The San He (Trine) school is one of the oldest schools of Zi Wei Dou Shu. It is regarded as the orthodox line, handed down and developed from the Song dynasty to the present day. Over the years Zi Wei Dou Shu split into many branches: some kept the essence of classics such as the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu, while others reformed it heavily or blended it with other systems of divination. This is how a gap between the orthodox and the folk traditions gradually appeared.

According to tradition, the San He school began in the Song dynasty and developed at the imperial court through the Imperial Astronomical Bureau (Qin Tian Jian), an office devoted to astronomy, the calendar and fate studies. Court backing is said to have kept the school's line orthodox. In the Ming dynasty, transmission turned closed and passed from one teacher to one student only. Later scholars such as Yu Zhengxie kept this knowledge going, and it reached the twentieth century through masters such as Lu Binzhao and Wang Tingzhi, and on to today.

In short: The San He school traces back to the Song dynasty and is said to have stayed orthodox under the protection of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. In the Ming era it became one teacher to one student, and scholars and masters later carried it on into the modern age.

1. History and Development of the San He School

Origins: The Song Dynasty

• Place of origin: Zhongzhou (Luoyang)
• Legendary founders: Bai Yuchan and Wu Jingluan

Bai Yuchan (1194 to 1229) was a Southern Song Daoist. His birth name was Ge Changgeng, his courtesy name was Ruhui, his sobriquet was Haiqiongzi, and he was later honored as Master Ziqing.

Wu Jingluan, courtesy name Zhongxiang, was a well-known feng shui master of the Southern Song period. He is said to have inherited family learning and also studied under several famous teachers, and through talent and effort he became a leading feng shui master of his age.

2. The Split Between Orthodox and Folk Traditions (Around 1399)

In the late years of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, an order was issued banning the public from studying astronomy privately. Fate studies became learning reserved for the imperial family, overseen by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, which managed astronomy and the calendar. During this period, the various fate disciplines gradually slipped out of view. The ban on studying astronomy was not lifted until the 26th year of the Jiajing reign (1547). Because of the times, Dou Shu was wrapped in a veil, which added to its air of mystery.

This is the stage in which a clear gap grew between orthodox Zi Wei Dou Shu and folk Zi Wei Dou Shu. The orthodox line, under court protection, kept developing and served the imperial family and the nobility. Folk Zi Wei Dou Shu met many obstacles. Forbidding ordinary people to study astronomy and fate studies interrupted its development, and many important methods of study and teaching were lost or never fully developed. This led to a decline in both knowledge and practice among the public, leaving folk Zi Wei Dou Shu vague and increasingly far from the version the court preserved.

3. The Origin of One Teacher, One Student (Around 1402)

Still in the Ming dynasty, the Zhongzhou school (orthodox Zi Wei Dou Shu) reached a turning point.

It begins with the story of who would inherit the throne from the Hongwu Emperor. According to tradition, Crown Prince Zhu Biao died young, leaving the succession open. The Prince of Yan, Zhu Di (the emperor's fourth son), went to the founder of the Zhongzhou school to ask who would become emperor, and the answer was that he himself would take the throne. But near the end of his life, the Hongwu Emperor did not pass the throne to one of his sons. He chose his grandson, Zhu Yunwen (the Jianwen Emperor), as heir. Angered that the throne went to a grandson and not a son, Zhu Di sent troops to attack Nanjing and forced the Jianwen Emperor to flee. Zhu Di then took the throne as the Yongle Emperor.

The tradition goes on to say that after taking the throne, the Yongle Emperor remembered the founder's prediction and sent for him to come to Nanjing, granting him a stipend but forbidding him to tell anyone else's fate again. From about this time, the rule of one teacher, one student is said to have begun: each generation accepted only one disciple and passed along oral formulas to each other.

4. The Last Heirs (Around 1810)

The trace of "orthodox Zi Wei Dou Shu" grows fainter with time. The identities of the last heirs became rare and mysterious too, and the one who left a name is Yu Zhengxie.

