Our Methodology 研究方法論

Much of what circulates online about BaZi, Feng Shui, and the I Ching is secondhand and thirdhand: simplified, commercialized, or quietly invented. Daoist Arts was founded on a simple alternative: go back to the primary sources. This page explains exactly how we do that, so readers can judge our work for themselves.

The Lineage of the Texts 源流

Every system we write about descends from a traceable textual lineage. Understanding that lineage (who wrote what, when, and why) is the first step of our research.

Our Research Framework 研讀框架

What This Means for Readers

When you read an article on this site, you are reading a documented interpretation, not an anonymous horoscope. Where the tradition is ambiguous, we say so. Where a claim is modern invention presented as ancient wisdom (a common problem in English-language content), we flag it. Where a topic is beyond the classical record, we tell you that too.

Source Hierarchy: How We Rank Evidence 證據分層

Not all sources carry equal weight. We sort every claim into one of four tiers before it reaches an article. This ranking keeps modern opinion from sitting on the same shelf as the classical canon, and it tells readers exactly how firm a statement is.

Primary classical texts. At the top sit the original works. These include the I Ching, the Zang Shu of Guo Pu, the Shang Shu, and the foundational BaZi compendia such as San Ming Tong Hui. We read these first whenever a topic allows it. A claim that contradicts a primary text is reworked or dropped, because the text outranks any later summary of it.

Early commentaries. Below the canon are the earliest interpretive layers. The Ten Wings comment on the I Ching. Ren Tieqiao annotates the Di Tian Sui. These writings explain the classics, yet they are a second step, so we name them as commentary and never present them as canon. A reader should know which voice is speaking.

Modern scholarly translations. Academic editions in English and modern Chinese help us check a reading across languages. We use them to confirm meaning, not to set doctrine. A translation alone never settles a point of practice, because translators choose among several valid senses of a classical phrase.

Folk sayings. Proverbs, forum lore, and oral rules sit at the bottom of the ladder. We record them only when tagged as folk belief. Readers should know when they are reading a village saying rather than a classical line, and we keep the two clearly apart in every guide.

This four tier system is why our articles name their source. When we cite the Zang Shu we mean the text itself, not a later retelling of it. The tier is printed so you can weigh the claim yourself.

How We Handle Conflicting Traditions 異說並存

The classical arts are not one voice. Schools diverge on method, on priority, and on meaning. We treat that divergence as part of the record, not a problem to erase.

The Zi Ping school reads a chart from the Day Master outward. The Mang Pai school reads it from the structure of the stems and branches. Both are old, both are taught today, and they sometimes reach different verdicts on the same chart. We present each view and name which one we follow in a given guide, so the reader is never left guessing which tradition stands behind a sentence.

In Feng Shui the San He and San Yuan schools disagree on how to time and place adjustments. We mark where the two part ways rather than picking a winner by default. A reader who learns only one school deserves to know the other exists and where the split began.

Where the sources conflict we do three things. We label the disagreement in plain words. We cite the school that holds each position. We avoid forcing a single tidy answer that the tradition never agreed on, because a false unity would mislead more than an open gap.

Translation Choices 譯名取捨

English writing about these arts tends to translate key terms until their meaning flattens. We keep the pinyin in most cases and explain the term in place. Two examples show why this protects the reader.

Why we keep qi. We write qi rather than "energy". Energy suggests a measurable physical force, something a battery or an engine holds. Qi in the classics spans breath, force, grain, and temper, a range no single English word covers. Translating it would trade precision for comfort and would quietly recast a classical idea as a modern one.

Why we keep Day Master. We write Day Master rather than "self". Self implies a person's psychology or ego, the language of therapy and personal growth. The Day Master is a structural pivot in a chart, the heavenly stem of the birth day. Calling it "self" would turn a calendar calculation into a personality reading that the source never intended.

Where a term has no safe English stand-in, we keep the original and define it once. Readers meet the real concept instead of a borrowed one, and the glossary collects these terms in one place for reference.

Known Limitations 誠實界限

We hold this method to a standard, and the standard has edges. Three limits are worth stating plainly so no reader mistakes us for neutral or complete. Honesty about the method includes honesty about its walls.

Translator bias. Translator bias shapes every reading we make. We work from annotated editions chosen by editors, and those choices filter what reaches you. A different editor with different texts would produce a different site, and we cannot step fully outside the choices we made.

Fragmented historical texts. Historical texts are incomplete. Some classics survive in reconstructed or merged versions, and a few lines we cite exist only in later copies. We note this where it matters and we do not present a patched passage as pristine, because that would pretend a certainty the manuscript record does not give.

Internal inconsistency. The traditions contradict themselves. The same school can advise opposite moves in different chapters, and the record was edited across dynasties. Internal inconsistency is a feature of the source, not a flaw we can edit out, and our guides carry that tension rather than hide it.

How This Applies to Our Guides 落實到文章

This method is not a separate document. It runs through every piece we publish. Each guide states its sources, tags its schools, and flags its gaps in the same way this page describes.

Our blog explains concepts from the canon in plain steps, naming the text behind each claim. Our comparison pages set two schools side by side so you can see where they part. Our glossary keeps pinyin terms with short definitions instead of loose translations that drift from the source.

The BaZi calculator is the method made testable. It builds a chart from the same calendar rules we describe in writing, so a reader can check our words against the output. A tool that cannot be checked would break the promise this page makes.

If a topic falls outside the classical record, the guide says so. That honesty is the whole point of ranking our evidence in the first place, and it is what separates a documented interpretation from an anonymous horoscope.

Tools Built from This Research

• BaZi Destiny Calculator, Four Pillars from the traditional calendar
• Chinese Name Generator, Five Elements balancing with curated characters
• Feng Shui Structured Analysis, Luo Pan and Flying Star methods
• Number Fortune Analysis, 81 Shuli and Five Elements
• Auspicious Date Selection, almanac-based date picking

Meet the Researcher →