XinggeLuo Xu (Preface by Luo Hongxian)
〈羅序〉
The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu, Volume 1: Rhapsodies, questions on the stars, and chart patterns · Original text with translation
Introduction
The Luo Xu is the preface at the very front of volume one of the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu. It is signed 「賜進士及第吉水羅洪先」 and dated the sixteenth day of the third month of the Gengxu year of the Jiajing reign (1550) in the Ming dynasty. Luo Hongxian came from Jishui in Jiangxi, took first place in the palace examination in the eighth year of Jiajing, and later left office to teach.
The preface tells how the book was found. Luo believed that office, fame, wealth and rank are all fated, so he gave up his post and went looking for teachers of the Way. At Mount Hua he heard that Chen Xiyi had attained the Way there, climbed up to pay respects at his shrine, and on the way down met a Daoist of about twenty. The Daoist brought out the 「希夷公紫微斗數集」. At first Luo could not follow how the stars were laid out; then he read the discussions, savoured the verdicts, and tested them on his own birth time, and 「果毫髮不爽」, it was not off by a hair. Full of admiration, he resolved to make the book public so that people would know their fate and accept it. At the end he notes that the Daoist was Chen Xiyi's descendant in the eighteenth generation, with the Daoist name Liaoran, aged twenty-six.
Two things are worth knowing. First, this preface is where the book's attribution to Chen Xiyi comes from; the main text itself carries no author's name. Second, its central point is 「知有命而順受之」, to know there is fate and accept it, and that is the attitude with which the whole book opens.
1嘗聞命之理微，鮮有知之真而順受之者，余謂功名富貴，有命存焉，遂捐厥職，訪道學者，以為之宗，行抵華山下，詢知希夷公，曾得道於茲矣。因陟其巔，謁其祠，將返，見一道者，年須弱冠，態度老誠，遂進禮。
TranslationI have heard that the principles of fate are subtle, and few truly understand them and accept their fate as it comes. I held that office, fame, wealth and rank all have fate in them, so I gave up my post and sought out scholars of the Way to take as my masters. I reached the foot of Mount Hua and learned on inquiry that Master Xiyi had once attained the Way here. So I climbed to the summit and paid my respects at his shrine. As I was about to go back, I met a Daoist who looked barely twenty, yet his bearing was mature and steady, so I stepped forward and saluted him.
- 捐厥職
- 捐 is to give up, 厥 means 'his' or 'one's'; to resign one's official post.
- 希夷公
- Chen Tuan, a Daoist of the Five Dynasties and early Song; Emperor Taizong of Song gave him the title Master Xiyi. Tradition says he practised the Way on Mount Hua.
- 陟
- To climb up.
- 年須弱冠
- 弱冠 is the age of twenty for a man. The word 須 does not read smoothly here; the sense is 'about twenty'. The end of the preface says he was twenty-six.
The preface opens by laying down a premise: office, fame, wealth and rank 「有命存焉」, have fate in them. This is the basic position of the whole book, and also the author's reason for resigning and seeking the Way. It helps to know that 'visiting Mount Hua and meeting a Daoist' is a common story of how a book was obtained in old divination literature, used to show that the transmission has a pedigree. Chen Xiyi (Chen Tuan) was a real person, but most modern scholars doubt that Zi Wei Dou Shu really comes from him; the usual view is that the Quan Shu was compiled in the Ming dynasty and attributed to Xiyi. Luo Hongxian, whose name is signed to the preface, was also a real top graduate of the palace examination, but whether he actually wrote this preface is likewise disputed. None of this takes away from the content, but readers should know that 'handed down by Xiyi' is legend, not history.
2承出書示予，予問之，曰︰「希夷公紫微斗數集也。」始觀排列星辰，猶不省其奧窔，既讀其論，論則有道理。玩其斷，斷則有神，即以賤降試之，果毫髮不爽。於是喟然歎曰︰「造化至玄而闡明之，若對鑑焉。
TranslationHe then brought out a book to show me. I asked what it was, and he said: 'This is Master Xiyi's Zi Wei Dou Shu collection.' When I first looked at how the stars were laid out, I could not yet grasp its depths; once I read its discussions, the discussions made sense. I savoured its verdicts, and the verdicts were uncannily accurate. So I tested it on my own humble birth time, and indeed it was not off by a single hair. At that I sighed deeply and said: 'Creation is supremely mysterious, and yet this book lays it bare, as if one were facing a mirror.
- 奧窔
- The deepest corner of a house; a figure for what is profound and hard to understand.
- 賤降
- A humble way of referring to one's own birthday or birth time.
- 毫髮不爽
- Not off by a single hair; without the slightest error.
This passage describes a learning process that is still useful to anyone studying Zi Wei today: first he looks at the star layout and cannot follow it, then he reads the discussions and finds them reasonable, then he savours the verdicts, and finally he checks them against his own birth time. That happens to be the order in which to learn Dou Shu: first the structure of the chart, then general pieces such as the Tai Wei Fu, then the verdicts for each star, and finally back to your own chart to compare. 「毫髮不爽」 is stock praise in prefaces and should not be taken as a guarantee; but the method of testing on your own chart is sound. Setting up your own chart on Xingge and comparing it with the Quan Shu's verdicts one by one is the best way in.
