Paying Homage to the Four Quarters

When moving into a new home or an old one for the first time, the more tradition minded Chinese would often carry out a folk ritual called Paying Homage to the Four Quarters (Bai Si Jiao 拜四角), with the aim to send off the wicked spirit and allow the prosperous one to return (驅邪出外,引福歸堂), so the new occupants can feel safe and comfortable when moving in. It is a symbolic way to announce to the Earth and the Yin spirit (土地和陰靈) that a new lot of living beings are coming into the place and take up residence.

There are many ways to do this ritual and I have learned a couple of different ones from my teachers years ago as well, but I found this one mentioned in a Hong Kong Feng Shui forum recently very informative (Uwants.com), because the writer (音律長鳴) gave a clear explanation of the symbols and ritual involved (additional comments by me are in brackets).

He also made it very clear that there is a big difference between Kanyu Feng Shui and dealing with the superstitious ghosts and spirits. In Kanyu Feng Shui, one uses the power of symbols through understanding and ritual to mark a new beginning, and because it is about informing and sending off whatever that is undesirable so the good can return (one must remember ghost (gui 鬼) and spirit (shen 神) have a different connotation in China as in the West), there is no need to select an auspicious date, just do it before the renovation or before settling down in the house is sufficient enough, and one can do it oneself because it is a bit like an announcement and a personal prayer. This ritual is not about contacting or dealing with any ghosts or spirits; it is about us making an ordinary house our special home.

The best place to carry out the ritual is in the center (more precisely the “Taiji”) of the house or in the living room where most of the family living takes place.

The items used for the offering are few and simple and they consist of:

1)   15 large and 15 small size sticks of incense.

2)   5 pairs of small sacrificial candles 臘燭.

3)   4 pieces of fatty pork with skin attached.

4)   1 piece of roast pork with bone attached (for the middle position).

5)   1 brick of fresh bean curd with a handful of bean sprouts.

6)   3 triangular pieces fried bean curds 豆腐卜.

7)   A small bottle of rice wine 燒酒.

8)   11 apples (Apple is used because in Chinese it sounds the same as peace and fruitful 平平果果之意)

There is no need to use other kinds of fruit and one must not use any sweet, peanut, dates or anything sugary in the offering, nor to use any paper money or talisman because the main aim is to send off the unwanted spirit, not inviting anything Yin into the house.

Of the 11 apples, use 5 of them as incense holders, one in each corner of the room and one in the middle. Put the offering (1 piece of roast pork, 6 apples, 1 fresh bean curd, bean sprouts and 3 fried bean curds) on a large sheet of paper with the bottle of rice wine in front of the middle incense holder and there is no need to pour the wine into a glass.

Distribute the 4 pieces of fatty pork to each of the corners of the room, starting with looking at the main door into the room and go clockwise (going clockwise is going with the flow and is considered auspicious). Place the fatty pork to the left of the incense holder to the left side of the room and to the right side of the incense holder in the right side of the room (a symbolic way to give a clear order and directionality to the place).

Then light up the large sticks of incense follow by the small sticks and then the pair of candles, place 3 sticks of incense each, starting from the middle and then again going clockwise by sticking them onto the apple incense holders. While doing so, grab the incense or the candles with both hands and say the prayer, “Out go the wicked and in with the prosperous” (驅邪出外,引福歸堂), before each of the 3 sticks of incense and the pair of candles are placed into the holders at the four corners of the room.

When the two lots of incense and the candles are all done in the 5 locations, then go back into the middle of the room and pick up the bottle of rice wine, with one thumb pressing against the opening loosely, spray the room three time all round clockwise 360 degrees and when the incense is finish burning, pack up the offering and take them outside. Do not eat any of the offerings before or after the ritual has ended. They are meant to be the last supper for the departing wicked spirits.

My understanding that the numbers 1, 2 and 3 (and 2X3) are used because they represent the Taiji, the Liangyi (the two poles of Yin and Yang) and the San Cai or the 3 Abilities of Heaven, Earth and Human respectively. The 3 large and 3 small sticks of incense plus the pair of candles all made up to 8. Which again is considered an auspicious number by the Chinese because it sounds the same as “Fa” or prosperous.

