Da Liu Ren is a form of Chinese calendrical

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

dating from the later

Warring States The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

period. It is also a member of the Three Styles () of divination, along with

Qi Men Dun Jia Qimen Dunjia is an ancient form of divination from China. It is still in use in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. It is one of the Three Styles () of Chinese divination, wit ...

() and Taiyi (). Li Yang describes Da Liu Ren as the highest form of divination in China. This divination form is called Da Liu Ren because the heavenly stem ''rén'' (), indicating "yang water", appears six times in the

Sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi ( zh, 干支, gānzhī), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...

. In order, it appears in ''rénshēn'' (), ''rénwǔ'' (), ''rénchén'' (), ''rényín'' (), ''rénzǐ'' (), and ''rénxū'' (). In the words of a contemporary Chinese master of Da Liu Ren, the six ''rén'' indicate an entire movement of the sexagenary cycle, during which an something may appear, rise to maturity and then decline and disappear. Thus the six ''rén'' indicate the life cycle of phenomena. There is a homonym in the Chinese language which carries the meaning of pregnancy, and so the six ''rén'' also carry the meaning of the birth of a phenomenon.

Instrument

The diviner's board ''(shi)'' used for the Three Styles differ markedly. The Qi Men Dun Jia divinor's board consists of a 3 × 3 magic square, while the Tai Yi board is somewhat larger, and may be drawn as either a square or circle. The Da Liu Ren cosmic board contains positions for the Earth pan and Heaven pan, which hold the twelve

Earthly Branches The twelve Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches are a Chinese ordering system used throughout East Asia in various contexts, including its ancient dating system, astrological traditions, zodiac and ordinals. Origin This system was built ...

and the twelve spirits. In addition, the Da Liu Ren cosmic board indicates the Three Transmissions () and Four Classes (). A ''shi'' (also known as a astrolabe) from the Six Dynasties period (222–589 CE) consists of a Heaven Plate () placed over an Earth Plate (). On the Earth Plate are three groups of inscriptions: *Outer band: 36 animals (12 associated with the earthly branches, plus the 28 animals associated with the ''xiù'' or lunar mansions) *Middle band: 28 ''xiù'' lunar mansions *Inner ring: Stems and Branches ''(ganzhi)''. The square plate is divided diagonally into four sections that allocate 9 animals, 7 ''xiu'', and 5 ''ganzhi'' to a section. A diviner examined current sky phenomena to set the board and adjust their position in relation to the board. A modern version of the Da Liu Ren cosmic board places the Three Transmissions at the top of the board, along with the corresponding Earth Branch and any pertinent vacancies. The Four Classes are placed below the Three Transmissions, with the Heaven Pan and Earth Pan positions clearly indicated below the corresponding spirit position. A diagram of the Heaven Pan positions of the twelve generals and their corresponding Earth Branch positions in the Heaven Pan completes the illustration. The Earth pan is not depicted. The sexagenary cycle date is given in the upper right–hand margin, with the corresponding situation () number, the location of pertinent vacancies, and an indication of whether the array belongs to daytime or evening divination. The structured situation types for each array are provided in the left-hand margin. In some versions, an annotated description of the major aspects of each situation is provided. The description is often taken from the body of classical literature about Da Liu Ren.

Technique

Divination in Da Liu Ren is determined by relationships of five elements (wu xing ) and

yin and yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...

() between and among the Three Transmissions, Four Classes, Twelve Generals, and the Heaven and Earth Plates. Each double-hour of the day contains a cosmic board for daytime and evening divination. The Three Transmissions are derived from configurations of the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch of the date. The Four Classes are determined in a similar manner. Qi Men Dun Jia was widely used in China during the

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) ...

and

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

dynasties. By the time of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

, Da Liu Ren had overtaken Qi Men Dun Jia in popularity, at least according to source documents found in the caverns of Dunhuang. The overwhelming popularity of Da Liu Ren in ancient China was perhaps due to its higher degree of precision, in comparison with Qi Men Dun Jia. As is true with Qi Men Dun Jia, Da Liu Ren was first used in China for the purposes of devising military strategy and later developed into a more popular and widespread form of divination which grew to include medical divination, matchmaking, childbirth, travel, criminology, weather forecasting, etc. types of divination. In view of its complex nature, Da Liu Ren was regarded as the highest of the Three Styles, since mastery of its complex rule structure required many years of memorization. In contemporary China, few claim mastery of Da Liu Ren, while aging masters worry that younger generations of Chinese will disdain Da Liu Ren and the practice will die out in China. Da Liu Ren is further complicated by the necessity of mastering a large body of rules and regulations which govern the relationships named above. Da Liu Ren contains perhaps four times as many rules as Qi Men Dun Jia, for example. The extant historical literature on Da Liu Ren by far surpasses that of Qi Men Dun Jia.

Instrument

Technique

See also

References

Further reading