Da Liu Ren timing: when will it happen?

How does Da Liu Ren read timing?

Timing (应期, ying qi) is the "when" of a Da Liu Ren question. The plate points to a few earthly branches taken from the three transmissions, and the matter is read as stirring or showing its shape on a day, month or year of those branches.

1. Look at the first transmission

   The first transmission taken (发用) is where the matter starts to move, so its branch is read as the time things begin to stir.

2. Look at the final transmission

   The final transmission is where the matter settles. Its branch is read as the time the outcome becomes clear.

3. Check the empty branches

   A transmission that falls in the empty branches (旬空) of the day is not yet solid. It waits until that branch is filled or the ten-day group moves on.

4. Find each harmony and clash

   Every transmission has one branch it harmonises with and one it clashes with. A day or month of those branches is when the matter is drawn in or knocked loose.

Which four rules give the timing candidates?

The complete reading draws on the same four rules for every plate. The rule names are the traditional ones.

The six harmonies pair the branches as Zi and Chou, Yin and Hai, Mao and Xu, Chen and You, Si and Shen, Wu and Wei. A clash is the branch directly opposite: Zi and Wu, Chou and Wei, Yin and Shen, Mao and You, Chen and Xu, Si and Hai.

Only the six harmonies count here, not the three-branch harmonies, so three transmissions give six such candidates, and some may repeat.

Worked example: timing for 21 October 2026, 10:30

All the Da Liu Ren guides on this site share one plate. Its three transmissions are 卯 Mao with the Vermilion Bird, 寅 Yin with the Serpent and 丑 Chou with the Noble One.

None of Mao, Yin or Chou is Xu or Hai, so the empty-branch rule adds nothing and the plate has eight candidates. Mao and Chou carry the main line; the other six are supporting clues. The complete reading usually picks the strongest candidate and reads that one, most often the final transmission.

What if a transmission falls in an empty branch?

The empty branches are the two branches the ten stems of the current ten-day group do not reach. A transmission that lands in one is read as not yet solid: the matter waits until it is filled, when that branch comes round, or until the days leave the group. The example plate has no such case, but a cast earlier the same day does.

Check it on a calendar. The Jia Zi group ends on 26 October (癸酉); from 27 October (甲戌) a new group begins and Hai is no longer empty, and 28 October (乙亥) is the first Hai day after that. By the tradition, that is when this transmission leaves the void and is filled. Empty does not mean it fails.

Does the timing mean a day, a month or a year?

A branch carries no unit: Mao can be a Mao day, a Mao month or a Mao year. The timing verse in volume three of the Liuren Daquan (六壬大全) first asks how the first transmission relates to the year, month, day and hour of the cast.

Mao matches none of these, so the verse gives no ready range. A note in volume seven says the year, month, day and hour can all serve as timing.

When the verse does not fit, practitioners usually go by the scale of the matter: days for something due within days, months for a matter of months, years beyond that. Schools differ, and the free calculator does not choose a unit for you.

Where does Multifate show the timing?

The free Da Liu Ren calculator casts the plates, four lessons, three transmissions, Noble One and plate pattern. The complete reading goes through the pattern, the class god, the transmissions and the timing. The chart is free; AI questions have separate limits.

Timing reads best beside the class god and the pattern: the same final transmission Chou lands differently for a money question and a work question. See Da Liu Ren class gods for how the class god is chosen and Da Liu Ren lesson patterns for how a matter begins. For the whole system, start at the Da Liu Ren guide.