Feng Shui Intermediate
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Having gone through the basic fengshui theories, it time to focus on the selected topic - 明镜八宅 theories. First we will talk about the Form Theories and then the Reasoning/Calculation Theories. There should be plenty of interesting stories in the form theories.
For those who wants to known about the basic therioes, please refer the this
Disclaimers: I'm no master in these field but is willing to share. What I will be putting up is what I have understood or deem to have understood and is not an authority in these field
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Form Theory 刑法
å·¦é�’龙，å�³ç™½è™Žï¼Œå‰�朱雀，å�ŽçŽ„æ¦ this is the term often used to describe a fengshui landform. Standing in front of the door looking out, the Azure Dragon is to the Left, the White Tiger to the Right, The Red Pheonix to the Front and The Black Tortoise to the Back.
These creatures are symbolic representations in landform. The Azure Dragon are represented by long ranges, the White Tiger are represented by the shorter ranges, the Red Pheonix are represented by flat lands or river and the Black Tortoise are represented by the Huge Tall Mountain.
From the above landform we mentioned, we are talking about countryside scene. During the ancient time, without arial photography, a fengshui master may spend his whole lifetime just finding one perfect spot as he had to spend his time tracing the map on the mountain top.
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During my visit to South Korea, we visited the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul City, for the first time the four celestial animals became apprent to me. According to books and records, the Gyeongbok Palace was built in accordance to the Chinese fengshui specifications sitting on all 4 celestial animals . One typical specifications is the construction is based on square/rectangle form 四�院 。 Can you see the "Black Tortoiise" in the picture?
According to the story, because of the frequent intrusions by the Qing Empire, the king of the Chosen dynasty decided to relocate his capital from Pyeongyong. He had his group of fengshui masters help to chose the perfect site. Finally Hanyang (modern day Seoul City) was chosen. It was a perfect site with all the 4 celestial creatures in its perfect spot. Work started and was soon completed. Finally when the selected day to relocate arrived. However it started to snow heavily. It snowed for the next 5 days and snow soon reached waist deep.
The king was puzzled and worried. He gathered the fengshui masters and questioned them about the strange phenomena. Everyone thought that there was nothing wrong with the perfect site. However on old grand master saw the problem everyone else didn't see. The problem was the Red Pheonix. The Red Pheonix was a flat plane with the slope gradually rising away to the far distant. It was as if the Red Pheonix took off and flew away. This was also the sign of the decline of the Chosen dynasty.
The Black Tortise behind the palace durng its construction stage
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So, what does the landform school teaches?
There are 2 types of fengshui in landform school. 阴宅 (the Abode for the Dead) and 阳宅 (The Abode of the Living). In landform we looked out for the following
1. the exterior of the building
2. the exterior landform and environment
3. the interior design and decoration of the abode
4. using é²�ç�ç»� (Lu Pan theory) as a basis of good and bad.
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In the exterior landform, we look out for 龙穴沙水. Any science in them?
龙管贵贱 - This refers to the mountain ranges. It assist in the nobility. As the north wind is cold, the mountain shield the cold wind and people and live in warmth.
穴管�凶 - This refers to the valley. It assist in the good and bad. If the valley is resided at the cliff, it pose a danger to the people living there.
沙管å¤å¯¿ - This refers to the soil. It assist in the longevity. The fertility of the soil determines if crops grows well. If the soil is fertile, then the people need not starve.
水管贫富 - This refers to the river and lake. It assist in the wealth. Water is usually associated with wealth. As it helps in the irrigation of lands, for the crops to prosper, water is necessary.
However landform is usually associated with the 阴宅 (Abode of the Dead)
This was one of the place I visited when I was in Beijing. It was said that the last ancestor of the Ming emperor had his tomb on the wrong place that cause the collapse of the Ming dynasty
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明镜八宅 usage not really logical
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Originally posted by zaxis:
明镜八宅 usage not really logical
why do you say so? Ba Zhai have a history of more than 500 years, much longer than the flying stars and other method. What assessment would you propose? I'm also learning so do share.I have selected ba zhai as it is a much simplier way of assessment and no expensive tools is required for the assessment although it do have its short coming.
