Three transmissions in Da Liu Ren: how they form

What are the three transmissions?

A Da Liu Ren plate is read in layers: the heaven and earth plates, then the four lessons, then the three transmissions, which take three branches from the plate so the matter reads as a sequence.

初传chu chuan

Also called: First transmission, 发用 fa yong

The branch taken out of the four lessons, also called the one put to use. Everything after it depends on it.

中传zhong chuan

Also called: Middle transmission

In an ordinary plate, the heaven branch that stands over the first transmission on the earth plate.

末传mo chuan

Also called: Final transmission

The heaven branch that stands over the middle transmission, found the same way.

Each transmission also carries one of the twelve generals, the one riding that branch on the plate. How the generals are placed is explained in the twelve heavenly generals.

Where do the three transmissions come from?

They come from the four lessons, each a pair: a lower position and the upper god standing on it. In the first lesson the lower is the day stem itself, placed at its lodging palace (巳 for the 戊 day in the example below); in the other three it is a branch. How the pairs are laid out is the subject of the four lessons.

What counts here is the relation inside each pair, by the five elements. The free tool prints it in the last column of its four lessons table.

Which of the nine methods applies?

Classical manuals give nine methods for taking the first transmission, the 九宗门 or nine gates. Each one handles a plate the method before it cannot settle, so they are tried in order and the first that fits is used.

The free tool follows this order with two shifts: as soon as no lesson shows a control it checks for Fu Yin or Fan Yin, and it tries Ba Zhuan before Yao Ke.

A Fu Yin or Fan Yin plate that does hold a control still takes its first transmission by Zei Ke, and the result names the plate pattern 伏吟 or 反吟. On a Fu Yin plate the middle and final transmissions then follow the punishment (刑) rule rather than the heaven plate.

How does Zei Ke pick the first transmission?

Zei Ke reads the relation column. A lower position that controls its upper god is called zei, harm from below; an upper god that controls its lower is called ke. Harm from below is looked for first.

1. Look for harm from below

   If exactly one lesson shows lower harms upper, its upper god is the first transmission. The pattern is called Chong Shen 重审, the second look.

2. Otherwise, control from above

   If nothing harms from below and exactly one upper god controls its lower, that god is the first transmission. The pattern is Yuan Shou 元首, the head leads.

3. Several candidates

   Keep those whose branch matches the day stem in yin and yang. If one remains, that is Bi Yong, and the pattern is Zhi Yi 知一.

4. Still tied

   Use She Hai: count the controls each candidate meets on the way back to its own palace on the earth plate, and take the deepest.

5. Chain the other two

   The middle transmission is the heaven branch over the first; the final one is the heaven branch over the middle.

One detail decides many real plates: when two lessons show the same control with the same upper god, that god counts once, so Bi Yong and She Hai never come into it.

A worked example: 21 October 2026, 10:30 in Tokyo

All four Da Liu Ren guides here use this moment. The tool reads the clock time as entered, so 10:30 in Tokyo is cast as 10:30.

1. No harm from below

   None of the four lessons shows lower harms upper.

2. One controlling god

   Lessons two and three both put Mao, wood, over Chen, earth. Wood controls earth, but it is the same god twice, so there is a single candidate.

3. First transmission

   Mao 卯 is put to use. A single control from above makes the method Zei Ke and the pattern Yuan Shou.

4. Middle transmission

   On the plate, Yin 寅 stands over Mao, so Yin is the middle transmission.

5. Final transmission

   Chou 丑 stands over Yin, so Chou is the final transmission.

Next to the pattern the tool adds its traditional gloss: one upper god controls a lower one, traditionally read as a matter led from above, orderly and open.

How are the first, middle and final transmissions read?

Traditional manuals call the three the gate where a matter begins, the gate where it shifts and the gate where it settles (发端, 移易, 归计). Read them as one line, not as three separate verdicts.

• First transmission: how the matter starts and what sets it moving. It carries the most weight on the plate.
• Middle transmission: what the matter turns into on the way, the help or the friction in between.
• Final transmission: where it comes to rest. Tradition also looks to it, with the first, when asking when a matter shows its shape.

In the example, Mao, Yin and Chou step back one branch at a time. Tradition calls such a run 退连茹, linked roots in retreat, and usually reads it as a matter pulling back, better held than pushed ahead. The generals add their own colour: the Vermilion Bird rides the start and the Noble One the end, as the twelve heavenly generals explains.

Build your own plate

Try the steps on a moment of your own with the free Da Liu Ren calculator. Choose Chart only to see the four lessons and the three transmissions without asking anything. The chart is free; AI questions have separate limits. Then check the result in this order:

• Which lessons show a control, and does it come from below or from above?
• Is the same upper god repeated, so that it counts once?
• Which branch stands over the first transmission on the plate, and which over that one?

New to the method? Start with what is Da Liu Ren or the Da Liu Ren guide.