Luo Pan Library · Master Ung Khiem

The Combined Three Cycles and Three Combinations Luo Pan

This is the luo pan Master Ung Khiem uses in the field, redrawn from 22 photographs taken on 14 October 2026. Every character in every cell follows the plate and was checked cell by cell against the photographs, with Vietnamese and English readings. The drawing style is UK MASTER and does not copy the maker's lettering or brand.

Tap any cell on the dial to read it. Drag the slider to turn the dial to a facing and read every ring at that bearing. Below, each ring has its own section on what it is, how it is built, how to read it in the field and where schools disagree, with a full table of its cells.

22 rings25 text tiers374 mansion degree cells138 single red dots384 lines

Rings on this luo pan

Compass well, needle and red cross threads

天池 · 海底線 · 天心十道

The heart of the luo pan, where every reading begins

The compass well (tian chi) is the round glass pool at the centre. It holds a magnetic needle on a pivot, and a red line on its floor called the sea bottom line. The north end of that line carries two red dots so it is never set backwards. Two red threads stretched across the square base form the heavenly heart cross.

A correct reading means turning the round plate until the needle lies exactly over the sea bottom line. The thread running from your back to your front then marks the sitting and the facing on every ring at once. Classical texts speak of the needle pointing south, which often confuses people used to Western compasses.

The redrawn dial on this page has no physical needle. In Luo Pan Pro the phone sensor plays the role of the needle and the red vertical line on screen plays the role of the cross threads.

In the field

Stand at the main door with your back to the house, hold the luo pan level at waist height and keep away from steel. Read only when the needle rests on the sea bottom line. Measure in at least three spots and look for interference if they differ by more than two degrees.

Notes and where schools differ

Cars, steel posts, speakers and fridges pull the needle. Check the needle and make sure the two threads are truly square before using a new luo pan.

Sources

Early Heaven trigrams

先天八卦

Eight palaces of forty five degrees

The innermost ring shows the eight trigrams in Fu Xi's Early Heaven order. Qian is south, Kun north, Li east, Kan west, Dui south east, Zhen north east, Xun south west and Gen north west. Each trigram spans exactly forty five degrees and holds three of the 24 mountains.

Feng shui treats Early Heaven as the body and Later Heaven as the function. This ring reminds the reader that every outer ring is a subdivision of the eight palaces. The Eight Killings of the Dragon, the stem attachments (na jia) and the 64 hexagram ring are all built on these eight trigrams.

In the field

Read the palace to see which trigram the facing sits in, then refine it on the finer rings outside.

Notes and where schools differ

Many luo pans print the Later Heaven trigrams here. Master Ung Khiem's luo pan prints Early Heaven, so Qian sits in the south and not in the north west.

Full table of cells

Sources

Yellow Springs

黃泉

Eight road and four road water taboos by facing

Yellow Springs is a water method about where water arrives, where it drains and where a door opens, judged from the facing of a house or grave. The verse most often quoted is 「庚丁坤上是黃泉，乙丙須防巽水先，甲癸向中憂見艮，辛壬水路怕當乾」.

On Master Ung Khiem's luo pan this ring is printed only under the eight stems and four corners. Each stem carries one trigram, so a Geng or Ding facing shows Kun. Each corner carries two stems, so a Kun facing shows Ding and Geng. The eight stems are the eight roads, the four corners the four roads, and the rule runs both ways.

A common reading uses the Twelve Growth stages. A prosperous facing with water draining at the Official stage, or a declining facing with water draining at the Emperor stage, is the killing Yellow Springs. Water arriving at the same spot can instead be the relieving Yellow Springs.

In the field

Once the facing is fixed, read its Yellow Springs cell. Check whether that direction has a stream flowing out, a drain or a door opening straight onto it.

Notes and where schools differ

Texts disagree. One article attributes the four lines to the outer chapters of the Tian Yu Jing, while Wang Daoheng's Luo Jing Tou Jie expands them to eight lines with changed wording. Do not read it as all water is bad. The question is where water drains away. Do not confuse it with the Eight Killings of the Dragon, which is a dragon and sand method.

