--- type: Palm Sutra Concept title: "Daily Palm Star (今日掌中星 / 流日)" description: "The daily layer of a Palm Sutra reading, the two methods it can be counted by, and why the classical texts do not settle it." resource: https://localpapa.com/tools/yizhang.html category: "Damo Yi Zhang Jing · Daily" tags: [yizhang, palm-sutra, daily, liuri, time] timestamp: 2026-06-21T00:00:00Z --- # Daily Palm Star · 今日掌中星（流日） The daily palm star is this tool’s "flowing day" layer: the chosen method fixes today’s palace, whose palm star is the day’s star; that palace is then read against each of the four natal pillars — clash, harmony, trine, punishment, harm, destruction or same — to say which part of life the day touches. **The Palm Sutra has no settled method for the day**; this layer is a later addition the classical texts do not describe. The default is the counted method because it is the same operation as the natal chart; a sexagenary-branch method is also offered and marked as imported. A daily star describes the quality of the day, not events, and it changes every day. ## How a day is read 1. Fix today’s **palace** by the chosen method (below). 2. That palace’s **palm star** is the day’s star — the quality of the day, the same for everyone. 3. Compare the palace with **each of the four natal pillars** — clash (沖), harmony (合), trine (三合), punishment (刑), harm (害), destruction (破) or same (比和) — to see which part of life the day touches. **This relation is the only part that differs from person to person.** ## Where the methods differ 起法 - **Counted from the year palace (default) (順數法（預設）)** — Applies the natal counting method to the date: the year palace is the lunar year’s branch, count from it to that lunar month (**this is the month palace**), then from there to the lunar day (the day palace). **The month palace is already the intermediate step of the day palace**, so the two layers cannot disagree; and both share the natal chart’s operation — only the date changes. - **By the sexagenary branch (month-build / day branch) (干支法（月建／日支）)** — The month takes the branch it "builds" on (first lunar month on Yín, second on Mǎo); the day takes the branch of its sexagenary pillar. This borrows the BaZi notions of month and day pillars — but note the natal "Month" and "Day" pillars here are *not* sexagenary pillars, they are counted palaces, so this method is imported rather than native; it is offered as an option, not the default. ## The twelve stars as a day 今日主星 - **天貴 The Noble** — A day of standing and goodwill. Asking for help, making introductions and meeting people go more easily than usual; things tend to start moving because someone lends a hand. - **天厄 The Adversity** — A day of grind, where things snag on detail, waiting and rework. Good for patient tidying and clearing up; pushing hard tends to make it slower, not faster. - **天權 The Authority** — A day of command: decisions come easily and people move with you. Good for calling meetings, settling matters and leading — and easy to come across heavier than intended. - **天破 The Rupture** — A day of breakage, where settled arrangements come apart and plans change midway. A packed schedule costs the most; slack in the day costs the least. - **天奸 The Cunning** — A quick-witted day: angles are easy to see. Good for negotiating and for anything that needs a way around — though cleverness overplayed is also most visible today. - **天文 The Scholar** — A day for the mind: reading, writing, thinking and organising all run better than usual. Good for paperwork, study and work that needs quiet and solitude. - **天福 The Blessing** — An easy day with little resistance. Good for finishing what is already in hand and enjoying what is already built; no need to start something new. - **天驛 The Journey** — A day of movement, for people and matters alike. Good for going out, reaching people and errands; a day spent entirely at a desk will chafe. - **天孤 The Solitary** — A solitary day, when leaning on others gains little. Good for a long stretch of work alone; forcing collaboration costs more than it returns. The quiet is not a bad sign. - **天刃 The Blade** — A sharp day: fast, efficient, decisive — and sharp-tongued. Good for cutting, choosing and settling things outright; the same edge lands in what you say. - **天藝 The Artisan** — A day for the hands: making, fixing and designing all come easily. Craft and detailed work go further today than talking things over. - **天壽 The Longevity** — A long, slow day suited to work that pays off later. Little of today’s effort lands today; hurry does not help, and steadiness does. ## Day ↔ natal pillar 今日打在哪一柱 - **Same palace (同宮同氣)** — today lands on the same palace and star as that pillar — everything it governs is amplified and felt directly, and easiest to overreact to - **Harmony (相合)** — today harmonises with that pillar — smoother going there, with cooperation easier to come by - **Trine (三合)** — today forms a trine with that pillar — allies and momentum are available; a day to move it forward - **Clash (相沖)** — today clashes with that pillar — change and running about in that area; slower costs less than faster - **Punishment (相刑)** — today punishes that pillar — friction from close ties or existing partnerships; saying it up front costs less than explaining afterwards - **Harm (相害)** — today harms that pillar — good intentions get misread; a quiet drain rather than open conflict - **Destruction (相破)** — today breaks with that pillar — settled plans shift midway; leaving slack costs least - **Neutral (平)** — no special relation with that pillar today — simply read the day by its star > The daily layer is **not** classical. The Palm Sutra settles a method for the year but not for the day, so a daily star is an extension rather than a rule — stated here so it is not mistaken for tradition. It describes the quality of a day, not events, and it changes daily. For reference and entertainment. See also [annual fortune](./annual.md) and [decade luck](./decades.md) — the layers above the day. See the twelve [palm stars](./stars/index.md). Today’s star for a birth chart is shown at . --- *[Annual fortune](./annual.md) · [Schools & conventions](./schools/index.md) · [Palm stars](./stars/index.md) · [Palm Sutra knowledge base](./index.md)*