Bean sprouts and bean curds are use as offerings because they are the favorite food for the unwanted spirits according to popular sayings 俗語有話鬼食豆腐, so are the fatty and the roast pork. At least that is the way this Hong Kong Sifu explains it.

Another explanation is the four quarters are the four diagonal directions in a compass, referring to the Qian (north-west), the Xun (south-east), the Gen (north- east) and the Kun (south-west) directions. Qian is considered the Heaven Door 天門, Xun is the Earth Door 地戶, Gen is the Life Door 生門 and Kun is the Death Door 死戶, together they correlated to Heaven and Earth, Life and Death, that is what is above and what is below, what is the beginning and what is the end – the two pairs of Yin and Yang extremities 極 that made up the core of our being.

By paying homage to the four quarters (the actual directions are not important because they worked as symbols), we made the house the center of our universe and we seek a life of harmony and balance as well as prosperity in this spatial enclosure we call home.

Can we learn Feng Shui by reading books?

Nina Wang’s inheritance court case brought up an interesting question, “Can we learn Feng Shui by reading books?”

I once ask this question to my Sifu and he replied, “Of course we can, it is like learning how to cook by following the recipes of an experienced chef, but the result is often poor. Why? Because there are a lot of subtleties in cooking, and in Feng Shui for that matter, that can only be transmitted by a teacher mentoring to achieve the same result.”

I think it is a fair enough comment, we need teachers to learn better, but I can also hear some people who would disagree and say, “But with my own trials and errors and with my own logic and intelligence, I can even cook better than the author of the recipes.”

May be these people are right also, and that brings up another question, “Do we need face-to-face teachers any more when we have all the books and the technology (like eLearning) we need?”

Perhaps this story by Zhuangzi can throw more light on the subject, may be reading books is not enough, having a teacher and reading book are still not enough, we need to practice and practice:

Duke Huan was reading a book in the hall. Wheelwright Pian, who had been chiseling a wheel in the courtyard below, set down his tools and climbed the stairs to ask Duke Huan:

“may I ask what words are in the book Your Grace is reading?”

“The classic of a famous sage.” the Duke responded.

“Is he still alive?”

“Oh no, he is long dead.”

“Then you’ve been reading the dregs left over by a dead man, isn’t it?”

Duke Huan said,” How dare a wheelwright to have opinions about the book I read! If you can explain yourself, I’ll let it pass. Otherwise, it’s death!”

Wheelwright Pian said, “In my case I see things in terms of my own work. I chisel at a wheel. If I go too slow, the chisel slides and does not stay put. If I hurry, it jams and doesn’t move properly. When it is just right, I can feel it in my hand and respond to it from my heart. I can explain this to my son, but I cannot pass on the skills to him. That is why at seventy years old, I am still making wheels. The sage who couldn’t pass down his wisdom is already dead; and that’s why I say the book you’re reading is merely the dregs of a dean man.”

Building Rituals

“Each house that is built is, in a certain sense, a reenactment of the creation of the world.” Mircea Eliade.

Topping-Off rituals has been practiced all over the world and we saw some of it in China in our last trip, but the Europeans like the Romanian, the French and the German do them as well.

The Chinese version is to burn some incense, make a lot of noise like doing drums, letting off fire crackers and lion dance and then paste lucky charms or talismans on the beams and rafters like the picture showed below taken in Dali by Michael Rapp.

In Romania, when the top of the rafters is installed, it is adorned with a fir tree or a green branch decorated with paper flowers or ribbons. In France, the ridge beam bouquet is still sometimes carried out, hung by the youngest member of the crew, and in Germany, where I am living now; the Richtfest is still practiced, and often accompanied by a Spruch (a poem read aloud by the head craftsperson). The picture showed below is the result of a Richtfest I downloaded from one of the Internet sites.

Are rituals like these considered superstitious? It is not a religious practice, it is like a celebration of things well done without any mishaps. More importantly, it affirms the house is the center of the world for the occupants. It is a pity more and more building rituals are dying out both in China and the West. May be we just take things for granted?