Something Lighter: My Zi Wei Dou Shu Lineage
AI translated from the original Chinese.
Generated by Gemini
In my third year of university, a new dorm supervisor came to the women's dormitory: a woman in her forties or fifties, always smiling, warm with everyone, and on good terms with many of the students.
The girls in my class said this supervisor could tell fortunes, and with remarkable accuracy. I have always been a hard-headed skeptic, doubtful of the supernatural, ghosts and gods, and the divinatory arts. When I learned the new supervisor told fortunes, I wanted to test how accurate she was, because I simply did not believe a person's life course could be deduced from the time of birth. So I found a chance to slip into her office and ask for a reading.
At our first meeting, although she knew I had come as a doubter, she kindly printed my chart on the office computer. Only then did I learn that the tool she used was Zi Wei Dou Shu. It reminded me that in junior high I had read a Zi Wei Dou Shu book in the library and drawn my own chart, without understanding it at all. This was a good chance to find out what Zi Wei Dou Shu actually was.
Many years have passed and I have forgotten what she told me, except for three things that left a deep impression:
- She said my scooter's exhaust pipe was cracked with a hole and very noisy, and hoped I would replace it.
- She said I should be careful riding recently, because I would get a ticket.
- She said a neighbor of mine would soon have a serious accident. She didn't say what kind.
On point 1: yes, my scooter's exhaust pipe was cracked, but as a student with empty pockets I kept putting off replacing it, and it really was making a racket. I thought: it's a coincidence, and left noncommittal.
Two weeks later: our campus was in the countryside where police never patrolled, and for convenience, since the distance was short, I rode somewhere without a helmet. About five minutes into the ride, a whole crowd of police emerged from the roadside bushes and pulled me over. Naturally, I got a ticket. While writing it, the officer teased me: "Tough luck. Today is our once-a-year big patrol, and you happened to be riding without a helmet. It wouldn't be right not to ticket you."
About a month after that, something tragic happened where I lived off campus: a younger student in the neighborhood died in a scooter accident.
Three things in a row, all predicted by the dorm supervisor. I was shocked, and that planted the seed of my learning Zi Wei Dou Shu.
In graduate school, about to enter the working world, I felt lost, so I went to the same supervisor again, hoping to find a direction in life. She was very kind and patiently answered every question I asked. Not liking to trouble others, besides thanking her, I asked how to learn Zi Wei Dou Shu, so that in the future I could read charts myself without bothering anyone.
That was the beginning of my path in Dou Shu, more than 20 years ago now.
Through research I learned that 《十八飛星策天紫微斗數全集》 and 《紫微斗數全書》 are the earliest editions available today. But after reading them I still didn't understand. In the first 7 years of self-study I sat in on many Dou Shu classes, yet always felt a layer between me and the truth, unable to enter the world of Dou Shu.
Seven years later I happened upon the blog of my teacher, Master 黃建霖 (Huang Chien-lin). His articles were concise and rich in material, so I began encouraging my friends to get readings from him, introducing more than a dozen in all. However hard I tried, I couldn't understand his way of drawing charts or his rules of reading, yet his readings were nearly precise. Incredible.
Over the next 5 years I often asked him questions and met him to talk Dou Shu, and with his help the door to Dou Shu finally opened for me.
If I remember correctly, 8 years ago he began teaching formally, and only then could I glimpse the inner depths of Dou Shu and understand why this art must be passed on by word of mouth and from heart to heart to be mastered: however clearly something is written, it cannot match the flexibility of direct transmission.
True Dou Shu is endlessly variable. Without a skilled teacher to lead you in, you often get lost and circle outside for a lifetime. In practice, you can only give readings in vague, equivocal terms, never grasping the essence of Dou Shu.
Recently some clients have asked whether I teach Dou Shu. I don't think my skill is yet sufficient to teach others, so if you really want to learn, I strongly recommend studying with my teacher 黃建霖; you will gain much more.
Note:
The lineage is as follows:
Master 何茂松 (Ho Mao-sung) → Master 紫雲 (Zi Yun) → Master 黃建霖 → myself
It is said that Master Ho passed on the study of Dou Shu to several disciples, one of whom was Master 紫雲. Master 紫雲 later published a number of classic books and took on many students, Master Huang among them, and I now study under Master Huang. I note the lineage here so as never to forget my roots.