TL;DR: The twelve trực are a rotating cycle of twelve days, named Kiến, Trừ, Mãn, Bình, Định, Chấp, Phá, Nguy, Thành, Thu, Khai, Bế, used to determine the auspicious or inauspicious nature of each day. The placement rule follows the solar-term month: in the Dần month the Dần day is trực Kiến, and the rest proceed in order through the twelve earthly branches. The Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư cites the Khảo nguyên classing Trừ, Định, Chấp, Thành and Khai as auspicious and Kiến, Phá, Bình, Thu, Mãn and Bế as inauspicious, while calendar books put Nguy on the yellow path, while noting that other thần sát must also be combined for a full assessment.
What are the twelve trực Kiến Trừ?
The twelve trực, also called Kiến Trừ thập nhị khách or thập nhị thần, are a cycle of twelve days named in turn Kiến, Trừ, Mãn, Bình, Định, Chấp, Phá, Nguy, Thành, Thu, Khai, Bế, used to determine the auspicious or inauspicious nature of each day of the month. According to the Vietnamese translation of the Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư by the group Mai Cốc Thành, Vũ Hoàng, and Lân Bình, this system originally used twelve time periods to indicate fortune within the month, and was only later adapted into a method for judging the fortune of days.
The book also records a theory that Kiến Trừ began in the Warring States period, and that someone borrowed the name of the Yellow Emperor to create it, but this is a tradition attributing authorship, not a proven historical event.
How is the trực of a day calculated?
The calculation of trực is tied to the solar-term month and the position of the Big Dipper. According to the Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư, the placement of the twelve trực relates to the Phá quân star, that is, the handle of the Big Dipper: at dusk on the solar term day of the first month, the star handle points straight to the Dần direction, so it is called Kiến Dần; in the second month at dusk of the first solar term it points to Mão, so the second month is called Kiến Mão, and so on until the following year, when the handle at the first month's solar term again points to Dần.
From this, after the first month's solar term, the Dần day is trực Kiến, the Mão day is trực Trừ, and the remaining days are deduced in order. Each month the day on which the new solar term begins repeats the trực of the day before (每月交節則疊兩值日), so trực Kiến always falls on the day bearing the branch of the month, and after a year the Dần day following the first month's solar term is trực Kiến again[3].
A quick way to remember: in the Dần month, Dần is Kiến, Mão is Trừ, Thìn is Mãn, Tị is Bình, Ngọ is Định, Mùi is Chấp, Thân is Phá, Dậu is Nguy, Tuất is Thành, Hợi is Thu, Tý is Khai, Sửu is Bế. Other months shift according to the corresponding solar-term month.
Table of the twelve trực and their auspicious or inauspicious meanings
According to the Vietnamese translation of the Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư, each trực is associated with certain thần sát names and different levels of fortune:
| Trực | Accompanying spirits (per the translation) | Fortune when judging days |
|---|---|---|
| Kiến | Binh phúc, Tiểu thời, Thổ phủ | Inauspicious |
| Trừ | Cát kỳ, Binh bảo | Auspicious |
| Mãn | Phúc đức, Thiên vu, Thiên cẩu | Inauspicious |
| Bình | Dương nguyệt Thiên cương, Âm nguyệt Hà khôi, Tử thần | Inauspicious |
| Định | Thời âm, Quan phù, Tử khí | Auspicious |
| Chấp | Chi đức, Tiểu hao | Auspicious |
| Phá | Đại hao | Greatly inauspicious |
| Nguy | Cực phú tinh, Cốc tướng tinh | Not ranked by the Khảo nguyên; calendar books place it on the yellow path |
| Thành | Tam hợp, Phi liêm, Bạch hổ | Auspicious |
| Thu | Tứ lợi Phúc đức, Bát tọa | Inauspicious |
| Khai | Thanh long, Thái âm, Sinh khí, Hoa cái | Highly auspicious |
| Bế | Bệnh phù | Inauspicious |
The Khảo nguyên section cited in the book says that among the twelve spirits of the Nguyệt kiến, Trừ, Định, Chấp, Thành, and Khai are auspicious; Kiến, Phá, Bình, Thu, Mãn, and Bế are inauspicious. Calendar books, however, hold that Kiến, Mãn, Bình, and Thu are black; Trừ, Nguy, Định, and Chấp are yellow; Thành and Khai can both be used; Bế and Phá cannot be confronted together.
