What is Da Liu Ren and how do you start?

What is Da Liu Ren, in plain terms?

Da Liu Ren (大六壬) belongs to the Chinese methods that read a moment rather than a person. You settle one question, note the date and clock time, and build a chart from that minute. The same minute always gives the same chart. A new question gets a chart of its own, even on the same day.

Because nothing about the asker goes in, Da Liu Ren needs no birthday and works the same for any question. What matters is that the question is real and that the time entered is the time it was settled.

Where does Da Liu Ren come from?

Tradition counts Da Liu Ren among the three shi (三式), the classical methods worked on a shi board, alongside Taiyi and Qimen Dunjia. The board was a square earth plate with a round heaven plate turning on it. Boards of this kind have been excavated from Han dynasty tombs.

The name is usually explained this way: 壬 (ren) is the yang Water stem, and Water comes first in the old number lore. Among the sixty stem and branch pairs, 壬 appears six times, hence six ren. Da, great, sets it apart from Xiao Liu Ren.

大六壬Da Liu Ren

Also called: Liu Ren, 六壬

The method this guide describes, read from heaven and earth plates built for one moment.

式盘shi board

The square and round board the plates were once turned on. A calculator now does the same turning.

小六壬Xiao Liu Ren

A much simpler finger-counting method with a similar name. It is not a shorter form of Da Liu Ren.

Most rules taught today come from Ming and early Qing manuals such as the Liuren Daquan (六壬大全) and the Da Liu Ren Zhinan (大六壬指南). Sixty day pairs and twelve turns of the heaven plate give the 720 lesson arrangements those books tabulate. The manuals do not agree on every detail.

What is a Da Liu Ren chart made of?

Each chart, called one ke (一课), has four layers. Each one is built from the one before, so they are best learned in this order.

The earth plate is the twelve earthly branches in fixed seats. The heaven plate is the same twelve branches, turned so that the month general sits over the hour of the question. Every earth seat then carries one heaven branch, written heaven over earth, such as 辰 over 巳.

The four lessons bring the day stem and day branch onto the plate. Each lesson is an upper branch over a lower one, and the way their elements relate decides what happens next. The article on the four lessons lays them out one by one.

The three transmissions are drawn out of the four lessons: usually a lesson where one element controls the other starts the chain, and the plate gives the next two. Tradition reads them as how a matter starts, turns and settles. See how the three transmissions are produced.

The twelve heavenly generals, led by the Noble One, are laid around the plate one per seat, so every branch and every transmission rides a general. They add a character to each position. The twelve heavenly generals article covers each one.

One moment, one chart: 21 October 2026 at 10:30

The Da Liu Ren articles on this site share one moment so that each can be checked against the others: 21 October 2026 at 10:30, entered exactly as written. The wording of the question does not change the plate, so any question will do.

1. Put the month general on the hour

   The last middle solar term before 21 October is the autumn equinox, so the month general is 辰, Tian Gang. It goes on 巳, the two-hour period that holds 10:30, and the whole heaven plate sits one seat behind the earth plate: 辰 over 巳, 卯 over 辰, and so on round the circle.

2. Build the four lessons

   The day stem 戊 is lodged at 巳, which carries 辰, so lesson one is 辰 over 戊, Earth over Earth. Lesson two is 卯 over 辰. Lesson three starts from the day branch 辰 and gives 卯 over 辰 again, and lesson four is 寅 over 卯.

3. Draw the three transmissions

   Only 卯 over 辰 shows a control: Wood controls Earth, upper over lower, so 卯 starts. 卯 carries 寅, and 寅 carries 丑, which gives 卯, 寅, 丑.

4. Lay out the generals

   10:30 is a daytime hour, and on a 戊 day the daytime Noble One is 丑. 丑 sits over 寅, so the generals run forward from there, and the three transmissions ride the Vermilion Bird, the Serpent and the Noble One.

The tool records two names here. Cast by 贼克 names the method: a control between an upper and a lower branch picked the first transmission. The plate pattern 元首 is the traditional name when no lower branch harms the one above it and exactly one upper branch controls the branch below it.

Why does another calculator give a different chart?

Several Da Liu Ren conventions change the plate itself. When two calculators disagree about the same moment, compare these points before suspecting the arithmetic.

How is a Da Liu Ren reading used?

A plate speaks to the question it was cast for, so the question comes first. Make it one matter you can act on, and cast when it is settled rather than hours later.

• Ask about one matter: "Will the landlord accept my offer this week?" works better than "How will my year go?"
• Cast once per question. Casting again because you dislike the answer only gives you a second, unrelated plate.
• Write the question and the moment down, so you can compare the plate with what actually happened.

Traditionally the day stem stands for the person asking and the day branch for the other side or the matter. The four lessons show how the two meet, and the three transmissions are read as the beginning, the turn and the outcome. Readers also look for the branch or general tied to the subject, such as money or travel.

How do you start with the free Da Liu Ren calculator?

1. Choose how to begin

   Pick With a question and write your one matter, or Chart only if you want the plate first and a question later.

2. Set the moment

   Type the date and time, or press Use the current time. The chart is built from that exact minute, so check it before you go on.

3. Draw the chart

   Press Draw this chart. It is free and needs no account.

4. Read it in order

   Check the calendar line first, then the plate, the four lessons table and the three transmissions with their generals.

Open the free Da Liu Ren calculator and cast the example above, then take the parts one at a time, starting with the four lessons. The Da Liu Ren guide lists every article as it is added. The chart is free; AI questions have separate limits.