XinggeWhat Does Tian Tong Govern?
〈問天同星所主若何？〉
The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu, Volume 1: Rhapsodies, questions on the stars, and chart patterns · Original text with translation
Introduction
This is the Tian Tong question in the Zhu Xing Wen Da Lun (Questions and Answers on the Stars) in volume one of the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu: 「問天同星所主若何？」, what does Tian Tong govern? Tian Tong belongs to water and is the blessing star of the Southern Dipper; its transformed qi is blessing. The Quan Shu calls it the master of the Fortune Palace and says 「十二宮中皆為福論」, that in all twelve palaces it is judged a blessing. The chapter has only three segments:
- The answer (segment 1): Tian Tong adds blessing and good fortune; the person is honest and of fine, unusual looks, and does not fear Qi Sha's intrusion or the malefic stars entangling it.
- Master Xiyi (segments 2 to 3): Tian Tong makes a person modest and mild and well versed in letters; with Zuo Fu and You Bi, Wen Chang and Tian Liang, noble and prominent; it favours people born in Ren, Yi or Bing years and holds its ground in Si and Hai. But people born in a Geng year with Tian Tong in You keep nothing all their lives; meeting the four malefic stars in Si or Hai it counts as fallen; a woman with malefic stars harms her husband and children, and with Tian Liang and Tai Yin clashing and breaking she becomes a concubine.
One thing to watch: the same segment first says Tian Tong 「巳亥得地」, holds its ground in Si and Hai, then straight away says 「會四殺居巳亥為陷」, that meeting the four malefic stars in Si or Hai it is fallen. Read the two together: Si and Hai count as holding its ground in themselves, and only with the four malefic stars added are they judged fallen. Also, the answer writes 'fourth star of the south', which is usually given as the fourth star of the Southern Dipper.
1答曰：天同星屬水，乃南方第四星也，為福德宮之主宰。復云：化福最喜遇吉曜，助福添祥，為人廉潔，貌稟清奇。有機樞無亢激，不怕七殺相侵，不怕諸殺同纏。限若逢之，一生得地，十二宮中皆曰福，無破定為祥。
TranslationThe answer: the star Tian Tong belongs to water. It is the fourth star of the south, and the master of the Fortune Palace. It is also said: its transformed qi is blessing, and it most likes meeting lucky stars, which help its blessings and add good fortune. The person is honest and clean, with looks that are fine and unusual. He has wit without extremes, does not fear Qi Sha's intrusion, and does not fear the malefic stars entangling it in the same palace. When a luck period meets it, one holds one's ground all one's life; in all twelve palaces it is called a blessing, and without breakage it is surely auspicious.
- 南方第四星
- Usually given as 'the fourth star of the Southern Dipper'; Master Xiyi below also calls Tian Tong a Southern Dipper star.
- 機樞
- Wit, a grasp of what matters.
- 亢激
- Extreme, overheated.
Textual note: 「南方第四星」 is probably an error for 'the fourth star of the Southern Dipper'.
Tian Tong's transformed qi is blessing, so this passage is almost all praise: honest, fine-looking, witty without going to extremes, and 「十二宮中皆曰福」. What stands out most is 「不怕七殺相侵，不怕諸殺同纏」; in the Quan Shu very few main stars are said not to fear malefic stars, and Tian Tong is one of them. The old reasoning is that Tian Tong belongs to water and is mild by nature; the hardness of malefic stars meets it like a stone thrown into water, and the impact is absorbed.
One chart fact can be added: under the placement rules Qi Sha never falls in Tian Tong's San Fang Si Zheng, so 'not fearing Qi Sha's intrusion' speaks more of character and of what one meets in luck periods than of a natal combination in one palace. Tian Tong's 'blessing' also has another side: enjoyment and ease; a blessing star that is too comfortable does not exert itself, a point often made in The Nature of Tian Tong and by later writers.
2希夷先生曰：天同南斗益算保生之星，化祿為善，逢吉為祥，身命值之，主為人謙遜，稟性溫和。必慈鯁直，文墨精通，有奇志無凶激。不忌七殺相侵，不畏諸凶同度，十二宮中皆為福論。遇左右昌梁貴顯，喜壬乙丙生人，巳亥得地。
TranslationMaster Xiyi said: Tian Tong is the star of the Southern Dipper that adds to one's years and preserves life. Transformed to Lu it is goodness; meeting lucky stars it is good fortune. When it falls in the Body or Life Palace, the person is modest and mild by nature, kind at heart and upright, well versed in letters, with unusual ambitions and no violent extremes. It does not fear Qi Sha's intrusion or the malefic stars in the same degree, and in all twelve palaces it is judged a blessing. Meeting Zuo Fu and You Bi, Wen Chang and Tian Liang, one is noble and prominent. It favours people born in Ren, Yi or Bing years, and holds its ground in Si and Hai.
