The Five Elements

The five elements are five ways nature moves, used by BaZi to describe five human tendencies.

solid curved line: generating dashed straight line: controlling

木Wood · Grows
Light: principled, wants to develop
Shadow: stubborn

火Fire · Passion
Light: warm, expressive
Shadow: burns out easily

土Earth · Supports
Light: stable, nurturing
Shadow: hard to change

金Metal · Sharpens
Light: decisive, precise
Shadow: rigid

水Water · Flows
Light: adaptive, reflective
Shadow: doubtful, withdrawn

Generating: Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water → Wood.
Controlling: Wood → Earth → Water → Fire → Metal → Wood.

The original word (五行, Wǔ Xíng) is better read as “five phases”: five stages of change, not five lifeless things.