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Still on external landform. It is necessary to take notice of the formations of rocks, buildings, etc to see if it brings in any Sha Qi 煞气。 Usually if the mountain/cliff/rocks may come in different shapes of ferocious animals such as tigers.
I have seen one such peak known as Gridhakuta Peak, better known as the Vulture's Peak located some 200m below the Ratnagiri hill in India.
There are many stories related to such rocks. One very famous story was from Hong Kong. It was said that one millionaire bought a house by the sea. He had his house assessed by the reowned master from HongKong during the construction. When it was completed, the family of 3 moved into the house. Months later, the millionaire's wife started to fall sick. She became so sick that she died. The millionaire thought something was not right. He had another fengshui master to look into his house. The master could not find anything major problem in his assessment.
Meanwhile the millionaire's business started to get into trouble. He had another yet another master assessed his house again. No major fault wrong was found. Then his daughter had a car accident and died. The millionaire was devestated. He engaged another master to assess his house again as he believed that something was not right. This time when the master came to his house, it was already late at night. So the millionaire invited the master to stay for the night. Early in the morning, the fengshui master had a walk along the beach. There, he saw where the problem came from. There was a toad shape rock with it's opened mouth facing the millionaire's house. Everyone did not see it because the tide was high when they came. It can only be seen when the tide was low.
The fengshui master recommended that the rock to be quickly removed, otherwise the next victim would be the millionaire himself. After the rock was removed, it was said that the millionaire's business picked up again.
Yarnell Pass - Arizona
Toad Rock - Tsukuba-san - Japan -
Next, let's look at the exterior shape of the building. Some buildings are built with the 5 elements in mind. For example, if the top of the building is pointed, it represents the element of fire. It is make as such to complement the excess or the lack of the element at that site. If you see the building Wheellock's Place, it has this pointy shape.
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Others are built to resemble an asupicious animal. Do you do know what building this is? Yes, this is Capital Tower, where the BIG money is.
Disclaimer : This assessment is strictly my opinion and does not represents any professionals view
Let me attempt to assess this building. Firstly, the flat roof of the building represents Earth Elements. 土 生 金. Next, the building is facing South-West direction. Using the Later Heaven Trigram, South-West represent Metal. Guess what business is prominent here.
Can you guess what animal this building look like? Doesn't it remind you of the 3 legged frog with a coin in it's mouth? The front access represents the 2 front legs and the access to the basement carpark at the back of the building represents the 3rd leg. This building is sitting on the junction of a Y-shaped road �生土. It is an auspicious site except that the facing and the flow of traffic. The trafiic flows from Anson Road towards the front of the building and diverted to the left (Cecil Street) and right (Robinson Road) side of the building. Probably the facing was selected to receive the metal element based on the later heaven trigram.
On the left side and the right side of the Y-junctions is a water fountain and a water feature. This is to reduce the metal element effect of the traffic flow (Qi) 金 生 水. In order to ensure the water doesn't become stagnant, a fountain feature and fishes are kept in the water feature
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The 5 elements of Rivers and Road.
The element of the rivers can be determine by the shape of the river. However, roads can be also refer to as rivers here.
This is a real story. I knew all the parties in this story. The owner of this building was a public listed company locally. The owner built a new building along a metal element road. According to the book, this is an auspicious location. However, he had assigned the responsibilities of this project to his son. The son being overly enthusatic to perform, wrote a letter to the authority to request for a new road to be opened making the road a T shape instead. His logic was that this new road would become a short cut for vehicles to reach his new building. Anyway, we do not know whether was it because of the letter or not but the road was approved and constructed.
When the road was finally constructed, the traffic flows directly into the direction of the new building before going to the right or left. The son proudly declared to his old man that he was credited for the new road. Instead, he got a nasty scolding from his old man. The old man quickly consulted a fengshui master for a remedy. A fountain with a rolling ball turning outward was constructed to block the Qi coming into the building.
