Yearly Stars and Their Influence on the Internal Gua Qi Field of a Dwelling.

A new year is fast approaching and soon everyone will start talking about the yearly stars and some will try to sell you the various “Cures” in different directions.

A more thorough and precise way of looking at the yearly Flying Stars is not to look at the yearly Flying Stars on their own, but to compare them with the Flying Stars chart for a particular dwelling.

One of the crucial locations to look at is the “Naqi Mouth” or the front/main door, since from this direction we can see what type of Gua Qi (Qi of the Trigrams), whether auspicious or unfortunate, is taken into or received by the dwelling for the year.

Unknown to many, there are two classical approaches to doing this, one is written up by Shen Zhureng 沈竹礽 in his “Shen’s Xuankong Study” 沈氏玄空學 and also included in case studies written up by You Xiyin 尤惜陰, in his “New Case Studies on the Cycles (of Luck) of a Dwelling” 宅運新案.

The other approach came from the writings of Luo Shipeng 駱士鵬, who was a disciple of Jiang Dahong 蔣大鴻, a famous FS master from the late Ming to early Qing period, in which the original Flying Stars school of FS came down to us. Zhang Zhongshan jiang 章仲山, from whom Master Shen copied his work, also came from the same lineage, at a later date.

The two approaches are similar in their principles, but also different in their applications in subtle ways, this is a good example of such a case.

In Master Shen’s method, for example, with a dwelling built in Period 8, facing W1 with the front door also facing the same direction, then for next year (2022), when the #5 flies into the middle, #7 will fly to the West, and we compare the yearly #7 with the Water Star #3 in the West, to see the Gua Qi influence at the front door for the year. The outcome is an inauspicious one, since the Guest #7 will try to control and imprison the Host #3, which will weaken the #3 and lead to a potential for a loss of wealth and it also affects the oldest son or the male members of the family in a negative way.

However, with Master Luo’s method, the #7 is placed in the middle and flies forward one more time, to transform the Time Qi into a Directional Qi, similar to the way we would construct a Flying Stars chart, so they are in the same “pan” 盤, or level/category to have stronger “Ganying” (Correlative Resonance). When we do this, the #9 will arrive at the West Palace, #9 and #3 are in a constructive relationship, the Host of the dwelling will generate the Guest for the year in this direction, the outcome is an auspicious one with Gua Qi support for wealth and for the middle daughter or the women of the house.

The two methods are different and can lead to different outcomes, as we can see in this example, but if we look more closely, the Luo’s method is more consistent in its practice and more in keeping with the way a Star chart is constructed, it is comparing the yearly Directional Qi with the Natal Directional Qi of the house, and not the the Time Qi in Master Shen’s case.

The Old Kingdom of Heluo 河洛古國

The recent archaeological discovery in Shuang Huai Shu 雙槐樹, 3 Km from the Yellow River and 4 Km from the Luo River, has showed that the Hetu ((Yellow) River Picture) and Luoshu (Luo (River) Book), did originated in this area more than 5 thousands years ago and during the Yellow Emperor’s time, the ancient Chinese saw the Big Dipper as 9 stars and not 7 at that time. This settlement of Yang Shao Culture 仰韶文化 also showed that the development of Chinese culture (including a rudimentary form of Feng Shui) has been continuous since without interruptions.

Right Time or Right Place?

I often get to ask, “Is being in the right place more important than being at the right time or the other way around”?

Jiang Da Hong 蔣大鴻 (1616-1714), a famous FS master from the late Ming and early Qing Period gave this question a very clear answer in his book “Tian Yuan Ge” 天元歌 (See attached).

(my translation)：

“Being at the right time and in the right place is often spoken by the ancient sages, the two characters, Kan and Yu 堪輿 (protruding and recessing) are linked together. When there are no mountains in the south the of river (the Yangtze River), we can take the (auspicious) time of the year, month and day to gain benefits. But even when there are true Dragons all over the land, it still needs the Heavenly time to add some strength. In the beginning of the year, the time has a say in the prosperity and calamity of the site, but over the years, one knows the power is rested with the land (and not the time)”.

Mencius also has a similar sentiment that timeliness is short lived compared to the Earth Qi, which has a longer and deeper influence, except he added the importance of human relationship on top of time and space.

孟子曰：天時不如地利, 地利不如人和.
Mencius said, “Heavenly Time is not as good as Earthly Benefits, Earthly Benefits is not as good as Harmony of the People.

Form and Formless Qi Map 有形與無形氣圖

A form qi map showing the best location for the na-qi mouth into the property and the most appropriate passageway for the cars and the occupants, it is an inherent “men lu” 門路for the site, Traffic on the Yi side, living on the Yang side, so the occupants can catch the warm sun and the open views to the south and to the street=

Follow by a formless qi map showing the Trigram Qi of space and time acting on the property and the building, so the occupants would know how best to use space in time to “hasten the auspicious and avoid the harmful” while living there over time.

With the help of the form and the formless qi maps, we are inspired to come up with a layout/design that is most appropriate for this particular site, so it will have good feng shui (good quality of environment) and good support, wealth and health-wise, for the occupants.

Using Form School FS to look at Brexit.

Looking at the Xing Shi (Form and Configuration) of the Parliament House (or Palace of Westminster) by the side of The Thames River and next to the Westminster Abby, we can see that there is a strong triangular relationship between the Church, the Lords and the Parliament, that is between religion, social classes and common people. This gave Britain a very strong sense of sovereignty, but the buildings are located by the River Thames, which correlates to the history that Britain got its wealth from trading and seafaring.

Trading, by its nature, requires joining up with other trading partners, like joining up with the EU, but by doing so they would lose some of their sovereignty that they gained over time.

The result is that there is a conflict of interest, some want to leave and some want to remain.

Who is going to win?

Whether to leave or to remain, I think trading will, because if we look at the Xing Shi of the land, what is likely to change and what is not, The Thames will still be there when the Parliament House is gone or the parliament gets move elsewhere because the building complex is too expensive to up keep or not practical enough for modern politics, or even a change of political system.

Whatever happens, The Thames will still be there and trading will go on. Man needs water and trading to survive and prosper.

“A Song on Observing the Yi (Changes)” by Shao Yong. 《觀易吟》邵雍

Many Chinese metaphysics practitioners have quoted this poem by Shao Yong since it touches on the practices like Feng Shui 風水, Bazi Suanming 八字算命, Qimen Dunjia 奇門遁甲 and Ziwei Doushu 紫微斗術, etc. There are few English translation availabal on this poem so I decided to have a go with my limited scholarship and understanding, your comments are welcome.

《觀易吟》邵雍
“A Song on Observing the Yi (Changes)” by Shao Yong.

一物其來有一身，
A thing has a body in itself,
一身還有一乾坤。
A body also has its own Taiji.
能知萬物備於我，
To know how myriad things are prepared for me,
肯把三才別立根。
(I) need to know the division of San Cai at its root.
天向一中分體用,
Heaven faces one-center to separate the Ti Yong
人於心上起經綸。
Man relies on his heart to raise the Jing Lun.
天人焉有兩般義,
How can heaven and man have a different meaning,
道不虛行只在人。
The Dao is not an empty journey it depends on man.

Translator’s notes and commentary:

1. A “thing” 物 here refers to matters in the universe.
2. A “body” 身refers to its qi 器, or its vessel/container.
3. “Taiji” is translated from the Trigrams Qian and Kun, meaning Yang and Yin.
4. “San Cai” 三才 refers to the trinity of Heaven, Earth and Man.
5. “Ti Yong” 體用refers to the concept of “principle and function” or the “body and its usage”.
6. “Jing Lun” 經綸refers to theory and classification in Chinese thoughts, it can also mean silk-threading or to a clever statecraft.

The first two lines of the poem can be expressed with the concept of “One item one Taiji” 一物一太極, in the sense that everything has its complementary opposites, so we need to decide what constitute one “item” or one “thing” under consideration, before we can look at its Taiji or Yin and Yang.

In the third and fourth lines, Shao Yong is talking about the San Cai in the six Yao lines of a Hexagram when casting the Yijing with a question in mind, by dividing the six Yao lines into 3 pairs of Heaven, Man and Earth, thus help us to decipher the meanings of a Hexagram to answer the questions we asked. (Refer Illustration)

The fifth and sixth lines are about the concepts of Ti and Yong (Principle and Function) in Heaven and Jing and Lun (Scripture and Classification) in Man.

According to Shao Yong, one principle (or one body) has many functions (or applications), the ancient Chinese viewed the world from the centre looking out, he puts himself in the middle of the Bagua or the eight directions looking outward, to strive for a unity of Heaven and Man. For this reason, he needs to establish a center in a chosen “item” or “thing” to differentiate, but the two are not separate, they are held together as complementary opposites in a Taiji.

The same applies to Man on Earth, theories and classifications (or clever statecraft) come out from Man’s “Xin”, or his heart/mind, by the way he observes and thinks looking at the near and the far, the large and the small, and thinking in a causal and correlative way at the same time, to find his efficacy. The unity of heaven and Man can be achieved by combining the “Li” 理 in Heaven and the “Xin” 心 in Man.

The last two lines referred to the idea of the unity of Heaven and Man and the path to the Dao depends on the “Xin” of the Man and not on the numbers, symbols and images casted in the Yijing or other “Shu Shu” 數術” or “Numbers and Methods” in Chinese numerological metaphysics. Contrary to most people’s understanding, Shao Yong towards his later years, put his emphasis on the Xin (heart/mind) and not on the Shu (numbers and symbols), but he also acknowledged that they go together like Yin and Yang, to Shao Yong the idealistic and the materialistic are two sides of the same coin.

When Plum Blossom Divination 梅花易數was being promoted to the general public, the earlier practitioners shrewdly changed the last two lines to advertise their exclusive knowledge and lineage:
From:
天人焉有兩般義,
How can heaven and man have a different meaning,
道不虛行只在人。
The Dao is not an empty journey it depends on man.
To:
仙人焉有两般话，
There are no two sayings for theImmortal and Man,
道不虚传只在人。
The Dao is not an empty transmission it depends on Man.

The Na-Qi Mouth

From a FS perspective, the main or front door in a house or a shop-front and the entrance to a retail shop is called the the “Na Qi Kou” 納氣口 or “Received Qi Mouth”, sometimes it is referred to simply as the “Qi Kuo” or the “Qi Mouth”. In the “Foundation of Yang Dwelling” part of the book “Gui-Hou Lu” 《歸厚录》(Record of Returning to the Profound), it is said, “A Yang dwelling is built on earth, but it is not only the Earth Qi that we need to consider but also how to take in the Door Qi. Let it be empty and open so horizontal movement is free, once the door is open, the Qi will enter from the door”. “阳宅作在地上，不专以地气为用，兼取门气。盖清虚之让，气本横行，门户一开，气即从门而入”. The “Qi Mouth” is like breathing that keeps us alive, the whole house relies on the Qi comes in and goes in in an unhindered way. The FS of the Na Qi Mouth keeps the a household happy and healthy, and the Na Qi Mouth of a business keeps its wealth flowing and the vitality lasting. We need to pay special attention to all the Na Qi Mouth(s) of a building, every time we do Feng Shui.

Look at this lovely traditional shopfront window of a Miso Soup Shop in the Hiroshima Prefecture of Japan (pictures taken from the Window Research Institute of the Tokyo University of Technology). Sadly, we do not build like this any more.

The Kiss House – How a broken-up house can still have good Feng Shui.

This is a most read house on Dezeen in 2018, the Kiss House at a Canadian lake side by the architects from the Lazor Office.

At first glance it seems to have bad feng shui because the house is broken into two parts, but with a closer look, the feng shui is quite good. The auspicious external Qi is gathered at both the front and the back to feed into the house.

It is an elongated house, but to find the Taiji is not difficult, it is located where the two parts of family/adult and children/play are “cracked open” to create a “negative space” to see the lake at arrival, as mentioned by the architect.

The facing presents an interesting challenge, my take is towards the middle of the triangular deck where the two parts come together. The Flying Star chart at facing NW1 P8 is not correct as I do not know the compass measurement for sure, but it gives an indication of how the star chart would look like. In an elongated house like this one, the direction at the two ends have more influence than others. In this case it is the S, SW. N and NE. Also it is a case where we can read the stars in the central palace to see the Gua Qi influence at the front door to the family/adult wing of the house having a 7,9 combination. The other entrance has a 1,3 combination.

We can also use the Five Phase relationship to make a quick assessment of the house, the house is located near the water, the form of the house is Wood and the so called “negative space” has a Fire Phase terrace, being triangular in shape. We can say Water generates Wood and Wood in turn generates Fire, but the Fire is not too strong, so it leaves the occupants with some warmth and beauty for the environment and we can say the main Phase is Wood.

I am sure the occupants will find enjoyment in this unusually broken-up-shape house. It is a good example how an unusual house can have good feng shui when done properly. It is a broken up house but if the two parts “kiss”, then the whole can come together again.

The Heaven’s Heart (Tianxin 天心) and the Taiji 太極 of a dwelling.

Many Feng Shui students，especially the beginners，are not aware of the subtle difference between the Heaven’s Heart in a Flying Star chart and the Taiji of a dwelling, they mistaken them as the same thing.

The Heaven’s Heart is located in the central palace of a Flying Star chart, it has the Luoshu number 5 as its Earth Plate due to the Flying Star chart is based on the Luoshu 9-Palace, in the middle of the palace it has the Time or Heaven Plate with a Period number indicates the time of the dwelling’s construction, it also has the facing Water Star and the sitting Mountain Star, giving an indication of the Gua Qi (Qi of the Trigram) influencing on the wealth/officialdom (power) and health/fertility (relationship) potential and tendency of a dwelling respectively.

The Heaven Heart is a “numerical” place in the centre of a Luoshu, whereas the Taiji of a dwelling is a theoretical spot located in a dwelling where the Yin and the Yang Qi come together, it is the where the active with the passive, the substantial with the insubstantial of a dwelling would meet. To find the Taiji of a dwelling is to “Liji” 立極, or to find the Taiji, by doing “Liji” and by “flying” the stars from the Heaven’s Heart, casted over the floor plan of a dwelling, we can see where the Gua Qi of the sitting and facing is located and from these stars with an associated direction and a Trigram correlated to one of the Five-Phase, we can get a reading of the auspicious and the harmful potentials in each of the eight directions of the house by looking at their Five-Phase relationships with each other.

Although the Heaven’s Heart and the Taiji are not the same thing, they are both reference points in which the Gua Qi numbers or the “Stars” are generated in the 8 directions. While the 8 directions also have 8 locations, the Taiji of a dwelling is not a physical place, it does not have a Trigram correlation, it is only a reference point, like the Heaven’s Hearth, to produce a Flying Star chart for us to contemplate, to find the answers that we are seeking in a Luopan compass reading.

PS: This question gets asked quite often, “Is the Taiji of a house the same as its geometric centre?” They answer is they are not the same, but for all intent and purpose, they are close enough, unless the house is a very unusual one with the Yin and Yang part of the house far out of a reasonable proportion.

