Destiny (BaZi 八字) Four Pillars Analysis of Sun Yat Sen

Author: Jerry King
Publish date: December 5, 2009

Sun Yat-Sen, born on November 12, 1865, one of the founding fathers of Republican China and served as the President of the Republic of China in 1912, played an important role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. So what lies in his birth chart that allowed him to become the President of China?

From looking at his chart, we can see that he is a Yin Fire (丁) self born in the month of the Pig (亥) where the energy of the fire is almost non-existent. Fortunately, he is aided by the wood in the year pillar and the Tiger (寅) hour.  There is a half metal team where the Rooster (酉) unites with the Ox (丑); the problem here is that the self element does not like to see the metal team. Since the self Yin Fire (丁) is already weak, using wealth, which is metal in this case, would not be beneficial as it would harm the wood. In Chinese, this is a typical case where the self is weak with too much wealth and needs to avoid the wealth from injuring the resources. “財多身弱, 蓋忌財星破印損用印也.” (quoted from “達人命理通鑑” p.271)  In addition, the stem in the month has another Yin Fire (丁), a sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalries can be seen as competition for wealth and other facets of life.  One way of taking away the competition in the case of Sun Yat Sen’s chart is to introduce another Yang Water (壬); this can come in the form of encountering the Yang Water (壬) in the luck cycle, the annual cycle or the month cycles. Making use of the Yang Water days, months, or years would be beneficial. Even though the Yang Water (壬)  is seen in his hour pillar, that Yang Water (壬) is combined with the self rather than the other Yin Fire (丁) in the month stem.

The secret to his success lies in his Day and Month branch where the Rooster (酉) and the Pig (亥) are both his guide stars “陰陽貴”. The Rooster is also his scholar star which made him incredibly smart and educated.

Life and Career

In the early days of Sun Yat Sen’s life, he was sent to Hawaii to live with his elder brother where he learned English and many political ideas. As he returned to China in 1883, he was bothered by the way the Qing Dynasty was administrating the country. He was determined to overthrow the rule of the Qing Dynasty and establish a new order in China. Unfortunately, he failed many times and was in exile in Europe, United States, Canada and Japan raising money for the revolution.

His failures early in life can be seen in his chart as he was in the Rooster (酉) and Monkey (申) period which were not beneficial to his chart. The Rooster gave him more metal weakening his resources which is wood. In the Monkey period, it clashed with his Tiger hour taking away his resources, hence, the failures in his attempted coup in the early 1880s.

Sun Yat Sen’s luck began to change as he approached the Goat (未) cycle all the way until the Horse (午) cycle. The Goat combined with the Pig to form a half wood team and finally, his fire is starting to brighten up. Isn’t it a coincidence that the military uprising in October 1911, the year of the Pig, occurred where additional wood came to the forefront for Sun Yat Sen? The best scenario for him is to make use of the Yang Water if it comes along and apparently, just when Sun Yat Sen moved into the Horse (午) cycle, he took the oath of Office in the Yang Water Rat year (壬子). Unfortunately, his tenure as president did not last too long as his government lacked a military force of its own. In addition, the year of the Rat clashed away the Horse from teaming with the Tiger to form a fire alliance which he needed to become successful.

Sun Yat Sen was no longer able to regain the power that he held for a short period of time and eventually died in 1925 at the age of 58, the year of the Ox.  At the time, he had just moved into the Snake (巳) cycle where the Ox (丑), Snake (巳) and Rooster (酉) combined into a complete metal alliance harming his resources.

Summary

Sun Yat Sen, seen today by most people as the national father of China, lived a life fighting for a dream of a united China but never lived to see that day come.  Even though his chart gave him many disadvantages to begin with, the luck cycles and annual cycles were in his favor and allowed him to become one of the founding fathers of China. This is a case where a weak self with a sibling rivalry in the chart can succeed as long as he was aided by luck cycles and the people around him. Extreme hard work and determination was also required for such a chart. His political philosophy of the Three Principles of the People (三民主義), the Principle of Nationalism, Democracy, and People’s Livelihood will remain a lasting legacy.