Full table of cells

Sources

Robbery Sha by sitting mountain

坐山劫煞

The harmful direction counted from the sitting

This ring shows, for each sitting mountain, where the Robbery Sha lies. The verse is 「巽未申山癸劫藏，辛戌居丑庚馬鄉，震艮逢丁甲見丙，壬猴乾兔丙辛方，坎癸逢蛇巳午雞，丁酉逢寅坤亥乙，龍虎遇羊乙猴劫」. Sitting Zi or Gui puts the sha at Si, sitting Ren puts it at Shen.

All 24 cells on Master Ung Khiem's luo pan match the verse character by character. The method always works from the sitting, never from the facing.

In the field

Read the cell under the sitting mountain and look out to the direction it names. Broken rock, a collapsing slope, a sharp corner pointing in or an ugly structure there counts as a hit. A round, upright hill there is not a problem.

Notes and where schools differ

Copies of the verse differ in a few characters. The outcomes old books attach to Robbery Sha are traditional warnings that call for a closer look, not fixed verdicts.

Full table of cells

Sources

Earth Mother nine stars

地母翻卦九星

Nine stars counted from Kun, for hills and sand

Kun is the earth mother on which every mountain rests. Taking Kun as the base palace (Assistant star) and flipping one line at a time gives Gen Greedy Wolf, Xun Great Door, Qian Prosperity, Li Literary, Zhen Purity, Dui Military and Kan Broken Army.

Through the stem attachments the stars pass to the mountains. Kun Yi take Assistant, Gen Bing Greedy Wolf, Xun Xin Great Door, Qian Jia Prosperity, Ren Yin Wu Xu Literary, Geng Hai Mao Wei Purity, Ding Si You Chou Military, Gui Shen Zi Chen Broken Army. All 24 cells on this luo pan match.

In the field

Used for hills, sand and mounds around the site, and for placing doors, stoves and beds. A good star direction with a fine hill is auspicious, a bad star direction with a sharp, leaning hill is not.

Notes and where schools differ

Water is not judged on this ring but with the Assistant star water method counted from the facing trigram. Do not confuse it with the Greedy Wolf nine stars of the Xuan Kong Da Gua circle, which is a different system.

Full table of cells

Sources

Earth Plate, 24 Mountains

地盤正針二十四山

The base ring for reading dragons and setting a facing

The 24 mountains are eight heavenly stems (leaving out Wu and Ji at the centre), the twelve earthly branches and the four corners Qian, Kun, Gen and Xun. Each spans fifteen degrees, with Zi due north from 352.5 to 7.5 degrees. The small character beside each is its standard element.

Red characters are pure yang, black are pure yin. Qian, Kun, Kan and Li carry odd Luo Shu numbers and take their attached mountains with them, Qian with Jia, Kun with Yi, Kan with Gui and Shen Zi Chen, Li with Ren and Yin Wu Xu. Those twelve are printed red, the other twelve black.

The middle nine degrees of a mountain are its true facing, the three degrees on each side are leaning facings. Sitting right on the line between two mountains is the minor void, on the line between two trigrams the major void.

In the field

This is the first ring read in the field. The Three Cycles school uses the Earth Plate for dragons, water exits and facings alike. The Three Combinations school uses it for dragons, the Human Plate for sand and the Heaven Plate for water.

Notes and where schools differ

The two schools split the mountains into yin and yang differently. Whichever theory you use, use its own split.

Full table of cells

Sources

Piercing Mountain 72 Dragons

穿山七十二龍

Sixty jiazi plus twelve Zheng cells

The sixty jiazi are shared among the twelve branches, five cells of five degrees each. Yang branches take Jia Bing Wu Geng Ren, yin branches take Yi Ding Ji Xin Gui. Each cell also shows its nayin element. Under the centre of the eight stems and four corners are twelve empty cells, printed red with the character Zheng 正 on this luo pan. Together they make 72.

The five cells in a branch follow five decades. The Jia Zi decade is lonely and void, Bing Zi prosperous, Wu Zi turtle shell void, Geng Zi prosperous, Ren Zi mismatched. Surveyors avoid the lonely, turtle shell and mismatched cells.

Each Zheng cell sits between the last cell of one branch and the first of the next, for example between Ding Si Earth and Geng Wu Earth at the Bing mountain. The Qing Nang Ao Yu says 「顛顛倒，二十四山有珠寶」.