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Feng Shui and Colour Selection

There are 3 parts in FS and colour selection and they are based on the San Cai relation of Heaven, Earth and Human Qi, and since Human Qi links the Heaven Qi above and the Earth Qi below, in selecting a colour scheme we should always start with the Human Qi:

Human Qi:
Start off by asking yourself or your client what kind of colour is most favourable, what colour a person likes is also a colour that he or she needs and have a resonance with the person. Use this personal preference as a reference point to start looking at the colours.

Earth Qi:
Then look at the Earth Qi, the visible and the physical things in a room, its existing colour and furnishing, the function of the room, the orientation and the lighting level of the room, etc. At this level you can discuss what is there with your client or your partner and the occupants, it is a tangible level we can work with without too much ambiguity.

Heaven Qi:
Only when you have a good grasp of the Human Qi and Earth Qi that you begin to look at Compass Feng Shui and the Jiehua remedies required. If colour is the choice then the colour used should be an accent colour that stands out in a particular direction but does not take over the whole room.

The San Cai relationship also recommend that the ceiling colour representing Heaven should be lighter and less saturated and the floor colour representing Earth should be darker and more saturated while the wall colour representing Human should be somewhere in-between.

Also, since everything has Yin and Yang, your colour scheme should comprise of a theme or a main colour that is more dominant with supporting and complimentary secondary colours that are complimentary in a harmonious relationship with the main colour. Gradation in tone and in hue should be gentle with the FS accent colour stand out but blended-in at the at same time.

Let’s take an example of a colour scheme for a bedroom facing the north, and the couple has some wooden furniture that are quite dark already and they like green and “natural colours” and the floor has a carpet colour that that don’t like.

Since they don’t like the carpet, maybe you can suggest that they rip up the carpet and expose the wooden floor below as a starting point. If they think a full timber floor is too cold for the room, you can always suggest a rug to lessen their concern.

Now the ceiling can be white and the floor is natural wood, the room is not bright and the furniture is quite dark as well, Earth Qi-wise, the green tone that they like should be something that is light and can reflect light well but at the same time it should be a relaxing green with a strength that is somewhere between the floor and the ceiling. At this point you can take out the colour chart and try to come to a decision with the couple, a particular green that can be the main or the them colour for the room.
The room is quite dark so attention should be paid to how to lighten it up, one way of doing it is in the window, by painting it white and having translucent white widow curtains, they can make the room brighter.

When most of the decisions are made you can bring in the Compass calculations and they can come from different school, it can be Eight-Mansion or Flying-Star or whatever, but the colour used should be an accent one, stands out a little but not to be overwhelming.

For example, if a Fire Jiehua remedy is needed it can be be a red painting above the bed or a red triangle fixed to the light shade next to the bed or both.

What is the Meaning of Qi in Feng Shui?

From the way Guo Pu defined the term Feng Shui in his Zang Shu or the Book of Burial (Translation by Stephen L Fireld):

‘The Classic says: Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water. The ancients collected it to prevent its dissipation, and guided it to assure its retention. Thus, it was called fengshui.’

We can see Feng Shui puts a lot of emphasis on the idea of “Zang Feng De Shui” 藏風得水 (to store from the wind and obtain water) to gather the Qi to benefit a tomb or a dwelling and its occupant From this we can see Qi is an important concept in Feng Shui, yet very few people, including many Feng Shui practitioners, have a clear idea what is this Qi in Feng Shui.

With the advent of modern science, many Feng Shui theorists tried to use hard science to explain Qi, some think it is related to electromagnetism, while others to negative and positive ions and so forth, and the term “energy”, as used in science, is often equated to Qi, as though Qi can do work to fulfill our longings and desires, like wealth and happiness, with Feng Shui.

This sentiment is echoed in Dr. Jay Bulloch’s article “What is Qi?” (http://jaybulloch.com/articles/what-is-qi/#_ENREF_5)

“Most people in the West, including many authors, think qi means energy, but this “represents a basic misconception that is not supported by Chinese ancient sources” (Unschuld, 1985, p. 72). This common mistranslation has lead to many erroneous ideas and understandings with regards to Chinese medicine. The term qi is complex, multilayered, and at its core, profound. It is one of the most difficult terms in Chinese language to translate. Not only is there no equivalent word in the English language, there is also no all-encompassing, equivalent concept in Western thought or science.”

From my perspective, after studying and working with Feng Shui as a practicing Feng Shui architect, consultant and teacher for nearly 40 years, I think this is an inappropriate approach, because it is trying to explain a unique Chinese cultural heritage with a western world-view. To me, a better approach would be through a Feng Shui and a Chinese world-view, instead of a western paradigm. Look at Qi in Feng Shui not from a hard science point of view, but from a Chinese cultural and philosophical perspective instead.

Three assumptions are made in a Feng Shui paradigm, the first is everything under the sun, be it organic or inorganic, has Qi, the second is everything that has Qi has Yin and Yang and the third is because of this continuum, everything is interconnected. So right from the beginning the Chinese sees Qi as a continuum and as a component of Yin and Yang.

In p46 of Prof. Zhang Dainian’s “Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy” (translated by Edmund Ryden, Foreign Languages Press 2002), he wrote from the Pre-Qi to the Han, Qi is understood as intimately associated with Yin and Yang and then he quoted an extract from a speech by the Grand Historiographer of Zhou, Boyangfu. Yin and Yang are the two aspects of Qi and when the Qi of Heaven and Earth is out of balance, then an earthquake occurs.

In Prof. Zhang’s 8 pages explaining the concept of Qi (p45 – p63), Edmund Ryden at the beginning of his translation, has summarized the professor’s scholarly work with his understanding of what is Qi and I think it is a very good explanation and it echoes with the practice of Feng Shui:

‘In popular parlance qi is applied to the air we breathe, steam, smoke, and all gaseous substance. The philosophical use of the term underlines the movement of qi. Qi is both what really exists and what has the ability to become. To stress one at the expense of the other would be to misunderstand qi. Qi si the life principle but is also the stuff of inanimate objects. As a philosophical category, qi originally referred to the existence of whatever is of a nature to become. This meaning is then expanded to encompass all phenomena, both physical and spiritual. It is energy that has the capacity to become material object while remaining what it is. It thus combines “potentiality” with “matter”. To understand it solely as “spirituality” would be wrong, just as it cannot be translated as “matter.’

If we can accept as its definition:

‘Qi is both form and formless “matter” and it’s potential to become while remaining what it is, thus Qi combines “potential” with “matter” ‘

then we can see Qi, as a theoretical construct, is a mean for the Chinese to link the Yin with the Yang as a continuum that would connect the Heaven above, the Earth below and the Human in us, to look at our relationship with the environment we live in, which is essentially what we do in Feng Shui.

Sheng Qi is a result when Yin and Yang come together in a harmonious and balanced way, while the complementary opposite Sha Qi happens when Yin and Yang are out of balance and the life-enhancing Sheng Qi is prevented from taking place. That is what Gu Pu was referring to when he wrote, “To bury is to take advantage of the Sheng Qi” in the first line of this Zang Shu mentioned earlier.

He was not talking about taking advantage of some geodetic force in the ground, he was referring to finding a balance between Yin and Yang of all sorts in their myriad of correlations, like high and low, mountain and water, front and back, left and right and so forth, all the physical attributes that would make up the Form Feng Shui school. But if there is form and everything has Yin and Yang, then there is also the formless in Feng Shui and to study the formless, we have the Compass, or the Liqi Pai – the formless Qi-pattern school.

In the Liqi Pai, a Luopan compass is used to measure the directions of a house or a tomb. This measurement is then correlated to a Trigram and through the Trigram correlations or associations, the practitioner would “read” the Qi of the Trigrams, which eventually will correlated back down to the Five Phase relationships, and with the Five Phase (Wuxing 五行) – the five “matters” (in this case the 5 Qi correlations) of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal, and their potential to become, the practitioner can determine which relation is auspicious and which is harmful. As a result, we have the Wuxing Qi, or the Qi of the Five Phases to work with. Again, this Qi is not some sort of energy or force, but relationships that are either desirable or not, according to whether the relationship between the Five-Phase Qi is harmonious or out of balanced or otherwise.

Through this definition for Qi, we can also explain some of the unusual expression or mystical demonstrations of Qi we often see in Qigong and Kung Fu, a good example is the so-called Empty Force (Lingkong Jin 凌空勁) – the ability to move another person without touching that person. The so-called Qi (Jin is defined as dynamic Qi) is a continuum of Yin and Yang and a continuum needs a connection, so to demonstrate this Qi, one needs a sender and a receiver. When the student as a receiver, is under the influence of his or her master as the sender, then the Qi of mutual resonance can take place and the student gets pushed over. But if this teacher tries to push a stranger, who is not connected to the sender, or not able to receive his Qi (i.e. no mutual resonance), then if won’t work. Not knowing the true meaning of Qi and the working of Qi, we mistaken it as some sort of super-human power beyond our understanding.

Some thoughts while waiting for my plane.

 

Zurich Airport, 29 January 2018.

1) Chinese divination is not meant to tell the future but how to deal with the future by understanding the past and the present. In my opinion, the Chinese character “bu”卜, for divination, is not only to represent the crack-lines of an oracle bone, but it can also represent sthe “Zhengdao” 正道 (the first and the larger stroke) as compared to the “Pangdao” 旁道 (the second and the smaller stroke), that is the “Main Way” as compared to the “Side Way”, as we travle along our life’s path to fulfill our destiny. Besides the Chinese never just do “bu” (divination) alone, they always “mou” 謀 or plan and orgnaize first, before they do a divination. Traditionally, “mou” and “bu”, or “organization” and “divination”, always go together as one Taiji to ensure that the Yin always follows the Yang, the correlative always follow the causal way of thinking, to make it a whole.

2) Compass measurements in Feng Shui gives us a quantity that is a starting point to look at relationship between things by correlations. There are many different ways to do the measurements and their correlatyions, both in the past and at present. Eg., True Yanggong vs. False Yanggong, San Yuan vs. San He, Feixing vs. Da Gua, and Sitting vs. Facing etc., etc. Which is correct? It is hard to say, yet we managed to locate an object in space and time, like a tomb site or a house, that fits the Feng Shui of the situation somehow, just like whether we should use the Metric or the Imperial, the Luoban or the Yabai Ruler to do the measurement for windows and doors, yet somehow, we ananged to make an openning that fits the house and feel auspicious at the same time.

There is no need to be pre-occupied and get stuck with what is the true or false method to measure with the Luopan compass, it will not automatically lead us to the desirable outcome, unless the practitioner has the skill and the experience and not just the so-called “correct and authentic method” as passed down by some famous master(s) in the past; just like an authentic and traditional Kung Fu style will ot automatcially make us a winner in a tournament fight, it always depends on the skill and the fitness of a contestant to whether end up on top or not as well.

Calligraphy (“mou bu“ 謀卜): organisation follow by divination.

Door Tilting

The question about door-tilting in FS keeps coming up, usually it gets 3 kinds of anwers: 1) It works. 2) It doesn’t. 3) It depends on what method you use, then there is the rhetorical reply, “You tell me!”. So here is my take on the subject:

If by feng shui you mean the quality of the environment then tilting the door by a few degrees has miniaml effect on the feng shui or the quality of the environment, instead it would make the door look very strange and visitors who try to use the door would ask, “What is going on here, why this funny-looking door?”.

If by Feng Shui you mean some schools of thought using door tilting to correlate the door facing to a different Herxagram with a different meaning, then the tilting would match the world-view of the user and would “tilt” his or her perception of the formless and it would make the user feel that the fortune of the place has changed. Now that could have an effect since the perception or the mind-set has changed in the user’s view.

There is “body” FS and “mind” FS, and there is also “form” FS and “compass” FS, it could get confusing if we are not aware of the difference.

The attached picture shows Joao Carlos Borges, a FS practitioner from Portugal doing his thing and asking this question in his Feng Shui Forum on Facebook.

A Facebook conversation with Anna W, December 8 -14, 2017.

A Facebook conversation with Anna W, December 8 -14, 2017.
Trying to explain the 3 Trigram arrangements and what Feng Shui is meant to achieve.

AW: I guess all my knowledge is bullshit then. It seems that the Triagrams must be adjusted for place on earth but I get no further..

HC: The trigrams are correlations, they are metaphors and associations, reflecting a certain philosophical outlook, rather than matching the physically observed literally. The study of the Trigrams belongs the “Xiang Shu Yi Shu” 象数易学 or the Image-Number School of Chinese thinking. I can understnd it sounds like “bullshit” to a scientist but that is because the Chinese use a different way of thinking to what you are using in the West

It is a kind of philosophical speculation using numbers and images, unique to the Chinese culture.

AW: I understand that.. but what does Middle Heaven reflect? And when to apply it? In what way do you apply Later Heaven.. Been studying QMDJ lately? Is that a Later Heaven formation? In Qi Men Dun Jia the time is determent by the spring and autum eqinoux. Which leads my to think that maybe the Early Heaven could be related to the real heaven somehow..

HC: Philosophically speaking the term Early Heaven means that which is innate and congenital and Later Heaven means that which is acquired and learned, Middle Heaven is some where in-between. The term Heaven to the Chinese does not mean only the sky above but more to do with human nature and principles governing the world, or things to do with the mind. The arrangement of the 8 Trigrams in a Bagua picture is an attempt by the ancient Chinese to capture these ideas in a pictorial form, with the broken line representing the Yin and the not-broken line the Yang. With this in mind, you could say that the Early Heaven could be related to the real heaven above, since it is the natural state of the universe.The problem with trying to express a philosophical idea mechanically with numbers and symbols is that different masters have a different interpretation and preference for the same philosophy, then we would get endless compass schools as you can see from the huge variety of compass formulas using the Early Heaven and the Later Heaven and now even the Middle Heaven Bagua arrangement in different ways. Consequently, many students, who are not aware of this, fight over which is correct or which is authentic and so on passionately, as you can see in these forum discussions. It is complicated, but I hope this long-winded explanation helps.

The saving grace is that we have the Form school Feng Shui to complement the Compass school. Form Feng Shui uses mainly observation and analysis to find a pleasing and appropriate solution to locate a building or a tomb site and to organise a built-space, so between the mainly inductive thinking of the Compass school and mainly the deductive thinking of the Form school, we can get to a more holistic conclusion that is practically efficient but ritually correct (being appropriate to the personal and social needs of the situation) at the same time. In Feng Shui we try to look up to heaven and look down on earth and also look into ourselves to find the in-between that will fit Man into Nature in the most mutually constructive

AW: I see. The middle heaven seems most interesting but I still really can’t understand the application. The landform in my enviroment at the moment is both very good and very bad. And in the article that Jay Tee shared they also mentioned a state of self indifference that is a state that religion seem to be able to induce wich is interesting. And every time I go to an old religious I can see the feng shui in the buildings… but I at the same time know that if religion is wrongly implied it can drive humans crazy. (Eg. The crusades and ISIS) So my conclusion is that the feng shui behind religion and rituals in general is important.

HC: I can see why you think the Middle Heaven is the most interesting because it represents how we would deal with the Heaven above and the Earth below, and that requires us to know ourselves and what are our priorities. No building on a site is ever perfect, there are always some good points mixed with some not so good ones, the idea is not to overcome the bad by being indifferent to it, that is not the idea of a Chinese, especially a Daoist, approach, nor is there a need for a religion, but rather a need to examine what we believed in and what is our world-view, so the philosophical can harmonise wih the physical, our mindset and our environment can come togther as a whole.