Anyway, due to policies change, the listed company was forced to sell off their business to their competitor. Today the listed company no longer exist in the SGX.
Call it a coincidence?
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So how extensive can symbolic fengshui be?
It can be from a single unit house to a single block building. From a cluster of building to a large city.
Suntec City - The 5 towers represents the 5 fingers of a palm and the ringed water features represents the pearl on the palm as in 掌上明ç�
This is the arieal photo of the forbidden city in Beijing. The centre of the palace was design to look like the character 土. the main characteristics od the design is the rectangle shape. 四和院 and notice that all the building are sitting in the north and facing the south �北��
Tekes County - the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
The Eight Trigrams Town of Tekes County. The eight trigrams comes from Zhou Dynasty Book of Changes, or Iching. The layout of this city was made in the traditional eight trigram or octagonal pattern. With a square as a center, eight equiangular thoroughfares extend toward eight different directions, form a clear eight trigram pattern. Currently, it is the world’s largest and most complete eight trigram style city.
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Before going into Ba Zhai compass theory, here are some of the places you should avoid to be near you if possible or when you are looking for a new place to call home.
1. Cemetery.
Many people do not mind overlooking a cemetery or a place related with illness or death, but if you do feel uneasy or uncomfortable about it, you should avoid it. If it is not possible, put some blinds on the windows or a wind chimes over the door as they believe it could frighten the wandering spirits away.
Probably one of the most famous one was the private apartment opposite the ex-Bidadari cemetery near Mount Vermon.
2. Places of worship
Although such places generates postive vibrations or Qi, there are usually too many hidden "arrows" in such buildings
3. Building with sharp edges and reflective mirrors
The uniques of the design of this building is that at certain angle, it look just like a thin sheet. However it has too many sharp corners. Also, the glass window on the building make it feel like a gaint mirror, reflecting lights into your house.
There is a building in Singapore that uses orange glass windows. Whenever the sun sets, the refections of the clould makes it feel like the building is on fire.
4. Avoid road traffic going directly toward your house. Can you imagine the car headlights shining into your house?
5. Avoid cross road. This is usually where traffic changes directions and are lightly area where traffic accident happen.
6. Avoid dead end road. This is where car will do 3 point turn to change directions making it accident prone.
7. Avoid stagnant water. It breeds mosquitoes.
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�气法 - Compass Theory
The basis of the compass theory is based on the following:
1. year the person is born
2. the sitting and facing of the house
3. the location of the （门(door)，路(passage)，�(stove)，水(well)，测(toilet)，磨(milling room).
Using yin-yang, the trigrams changes, 5 elements and it's productive/destructive characteristics to determine whether it is good or bad.
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The fundamental principle of å…«å®… Ba Zhai is that
1. there are only 2 Group of houses. The East Four Group House 东四命or the West Four Group House西四命. The East or the West is determined by the sitting of the house. The way to determine it is by using a compass.
2. there is no house good or bad, but only whether the resident is suitable for the house or not. The way to determine if the person belongs to the East Group or the West Group is by using the year he was borned. As we are using the solar calendar, It is necessary to determine the cut of date of the begining of spring season. 立春 (usually the 2nd to 4th February)
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East House consist of the following sitting directions : North (Water), East (Wood), South-East (Wood) and South (Fire). Using the later heaven trigram to determine the 5 elements productive cycle, 水生木，木生�.
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West House consist of the following sitting directions: North-East (Earth), South-West (Earth), West (Metal) and North-West (Metal) Using the later heaven trigram to determine the 5 elements productive cycle, 土生金.
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So what does the above trigram mean? The centre of the trigram repesents the Gua Number and the eight sections represents the favourable locations(white) and unfavourable locations (pink).
If you remember in the elementary, someone mentioned the 五鬼 which literally translates to Five Ghosts. 指智穷ã€�å¦ç©·ã€�文穷ã€�命穷ã€�交穷五ç§�穷鬼 meaning poor in knowledge, poor in education, poor in literacy, poor in life and poor in socialising skill. So i have proposed to use the translation as Relationship Problems instead.
