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There is a real-life story that we learned of how a Great-Grand-Master goes about helping the poor using his Feng Shui knowledge a long time ago. Imagine the poor and their living conditions at those times. How could they afford to buy crystals, gold and other Feng Shui amulets? Putting a roof over their heads was already a difficult task. How did the Great-GrandMaster managed to do Feng Shui for them without having to recommend Feng Shui objects?
The real Feng Shui is about tapping on the unseen energy or the earth Qi coming from the external environment. It is about synchronizing the Qi flow from our surroundings into our homes or offices. Objects do not generate Qi. The piece of land where we build our houses and buildings gives birth to the Qi that we sought after.
Our job as Feng Shui Consultant is to make the Qi flow connection from the outside into the property. We achieve that by ensuring the property itself is “comfortable”. If it is comfortable, you will be comfortable too.
Allow me to give an analogy. Imagine that you are sitting down to have your dinner. Firstly, you want to make sure that you are sitting comfortably on a comfortable chair with the food in front of you. Each intake of food goes through a digestive process and sends nutrients to all parts of the body to function efficiently.
A property constructed on a piece of land is similar. The property must be comfortable with its surrounding and its location. When it is in sync with the land, it is able to receive positive energy. When positive flow of energy is distributed within the building, every occupant will enjoy the goodness that it receives.
There are some schools that implement Feng Shui to benefit only the breadwinner. On this day and age, this idea is considered obsolete. Today, we have couples working and each one has their own career and source of income. Even children needs all the help they can get to help them in their studies. Feng Shui must benefit everyone.
The application of traditional Feng Shui principles are always very consistent. This is to say that it can be applied yesterday, today and tomorrow, anywhere, anytime, using the same methods, and the results are always consistent.
We always tell people that a truly great Feng Shui practitioner will never leave a trace of Feng Shui scent in any property that is designed with Feng Shui principles. The occupants will enjoy the benefits of Feng Shui and yet, the uninformed will never know the property has been audited before. This is the real art of Feng Shui.
Many people misunderstands the actual usage of Feng Shui. As in the case of the Great-GrandMaster helping the poor. Did he make the poor become super rich? No, he just made their life more bearable, improve their well-being and comfort of life, all within their means and way of life. Each one of us are born with different gifts, different life with varying degrees of capacity and intensity.
Feng Shui is also not about hitting the jackpot or becoming rich overnight. The proper usage of Feng Shui is to create more opportunities that seemed very hard to come by. We use Feng Shui to improve our chances and our present luck cycle. We use it to attract the positive energies to help us in our endeavors. When things are going well, our way of life goes up a few notches. This is how we use Feng Shui.
Very often I would be asked how come I do not recommend Feng Shui items to be placed in the houses or offices that I audited. People would make references to some practices of other Masters and from some books they have just read. My reply is very simple. It is not about the objects that you put but how you activate the Qi.
Feng Shui objects are good to spruce up the interior decorations and to brighten up your home or office. They bring out the artistic spirit and they portray the cultured personality in you.
In the world of Feng Shui marketing, many of these objects are positioned to bring out the positive thinking and attitude in you. Having a positive psychology in our lives enable us to go out and make things happen. It is a great motivation tool to have. As a result, the marketers make us believe it was the Feng Shui items that help achieve the positive outcome.
Quite often I hear stories about people striking the lottery after they placed the Feng Shui items as advised by their Master. Is this merely a coincidence or is it because of the Feng Shui items? Do these people strike the lottery every week, every month and every year? Why isn’t that the case if the Feng Shui objects were effective? Why doesn’t it bring consistent results? If it works for one person, why does it not work for another?
If one can get rich just by placing objects, I am sure everyone is very rich today. A happy camper. There will be no war and poverty. We will only be worrying about who will be clearing the garbage bin outside the house. Perhaps, it could be somebody who is extremely wealthy and very happy to do it for us?
These are the questions we need to ask ourselves but seldom do.
I was reading an article recently about someone complaining that he received a wrong date for marriage solemnization from a well-known Master. A further check with the Tong Shu (Chinese Almanac) confirms the date is a “big no-no” to get married. Did the Master give him the date by mistake?
What is date selection all about?
First of all, we need to understand there are many methods of date selection and we use them for different purposes. BaZi Method, Dong Gong Method, Liu Ren System, Qi Men Dun Jia, Xuan Kong Da Gua, just to name a few. Generally, there are two types of date selection, namely Personal Date Selection and Feng Shui Date Selection.