Ritual need not be associated with a religion, doing Taijiquan slwoly and delibeartely daily is a ritual, making a cup of tea when each movement has a meaning and doing it with conscious awarenes is a ritual. With a ritual, we make the ordinary extra-ordinary and that is what we do in Feng Shui as well, we use ritual to make an ordeinary house into your very own special home. It is no longer a machine to live in but your one and only nest of wellbeing.

The essentail aim of Feng Shui is to “hasten the auspicious and avoid the harmful”, and that means we have to first sort out what is desirable and what is not desirable and why we think that way, then we can take advantage of the good and avoid, or transform, the bad in a “wuwei” way (doing the mininal for the maximum return). If it cannot be done physically or material-wise then we have to deal with it by changing our attitude to what is there with an alternative meaning that suits our world-view, so the body and mind duality can find its way to support each other.

Our environment affects us in a non-physical as well as a physical way, so in Feng Shui we also try to work with both the form and the formless to come to a satisfactory conclusion, when Heaven, Earth and Human come together as One, and that is reflected in the 3 Bagua arrangements, Heaven (Early), Earth (Later) and Human (Middle).

AW: It is interesting that you speak of viewing what we belived in.. as of now… I don’t share any belief or philosofical view of life after death even thought I have before. It is to complicated for my mind. I simply live here and now since energy/qi/biomagnetic energy became part of my life at the age of 17 it is a natural part of my world too. For a while now, I have been sorting out my priorities, even though I still got a lot to do. And I also understand that some of my goals can not be achieved by the form, so I have to start working with the formless, that can as I understand travel further in the spacetime continuum. The thing is that my knowledge of this is limited and even though my senses are good, they are not that good, which is why I have to rely purely on intuition which can be frightening at times.

HC: I can understand why pure intuition can be frightening because our intuition can be deeply subjective without us being aware of it. I trust my intuition, but I would always double check it with an objective mind. Correlative thinking can bring out the best of our intuition but again it needs logic and causal thinking to make it whole. Senses without know-how is again only half of the story. Let Yin and Yang come together and let them have an intercourse and something new will come out of it, with only one on its own, it is difficult to create something new, just like without your mum and dad you would not be here.

AW: I Will, thank you for you’re guidence

HC: It will be good if you can study some Feng Shui, which is not only good for your living environment but it can also teach you something about the Chinese culture and the way they would tackle life’s myriad of mysteries. In China, Feng Shui is a branch of Xuan Xue 玄學, the study of the mysterious. Thanks for the opportunity to make me think about how best to explain Feng Shui to a beginner with a western scientific background like yourself….until next time.

AW: I will look up Xuan Xue..

Form School v Compass School Feng Shui.

Many Feng Shui students and practitioners nowadays think the Compass School is more important than Form Feng Shui, very few is aware that before the Song Dynasty, there were no Compass Schools at all because the Luopan compass was not yet invented.

During the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, the imperial court was so concerned that Feng Shui has deterioated to a point where the Compass School is beginning to overtake the Form School, that the members of the Imperial Astronomers Department, including the chief officer Gao Dabin 高大賓and his deputy Qi Kechang 齊克昌, banded together to write a book called, “Qin Tian Jian Feng Shui Zhen Lun 欽天監風水正論” – “The Imperial Astronomers’ Sound Arguments on Feng Shui”.

The aim was to point out and to correct the mistakes made by the prevant and fashionable Feng Shui practcices of the time and to make a distinction between the imperial court’s and the layman’s undestanding of Feng Shui. What do these imperial experts have to say about Form and Compass School of Feng Shui, which in Chinese are called Luantpou Pai 巒頭派and Liqi Pai 理氣派respectiveley？

The book repeatedly explained the real purpose to “Cheng Sheng Qi 乘生氣” or to “ride the Sheng Qi (that is to take advantage of the Qi that norishes and give life to things)” as mentioned in the first line of GuO Pu’s Zang Shu 葬書 or The Book of Burial, can be obtained by looking at the physical form of the land and not by calcualtions with a compass rerading.

I have translated the following line from their book to summarise their point of view in essence:

「陰陽五行之理氣，即寓於巒頭之中。非巒頭之外，又有理氣之說也。」
“The Liqi within the Yin and Yang and the Five Phase are to be found inside Luantou and not outside of it. Luantou (Form School) also has Liqi (Compass School) built within It”.

What they meant was the Sheng Qi mentioned by Gua Pu is hidden in the form, it is not in the Luopan compass, when the Dragon (mountain range) rises and falls vigoriusly it has Qi, and when it sinks low all the way and disperses, its Qi disappears; when the landscape floiws and meanders, it has Qi and when it become flat and stiff, its Qi is gone; lush vegetation has Qi and slow dying vegetation has no Qi. The Qi that was talked about by Guo Pu is this kind of environmental Qi with form and not the so-called Gua Qi 卦氣 (the Qi of the Trigrams), or Xing Qi 星氣 (Qi ofthe Qi of the Stars), or Shi Qi 時氣(the Qi of time) and Yun Qi 運氣 (the Qi of Cycle of Luck).

What the imperial astronomers wanted to say is the Form Schools had precedent over the Compass School, working with the tangible that has forms through observation and appearance is more reliable than working with the intangible that is formless by way of calculations. We tend to keep forgetting this and thinks that is the compass calculations that will give us the answers, whereas in practice form feng shui holds the key.

The Qi of Schrodinger’s Cat

Eric Martell, an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Milikin Univeristy explained Schrodinger’s thought experiment in quantum mechanic in this way, ” If you try to make predictions and you assume you know the status of the cat, you’re (probably) going to be wrong. If, on the other hand, you assume it’s in a combination of all the possible states that it can be, you’ll be correct.” (“The Physics Behind Schrodinger’s Cat Paradox”, by Melody Kramer, National Geographic.)

When I read this, I was surprised how similar this is to the definition of Qi as expressed In Zhang Dainian’s “Key Concepts in Chinese Philiosophy”, translated and edited by Edmiund Ryden (p45), “Qi is both what really exists and what has the ability to become. To stress one at the expense of the other would be to misundertsand Qi”.

To me this means until we can observe the outcome of an invisible Formless Qi 炁, like the Qi of our destiny(Ming Qi 命氣), the potential outcomne is all encomposing and it would be futile for us to try to make any accurate predictions. We have to “wait for our destiny”, as mentioned by the Confucian scholars, but meanwhile we can always try our best, so the potential outcome is a genuine one and not one predicted on paper by our Bazi or our Feng Shui or whatever a Chinese predictive method is used.

We often make the mistakes thinking that the correlations used in making predictions are causations, whereas the ancient Chinese is trying to use the formless Qi of the Trigrams, the Stems and the Branches and so forth, through correlations, metaphors and associations to get us to look at the potentials of a situation with Chinese correlative thinking to “read” the invisible Formless Qi 炁 through the apperance of the visible Form Qi 氣.

But we need to be mindful that they are potentials and tendencies only, we don’t know for sure and we should not pretend that we can know the future with certainty, we can only make an intelligent guess of what would likely to come, to help us to bring out into the consicous our longings and fears, so we can make an appropriate decision to do the right thing, at the right time and in the right place to be efficacious.

Like the modernday scientists, the ancient Chinese philosophers used the concept of Qi in its form and formless state, to try to come to terms with the quantum mechanic of living, not with scientific experiements, but with philosophical concepts (Ti 體) expressed in technical applications (Yong 用), using correlations with numbers and symbols.

We should keep Schroginger’s cat in mind, everytime we do a Feng Shui consultation or a Bazi reading, and not to pretend that we can tell the future but to use different modes of thinking to make an intelligent guess of the future to help us to handle the present.

source/fromquarkstoquasars.com

Perfect Happiness on a Monday Morning

Monday morning: Starting the week by reading Burton Watson’s translation of Zhunag Zi writing on “Perfect Happiness”:

PERFECT HAPPINESS

IS THERE SUCH A THING as perfect happiness in the world or isn’t there? Is there some way to keep yourself alive or isn’t there? What to do, what to rely on, what to avoid, what to stick by, what to follow, what to leave alone, what to find happiness in, what to hate?

This is what the world honors: wealth, eminence, long life, a good name. This is what the world finds happiness in: a life of ease, rich food, fine clothes, beautiful sights, sweet sounds. This is what it looks down on: poverty, meanness, early death, a bad name. This is what it finds bitter: a life that knows no rest, a mouth that gets no rich food, no fine clothes for the body, no beautiful sights for the eye, no sweet sounds for the ear.

People who can’t get these things fret a great deal and are afraid – this is a stupid way to treat the body. People who are rich wear themselves out rushing around on business, piling up more wealth than they could ever use – this is a superficial way to treat the body. People who are eminent spend night and day scheming and wondering if they are doing right – this is a shoddy way to treat the body. Man lives his life in company with worry, and if he lives a long while, till he’s dull and doddering, then he has spent that much time worrying instead of dying, a bitter lot indeed! This is a callous way to treat the body.

Men of ardor are regarded by the world as good, but their goodness doesn’t succeed in keeping them alive. So I don’t know whether their goodness is really good or not. Perhaps I think it’s good – but not good enough to save their lives. Perhaps I think it’s no good – but still good enough to save the lives of others. So I say, if your loyal advice isn’t heeded, give way and do not wrangle. Tzu-hsu wrangled and lost his body. But if he hadn’t wrangled, he wouldn’t have made a name. Is there really such a thing as goodness or isn’t there?

What ordinary people do and what they find happiness in – I don’t know whether such happiness is in the end really happiness or not. I look at what ordinary people find happiness in, what they all make a mad dash for, racing around as though they couldn’t stop – they all say they’re happy with it. I’m not happy with it and I’m not unhappy with it. In the end is there really happiness or isn’t there?

I take inaction to be true happiness, but ordinary people think it is a bitter thing. I say: perfect happiness knows no happiness; perfect praise knows no praise. The world can’t decide what is right and what is wrong. And yet inaction can decide this. Perfect happiness, keeping alive – only inaction gets you close to this!

Let me try putting it this way. The inaction of Heaven is its purity, the inaction of earth is its peace. So the two inactions combine and all things are transformed and brought to birth. Wonderfully, mysteriously, there is no place they come out of. Mysteriously, wonderfully, they have no sign. Each thing minds its business and all grow up out of inaction. So I say, Heaven and earth do nothing and there is nothing that is not done. Among men, who can get hold of this inaction?

What is the Meaning of Qi in Feng Shui?

From the way, Guo Pu defined the term Feng Shui in his Zang Shu or the Book of Burial (Translation by Stephen L Fireld):

‘The Classic says: Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water.  The ancients collected it to prevent its dissipation, and guided it to assure its retention. Thus, it was called fengshui.’

We can see Feng Shui puts a lot of emphasis on the idea of “Zang Feng De Shui” 藏風得水 (to store from the wind and obtain water) to gather the Qi to benefit a tomb or a dwelling and its occupant From this we can see Qi is an important concept in Feng Shui, yet very few people, including many Feng Shui practitioners, have a clear idea what is this Qi in Feng Shui.

With the advent of modern science, many Feng Shui theorists tried to use hard science to explain Qi, some think it is related to electromagnetism, while others to negative and positive ions and so forth, and the term “energy”, as used in science, is often equated to Qi, as though Qi can do work to fulfill our longings and desires, like wealth and happiness, with Feng Shui.

This sentiment is echoed in Dr. Jay Bulloch’s article “What is Qi?” (http://jaybulloch.com/articles/what-is-qi/#_ENREF_5)

“Most people in the West, including many authors, think qi means energy, but this “represents a basic misconception that is not supported by Chinese ancient sources” (Unschuld, 1985, p. 72). This common mistranslation has lead to many erroneous ideas and understandings with regards to Chinese medicine. The term qi is complex, multilayered, and at its core, profound. It is one of the most difficult terms in Chinese language to translate. Not only is there no equivalent word in the English language, there is also no all-encompassing, equivalent concept in Western thought or science.”

From my perspective, after studying and working with Feng Shui as a practicing Feng Shui architect, consultant and teacher for nearly 40 years, I think this is an inappropriate approach, because it is trying to explain a unique Chinese cultural heritage with a western world-view. To me, a better approach would be through a Feng Shui and a Chinese world-view, instead of a western paradigm. Look at Qi in Feng Shui not from a hard science point of view, but from a Chinese cultural and philosophical perspective instead.

Three assumptions are made in a Feng Shui paradigm, the first is everything under the sun, be it organic or inorganic, has Qi, the second is everything that has Qi has Yin and Yang and the third is because of this continuum, everything is interconnected. So right from the beginning the Chinese sees Qi as a continuum and as a component of Yin and Yang.

In p46 of Prof. Zhang Dainian’s “Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy” (translated by Edmund Ryden, Foreign Languages Press 2002), he wrote from the Pre-Qi to the Han, Qi is understood as intimately associated with Yin and Yang and then he quoted an extract from a speech by the Grand Historiographer of Zhou, Boyangfu. Yin and Yang are the two aspects of Qi and when the Qi of Heaven and Earth is out of balance, then an earthquake occurs.

In Prof. Zhang’s 8 pages explaining the concept of Qi (p45 – p63), Edmund Ryden at the beginning of his translation, has summarized the professor’s scholarly work with his understanding of what is Qi and I think it is a very good explanation and it echoes with the practice of Feng Shui:

‘In popular parlance qi is applied to the air we breathe, steam, smoke, and all gaseous substance. The philosophical use of the term underlines the movement of qi. Qi is both what really exists and what has the ability to become. To stress one at the expense of the other would be to misunderstand qi. Qi si the life principle but is also the stuff of inanimate objects. As a philosophical category, qi originally referred to the existence of whatever is of a nature to become. This meaning is then expanded to encompass all phenomena, both physical and spiritual. It is energy that has the capacity to become material object while remaining what it is. It thus combines “potentiality” with “matter”. To understand it solely as “spirituality” would be wrong, just as it cannot be translated as “matter.’

If we can accept as its definition:

‘Qi is both form and formless “matter” and it’s potential to become while remaining what it is, thus Qi combines “potential” with “matter” ‘

then we can see Qi, as a therectical construct, is a mean for the Chinese to link the Yin with the Yang as a continuum that would connect the Heaven above, the Earth below and the Human in us, to look at our relationship with the environment we live in, which is essentially what we do in Feng Shui.

Sheng Qi is a result when Yin and Yang come together in a harmonious and balanced way, while the complementary opposite Sha Qi happens when Yin and Yang are out of balance and the life-enhancing Sheng Qi is prevented from taking place. That is what Gu Pu was referring to when he wrote, “To bury is to take advantage of the Sheng Qi” in the first line of this Zang Shu mentioned earlier.

He was not talking about taking advantage of some geodetic force in the ground, he was referring to finding a balance between Yin and Yang of all sorts in their myriad of correlations, like high and low, mountain and water, front and back, left and right and so forth, all the physical attributes that would make up the Form Feng Shui school. But if there is form and everything has Yin and Yang, then there is also the formless in Feng Shui and to study the formless, we have the Compass, or the Liqi Pai – the formless Qi-pattern school.

