The Three Methods

The Siku preface to Liu Ren Da Quan explicitly groups Liu Ren with Dun Jia and Tai Yi as the Three Methods. That gives a source for the grouping while its account of each method still requires separate reading.

Shi points to a structured arrangement or scheme in this context. It does not mean that one palace table can be reused unchanged in all three. Their transmitted manuals contain distinct placement procedures, agents, special cases and interpretations.

The shared calendar vocabulary supplies a language of cycles and positions, but the geometry differs. Liu Ren uses twelve earth branches with a rotated heaven ring. Qi Men uses a nine-palace arrangement with several symbolic layers. Tai Yi uses counted cycles and its own palace and agent circuits. A common word such as “palace” can therefore identify a position in different coordinate systems. Learning the geometry first keeps subsequent comparisons about stems, branches or deities intelligible.

Tai Yi prominently treats collective affairs in its historical literature, while also recording personal procedures and shorter time scales. Da Liu Ren organizes a particular inquiry through Four Lessons and Three Transmissions. The hourly Qi Men approach introduced here relates a selected moment to a situation, its roles and possible directions of action. These are customary emphases, not exclusive territories: the appropriate scope follows the procedure being used.

The table compares the starting coordinates and the structure derived from them. “Time” is not one interchangeable input: an accumulated count in Tai Yi, the alignment of monthly general and hour in Liu Ren, and a solar-term-based hourly configuration in Qi Men perform different operations. A common vocabulary of phases, stems and branches does not make the resulting positions identical.

The linked construction exercises reach different stages. Tai Yi derives one agent’s palace position; Liu Ren derives a branch sequence from four paired lessons; Qi Men traces an hourly earth plate and the rotation of stars and gates, with the deity layer outside that short exercise. They demonstrate how each structure is formed. None of these teaching exercises is a complete verdict on the same real affair.

Tai Yi’s surviving manual includes yearly, monthly, daily and hourly procedures. A selected epoch and accumulated count lead to placements and host–guest calculations. The historical literature prominently discusses collective affairs but also includes personal procedures.

Begin by asking which count and time scale are intended. A large-scale configuration should not be turned into a personal psychological statement merely because it contains a shared symbol. Conversely, a personal Tai Yi procedure should not be described as the whole system.

Its characteristic operation is to turn a defined accumulated quantity into positions through counted cycles, then derive relations between already placed agents. The Tai Yi article’s “Worked year placement” follows one such position from the received Kaiyuan twelve count; its “The order of construction” section explains what remains before a host–guest configuration is complete.

Da Liu Ren places the monthly general over the selected hour on a twelve-branch plate. It derives Four Lessons from the day stem and branch, then selects the initial transmission and develops a three-term sequence under applicable rules.

The resulting sequence can organize a process-oriented reading, but it remains connected to the lessons, day roles and conditions. Three attractive transmission names alone do not constitute an interpretable chart. Xiao Liu Ren’s simplified cycle is a separate practice.

Here the time alignment first creates paired relations, whose conditions select a branch sequence. The Da Liu Ren article’s “Worked configuration” follows the Jia Zi repeated-plate case from its Four Lessons to the declared Fu Yin transmission rule. A three-term sequence in Liu Ren counts different things from a three-year palace residence in Tai Yi; the shared number does not supply a shared procedure.

Qi Men arranges stems, gates, stars and symbolic deities through a selected nine-palace method, with yin/yang Dun and a ju configuration. Relevant roles and palaces must be selected for the question; the presence of a favorable gate is not by itself an answer.

Rotating and flying arrangements, ju-setting and central-palace handling require declared conventions. A birth chart is not the event chart, and a person’s birthplace is not automatically the location of a journey or present decision. The used time and place should fit the chosen task.

The distinguishing feature here is a configuration with several layers in each palace. The Qi Men article’s “Worked formation: Yang Dun 1” traces the earth stems, chief star and chief gate before showing the star and gate rotations. Those separate movements explain why two leading markers can finish in different palaces. The gate’s function and the stem’s relation are then read as distinct information within the selected palace.

Consider a proposed cooperation with a participant, an offer, resources and a deadline. The participant and resources describe the actual arrangement; the deadline describes its practical horizon. A question about making contact on a chosen occasion differs from a question about the questioner’s recurring approach to shared resources. The former gives a moment inquiry its focus, while the latter can invite a natal perspective.

