What is Cau Tran in Liu Yao? How to place it by day stem and judge according to Zeng Shan Bu Yi

What is Cau Tran in Liu Yao?

Cau Tran is one of the six beasts (also called the six spirits) that the Liu Yao method adds to the six lines of a hexagram. The six beasts are Green Dragon, Chu Tuoc, Cau Tran, Dang Xa, White Tiger and Huyen Vu, each associated in Liu Yao texts with its own group of affairs; by the customary convention of this method, Cau Tran belongs to Earth. The book Zeng Shan Bu Yi has an entire chapter on the six beasts; the text of that chapter does not mention Cau Tran separately, while in other chapters the book links Cau Tran with farmland and prison^[1].

A clear distinction is needed: Cau Tran is not a hexagram, nor a line. It is a label attached to a line, like a layer of colour over an existing painting. The line itself already carries an earthly branch, a phase, and generating and controlling relations with the day, the month and the other lines. The six beasts are only a second layer of information, helping the reader picture the flavour of the matter.

How are the six beasts placed according to the day stem?

The rule for placing the six beasts depends on the stem of the day of casting, not on the day branch or the hexagram. There are six groups of stems, each starting a different beast at the first line, and the lines above follow a fixed order upward. The six beasts run in a cycle: Green Dragon, Chu Tuoc, Cau Tran, Dang Xa, White Tiger, Huyen Vu.

At the beginning of Zeng Shan Bu Yi there is a "Khởi lục thần quyết" (verse on raising the six spirits) that puts the rule into a mnemonic: Jia and Yi raise the Green Dragon, Bing and Ding raise Chu Tuoc, a Wu day raises Cau Tran, a Ji day raises Dang Xa, Geng and Xin raise the White Tiger, Ren and Gui raise Huyen Vu^[1]. So only on a Wu day does Cau Tran sit at the first line.

Table of the six beasts by day stem

Below is the table according to the chapter on the six spirits in Zeng Shan Bu Yi, with the first line as the starting line and the lines above following the fixed cycle.

Looking at the table, Cau Tran is not fixed at any one line. It runs in a cycle according to the day stem, sometimes sitting at the first line, sometimes at the third, fifth or sixth. So the question "which line is Cau Tran on" has no general answer; you have to look at the specific day stem of the casting.

Why does Zeng Shan Bu Yi not take the six beasts as the main basis?

This is the core point that beginners often overlook. Zeng Shan Bu Yi devotes chapter eighteen to the six beasts, and opens that chapter by quoting the view of many old books. Books such as Tian Yuan Fu, Sui Jin Fu, Bu Shi Yuan Gui and Bu Shi Da Quan all tend to absolutise the six beasts: seeing the Green Dragon means good, seeing the White Tiger means bad, seeing Dang Xa means death, seeing the White Tiger means mourning^[1].

Zeng Shan Bu Yi refutes that approach. The book quotes a line from Tian Jin Fu: when the White Tiger rises but meets a lucky spirit, it does no harm to that good fortune; when the Green Dragon moves but meets an inauspicious star, it cannot hide that misfortune^[1]. That is the correct principle. According to the book, the six beasts are auxiliary spirits: a hexagram that is already good becomes better with the Green Dragon, a hexagram that is already bad becomes worse with the White Tiger. Huyen Vu governs theft and robbery, Chu Tuoc governs quarrels and gossip, and both hold true; and when examining houses and graves, the six beasts cannot be omitted^[1].

In other words, the order of priority when judging a hexagram is: first look at whether the useful spirit is strong or weak, the generating and controlling of the day and month, movement and stillness, void in the cycle, and monthly destruction; only then look at the six beasts to add flavour. Reversing that order is a mistake in method.

What does Cau Tran govern?

By the customary convention of the Liu Yao method, Cau Tran belongs to Earth. In Zeng Shan Bu Yi, Cau Tran appears in several places, all around matters of land and binding. The chapter on Xu Ti records: when the Officials line controls the Self line and carries Cau Tran, it is a matter of farmland, and also touches on prison. The chapter on Chu Xing records: when the Ghost line carries Cau Tran and moves, the matter involves entanglement and implication. When examining the terrain of a site, the book takes Cau Tran as the fields and the sloping banks around the grave; if that line is strong it is present, if weak or broken it is not. The book also mentions an old rule that Cau Tran favours farming and crafts, then says plainly that it does not use that rule^[1].