In the Liqi Pai, a Luopan compass is used to measure the directions of a house or a tomb. This measurement is then correlated to a Trigram and through the Trigram correlations or associations, the practitioner would “read” the Qi of the Trigrams, which eventually will correlated back down to the Five Phase relationships, and with the Five Phase (Wuxing 五行) – the five “matters” (in this case the 5 Qi correlations) of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal, and their potential to become, the practitioner can determine which relation is auspicious and which is harmful. As a result, we have the Wuxing Qi, or the Qi of the Five Phases to work with. Again, this Qi is not some sort of energy or force, but relationships that are either desirable or not, according to whether the relationship between the Five-Phase Qi is harmonious or out of balanced or otherwise.

Through this definition for Qi, we can also explain some of the unusual expression or mystical demonstrations of Qi we often see in Qigong and Kung Fu, a good example is the so-called Empty Force (Lingkong Jin 凌空勁) – the ability to move another person without touching that person. The so-called Qi (Jin is defined as dynamic Qi) is a continuum of Yin and Yang and a continuum needs a connection, so to demonstrate this Qi, one needs a sender and a receiver. When the student as a receiver, is under the influence of his or her master as the sender, then the Qi of mutual resonance can take place and the student gets pushed over. But if this teacher tries to push a stranger, who is not connected to the sender, or not able to receive his Qi (i.e. no mutual resonance), then if won’t work. Not knowing the true meaning of Qi and the working of Qi, we mistaken it as some sort of super-human power beyond our understanding.

The character for Qi is written with the radical “rice” below the radical for “vapour”. Rice is substantial while vapour is the opposite, when ric is cooked it sinks to the bottom while the vopou rises, so even the written word for Qi is associated with Yin and Yang. The term Feng Shui (wind and water) also expressed the same sentiment, with wind being the active and water being the passive agent in nature. Calligraphy by Wang Xi-Zhi (303-361 AD).

The Future of Hong Kong

The other day, one of my students asked me about the future of Hong Kong, after 20 years of handover, from a Feng Shui perspective, so I took out a satellite map of the Pearl River Delta Region of which Hong Kong is located at the end of the same Dragon Vein embracing the region and said to him.

It is very obvious to me looking at the map, the greater Mingtang or the ideal Xue (FS Spot) is located to the south of the city of Guangzhou, thus in the long run, the prosperity of the region will shift north-west-ward from Hong Kong. This was not possible before the handover because Mainland politics have cut off the regional connection through Human Qi, but now the political situation has changed and the region is opening up and consequently the Earth Qi will re-exert its influence aided by the human desire to make the region into one big basin.

The shift will start with Shenzhen and it is already happening now, this shift is mirrored with Macao to Zhuhai on the White Tiger side, but Hong Kong will never die out because it is located on the Azure Dragon, the Yang side of the Four Animals model and she will continue to play an active part, but not the only part in the region any more.

That was the answer I gave my student with this map shown below.

Qi Zhen Ba Fa 奇針八法 – The 8 Abnormal Luopan Needle Movements.

The Chinese Luopan Compass with all its esoteric markings like the Yin Yang, the Wuxing, the Bagua, the 12 Life Cycles, the 24 Mountains, the 28 Lunar Mansions and the 64 Hexagrams etc., have always captivated the Chinese, who often felt that this instrument is magical and it has a supernatural quality unlike the ordinary compass. So, when the needle in the Tian Chi, or the Heavenly Pool, moves in an abnormal way, the Chinese would see it as a sign that the site is possessed by some malevolent spirits. Some practitioners would capitalise on this folk belief and promote the idea that they have the supernatural ability to see ghosts and spirits with the Luopan compass.

1) The Unstable Needle. 搪针.
The needle keeps moving, not able to remain still and it does not align with the middle. This indicates that the site has abnormal rocks below and whoever live there will encounter disaster and calamity. If the needle hoovers over the Xun, the Si and the Bing directions then there are antique remains to be found there and the site will attract wanton women, shamanic practitioners and lonely bachelors.

2) The Rising Needle. 兑针.
It is also called the Floating Needle, the head of the needle is tilted upward, this indicates a presence of benevolent Yin Qi and the source comes either from the deceased ancestors or from some protective spirits.

3) The Sinking Needle. 沉针.
The head of the needle is tilted downward, this also indicates that there is a presence of Yin Qi but in this case, it is neither protective nor harmful, instead it indicates the deceased has met with an unusual and an unjust death and felt uncomfortable being buried without a resolution.

4) The Turning Needle. 转针.
The needle cannot stop rotating, it indicates the presence of malevolent Yin Qi, the Qi of hatred and resentment will not dissipate and whoever live there will be physically harmed or emotionally hurt.

5) The Dropped Needle. 投针
The needle is half sinking and half floating, it tilts alternatively upward and downward, neither all the way to the top nor all way to the bottom. It indicates that there is a grave below and and whoever live there will experience sadness, gossip and lawsuits.

6) The Inverse Needle. 逆针.
The needle does not sit on the central line smoothly and the head tilts to one side or the other. This indicates that the place will produce a rebellious person and both the person and the wealth will decline; there is no good feng shui to speak about.

7) The Inclined Needle. 侧针.
The needle has stopped but does not return to the central line. This indicates that the site is suitable only for a temple or a religious alter and not for a residential dwelling.

8) The Proper Needle. 正针.
The needle leans neither to one side nor the other, it sits steadily and it aligns with the central line. This indicates that the site is a normal one and one may consider different aspects with discernment.

PS: Anyone who uses the Luopan compass long enough would know that it is not unusual for the needle to behave in an abnormal way occasionally. Some would prefer to look for a physical cause, while others would believe in a supernatural one. The choice is up to you.

 

The reference I used on the Qi Zhen Ba Fa comes from a Taiwanese Feng Shui teacher called Yan Shi 顏仕, he is the Principal of Dahan Yijing College. I understand he wrote about the 8 Abnormal Needles after doing his own research from writings of the past on the Luopan compass.

Feng Shui Study Tour of Michelangelo’s Rome

We still have a couple of vacancy left foe a small group tour on a Friday afternoon before the Self-Activated Talisman workshop. The tour will last for three hours with a comprehensive copy of notes given out to the participants free of charge. Come and join us!

The First Symposium of Academic Journal of Feng Shui

Screen shots of a brochure for the First Symposium of the Academy Journal of Feng Shui in Sydney, 13-14 May, 2017

 

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The Different Metrics of Liqi Pai Feng Shui (Compass Feng Shui)

After a house is built, Liqi Pai 理氣派 or Compass School Feng Shui is concerned with how the building is engaging with the environment from a Gua Qi 卦氣 (Qi of the Trigrams) point of view and there are three ways to do this, according to the San Cai 三才 theory of Tian Qi, Di Qi and Ren Qi or the Three Abilities theory of Heaven Qi, Earth Qi and Human Qi:

1) To “ride” (Cheng 乘) the Earth Qi.
2) To “face” (Xiang 向) the Heaven Qi.
3) The “take in” (Na 納) the Human Qi.

For this reason, a compass method, like the Bazhai Mingjing 八宅明鏡 Eight Mansion School, would use the sitting direction, called the Fu Wei, to calculate the locations of the eight Wandering Qi through Yao line changes, the idea is to use the correlations of the compass readings to calculate how the house is “sitting on” or “riding” the Earth Qi.

Another system, like the Xuankong Sanyuan Feixing Pai 玄空三元飛星派 or Space-Time Three-Era Flying Star School, would use the facing direction to calculate the location of the flying stars, with its resultant sitting and facing star influencing health/relationship and wealth/officialdom respectively. The idea is to use the facing direction and its subsequent correlations of the eight Trigrams in the eight directions, to calculate how the house would face the Heaven Qi and whether a particular direction is auspicious or harmful (ji-xiong 吉凶) from a health and wealth perspective.

Still another method, like the Yangzhai Sanyao Bazhai Pai 陽宅三要八宅派 or the Three Essentials of a Yang Dwelling Eight-Mansion School, would use the front door as its Fu Wei, to calculate the locations of the eight Wandering Qi memorized by the Song of the Yearly Cycles (Younian Ge 遊年歌), namely Fu Wei 伏位, Sheng Qi 生氣 , Yan Nian 延年, Tian Yi 天醫, Huo Hai 禍害, Jue Ming 絕命, Liu Sha 六煞 and Wu Gui 五鬼, instead of using the sitting direction mentioned earlier.

When a house is not yet built, Feng Shui is concerned with its location to the landscape, so in systems like the four San He Water Methods, they use the incoming and outgoing water in front of the site, as well as the direction of the Coming Dragon of the mountains behind as their reference point, to set up the 12 Life-Cycle （十二長生訣）, to calculate the auspicious and harmfulness of a location.

In Xuankong Dagua, the aim is match the siting of a house with its landscape (Shan Shui or Mountain and Water), so the direction of the “Coming Dragon” and “Going Water” of the land is matched with the Sitting and Facing of the house, according to the correlated numbers or Trigrams so the 4 numbers/trigram are either of the same, adding up to 5, 10 or 15 or they have Hetu pairing relationships to be ritually correct and auspicious.

Thus we can see the Compass Feng Shui Schools have different metrics to reflect the different way a house would engage its environment, and these are used as reference points for calculations, both before and after its construction, also internally and externally.

When this is understood, the compass methods may seem numerous and complicated, but they all have the same objective: how best to engage the Qi of the environment, so it can energize and nourish us in a meaningful and ritually correct way. Obviously, the best way would be for a house to be able to “ride”, to “face” and to “take in” the Qi of the environment in the most appropriate or auspicious way at the same time and this idea should be the core principles of any Compass school of Feng Shui.

How to Make Use of the Annual Flying Star

The other day I was asked this interesting question about the annual flying star, which is a question of concern during this time of the year.

How big of an effect are the annual flying stars to a home’s Feng Shui? Or rather how should people be using this info to benefit their Feng Shui?

The annual flying star is based on the Luoshu, which is a general representation of the universe according to the ancient Chinese, where the even numbers represented the square Earth and the odd numbers represented the circular Heaven above (see picture below). Consequently the yearly flying star is a pattern language using correlations to represent space-time and the regular cyclical changes in Nature.

The annual flying star is not meant to be a specific picture of what would happen in the coming year in the 8 directions, it is there to stimulate us, using correlative thinking, to think about our relationship to our environment with our fears and longings in the present, so we can make plans for the new year.

The effects in the different directions suggested by the annual flying star of all sorts should not be taken literally, just like when we are born in a certain year we are correlated to a certain animal. This animal is only a metaphor of what we could and can be, we are not literally that animal.

But this information can be used to examine different space in our house, we can use the chart to reflect on our hopes and our fears for the coming year and also how to plan and manage another 12 months, knowing that things will always go up and down in cycles.

For example, if there is an indication of theft and robbery in the South-West because the 7 Red Metal “Broken Army” Star of Robbery has landed in this direction in 2017. Don’t panic, the 7 is not going to cause you trouble literally, it is just an indication that there could be some issues relating to the 7 and its correlations in this direction, so check what is there? Is the security sound? Is the security of the house a concern? Did you renew you household insurance for next year? And so forth and if it still worries you, put up a picture with blue colour or with a water scene there because Water can weaker Metal and in this way you begin to redecorate and to refresh your home for the new year as well. That is how it could be used to benefit our feng shui and enrich our life at the same time annually.

Yearly Star Prediction Using Xuankong Mingli

Xuankong Mingli (XKML) 玄空命理, or Space-Time Flying-Star Divination, has a different way to look at the yearly stars than the usual ones we encounter in the market place every year.

Instead of just looking at the stars on their own and ended up, most of the time, the directions where the four Purple-White Stars (1, 6, 8 and 9) fly to become the most auspicious directions with the other four directions being inauspicious, XKML uses the yearly star on duty as its host and then look at the Five Phase relationships of the other eight stars. Not only there is a Host-Guest and a Five-Phase relationship to consider, XKML also uses timeliness of the stars and the seasonal strength of a star to make a final judgment on the desirability of a direction for each year.

Lets take an example for the 9 Purple Fire Star in the SE for next year (2017), most readings are similar to the one below:

“The Nine Purple Star provides residents of Southeast-facing houses with a blissful year in 2017. You will have a smooth sailing year as there are no inauspicious stars present this year”.

The way XKML would read the same star in the SE is as follow:

9 is declining while 1 is timely, timely Water controls 9 Fire, but because the Fire Qi of the 9 Purple is located between the seasons of Summer and Spring, it is rather active with vigor, so the Water cannot put it out fully, but in the conflict the vitality of the 9 Purple Fire is injured.

If we take, host-guest, timeliness and seasonal strength into consideration when we look at the relationship between the yearly star on duty and the other 8 stars, then the SE is not as auspicious as some would suggest. Instead it would be desirable to introduce some Wood into the SE to make sure that the declining Qi of the 9 Purple Fire in this direction can remain prosperous during 2017.

We have only considered one direction, when we use the XKML way of looking at the stars, then the outcome can often be very different. It is not to say XKML is right and the other way of looking at the stars is wrong, I simply want to point out that when we use numbers and symbols (that is the Stars) to make a prediction, they need interpretation of the correlated numbers and symbols and each school has a different way to consider the Stars, so please take these yearly predictions with caution.

Space Clearing is not Feng Shui

“Space clearing is the feng shui art of clearing and revitalizing energies in buildings. It’s as essential to the energetic maintenance of a place as physical cleaning is to the physical maintenance. The term “space clearing” has passed into the English language as a generic term for all kinds of energy clearing techniques, but originally it was the name I coined to describe the ceremony I have pioneered and developed since 1978.” – Karen Kingston.

Space Clearing as defined by Karen Kingston is not Feng Shui, the techniques and ceremonies she pioneered and developed since 1978 are her own creation, they have little to do with traditional Feng Shui.

The Chinese term used to cleanse the Sha Qi of a space out of balance is called Huajie, or Jiehua 解化, commonly known as a “cure” in the west. To chase away an evil spirit or to get rid of a ghost is called Bi Xie 避邪 or “Ward Off Evil Spirit” and Qu Gui 驅鬼 or Ghost Exorcism respectively, both involved special techniques and ritual passed down from the Chinese religious tradition and they are nothing like Karen Kingston’s own inventions. These ceremonies, especially the more powerful ones, are very often carried out by specialists invited by the Feng Shui expert.

Then there are the more popular and simple ceremonies, like “paying homage to the four quarters”, which every feng shui practitioner can learn, to help their clients to move in and to take possession of a new home.

https://howardchoy.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/paying-homage-to-the-four-quarters/

At best Space Clearing is an add-on skill to Feng Shui, it is not Feng Shui itself in the traditional sense, but it has been adopted by New-Age Feng Shui in recent years and they claimed it is part of Feng Shui, which is not true.

