Placing the Four Transformations

The transformation rhyme is the most used table in all of Dou Shu. Once the birth-year stem is known, the four transformations of four stars are fixed and stay for life; these are the birth-year transformations. When reading the rhyme, keep the order Lu, Quan, Ke, Ji in mind and match the four characters of each phrase to it. For the Yi year's 'Ji, Liang, Zi, moon', for instance: Tian Ji takes Hua Lu, Tian Liang Hua Quan, Zi Wei Hua Ke and Tai Yin Hua Ji.

On a Xingge chart the transformations are marked next to the star names. The same table is also used for the stems of the Decade and Annual Luck, and for the palace-stem transformations of the later flying-star school. Where each year's transformations fall can be looked up directly on pages such as the Jia-year transformations.

The most disputed item in this line is the Geng year. The Quan Shu has 'sun, Wu, moon, Tong': Tai Yang takes Hua Lu, Wu Qu Hua Quan, Tai Yin Hua Ke and Tian Tong Hua Ji. Later there is also a version 'sun, Wu, Tong, moon', with Tian Tong taking Hua Ke and Tai Yin Hua Ji, the two versions swapping Ke and Ji exactly. Xingge follows the Quan Shu.

Which version you choose directly affects the verdicts. The Nature of Tian Tong, for instance, says Tian Tong in Hai is 「庚生人下局」, a low pattern for people born in Geng years (see the original), precisely because Tian Tong takes Hua Ji in Geng years. Under the other version Tian Tong would take Hua Ke in Geng years and the line would make no sense. The Quan Shu is consistent with itself.

For Hua Ke in Ren years the Quan Shu has Tian Fu, while some later versions have Zuo Fu; Xingge follows the Quan Shu and uses Tian Fu. Gui's 'Po, Ju, moon, Tan' is undisputed among the schools, and the key point is Tan Lang taking Hua Ji. The Nature of Tan Lang says that Tan Lang with Huo Xing or Ling Xing 「不喜六癸生人，不耐久長」 (see the original), precisely because Tan Lang takes Hua Ji in Gui years, which cuts down the sudden windfall of the Huo Tan pattern.

When reading the Quan Shu's chapters on the nature of the stars, whenever you meet a sentence of the form 'people born in such-and-such year', first check whether that star takes Lu, Quan, Ke or Ji in that year. It often explains why the ancients said what they said.

The Quan Shu uses the Jia year as its example to make a point about reading: four stars per phrase, in the order Lu, Quan, Ke, Ji, and don't mix them up. In Jia years Tai Yang takes Hua Ji, which is the case behind 「化忌目疾」, eye trouble when it takes Hua Ji, in The Nature of Tai Yang (see the original).

The small note under the heading, 「挾火而化」, is not explained in the book. Some later writers say it means the transformations drive the nature of the stars the way fire does, but that is only a guess. In practice the transformations are not labels of good and bad: Hua Lu is ease and gain, Hua Ji is attachment and getting stuck, and each brings its own lessons. Beginners can start with the lesson on the four transformations.