In the field

Piercing Mountain reads the distant dragon. Set the luo pan at the pass, or behind the entering star on the water parting ridge, and read which jiazi the dragon belongs to.

Notes and where schools differ

Schools read dian dian dao very differently. Jiang Dahong explains it as the union of yin and yang. The Three Combinations school reads it through the growth cycle. Chen Yifeng ties it to this ring and treats only the Geng, Bing, Ding and Xin cells as treasure. Some texts call the twelve Zheng cells the major void.

Full table of cells

Sources

24 Heavenly Stars

二十四天星

The rank of dragons and sand by the stars above

Each mountain corresponds to an asterism. Hai is the Heavenly Emperor of the Purple Enclosure, Gen is the Heavenly Market of the Market Enclosure, Bing is Supreme Subtlety and You is Lesser Subtlety. Dragons and hills from a noble star direction carry noble qi.

This luo pan prints Mao as Heavenly Mandate and Ding as Heavenly Pillar, matching the version in Lai Wenjun's Cui Guan Pian. Other plates print Mao as Heavenly Balance and Ding as South Pole.

In the field

Used for the arriving dragon and the hills around the site. The Hai dragon is the most noble. The three auspicious are Hai, Zhen and Geng, the six elegant are Gen, Bing, Xun, Xin, Dui and Ding.

Notes and where schools differ

Some plates carry a different 24 star ring that begins with Dragon Tower, ends with Earth Killing and turns with the cycles. That is not this ring.

Full table of cells

Sources

Human Plate, middle needle

人盤中針

Seven and a half degrees anticlockwise, for judging sand

The middle needle is traditionally credited to Lai Buyi. The 24 mountains turn half a mountain anticlockwise, seven and a half degrees, so its Zi lies from 345 to 360 degrees.

The element printed before each mountain is the Seven Governors and Four Remainders element, also called the sand element. Its verse is 「乾坤艮巽是木鄉，寅申巳亥水神當，甲庚丙壬本屬火，子午卯酉火依相，乙辛丁癸土相傷，辰戌丑未屬金堂」. All 24 cells on this plate match it.

In the field

The Three Combinations school uses it to judge sand, the hills and mounds around a site. Take the bearing of a peak on this ring and compare its element with the sitting.

Notes and where schools differ

The Three Cycles school does not use it. Some authors swap the roles of the middle and seam needles, so check which convention a book follows.

Full table of cells

Sources

Penetrating Earth 60 Dragons

透地六十龍

The near vein entering the site

Sixty jiazi of six degrees each. Jia Zi starts at the beginning of the Ren mountain, 337.5 degrees, then Bing Zi, Wu Zi, Geng Zi, Ren Zi, then Yi Chou and onwards. Each pair of mountains such as Ren Zi holds the five cells of one branch.

Measured on this plate, Geng Zi runs from 355.5 to 1.5 degrees and covers the centre of Zi. Wu Zi straddles Ren and Zi.

In the field

Piercing Mountain reads the far vein, Penetrating Earth the near one. Set the luo pan at the narrow neck behind the site on the water parting ridge and read the cell of the entering vein. The Bing Zi and Geng Zi decades are treasure.

Notes and where schools differ

Some books set this ring on the middle needle. Chen Yifeng reads the sixty cells as months for choosing the burial month. Cell marks differ between authors.

Full table of cells

Sources

The two 120 Dividing Metal rings

一百二十分金

The exact line of a sitting and facing

Each mountain splits into five cells of three degrees, 120 in all. Only two cells per mountain carry text, Bing and Geng under yang branches, Ding and Xin under yin branches. Through the stem attachments these are the four prosperous cells, since Gen takes Bing, Dui Ding, Zhen Geng and Xun Xin, all mixed line trigrams.

Jia and Ren belong to Qian, the lonely yang. Yi and Gui belong to Kun, the empty yin. Wu and Ji belong to Kan and Li, the turtle shell void. So only 48 of the 120 lines are usable. The inner ring follows the main needle, the outer ring the seam needle, shifted seven and a half degrees.

In the field

Used mainly for graves. The nayin of the line is compared with the nayin of the deceased's birth year. The line generating the person, sharing the element, or being controlled by the person is good. The person generating or being controlled by the line is bad.

