What is the Bone Weight Reading?
Alongside Purple Star Astrology 紫微斗數 and the Four Pillars 八字, both of which take considerable work, the ancients left a lighter but no less searching way of reading a destiny: the Bone Weight Reading. In common speech it is called weighing the bones; in the books it is Cân Xương Tính Số 稱骨算命. The method is easy to picture: each year, month, day and hour of birth is assigned a small weight in taels 兩 and mace 錢, and adding them all gives the total weight of the skeleton of a destiny.
The lowest total is 2 taels 1 mace, and the highest lies around 7 taels. The figure is not there to boast of wealth or poverty; it is a quick cross-section that lets you picture the character you were born with, the portion of fortune your ancestors left, and the rise and fall of a whole life.
How the weights of the year, month, day and hour are worked out
The reckoning adds four figures, all taken from the lunar date and hour of birth. If you remember only the Gregorian date, the tool above converts it to lunar before weighing. The four weight tables below are exactly the set that Master Ung Khiem's system uses, so you can add them up yourself to check.
Step 1. The weight of the year of birth
Each lunar Stem and Branch year carries its own weight through the sexagenary cycle. For instance, Giáp Tý 甲子 in 1984 is 1 tael 2 mace; Tân Mùi 辛未 in 1991 is 8 mace; Bính Ngọ 丙午 in 2026 is 1 tael 3 mace. This part stands for the foundation and the lineage a person carries from birth.
Step 2. The weight of the month of birth
The twelve lunar months carry fixed weights. The 1st month 6 mace, the 2nd 7 mace, the 3rd 1 tael 8 mace, the 4th 9 mace, the 5th 5 mace, the 6th 1 tael 6 mace, the 7th 9 mace, the 8th 1 tael 5 mace, the 9th 1 tael 8 mace, the 10th 1 tael 8 mace, the 11th 9 mace, the 12th 5 mace.
Step 3. The weight of the day of birth
Each of the thirty days of the lunar month has its own weight, rising and falling with the waxing and waning of the moon. The 1st is 5 mace, the 2nd 1 tael, the 8th 1 tael 6 mace, and the 15th, the full moon, 1 tael.
Step 4. The weight of the hour of birth
The twelve Branch hours carry their own weights too. Tý 子 1 tael 6 mace, Sửu 丑 6 mace, Dần 寅 7 mace, Mão 卯 1 tael, Thìn 辰 9 mace, Tỵ 巳 1 tael 6 mace, Ngọ 午 1 tael, Mùi 未 8 mace, Thân 申 1 tael, Dậu 酉 6 mace, Tuất 戌 6 mace, Hợi 亥 6 mace. Add the four figures of the four steps and you have your total.
The three kinds of character most often met
To make it easier to remember, the ancients divided the totals into three broad bands. Each band is a shape of life, not a sentence, and it suggests what a person should guard and what they should build up.
- From 2 taels 1 mace to 3 taels 4 mace: the early years bring one trial after another, and a person must make their own way. Persistence and good deeds lighten the middle years.
- From 3 taels 5 mace to 5 taels: a steady middling destiny. A person builds their own means, reaps in the middle years, keeps a warm household and has enough in later life.
- From 5 taels 1 mace upward: a character of wealth and rank, with natural intelligence and a strong fortune in means. Many enjoy a deep portion of ancestral blessing.
The weight is the platform you are born on; doing good and building merit is the engine that carries you far. Someone with a light weight who builds merit deeply still enjoys a peaceful later life. Master Ung Khiem.
Why does each site work out a different result?
Many people ask why the same date of birth gives a different figure on every bone-weighing site. There are three main causes, and this tool is built to avoid all three.
- Confusing the Gregorian and lunar calendars. Weighing the bones must use the lunar calendar. If a site weighs a Gregorian date by mistake, or you choose the wrong calendar, the figure will be off. This tool lets you choose the calendar plainly, always converts to lunar before weighing, and prints both the lunar and the Gregorian date so that you can check.
- Slight differences between the weight tables of different schools. A few handwritten copies differ a little in the month table or the hour table. This tool uses the single consistent set of tables in Master Ung Khiem's system, and separates the four parts, year, month, day and hour, so that you can add them up and verify.
- The rule for the late Tý 子 hour. Someone born after 23:00 is usually counted, by the classical rule, as belonging to the following day, which changes the weight of the day. This tool lets you choose that reckoning yourself with a tick box, rather than imposing it silently.
Frequently asked questions
Is the weight worked out differently for men and women?
The conversion of the year, month, day and hour into taels and mace is the same for men and women. Only the accompanying verse differs in places by sex, so you can enter your details with confidence.
What if I only remember the Gregorian date?
Choose the Gregorian tab and enter the date as usual. The system converts it to lunar and weighs it for you, with no need to look anything up elsewhere.
How can a light weight be improved?
A light weight signals hardship in the early years; it does not decide a whole life. The most lasting way to build fortune is to keep a good heart, help others willingly, live decently and work hard, and the portion of blessing grows with it.