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yo feng shui master - our merlion was struck by lightning - wat say you?
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Originally posted by seyKai:
yo feng shui master - our merlion was struck by lightning - wat say you?
that they forgot about the lightning conductor? -
So how does one determine his Gua Number? With a little calculation, this can be done. However do take note that we uses the solar calendar in our calculation, It is necessary to determine the cut of date of the begining of spring season. 立春 (usually the 2nd to 4th February). Use a tong shen or a Hsia Calendar to determine the exact date.
For example, if you are born on 26 January 2009, in lunar calendar, it is the first day of CNY and it is said that you are born in the year of the Ox. But using the solar calendar, only when you are born on or after 4th February 2009 are you considered to be born on 2009. Any day before that will be 2008.
Now for the calculations
Eg: Male, Date of Birth : 22nd October 1979
Using this formula
step 1: take 100 subtract by the last 2 digit of year born
100 - 79 = 21
step 2: take the remainder divide by 9
21 div 9 = 2 remainder 3
then your Gua Number is 3 震�
if there is no remainder, then take Gua Number 9, if the remainder is 5 for man, replaced it with Gua Number 2
Eg: Woman Date of Birth : 22 October 1982
step 1: substract 4 from the last 2 digits
82 - 4 = 78 (if answer is between -4 to 0, then add 10 to it. eg for year=2001 then 01-4=-3+10 = 7)
step 2: divide by 9
78 div 9 = 8 remainder 6
Then your Gua Number is 6 乾�
if there is no remainder, then take Gua Number 9, if the remainder is 5 for woman, replaced it with Gua Number 8
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If the above example, for the man, he is suitable for the East Four Group House. In the woman case, she is suitable for the West Group House.
So, how will the man find a house that belong to the East Four Group? Simple! Just use an ordinary compass, standing outside the door and take the reading of the sitting direction from the compass.
He is suitable for houses with the following sitting directions : North (Water), East (Wood), South-East (Wood) and South (Fire).
For the woman, she is suitable for the following sitting directions: North-East (Earth), South-West (Earth), West (Metal) and North-West (Metal).
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By now, you should be able to know your Gua Number and whether you belong to the East or the West Group. So before going further, there are some limitations and questions needed to be address
Q1. Limitation - As you can see from the Gua number compass, 50% of the sector are under the unfavourable sector, what if I have a space of 5000 sq ft, wouldn't 2500 sq ft will be rendered unfavourable?
A1. Although Ba Zhai can be used for home and office etc, this method is recommended for space no more than 2500 sq ft.
Q2. So what should I do with the unfavourable sector?
A2. The unfavourable sector should be used or area that are not frequently in use. eg: toilets, kitchen, stove, store, bathroom. This is where you won't spent most of your time at them
Q3. So what should I do with the favourable sector?
A3. The favourable sector should be used for main door, living room, bedroom and shrine. This is where you and your family will spent most of their time at.
Q4. What will happen if like the example above where the man and woman are husband and wife where both belongs to different house group?
A4. Normally, we will choose the person who is the head of the family or the one who hold the finance in the household. The rest of the children will be best occupying the room most favourable to them. However when it comes to his room and his spouse room, the arrangement will be to use the Earlier Trigram when necessary to suit both party. Today, they will access it to the benefit of the paymaster.
Q5. What will happen if the house I'm staying does not belong to the group I'm suitable for?
A5. According to 明镜八宅, if you stay in the group you belong to, you will be very lucky. Happiness and wealth will follow. However, if you stay in a in a house group which you does not belong to, it may affect happiness and wealth .
If you do have other questions related to above, I attempt to answer them.
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So what is an ideal house?
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Originally posted by seyKai:
yo feng shui master - our merlion was struck by lightning - wat say you?
simple, bad luck. the head symbol is struck by lightning. means there is no hope. No hope.
SevenEleven: Well done, your information put on site is correct. and more or less the same as I remember. I have read most of book by Lilian Too. I recommend her books if you have not heard of her. http://www.lillian-too.com/