It should be said clearly: these meanings are conventions of the Liu Yao method, handed down through texts, not the result of measurement or verification. They belong to the layer of metaphysical interpretation. The reader may use them as a cultural frame of reference, not as a basis for deciding important matters in life.

Zeng Shan Bu Yi gives two examples against rigid reading by the six beasts

Zeng Shan Bu Yi offers two hexagrams to prove that one cannot simply rejoice at the Green Dragon and fear Dang Xa. Both examples belong to chapter eighteen, the discussion of the six beasts^[1].

First example: Green Dragon and still death

On a Wu Zi day, a hexagram was cast about childbirth, giving Shan Di Bo changing into Feng Di Guan. The Self line is the Zi Water line, carrying the Green Dragon beast, and is also the Offspring line. By a rigid reading, the Green Dragon is a good beast and Offspring is a joy spirit, so it must be a good omen. But the book records: that Zi Water line turned into Extinction and changed into an Officials line, so the newborn died that very day. The book concludes with a rhetorical question: with the Green Dragon on the Offspring line like that, can it be called a cause for joy^[1].

Second example: Dang Xa and White Tiger and still alive

On a Jia Chen day, in the Shen month, a hexagram was cast about the illness of an elder brother, giving Shui Lei Zhun changing into Zhen. The Siblings line Zi Water is the useful spirit. In the hexagram, both the hostile spirit and the source spirit moved: the Earth line moved to generate the Shen Metal line, the Shen Metal line moved to generate the Zi Water line, and the month pillar Shen Metal also generated Zi Water. The result was that on the Wu Shen day, the patient rose from a serious illness. The book concludes: so can it be called Dang Xa moving meaning death, White Tiger moving meaning mourning^[1].

These two examples show the consistent position of Zeng Shan Bu Yi: the six beasts do not decide fortune or misfortune. What decides is the generating and controlling relation between the lines and the day, the month and one another.

So when judging a hexagram, how should Cau Tran be read correctly?

The reasonable way to read it is to place Cau Tran in its proper auxiliary position. First determine the useful spirit of the question, see whether the useful spirit is strong or weak, whether it is generated or controlled by the day and month, whether it moves or is still, whether it falls into void in the cycle or monthly destruction. Only then look at which line the six beasts sit on to add flavour.

The book also gives a concise rule in the chapter Zeng Shan Huang Jin Shu Tian Jin Fu: when Huyen Vu, Chu Tuoc, Cau Tran and Dang Xa move without controlling the Self line, there is no harm; if they move and control the Self line, they are all inauspicious, with no need to distinguish whether that line is Siblings or Officials^[1]. With Cau Tran, what must be examined is whether the line carrying it moves and whether it controls the Self line.

Should Cau Tran be used to predict real-life matters?

The straight answer is: it should not be used to decide important matters. The six beasts in general and Cau Tran in particular are a layer of symbols in an old interpretive system, valuable as cultural heritage and as a way of organising thought, with no verified predictive value. Even within the Liu Yao method itself, Zeng Shan Bu Yi set limits on the six beasts with the two examples above.

For someone interested for academic purposes or cultural study, knowing how to place Cau Tran by day stem, knowing it belongs to Earth, and knowing it is often linked with farmland and prison is enough to read and understand translations and old essays. For someone seeking to resolve matters of love, work or health, this should be seen as a reference view, not a substitute for factual information and professional advice.

In summary on Cau Tran

Cau Tran is the third beast in the cycle of six, belonging to Earth, placed by day stem and not by day branch. It is present in every hexagram, differing only in which line it sits on. The correct way to judge, in the spirit of Zeng Shan Bu Yi, is to take generating, controlling, strength and weakness as the root, and the six beasts as the shading. Reading Cau Tran apart from the useful spirit and the day and month is a mistake in method that the book itself warned against.