BaZi glossary

The Twelve Life Stages in BaZi

The Twelve Life Stages compare the waxing and waning of a phase's strength to a human life: Birth, Bathing, Crowning, Officialdom and Prosperity rise to the peak; Decline, Illness, Death, Tomb and Termination withdraw; Conception and Nurture prepare the next cycle.

They are counted from the Day Master: Yang stems forward from their Birth branch, Yin stems backward. In the calculator, the life stage row is the Day Master's stage at each branch, and the self stage row is each pillar's stem on its own branch. The names are metaphors: Illness, Death and Tomb say nothing about health or lifespan.