(photo taken from lilyfengshui.weebly.com)

I Ching (Yijing) Reading by the Internet

Here is an interesting Yijing reading I did with a Facebook friend on her page. It is more like she is doing the reading than me (and that is the way it should be done). We project our thoughts onto an image or a picture constantly all the Yijing reader has to do is to open the floodgate with a Hexagram…

A Yijing reader is not a fortune-teller, he or she facilities in a process of self-reflection and self-discovery using a synchronistic picture of one of the 64 Hexagrams randomly casted as a prop.

Disclaimer: I have not ask this person for permission to post up our conversation, although you can read it in full in her Facebook, if she raises any objection I will take it down straight away, so please read it before it disappears. I hope you can gain some insight from reading our conversation of how a Yijing reading is carried out in practice. Thank you for your understanding.

Well, night before last I dreamed of dinosaurs stomping a shopping mall. I was shopping there. (Although I go to a mall about once every 5 years) Then, last night I dreamed I was driving and my steering wheel broke in half. Something’s up.

I’ll be glad to do an I Ching reading if you like to find out what’s up. Just let me know!

Haha….that’s ok. I think I have it figured out. We’ll see, anyway.

Sometimes it’s better if someone else does the dream interpretation, no strings to the answer.

Another the night before last included a dead relative who never shows up unless someone is headed her way. sigh. Let’s hope it’s someone nobody likes.

Are you sure you don’t want a I Ching reading?

Three dreams.

Then it’s needs at least 3 reads.

I think they’re all about the same thing

One reading with 3 moving lines?

That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?

Anytime you want I can cast one for you.

Thanks. If you want to, go ahead whenever you want. It might be a great learning experience for us both.

Here it is:
(See Hexgram below)

I can see old issues coming back to haunt me..or just old issues causing trouble.

Dinosaurs…you may need to discard your old ways… hmmm.

Or could be someone else … from the past coming to cause trouble.
An old relationship perhaps…family comes to mind.
On the divination I would be the subject…moving to control the object. getting a bit of support from moving yao 5.,,…a woman
Spirit of robbery is the gua shen…but it is clashed at the year
Looks like I’m set to get robbed.

It’s obvious to me but you have to come to this point.

Don’t be so damn cryptic!
If you have something to say, say it. I know what I think it says. I’m wondering if I should allow myself to be robbed or not.

It is not about robbery it is about you.

Again…just say what you think.
Never do another one for me if you don’t want to discuss it
OK, background on this week…I’ve been working on finding out more from my lawyer and dreading the upcoming fight with my sister. My lawyer is a woman…which seems to show up on the hexagram.

The second and the fifth Yao line are the core line of the two trigrams and they are moving, and that indicates the core of you is changing, this is also reinforced by the dream of dinosaurs stomping.

These are the dinosaurs…my relationship with my brother and sister.
So, yes…my relationship with my siblings has changed.,,and continues to change. Their relationship with me is the same it always was…I’ve discovered what has been hiding behind the curtain though…and it’s been since we were small children. So, it’s all good.
I want justice, but that can never be. So, we will see.
Or it could be something completely different. Who even knows anymore?

It is not about justice, it is about peace of mind, like a calm lake on earth.
You will lose control for a while but….

Peace of mind comes with justice. ;-) But, again…that isn’t going to happen in the normal way. I just remember that we all have a part to play, so do my siblings. I can only assume they have played their parts well. Sure had me fooled. ha. So, whatever happens is just going to have to be fine.

It will be fine, but only if you are willing to change, little by little….

The peace of mind will come after the conflict. I only have to do what I think is the right thing.
While using kindness and not revenge or hate….or even anger.

The change in the fifth Yao line tells you to rediscover your feminine side, whatever that mean….

And, actually…I’ve been very patient with all of this. I didn’t want to have to hire a lawyer just so my sister will disclose what she’s been doing with our mother’s estate. But, I’ve been hearing “you don’t need to know that” long enough. ha… Well, I kinda do need to know that.
And, I will not sign her documents without advice from an attorney. So, there’s all the conflict. I’ll be glad when it’s over.
t is absolutely disgraceful that it has to come to this. My parents would be horrified.
The month break Yin/brothers line shows that my brother has already received more than his part of their inheritance…before they died…so it’s basically a sister vs sister. There’s a lot in this hexagram.

The last moving line is from a Yang Yao to a Yin Yao then you can reach Cui – Bringing Together.

With the subject moving to Mao…it controls the object Xu..which is also money. in between though…the Officer/ghost moves so I’m calling this the lawyer…and that whittles at the future subject, doesn’t it?
It won’t bring me and my sister together. Our relationship was spoiled from the time she was born when our mother put one child against the other. I didn’t “bite” (no parallel in my chart, so no competition) so she turned the other two against me without me suspecting. Until my dad died I had no idea. ;-) Well there you go.

The commentary by Alfred Huang: “Bring Together. It is bring people together: Devoted and joyous. The firm is central and has correspondence. Therefore people come and assemble together.

Sounds nice, but not likely.
Their hate runs deep.
But, that’s ok. I don’t have to let it bother me…or control me. I wish them well. But, when asked to sign documents that will affect my taxes..without knowing all the details…I have to consider the best option I have concerns a lawyer. Ha

Their hate runs deep; can your love run deeper? Well it is not for me to tell nor for you to answer, it is spoken by the Yi that shows a way to resolution. Here ends the reading, good night.

Reading Hwang’s version though…only the third Yao is read…humiliation.
I think all the Yaos are important else they wouldn’t bother moving.
We’ll see. I’ll just be glad when it’s over. Maybe the death aspect is the relationship. ;-) God knows it’s been sick long enough. Ha
And, it’s already humiliating to have to go through all this. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next month or so. Thanks for the reading, Howard. I appreciate you. ;-)

What is Qi? Is Qi the same as Wind or Energy?

IS QI THE SAME AS FLOW OF AIR, WIND OR ENERGY?

The answer is the flow of air or wind has Qi but it is not Qi in its fuller sense, because Qi in Feng Shui is made of Form Qi and Formless Qi, similar to Einstein’s theory of relativity that energy and matter are interchangeable, from his famous equation E = mc2 so we have to look at the two parts and what effects their relationship has to each other to use the term Qi.

Form Qi, as the name implied, has form and a shape, it is manifested, tangible and visible, it is also measurable and quantifiable, whereas Formless Qi has no form, it is un-manifested, intangible and hidden, it is not measurable and not quantifiable, it can only be felt individually.

Form Qi is something that actually exists, while Formless Qi has the ability to become but not yet manifested, and we cannot pull them apart when we talk about Qi in its totality because they are the complementary opposites to each other like Yin and Yang, one cannot do without the other.

This idea that there is Form and Formless Qi within each other implied that Qi is in everything and Qi is everywhere, it is both material and spiritual, it combines “potentiality” with “matter” and we cannot just see it as matter on its own, neither as potentiality by itself. That is why it is so difficult to define and measure Qi, because it is a thing and an idea and it is also concrete and abstract at the same time.

With this in mind, let’s get back to question, “Is Qi the same as wind”? The answer is yes when we talk about Wind Qi, but no, when it is only about wind as a physical force that we can measure its effect but not its potential to become. So in a way we have to speak about wind and its “windiness” before we can say it is Qi, because Qi is more than energy, it is energy that has the potential to become matter while remaining what it is. Likewise, Qi can be matter, but is more than matter, which has the potential to become energy or a force while remaining what it is.

Practical Skills of an Accomplished Feng Shui Practitioner.

Master Jiang 江靜川, my colleague from Hong Kong, has given some simple but valuable advice on Yinzhai Feng Shui in his recent Facebook posting, I think what he said is also applicable to Yangzhai Feng Shui, so I did a quick translation of the important parts of what he wrote to share on my Blog, with my comments in brackets.

一位有功夫的地師要掌握以下三大法則，才算稱職合格 :
一是尋龍點穴(山家功夫)，
二是消山納水(理氣立向)，
三是形局剪裁(人工補救)。
多者控之，少者補之。
三僚補救三大法訣 :
一不足，担土用，用土制煞可發福。
二不足，種樹木，調補陰陽立建功。
三不足，做圍屋，收接氣脈造形局。
楊公三訣能領悟，代代兒孫可發福。

An accomplished and skilful Feng Shui practitioner needs to master the following three skills:

1) The skill to trace the Dragon (i.e to follow the mountain tops and the valleys to work out the Qi flow of the land) and pinpoint the burial spot (I.e. knowledge in Form School Feng Shui).
2) The skill to calculate the desirable orientations for a site (i.e. knowledge in Compass School Feng Shui – the term used is 消山納水 “to sort out the mountains to obtain water”, that is knowing the Yin and Yang of the sitting and facing).
3) The skill to remedy the deficiencies by man-made means.

(That is he is able to) make use of the sufficient and remedy the insufficient.

The San Liao School (Yang Gong Feng Shui) has three ways to do the remedy:

1) Use earth moving to overcome the deficiency in the landform.
2) Use trees and greenery to remedy the imbalance of Yin and Yang (e.g. light and shade, open and close, etc.).
3) Create an embracing structure to capture the Qi Vein with Form adjustments.

Master Jiang said if one can follow these three Yang Gong recommendations, then every descending generation can prosper.

Casa Domintila

Kolping Hotel Casa Domintila has interesting feng shui, looking at it from the front it is like a person with two arms stretched out (Christ on the Cross?) and because of the land restriction, one of the arm has to fold in on an angle. The centrepiece has a Metal phase, supported by Earth of the brickworks above and to either side, plus a little bit of horizontal Wood to give it some interest.

Unusual for a hotel, the reception is located below ground level with a restaurant above and a chapel sitting on top. The architectural composition reflected the character of housing pilgrims on their journey well, at the end of the day, the pilgrims need food for their stomach and worshipping their Lord, more than feeling welcome.

I only wish the architect could have done a sunken courtyard in front of the reception area so there is an inner Mingtang on the lower level to collect the Qi of warmth and affection as the visitors sign into the hotel.

On the whole I much prefer this kind of hotel with meanings to some of the soulless modern varieties that we see in so-called the international hotels, which look at same all over the place, whether we are in Beijing, New York or Rome.

Restored Monastery at the Ancient City of Aptera Crete

 

This Byzantine Monastery of St. John the Divine is located next to the huge Roman Cisterns at the ancient city of Aptera. It is believe to have been built in the 7th. Century AD and remain in use until 1964 when it is abandoned permanently.

The layout is very similar to a traditional Chinese courtyard house and if we take the North as the sitting direction, where the chapel is located, then according to the Bazhai School of Feng Shui, it is a Kan House with the Door at Xun, where the auspicious Sheng Qi Wandering Star is located (see Bazhai map below). I know it is not how the original builder would have envisaged, but I find it interesting to see it from a Feng Shui perspective.

The irregular shape of the courtyard gave a distorted perspective and made the courtyard seem larger than what it is as one enters from the main door. In Feng Shui it is called a “money bag” shape.

It is quite a pleasant surprise when we walked into the courtyard from a harsh landscape, it is cool, calm and welcoming, like entering an Oasis from a desert.

In contrast to other monasteries of later periods in Crete, the chapel is not located in the centre along the East-West axis, but it is located to one side and is quite moderate in size. This made me think may be the idea of a Community of God has given away to a Worship of God over time.

I could not get my camera to work on the day, the last photo is taken from a Crete tourist site.

US Presidential Election 2016 by the Stars

I have done this prediction one day before the first debate on the 27th. September 2016, with Xuankong Mingli; not so much that the stars can tell the future with certainty, but out of my fears and longing for America to stay the righteous course, because her influence on the rest of the world is immense. I am not worry about the outcome of the debates I just hope the stars can give us the reassuring signs.

I use the two candidates birth time to obtain their Ming Gua (Trigram of Fate) number and its associated Five-Phase, then I look at the stars (i.e. the Trigrams) for the year, the month and the day and see how time influence each of them to get a reading.

Clinton was born in 1947, so she has a Ming Gua 7 Metal; Trump was born in 1946, so he has a Ming Gua 9 Fire. The yearly star on duty is 2 Earth, the monthly star on duty is again 2 Earth and the daily star on duty is 4 Wood.

For Hillary, the year generates into her, the month also generates into her and she controls the day of election. For Donald, the year weakens him, the month also weakens him and the day generates into him. What generates into a person nourishes this person and what the person controls is his or her wealth and power.

So the outcome looks much more favourable for Clinton, she will win the election but Trump will also benefit from the contest even though he loses out. For Clinton, being the first female president is what she wants and for Trump the whole contest is a stage for him and he would become even more famous afterward and that would certainly help his business in the future. The fear is that he might suffer health problems as a consequence, because the contest will ultimately weakens him as showed by the yearly and the monthly stars, whereas Clinton will grow stronger.

Of course this might not happen at all, prediction is a risky business, whether we use Western science or Chinese metaphysics. Que Sera, Sera.

Our Feng Shui Journey – On becoming a Feng Shui Architect.

My Feng Shui journey of becoing a Feng Shui architect started just after I graduated from my architectural study in Australia, I was looking towards Feng Shui, my cultural heritage, to find a way to help me grow into a better architect, more humane and more in touch with nature.

Recently we just finished a 2 years training program accredited by the Feng Shui Society UK and Europe and about to embark on a second program in the new year. In order for us to understand our potential students better, we asked them to tell us a little bit about themselves why they want to learn Feng Shui with a set of questionnaire.

Today I received one reply and it touched my heart because what the student said is so similar to my search and my feelings at the time nearly 40 years ago. I asked her for permission to post it here what she wrote, by way of expressing my own longings to excel in our profession.

Picture below show a page from students submitted for the final practical examination on the Qi Flow and Containment Study of a house. If you are interested in the new 2 years program to be taught in London you can find the relevant information here: http://www.fengshui-college.org/uk

“2. I am interested in Feng Shui for some years now. However, until now just being an idea rather than taking it seriously and studying it deeper. I would like to study it because to me it should be the basic and the primordial study and finding for any place occupied by people. It just happened that the Chinese were the ones very hard working to put it together and give it to humans as a structured writing and information.
3. We are part of the Whole which works perfectly any way, we as humans at some point forget to follow those principles and lows and forget to live together and started to go away and fall apart. We can not…we can see that clearly- we are part of the creation…one of the greatest and we should take responsibility of what we are doing and how we are living and mature. Some of the ways to learn how to understand , follow and be part of the whole is thru Feng Shui to me. In the way I live and what I do a significant part.
There is a dream I have also about designing “THE DREAM”- a kind of self contained town/ village/space as I see it working in harmony with Nature and life itself, based on the 5 Elements, the seasons, the cardinal direction, flower of life, Platonic solids and the houses being spheres as the best form… based on molecule/ sell structure. Any way, working from time to time on that I realized that I need more knowledge and I can find a big part of it in Feng Shui.
4. It started back home with an article I had red in a magazine maybe 12-15 years ago. The whole writing sounded with a lot of sense and then later from time to time I will read a book or watch you tube videos to a point where I got confused of so many schools and left it for the moment being.
Also I have tried to figure out my self the Feng shui at home…☺ In general I am starting from scratch☺
5. I work in an architectural practice, mainly dealing with Historical listed buildings but also some new and extensions.
6. Yes at this point of my life I think I am able to complete the two years course.
7. Yes I would love to serve and help people to live in a better place and better life and become better people if possible….:) if I may and if/ when they are open and willing to take the journey. I will be very happy to apply my knowledge at work.
8. Most of all it is my journey and I am willing to take it- it is my personal seeking to develop my self and have the knowledge on that subject. Even if it just for that and for making my home , my parents and friends homes a better places it is great. Second of all I think at my work – I am designing people’s houses most importantly homes, whether new or old I am sure I can apply this knowledge (even secretly ☺ ) and make this places happy and make them live in harmonious places ( I would love to be the fairy and spread some Feng Shui magic dust around☺) .And last but not least this big Dream I have…Even it will sit on a paper at home I would love to make it proper. We never know…life is full of miracles.
“

Laughter is the Best Cure.

