About Benny Chang

I was born in Kaifeng, one of China's ancient capitals, grew up in Guangdong, worked and founded companies in Shanghai, and later moved to Canada. I now live in Toronto, where I teach and consult full time.

I studied economics and management as well as computer science, designed and ran internet products, and went through the ups and downs of building a business. Over the same years I studied and practised BaZi, Zi Wei Dou Shu, Liu Yao and feng shui, and kept reading Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist texts alongside Western thought and psychology. All of it shapes how I understand the situation a person is facing today.

I take the tradition seriously, and I care about a person's actual life. Family, work, relationships, resources and one's own choices cannot be left outside the chart. If a method does not help someone face life more clearly, it is of little use however profound it sounds.

I study and practise these methods seriously, so I care whether a reading fits reality. BaZi, Zi Wei Dou Shu and Liu Yao each have their own concepts, rules and ways of reasoning. To me they are traditional methods for understanding a life, not a few mysterious phrases meant to make you believe.

A method having a system does not mean every reading is right, and a long history does not replace checking a specific judgment. Whether the birth information is accurate, whether the question was asked clearly, how well the real circumstances are known, and the reader's own level and limits all affect the result. I am no exception.

So if something I say does not match your experience, tell me directly. We check the information and the understanding first, then discuss the judgment itself, rather than explaining every mismatch as “you don't believe enough.” A reading that fits reality is not always the answer we hoped for, either. Disagreement is allowed; I will state my reasons and what I am unsure about, and you keep your own judgment.

What I hope you take from a session is not a few lines about luck, but a clearer view of what you are facing, which conditions can change, where patience is needed and which choices are yours to carry.

No one has a perfect chart; even the rare people with both wealth and status carry things they cannot say aloud. Some trouble and setback is normal. A rough stretch does not mean a life without hope, and a smooth one does not mean everything is under your control.

Neither overestimate nor belittle yourself. When something happens, separate what has already occurred, what you fear might occur, and what you can actually do; the next step usually becomes clearer. I do my best to help, but I will not live your life for you. Consulting and learning return, in the end, to your own days: understanding slowly, practising, then choosing.

In consultation I mainly use BaZi, Zi Wei Dou Shu, Liu Yao and residential feng shui, depending on the question. Different tools suit different questions; there is no need to run every method on the same matter.

In teaching I place these methods back inside a fuller understanding of culture and life. The four-year “Passing the Flame” program takes Chinese culture as its core and combines it with psychology, Chinese and Western thought and modern general knowledge, building a foundation for understanding yourself and the world before moving to application. You can read the articles and watch the public classes first to see whether my way of explaining suits you.