Yin Pan vs Yang Pan: Different Schools, Different Charts
Different Qimen Dunjia schools use Yin Pan (陰盤) or Yang Pan (陽盤) arrangements. This guide explains the difference and what it means for chart interpretation.
Year, Month, Day and Hour Schools
The Yin Pan and Yang Pan arrangements are different ways of looking at the same chart. Each school has its own method for calculating and arranging the palaces.
This division is by the time unit you use to cast the chart (起局) — how much time a single chart is meant to cover. Four schools are named after the unit they cast by:
| Name | Casting unit | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Year Qimen (年家奇門) | By year | Reading the year's overall trend, national fortune and long-term direction |
| Month Qimen (月家奇門) | By month | Reading monthly movement and phased, stage-by-stage planning |
| Day Qimen (日家奇門) | By day | Reading the day's activities, and date-selection uses |
| Hour Qimen (時家奇門) | By double-hour | Divining a specific matter — the most widely used |
When people today talk about "Qimen Dunjia", ninety-nine times out of a hundred they mean Hour Qimen: one chart per double-hour (時辰, the traditional two-hour period), cast to ask about one specific matter. So unless a source names another school, you can safely assume it is talking about the hour version. The other three schools are used by far fewer people, and far fewer online tools support them.
Yin Pan and Yang Pan: Two Common Meanings
The Yin Pan and Yang Pan arrangements are different ways of looking at the same chart. Each school has its own method for calculating and arranging the palaces.
The two words are used inconsistently in the market, and they most commonly carry one of two meanings:
- As an arrangement method. One is the "rotating plate" (轉盤): the nine stars and eight gates on the heaven plate rotate as a single block into the palace where the Chief (值符) sits. The other is the "flying plate" (飛盤): the symbols are pushed forward palace by palace, following the nine-palace flying layout. The names describe how the symbols move. The two methods lay the plate out differently and produce different chart faces, and the tradition uses "yang pan / yin pan" to mark the distinction.
- As Yin Dun and Yang Dun. Some people simply use "yang pan" for a Yang Dun (陽遁) chart and "yin pan" for a Yin Dun (陰遁) chart. Read that way, the terms are only naming the two types of chart inside one and the same system.
Because the definitions are not unified, the most practical move is to state clearly which arrangement method and which casting unit you use before you compare charts with anyone. Otherwise the two of you are looking at different charts, and the discussion will just talk past itself. Naming your method up front is what lets two charts be compared at all.
What This Site Uses
The Yin Pan and Yang Pan arrangements are different ways of looking at the same chart. Each school has its own method for calculating and arranging the palaces.
The casting page on this site uses Hour Qimen with the rotating-plate method: one chart per double-hour. The earth plate fixes the ju number (局數) and the Yin Dun / Yang Dun type from the solar term and the three yuans (三元), and the heaven plate — the nine stars, the eight gates, the eight spirits and the heaven-plate stems — rotates with the Chief into the matching palace, with the void (空亡) and horse (馬星) markers attached. The chart states the Yin Dun / Yang Dun type, the solar term, the yuan and the ju number outright, so you can cross-check it against other tools. For the full step-by-step of that casting process, read How to Cast a Chart.
Why the School Matters
The Yin Pan and Yang Pan arrangements are different ways of looking at the same chart. Each school has its own method for calculating and arranging the palaces.
The school you use is not a stylistic choice — it changes the chart itself, so getting it straight matters in three ways:
- To avoid assuming you made a mistake. Two tools drawing different charts does not mean one of them is broken; it may simply be a difference of school.
- To line up with what you study from. Whatever book or course you learn from, use that source's arrangement method. Don't mix methods while you are learning, or you will only get more and more confused.
- To stay consistent in practice. If you always use the same method, your records and verification actually mean something.
Which One Should a Beginner Learn
The Yin Pan and Yang Pan arrangements are different ways of looking at the same chart. Each school has its own method for calculating and arranging the palaces.
Start with Hour Qimen: it has the most material, the most complete tooling, and you can practise on a fresh chart every day. Once you can steadily read the gist of a chart, then look at the other schools. You will find the disagreements usually concentrate in the casting details and the pattern names — and that they do not really affect your ability to read the shape of a situation. Reading a situation well is a skill that carries across schools; only the fine print changes.