Yang Liang Chang Lu (Exam Star)
Tai Yang and Tian Liang meeting Wen Chang and Lu Cun (or Hua Lu) — the classical examination pattern. Best for tests, credentials, and professional qualifications; the money arrives on the back of the name.
🔑 How It Forms
Within the Life Palace's trinity (the palace itself + the opposite palace + the two trine palaces, four in all), both Tai Yang and Tian Liang must appear; the same range must also hold Wen Chang; and Lu must join them — either the star Lu Cun, or any star carrying the birth-year Hua Lu (Hua Lu = the mark of income that the heavenly stem of the birth year stamps onto a star), one of the two being enough. All three conditions met together form the pattern. No brightness threshold applies; the only question about the four stars is whether they are inside those four palaces.
📜 Classical Verse
Sun, shelter, scholar, and salary: first name read from the palace steps.
—— The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu
📖 In Depth
🔬 A Worked Example, Step by Step
The chart below is cast by our own engine, and the steps come from the pattern detector in that same pass — the explanation is the judgement, not a separate write-up.
- 1
Locate the Life Palace (branch You) as the basis for judgement.
- 2
Looking for Tai Yang and Tian Liang across the trinity of the Life Palace: all required stars are present.
- 3
Found Wen Chang across the trinity of the Life Palace.
- 4
Found Lu Cun across the trinity of the Life Palace.
- 5
Checking transformations across the trinity of the Life Palace: Tian Tong Hua Lu present.
- 6
This pattern can form along 2 different routes; this chart satisfies 2 of them, so it forms — the unmet route above is simply the other path, not a failure.
- 7
All 3 conditions above are met, so the pattern forms.
- 8
Finally the tier: no malefics or Hua Ji disturb the trinity of the Life Palace, so the pattern stands at full strength.
✓ Result: the pattern forms at full strength
The name of this pattern is its own checklist: Yang, Liang, Chang and Lu, four elements with none dispensable, matching the four stages of a career built on credentials — Tai Yang governs name and exposure, Tian Liang governs elders and their shelter, Wen Chang governs study and documents, Lu governs turning it all into income. Linked in a chain, they are the complete imperial-examination path of reading well, testing through, being sponsored, and converting the honor into a salary — and they are equally the fortune structure behind today's admissions, civil-service exams, professional titles and practice licences, all of them ways of passing a gate to gain a standing. The detector writes the Lu element as a choice of two: Lu Cun is a physical star fixed in place by the heavenly stem of the birth year, while Hua Lu is a mark that stem stamps onto a major star and travels wherever that star goes; different in kind, both count as seeing Lu. The four stars need not crowd into one palace — scattered across the four they still count as gathered, because this pattern asks whether the elements are complete, not whether the layout is elegant.
🎯 Readings by Topic
Academia, public office, medicine, law, teaching — fields with credential barriers. Every certificate is a real step, and the examination road is the career road.
Profit through reputation: titles, ranks, and professional endorsement convert directly into income. Profit without a name does not last, so earn the name first.
Many meet a partner through school or work, and the scholarly quality is the main attraction. Partners tend to come from the same world, where conversation matters more than looks.
⚠️ When It Breaks
Missing any of the four leaves the pattern incomplete, and missing Lu hurts most — a name with no return. Wen Chang or Wen Qu with Hua Ji, or Tai Yang fallen, makes for a bumpy examination record; allow yourself the patience for a second attempt.
🔗 Related Patterns
Want to see whether this pattern appears in your own chart?
Chart My Zi Wei Free →