Da Liu Ren — cast a plate online
The monthly general set on the cosmic board (square earth plate, rotating round heaven plate), then the four lessons and three transmissions, with the twelve heavenly generals, six relatives, hidden stems and voids.
What Da Liu Ren is for
Da Liu Ren is one of the Three Rites, alongside Qi Men Dun Jia and Tai Yi. It answers a specific matter at the moment of asking — a transaction, a journey, a missing person, whether something will come off — rather than describing a life from a birth chart.
Among the three it is the most detailed about people: who is involved, what they intend, and how the matter moves from beginning to end.
How a plate is built
- Monthly general — the Sun’s position by the middle qi of the month. It changes at the middle qi, not at the lunar first day; getting this wrong rotates the whole heaven plate and everything after it. This is the classic hand-casting error.
- Rotate the heaven plate — place the monthly general on the hour of asking; the round heaven plate turns over the fixed square earth plate.
- Four lessons — four upper–lower pairs taken from the day’s stem and branch: the first lesson from the day stem, the third from the day branch.
- Three transmissions — initial, middle and final, drawn from the four lessons and read as the beginning, middle and end of the matter.
The twelve heavenly generals
Placed on the heaven plate, they colour each position: Noble One · Serpent · Vermilion Bird · Six Harmony · Hook Chain · Green Dragon · Heavenly Void · White Tiger · Great Constancy · Dark Warrior · Great Yin · Heavenly Empress.
As in Qi Men, they are never read alone — a position is read together with its upper and lower branch, its six relative and any void marker.