Yu Zhengxie (1775 to 1840) was a famous scholar of the Qing dynasty, courtesy name Lichu, from Anhui. He was born in the 40th year of the Qianlong reign, loved learning from childhood, and read any book he saw. His range of study was wide, covering Confucianism, history, astronomy, medicine, and even Daoism and Buddhism. He specialized in astronomy and the calendar, and even studied the Western calendar.

According to Wang Tingzhi's own account, his teacher was an heir of Yu Zhengxie.

Modern and Recent Times

Representative figures: Lu Binzhao, Wang Tingzhi, Ziyun, Liu Wu Jushi, and many other branches.

In the late twentieth century, Zi Wei Dou Shu saw many talented figures appear. Methods of reading kept improving, but still rested on the foundation of the San He school.

Mid-Twentieth Century: Lu Binzhao and Wang Tingzhi, the Zhongzhou School

Lu Binzhao is regarded as having inherited the secret transmission of Zi Wei Dou Shu and obtained secret writings of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. In reading charts, he was even praised as a living immortal. He had a scientific spirit, rarely spoke of mysterious factors, and valued practicality in readings. His lecture notes were later ranked as classics, and Wang Tingzhi also used Lu Binzhao's lecture materials, adding his own commentary.

Wang Tingzhi described himself as a later heir of Lu Binzhao's line (that is, the Zhongzhou school), and said his teacher was an heir of Yu Zhengxie. Later, though, Wang Tingzhi came to hold views that differed from Lu Binzhao's, for example on whether the Pillar (Zi Wei) is a real star or a symbolic one, and on the birth hour, solar terms and geography.

The 1970s and 1980s: The Ziyun School

Ziyun first studied under a teacher, but most of his knowledge came from studying the written classics on his own. After more than thirty years of effort in scholarship and reflection, he founded his own school. Today his reputation in Taiwan is seen as on par with Wang Tingzhi's in Hong Kong.

Most of Ziyun's knowledge is built on the foundation of the traditional San He school, that is, the orthodox line. Among his achievements, the one most admired in the Zi Wei Dou Shu circles of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore is the theory of "the Grand Duke entering the hexagram" (Tai Sui Ru Gua). These ideas can be applied to the study of chart comparison and compatibility.

The 1980s and 1990s: The Modern School

The representative figure of the Modern school is Liu Wu Jushi, a student of Ziyun, who founded a school of his own because he held firmly to his own views. Liu Wu Jushi has read charts for many politicians and business people in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Today his name is also very large in Taiwan, and he is even seen as an intellectual representative of traditional fate studies there.

One of his classic works is a book that might be titled "Reading Fate by Zi Wei Dou Shu" in English. The Modern school does not use the method of combining Zi Wei Dou Shu with Zi Ping (the Four Pillars), and keeps the two clearly separate. In that book he also criticizes works by the masters of his time using his own arguments, which naturally caused a good deal of debate in the field. His system of reading uses few stars, yet it is highly adaptable and, he held, highly accurate. It mostly uses 28 stars: the 14 major stars, the six helpers, the six harsh stars, Resource Transformation and Entanglement Transformation. He even proposed dropping Power Transformation, Reputation Transformation, the horse and the reserve.

5. Different Schools, Different Views

Zi Wei Dou Shu is a broad and varied field with many schools, each with its own approach. The San He school is an important foundation that let Zi Wei Dou Shu develop steadily over several centuries. What is covered here is only a small part built on that foundation. There are also the Northern school, known for its Four Transformations flying-star method, and the He Luo school, with its varied views.

The masters of the San He school, including Lu Binzhao, Wang Tingzhi, Ziyun, Liu Wu Jushi and Huixin Zhaizhu, have works worth reading. To look further at your own chart, you can take a look at HOROS.

In short: Each school has its own methods, and the San He school is a steady foundation. Knowing where the schools come from helps you see where each master stands when you read different writers.