A personal date selection relates to choosing a date for oneself to carry out certain activities like getting married, signing a contract, going for an operation, etc. It is a date for the ‘human’ to do certain things deemed important in life.
A feng shui date selection relates to choosing a date to carry out activities for a property or the land that we dwell in. Start of renovation, construction of a building, ground breaking are examples of activities that require a feng shui date selection. This is the date for the ‘land’ if we want to do some changes to it.
In the date selection process, two things must be considered. One without the other does not augurs well as far as date selection is concern. The first consideration is the event or type of activity and the other is the person involved in the activity.
Date selection is about finding a good day and time where the energies are available and can be used to support the event. If you find a good day but the required Qi is not there, that day is not auspicious for that event.
Assume you have found a good day, the next step is to evaluate if it is suitable to the person is involved in the activity. We use the person’s BaZi to determine the suitability of the date and activity. If it is not suitable, even a good day cannot be used.
Why date selection?
The idea is to ensure that during an event such as a signing ceremony, the energies are prime and available to support the parties involved. It is to ensure that during the ceremony, the event will proceed smoothly.
However, does this means that there will be no breach of contract many months down the road? Will the project proceed without any incidents? Will it prevent a married couple from getting a divorce after years of marriage?
Steps before date selection….
Prior to choosing the date for an intended activity, we need to determine the suitability of the person’s role or job function, partnership compatibility and the phase of life the person is going through. For this, we use BaZi analysis to evaluate.
For example, when it comes to getting married, we first have to settle the compatibility issues. The couple needs to understand each other’s personal characters and determine if they can live with it for the rest of their lives. Each one needs to accept the other as who they are before they can even discuss marriage. Couples have to decide for themselves if this is what they want.
Starting a business also goes through similar process. We need to evaluate if running a business is suitable for the person and when would be the appropriate time to start the business. Right job function, right timing is what we are looking for.
Having understood this, what has date selection got to do with preventing a divorce or preventing a business from going bankrupt?
Tong Shu for Date Selection
Traditional Chinese culture has been using the Chinese almanac as the basis of date selection for a long time. The Tong Shu is too generic and it is at best, a ‘safety’ date selection method. If we were to strictly follow those dates in Tong Shu, we will find that there are limited number of days we can use. If it does not fit in your schedule, what is going to happen? No business contract to be signed? Cannot get married?
The situation is such that Date Selection specialists these days have to refer to the Tong Shu first before they confirmed the final date. Why is this so? In the case of getting married, the folks from the older generation will check the Tong Shu. If it is a bad day according to the Tong Shu, they will doubt the Master for choosing such a date, even though it may be the BEST date for the couple.
As discussed earlier, we choose a date based on the event as well as the suitability to the key people involved in the event. But it is unfortunate that if the Tong Shu says it is bad, we are unable to use it.
Conclusion
Referring to the opening paragraph above, we do not want to speculate if the Master made a mistake or not. It may well be that the date selected is good for the couple and their immediate family members from both sides, even though the Tong Shu says it is bad.
If one is to allow the Tong Shu to dictate the date selection process, why consider engaging a Date Selection Specialist? Just use the Tong Shu to select the date. It may save you a few hundred dollars and frustrations.
I was having a conversation with Master Vin Leo recently and the subject of Yin Zhai or Yin Feng Shui came up during the discussion. Yin Zhai is attracting a lot of attention these days. Here is what he has to say about this topic.
“First of all, Yin Feng Shui is not about how the dead should dress, sleep or face. It is about the depth a coffin to be buried.
Secondly, the correct burial should yield results during this generation, not next generation. The layout of the tomb can be used to create opportunities.
Thirdly, it is not about the facing of the tombstone because if it is, it will be limited to a certain set of ‘good’ facing only. Every facing can be used. You cannot be changing your tomb every twenty or forty years when the period changes, not mentioning the yearly stars!
Fourthly, people are worried about future descendants if no proper burials are carried out. In India, there are fire rituals of sending the dead away on the river with no proper in-the-ground burial. The massive population in India today proves that with such fire rituals, descendants are not adversely affected at all.
There are other cultures where their dead are not buried, like the Tibetan’s ‘Heavenly Burial’ where the dead are fed to the vultures. The Chinese concept of ‘burying with a mountain behind’ the tombstone or a ‘created mound behind the tombstone’ for lineage is just a cultural belief.
