Every Qimen Dunjia chart is drawn on the same frame: nine palaces arranged in a three-by-three square, and eight gates that travel around them hour by hour. The stars, stems and deities stacked on top all depend on that frame, so it is the first thing to learn — and the first thing English-language material tends to blur, because the gates go by half a dozen different translations. This article lays out the nine palaces and their numbers, gives a full table of the eight gates with every common English name, and explains the two relationships a reader checks first: which palace a gate lands in, and whether gate and palace support or fight each other. For the system as a whole, start with What Is Qi Men Dun Jia?.
The nine palaces are the Luo Shu square#
The nine palaces are simply the Luo Shu magic square, where every row, column and diagonal adds up to fifteen (its history is in He Tu and Luo Shu). The oldest written form of the square is a single line in the “Ming Tang” (Hall of Light) chapter of the Da Dai Liji (《大戴礼记·明堂》), describing the nine rooms of the ritual hall: “two, nine, four; seven, five, three; six, one, eight” (二九四,七五三,六一八) — the three rows of the square below, each read from right to left. Chinese charts put south at the top, so the square reads like this:
| Southeast · 4 Xun 巽 | South · 9 Li 离 | Southwest · 2 Kun 坤 |
|---|---|---|
| East · 3 Zhen 震 | Centre · 5 | West · 7 Dui 兑 |
| Northeast · 8 Gen 艮 | North · 1 Kan 坎 | Northwest · 6 Qian 乾 |
Each outer palace carries one of the eight trigrams in the “later heaven” arrangement (see the Eight Trigrams), and with the trigram comes an element: Kan 1 water; Kun 2 and Gen 8 earth; Zhen 3 and Xun 4 wood; Qian 6 and Dui 7 metal; Li 9 fire. The centre, 5, has no trigram and no gate of its own. In the convention this site’s calculator uses, whatever falls in the centre is “lodged” in Kun 2, the southwest palace.
The numbers matter because the system moves by them. When stems and stars are laid out, they step through the palaces in numerical order, 1 → 2 → 3 … 9 (forward in yang rounds, backward in yin rounds). That flight path, not the visual layout, is what the nine palaces really encode.
The eight gates at a glance#
Each gate has a home palace: the palace it occupies when the chart is at rest, and whose element it takes.
| Gate | Pinyin | Other English names | Home palace | Element | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open 开门 | Kai | Opening | Qian 6, NW | Metal | auspicious (first of three) |
| Rest 休门 | Xiu | Rest door | Kan 1, N | Water | auspicious |
| Life 生门 | Sheng | Birth, Growth, Living | Gen 8, NE | Earth | auspicious (strongest for wealth) |
| Harm 伤门 | Shang | Injury, Hurt, Wound | Zhen 3, E | Wood | inauspicious |
| Closed 杜门 | Du | Delusion, Block, Stuck | Xun 4, SE | Wood | neutral, leaning negative |
| View 景门 | Jing | Scenery, Scenic, Bright | Li 9, S | Fire | neutral, mixed |
| Death 死门 | Si | — | Kun 2, SW | Earth | inauspicious |
| Fright 惊门 | Jing | Fear, Shock, Alarm | Dui 7, W | Metal | inauspicious |
Two practical warnings. First, View (景) and Fright (惊) are both romanised jing; when a source writes only the pinyin, the tone or the character is the only way to tell them apart. Second, the English names are not standardised. Malaysian and Singaporean practitioners, whose books dominate English-language Qimen, often write “Delusion” for 杜 and “Scenery” for 景, while other writers prefer “Closed”/“Block” and “View”. All refer to the same gates; when two sources seem to disagree, check the character.
What each gate means#
The traditional meanings follow from the trigram and season of each home palace. Read clockwise from the north, they trace a full year:
- Rest (Kan, north, winter). Stillness, recovery, lying low. Favoured for rest, healing, quiet negotiation and waiting for the right moment.
