The Ten Grades of Wealth, Rank and Poverty

The Ten Grades sorts fates into ten categories, and each lists only a few representative stars: it is an index, not a complete set of rules. What sets the grade of blessings and long life apart is the split between south and north: southerners look to Tian Tong and Tian Liang, northerners to Zi Wei, Wu Qu, Po Jun and Tan Lang. Tian Tong and Tian Liang are stars of the Southern Dipper, Wu Qu, Po Jun and Tan Lang of the Northern Dipper, so the author pairs southerners with the Southern Dipper and northerners with the Northern, a correspondence between region and constellation.

Judging stars by place of birth is rarely done now and cannot be seen on a Xingge chart; the 'Your chart' comparison tags only the stars and their brightness. Take it as one of the Quan Shu's lines of thought: the same star works differently for different people. Tian Tong or Tian Liang in the Life Palace in Miao or Wang bringing blessings and long life agrees with the Tian Liang chapter's 「命或對宮有天梁主有壽」 (What Does Tian Liang Govern?).

The stars on the list of cleverness are a mixed lot: Wen Chang and Wen Qu are literary stars, Tian Xiang and Tian Fu the seal and the treasury, Wu Qu and Po Jun general stars, San Tai, Ba Zuo, Zuo Fu and You Bi stars of support. The shared condition is 'converging from the trine'. The author seems to count as cleverness not only book learning but different kinds of intelligence: decisiveness (Wu Qu), pioneering (Po Jun), keeping what one has (Tian Fu), fairness (Tian Xiang).

Do not take this to mean that seeing one or two of these stars in the San Fang of the Life Palace makes a person extremely clever; the text lists a group of stars, and the more the better. It describes ability on many fronts, not school grades alone.

The core of valour is a hard star such as Wu Qu, Qi Sha or Qing Yang in the Life Palace, plus Wen Chang, with Hua Quan and Hua Lu, Zi Wei and Tian Fu, and Zuo Fu and You Bi converging from the San Fang. The hard stars give courage, Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Zuo Fu and You Bi give standing, and Hua Quan and Hua Lu give real strength; only with all three is it valour, otherwise it is mere roughness.

Wen Chang on this list is worth noticing: the Quan Shu holds that true valour needs a cultured side, with strategy behind it rather than a brute's courage. The Star Combinations chapters also have 「文昌武曲為人多學多能」 (Star Combinations: Wen Chang and Wen Qu). Today this reads as a leader with both nerve and brains.

Civil office rests mainly on the Six Auspicious Stars in the Life Palace: Wen Chang, Wen Qu, Zuo Fu, You Bi, Tian Kui and Tian Yue, plus Hua Ke, Hua Quan and Hua Lu in the San Fang Si Zheng. The Quan Shu points the same way elsewhere: Wen Chang governs the examinations, Tian Kui and Tian Yue govern degrees, Zuo Fu and You Bi assist the ruler.

Note the condition 'in the Life Palace in a strong position'. Wen Chang and Wen Qu have a brightness that can be seen on a Xingge chart; Zuo Fu, You Bi, Tian Kui and Tian Yue carry no brightness mark, so for them 'a strong position' can be read as the main star of the Life Palace being in Miao or Wang. Civil office today corresponds to public service, administration, education and paperwork.

The leads in military office are Wu Qu and Qi Sha, two general stars in the Life Palace in Miao or Wang, with San Tai and Ba Zuo, Hua Quan and Hua Lu, and Tian Kui and Tian Yue added. Wu Qu and Qi Sha share a palace in Mao and You, and either alone in the Life Palace elsewhere also counts. San Tai and Ba Zuo are minor stars placed from Zuo Fu and You Bi and the birth day, and on a Xingge chart they appear among the small stars in each palace.

Set beside civil office, it shows how the Quan Shu divides the work: civil office relies on Wen Chang, Wen Qu, Zuo Fu and You Bi, military office on Wu Qu and Qi Sha plus helpful people. Tian Kui and Tian Yue appear in both, a sign that promotion by patrons is the same for civil and military men. Military office today corresponds to the armed forces and police, engineering, sales, and management roles that call for execution.

This grade is an interesting one: the stars are malefics and hard main stars such as Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Huo Xing, Ling Xing, Wu Qu and Po Jun, but the condition is 「帶殺上吉湊合三方四正無凶不陷」. That is, the malefics themselves are not fallen and auspicious stars work with them, and their harsh energy turns into the power to enforce the law.

This is a classic case of the Quan Shu 'putting malefics to use': the same Qing Yang means injury and punishment when fallen, and administering punishment when in Miao with auspicious stars. The old law-and-punishment official was a judicial officer; today that means judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police administration and auditors. Master Yuchan's remark that Tai Yang 「遇天刑為武」 (see What Does Tai Yang Govern?) follows the same idea.

Wealth and rank is a master list of auspicious stars: Zi Wei and Tian Fu, Tian Xiang, Hua Lu, Hua Quan and Hua Ke, the sun and moon (Tai Yang and Tai Yin), Wen Chang and Wen Qu, Zuo Fu and You Bi, Tian Kui and Tian Yue, whether sitting in the palace, converging or facing it from opposite. The message is: the more of these stars in the San Fang Si Zheng of the Life Palace, the greater the wealth and rank.

It pairs with the next grade, poverty and low station; together the two lists are the Quan Shu's most basic method of judgement: count the auspicious and the malefic stars. On a chart today, open the Life Palace and look at the stars along the San Fang Si Zheng lines for a rough comparison. But this is where reading starts, not where it ends; other chapters of the Quan Shu repeat that brightness, the four transformations and the luck periods all change the outcome.

Poverty and low station puts malefics such as Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Di Kong, Di Jie and Hua Ji together with four main stars: Lian Zhen, Qi Sha, Wu Qu and Po Jun. These four are not malefics, but the Quan Shu often reads them as hard and wasteful. Note that the same Wu Qu and Po Jun are good in the grades of cleverness and of law. The difference lies in the condition: here it takes 「諸凶並犯陷地」, malefics arriving together and in fallen positions.

So this line does not say Wu Qu or Po Jun in the Life Palace means poverty; it takes malefics gathered together and fallen. Readers should not look at the list alone and see themselves in it.

The grade of illness and early death lists Tan Lang, Lian Zhen and the Six Malefic Stars plus Hua Ji, in or shining on the Life Palace from the San Fang, or in the Health or Parents (Appearance) Palace: much illness and a short life. Tan Lang and Lian Zhen are probably on the list because both are peach-blossom stars, and wine and women harm the body.

「或疾厄相貌宮亦然」 shows that these stars act not only in the Life Palace; in the Health Palace they mean illness too. Today the list reads as combinations that call for care with health, such as lifestyle, chronic illness and accidents. With the limited medicine of old China, early death was far more common than now, and verdicts like this belong in that context.

The condition for monks and Taoists is Tian Ji, Tian Liang, Qi Sha, Po Jun, Di Kong and Di Jie 「並犯帝座紫微」, or loss stars and malefics arriving. This is almost the same as Master Yuchan's words in What Does Zi Wei Govern?, 「劫空機梁沖破，定是僧道」, so Zi Wei clashed and broken by Tian Ji, Tian Liang, Di Kong and Di Jie and leaving the world is a settled view in the Quan Shu.

Tian Ji and Tian Liang carry an aloof, religious colouring, Qi Sha and Po Jun solitude and harm, Di Kong and Di Jie emptiness; put together, they draw a person away from worldly life. Monks and Taoists in old China were a social status; today it reads as religion, philosophy, spiritual practice, or a chosen way of life kept at a distance from the mainstream.