The Theory of Yongsin — The One Character That Restores Balance

When eokbu alone is not enough, johu — 'adjusting the climate' — is considered alongside it. Depending on the season of the birth month, a chart may be too cold (winter, water energy) or too hot (summer, fire energy), and the element that corrects this imbalance of cold and warmth becomes the yongsin. For a chart born in winter, warm fire energy acts as medicine; for a chart born in summer, cool water energy does. It is the same logic by which a person seeks fire when cold and water when hot.

Someone born at 6 p.m. on December 17, 1982 has 壬戌·壬子·甲戌·癸酉, a strong chart in which 59% of the forces support the Day Master 甲 (Wood). Yet that strength comes not from wood itself but from the water that feeds it: the resource Water takes all 59% on its own, while the companions of the same Wood stand at 0%. For a strong chart with an overflowing resource, eokbu answers by using the wealth element to check the resource, so read by eokbu alone this chart gives the yongsin Earth (土) and the heesin Fire (火). But the person was born in the 子 month, the depth of winter, and Fire measured without the Day Master is 3%, far below this site's line of 10%. So johu, which first warms the frozen ground, comes first and changes the yongsin to Fire (火) and the heesin to Wood (木), and the result screen also states the Earth that eokbu alone would have chosen.

Eokbu trims what overflows and fills what is lacking, but when a chart leans almost entirely one way and has no character at all that could restrain that flow, tradition reads it as a following format (從格), going with the current instead of against it. This site uses only the conservative conditions of the Ziping Zhenquan (子平真詮) line: if the supporting forces reach 85% or more and the visible characters hold no officer or wealth element, the chart follows its own strength, and if they are 15% or less, the visible characters hold no companion or resource, and one of output, wealth, or officer reaches 40% or more, the chart follows that element. A person born at noon on May 25, 1977 (丁巳·乙巳·壬午·丙午) has only 8% supporting the Day Master 壬 (Water), no Water or Metal among the visible characters, and the wealth element Fire at 63%, so the chart is a follow-the-wealth format. The yongsin is therefore Fire (火), the flow to follow, and the heesin is Wood (木), which feeds that flow, whereas by eokbu the yongsin would have been Metal (金), the element that gives birth to the Day Master. This person was born in high summer, and Water measured without the Day Master is 0%, yet johu is not applied, because in a chart judged to be a following format, going with the flow is taken to come before the seasonal correction.

Beyond these, when two forces stand in taut opposition and clash, there is the tonggwan yongsin — an element used to connect and channel between them. For instance, when metal and wood collide fiercely, the water that bridges them (metal produces water, water produces wood) becomes the tonggwan yongsin. And when a chart contains a character that acts as a distinct 'illness' (byeong), there is also the byeongyak yongsin, the element that serves as the 'medicine' (yak) to treat that illness. All of these follow the principle of clearing a blocked flow so that it can circulate.

Once the yongsin is set, the roles of the other elements follow: the one that helps the yongsin is the heesin, the one that restrains the yongsin is the gisin (忌神), and the one that gives birth to that gisin is the gusin (仇神). In the 庚 chart of Example 1 the yongsin is Fire, so Water (水), which puts out fire, becomes the gisin, and Metal (金), which gives birth to Water, becomes the gusin. Two elements in this chart fall below 5% in strength: Fire at 0% is the yongsin, so the site recommends filling it, but Earth at 2.9% is not recommended. Earth is the resource that gives birth to 庚, so it stands on the opposite side of eokbu, boosting a Day Master that is already strong. In this way, even when an element looks scarce, this site does not recommend filling it if it is the gisin, the gusin, or on the opposite side of eokbu, and it states the reason in one line, without labelling that element as unfavourable.

To sum up, this site first takes the eokbu answer, follows the flow if the chart meets the following-format conditions, and, if it is not a following format but the summer or winter johu is pressing, overrides with johu. Tonggwan (bridging) and byeongyak (illness and remedy) depend on a person reading the struggle among several characters, so they are not part of the automatic calculation, and johu for spring and autumn and the transformation format (化氣格), in which the Day Master combines and changes, are also left out because schools disagree. One common misunderstanding is the idea that every scarce element must be filled, yet like the Earth in Example 1, some elements below 5% are better left unfilled. Another is treating the yongsin as a charm, but its colour or direction is only an everyday marker that reminds you of balance, and nothing here promises that it alone changes outcomes. If another book or site gives a different yongsin, rather than deciding that one of them is wrong, check first at which stage the judgement split, eokbu, following format, or johu, and the reason for the difference becomes clear.

The yongsin does not stay a matter of theory; it can be carried into daily life. Keeping colors that correspond to your yongsin element close by, making use of its direction, and choosing work in a field that resonates with its energy is thought to make up for what you were born lacking. In the major and annual luck cycles, the periods when the yongsin element enters are generally read as times when the flow runs well. That said, the yongsin must be judged carefully by weighing the entire chart, so it is best taken as a reference for your broad direction.