Culture is good. It is a good form of identity. It should not be mixed with Feng Shui. Yin Feng Shui can create wonderful platforms for the ‘now living’. A ‘not-so-good’ burial only indicates a lack of divine support but it will not harm the descendants neither will it makes the descendant poor.”
This is yet another perspective of Yin Feng Shui. In your future engagement with a Yin Feng Shui consultant, you should check and ask the above-mentioned questions. Most importantly, look for evidence of proven results for the current generations.
The Direct-Indirect Spirit is one of the basic Feng Shui principles from San Yuan Xuan Kong. The principle of Direct-Indirect spirit as interpreted by many professional practitioners, determines the suitable location of mountain and water within the 8 sectors of a compass.
Water at suitable location brings wealth and status. Mountain at correct location brings good health, improve relationships and harmony.
During this period, according to San Yuan Qi cycle, water must be located at North, East, South East and South West sector and mountain must be seen at sectors of North East, North West, West and South.
Is this the correct application of Direct-Indirect Spirit principle?
In Singapore, if you were to drive around the areas of Thomson Road and Upper Thomson Road, you will find MacRitchie Reservoir located on the West and North West of a number of bungalows and successful businesses in those areas.
Along Bukit Timah road, famed for the rich and famous residents, most of the bungalow houses have MacRitchie Reservoir on their North East Sector.
It is taught that water and mountain in wrong location is detrimental to occupants of the property. Why is it that there are still wealthy and successful people staying in those areas? Isn't this is a total contradiction of the Direct-Indirect Spirit principle?
We were at a very popular restaurant recently where it is always packed with customers. What is interesting about this restaurant is that it is built on a platform surrounded by water. From left to right, a 180 degrees view, it is all water. How do we explain the Direct-Indirect Spirit principle? Water surrounding the restaurant and yet, their business is still thriving.
Direct-Indirect Spirit Principle has its valid usage but it is not as what is being taught by a lot of schools and well-known Master Practitioner in the Feng Shui market today.
Next time if someone tells you that your property has bad feng shui because the water and/or mountain is located in the wrong sector, you may want to question the validity of that reasoning. Do not be despair or feel disappointed. Ask the Master Practitioner to explain the above situation.
Many of us who has gone for a BaZi consultation are often given the impression that whatever is in our chart, it is our final destined life. Period. Whatever good or bad, we have to live with it the rest of our lives.
Many have been convinced to believe that their life is so bad that there is no turning back, that there is nothing they can do about. Some consultants will tend to use fear tactics and the clients have to pay a hefty price to ward-off the bad omen.
Some have to give away their newborn babies to another family as they feared that the birth of a child spells bad luck or tragedy for the family.
Some has even believed that because they are expected to get a windfall in the near future, they decided to help themselves to prepare for it, i.e. by buying lottery, getting loans, etc. to get an even better windfall. Soon they find themselves in debt and have to stay away from public places.
These and many other scenarios are the wrong approach to accept the readings of our BaZi charts. BaZi charts are meant to give us information about ourselves, our personal characters, our strengths and weaknesses. It is meant to help us plan our lives so as to decide when it is a good time or otherwise, to carry out certain activities to achieve our intended objectives.
Assume for one moment that there is no BaZi chart. We know, to a certain extent, our weaknesses. What do we do about it? We work hard to overcome it. We work hard to improve ourselves.
We do the same when we know more about ourselves after knowing our BaZi. A BaZi chart gives us an indication our plus points and negative points. If we have more plus points, we should use it more often to help improve our lives. If we have more negative points, it does not mean it is the end of it. What we need to do is to try to overcome the negative and turn it into something positive.
For example, we find in our chart that we are spendthrift in nature. Does that mean we go out and spend more, just to fulfill our destiny? Of course not. The correct thing to do is we should be more cautious in our spending. This is how we turn it from negative to positive. BaZi charts give us an indication of opportunities and it is up to us to make it good.
The chart simply tells us that our tendency to spend is greater as it is already in our chart. However, with such information placed before us, we can still decide to change our lifestyle and be more frugal. It is still within our means to decide our ultimate destiny, not the charts!
Do not despair when you receive negative news or report about yourself after a BaZi consult. Take this as an opportunity to do the right thing instead of hanging on to the negative things. Our job as a BaZi Consultant is to help you understand the situation you are in today and find the best way to move forward.
