Da Liu Ren is a form of Chinese calendrical

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

dating from the later

Warring States The Warring States period in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for gre ...

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, ...

() 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 The ten Heavenly Stems (or Celestial Stems) are a system of ordinals indigenous to China and used throughout East Asia, first attested during the Shang dynasty as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-era ritual ...

, indicating "yang water", appears six times in the

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

. In order, it appears in , , , , , and . In the words of a contemporary Chinese master of Da Liu Ren, the six 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 indicate the life cycle of phenomena. There is a homonym in the Chinese language which carries the meaning of pregnancy, and so the six also carry the meaning of the birth of a phenomenon.

Instrument

The diviner's board 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 Earthly Branches (also called the Terrestrial Branches or the 12-cycle) are a system of twelve ordered symbols used throughout East Asia. They are indigenous to China, and are themselves Chinese characters, corresponding to words with no co ...

and the twelve spirits. In addition, the Da Liu Ren cosmic board indicates the Three Transmissions () and Four Classes (). A (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 or lunar mansions) *Middle band: 28 lunar mansions *Inner ring: Stems and Branches . The square plate is divided diagonally into four sections that allocate 9 animals, 7 , and 5 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 () and

yin and yang Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...

() 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 The ten Heavenly Stems (or Celestial Stems) are a system of ordinals indigenous to China and used throughout East Asia, first attested during the Shang dynasty as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-era ritual ...

and

Earthly Branch The Earthly Branches (also called the Terrestrial Branches or the 12-cycle) are a system of twelve ordered symbols used throughout East Asia. They are indigenous to China, and are themselves Chinese characters, corresponding to words with no co ...

of the date. The Four Classes are determined in a similar manner. Qi Men Dun Jia was widely used in China during the Tang and

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

dynasties. By the time of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

, 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 come to disdain Da Liu Ren leading to its practice dying 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