Hi.
I would recommend bazi, as a good system to learn for members here. Many styles of that, ocean of free material, a lot of knowledge to be had that can help with many(probably all) other systems of the Five Arts we have focus on.
Some more reasons for choosing that.
1)bazi shows how many other systems work together and where parts of them come from.
QMDJ is great for learning how the Stems interact. As the essence of what is happening, somewhat beyond influence.
WWG is great for learning how branches interact. Somewhat slower and easier to follow around - very focused on interaction.
They both(stems/branches) work together in bazi and come from it(more on that below) as far as calculations are viewed.
2)bazi is destiny reading, true, but its also the base calendar. QMDJ charts are calculated using the 4 pillars, may be lunar for many, but its still the same 4 pillars that we can read directly with bazi. ZWDS is also made by the 4 pillars. WWG is also interacting with the 4 pillars.
Even Mei Hua would use parts of them.
Seems clear that understanding how to read the 4 pillars directly, should take priority.
3) Many of us have focused on bazi for a long time now. We were writing(most active members here) about it years before most of us knew what WWG is. So may not be easy to see it now, but that was where most of this started, for me at least. That means you can get a lot more info on it then you can ever get about QMDJ.
4) QMDJ has limitations when it comes to what is easy to find in English. If we read master from Asia reading a chart we can see a lot of stuff that we can't see in most English sources now. Stems falling in Tombs for example, seems vital to understand the dynamic. Yet if you search in English sources you will see it explained in very few sources, currently. And the rules for exiting the Tomb are also only explained in very few places.
So that needs testing. As if it doesn't work then we need more info before we can focus there.
Years of testing, probably, as for many reasons testing QMDJ is much slower then the other systems for us. It may work, there are some indication that it does, but too early yet to focus heavily on it if there are more important systems that you haven't focused on from the fundamental ones.
Does big schools out there use it on their seminars... I have no idea. I assume they do. Maybe they don't. In any case, that isn't in the open, so not something we can focus on, currently.
5) There is a lot more knowledge about bazi you can freely gain then any other system we write about in the forums I think. And some styles are very impressive.
Summary:
1) Fundamental system, should take priority to understand some of the others better in any case.
2) We know it much better then you probably think, Jlim has course on it, many members here have spend many years learning different styles of it, its probably wise to use that. Even more so considering in most other systems there are a lot more limitations on what we can write in the open, while for bazi I assume most of us won't have that many now.
3) A lot of materials on that so more knowledge to attain in easier way. Especially in the archive of the other forums. And much of it works very well.
- So we have - more materials on it accessible, less hidden stuff.
- Better response from the community as we all have focused on that a lot in the past years I think. Most of us, anyway.
- And at the end - more fundamental system to understand some of the others, as it works directly with the 4 pillars. Same 4 pillars used in all other systems mentioned so far./li]
Of course, one thing one may point out to is that we don't write as much about bazi here, as we used to do some years ago in other places yet mostly the same members.
While that is, of course, because some members aren't here, there are other reasons too, in my humble view.
Personally, in the past I tried to avoid writing about bazi here. My logic was - its Jlims forum, he has Mang Pai course and we did learn a lot from him, it seems fair that he handles bazi questions, as a way to clear out and expand what his students are viewing.
Lately, I'm rethinking that. Its probably good time to move back to what we started with. And that was bazi for me from the five arts(not counting qi gong and i ching/the text, as we haven't wrote about them much in the five arts forums I think).
PS QMDJ is great choice if someone is stuck on sport questions in WWG. If given the choice to focus on bazi instead, that seems wiser in my humble opinion.
