One Vietnamese master of Zi Wei Dou Shu took his pen name from the Sage (Tian Liang), and later readers call his method the "Sage school." To keep him distinct from the star, this article calls him "the master." One hallmark of his approach is that, besides the fourteen major stars, he gives great weight to the twelve stars of the Grand Duke ring, and he especially favors the first of its four types of people. This article explains why that school does so, and also asks how well it holds up today.

The Sage school is one of the more influential schools of Zi Wei Dou Shu theory in Vietnam. It works with more than the fourteen major stars: it also draws on the stars of the Grand Duke ring.

The tendencies a chart can show are limited, since there are far fewer possible chart combinations than people. That is why Zi Wei Dou Shu keeps needing to be tied to modern viewpoints, styles, and ways of living. So using the Grand Duke ring in a modern setting also calls for a check on how practical it really is.

This article first explains why the master values the Grand Duke stars, then offers a different view on how well these two groups of stars apply today.

How Does the Vietnamese Sage School See the Grand Duke Ring?

In his book Tu Vi Nghiem Ly (roughly, "Verified Principles of Zi Wei Dou Shu"), the master wrote that "human society has four types of people." He divides the Grand Duke ring into four groups by trine, and calls them the four types of people. The star names below follow the Vietnamese school's wording and differ slightly from the names commonly used in Taiwan.

Group	Stars in the group
1. The Grand Duke group	the Grand Duke (Tai Sui), Summons (Guan Fu), the White Tiger (Bai Hu)
2. The Mourning group	the mourning star (Sang Men), the breaker star (Sui Po), the condolence star (Diao Ke)
3. The Dimming group	the dimming star (Shao Yang), Si Fu, Fu De
4. The Binding group	the binding star (Shao Yin), the dragon virtue star (Long De), Zhi Fu

The four types have different traits, but also some things in common. The master describes them as follows (the points below are paraphrased in meaning from the Vietnamese original, not quoted word for word).

First, the Grand Duke group: People who treat their duty as a responsibility, and once they get involved, want to do it in a way that lives up to their character and dignity. These are people with a big ideal about carrying out a task, willing to do whatever it takes to finish what they were entrusted with.

Second, the Binding group: People who mean well and want to work, but are short on fortune and connection, and always seem to be treated unkindly by their times. Even with the Reputation, Power, and Resource Transformations, they may only suffer more. From the master's point of view, this is a type that loses out a lot, and apart from "good intentions," it seems to have few standout traits.

Third, the Mourning group: People thrown off balance by circumstances. If they cannot keep an upright heart, and the Reputation, Power, and Resource Transformations tempt them, they may easily do rebellious things to glorify themselves and end up with a stained name for a thousand years. The master has pity for the condolence star type, who argue and explain their case with great effort yet change nothing about their situation, and says the mourning star type may weep and grieve as much as they like, and it still comes to nothing. It is easy to see that this type is not viewed positively in society, is easily moved by gain, and tends to fall into unfavorable situations where help is hard to find.

Fourth, the Dimming group: People born with sharp, sensitive intelligence beyond most, who are warned not to be proud or to get lost in worldly attachments. In this case, the master says, virtue is worth more than three times wealth, and that on reflection life is just one huge empty zero. He holds that this type has natural talent and ability, but should put virtue first. The "emptiness" in that line mainly refers to the emptiness star (which sits in this group), carrying a sense of ignorance and of being clouded, which may lead to actions with consequences.

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Why Does the Grand Duke Ring Carry Less Judging Value Than Before?

The four types, although not described in detail, already show that using the Grand Duke ring to judge types of people involves a great deal of subjectivity.

Take the Grand Duke group as an example, people with ideals and a sense of responsibility. In older thinking, such people were usually the ones who could carry heavy duties well. That is why the master used the words "worthy of respect" to praise this type, which also hints that they can serve the country, holding a great cause tied to the nation. From a modern angle, however, every citizen is expected to have responsibility and duty toward their country, and having ideals and living responsibly are basic virtues of modern people. At most, people of the Grand Duke group may pursue their ideals with more persistence than others. For using Zi Wei Dou Shu in practice, simply reflecting "has ideals and responsibility" adds little value to a reading.

Now take the Binding group as a counterpoint. The master holds that this is a type crushed and treated unkindly by life. Looking closely, his view is fairly pessimistic. In feudal times, the Binding group's habit of patience, and its weakness at standing up for its own interests, led people to think it would struggle to do big things. So the master did not use "worthy of respect" for this type but "worthy of affection."

His line about these two groups, that the first is worthy of respect and the second worthy of affection, shows some bias in views on how an individual develops.

Is it really only the Grand Duke group that deserves respect and holds fine qualities like ideals and responsibility?

Is it really only the Mourning group that is easily swayed by immediate gain, and so more likely to do rebellious things and leave a stained name for a thousand years?

The grand language the master used for the Grand Duke group shows how highly he regards that type. It is not far from saying that one kind of person can be a king and another can only be a servant.

Given these somewhat biased views, a positive modern reading would be that every type has its own strengths and weaknesses, and it is not right to elevate one type while putting the others down.

So from a standpoint of equality, the traits of the Grand Duke ring need to be studied and verified again in a modern setting, to reduce the bias in how researchers of earlier eras saw them.

In Closing

Developing theories about the Grand Duke ring needs a more open view, to avoid cognitive bias and outdated, old-fashioned ways of judging an individual.