TL;DR: Chu Tuoc is one of the six beasts (six spirits) of Liu Yao (Vietnamese divination), placed on the six lines according to the stem of the day the hexagram is cast: on Giáp and Ất days Green Dragon starts at the first line, on Bính and Đinh days Chu Tuoc starts at the first line, then proceeds upward. In Tăng San Bốc Dịch, Chu Tuoc is tied to quarrels, litigation over right and wrong, and to documents and news. The book treats the six beasts as supporting spirits: an auspicious hexagram meeting Green Dragon becomes more auspicious, an inauspicious hexagram meeting White Tiger becomes more inauspicious; when Chu Tuoc moves without overcoming the Thế line there is nothing to worry about, and it does not by itself decide good or bad fortune.
What is Chu Tuoc in Liu Yao?
Chu Tuoc is one of the six beasts, also called the six spirits, of the Liu Yao divination method: Green Dragon, Chu Tuoc, Cau Tran, Dang Xa, White Tiger, Huyen Vu. These six beasts are not the six lines of a hexagram, but six labels attached to the six lines that already exist, one label per line, according to the heavenly stem of the day the hexagram was cast. The six beasts have no generating or controlling relationship with the lines as the five phases do; they only add nuance to the line they occupy. Therefore Chu Tuoc is not a "deity" that grants anything, but a way of reading a line: what that line speaks of, and with what nuance.
The name Chu Tuoc is also used in Qi Men Dun Jia and Liu Ren with entirely different placement and interpretation methods; those are different systems that share a name, and should not be confused. This article discusses Chu Tuoc specifically in Liu Yao according to the received version of the Zeng Shan Bu Yi[1].
How to place Chu Tuoc according to the day stem
The six beasts are placed according to the stem of the day, not the branch of the day, not the stem or branch of the year or month. The rule is recorded at the beginning of current editions of the Zeng Shan Bu Yi in the mnemonic "Raising the six spirits": on Jia and Yi days Green Dragon starts at the first line, on Bing and Ding days Chu Tuoc starts at the first line, on Wu day Cau Tran starts, on Ji day Dang Xa starts, on Geng and Xin days White Tiger starts, on Ren and Gui days Huyen Vu starts[2]. Once the first line is placed, the fixed order proceeds upward: Green Dragon, Chu Tuoc, Cau Tran, Dang Xa, White Tiger, Huyen Vu, and after Huyen Vu it returns to Green Dragon. The table below is the complete placement table for all six lines by day stem group, copied from the "Chapter Eighteen on the Six Spirits" table of the Zeng Shan Bu Yi[3].
| Day stem group | First line | Second line | Third line | Fourth line | Fifth line | Top line |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jia, Yi | Green Dragon | Chu Tuoc | Cau Tran | Dang Xa | White Tiger | Huyen Vu |
| Bing, Ding | Chu Tuoc | Cau Tran | Dang Xa | White Tiger | Huyen Vu | Green Dragon |
| Wu | Cau Tran | Dang Xa | White Tiger | Huyen Vu | Green Dragon | Chu Tuoc |
| Ji | Dang Xa | White Tiger | Huyen Vu | Green Dragon | Chu Tuoc | Cau Tran |
| Geng, Xin | White Tiger | Huyen Vu | Green Dragon | Chu Tuoc | Cau Tran | Dang Xa |
| Ren, Gui | Huyen Vu | Green Dragon | Chu Tuoc | Cau Tran | Dang Xa | White Tiger |
Looking at the table, one thing easily overlooked becomes clear: Chu Tuoc is not fixed to any line. On the same line, on a Jia day Chu Tuoc occupies the second line, on a Bing day it occupies the first line, on a Wu day the top line, on a Geng day the fourth line, on a Ren day the third line. Therefore when interpreting, one must not remember "Chu Tuoc is the second line" or "Chu Tuoc is the top line", but must calculate from the day stem. In the Zeng Shan Bu Yi there is a recorded example of a hexagram cast on a Wu Zi day, the hexagram Shan Di Bo, with Chu Tuoc on the top line[3], which matches the table above: on a Wu day Cau Tran is on the first, Dang Xa on the second, White Tiger on the third, Huyen Vu on the fourth, Green Dragon on the fifth, Chu Tuoc on the top. The book records hexagrams from the top line down to the first line, so the top row marked Chu Tuoc is indeed the top line.
What does Chu Tuoc govern?
The Zeng Shan Bu Yi mentions Chu Tuoc in many chapters, around two groups of matters. The first group is quarrels, lawsuits and disputes: the chapter on the six spirits records that Chu Tuoc governs quarrels; the chapter on guarding against slander and litigation records that when Officials and Chu Tuoc move together, quarrels are hard to avoid; the chapter on travel records that when the Ghost is accompanied by Chu Tuoc and is activated, one should guard against lawsuits and disputes. The second group is documents and news: in the chapter on monthly destruction, a hexagram cast on a Wu Zi day asking when the father would return, the book judged that Chu Tuoc accompanied by Parents and moving while holding the World line meant news would come on a Mao day; in the chapter on lifelong wealth and fortune, the book judged that a person with Chu Tuoc accompanied by Parents was someone who could make a living by the pen[3].
