Tu Vi Dau So Tan Bien (roughly, "A New Compilation on Zi Wei Dou Shu") is a Zi Wei Dou Shu book that has circulated widely in Vietnam and is rarely seen elsewhere. Why do many Vietnamese readers criticize it? Seen as a book review, it has real value and also some traps for readers, which makes it a useful example for anyone who wants to read books on Zi Wei Dou Shu carefully.

A note on approach: This review does not criticize the author as a person. It looks at certain statements the author gathered from many sources and how far they are from real life. From a modern point of view, it also aims to clear up questions a reader may have when going through the book. All quotes below are translated from the Vietnamese original.

Where Does the Book Lose Touch With Reality?

The examples below show why the book works better as reference material than as something to study and use to read charts.

From the Preface

Setting aside how the book came to be, start with the author's own preface.

"This book is only a record and collection of what I understand about Zi Wei Dou Shu, together with the experience I have gathered over many years."

From the first lines, the author makes clear that this is not systematic research but a record and collection built on personal experience, and its contents are not necessarily consistent. So the value it can offer is limited, and it is best not to expect too much.

From the Way It Makes Claims

For readers who are new to Zi Wei Dou Shu and have no full foundation yet, the book can lean them toward statements that are simply "imposed" on stars. Take the Resource Transformation, for example, where the book lists these qualities:

"Resource Transformation: Wood (with a touch of Earth).

• Honored as the god of the Inner Life palace, an official who supervises and looks after the harvest of wealth in the Property palace and the Wealth palace.
• Kind-hearted, charitable, rescues people in hardship, steadies those in danger. Removes illness and disaster, increases wealth and income. Protects position and authority..."

In common understanding, the Resource Transformation is one of the Four Transformations. Compared with the Reputation Transformation, which also carries a resolving quality, the claim that the Resource Transformation can remove illness and disaster has little basis and clearly clashes with the nature of the Reputation Transformation.

When a claim has no reasoning behind it, a reader who applies it to real life can easily make decisions that matter a great deal. This is especially true in a setup where good fortune hides trouble. If Resource sits with harsh stars, believing the Resource Transformation will clear away disaster is a serious mistake.

In the first pages on major stars, the author writes:

"When the Pillar (Zi Wei) meets many bright, favorable stars, above all the Steward (Tian Fu), the Builder (Wu Qu), the Loyalist (Tian Xiang), the writing stars, the patron stars, the support stars, the Reputation, Power, and Resource Transformations, the dragon pool star, and the phoenix pavilion star, there will surely be brilliant authority, blessings and long life together, and wealth for a lifetime."

(Here "Tu" in the original refers to the major star the Pillar.)

This shows a way of reading that lacks structure. It treats the Pillar meeting the Steward, the Builder, and the Loyalist, which are bright stars, as making the Pillar better. In practice, the 14 major stars do not by themselves signal good or bad. You have to look at the whole pattern in the four palaces that shape a palace. Lumping the helpful effects of minor stars and support stars together can also give readers a false impression. For example: if the Pillar meets the dragon pool star but also many harsh stars, can you still say "wealth for a lifetime"?

A reasoning system that is not tight, and that lacks clear levels and distinctions, makes the statements only partly true. That is why many cases do not fit when they are applied. Put another way, such statements reveal only half of the truth.

On the Property palace, the book records statements like these:

"The Strategist (Tian Ji) and the Empath (Tai Yin): Under a tree in the garden there is a stone that has turned into a spirit after long years..."

"The Strategist, the void stars, and the bathing-phase star: A ghost hides in the house."

"The flare, the smoulder, a charm-type minor star, and the joy star: The house is full of ghosts."

On the Persona palace, there are statements like these too:

"The Pillar and the Wolf (Tan Lang) in the same palace: ... Often followed and pestered by petty people. Later dies far from home."

"The two void markers together with the Wolf and the Disruptor (Po Jun): Often has car accidents, knife or gun wounds. If not, then is beaten or detained."

Statements like these give no reason, and they carry an element of "superstition," so a reader who compares them with the stars on their own chart cannot help feeling uneasy. Spiritual matters may not yet be explained by science, but if a claim lacks a basis and lacks any positive side, it has a big effect on the mind of the person getting a reading.

The Book's Real Value

In practice the book is mostly valuable to people who have studied Zi Wei Dou Shu for many years, or who study other fields of this kind. The reason is that some statements with little basis and little persuasive force can leave a beginner with a biased, old-fashioned, and outdated impression.

For a long-time student, the book can offer a historical view, showing the road Zi Wei Dou Shu has traveled to reach today. Those statements that lack a basis and lose touch with reality also reflect the views and thinking of teachers in an earlier era, which lets researchers build a set of ethical and interpretive standards for teachers in a new era.

Another Way to Read Books in This Field

Every book brings some value, but readers need awareness, a foundation, and the experience to filter what a book says. So even though Tu Vi Dau So Tan Bien has some views that are out of touch with reality, it still has value to a certain degree.

Conclusion

Not only this book but any book on this subject that is on sale needs to be checked, especially books that give little explanation, reasoning, or logical guidance, which can lead us into a "maze of personal opinion."

The message of this review for people who love Zi Wei Dou Shu or want to become readers themselves is that a modern awareness and way of thinking are needed. Authentic Zi Wei Dou Shu knowledge is hard to find to begin with, and the most widely spread common knowledge, word of mouth, and rules of thumb often carry a lot of the reader's own bias. That may also explain why highly paid readers tend to see many positives in patterns considered bad, while low-priced readers often see bad things in patterns considered good.

Source types used when gathering this material:

1. The classical Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (complete compendium).
2. The Zhongzhou school of Zi Wei Dou Shu (the Three Harmonies school).
3. The Four Transformations school of Zi Wei Dou Shu.
4. Works by Vietnamese researchers, such as books on Zi Wei Dou Shu and science, books that test the system on real cases, and large compilations that bring together different schools.
5. Chinese-language works that discuss the nature of the stars and how to read a chart.

If you would like to look at your own chart and see each palace explained with clear reasoning, you can look it up on HOROS.