Four Pillars of Destiny

The Four Pillars of Destiny is a Chinese, Japanese and Korean conceptual term describing the four components that supposedly create a person's destiny or fate. The four components within the moment of birth are year, month, day, and hour. The four pillars (a translation of the Chinese dynastic phrase Shēng Chén Bā Zì) are used alongside fortune-telling practices such as Zǐ wēi dòu shù within the realm of Chinese astrology. Comparisons have been made between Western astrology and Ba Zi. However, unlike astrology, Ba Zi analysis does not look at an 'alignment' of celestial bodies of stars and planets but is based on the 'alignment' of blocks of time delineated by the Wan Nian Li (萬年曆), the "10,000-year" Chinese almanac.

Etymology

The "four pillars" refers to the Chinese term (生辰八字, Shēng Chén Bā Zì), which translates as "The Eight Characters of Birth Time". This is also referred to by the Chinese term (四柱命理學, Sì Zhù Mìng Lǐ Xué), which translates to "Study of 'Four Pillars of Life' Principles".