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.
Overview
A Zi Wei Dou Shu chart (Mìngpán, 命盤) is a twelve-palace data structure arranged on the twelve Earthly Branch positions. Each palace record can contain a role name, stem and branch, resident stars, transformations, timing ranges, and links to its San Fang Si Zheng. The center panel is normally metadata, not a thirteenth palace.
At a glance
- Palace count
- Exactly 12
- Spatial anchors
- Twelve Earthly Branches
- Role anchors
- Life through Parents Palaces
- Star buckets
- Major, supporting, auxiliary, miscellaneous
- Relations
- Triads, opposite, transformations
- Metadata
- Inputs, bureau, school, engine revision
The twelve records around the center
The branch grid is fixed, while palace role names rotate from the calculated Life Palace. This lets the same physical grid position carry different life-area labels for different charts.
Each palace is a container, not a verdict. It combines a role, location, resident symbols, time ranges, and relationships that later support bounded interpretation.
- Distinguish a branch-position palace from a named role.
- Do not count the center metadata panel as a palace.
How to inspect the structure
First confirm there are twelve unique palace indices and branches, exactly one Life Palace, and the complete major-star set. Then inspect the Life and Body Palaces, major stars, supporting stars, Four Transformations, and relational indices.
Only after the natal structure is stable should you overlay decade, annual, small-limit, monthly, daily, or hourly layers. Every dynamic claim needs its source stem and target date.
- Validate structure before reading meaning.
- Label natal and timing layers separately.
Worked example and near-miss
If palace index 3 is marked as Life Palace, its San Fang Si Zheng indices are 3, 7, 11, and 9 under the stored geometry. A reader retrieves those four palace records rather than scanning for favorable words anywhere on the page.
A near-miss is to treat the Career Palace as “career outcome.” Its contents are one symbolic context; current skills, labor markets, decisions, timing evidence, and other palaces can support or contradict a proposed theme.
- Use index relationships, not visual guesswork.
- Separate a palace topic from a guaranteed event.
Display variants do not always mean calculation differences
Sites may rotate the grid, abbreviate palace names, rename Friends as Servants, show borrowed stars inside empty palaces, or place metadata in different center layouts. Those may be presentation choices.
A genuine calculation difference changes palace roles, resident stars, transformations, timing ranges, or provenance. Compare structured fields before judging two screenshots inconsistent.
- Normalize labels and orientation first.
- Compare resident data, not typography or color.
Structure supports claims; it does not prove them
A complete chart record improves reproducibility because another implementation can inspect the same inputs and rules. Reproducibility of a symbolic calculation is different from empirical validation of its interpretations.
A page should show which layer supports a statement and what would weaken it. It should never infer protected traits, medical facts, guilt, fidelity, or financial capacity from a palace layout.
- Preserve provenance with every chart.
- Use real-world evidence for consequential conclusions.
Complete topic index
Every workbook topic assigned to this canonical page appears at a stable anchor. Each entry records scope, inputs, flags, and alias ownership as an auditable reference—not a standalone interpretation. Duplicate backlog rows resolve to the same anchor instead of creating duplicate URLs.
- Conditions and inputs
- Missing-input rule: if a listed input or verified chart value is unavailable, stop at the definition; do not infer, calculate, or predict the missing value.
- Calculation flag: no. This atom does not assert a computed result; use the page definition and verified chart data only.
- School-variant flag: no. The workbook does not mark this atom as variant-specific; do not assume universal agreement beyond the cited page sources.
- Calculation flag: partial. Some steps are rule-based, but this atom does not establish a complete computed result; verify the page’s stated inputs and interpretive boundary.
- School-variant flag: sometimes. Check whether the page’s named rule or school condition applies before using this component.
- Category and guidance boundary
- Use this record through the page definition, conditions, worked example, near miss, variants, and limits.
- Apply this only under the named calculation or school policy, and compare alternate rules before treating the result as reproducible.
- Source inheritance
- Complete topic index does not assert an atom-specific citation. It inherits this canonical page’s bibliography and locator notes as page-level context only; verify the relevant cited passage before relying on a claim.
Zi Wei Chart Quick Tour
- Topic-specific scope
- Named inputs: none recorded.
- Conditions and inputs
- Calculation state: No
- School-variant state: No
- Stable reference
- ZW-PUB-0007
- Inventory classification
- 01 入門與方法論 · 定位與責任框架
The Center Information Panel
- Topic-specific scope
- Named inputs: none recorded.
- Conditions and inputs
- Calculation state: Partial
- School-variant state: Sometimes
- Stable reference
- ZW-PUB-0119
- Inventory classification
- 04 命盤結構與讀盤方法 · 命盤解剖與順序
Sources and editorial basis
- 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 Domain Typesapp/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.
- 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.