Da Liu Ren lesson patterns and how to spot each

What are Da Liu Ren lesson patterns?

A lesson pattern, 课体 ke ti, is the name a chart gets from the way its first transmission was taken. The four lessons are checked for a control between each upper god and the position under it. Which control decides, and how, gives the name.

Classical manuals teach nine methods for that step, the nine gates 九宗门. Three of them split in two, Zei Ke and Yao Ke by which way the control runs and Mao Xing by a yang or yin day, so nine methods give twelve names. That is why one list you find says nine, another ten and another twelve: some count methods, some count names.

On the free result the pattern has its own line, Plate pattern, with a short traditional gloss beside it. Another line, Cast by, names the method. They are not the same thing: the method 贼克 can give Yuan Shou or Chong Shen, and a Fan Yin plate can be cast by 涉害.

How do you recognise each lesson pattern?

Ask the questions below in this order and stop at the first one that fits. An upper god that shows the same control in two lessons counts as one candidate, and distinct lessons means different pairs of upper god and seat.

1. Look at the plate

   If the hour branch is the month general itself, the plate is Fu Yin 伏吟; if it is the branch opposite, Fan Yin 反吟. That is the name, whatever the lessons show.

2. Look for harm from below

   Exactly one lesson where the lower controls its upper god (lower harms upper) is Chong Shen 重审. It outranks any number of controls from above.

3. Look for control from above

   With no harm from below, exactly one upper god that controls its lower (upper controls lower) is Yuan Shou 元首.

4. Several of one kind

   If two or more compete and exactly one matches the day stem in yin and yang, the pattern is Zhi Yi 知一. If yin and yang cannot separate them, it is She Hai 涉害.

5. No control in any lesson

   On the days 甲寅, 丁未, 己未 and 庚申 with only two distinct lessons, it is Ba Zhuan 八专. Otherwise compare the upper gods of lessons two to four with the day stem: one that controls the stem is the humming arrow, one the stem controls is the slingshot, both Yao Ke 遥克.

6. Still nothing

   Fewer than four distinct lessons is Bie Ze 别责. Four distinct lessons is Mao Xing 昴星: the tiger watches on a yang day, the winter snake shuts its eyes on a yin day.

Cast the moment in the last column to check any row.

How do the patterns change over one day?

The example used across these guides is 10:30 on 21 October 2026, a 戊辰 day with the month general Chen 辰. Keep the day, move only the hour, and the pattern moves with it. Cast it every two hours and this one day shows seven of the twelve.

At 10:30 the only control is 卯 over 辰, Wood over Earth, upper controls lower. It appears in lessons two and three, but the same upper god counts once, so there is a single candidate and the pattern is Yuan Shou. The three transmissions are 卯, 寅 and 丑, riding the Vermilion Bird, the Serpent and the Noble One.

Two other hours show the order of checks at work:

• 12:30: two lessons show upper controls lower and one shows lower harms upper. Harm from below is looked for first, so the single 丑 over 卯 decides. The pattern is Chong Shen, not She Hai.
• 06:30: lessons one and four are the same pair, 午 over the seat 巳, which leaves three distinct lessons and no control of any kind. The pattern is Bie Ze.

To check any row, open the free Da Liu Ren calculator, choose Chart only and enter the date and time. The same entry always gives the same chart. Why 辰 is the month general on this date is explained in Da Liu Ren month general.

How is She Hai counted?

She Hai settles a tie that yin and yang cannot. At 18:30 on the example day three lessons show lower harms upper: 子 over 戊, 亥 over 辰 and 午 over 亥. 戊 is a yang stem, so only the yang branches 子 and 午 stay in; 亥 drops out before any counting.

Each candidate walks the earth plate from its seat toward its own home branch, counting every branch, and every stem lodged on one, whose element controls it.

Tradition names three ways a tie at equal depth can end:

• 见机 jian ji: the candidate seated on a 孟 branch (寅, 巳, 申, 亥) is taken.
• 察微 cha wei: with no 孟 seat to decide, the one on a 仲 branch (子, 午, 卯, 酉) is taken.
• 缀瑕 zhui xia: if even that ties, a yang day takes the upper god of lesson one, a yin day that of lesson three.

This chart is a 缀瑕 case. Its first transmission is 子 with the Azure Dragon, then 未 with the Noble One and 寅 with the White Tiger.

Schools count differently. Some leave the lodged stems out, and some, following the 大六壬指南, compare 孟 and 仲 seats before counting at all. This chart comes out the same either way: without stems both depths are 2, and both seats are 孟.

Why do Fu Yin and Fan Yin keep their name?

Fu Yin and Fan Yin describe the plate, not a control. At 08:30 the hour is Chen 辰, the month general itself, so every heaven branch lies on its own earth branch. No lesson shows a control, and the Fu Yin rule takes over.

At 20:30 the hour is Xu 戌, opposite 辰, and every branch faces its clash. Both candidates are yin on a yang day, so She Hai settles it. The Cast by line says 涉害; the Plate pattern line still says 反吟.

Many books write the name 返吟. It is the same pattern.

What do Da Liu Ren lesson patterns tell you?

Tradition reads the pattern first, as the shape of how a matter begins: led from above or pushed from below, close at hand or arriving from a distance, moving or not yet moving.

The pattern opens the reading; what follows comes from the three transmissions and the generals they ride. With a question, the Da Liu Ren class gods, lei shen 类神, show where the matter itself sits, and Da Liu Ren timing points to when it shows.

Later handbooks add dozens of further names, such as 三光 and 龙战, built from other conditions like the season, the generals or particular days. They sit on top of the twelve and play no part in taking the first transmission.

If the four lessons themselves are new, Da Liu Ren four lessons shows how each pair is built, and how to read a Da Liu Ren chart puts the pattern among the other layers. The Da Liu Ren guide has the rest of the series.