On How the Stars Have Nothing to Do with Structure (Xing Chen Wu Guan Ge Ju)

The Stars Do Not Hold the Power

This is Shen's cleanest attack on the star manuals. Stars can neither support nor control, so they cannot decide whether a structure stands; a chart that has formed is not lowered by a floor full of inauspicious stars, and a broken chart is not rescued by auspicious ones. He then takes three stock phrases apart — nobleman, nobleman with wealth and officer, the two virtues — and shows that in every case the real work is being done by the structure, while the star is only named alongside it.