Notes and where schools differ

For houses the saying is that a grave is one line and a house is a whole area, so the lines matter less. Chen Yifeng holds that the coffin line and the headstone line are the same. Other teachers use both rings to gauge how much qi a site receives.

Full table of cells

Sources

Heaven Plate, seam needle and 24 solar terms

天盤縫針 · 二十四節氣

Seven and a half degrees clockwise, for water

The seam needle is traditionally credited to Yang Junsong. The 24 mountains turn seven and a half degrees clockwise, so its Zi runs from 0 to 15 degrees.

Each cell also carries a solar term in the sun arriving at the mountain convention. The sun moves backwards round the mountains, one term per mountain. Winter Solstice is printed at Chou, Minor Cold at Gui, Major Cold at Zi, Start of Spring at Ren and Summer Solstice at Wei. Winter Solstice sits at Chou because the monthly general of that term is Chou.

The element after each mountain follows a clear pattern. Branches follow their three harmony frames, Shen Zi Chen water, Yin Wu Xu fire, Si You Chou metal, Hai Mao Wei wood. Stems and corners keep their standard elements.

In the field

The Three Combinations school uses it to take in and release water by the twelve growth stages. Read the arriving and departing water on this ring. The solar term ring is used for date selection by the sun arriving at the mountain.

Notes and where schools differ

One article reverses the offset. Chen Yifeng doubts that Yang Junsong created the seam needle, since Tang texts do not record magnetic declination.

Full table of cells

Sources

Xuan Kong Da Gua 64 hexagrams, five tiers

玄空大卦六十四卦

Period, paired hexagram, star, name, first and top lines

The 64 hexagrams follow the Early Heaven circle, 5.625 degrees each, starting with Fu (Return) at 0 degrees. From Fu to Qian the lower trigrams are Zhen, Li, Dui, Qian, from Gou to Kun they are Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun.

The name tier is the main one. Its eight blue cells are the pure hexagrams, period one. The star tier shows the period star. Compare each line of the upper and lower trigrams. All alike is one, Greedy Wolf. All different is nine, Right Assistant. Only the bottom different is eight, only the middle seven, only the top six. There is no period five.

The paired tier shows the opposite hexagram with its trigrams swapped, so Fu pairs with Xiao Chu and Yi (Nourishment) with Zhong Fu. The pair shares the period and each trigram sums to ten with the original. The innermost tier shows the number and trigram of the opposite upper trigram, printed on red for the four hexagrams in each forty five degrees whose upper trigram is Xun, Kan, Gen or Kun.

The outermost tier shows the hexagram number, the Early Heaven Luo Shu number of the upper trigram. The marks either side are 刀 for the first line and 上 for the top line, showing which way the six lines run.

In the field

To set a Da Gua facing, read the hexagrams of the sitting and facing, check sums of ten and five and the generating pairs, then check the period against the current cycle.

Notes and where schools differ

The red and blue colouring is this plate's own convention. Some plates print yang hexagrams red and yin black. Sources also disagree on which hexagrams are Jiang Dong and which Jiang Xi.

Full table of cells

Sources

384 lines and treasure lines

三百八十四爻 · 珠寶線

Each line under one degree

Each hexagram has six lines, 384 cells of 0.9375 degrees. Count from the 刀 side, the first line, to the 上 side, the top line. Neighbouring hexagrams always meet top to top or first to first, so the direction alternates.

Each line cell carries two numbers. Checked cell by cell on the plate, they are the Later Heaven numbers of the upper and lower trigrams of the hexagram produced when that line moves. The second line of Gou changes to Dun, Qian 6 over Gen 8, and the cell reads 六 and 八. Chen Yifeng uses a similar method with Early Heaven numbers, this plate prints Later Heaven ones.

The red dots beside them are the treasure lines. Master Ung Khiem's luo pan has 138 dots inside line cells and 12 on the boundary between two lines.

In the field

For houses the red dots are a reference when choosing a line. For graves they guide the moving line method, a yang line moving to yin and a yin line to yang. Only moving at a red dot line is auspicious, and a dot between two lines moves both.