- 益算保生
- Adding to one's reckoned years and preserving life.
- 必慈鯁直
- The character 必 ('surely') makes no sense here; it is probably an error for 心 ('heart'), giving 'kind at heart and upright'.
Textual note: The 必 in 「必慈鯁直」 is probably an error for 心 ('heart').
Master Xiyi adds conditions of year stem and palace. Of 「喜壬乙丙生人」, Bing is the easiest to understand, since Tian Tong takes Hua Lu in Bing years. In Ren years Lu Cun is in Hai and in Bing years in Si, sharing the palace exactly with a Tian Tong in Si or Hai, which also makes sense. Yi years are hard to explain from either the transformations or Lu Cun, and may rest on some other basis. 「巳亥得地」 agrees with the brightness table Xingge uses, where Tian Tong is Miao in both Si and Hai; the section on star combinations likewise lists Tian Tong as Miao in Si and Hai, Wang in Zi and Shen, and Xian in Wu (see Star Combinations: Tian Tong).
「遇左右昌梁貴顯」 names Tian Liang as a good partner for Tian Tong. Tian Tong and Tian Liang share a palace in Yin and Shen and often meet from the San Fang elsewhere; this is the basic structure of the Ji Yue Tong Liang group of stars, which tradition reads as a stable pattern for clerical work or public service.
3不宜六庚生人居酉地，終身不守。會四殺居巳亥為陷，殘疾孤剋。女人逢殺沖破，刑夫剋子。梁月沖破，合作偏房，僧道宜之，主享福。
TranslationIt is not suited to people born in any of the six Geng years with it in You: they keep nothing all their lives. Meeting the four malefic stars in Si or Hai, it counts as fallen: disability, loneliness and harm to family. A woman who meets malefic stars clashing and breaking it harms her husband and her children; with Tian Liang and Tai Yin clashing and breaking it, she is fit to be a secondary wife. It suits monks and Daoist priests, and means enjoying blessings.
- 六庚生人
- People born in a Geng year; the sixty-year cycle has six Geng years, hence 'the six Geng'.
- 偏房
- A secondary wife, a concubine.
The Xingge approachThe same segment first says Tian Tong 「巳亥得地」 and then that meeting the four malefic stars it 「居巳亥為陷」. In addition, the brightness table Xingge uses marks Tian Tong Miao in both Si and Hai, so the chart never shows it as fallen there; the 'fallen' in this line is the book's own judgement once the four malefic stars are added.
This passage holds Tian Tong's exceptions. 「不宜六庚生人居酉地」: by the Quan Shu's transformation rhyme, Tian Tong takes Hua Ji in Geng years, and in You it is only Ping; a blessing star with Hua Ji in a place where it has no strength means 「終身不守」. This is a typical case of explaining by the year-stem transformations; on a Xingge chart, someone born in a Geng year has a Hua Ji mark beside Tian Tong.
「梁月沖破，合作偏房」 is a verdict from old ideas of marriage. Tian Tong shares a palace with Tai Yin in Zi and Wu and with Tian Liang in Yin and Shen; a woman's Tian Tong meeting Tian Liang and Tai Yin and also clashed and broken was judged by the ancients to make a concubine. The Tian Tong nature chapter likewise says that with Tian Tong and Tai Yin together, a woman is 「偏房侍妾與人通」 (see The Nature of Tian Tong). A modern reading is a tendency to end up in unequal, informal or unacknowledged positions in love, or simply a marriage that does not follow the traditional model. The last line, 「僧道宜之，主享福」, shows once more that the Quan Shu treats the religious life as a way out of a bad pattern.
Base text (Wikisource, partly in simplified Chinese)
FAQ
What does Tian Tong govern in the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu?
The Quan Shu says Tian Tong belongs to water and is the star of the Southern Dipper that adds years and preserves life; its transformed qi is blessing and it is the master of the Fortune Palace. The person is modest, mild, honest and of fine, unusual looks, and well versed in letters. It does not fear Qi Sha's intrusion or the malefic stars entangling it, and in all twelve palaces it is judged a blessing.
With Tian Tong in the Life Palace, which birth years are better?
Master Xiyi says Tian Tong 「喜壬乙丙生人，巳亥得地」: it favours people born in Ren, Yi or Bing years, and holds its ground in Si and Hai. But 「不宜六庚生人居酉地，終身不守」: for someone born in a Geng year with Tian Tong in the Life Palace in You, the family property is never kept.
What does the Quan Shu say about a woman's Tian Tong meeting malefic stars?
Master Xiyi says that for a woman, Tian Tong clashed and broken by malefic stars harms her husband and children; with Tian Liang and Tai Yin clashing and breaking it, 「合作偏房」, she is fit to be a secondary wife, a concubine. For monks and Daoist priests it is suitable, and means enjoying blessings.
Main stars in this section