Feng Shui makes good cartoons when correlative thinking is taken literally!

I’d like you to… ward off evil spirits coming from the Inland Revenue office across the way.

Conscious Awareness is The Cure.

I have been asked this question by one of my students recently:

“I have a question that maybe you can help me find an answer to – In Chinese Feng Shui literature what character is used for a “cure”? As in a Ba Gua mirror may be placed to help “cure” poor energy entering a doorway… If my hunch is correct, the character would be zhi 治, or a variant of that… Any ideas?”

The original Chinese character for “cure” is “Hua Jie” 化解, sometimes it can also be written as “Jie Hua” and according to the MDBG dictionary it means：

“To dissolve / to resolve (contradictions) / to dispel (doubts) / to iron out (difficulties) / to defuse (conflicts) / to neutralize (fears)”.

When we look at the two characters separately, “Hua” can mean to transform and to neutralize, and “Jie” can mean to understand as in “lioajie” 了解 and to explain as in “fenjie” 分解. So in Feng Shui, through understanding and through finding an explanation for our fears, we can transform or neutralize the Sha Qi, often with an object that is a symbol, which can remain us every time we become aware of it, where our fears came from and how we can transform it or neutralize it through our conscious awareness and understanding.

To translate “Hua Jie” or “Jie Hua” as a “Cure” gives an impression that the symbolic object that we put up will do the work for us, whereas in reality, the object used is just a symbol, we in fact do the work of transformation and neutralization through our conscious awareness and understanding, when we come across different kinds of Sha Qi in Feng Shui, which made us feel uncomfortable in some way.

The Bagua mirror is not going to get rid of the Sha Qi coming towards the front door, the occupants are going to do it by using the mirror as a symbol of reflection, to understand that the Sha Qi is not some kind of physical force, but a formless potential and tendency that might or might not happen. For example when the front door is opposite a T-junction, which in Feng Shui is called a “T-Junction Sha” that could give rise to the fear that a car might fail to turn the corner and come straight into the house and at night time it can be annoying when the car lights turn on and off at the house as the cars turn the corner. The best way to handle this worry is to avoid it, but if we cannot avoid it or get rid of it physically for some reasons, then we can “Huajie” the situation for the time being with a Bagua mirror hanging above the front door.

Where is your Luoshu Centroid?

The other day I cam across a saying by a colleague, “Luoshu is not Heaven’s Heart” that I wondered if it is crrect and it got me thinking further: how can I explain the subtle difference between the three terms: the Heaven’s Heart (Tianxin 天心), the Taiji 太極 and the Centre (Zhongxin 中心) in Feng Shui practice to my students? I thought about it over the weekend and this is how I would do the explanation:

A Zhongxin requires a boundary to locate, so the space in question has to be enclosed somehow to have a physical centre that we can locate with geometry, it is “below form” 形之下 that is a concrete thing.

A Taiji is where the Yin and Yang meet, it could be the meeting place between the active and the passive and the substantial and the insubstantial of a house. It can be an open space without an enclosure and it can even be where we spend most of the time, like the location of the pillow upon which our head rests as in the Xuan Kong Liu Fa School of Feng Shui, because according to this school it is our mindset that has to decide where the Yin and Yang would meet. Also since we have to decide, we will need to know what constitute an item under consideration, hence the popular saying, “One item one Taiji” 一物一太極, to guide us to decide on things like whether a home-office or a unit in a housing complex should have its own Taiji and its own chart or not.

In contrast, a Tianxin or a Heaven’s Heart is “above form” (an abstract idea); it can be looked upon like seeing the situation from heaven above to locate the reference point on earth below. For example, if I were to find out in which direction I should travel according to the yearly Flying Stars, I would have to decide: do I use my house as the Heaven’s Heart? Or the city I live in or the capital of the country I live in and so forth. Without deciding on the Heaven Heart for a reference point, I would not be able to find the four cardinal directions to calculate in which direction to travel, just like the red cross-hairs or the “Tianxin Shidao” 天心十道 (the Cross of the Heaven’s Heart) on a Luopan compass that we use to read the directions in a Feng Shui audit.

As we can see, sometimes the three terms can refer to the same point and sometimes only one or two, it depends on the situation under consideration and whether we are referring to something concrete or abstract, something manifested or un-manifested, as a place or as an idea or as something in-between for a reference point.

The more traditional practitioners are less concerned with accuracy and more with efficacy, so instead of casting the Luoshu Flying Star chart over the floor plan like the modern practitioners tend to do, they simply put it to one side and do their audit from comparing the two diagrams (See sample below from “Zhaiyun Xinan” 宅運新案 – a classic of Flying Star Case Studies published in the 1920s).

MONA – Museum of Old and New Art Hobart Tasmania.

We visited this very interesting and very popular museum not far from the City of Hobart recently and I think its success has something to do with the Water Dragon Qi. Of course the vision and the drive of the owner David Walsh also has a lot to do with it. We drove there by car but it would have been more exciting to arrive by boat. The Water Qi gathered in the bay in front of Hobert is able to transported to the site and within the site there also a gradation of “Juqi” (Assembled Qi) to feed it into the museum located underground between two existing buildings by Roy Grounds, one of the leading Australian architects of the modern movement. The front of the complex faces S2 so it has a “Double Timely Stars Arriving at the Facing Palace” chart – very good for wealth and locate it underground gives the Gua Qi support for the timely Mountain Star as well.

I will talk about the The Five Aesthetic Principles of Feng Shui in the forth coming The 10th Annual Feng Shui Society’s Conference, 14-15 May 2016 (Sat-Sun), London UK and will touch upon this building in more details.

“Feng shui belongs to the Art of Observation (Xiang Shu) in the Taoist Five Arts, consequently the aesthetics of a place or a built-form become part of feng shui considerations. The aesthetic preferences in feng shui is the main focus of this presentation; you will find out what the SUISY principles are and how they can be applied in feng shui practice. By the end of the talk it is hoped that you will understand the aesthetic criterion to use when someone asks ‘What do you think of the feng shui of this building’?” http://www.fengshuisociety.org.uk/the-10th-feng-shui-society-conference-2016-london-uk/

The New Sheep Shed

I did feng shui and planning for C a couple of years back and recently I received words from her that things are looking up. It feels good to have helped someone on her way.

“Dear Howard,
I wish you a wonderful New Year! May Love, Peace, Joy and harmony be your best friends all along.
Here are some photos of the new sheepfold. In winter, I use the plastic bands but in summer I put them off.
The flow of energy is really different here from when you came and I could sell and throw away a lot of old stuffs. I also cleaned a lot. My life is also changing a lot because most of lying (sticking) energy is away now. In my heart things are also flowing better.
It made such a big change in my life! I really experimented how our house and environment can impact us and how it is important to harmonize a place.
I hope to see you again!
Take good care of you!
C”

Correlative Thinking and Feng Shui.

Have you ever wonder why there are two main schools of Feng Shui, namely the Form School and the Compass School, and not just one? Why do we need two of them? What are their main differences that we would need one to support the other? These questions can be partly answered by looking at their Chinese names.

In Chinese, ‘Form School’ is called either ‘Xing Shi Pai’ 形勢派 or ‘Luan Tou Pai’ 巒頭派. ‘Xing Shi’ literally means ‘Form and Configuration’, that is we look at the smaller and visible parts in our environment and see how they would relate to each other to form a larger configuration, that is how they would group together to form a whole, this process is not unlike playing with children’s wooden blocks to form a recognizable construction.

Another name for ‘ Form School’ is called ‘Luan Tou Pai’, which literally means the ‘Mountain-Top School’. Why mountain tops? Because if we look at the mountaintops of a range of mountains, we can see and follow their rise and fall to get an idea of how the landscape would behave from Point A to Point B.

Both these Chinese names implied that we would use observation and analysis to do our ‘Form School’ Feng Shui, and in the process we are dealing with something that are tangible, they have form and are visible. To these things that are manifested, and quantifiable, the Chinese would say they have ‘Form Qi’ or ‘Xing Qi’ 形氣, as compared to the opposite, to things that are intangible, formless and invisible. These things that are un-manifested and not quantifiable, the Chinese would say they have ‘Formless Qi’ or just ‘Qi’. There is even a character for Form Qi 氣 and another for the Formless Qi 炁 even though they sound the same.

This is where the term ‘Li Qi Pai’ 理氣派 for Compass School of Feng Shui comes in. ‘Li Qi’ in Traditional Chinese Medicine has the meaning ‘to regulate the flow of the Vital Qi and remove obstructions to it’. In Feng Shui the aim is similar, but it is not ‘Vital Qi’ (Qi that keeps us alive) that we are concerned with, but the ‘Formless Qi’ or just the ‘Qi’ of the environment. Thus ‘Li Qi Pai’ can be translated literally as ‘Regulating (Formless) Qi School’.

To regulate implies that we have to keep a balance, but the Qi that we are working with is intangible, it has no form, it is invisible and not manifested, so how are we to this? With the compass and with correlative thinking is the Chinese answer.

We start with something that is measurable, like measuring the sitting and facing of a house, or the top of a mountain, or the direction of the coming and going of the water with a compass. This measurement is then correlated to a set of values and numbers to create a pattern language. By interpreting the resultant pattern with a set of rules, we can get an understanding of how the invisible and the intangible are related to each other. With this insight we can ‘read’ the Formless Qi by comparing it with the Form Qi, so the seen and the unseen, the form and the formless, the manifested and the un-manifested can come together, to enable us to find the in-between that is appropriate to the situation.

This is exactly how a Compass School method like Flying Star works in Practice. We start with the time of construction of a house and then correlate it to a 20-years Period with a Trigram and a number, this number then become the Period Number, which can fly through the Nine-Palace with a fixed pattern. Then we do the same with the sitting and facing of a house, the compass measurements are correlated to a set of Trigrams and numbers and with these numbers and the agreed upon flying sequence we can make up a Flying-Star Chart. We then interpret this pattern language with a set of rules, based on the Five-Phase relationships and the concept of timeliness and ‘Host and Guest’, etc.

We then compare our interpretation of the numbers or ‘stars’ with what we can observe in the Form School Feng Shui, and together with the Yin and the Yang of what is visible and observable in the Form School with what is invisible but calculated in the Compass School, we can do our analysis and come up with some efficacious suggestions for our clients to consider.

Correlative thinking in Compass Feng Shui is unlike the analytical thinking we use in Form School Feng Shui. Analytical thinking observes and examines things in detail in order to learn about them, so the process can be repeated and is predictable. It is diagnostic, methodical, logical and systematic. Whereas correlative thinking uses a conceptual framework of correlations to make sense of the same phenomenon, the outcome is not so much in learning about things individually but how they are related to each other, so there is mutual resonance to achieve efficacy. Correlative thinking is more concerned with the original character of a thing under consideration instead of diagnose it. Correlative thinking is more intuitive; it is not methodical or systematic. It tends to be multi-valent and vague in the sense that it relies more on inspiration than on facts.

Precisely because the Chinese believe that everything has Qi and has Yin and Yang, so there are Form Qi and as well as Formless Qi, also correlative thinking as well as analytical thinking to make sense of things holistically, that we need both the Form and Compass School of Feng Shui to do our audit and analysis properly.

However, the pressing issue in modern day Feng Shui is that many practitioners do not understand or know the working of analytical thinking as compare to correlative thinking, these people often take the correlations analytically and literally.

A classic example is the 5 Yellow Earth Star, which is not a real star in the night sky but a correlation for a quality that is sitting in the middle of a situation and has the ability to connect in all directions. It is liken to an emperor sitting on its throne, it can be powerfully good when it is timely and it can be powerfully bad when it is untimely, so when we see a combination like 2,5 where the 2 Black Earth star is correlated to sickness and the mother of the house, these people would say literally that the 2,5 combination will cause the mother to have untimely disaster or even get cancer of the stomach!

This is a gross misunderstanding of correlative thinking, it is like just because you were born in a certain year you are correlated to a Dog or a Pig, it does not mean that you are a dog or a pig literally, these labels are only used as a metaphor to get an understanding of your potential character and tendencies, and we need to observe you in detail to see if that is the case. Somewhere between the observations, the calculations, the analytical and the correlative thinking, we can find the in-between and know a little more about you, so as consultants we can help you make better decisions. That is how Chinese correlative thinking works in practice.

Graphic courtesy pranaji.com

“Kong Wang” Lines 空亡線 － Lines of “Lost Space”

There seems to be a lot of fearful talk lately on the feng shui forums and chat rooms about the “Kong Wang” line. It gets our attention when it is translated as a “Death and Void” or a “Death and Emptiness” line, when in fact it should be more aptly translated as a line of “Lost Space”. Since “Kong Wang” refers to a situation when the actual sitting and facing of a house or a tomb site is impossible to obtain. But because different schools have different ways to calibrate space, it is impossible to define what constitute a “Kong Wang” line universally. A “Kong Wang” line for one school may not be the same for another.

For example, the “Da Kong Wang” (Big Kong Wang) lines showed in the picture below may applied to Flying Star Feng Shui, but they are readable for the San He Water Methods and the “Xiao Kong Wang” (Small Kong Wang) lines are also readable for the Xuan Kong Da Gua School of Feng Shui, hence we have this popular saying about the uncertainty of the “Kong Wang” lines:

无中中藏有，空者实不空。
识得此中秘，天下任横行。
该正用兼线，房份必不均。
该兼用正线，家中难安平。

“There is “have” hidden in “not-have”,
What is empty is in fact not empty.
Knowing the secret of the in-between,
Then you can travel anywhere on earth.
Use “zhong” when the “jian” is needed,
The spatial arrangement is lopsided.
Use “jian” when the “zhong” is needed,
There is no peace within the household.”

Note: “Zhong” refers to a reading in the exact middle of a “mountain”, whereas “Jian” refers to a reading close to the boundary between 2 “mountains”.

As I said earlier the character “Wang” 亡 need not be translated as “death”, it can be translated as “destroyed” or “perished” as in something that is not clear or “lost”, and “kong” 空 need not be translated as “void” or “emptiness”, but referring “space” as in “kongjian” 空間, so “Kong Wang” need not be translated as “death and void” or “death and emptiness” but “lost space”, which means when the compass needle is sitting right on a line separating two Mountains, then we cannot read the Yin/yang of the Gua Qi of the space, but there are always the physical observations, with our five-senses and with our heart-mind, which we can use to make the adjustment, so the reading is not lost or perished or destroyed (“wnag”), and the law of Feng Shui has not broken down as some would claim.

