四柱八字或简称八字：FourPillarsofDestiny(BaZi)
八卦Theeighttrigrams
易经概述：
TheIChing(Wade-Giles),or“YìJīng”(Pinyin);alsocalled“ClassicofChanges”or“BookofChanges”isoneoftheoldestoftheChineseclassictexts.[1]Thebookisasymbolsystemusedtoidentifyorderinchanceevents.ThetextdescribesanancientsystemofcosmologyandphilosophythatisintrinsictoancientChineseculturalbeliefs.Thecosmologycentresontheideasofthedynamicbalanceofopposites,theevolutionofeventsasaprocess,andacceptanceoftheinevitabilityofchange(seePhilosophy,below).InWesternculturesandmodernEastAsia,theIChingissometimesregardedasasystemofdivination.Theclassicconsistsofaseriesofsymbols,rulesformanipulatingthesesymbols,poems,andcommentary.
易经的组成：(易经和易传）
BythetimeofHanWuDi(汉武帝HànWǔDì)oftheWesternHanDynasty(circa200BCE),ShiYiwasoftencalledYiZhuan(易传yìzhùan,“CommentaryontheIChing”),andtogetherwiththeIChingtheycomposedZhouYi(周易zhōuyì,“ChangesofZhou”).
易经的名字解释：
*易(yì),whileasaverbitimplies“tochange“or'toexchange/substituteonethingforanother'.
*经(jīng)heremeans“classic(text)”,derivedfromitsoriginalmeaningof“regularity”or“persistency”,implyingthatthetextdescribestheUltimateWaywhichwillnotchangethroughouttheflowoftime.ThissamecharacterwaslaterappropriatedtotranslatetheSanskritword'sūtra'intoChineseinreferencetoBuddhistscripture.Inthissensethetwoconcepts,inasmuchastheymean'treatise,''greatteaching,'or'canonicalscripture,'areequivalent.
TheIChingisa"reflectionoftheuniverseinminiature."Theword"I"hasthreemeanings:easeandsimplicity,changeandtransformation,andinvariability.[2]ThusthethreeprinciplesunderlyingtheIChingarethefollowing:
1.Simplicity-therootofthesubstance.Thefundamentallawunderlyingeverythingintheuniverseisutterlyplainandsimple,nomatterhowabstruseorcomplexsomethingsmayappeartobe.
2.Variability-theuseofthesubstance.Everythingintheuniverseiscontinuallychanging.Bycomprehendingthisonemayrealizetheimportanceofflexibilityinlifeandmaythuscultivatetheproperattitudefordealingwithamultiplicityofdiversesituations.
3.Persistency-theessenceofthesubstance.Whileeverythingintheuniverseseemstobechanging,amongthechangingtidesthereisapersistentprinciple,acentralrule,whichdoesnotvarywithspaceandtime.
—易一名而含三义：易简一也；变易二也；不易三也。commentedonbyZhengXuan(郑玄zhèngxúan)inhiswritingsCritiqueofIChing(易赞yìzàn)andCommentaryonIChing(易论yìlùn)ofEasternHanDynasty.
四柱：
*ThefourpillarsisanEnglishtranslationoftheChinesedynasticphrase"ShiChenBaZi".
*TheChineseterm(时辰八字,ShiChenBaZi)literallytranslatesto"HouroftheEightCharacters".
*ItisalsoundertheChineseterm(四柱命理学,seicyumingleihok)whichliterallytranslatesto"TheFourPillarsLife-ology".
*Itiscommonlyreferredtobytheshortenednamesof"FourPillars"or"BaZi".Oneofthemostfrequentlyusedalternatephraseis"FourPillarsofyourbirthday".
八卦:
TheBagua(Chinese:八卦;pinyin:bāguà;Wade-Giles:pakua;literally"eightsymbols")areeightdiagramsusedinTaoistcosmologytorepresentarangeofinterrelatedconcepts.Eachconsistsofthreelines,eacheither"broken"or"unbroken,"representingayinlineorayangline,respectively.Duetotheirtripartitestructure,theyareoftenreferredtoas"trigrams"inEnglish.
ThetrigramsarerelatedtoTaijiphilosophyandtheWuXing.TheancientChineseclassicIChingconsistsofthe64pairsoftrigrams(called"hexagrams")andcommentaryonthem.Theinterrelationshipsamongthetrigramsarerepresentedintwoarrangements,thePrimordial(先天八卦),"EarlierHeaven"or"Fuxi"bagua(伏羲八卦),andtheManifested(后天八卦),"LaterHeaven,"or"KingWen"bagua.Thetrigramshavecorrespondancesinastronomy,astrology,geography,geomancy,anatomy,thefamily,andelsewhere.
Theeighttrigramsare:Qian天,"Heaven;"Xun风,"Wind;"Kan水,"Water;"Gen山,"Mountain;"Kun地,"Earth,"Zhen雷"Thunder,"Li火,"Fire;"andDui泽,"Lake."
divination英[dvnen]美[dvnen]
n.卜;预言;筮;占卦;
[例句]They'repartofanancientGreekdivinationritual.
他们是古希腊占卜仪式的一部分。
ThesecharactersweremostlyprayersbyShangrulersatdivinationandsacrificialrites,aswellassimplerecords.
这些文字，大都是商代统治者占卜祭祀时的祝辞和简单记事。
Willtimeturnersordivinationcomeintoplayinsomewayagain
Toforetellthroughorasifthroughtheartofdivination.
占卜，预言通过或似通过占卜术预言。
Isn'tthisthecupmymasterdrinksfromandalsousesfordivination
这不是我主人饮酒的杯吗？岂不是他占卜用的吗？
曾有甲为“thefirstofthetenHeavenlyStems”，乙是“the2ndofthetenHeavenlyStems”……的天干表述，和子是“thefirstofthetwelveEarthlyBranches”丑是“the2ndofthetwelveEarthlyBranches”的地支表述，但此根本没有表达天干地支的五行属性，不能用于四柱判断的。也出现过很多干支表述，但真的仅限于直接地作为“表述”，也无法把“表述”用到八字的判断中，尤其是所有的英语表述，均无法将中国语境中的“阴阳五行”等思维模式表达，也无法把五行八字理论与翻译成英语的干支“顺序编码”结合。
四柱八字=八字英语
eightcharacteraboutone'sbirth
我读过很多八卦的书,是前人智慧的结晶,肯定不会是“四根柱加八个字".中外交流很久,尤其是香港的八字研究推广,外国人对八字也不陌生了.
四柱推命这类算命方法之所以又称星命术，是因为它是由古代占星术演变而来。古人认为天地是对应的。地域九州的分配同星象是对应的，芸芸众生同星象是对应的。构成世界的金、木、水、火、土在天上也有金星、木星、水星、火星、土星相对应。太阳代表阳、月亮代表阴，这样阴阳五行学说同星象学结合到一起。人的命运由星象的五行之气左右，不同的人有不同的星象五行之气，所以命运不同。四柱推命是由天干地支、阴阳五行、四时五方、十二宫、星宿神煞等几部分及其他们之间关系所构成......
八字(四柱)预测基本是以这些理论为主要根据的，除本站的介绍之外，另外可参考《渊海子平》等古籍知识及实践中的部分知识，有些可能已经得到验证，有些还需进一步验证，愿我们各位爱好者在预测中继续求证，以求去伪存真，弘扬祖国传统文化。
八字论命之术，在中国发展上千年，深得人心；其理论汗牛充栋，众说纷纭。为方便命理爱好者学习，今删繁就简，提纲携领地介绍一翻，以使初学者轻松入门，略见一斑。