LIUREN
What is Liuren (Da Liu Ren)?
Liuren (Da Liu Ren) is a traditional Chinese divination practice that builds a board of heaven and earth from the sexagenary (ganzhi) designation of the hour a question is asked, and reads the resulting arrangement. Together with qimen dunjia and taiyi, it is known as one of the "Three Styles" (san shi), among the most complex systems of Chinese divination, and it also influenced Japanese onmyōdō.
Overview
- System
- Omen Reading (reads from the arrangement of a divination board built from the time of the question)
- Origin
- China
- What You Need
- The question, and the date and time it was received
- Best For
- Career, life, timing, either-or decisions
- Time Frame
- Near term to 90 days
Origins & History
Liuren (Da Liu Ren) is a divination practice based on a calendrical system said to originate in the late Warring States period of China. It combines a heaven board and an earth board, on which the twelve earthly branches and the twelve celestial generals are arranged and read, and it was used continuously across successive Chinese dynasties.
It is counted, together with qimen dunjia and taiyi, among the "Three Styles" (san shi) of Chinese divination, and liuren in particular is considered the most difficult of the three, requiring many years to master because of the complexity of its interpretive rules. It was originally used for military decisions, but was later applied to a wide range of matters, including medicine, matchmaking, and weather forecasting. It was transmitted to Japan through onmyōdō, and has been handled within that tradition since the time of Abe no Seimei.
How It Works
- 01Decide on a single question to ask.
- 02From the date and time the question was received, determine the "monthly general" (the position of the sun for that period).
- 03Using the monthly general, combine the heaven board and earth board to derive the "four courses" (the foundation of the reading).
- 04From the four courses, derive the "three transmissions" (three elements indicating the flow of time), and arrange the twelve celestial generals.
- 05Read the arrangement of the entire board together to interpret the answer to the question.
What It Reveals
It is a divination that can offer answers on a wide range of themes, including the course of one’s career, the direction of one’s life, and either-or decisions. While it has a systematic mechanism that mechanically builds a board from the time of the question, interpreting it requires specialized knowledge and experience, making it a divination that is difficult to master in full detail through self-study alone.
Related Methods
References
- Wikipedia: Da Liu Ren (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Liu_Ren)