Feng Shui

Ming Gua Calculation: Finding Your Personal Gua Number

A step-by-step guide to calculating your ming gua number — the foundation of Eight Mansions feng shui for personal direction analysis.

2026-05-12 · Updated 2026-05-12

Your ming gua number determines your favorable and unfavorable directions in Eight Mansions feng shui. Calculation is simple but essential.

What Ming Gua Is

Ming Gua (命卦), also known as Life Gua or Kua Number, is a personal feng shui number derived from the birth year. It indicates which trigram governs an individual's feng shui energy and determines their favorable and unfavorable directions.

How to Calculate Ming Gua

Ming Gua is calculated differently for men and women using the birth year. The calculation involves summing the birth year digits, applying gender-specific reduction, and deriving the corresponding trigram. The result places each person in an East Group or West Group.

East Group and West Group

People with Ming Gua 1, 3, 4, 9 belong to the East Group, which favors east, southeast, south, and north directions. People with Ming Gua 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 belong to the West Group, which favors west, southwest, northwest, and northeast directions.

Using Ming Gua for Direction

Ming Gua determines which directions are favorable for activities like sleeping, working, and exercising. Using favorable directions can improve energy flow in daily life, though it works best as one factor among many.

Ming Gua in Eight Mansions

Eight Mansions (八宅) feng shui uses Ming Gua extensively to assess which palace positions in a space are favorable or unfavorable for a specific individual. This application helps personalize space assessment.

Keep reading

Related articles