- Life (Gen, northeast, late winter into spring). Growth beginning. The gate most associated with money, business and new undertakings — usually named the most favourable of all for wealth.
- Harm (Zhen, east, spring). Thunder and sudden force. Conflict, injury, accidents; traditionally reserved for pursuit, collecting debts or competition, not for starting anything new.
- Closed (Xun, southeast). Concealment and blockage. Poor for travel or publicity, but suited to hiding, defence, research or retreat.
- View (Li, south, summer). Brightness and display. Documents, exams, publicity and reputation — but also visibility you may not want.
- Death (Kun, southwest, late summer). Endings and stagnation. Avoided for business and health questions; traditionally used for funerals and closing matters.
- Fright (Dui, west, autumn). Alarm, rumours, disputes and sudden changes. Unfavourable for travel; sometimes used in litigation, “to startle the opponent”.
- Open (Qian, northwest, early winter). Opening and access. The first of the three auspicious gates, favoured for travel, careers, meeting officials and starting anything that needs doors to open.
That gives the classic division: Open, Rest and Life are the three auspicious gates; Harm, Death and Fright are the three inauspicious; Closed and View depend on the purpose.
Gates move; palaces stay#
The table above is the chart at rest. In a real chart the gates rotate: for each hour, one gate is “on duty” (the zhi shi, 值使), and it travels to a new palace as the hour advances, carrying the rest of the ring with it. So the question a reader asks is not “where is the Open gate?” in the abstract, but “in which palace does the Open gate stand at this hour?” — that palace’s direction is where an action favoured by the Open gate should be aimed.
Two special positions get their own names:
- A gate sitting in its own home palace is in fu yin (伏吟, “hidden groan”) — stuck, with matters failing to move.
- A gate sitting in the palace directly opposite its home is in fan yin (反吟, “reversed groan”) — turbulent, with matters reversing.
Gate and palace: who supports whom#
Once a gate has landed, its element meets the element of the palace. Four relationships are distinguished:
| Relationship | Example | Traditional reading |
|---|---|---|
| Palace produces gate | Open (metal) in Gen 8 (earth) | the gate is nourished; its effect is strengthened |
| Gate produces palace | Life (earth) in Qian 6 (metal) | the gate spends itself; effect somewhat weakened |
| Gate overcomes palace — men po (门迫, “gate oppresses”) | Life (earth) in Kan 1 (water) | an auspicious gate loses much of its good; an inauspicious gate becomes worse |
| Palace overcomes gate | Harm (wood) in Qian 6 (metal) | the gate is restrained; an inauspicious gate is partly defused |
These relationships follow directly from the five elements cycles, which is why Qimen readers learn the elements first. Men po is the one most often flagged: a Life gate oppressing the palace it stands in is a classic warning sign that a promising opportunity will not deliver.
Reading a palace in the calculator#
The Qi Men Dun Jia calculator shows, for each palace, the gate, star, deity and stems sitting there, and it already marks gate–palace oppression, fu yin and fan yin. A sensible order for a beginner:
- Find the palace whose direction matters to you (the direction of travel, the side of the office, the place a meeting will be held).
- Note which gate stands in it, and whether that gate is one of the three auspicious ones.
- Check the gate–palace relationship in the table above.
- Only then look at the star, deity and stems, which refine rather than overturn what the gate says.
Common mistakes#
- Treating the home-palace table as the chart. The table shows where gates belong, not where they are. Always read the rotated chart for the hour.
- Equating “Death gate” with danger to life. Its traditional sense is closure and stagnation; the dramatic English name overstates it.
- Mixing translations. “Delusion gate” and “Closed gate” are the same gate; so are “Scenery” and “View”. Go by the character.
- Ignoring the centre. The centre palace has no gate, and different schools lodge it differently. Know which convention your chart uses before comparing it with a book.
Related: What Is Qi Men Dun Jia? · cast a chart with the Qi Men Dun Jia calculator · He Tu and Luo Shu · The Eight Trigrams · back to Divination