3非心涵造化，能之乎？星辰至遠，而指視之若運掌，然非胸藏星斗者，能之乎？天位乎上，地位乎下，而人則藐然於中者，先生則以天合之人，人合之天，即星辰之變化，而知人命之休咎，是非學貫天人，而一之者，又孰能之乎？猗歟休哉！先生真高人也，神人也，不然胡為乎而有是高志！又胡為乎而有是神數也！」予乃捧持之，遍示天下，俾世之人，知有命而順受之可也。
TranslationWho could do this without a mind that holds all of creation? The stars are extremely far away, yet he points them out as easily as turning something over in his palm; who could do this without the stars and dippers stored in his breast? Heaven is placed above and earth below, and man is tiny in between; the master joins heaven to man and man to heaven, and from the changes of the stars he knows the good and bad fortune of a person's fate. Who but one whose learning spans heaven and man and makes them one could do this? How fine, how splendid! The master is truly a lofty man, a divine man. Otherwise, how could he have such lofty aims? And how could he have such a divine art of numbers?' I then took up the book with both hands, to show it to all under heaven, so that people in the world would know there is fate and accept it as it comes.
- 運掌
- Turning something over in the palm of the hand; a figure for something very easy and plainly seen.
- 休咎
- 休 is good fortune, 咎 is misfortune.
- 猗歟休哉
- An exclamation of praise: 'how fine it is!'
This long passage is praise, and its core idea is the unity of heaven and man: joining heaven to man and man to heaven, and reading good and bad fortune from the changes of the stars. Most of the stars used in Dou Shu are notional stars, not stars you can actually see in the sky, so 「星辰至遠」 refers to a symbolic system, not to astronomical observation. The closing words, 「知有命而順受之」, are the theme of the whole preface. 'Accept' needs to be read precisely: it is not passive resignation, but knowing your fate first and then arranging your life in line with it. Reading a chart today calls for the same attitude: see your strengths and weaknesses clearly and do the right thing at the right time, rather than using the chart as an excuse.
4胡乃祖作之，而子祕之，則繼述之道安在哉？請志予言，以弁是書之首。時陳子去希夷公，一十八代，諱道號「了然」，年方二十有六。
Translation(I said to the Daoist:) 'How is it that your ancestor wrote this and you keep it hidden? Where then is the duty of carrying on and handing down? Please record my words and place them at the head of this book.' At that time Master Chen was eighteen generations removed from Master Xiyi; his Daoist name was 'Liaoran', and he was just twenty-six years old.
- 繼述
- To carry on the aims of one's forebears and hand down their work.
- 弁
- To place at the front. 弁 was an ancient cap, and by extension a preface at the front of a book.
This passage gives the book's provenance: the Daoist Liaoran is Chen Xiyi's descendant in the eighteenth generation, Luo Hongxian urges him to make the family book public, and writes these words as a preface for the front of it. This is the source of the claim that the Quan Shu is a secret family book. Note that Chen Tuan was a hermit who practised the Way, and historical records say nothing of descendants passing anything down generation by generation; the 'eighteen generations' cannot be verified, and later readers mostly treat the passage as a device of attributing a book to an ancient figure. On the textual side, the Quan Shu survives today in Ming and Qing printed editions with many miswritten characters, repeated passages and inconsistencies, which this site marks one by one in the collation notes. That too suggests a book edited by many hands.
5時嘉靖庚戌春三月既望之吉 賜進士及第吉水羅洪先撰
TranslationWritten on an auspicious day, the sixteenth of the third month, in the spring of the Gengxu year of the Jiajing reign. Composed by Luo Hongxian of Jishui, granted the rank of Jinshi of the first class.
- 嘉靖庚戌
- The 29th year of the Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of Ming, 1550 CE.
- 既望
- In the lunar calendar the fifteenth day of each month is 望 (full moon), and the sixteenth is 既望.
- 賜進士及第
- The title for those placed in the first class of the palace examination (first, second and third place); Luo Hongxian took first place in the eighth year of Jiajing.
The date is the sixteenth day of the third month of the 29th year of Jiajing in the Ming dynasty (1550). This year is an important clue to when the Quan Shu took shape: if the preface can be trusted, the book existed by the mid-Ming at the latest. The title 「賜進士及第」 belongs to the first class of the palace examination; Luo Hongxian was the top graduate of the eighth year of Jiajing, later left office to devote himself to Neo-Confucian learning, and was known as a follower of Wang Yangming's school of the mind. In the preface he says he 「捐厥職，訪道學者」, gave up his post to seek out scholars of the Way, which fits the historical record of his resigning to teach. Whether the preface was written later by someone using Luo Hongxian's name is debated among scholars; it is enough for readers to know the question exists.
Base text (Wikisource, partly in simplified Chinese)
FAQ
Who wrote the Luo Xu preface to the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu?
The preface ends with the signature 「賜進士及第吉水羅洪先撰」 and is dated the 「既望」 of the third month of the Gengxu year of Jiajing (1550), that is, the sixteenth day of the third month. Luo Hongxian was from Jishui in Jiangxi and took first place in the palace examination in the eighth year of Jiajing in the Ming dynasty.
Where does the Luo Xu say Zi Wei Dou Shu came from?
The preface says Luo Hongxian went to Mount Hua in search of the Way and met a Daoist who brought out the 「希夷公紫微斗數集」, the Zi Wei Dou Shu collection of Master Xiyi. This Daoist was Chen Xiyi's descendant in the eighteenth generation, with the Daoist name Liaoran. That is why the whole book is attributed to Chen Xiyi (Chen Tuan).
What does 「知有命而順受之」 mean?
This line states why the book was published: to show it to everyone so that people would know that each person has a fixed fate, and would go along with it and accept it. It is also Luo Hongxian's own reason for leaving office to seek the Way: he believed that office, fame, wealth and rank all have fate in them.
Main stars in this section