In a moment reading, the adopted role rules connect the question to selected branches or palaces. “Partner” is an ordinary description of a person, not automatically a Tai Yi host or guest, a Liu Ren transmission or a Qi Men palace. A host–guest relation belongs to its calculation; an initial transmission belongs to its lesson-selection rule. Their symbolic interactions become relevant to cooperation through that particular role assignment, rather than through the topic word alone.

A natal reading addresses a different aspect: relationships in the questioner’s birth configuration may provide a traditional language for discussing how resources or responsibilities are approached. It does not rotate the event plate or supply the other party’s undisclosed intentions. Agreement terms, available resources and the people’s stated wishes remain practical information in their own right. The symbolic perspective concerns the selected question within the method’s structure, while those facts describe the cooperation itself.

The first layer establishes time. A civil timestamp needs an understood time zone, and the chosen method specifies how seasonal boundaries, hour divisions or accumulated units are handled. The second layer forms the configuration. The third selects roles and interprets relationships for the question. Keeping the layers separate helps a learner diagnose a difference: two charts may differ in time conversion, in placement rule, or only in interpretive emphasis.

For example, changing Liu Ren’s selected hour can rotate the entire heaven plate and thereby change its lessons. Changing a Tai Yi epoch can change the accumulated count before an agent is placed. Changing a Qi Men ju-setting convention may change the ground arrangement before moving layers are considered. Each is a change in formation. By contrast, discussing a document rather than a journey can change the interpretive focus while leaving the same configuration intact.

A study sequence can begin with one construction example from each linked article. Draw the starting coordinates, list the transformations and mark the first point at which the question enters the interpretation. The exercise makes shared vocabulary useful: phases and branches can be compared as relational languages, while their distinct formation rules remain visible. It also shows why combining methods requires more explanation, rather than simply more technical names.

In Qi Men, a Six Instrument stem can represent a Jia-led ten-term stem–branch sequence: for example, Jia Zi is hidden under Wu. Dun Jia Yan Yi records the Six Instruments’ relationship to the six Jia sequences. That stem consequently has a calendrical and positional job, not just a dictionary meaning such as resource or authority. The Qi Men formation follows this particular pairing into the palace that supplies the chief star and gate.

In BaZi, relationships such as resource or authority are established relative to the Day Master. In Liu Ren, a day stem locates its lodging and helps select the lesson chain. A branch in Tai Yi may name a station in an agent circuit. The same stem or branch can thus serve as reference, lodging key or circuit station. Comparisons become clearer when they ask what operation used the symbol, rather than assuming its familiar meaning from another system.

The same applies to favorable-sounding names. A door, a heavenly general and a numeric condition belong to different derived structures. Their interpretations can be discussed together only after those structures and the selected roles are explained. A shared term assists translation across traditions; the rule that creates its position remains local to the method.

Tai Yi also appears as the name of the Si monthly general in Liu Ren vocabulary. That name within a twelve-general list is not a calculation of the separate Tai Yi system. The monthly-general material in Dun Jia Yan Yi shows vocabulary shared across practical traditions without collapsing their principal constructions. Ask whether a name identifies a whole method or an agent in a particular list; seeing one familiar name does not show that all Three Methods have been calculated.

Liu Ren Da Quan’s Siku preface explicitly names the Three Methods and describes Liu Ren’s plates, Four Lessons and Three Transmissions: https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/六壬大全 . Its juan 1 supplies the formation procedures followed by the separate Da Liu Ren article: https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/六壬大全_(四庫全書本)/卷01

Tai Yi Jin Jing Shi Jing, Siku edition, juan 1, separates accumulated year, month, day and hour procedures: https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/太乙金鏡式經_(四庫全書本)/卷01 . Juan 2 provides palace and agent relations: https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/太乙金鏡式經_(四庫全書本)/卷02

Dun Jia Yan Yi, Siku edition, records yin/yang progression, Wonders and Instruments, and chief-star/chief-gate arrangements: https://zh.wikisource.org/zh/遁甲演義_(四庫全書本)/全覽 . The separate Qi Men article names the additional received sources and modern conventions used for its hourly exercise. These texts establish historical terminology and method content; they do not provide an independently measured ranking of accuracy.