There are in fact temples and sacred buildings in traditional China that deliberately sat on the “kongwang” lines, to show that these buildings can transcend the Yin and Yang dialectics of this mundane world we live in.

How to Store Away Your Luopan Compass

When we were visiting the Wanan Wu Luheng Luopan Makers (http://www.wawlhld.com/) in our last Feng Shui Study Tour of China 2015, Master Wu Zhaoguang 吳兆光 gave us some hints on how to care and how to store away the Loupan compass properly. He said when we have to store them at home of carry it in our brief case, it is always better to store it vertically in a protective case and away from any electromagnetic influence, and when we have to store it on the horizontal and not moving too much, then is is better to turn the Luopan compass face down so it will be harder for the needle to be influenced by other sources of electromagnetic radiation. He said the worse thing is to drop the Luopan on a hard surface, because once the needle jumps out from its point of rest, we have to replace with a new one and that is quite expensive. Below are a couple of pictures to show how to store the Luopan Compass in a simple and safe way.

What I learned from the 2015 Feng Shui Study Tour of China. Part I.

Resolving the “Magnetic North v True North” controversy.

Whether we should measure directions in feng shui using the true north or the magnetic north has been a question around for 100s of years. I remember having a yearlong argument with Robert Matusan Boyler a few years back, when he insisted on using the true north because that was what the Chinese first used to measure directions according to the sun angles, or the true north.

On this trip we had the chance to visit one of the oldest Luopan makers in China, the “Wu Lu Heng” 吳魯衡 Luopan store in Wan-An 萬安 and also its Luopan museum. At the end of our visit we had a chance to interview the store owner, Mr. Wu Zhaoguang 吳兆光, who is an 8th-generation direct descendant of the original Luopan maker, Mr. Wu Luheng.

Since they make both the Rugui sundial and the Luopan compass by hand since 1723, I asked Mr Wu what was their difference? He replied that the Luopan is used to measure the geo-magnetic influence of the earth via directional reading with the feng shui compass, whereas the sundial is used to tell the local time and also used to select an auspicious time to act in feng shui. He then showed us how to use the Rugui sundial and no reference was made at all to directional readings.

In other words, the sundial is not used to measure directions it is used to measure time instead according to his family tradition. Mr. Wu also mentioned that the Chinese character for magnetism, Ci 礠, has the same root and the same sound as for the character Ci 慈, meaning compassion, which implied that we have a sympathy with the earth’s magnetic field and that it is part of the Earth Qi we want to connect to in feng shui.

I noticed Joseph Yu, another feng shui teacher, also came to the same conclusion. http://www.astro-fengshui.com/fengshui/truenorth.html

The Rugui Sundial and the Luopan Compass.

Mr Wu Zhaoguang, owner of the Wu Lu Heng Luopan store in Wanan.

Qi Connection and Qi Activation in Feng Shui

I wrote an article on Taijiquan and Qi connection many years ago: http://www.shou-yi.org/taijiquan/taijiquan-and-qi-connection
When it comes to feng shui, the mechanism for qi connection is not that dis-similar, one needs to create Yin and Yang and then link them up for the qi to connect and flow.

In Yinzhai feng shui, the yin and yang connection is between the living and the dead, and as long as the living is respectful of the dead and the dead can inspire the living, then there is qi connection; the rest is just ritual and protocol to formalize and to “activate” this connection.

In Yangzhai feng shui, the yin and yang connection is between the occupant and his or her environment via placement of objects and location of rooms etc., and as long as there are mutual interactions between the animate and the inanimate, by creating yin and yang consciously, then there is qi connection.

For example, if we put the bed against a certain direction that would create an awareness of desirability and undesirability, then our conscious awakening of this ritualistic choice will connect the qi between the bed and us. Whether it is done from the head, from the feet or from the heart etc. does not matter, some system even recommend it should be done from the air-conditioner to the room!

What we ended up doing in compass feng shui is to create a ritual of various sorts, using object s and space in our environment by way of compass directions as a medium, to heightened our awareness of our everyday environment that we live in and make it extra-ordinary for us.

Lets look at the placement of a bed again, everyone sleeps in a bed, by putting it in this particular direction and not that direction, with what we believe is a good feng shui direction, we will make this bed now something special, it is not just an ordinary bed, but a bed that is specially located for me and it will have the potential of bringing me health and vitality and things that I will need.

It is just like deciding to marry this woman and not that woman, and to go through the ritual of a marriage ceremony to swear to Heaven that we will love each other until death, that will change us from an ordinary to an extra-ordinary person for each other.

A conscious awareness of a particular item in our environment can connect the feng shui qi to us, and a meaningful ritual will activate it.

It is that simple: we highlight the various aspects of Yin and Yang (for example, light and dark, substantial and insubstantial, facing and sitting, etc.) of a space or an object and the conscious awareness of its Ji and Xiong (auspicious and harmfulness) and our deliberate preference will connect the feng shui qi and turn an ordinary space or an object, like a living room or a desk, into something extra-ordinary by its rearrangement.

The feng shui ritual we performed will “activate” this connection, so there is “ganying” or mutual resonance between our environment and us and changes for the better will take place when there is connection and resonance.

The Unique Feng Shui of Shanghai

I am in the process of preparing the lecture notes for the Feng Shui Study Tour of China coming up in a couple of weeks time. Our first stop is Shanghai, so natually I start with the Feng Shui of Shanghai:

Shanghai is China’s largest economic centre, it has a population of over 16 millions and covers a total land area of approx. 6,340 square kilometres. What makes it so prosperous is its unique location and special “pinyang long” 平洋龍 or “flat land with water dragon” feng shui.

Unlike other major in-land cities in China, like Chongqing and Beijing, which have the support of mountains at the back and a generous “Mingtang” (open space) with water in front, Shanghai is a coastal city on a flat plain, with less than 4 meters above the sea level in general. But form-wise Shanghai, unlike other less prosperous coastal cities like Tianjin and Guangzhou, has many lakes nearby and is surrounded by rivers and embraced by the sea.

Luosh-Bagua-wise, Shanghai is located in the Zhen palace to the East, which is associated with the Wuxing (the Five Phase) of Wood, and since Water generates Wood and Wood represents growth and prosperity, Shanghai is uniquely prosperous in this regard, having plenty of Water located in the Wood direction.

The Huangpu River is Shanghai’s main river; seen from the air it discharges into the Changjiang River before flowing into the Yellow Sea. There are two islands, namely the Changxing Island and the Hengsha Island in front, that in feng shui terms, lock in the prosperous Water Qi of the Huangpu and stops it from leaking into the Yellow Sea. These two islands worked as Watergate Locks for Wealth. (See Map of Shanghai and Region)

There is a feng shui saying specially related to this situation:
“源宜朝抱有情,不宜直射关闭,去口宜关闭紧密,最怕直去无收”
“There is affection when the Source Water can be embraced, it is not suitable for it to rush at the Gate, the Going Water should be locked in tight, so there is no fear of it will disappear.”

When we look closer at the original birth place of Shanghai next to the Huangpu River we can a classic Water Dragon Pattern call the “Meandering Water with a Single Wind Pattern” 曲水单朝格. Michael Paton in his book the “Five Classics of Fengshui”, has translated the meaning of this water formation and the concluding remark pointed out the special relationship of water to Shanghai”

“The beauty of this situation is indescribable because there is a complete external situation as well as solid internal qi” (See Map of Meandering Water of Shanghai and also page 215 from Paton’s book),

Since “Mountain is associated with Health and Water with Wealth” “山管人丁水管财” and Shanghai has plenty of water because of its unique geographical situation, Shanghai is in a special economic position and the city gave birth to a number of national leaders, famous scholars and celebrities from the sports and the arts.

Feng Shui for “Better Homes and Gardens”.

Times like this I have a feeling I have been in the feng shui game for too long. I have no idea who will read the articles on feng shui that I wrote for the Better Homes and Gardens magazine back in 1993 and I did it for 3 or 4 years. It is heart-warming now to know that they did make some impacts on some people’s life in a small but positive way. Thank you for sharing Jan.

Good Evening Howard

I hope this email finds you well. I have an amazing story to tell you. I was sorting through some papers of my Mother who passed away in 2010. In her papers I found this photocopied article on you dated 1993 from Better Homes and Gardens magazine. What is so interesting is that we were living in Zimbabwe at the time (no idea how she had an Aussie article) and she told me about Feng Shui, her and I bought a book and started to feng shui our homes, friends homes etc. Some things worked, some did not but it started my passion for Feng Shui. So when I came to your class in 2012 I had no idea that you and this article had been the reason for my whole Feng Shui journey.

I thought I would share with you :-)

Kindest Regards

Jan Leese

Is Feng Shui an Art or Science?

I have been asked this question again, “Is feng shui an art or a science or something else like a philosophy or Environmental Psychology?” It s a difficult question to answer or even a wrong question to ask, since the Chinese don’t put things in a pigeonhole like we tend to do in the west, their world-view is that everything has qi and everything that has qi has yin and yang and they are all interconnected. So feng shui has some art, some science, some philosophy and some psychology in it but nothing of the kind on its own, it sits in between all these labels with qi acting like a continuum, and as soon as we try to pin feng shui down to one thing, it loses its meaning and vitality, not unlike trying to pin a butterfly down to find out what is a butterfly. Instead, we can appreciate what good feng shui does by looking at the inter-relationships between all things in our environment, how they would affect us and how we can respond to them in a harmonious, constructive and meaningful way. To me feng shui is not a noun (or a label) it is a verb.

Riding the Dragon in Corsica.

It always amazes me that although other cultures don’t have feng shui, we often locate and build our cities, villages and houses the in same way using feng shui, whether we are conscious of it or not.

We went walking from a village called Soccia to the Creno Lake (1310 M above sea level) in the western part of Corsica yesterday and on our way back down the mountain, I noticed that the old village of Soccia (650 M in altitude), with its granite houses, is built along a ridge branching out from the top of the Monte Retondo Mountain.

It is a classic case of riding the Dragon Vein in feng shui, with the village church right at the end of the Qi flow, sitting on a rocky spur projecting out onto the Fiume Grosso Valley. The church is the most important building in a traditional European village and it collects the Dragon Qi of the land, as it should.

In feng shui we say this is a Yang way of locating a site; in contrast, the village we are staying in is located in a wok-like landscape, protected by mountains on three sides and facing the warm South sun, it is a classic case of a Nest Formation and is considered a Yin way of sitting (see water colour painting by my wife Gyda in the last photo).

But I am sure the Corsicans don’t know anything about feng shui and don’t have any of these feng shui terms I mentioned, but they do it the same way as the Chinese would, in sitting their traditional villages in far away China. To me, from this perspective, the application of feng shui is quite universal.

Master Ren Zhi-Lin

My first feng shui teacher, Master Ren Zhi-Lin 任志林 was not famous in Hong Kong, instead he was one of the “crouching tigers and hidden dragons” for me. (“crouching tiger, hidden dragon” is a Chinese idiom meaning an unknown person with hidden talents and good skill).

Although Master Ren is not well known, he has produced some famous students like Master Long Jing-Quan 龍景銓, who is the Feng Shui master behind the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, so in a way Master Long is a Si-Hang (an older brother in learning) to me.

Master Ren came from a San He lineage and he does both Yin Zhai and Yang Zhai feng shui (feng shui for graves and feng shui for dwellings), below you can see a couple of pictures of his handy work, a close-up picture shows his name on the third line to the right of the grave markings.

We spent two years (1978 – 1980) together, doing 2 sessions of one-to-one lectures and theories each week and on the weekends I would accompany him to do feng shui for a client on site. He lived in a very modest tenement housing estate and called his business “The Purple Cloud Studio”.

When I left him he gave me his San He Luopan compass. a set of hand-written notes and also a long scroll of his calligraphy (you can see a picture of his writing below), which I have hang up in my study to this day.

He knew I have found my vocation in feng shui and left these gifts for me as a token and an encouragement to carry on his work. I am still fulfilling his wish, even though he passed away a few years after I return to Australia.

I have studied with many other teachers since, but because he was my first teacher and I was young and impressionable, he still remains the most outstanding and memorable master for me. If it wasn’t for him, I would have given up on feng shui long time ago, he trusted that it was my fate and destiny to be a feng shui architect, consultant and teacher.

From Fake Watches to Fake Europe.

Faux-European Towns in China don’t have good feng shui, many of them become eerie ghost towns.

http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2015/02/9-abandoned-european-themed-western-ghost-towns-china/

The reasons being that they are fake places and we find it hard to connect to them and feel comfortable living in them. The Chinese would say they have “wu-qing” 無情 or they have no feelings and affections.

In a feng shui mnemonic (a song to aid memory) called “The Golden Letter Poem” 《金函詩》，it is clearly stated:

「好龍好穴有真情，形穴真時證便生。」
”A good Dragon and a good Liar has real affection, the formation comes alive when it is genuine”.

When it is a copy of a far-away place with a different culture and a different world-view, the results are often fake and false, they don’t come alive and so no one wants to live in them for long, except to take some pictures and then move on.

Zhao Gongming 趙公明 and Feng Shui for Wealth.

Since many are concerned with using Feng shui for wealth, I thought I would write a short piece on one of the Gods for Wealth.

In the Daoist Thunder Magic tradition, Zhao Gongming is a Divine Protector of Daoism, but in the business world he is the Martial Deity of Wealth, how he became a god of wealth can teach us how to gather wealth in business.

Legend has that Zhao was a business wizard, his trading philosophy is based on honour and trust, what he has promised he will deliver, and he gathers his wealth with intelligence and diligence. He made his money with strict organizational and financial management and the wealth he gathered is shared with charity, he cares for the people and he fights for the poor.

When the ancients realized the moral righteousness behind his successful business, Zhao was deified as a God of Wealth.

Zhao taught us the best way to gather wealth is to work hard with intelligence, to honour our promise and to be charitable. Wealth can only increase when we can spend less than what we made, and recirculate what we have gained and not hold onto it with selfishness.

Feng Shui placement-wise, a statue or a painting of Zhao is best to be placed on the north facing the south, against a solid wall for respect, since the north is associated with the Water that is Zhao’s personal element, for traditionally he is depicted with a black face and riding a black tiger.

However, some experts argued that a martial deity should be placed outdoor and not indoor, the best way is to have an alter made for the martial deity of wealth and place near the front door facing the Red Bird direction (open space in front of the house), so the deity can bring in the wealth and protect the house at the same time.

On the 15^th day of the third moon, Chinese who wish for wealth would go to one of the temples dedicated to Protector Zhao Gongming and pay their homage to wish for wealth luck. Of course, you can also carry a lucky charm of Zhao made of jade or gold with you, and there are talismans written in his name.

Subdual with the Nine Stars

There is a formula for jiehua remedy in the Bazhai School, using a generative cycle of the five elements instead of a weakening or controlling cycle. the formual goes like this:

Sheng Qi descends on Wu Gui

Tian Yi imposes on Jue Ming

Yan Nian presses down on Liu Sha

Subduement firmly arranged.

