east west grouping

About the East group and the West group

Before we talk about east groupings and west groupings, we have to go a little backwards.

I always believe that we should always understand the principles behind everything that we learn. This is even more so if we are going to think about applying what we have learnt to real life.

A long time ago, during the times of the Tang dynasty, there was a book or study manual written during the reign of the first Tang emperor. This manual was meant to be the core text for the study of esoteric matters. It would presumably include the study of the treasured yin-yang principles, the YiJing as well as the five elemental energies.

Unknown to many at the time, there was a dark motive behind this manual. The emperor obviously believed that fate and esoteric knowledge were interlinked and that there certainly would be an advantage if his opponents and enemies were not to have what he possessed. He even took a step further and plotted to disseminate false knowledge. This was done through the publication of the manual just mentioned.

During that time and the era that followed many students from afar like Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Tibet and other surrounding areas came to China and studied there. They later brought this new found knowledge back to their home countries and the teachings spread from there.

There are some who speculate that the difficult times that is faced by the south east asian countries today are the results of the application of this false knowledge in political and domestic matters. The exception is Japan which did not absorb this new theory as they had a strong theory of their own. Mayber it was Japanese pride and also that they were isolated by land and sea and thus the new theorires did not take root.

This manual is extant today but the basis and theories behind this manual has been developed and transformed. In fengshui theories and studies it has surfaced into what many have called the eight mansion or eight houses fengshui. Along with this theory of fengshui, the east and west theory developed.

This east and west grouping principle fused the science of fengshui of space with that of fatality. We can see this happening too with other schools of chinese metaphysics. It is easy to conclude that chinese metaphysics is a big melting pot of a broad mixture. The trick we have to learn is how to differentiate what are grafted theories and what are the true essences.

As far as the east-west theory goes, there are two distinct features.

The first is that it meant that once the principles have been applied to a living space, it will be good till all eternity. As a stand alone theory it does not consider the effects and changes of the environment and that of time. This becomes a weakness and as so often happens, many practitioners will borrow from other theories to overcome this. What happens then becomes a mixture of techniques. It reminds one of what we see in the kungfu movies of the 1970s. The fighters fight and when one loses he changes from one style to another like from tiger claws to crane fists. These movies were nice to watch but actually what is happening is that most fengshui practitioners are doing exactly the same thing and that is borrowing and layering from various schools and fields of metaphysics not knowing that the principles and applications are not he same. The argument they use in defence is that they are only incorporating what is best and discard what is weak. They forget that that means a theory is imperfect. A theory must be able to stand up to tests to be accepted. What they are doing is plainly saying that they do not have faith in any one single theroy. I say that they do not understand what they are doing probably due to lack of understanding and study.

The other distinct feature is that space and individuls are divided into two groups.

What the theory says is that it is best to use what belongs to your group. For example if you are a west group person, they say you should stay in a west group house. Or to take a step further it would be best if you marry a person belonging to the same group. At work, you are advised to have a partner of the same group so that the working relationship can be harmonious.

How can this be? How silly can one become? How can one accept that people or spaces can be broadly classified into two groups? This is an obvious misunderstanding of the yin and yang theory. A simple look at the method of deriving the good and bad sectors will tell us that this is a simple juggling yin-yang of the trigrams due to the manner that the trigrams are arranged.

Worse are the proponents who say that the theory is alright to be used BUT it is better if one can do a full scale analysis by using the eight pillars or some other method. I ask, why don’t they just discard the east-west group theory and go straight and do a full analysis instead of telling people the chemical laced skin is alright to eat but it is better to eat the good stuff inside?

It actually is confounding to wonder why they chooose to propagate and tell people to do things which are not totally correct. Many are now using the theories of east-west grouping and applying them. The authors of books provide DIY (do-it-yourself) techniques to people. Are they not misleading, probably doing more harm than good?

As a food for thought, have you seen the Harry Potter movies? In the movies, there is a professor who is popular and famous because he has written volumes of books on magic. Thus he is reputed to be an authority. However as the show humorously shows, he can’t really perform good magic. It tells us that fame and name are no measure of worth!