What is Cung Phi?

# What is Cung Phi?

What is Cung Phi?

Cung Phi is the trigram in the Bát Trạch system (the eight trigrams Càn, Khảm, Cấn, Chấn, Tốn, Ly, Khôn, Đoài) assigned to a person based on their year of birth and gender. This trigram is considered that person's "destiny trigram" (mệnh quái), also called quái mệnh. From the cung phi, people are divided into two groups: Đông tứ mệnh (Khảm, Ly, Chấn, Tốn) and Tây tứ mệnh (Càn, Đoài, Cấn, Khôn).

Why is it called Cung Phi?

"Cung" refers to the eight palaces of the bagua, meaning the position of each trigram. "Phi" means to fly, referring to the rotation of the trigrams through time cycles. This naming reflects the belief that the energy of the trigrams moves with the years and months, and that each person at birth "receives" one trigram as their fundamental destiny. Another name is quái mệnh, emphasising that this is the trigram tied to an individual's destiny.

How is cung phi determined?

There are two common methods. One is to use a formula calculated from the lunar year of birth and gender, then reduce it to one of the eight trigrams. The other is to look up a cung phi table by year of birth, available in many feng shui references. Both methods give the same result if applied correctly. Note that the year of birth used in feng shui is usually the lunar year, so people born near Tết (lunar new year) need to check carefully.

What are its applications in feng shui?

Cung phi is used to choose the direction of a house, the direction of the main door, the direction of a desk, and the direction of a bed so that they harmonise with one's fundamental destiny. According to Bát Trạch belief, each cung phi has four good directions (sinh khí, thiên y, diên niên, phục vị) and four bad directions (tuyệt mệnh, ngũ quỷ, lục sát, họa hại). People of Đông tứ mệnh are usually advised to choose houses of Đông tứ trạch, and people of Tây tứ mệnh to choose Tây tứ trạch. Cung phi is also used in some methods of interior arrangement and in choosing colours and objects according to the five elements of the trigram.

How is it distinguished from easily confused concepts?

Cung phi differs from niên mệnh ngũ hành (nạp âm). Niên mệnh ngũ hành is based on the heavenly stem and earthly branch of the year of birth and yields one element (Kim, Mộc, Thủy, Hỏa, Thổ), while cung phi yields a trigram in the bagua. A person may have a niên mệnh of the Thủy element but a cung phi of the Cấn trigram, which belongs to the Thổ element. Cung phi also differs from the zodiac sign in Western astrology, which is based on the solar date of birth. In addition, one should distinguish a person's cung phi from a house's cung vị: cung phi belongs to the individual, while cung vị is a directional position in space.

What should be noted when using it?

Cung phi is part of the body of traditional feng shui knowledge and is for reference. Conclusions about what is auspicious or inauspicious, compatible or conflicting, have not been verified by science. Readers should treat it as a cultural perspective, and should not apply it mechanically or let it negatively affect practical decisions about housing and daily life.

How do different schools understand it?

• The Bát Trạch understanding: Cung phi is the personal destiny trigram, used to pair with the eight directions in Bát Trạch, from which one chooses house direction, door direction and interior arrangement.
• The Huyền Không Phi Tinh understanding: Cung phi is seen as an additional reference factor, but the focus is on the flying stars of time cycles and dwelling cycles, not solely on the personal destiny trigram.

Which related articles should you read?

• What is feng shui? Foundational principles and how to apply them
• What are feng shui stones? How to choose stones that suit your destiny and age
• The Giáp mountain direction among the 24 feng shui mountain directions: meaning and how to interpret it
• People of the Kim element: Five Elements characteristics and how they generate and overcome one another
• The Càn mountain direction among the 24 feng shui mountain directions: meaning and how to interpret it
• The Thân mountain direction among the 24 feng shui mountain directions: meaning and how to interpret it
• Trạch Khôn (Tây tứ trạch) in Bát Trạch feng shui: characteristics and directions that suit one's destiny
• The Dần mountain direction among the 24 feng shui mountain directions: meaning and how to interpret it
• The Mùi mountain direction among the 24 feng shui mountain directions: meaning and in-depth interpretation
• The Ngũ Hoàng star in Cửu Tinh Huyền Không flying stars: auspicious and inauspicious meaning and how to resolve it
• Feng shui stones suited to the Bạch Dương sign: meaning and how to choose
• The Tỵ mountain direction among the 24 feng shui mountain directions: meaning and in-depth interpretation

What are the nine cung phi and their good directions?

Cung phi is calculated from year of birth and gender, so two people of the same age but different genders usually have different cung phi. Bát Trạch is a popular feng shui school, not the only method.

The figures in the table match the results of the lookup tools on Nhật Nguyệt.