What are the Four Pillars?
四柱是什么
Four layers of time — the year, the month, the day, the hour you were born — each written as one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch. That’s the whole starting point of BaZi.
年、月、日、时——你出生的四重时间刻度，每一重写成一柱：天干在上、地支在下。这就是八字排盘的起点。
One pillar = one layer of time
一柱，就是一层时间
Imagine time as four stacked rulers, each marking a different scale. The year pillar records the year’s position in the sixty-year cycle. The month pillar marks the season — and in BaZi, the month is decided by the solar term (节气), not the calendar date. The day pillar marks the day. The hour pillar marks the two-hour block of your birth hour.
把时间想象成四把叠在一起的尺子，每把刻度不同。年柱记的是六十甲子里的年份；月柱记的是季节——八字里换月看节气，不看阳历日期；日柱记的是日子；时柱记的是出生时辰（两小时一个时辰）。
Each pillar is one stem + one branch
每一柱 = 一个天干 + 一个地支
Every pillar is written as two characters. The top one is a Heavenly Stem (天干) — one of the ten: 甲 乙 丙 丁 戊 己 庚 辛 壬 癸. The bottom one is an Earthly Branch (地支) — one of the twelve: 子 丑 寅 卯 辰 巳 午 未 申 酉 戌 亥. Four pillars × two characters = eight characters. That’s why BaZi is also called “eight characters” (八字).
每柱两个字：上面是天干（十天干：甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸），下面是地支（十二地支：子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥）。四柱×两字 = 八字。这就是「八字」名字的由来。
Why the day pillar matters most
为什么日柱最重要
In a reading, the Heavenly Stem of the day pillar is called your Day Master (日主). It’s the anchor of the whole chart — the “you” that the year, month, and hour are read against. The month tells us the climate you were born into; the day is the seed.
解读时，日柱的天干叫「日主」，是全盘的主轴——年、月、时都围着它读。月令告诉你出生时的气候，日主则是那颗种子。
Four pillars vs. sun-sign astrology
四柱 vs 星座
Sun-sign astrology gives you one sign, set by the month. The Four Pillars give you four coordinates — and the month is only one of them, and it’s keyed to solar terms rather than calendar months. The same day can even land on different pillars depending on your birthplace’s true solar time. It’s a finer-grained clock, not a more certain fortune-teller.
星座只给一个「月份坐标」。四柱给的是四个坐标，而且月柱看节气、不看月份；日柱还会按出生地的真太阳时校正。它只是更细的时间刻度，不是更准的算命。
Climate, not fate
是寒暖，不是命定
BaZi is a classical framework for describing tendencies — themes, rhythms, climates — not a script that decides your life. A chart describes a climate; what you plant in it is still yours.
八字是描述倾向的古典框架——主题、节律、寒暖，不是写好的剧本。命盘描述气候，种什么，仍然由你决定。
- Four pillars = year · month · day · hour, each a stem over a branch.
- 四柱 = 年 · 月 · 日 · 时，每柱天干在上、地支在下。
- The Day Master (日主) is the anchor of a reading.
- 日主是解读的主轴。
- The month pillar follows solar terms, and the hour can shift with true solar time.
- 月柱看节气，时柱会随真太阳时校正。
For reflection and curiosity only. BaZi is a classical Chinese practice; readings describe tendencies, not certainties.
仅供自我反思与兴趣参考。八字是传统中国术数体系，解读描述倾向，不构成确定性结论。