Notes and where schools differ

Makers explain the red dots differently. One explains them by He Tu and Luo Shu pairs between the lines of the upper and lower hexagrams. The reading of the two numbers on this page is derived from the plate and checked cell by cell, no source states it directly.

Full table of cells

Sources

60 stem ring with elements

盈縮六十龍

Most likely the Waxing and Waning 60 Dragons

This ring has sixty cells of unequal width, each with a stem and an element, the stems in Penetrating Earth order. The layout matches the Waxing and Waning 60 Dragons, a ring divided on the 365 and a quarter ancient degrees, which gives long and short cells like long and short months.

This plate also has a narrow cell around 35.5 to 37.5 degrees printed Wu Wood, just before the Wu Fire cell. Its meaning is still to be explained.

In the field

Sources say the ring's nayin is matched with the element of each mansion degree, favouring generation and harmony and avoiding control and drain.

Notes and where schools differ

The elements printed here are not the nayin of the jiazi, so the plate's own use needs the Master's confirmation. Ji Dakui wrote that those who understand the principles drop the Waxing and Waning elements.

Full table of cells

Sources

Mansion degree rings and the single red dot

渾天星度五行 · 一點紅

Three tiers beside the 28 mansions, 374 cells

These three tiers follow the ancient degrees of each mansion, not the 360 scale, so their lines drift against the ruler. The inner tier prints odd numbers one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven to count degrees inside a mansion. The middle tier prints the element of each degree. Black cells with two elements sit where elements change.

The outer tier marks good and bad degrees. A red dot is auspicious, a blank is neutral, a stroke 丶 is inauspicious, 人 is a void line, 丫 is the mismatch void, and × printed across a line is the barrier sha where neighbouring degrees clash. On this plate 20 of 24 人 marks fall on the boundaries of the 24 mountains and 10 of 11 丫 marks on the centres of branches.

These red dots are also called the single red dot. This luo pan has 138 of them in 374 degree cells.

In the field

After choosing a facing on the main needle, fine tune it on this tier so it lands on a red dot and avoids 人, 丫 and ×. Many practitioners use only the red dots.

Notes and where schools differ

Marks vary by maker, some print 亡 for 人 and a black ring for 丶. Three marks on this plate still lack an explanation, a 丰 near 105 degrees, a W shape near 202 degrees and a red bar at the Shen and Zui boundary.

Full table of cells

Sources

28 Lunar Mansions

二十八宿

The twenty eight stations of the moon

Each cell gives the mansion name, its element, its ancient width and a mark tai, shao or ban. Ban is half a degree, shao less than half, tai more than half. 斗木廿二太 means the Dipper, Wood, twenty two degrees and a bit more.

The elements follow the Seven Governors, Wood Metal Earth Sun Moon Fire Water repeating. Sun and Moon mansions are both printed as Fire, so Fang, Xin, Xu, Wei, Xing, Zhang, Mao and Bi all show Fire here.

Most modern plates use the Kaixi degrees of the Southern Song. In 1752 the Qing court reordered Zui before Shen, so plates may show either order. On this plate Zui is less than one degree wide.

In the field

Used to give a mansion bearing such as Zhang seventeen and a bit, for judging sand and for star based date selection, where the Seven Governors must shine on the mountain.

Notes and where schools differ

Kaixi and Shixian degrees differ by about eleven degrees. Read by the degrees of the plate you use.

Full table of cells

Sources

360 degree scale

周天三百六十度

The bridge between the classical luo pan and the modern compass

The outermost ring divides the circle into 360 degrees, numbered every five, with 0 at due north. It lets practitioners of different schools compare bearings and read the luo pan against a map.

The mansion, degree and Waxing Waning rings use the ancient 365 and a quarter degrees, while this scale uses the 360 degrees the Qing adopted.

In the field

Give bearings in these degrees when reporting to a client, comparing with a satellite map or entering a facing into Luo Pan Pro.

Notes and where schools differ

A luo pan reads magnetic north, maps use true north. Add or subtract the local declination to compare them.

Sources

Use this luo pan on a real home

Luo Pan Pro carries this luo pan face. It turns with your phone, reads every ring at the facing, and adds the owner's Eight Mansions ring and the Flying Star chart.

Open Luo Pan Pro See what Luo Pan Pro does

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