Qimen Dunjia Basics: The Four Layers of a Chart
Open a Qimen Dunjia chart and it looks like a wall of dense squares. It is not chaotic — four layers sit on one grid: the Earth Plate, the Heaven Plate (Nine Stars), the Human Layer (Eight Gates), and the Spirit Layer (Eight Spirits).
1. The Nine Palaces: the grid all four layers share
All four layers sit on the same nine-palace grid, and the compass directions of the nine palaces are fixed, following the Luoshu: Kan 1 in the north, Kun 2 in the southwest, Zhen 3 in the east, Xun 4 in the southeast, the Center 5 in the middle, Qian 6 in the northwest, Dui 7 in the west, Gen 8 in the northeast, Li 9 in the south.
No matter when you cast the chart, the directions never change — only the content inside each square changes. So the first step in reading a chart is always to locate yourself: find which palace your question falls into, and make every judgment there.
2. The Earth Plate (Three Marvels and Six Rites): the foundation of the matter
The Earth Plate is the base layer of the whole chart. Its content is the Heavenly Stems, in two groups: the Three Marvels (三奇) = Yi, Bing, Ding; and the Six Rites (六儀) = Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui. Of the ten Heavenly Stems, Jia never appears directly — Jia is the commander, traditionally kept hidden beneath the Six Rites, which is why the system is called Dun Jia (遁甲, "hidden Jia").
The six Jia xun — the ten-day cycles that each begin with Jia — pair with one Rite: Jia-Zi with Wu, Jia-Xu with Ji, Jia-Shen with Geng, Jia-Wu with Xin, Jia-Chen with Ren, Jia-Yin with Gui. This pairing is the basis for finding the xun head (旬首), the Chief Star (值符) and the Chief Gate (值使) later, and it is worth memorizing.
To lay the Earth Plate: first fix the ju number, start Wu from its matching palace, then fill the nine palaces in the order Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui, Ding, Bing, Yi — forward through the Luoshu order for Yang Dun, backward for Yin Dun. (See casting method for the full way to fix the ju number.)
The Earth Plate stands for the foundation of the matter: the original position, the base, the objective conditions. The Heaven Plate and the Eight Gates are variables added on top; the Earth Plate is the fixed reference point.
3. The Heaven Plate (Nine Stars): the overall trend and nature
The nine stars of the Heaven Plate stack on top of the Earth Plate and shift as a whole, led by the Chief Star (值符). The key: find which palace the xun head of the hour falls into on the Earth Plate; that palace's home star is the Chief Star. The other eight stars then slide clockwise around the outer ring in order (Kan 1 → Gen 8 → Zhen 3 → Xun 4 → Li 9 → Kun 2 → Dui 7 → Qian 6). Tian Qin always stays in the Center 5 palace and is read through Kun 2 for its movement.
| Star | Home palace | Element | Nature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tian Peng (天蓬) | Kan 1 | Water | Slightly inauspicious — restlessness, murkiness, the water of thieves |
| Tian Rui (天芮) | Kun 2 | Earth | Inauspicious — illness, delay, teacher and disciple |
| Tian Chong (天沖) | Zhen 3 | Wood | Slightly auspicious — initiative, speed, racing ahead |
| Tian Fu (天輔) | Xun 4 | Wood | Very auspicious — documents, scholarship, teaching |
| Tian Qin (天禽) | Center 5 | Earth | Very auspicious — impartiality, helpful people, central harmony |
| Tian Xin (天心) | Qian 6 | Metal | Very auspicious — strategy, medicine, leadership |
| Tian Zhu (天柱) | Dui 7 | Metal | Slightly inauspicious — disputes, contention, destruction |
| Tian Ren (天任) | Gen 8 | Earth | Auspicious — steadiness, land, personnel |
| Tian Ying (天英) | Li 9 | Fire | Neutral — culture and reputation, also impatience |
Read the stars mainly for nature and trend: for example, Tian Fu favors documents, Tian Xin governs strategy and medicine, Tian Rui rules the energy of illness. This layer speaks to the broad direction, not the fine details of execution.
4. The Human Layer (Eight Gates): the channel for action
The Eight Gates are the most-cited layer, because they map directly to human affairs and direction: Open, Rest and Life are traditionally the most favorable; Death, Fear and Harm the most to be avoided; Delusion and Scenery are neutral, useful when handled well. The Center 5 palace has no gate, so it is read through Kun 2.
| Gate | Home palace | Element | Luck | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rest (休門) | Kan 1 | Water | Auspicious | Rest, calm, quiet progress |
| Life (生門) | Gen 8 | Earth | Very auspicious | Wealth, business, vitality |
| Harm (傷門) | Zhen 3 | Wood | Inauspicious | Conflict, injury, hunting, marriage proposal |
| Delusion (杜門) | Xun 4 | Wood | Neutral | Obstruction, concealment, hiding, severance |
| Scenery (景門) | Li 9 | Fire | Auspicious | Documents, messages, publicity, banquets |
| Death (死門) | Kun 2 | Earth | Very inauspicious | Endings, burial, cutting losses, putting away |
| Fear (驚門) | Dui 7 | Metal | Inauspicious | Alarm, disputes, litigation, wavering news |
| Open (開門) | Qian 6 | Metal | Auspicious | Beginnings, career, helpful people, a way out |
The gates also shift as a whole: the Chief Gate (值使) that corresponds to the xun head leads, and the gates are laid across the nine palaces forward for Yang Dun and backward for Yin Dun. Gates speak to "entry and exit, the channel, the way things get done," so questions like "can it be done" or "which direction should I act from" usually start with the gate.
5. The Spirit Layer (Eight Spirits): hidden forces and mood
The Eight Spirits run in a fixed order: Chief, Serpent, Great Yin, Six Harmony, White Tiger, Dark Warrior, Nine Earth, Nine Heaven. The Chief spirit always sits in the palace holding the Chief Star; the rest are laid out forward for Yang Dun and backward for Yin Dun.
The spirits speak to mood, people's hearts, and hidden forces: Six Harmony rules harmony and union, Great Yin secret help and concealment, White Tiger force and damage, Dark Warrior murkiness and things kept unclear, Nine Heaven height and ostentation, Nine Earth steadiness and concealment, Serpent wavering and suspicion. For the fuller layer-by-layer tour, see Chart Explained.
Five steps for reading your first chart
- Fix the question and the significator. For career, take the Open gate; for money, the Life gate; for documents and exams, the Scenery gate or Tian Fu; for partnership with people, Six Harmony. Pick one or two significators per question, no more (schools differ slightly on which significator to take; this site follows the traditional mainstream).
- Read the gate in the significator's palace: its luck, its strength or weakness, and whether its nature fits.
- Read the star in that palace: the overall trend and nature.
- Read the spirit in that palace: the mood, the help and the resistance.
- Read the generating and controlling relationship between the heaven-plate and earth-plate stems, then correct with Void (空亡) and Horse (馬星) (see How to Read a Chart).
Three common beginner mistakes
- Memorizing only the luck table. An auspicious gate landing in an inauspicious palace, or being controlled, can flip the result. A chart is read by relationship, not square by square.
- Calling the Death gate bad on sight. Asked about "putting something away, cutting losses, or ending a matter," the Death gate is exactly on topic. A gate's luck must be read against the nature of the question.
- Ignoring Void. A palace in Void is one step removed, for better or worse — it means delay, not yet materialized, not happening immediately.