The Nine Methods: How the Three Transmissions Are Found
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Updated
Once a Da Liu Ren (大六壬 dà liù rén) board is set and the Four Lessons (四课 sì kè) are read off the plates, one question remains: where do the Three Transmissions (三传 sān chuán) come from? The answer is the Nine Methods (九宗法 jiǔ zōng fǎ), a fixed decision procedure applied in strict priority order. Understanding the nine methods da liu ren practitioners rely on is less about memorising nine tricks than about seeing why the sequence is ordered the way it is: each method is a fallback for when the one above it finds no clean answer.
This piece explains the derivation logic conceptually. It does not compute a specific dated board — that is a deterministic engine’s job. What follows is how the machinery is meant to work in principle.
Why the nine methods da liu ren uses run in priority order
The Three Transmissions begin from a seed: the Initial Transmission (初传 chū chuán). The whole point of the Nine Methods is to select that seed without ambiguity. Because a board can present the Four Lessons in many shapes — one controlling relationship, several, none at all, or a plate folded back on itself — no single rule covers every case. So the tradition stacks nine rules and checks them top to bottom. The first rule that resolves the board wins; you never reach for a lower method while a higher one still applies.
The driving relationship throughout is 生克 (shēng kè), production and control, read between each lesson and the day. Two control cases matter especially: 贼 (zéi), where the branch controls the stem, and 克 (kè), where the stem controls the branch. If you are unsure how the Four Lessons themselves are built, our companion piece on the Four Lessons (Si Ke) lays out the stem-and-branch construction the Nine Methods take as their input.
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Most boards resolve in the first three methods, which handle the ordinary case where a controlling relationship exists among the lessons.
贼克法 (zéi kè fǎ) — a 克 or 贼 relationship among the lessons seeds the Initial Transmission. Where both appear, 贼 (branch controls stem) takes priority over 克 (stem controls branch). This is the default, and boards resolved here often carry the calmest, most orderly course structures.
比用法 (bǐ yòng fǎ) — when more than one controlling lesson competes for the seed, pick the candidate whose yin/yang polarity matches the day stem. “Like takes like”: the yang day favours the yang candidate, the yin day the yin.
涉害法 (shè hài fǎ) — if polarity still leaves a tie, the deciding test is depth of “harm” traversed: the candidate whose branch passes through the most controlling palaces on its journey across the plate is chosen. It is the tie-breaker of last resort within the controlling cases.
When there is no direct control: 遥克 and 昴星
Some boards show no 克 or 贼 among the lessons at all. Two further methods cover that.
遥克法 (yáo kè fǎ) — with no direct control present, look for a lesson that controls, or is controlled by, the day stem “from afar” — across the board rather than in the immediate lesson pairing. That distant relationship supplies the seed.
昴星法 (mǎo xīng fǎ) — when even a distant control cannot be found, the board falls to the fixed 昴星 rule, built around the 酉 (yǒu) palace. This is a set procedure rather than a relationship read off the day; the exact placements should be checked against a classical table rather than reconstructed from memory.
The special-case methods: 别责, 八专, 伏吟, 反吟
The final four methods are triggered by the shape of the board itself, not by the control relationships.
Method
Trigger
别责法 (bié zé fǎ)
The Four Lessons are incomplete — only three distinct lessons appear — so a special substitution supplies the seed.
八专法 (bā zhuān fǎ)
The day stem and day branch lodge in the same palace (八专日 bā zhuān rì), collapsing the usual structure; a special rule applies.
伏吟法 (fú yín fǎ)
Heaven and Earth plates (天地盘 tiān dì pán) coincide (the Monthly General 月将 yuè jiàng sits over its own branch) — the “prostrate” board.
反吟法 (fǎn yín fǎ)
The two plates stand 180° opposed — the “reversed” board.
伏吟 and 反吟 are worth dwelling on: they describe a plate that has folded onto itself or flipped entirely. Traditions differ on some of the finer transmission placements in these cases, and a careful practitioner verifies them against a classical source rather than improvising. The alignment that produces them traces all the way back to how the Heaven and Earth plates are set by the Monthly General over the hour.
From method to course structure (课体)
Once the Initial Transmission is seeded, the Middle (中传 zhōng chuán) and Final (末传 mò chuán) chain from it by the plate relationships. The whole resulting pattern is named a course structure (课体 kè tǐ) — 元首课, 重审课, 涉害课, 昴星课, 别责课, 八专课, 伏吟课, 反吟课, and the auspicious named forms such as 三光, 三阳 and 龙德. Each carries a classical tone that colours the reading before a single category symbol (类神 lèi shén) is chosen. The narrative arc those three steps form is the subject of our piece on the Three Transmissions (San Chuan), and the system as a whole is introduced in What Is Da Liu Ren.
Da Liu Ren answers a single question asked at a moment; Ba Zi (八字 bāzì) maps the destiny you were born into. Many readers find the second the natural place to begin — plot your own Four Pillars free with our Ba Zi calculator, or read the What is Ba Zi hub to see how the pieces of a chart fit together.
