete en canonical article ↗Current complete zh canonical article ↗
Putting traditional meanings back in their place
The relationship classification itself supplies no income, character or event probability. Traditional interpretation goes on to discuss season, hidden stems, position and combinations, and schools do not treat those factors identically; such extensions are inherited interpretation and need their own sources and premises. Inferring a salary from Direct Wealth, or announcing disaster from Seven Killings, skips a large set of unstated assumptions.
A safer use is to treat the name as a starting question: it points to a direction of relationship, and you can ask what else a traditional source requires and what evidence a real-world judgment would need. Calculation can be reproduced under stated conventions; interpretation still needs checking. Keeping the two apart preserves the learning value of the vocabulary without mistaking a symbol for a verdict on a person's life.
Current complete en canonical article ↗Wenbu · calculation conventions ↗Wenbu · BaZi guide ↗
| Ten Gods name | Relationship sentence | Common misreading | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indirect Wealth | Yi, yin Wood; Metal controls Wood; both yin | Income must be high | Write Day Master, other stem, direction and polarity |
| Direct Resource | Wu, yang Earth; Earth produces Metal; polarity differs | Treating Direct Resource as a guaranteed degree or benefactor | Tradition often links it with study and support, but that is an extension needing its own sources, not an outcome |
| Hurting Officer | Ren, yang Water; Metal produces Water; polarity differs | Will harm someone | Treat it only as a name in the “I produce” group |
| Seven Killings | Ding, yin Fire; Fire controls Metal; both yin | Foretells disaster | Check reference and polarity; do not read as an event forecast |
| Peer | Xin, yin Metal; same element; both yin | The Day Master counts as an extra Peer | Remember the day stem is the reference point |
Current complete en canonical article ↗Current complete zh canonical article ↗
Hypothetical exercise: same stems, new reference, new names (with answer key)
This is a teaching exercise, not anyone's chart, and it does not generate a personal birth chart. Its only purpose is to practise the four steps and watch names change when the reference changes; an answer key follows for self-checking.
- Assume a Xin yin Metal Day Master and take Yi, Wu, Ren and Ding as the other stems; first write only element and polarity, no names.
- Set each direction: Yi Wood is what I control; Wu Earth produces me; Ren Water is what I produce; Ding Fire controls me.
- Compare polarity: Yi yin matches Xin yin, giving Indirect Wealth; Wu yang differs, giving Direct Resource; Ren yang differs, giving Hurting Officer; Ding yin matches, giving Seven Killings.
- Change the reference to Geng yang Metal, redo all four steps and write four new names before looking at the key.
- Answer key: Yi, yin Wood, differs in polarity within “what I control”, giving Direct Wealth; Wu, yang Earth, matches within “what produces me”, giving Indirect Resource; Ren, yang Water, matches within “what I produce”, giving Eating God; Ding, yin Fire, differs within “what controls me”, giving Direct Officer. If one disagrees, recheck direction or polarity.
- Check the record: does every line name the Day Master, the other stem, the direction and the polarity? A missing item cannot be rechecked.
What you end with is a set of checkable relationship sentences plus an answer key you can verify against, not a judgment about career, income or character. If you go on to discuss traditional meanings, list season, hidden stems and position separately, and label them as interpretation rather than calculation.
Current complete en canonical article ↗Wenbu · calculation conventions ↗
Questions you may have
Does the Day Master count as a Peer?
As a lookup relationship, one Xin relative to another Xin is Peer. In a chart, however, the day stem is the reference point, and the page labels it Day Master rather than presenting it as an extra Peer occurrence. Write the reference first, then compare other stems.
Do different English labels mean the calculators disagree?
Not necessarily. The page uses short reflection labels such as Responsibility for 正官 (Direct Officer) and Challenge for 七杀 (Seven Killings), while traditional translations may differ. Check the Chinese term and the element and polarity relationship before concluding that two sources describe different things.
Current complete en canonical article ↗Current complete zh canonical article ↗
If one element looks numerous in the diagram, is that group of Ten Gods strong?
No. The element diagram counts each visible stem and branch once and adds no hidden-stem weighting or seasonal influence, so it shows occurrences, not strength, structure or favourable elements. Derive Ten Gods relationships one stem at a time from the Day Master.
Terms in this guide
- Day Master
- The heavenly stem of the day pillar, used as the reference for comparing other stems' elements and polarity; it is not a complete description of a person.
- Hidden stems
- Stems associated with a branch by a traditional lookup table, a separate layer from visible stems; one branch can correspond to several Ten Gods relationships.
- Polarity match
- Whether two stems share yin or yang polarity; within each element group, matching and differing polarity give the two names.
See the claim and source notes
The Ten Gods use the day stem as reference; direction and polarity are checked before a name is assigned, and changing the reference changes the name.
Fix the reference stem first.
The element diagram counts visible stems and branches once each, without hidden-stem weighting or seasonal influence.
五行图把每个可见天干和地支各计一次
Inherited category names are not measurements of real-world outcomes.
not measured probabilities or judgments of character
Sources and review scope
This AI-assisted Wenbu article passed automated structure checks and a separate editorial model pass. It is not independent expert review or a paid-account product test.
- Current complete zh canonical article ↗Current public original and earlier additions; add substantial coverage without repeating or replacing them. · 2026-10-25 · Fetched text
- Current complete en canonical article ↗Current public original and earlier additions; add substantial coverage without repeating or replacing them. · 2026-10-25 · Fetched text
- Wenbu · BaZi guide ↗Existing editorial and reproducible chart conventions · 2026-10-25 · Fetched text
- Wenbu · calculation conventions ↗First-party implementation; not evidence of predictive accuracy · 2026-10-25 · Fetched text
Open the BaZi chart, find the Day Master and check one stem relationship
The chart shows the four pillars with the Day Master labelled, so you can run the four steps yourself and compare one derived name with the page label; that completes a calculation check, not a full reading.
Open the BaZi chart, find the Day Master and check one stem relationship ↗