If we substitute the wandering stars with their elements (shown in bracket), then we would get a generative cycle:

Sheng Qi (Wood) descends on Wu Gui (Fire)

Tian Yi (Earth) imposes on Jue Ming (Metal)

Yan Nian (Metal) presses down on Liu Sha (Water)

How can one element generated another is able to subdue? The argument is that one who generates is the mother or the father and a parent can tell the children how to behave. To me this is an unusual justification, may be in a traditional Chinese society, this is the expected behavior.

To apply this formula, for example, if your front door or your bed is located in the Wu Gui direction and you are familiar with the tricky “Five Ghost Transport Wealth” technique, then you can take advantage of the Wu Gui to bring you wealth, otherwise, in the Sheng Qi direction of the same space, you can put up some ornamental plants like the daffodil, jonquil or the lucky bamboos, since Sheng Qi has the Wood element.

For Jue Ming, in the Tian Yi direction, put up a square shaped jade or ceramic container, which can strengthen Tian Yi that associated with the Earth element.

For Liu Sha, in the Yan Nian direction, put up a pair of bronze Qilin (Chinese Unicorn – show on right of attached photo) or a pair of bronze Pi Zao (show on right).

There is one harmful Wandering Qi missing and that is Huo Hai, why Fu Wei (Wood) is not mentioned with Huo Hai (Earth)? That is because it does not fit in with the others, being a controlling cycle instead of a generative one. The justification is that the harmfulness of Huo Hai is too small for us to worry.

Personally, I am not convinced about this approach to jiehua remedies, but it is mentioned in some of the Bazhai classics and some modern schools still promote this approach, instead of using a weakening or controlling cycle.

What is Compass Feng Shui

Compass School Feng shui in Chinese is called Li Qi Pai 理氣派. In contrast to Form School, which deal with objects that have a visible form, Compass School works with the formless Qi of ideas, concepts and principles, in which the term “Li” in Li Qi implied. Qi refers to the potential and tendency these ideas, concepts and principles, or the “above form” (metaphysics), can have, to influence our interaction with our environment and also our behavior, through images, symbols and meanings.

The reason why some called it the Compass school is because we relied on using the Luopan compass to measure an orientation of a house, or a corner/sector in a house, and through the measurement, we derive a correlation to a Trigram or to a number, to give the measurements a correlative meaning that we can look at its relationship to another measurement/correlation.

Apart from doing it with space expressed as directionality, we can also do the same with cycles of time, so the formless Qi of space and time can come together for us to look into the potential from their correlated meanings, applied to where we live, to help us make sense of a situation we find ourselves in, in order to move on.

Let us look at an example how Compass Feng shui works in practice. Say a couple moves into a house, built in Period 8 facing SW1 that they like, since the form is very pleasant and it suits their needs and budget, but they find their wealth begin to deteriated when they moved in and they want to know why? We, as Feng Shui consultants, working with Flying stars Compass Feng Shui, would visit the house, to study the form of the dwelling first, and then take out our Luopan to do the measurements, then correlate the compass measurements to numbers and Trigrams to construct a Flying Stars chart (see attached).

Although the chart for the house is very auspicious, their front door is located in the SE with a harmful combination, 3,6 out of time. Looking back at the form and their professional standing, they should have good wealth potentials, but the wealth is not taken into the house, what can these numbers at the front door tell us? Looking at 6 Metal chopping 3 Wood, we can be inspired to come up with the idea that may be in buying the house they have exhausted their saving and they begin to worry. We can then switch to analytical thinking to find out whether that is the case or not.

If that is the case, then we can prescribe a Jiehua remedy that can enhance their living environment and at the same time give them an explanation and a practical plan for action to help them. If it is not the case, then we can explore another area of the house related to wealth, using the correlations as inspirations, and come up with a different theory for us to varify, until we can find the right answer(s) to make some suggestions for improvement. We know it is the right answer when the couple smiled and nodded their heads, for they knew it deep in their subconscious already, it just takes us to bring it to the surface.

To fully grasp how Compass Feng Shui works in practice, we need to understand the traditional Chinese way of thinking, whereby correlative thinking and analytical thinking are fused together in such a way that the emotion and the intellect are not separated, but working together to come to terms with a situation. To the ancient Chinese, everything has Yin and Yang, so it is not surprising the we have two schools of Feng Shui, Form school and Compass School, dealing with the Form Qi and the formless Qi, and two ways of thinking, correlative thinking and analytical thinking, accordingly.

What is Form School Feng Shui

Form School Feng Shui in Chinese is called either “Luan Tou Pai” 巒頭派 (Mountain Tops School), or “Xing Shi Pai” 形勢派 (Form and Configuration School).

Mountain tops refers to the idea that if we follow the ridge that is the mountain tops of a mountain range, from the high to the low, we can observe the Qi flow from one direction to another, which is often referred to as the Dragon Vein. When we follow the Dragon Vein, we can locate where the Qi of the land is best assembled, with the back supporting the front and the left in harmony with the right, and that would be where we would bury the dead or building a new house.

Form and configuration have the connotation that each configuration that we can observe in our environment, like a house made of walls, doors, windows and roof, etc., or like the Four Miraculous Animals (Si Ling四靈) model, is made of parts with a physical form, how they come together can determine whether a situation is auspicious or harmful, that is whether it is desirable or undesirable.

When they come together in a synergetic way, we say it has Sheng Qi, or life enhancing Qi, and when the synergy is not there and the composition looks awkward and worrisome, we would say it has Sha Qi, or Qi that prevents growth and multiplication.

In Form School Feng Shui, we would look at the parts, like the different mountain tops, and how they would come together as a configuration, as a composition nor unlike different notes to make up a piece of music, to determine whether their potential and tendency, or their form Qi, is auspicious or harmful, so we can hasten the auspicious and avoid the harmful 趨吉避凶.

Form School Feng Shui, in essence, is about relationships of different parts that we can observe, and how they can come together, so “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, as Aristotle mentioned more than 2000 years ago. It is the same as saying, how we can put the parts of our natural environment and built-form together, in a holistic way, so the resultant configuration has Sheng Qi to nourish and to empower us.

The attached rundown house has Sha Qi, because the “Xing” or the form of the parts (walls, windows, doors and roof, etc.,) don’t come together properly to form a desirable “Shi”, or configuration.

What is Meant by Finding the Taiji of a Dwelling

Often, a little of explanation of the Chinese terms used in FS can help us to dispel some of the confusions, especially for the beginners.

Take the term to find the “centre” of a dwelling, the technical term we used in FS is to “Li Ji” 立極, to establish the Tai-ji of a house. The Taiji is not the same as the centre, which in Chinese is called the “Zhongxin” 中心, or the heart-centre, which is equivalent to the geometric centre of a building, whereas the Taiji is where the Yin meets the Yang in a house in a balanced way, as we can see in a Taiji picture, where the curved line is located.

This tells us the centre is comparably fixed, whereas the Taiji is dynamic, according to what we want to look at. For example, if we want to look at how a person handles a house, we take the Taiji where the person sleeps, since that is the place where a person spends most of the time, and this is what the Xuankong Liufa” or the Xuankong Six Methods School of FS used in their calculation. If we want to know how a front door would affect the fortune of a house, we would take the middle of the front door as the Taiji and this is what the “Yangzhai Sanyao” Bazhai school (the 3 essentials 8 mansions school) has incorporated in their calculations.

In Flying Stars FS, strictly speaking, the Taiji of a house is located where the Yin area and the Yang area of a house meets, for example, where the public part meets the private part of a dwelling. With traditional dwellings it is not so difficult to identify, but with modern buildings, where the layout is often very complicated, and one floor is different in size to another, without a clear Yi/Yang demarcation, the accepted thing to do it to take the geometrical centre as the Taiji, even though it is not strictly correct.

That is why in the case studies we see in books published before the 30’s and 40’s, for example, as we can see in a picture of a page from the “Zhaiyu Xinan” (New Case Studies of the Fortune of a House) attached below, the Flying Stars chart is not casted over a floor plan, but is put side-by-side to a house plan, and the reader has to interpret where the Taiji is located.

With the influence of Western science, FS practitioners wanted to look more “scientific” and “accurate”, they don’t realize that FS is about accuracy but it is about efficacy, and FS is not hard science, it is mixture of science and art, so they made the Taiji the same as the geometrical centre of a house and casted the Flying Stars chart over the floor plan.

However, with this approach, a new problem appeared, where is the Taiji/Centre for a house when the floor plan of one level is of different in size to another, since it is one house and it have only one Taiji.

You can see this issue in the Ground floor and the Attic floor of the attached house we are working on at the moment, the Taiji/Centre of the lower floor is not symmetrical, compared to the upper floor, we have to line up the staircase to get the central point for the two floors, since the occupants get from one floor to another through the staircase.

The variety and complexity of modern buildings made us to look at the fundamental principles in a fresh way, and re-interpret them to suit the current situation. This is where looking closer at the meanings of the technical terms, can help us better in re-interpreting the original intention of the past masters, when they made up a compass school system.

Shao Yong’s “Yearly Value Hexagram” (值年掛 Zhi Nian Gua – ZNG) Prediction for 2022.

Let’s get back to the yearly prophesy, I would like to look at the ZNG first, before the Di Mu Jing or the Mother Earth Classic, simply because it is more interesting.

According to Shao Yong 邵雍’s Huangji Jingshi Shu 皇極境世書 (Book of Supreme World Ordering Principles), next year 2022, the Ren Yin/Tiger 壬寅year, is correlated to the Ji Ji 既濟Hexagram, which has the meaning of having crossed a river, or a mission is accomplished. It implied the end of a journey, and a new one is to follow, it is a time of transition from one journey to another, from an apex to gradually declining before it rises up again. 

The Ji Ji Hexagram has a Kan Water Trigram on top of a Li Fire Trigram, and water above can put out the fire below, which implied events have reached their conclusions. But things must be done in the right way to succeed, since the Yang Yao are in their Yang place and Yin Yao are in their Yin place. The full three Yin Yao in their right place can also mean there are “Xiao Ren” 小人 (petty villains) that can get into our way to give us trouble, so during next year, be aware of this negative potential and make your way forward carefully, act with righteousness and not be too short-sighted and petty-minded, which is a similar advice given by ZZJ mentioned previously.

 A Ji Ji year is considered “Xiao Ji” 小吉, a not so bad year, for the image of the Fire below and the Water above will also mean the Yin and Yang complementary opposites will come together, since fire will tend to rise and water tends to fall downward, so we can look forward to next year with optimism, but the Li Trigram has the Yang Yao outside and the Yin Yao is hidden, whereas the Kan Trigram has the opposite, so it can also implied that within the exposed there is the hidden, we cannot rely on good conditions, we need to be thoughtful and be prepared, which is also written in the Xiangzhuan 象傳 – Commentary on the (Hexagram) Images, “Water is above Fire, a Junzi 君子 (a learned gentleman with a moral sense), would take precautionary measures, before disaster strikes”.

On the world stage, 60 years ago in 1962, we also had a Ji Ji year, and in that year the oral Pollio vaccine was used successfully to combat the Polio pandemic and the Cuban crisis took the world to the brink of war, at the same time John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth in February 1962. History tends to repeat itself, may be next year we can be on our way to normalize our life and treat the Covid 19 like the common flu, may be China threaten to invade Taiwan and set off another Cuban-like crisis in Asia, and may be there will be another milestone in scientific achievement or space-exploration, who knows! But we can be sure it will be another exciting year worth living, the best and the worse are yet to come.

Three Predictions for 2022 from Ancient Manuscripts

Another new year is upon us, many of us are interested in what the new year will bring, apart from the Zodiac Animals and the yearly Flying Stars, which we are familiar with, there are three other predictions from the ancient manuscripts that you may find interesting.

The first one has an unusual name, it is called “Kong Sheng Zhen Zhong Ji” 孔聖枕中記, which literally translated as “Notes from the Pillow of Sage Confucius”. I will shorten it to ZZJ and playfully called it “Pillow Talk of Confucius”.

The second one may be more familiar with some people, it is  called “Huangdi Dimu Jing” 黃帝地母經, or “Yellow Emperor’s Mother Earth Classic”. I will shorten it to DMJ, or simply “Mother Earth Classic”.

The third one is called Zhi Nian Gua值年卦, or The Value of Yearly Trigrams, which is a work of the famous Shao Yong 邵雍, who was a Chinese cosmologist, historian, philosopher, and poet, greatly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism in China during the Song dynasty. I will shorten it to ZNG.

Let’s start with the first one, ZZJ. It is an ancient prophesy book written in the name of Confucius and in a style of Confucius talking to his disciples. In this method 180 years are divided into 3 Jiazi cycles of 60 years, the Upper, Middle and Lower Cycles, and next year 2022, the Ren yin year, belongs to the Lower Cycle. The book has this to say about next year (my translation):

壬寅是丰年，禾稻倍收全。

四季均调和，桑柘半丝蚕。

八方皆成熟，六畜有灾缠。

人民虽富乐，只愁虎下山。

Ren yin is a plentiful year, rice crop can be fully harvested.

The four seasons are all harmonious, silk warms need half amounts of mulberries.

(Crops) ripened in all eight directions, the six animals tangled with calamity.

Though the people are rich and happy, they worried the tiger comes down the mountain.

Zigong, one of Confucius disciple, commented (my translation):

子贡曰：斗谂原为天赐，善幽亦是天赐，不过替天行道。银钱悭吝，何益行道有福。是成语。子子孙孙显楣门，愚者见义不为，富贵难诞三世。

What it means is a gift from Heaven, whether it is good or bad is also given by Heaven, it is no more than using Heaven to do what we do. If (we are) stingy with money, how can we carry on and be blessed. It is in the idioms. Descendants are showed the limits and the standards, only fools do not act in righteousness, riches and honor are difficult to last more than three generations.

What the “Pillow Talk of Confucius” indicated is that next year will be better than the two years before, but it also warned that not to act in a righteous way is foolish, and to be stingy with money, that is to be petty and short-sighted, is to be cursed. The only way for wealth to last a long time is to act by Way of Heaven (Tian Dao天道), with with foresight and with uprightness.

Some masters interpreted the phrase, “the six animals tangled with calamity”, as referring to the Coronavirus, which will still be around next year and getting worse, this may be the case, but we need to bear in mind, like the DMJ, the ZZJ is a prophesy for the farmers in their annual growth and harvest of crops, their concern was with agricultural events and not with modern pandemic due to population growth, economic expansion and destruction of habitats, which were unknown in ancient times.

Next week, if time permit, I will write about the next two prophesies, please stay tuned.

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The Art and Science of Feng Shui

Feng Shui is both an art and a science, just like architecture, perhaps with a Chinese character.

In Feng Shui, we audit, analyse and pull things apart, then we put them back together again with improved adjustments. If we can do it physically we would do so, if not, then we would try to change the occupants’ perception, so they can see the “half-tank full” version of what they have, instead of the “half-empty”.

With Feng Shui, we make a house more practically efficient and we also make it more meaningful and “ritually correct”. In the process, we use the house as a medium to change the content and the message, to achieve efficacy.

We use both causal and correlative thinking, our intellect and our emotional, the Form and the Compass Schools, to activate both the left and right side of our brain, to come up with some decent suggestions, to help our clients.

As Frank Lloyd Wright would say, “Science, can pull things apart and examine them, but only art, can put them back together again.”