One of the most important that fengshui people miss is the importance of the trigrams or Gua. In fact its understanding is so important that without it there is no fengshui to talk about.
Never mind what you know about the flying stars or the 60 dragons or the various classical sets or formations that you have spent so much time on. If you have not internalise the Gua then the inner understanding is missing.
The chinese word for trigram is Gua. It is a combination of two ideograms. One provides the sound and the other provides its meaning. From the ideogram that provides the meaning, we see its connection to the art of divining. In essence, any diviner worth his salt possesses deep insight into the meanings and manifestations of the Gua.
In fengshui divining, the Gua and its attributes becomes critical to the divining of the fengshui. A lush pergola garden can be beautiful to look at besides providing shade. It may give the quality of the Gentle or it can exhibit and fill the space with the energy of Abysmal. How so?
A garden is naturally wood because of the living plants but it can take on qualities of Kan the Gua of the north. I was led to write this as I was passing a precast concrete column show room one morning along the old road near the KL zoo. They had this lovely pergola green house and it had such strong Kan qualities.
How does this help us in our fengshui? It becomes useful to know this when we design our gardens. There are many examples of houses especially terrace houses where the owners choose to build pergolas over that space next to the car porch. If doing so, it is best to ensure that it is neat and there is sufficient through sunlight. That reamins the first rule as the quality of the gentle is yin or feminine and sunlight helps to keep it in good shape bringing out its fine qualities of intelligence and connivality. If left too moist and dark then the moroseness of Kan is born and with it carries more dangerous qualities of loss and despair. And of course be mindful of the need for neatness and harmony.
This is the everchanging and interchanging nature of the trigrams which basically are interchangeable qualities of all the myriad things that exist. Wise to know this.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Abundance of Yang
Extract from my translation of 5 songs...
Where mountains and stream meet
May be said to be the meeting of both wind and water
When it comes to discussing dragon forms we say they should bind
Bounded dragons conceal lairs but not palaces
Be it imperial palaces or county districts
Search abundance of yang not look for dragons
These words of advice tells us simply how to look for good fengshui. Try driving by Center Point at night especially during a cool rainy night and you will get to know what is meant by the abundance of yang.
I must make it a point to bring along a camera and capture a shot.
Where mountains and stream meet
May be said to be the meeting of both wind and water
When it comes to discussing dragon forms we say they should bind
Bounded dragons conceal lairs but not palaces
Be it imperial palaces or county districts
Search abundance of yang not look for dragons
These words of advice tells us simply how to look for good fengshui. Try driving by Center Point at night especially during a cool rainy night and you will get to know what is meant by the abundance of yang.
I must make it a point to bring along a camera and capture a shot.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Fengshui and Fees
I spoke to an old colleague today who asked me to do something with that 'dial' of mine. By dial she meant my old trusty luopan or fengshui compass. She hinted that i do a fengshui read for her office. In the course of our chat, I just mentioned that I do charge for 'turning that dial of mine'. and that I charge more for dialing that for being a building professional.
She was a little surprised that I charge. She does not know it but I do have a pledge to keep. One of my teachers has charged me to expect to be paid simply because it is the way things should be and also out of respect for the patron gods of the art.
I have my own reason for charging. As in all energy works there must be an exchange. It is only through an exchange that things really begins to move and work. The economists have a term for it. They call it the multiplier effect.
An exchange can be in any form or size. The red packet or 'angpau' serves the purpose in old china as a token of appreciation. The poor offers what they can afford although I would hardly think that the poor has the means to engage a diviner to poke around their property or lack of it.
On another note, the ordinary peasant folks can engage a trance diviner and I have seen some and heard of many who are pretty impressive. I know of one who could do distant fengshui divining, drawing out sketches of the property being consulted. And all for a small 'angpau'!
On the point about paying for divining services. What we actually pay for is the time of the diviner and I adopt the truth that even diviners have bills to pay. Most of the time, the angpau received barely covers the cost of time, petrol and toll especially so when follow up assessments are taken into account.
She was a little surprised that I charge. She does not know it but I do have a pledge to keep. One of my teachers has charged me to expect to be paid simply because it is the way things should be and also out of respect for the patron gods of the art.
I have my own reason for charging. As in all energy works there must be an exchange. It is only through an exchange that things really begins to move and work. The economists have a term for it. They call it the multiplier effect.
An exchange can be in any form or size. The red packet or 'angpau' serves the purpose in old china as a token of appreciation. The poor offers what they can afford although I would hardly think that the poor has the means to engage a diviner to poke around their property or lack of it.
On another note, the ordinary peasant folks can engage a trance diviner and I have seen some and heard of many who are pretty impressive. I know of one who could do distant fengshui divining, drawing out sketches of the property being consulted. And all for a small 'angpau'!
On the point about paying for divining services. What we actually pay for is the time of the diviner and I adopt the truth that even diviners have bills to pay. Most of the time, the angpau received barely covers the cost of time, petrol and toll especially so when follow up assessments are taken into account.
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