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 Earth Branches and the twelve spirits. In addition, the Da Liu Ren cosmic board indicates the Three Transmissions (san chuan 三传) and Four Classes (四课).
A shi (also known as a liuren astrolabe) from the Six Dynasties period (222–589 CE) consists of a Heaven Plate 天盘 placed over an Earth Plate 地盘. On the Earth Plate are three groups of inscriptions:
- Outer band: 36 animals (12 associated with the Branches plus the 28 animals associated with the xiu or lunar mansions)
- Middle band: 28 xiu
- 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 sexegenary cycle date is given in the upper right – hand margin, with the corresponding situation (Ju) 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.
Read more about this topic: Da Liu Ren
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