In the Zeng Shan Bu Yi, the "Chapter on the Six Spirits" restates the ideas of earlier books and then rebuts them. It cites the Tian Yuan Fu saying that when the body is prosperous and Green Dragon holds the World line there are many good things; the Sui Jin Fu saying that when the dragon moves the house has joy, when the tiger moves the house has mourning; the Bu Shi Yuan Gui saying that Dang Xa and White Tiger govern worry for elders; the Bu Shi Da Quan saying to fear White Tiger with a knife in its mouth, and to rejoice when Green Dragon enters the water[3]. The author of the Zeng Shan Bu Yi does not accept that approach. The book writes that the various books all take Green Dragon as good and White Tiger as bad, and then judge life and death by the six beasts alone, which is "not using the five phases, but using the six spirits to judge life and death"[3]. The book only accepts the line from the Qian Jin Fu: when the tiger stirs but meets an auspicious spirit it does not harm the good, when the dragon moves but meets an inauspicious spirit it is hard to cover the bad[3].
By what principle does the Zeng Shan Bu Yi interpret Chu Tuoc?
The core principle of the Zeng Shan Bu Yi is: the six beasts are subordinate spirits, not deciding spirits. The book writes: "an auspicious hexagram meeting the dragon is all the more auspicious, an inauspicious hexagram meeting White Tiger is all the more inauspicious", and acknowledges that Huyen Vu governs theft and Chu Tuoc governs quarrels, so that "there is nowhere it does not prove true"[3]. That is, the value of the six beasts lies in indicating the type of matter, not in turning good into bad. To know good or bad, one must look at whether the useful spirit is prosperous or weak, how the day and month generate or control it, and how the moving line transforms; the six beasts only add that the matter occurs in the form of quarrels, documents, letters, or lawsuits.
In its preface, the Zeng Shan Bu Yi also places Chu Tuoc in its proper position: when discussing common people consulting the annual fortune, the book says that when Siblings move and control the World line there are quarrels and loss of wealth, and "when Dang Xa and Chu Tuoc accompany Siblings, and the Ghost moves and controls the World line, one must guard against quarrels"[2]. That sentence shows the correct usage: Chu Tuoc does not itself cause quarrels, it only stamps "quarrels" onto a line that is already a hostile spirit controlling the World line. Drop the line, drop the generating and controlling, and look only at the words Chu Tuoc, and there is nothing left to interpret.
How to interpret Chu Tuoc on each line?
The Zeng Shan Bu Yi does not divide the meaning of Chu Tuoc by each of the six relations. In the chapter Zeng Shan Huang Jin Shu Tian Jin Fu, the book cites the old theory that Huyen Vu governs theft so it must be accompanied by Officials, and Chu Tuoc is the spirit of quarrels so it must be accompanied by Siblings, then rebuts it: that theory lacks reason; if Huyen Vu, Chu Tuoc, Cau Tran and Dang Xa move but do not control the World line there is no harm, and if they move and control the World line they are all inauspicious, without needing to distinguish Siblings from Officials[3]. What must be examined first is whether the line carrying Chu Tuoc moves and whether it controls the World line.
Should the six beasts be used to judge good and bad fortune?
The Zeng Shan Bu Yi answers plainly: no. The book gives two example hexagrams to rebut the approach of judging by the six beasts. The first hexagram, cast on a Wu Zi day asking about childbirth, yielded the hexagram Shan Di Bo changing to Feng Di Guan, with the Offspring line Zi Water holding the World line at the fifth line, carrying Green Dragon[3]. By the "dragon good, tiger bad" approach, meeting Green Dragon is a joy, but the book says the Offspring line Zi Water transforms into Extinction and changes into Officials, so the child died the very day it was born; thus Green Dragon accompanying Offspring could not save it. The second hexagram, cast in the Shen month on a Jia Chen day, yielded the hexagram Zhun changing to Zhen, with the Siblings line Zi Water as the useful spirit; in the hexagram the hostile spirit and the original spirit moved together, Earth moved to generate Shen Metal, Shen Metal moved to generate Zi Water, and the monthly command also generated Zi Water, so on the Wu Shen day the serious illness recovered[3]. The book concludes: it is not at all "when the snake moves one dies, when the tiger moves there is mourning" as the old books say.
These two examples show the true spirit of the book: the six beasts are the top decorative layer, and the layer below is the five phases generating and controlling, prosperity and decline, movement and transformation, void in the cycle, and monthly destruction. To drop the lower layer and read only the upper layer is wrong. This is also why in practice people often read the six beasts last: determine the useful spirit, look at prosperity and decline, look at generating and controlling, and only then ask "in what form does this matter occur?". Chu Tuoc answers exactly that last question.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestions when using Chu Tuoc
For those new to Liu Yao, the following two points often help avoid mistakes:
- Place the six beasts first, interpret the five phases after, but read the result in reverse order. That is, placement follows the day stem, but when interpreting one must determine the useful spirit and its prosperity or decline first, and only then turn back to ask where Chu Tuoc sits.
- Never conclude "there is Chu Tuoc so there will be a lawsuit". One must ask: is the line carrying Chu Tuoc a hostile spirit, does it control the World line, does it move, is it struck or broken by the day or month. If not, Chu Tuoc is only paperwork, news, or ordinary talk.
In the end, Chu Tuoc is a reading tool, not a verdict. It helps the interpreter know that the matter asked about will unfold in the form of writing, speech or documents, but it does not itself say whether that matter is good or bad. Good and bad fortune lie in the useful spirit, in the day and month, in movement and transformation; Chu Tuoc only tells us which aspect of the matter to look at.
