Zi Wei Dou Shu Foundations
Start with what Zi Wei Dou Shu is, how its chart is structured, and how declared rules turn birth information into a reproducible chart.
Overview
Foundations separates three questions: what the tradition models, what a finished chart contains, and how software calculates that chart. Learn these before interpreting individual stars or palaces.
At a glance
- Pages
- 3 reviewed guides
- Start
- System definition
- Then
- Chart structure and calculation
- Rule
- Facts before interpretation
Explore concepts
- Zi Wei Dou Shu foundations · Direct answer
What Is Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗數)?
Learn what Zi Wei Dou Shu calculates, what its twelve-palace chart contains, how a reading works, and which claims the tradition cannot establish.
Read definition - Zi Wei Dou Shu foundations · Chart anatomy
Zi Wei Dou Shu Chart Structure (命盤)
Read the structure of a Zi Wei Dou Shu chart: twelve palaces, fixed branch positions, stars, transformations, timing layers, and calculation metadata.
Read definition - Zi Wei Dou Shu Foundations
Ziwei Beginner Core Terms and Learning Path: A Source-Reviewed Guide
Learn Ziwei Beginner Core Terms and Learning Path with sourced evidence, reproducible steps, an example, variants, and clear limits.
Read definition - Zi Wei Dou Shu Foundations
Zi Wei Reading Grammar: Stars, Palaces & Transformations: A Source-Reviewed Guide
Learn Zi Wei Reading Grammar: Stars, Palaces & Transformations with sourced evidence, reproducible steps, an example, variants, and clear limits.
Read definition - Zi Wei Dou Shu Foundations
What Ziwei Can Explain and Cannot Prove: A Source-Reviewed Guide
Learn What Ziwei Can Explain and Cannot Prove with sourced evidence, reproducible steps, an example, variants, and clear limits.
Read definition - Zi Wei Dou Shu Foundations
Ziwei vs Bazi, Western Astrology, Zodiac Forecasts, and Astronomy: A Source-Reviewed Guide
Learn Ziwei vs Bazi, Western Astrology, Zodiac Forecasts, and Astronomy with sourced evidence, reproducible steps, an example, variants, and clear limits.
Read definition
What this section covers
Learn the system definition, twelve-palace chart anatomy, and full calculation chain.
Each page separates common structure from school-specific policy and preserves exact source locators.
Use this hub as a three-step route: open the system definition first, chart anatomy second, and calculation chain third. Each page answers a different beginner question and owns its own sources.
- Read in the listed order.
- Keep calculation and meaning distinct.
- Do not jump from a birth input directly to a personality claim.
Beginner workflow
Record birth input and uncertainty, choose a rulebook, then validate the finished chart.
Only after provenance is stable should a reader move into palace relations, stars, and timing.
Before leaving Foundations, save the effective date and time, time-zone policy, lunar and leap-month status, rulebook version, and any unresolved birth-time range.
- Save normalized inputs.
- Confirm twelve palaces and fourteen stars.
- Move to Palaces only after the chart passes structural checks.
Evidence standard
A chart fact names a field and calculation policy; an interpretation names its traditional source and conditions.
A claim about real life remains a hypothesis until checked against direct evidence.
Source notes must distinguish a transmitted rule, a modern software policy, and an empirical evidence boundary. Agreement among those categories is never assumed.
- Cite exact locators.
- Show counterevidence.
- Open the cited locator whenever a historical or calculation claim matters.
Responsible limits
Zi Wei Dou Shu is a traditional symbolic framework, not established predictive science.
It must not replace qualified medical, legal, financial, safety, or relationship guidance.
The responsible output is a reproducible chart plus bounded questions, not a diagnosis, promise, ranking, or decision made on another person’s behalf.
- No deterministic promises.
- Preserve agency.
- Use current real-world records for every consequential conclusion.
Sources and editorial basis
- 趙翊吾〈紫微斗數之起源與發展〉趙翊吾〈紫微斗數之起源與發展〉，頁81–82「貳、紫微斗數的起源」及頁95「肆、結論」An academic-journal article used to frame historical development and attribution cautiously; its philosophical claims are not treated as empirical proof.
- 《紫微斗數全書》 (Ziwei Doushu Quanshu)全覽目錄：卷一至卷三，以及卷二「安身命例」與十二宮各篇；卷二「安身命例」及「安南北斗諸星訣」— 月、時、五行局、紫微與兩星系的排定次序A searchable transcription of the transmitted three-volume text, used for named rules, palace chapters, and historical star descriptions—not as scientific validation.
- OpenFate Ziwei Domain Typesapp/modules/ziwei/logic/types.ts:162–245 — palace, metadata, and timing-layer output contracts；app/modules/ziwei/logic/types.ts:162–245 — ZiweiPalace, ZiweiMetadata, and timing structuresThe product data contract for palaces, stars, timing layers, input precision, provenance, and chart metadata.
- iztro 紫微鬥數星盤「認識星盤」— 十二個外圍宮格、中宮、三方四正線與命宮標示An open-source project guide describing the chart, twelve surrounding palaces, calculation inputs, and a beginner reading sequence.
- OpenFate Ziwei Profile Schemaapp/modules/ziwei/logic/schema.ts:407–542 — exact palace, star, and relational validationFail-closed validation for twelve unique palaces, one Life Palace, fourteen unique major stars, and exact relational geometry.
- iztro 紫微鬥數安星訣「安星訣」第1–18項：定寅首、安命身、定十二宮、起紫微、安兩主星系與安四化A public rule catalogue for placing the Life and Body Palaces, the twelve roles, Zi Wei, major-star systems, and Four Transformations, with explicit variant notes.
- OpenFate Ziwei Calculation Rulebookapp/modules/ziwei/logic/rulebook.ts:69–125,167–180 — versioned school, boundary, leap-month, time, and 四化 policiesThe product-owned calculation policy for engine version, boundaries, leap months, true solar time, placement rules, and Four Transformations. It proves configured behavior, not lineage.