Why do the books not fully agree on fortune?
The books do not fully agree because each school pairs the trực with a different set of thần sát. The Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư states clearly that the Tuyển trạch Tông Kính pairs them with the various spirits of the Tứ lợi tam nguyên, but the fortune still does not match entirely: for example, the Tuyển trạch Tông Kính takes Kiến as Thái tuế, Trừ as Thái dương, Mãn as Tang môn, Phá as Tuế phá, and Nguy as Long đức, which are compatible; but it takes Bình as Thái âm, Định as Quan phù, Chấp as Tử phù, Thành as Bạch hổ, Thu as Phúc đức, and Khai as Điếu khách, which are not compatible.
The book concludes: a day with many auspicious spirits is auspicious, a day with many inauspicious spirits is inauspicious, and one must choose avoidance according to each type of affair, and cannot judge everything by holding to a single rule.
How is trực calculated in day-selection practice?
In practice, people usually look up the trực of a day based on a pre-arranged lunar calendar, or calculate it themselves by determining the solar-term month and then matching the day's earthly branch against the trực table. For example, in the Dần month (roughly early spring by solar terms), the Dần day is Kiến, the Mão day is Trừ, the Thìn day is Mãn, and so on to the Sửu day, which is Bế; in the Mão month, the Mão day is Kiến, the Thìn day is Trừ, and the shift is similar.
The book emphasizes that the names and fortunes of the Kiến Trừ twelve spirits differ from one person to another, and opinions are not in agreement, so one should combine yin and yang, the five phases, and the specific meaning in each type of affair to investigate and judge.
What is the relation of the twelve trực to other systems?
The twelve trực also appear in other systems such as Kỳ Môn Độn Giáp. The Kỳ Môn chỉ quy by Chu Hạo Văn (1893) has a section titled "Kiến Trừ thập nhị thần hoàng hắc đạo quyết", in which the twelve trực are paired with the twelve spirits of the yellow and black paths: Kiến is Thanh long, Trừ is Minh đường, Mãn is Thiên hình, Bình is Chu tước, Định is Kim quỹ, Chấp is Thiên đức, Phá is Bạch hổ, Nguy is Ngọc đường, Thành is Thiên lao, Thu is Huyền vũ, Khai is Tư mệnh, and Bế is Câu trần[1].
The Kỳ Môn pháp khiếu also records a way to use the Địa hộ: take the month kiến and add it to the hour, start from Kiến and count forward, then Trừ, Định, Nguy, and Khai are the four positions of the Địa hộ, which can be used for cầu an, storage, and defense[2].
Application of the twelve trực in day selection today
Today, the twelve trực are still widely used in perpetual calendars and applications for checking auspicious and inauspicious days. Users often look up the trực of a day to know whether it belongs to the auspicious or inauspicious group, then combine it with other factors such as hoàng đạo days, hoàng đạo hours, and the age of the person involved to decide.
Even so, the policy of the Hiệp kỷ biện phương thư has noted that one cannot conclude based on a single factor, because each affair has its own way of selection, and the fortune of a day also depends on many thần sát in combination.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion
When checking days by the twelve trực, you can view the trực as initial reference information: the group Trừ, Định, Chấp, Thành, and Khai is often seen as more favorable for starting things, marriage, and travel; the group Kiến, Mãn, Bình, Thu, Phá and Bế is often seen as requiring more caution, while the books rank Nguy differently. However, this is an understanding according to the day-selection tradition, not a scientific conclusion about destiny or finances, and each person should weigh it against their own actual circumstances.
