In the study of Bazi, one of the most common tool of reading is known as the 10 Gods. The 10 Gods represents certain relationship between others and us. Of course in the lingo of Bazi, us equates to the Day Master.
Hurting Officer is one of the most talked about in the reading of 10 Gods in Bazi. Hurting Officer is the classified as Output of the Day Master but with a Different Polarity. Output here simply means the element produced by the Day Master while polarity means Yin – Yang Polarity.
Thus if a person is born as a Jia 甲 Day Master, Hurting officer is represented by the element Ding 丁.
HURTING OFFICER (伤官)
Hurting officer (HO) is given the term is probably due to the reason this element hurts the Officer (官). Guan 官 in Chinese language usually means someone of authority or an executioner of a law or law enforcement officer or minister or in short a public officer etc. If you see the chart below, the Hurting Officer actually controls the Officer.
So if I use an example of a Ren Day Master, The HO will be represented by Yi wood. The Officer is by definition the element that controls the Day Master. Thus in this case it is the Earth element represented by Wu and Ji.
So with this chart it is clearer that the HO actually controls the Officer because Wood controls Earth!
Due to the nature of HO’s job is to control or counter the Officer, Hurting officer is usually characterized by harsh drastic actions. Actions that usually by pass the common sense or their emotional and logical part of their brain. It’s like Chinese say, “talking without passing through the brain”. So in the old text there is a saying “When the HO sees Officer, chaos shall reign.”
Although this is a general remark, we cannot apply it across the board! If not one will ruin their client’s life. Bazi is a broad base study and thus one have to understand the various layers before making a conclusion.
THE OFFICER – ZHEN 正 AND PIAN 偏
Officer is defined in the 10 Gods as the element that controls the Day Master. So for example for a Jia Day Master the Officer is the Metal element or in the above case of a Ren 壬 day master, the Officer is the Earth element because Earth controls the Water element.
Officer is further defined according to it’s Yin Yang to be Zhen (opposite polarity to Day Master) or commonly known as Direct ( although is not correct term but I use it for simplicity since majority uses it) and Pian (Indirect – same polarity as Day Master). Zhen means honest, upright, straight or correct. Thus Direct officer has the idea of a straight, honest and upright character.
So to a Jia 甲 Day Master , Xin 辛 Metal is the Direct Officer while Geng 庚 Metal is the Indirect Officer. Thus for Ren 壬 DM, Ji 己 Earth is the Direct Officer while Wu 戊 Earth is the Indirect Officer.
HURTING OFFICER (伤官) – DIRECT OFFICER (正官)
How would a HO behave in a Bazi? Let me share something with you. As I have always say, knowing ourselves and understanding others helps us understand our Destiny better and thus how we can better manage a relationship. This is the reason why we learn Bazi. How do we put this into practice?
In this sample Bazi, a Ren 壬 represents the Day Master born in the Direct Officer (DO) month of Chou 丑. Since the month represents the season of birth, thus the DO is said to be strong. This day master has strong Hurting Officer in the chart as well which is represented by 乙.
Speaking of Hurting Officer Yi
Thus in reality this Ren 壬 day master has very fickle actions and sometimes say or do things that does not bring himself benefit. He can be brash and irrational at times too. HO also likes to stir trouble where ever he goes.
Thus this is the manifestation of a Hurting Officer character. It is second nature to this person because his Bazi says so!
If he understands the effects of his HO or his actions, he would restrain himself or be more aware of his negative character so that he will have better quality people around to assist him. Life’s results will improve!
Speaking of Direct Officer Ji (Chou)
Officer Ji in this Bazi is not useful to the Ren Day Master because it causes stress and confusion to the Day Master. Due to this poor quality Officer, this person will have low chance to be recognized as an authority in this life. It’s kind a like a talented person not being recognized by bosses. A success without fulfillment profile!
Unfortunately, this Ji Officer is not beneficial to the Ren Day master thus this person cannot be very upright in his conduct or it can mean he does not favour people with a direct or upright character. He will unable to appreciate good & upright people. Add on with the HO, he will likely attract lousy people in his life.
Concluding The Hurting Officer – Direct Officer
If this person understands his Bazi then he will have saved himself a lot of life frustration by limiting the number of people who makes use of him. He can further improve his life by attracting good people (who he usually finds he does not like) to further his results in life.
The sad fact in reality, this person often turns away good people and often attract lousy people who only makes use of him. The irony is that he enjoys being “used” and regrets later! This is the difference between knowing and not knowing our Destiny.
知命者不怨天，知己者不怨人
Jia Zi – Alan
Bazi Consult 
The hardest part is if in working with people who turn out to be lousy that we can not avoid because we’re interact in working.
Is there any element or 10 gods to avoid such disaster?
If we know the person’s character we will know how to better understand them and manage them or ourselves.
If we know the timing we will be able to formulate a way or strategy to manage the person. This is the purpose of learning BaZi.
However, character dont come from 10Gods alone. This is too superficial and inadequate thus why many struggle in Bazi.
The sad part is after so many years still people have not awaken to this fact of 10Gods limitation.