Article: "Tapping Into Your Good Directions" by Joey Yap

Tapping Into Your Good Directions ... Feng Shui

[FENG SHUI WITH JOEY YAP : TheSTAR Sun 26 March 2006]

THOSE who had a go at using the Life Gua system from last week’s article would probably have noticed a minor dilemma, especially in homes with more than one resident and where certain areas are used together.

To recap, the Life Gua system enables individuals to determine their personal favourable and unfavourable directions, based on a mathematical calculation using the year of their birth.

You may have noticed that if two persons from different direction groups share a house, the Life Gua method creates a dilemma.

Let’s say from your Gua number, you know that you are part of the East group of directions but your housemate is part of the West group of directions.

Which direction then should your main door face? Which person’s favourable direction should be given priority?

What if you’re a husband and wife, each from a different group of directions?

Do you sleep in separate bedrooms? Or do you sleep in different directions on the matrimonial bed? Imagine a husband and wife having to sleep facing each other’s feet just to tap into their Favourable Directions at night!

As I have said many times, feng shui does not make you do silly, frivolous or strange things in the name of Qi, as it were. It was not designed so that couples would have to sleep in separate rooms just to tap into their personal favourable directions.

Inconsistencies and impractical outcomes such as the above do not stem from the system itself.

The Life Gua system has its function and purpose within the broader Eight Mansions system. It does not mean that feng shui is nonsensical or Eight Mansions is a flawed system.

It is simply that when people make use of the Life Gua system, they don’t fully understand how it should be used, and how it is to be utilised in tandem with other aspects of the entire Eight Mansions feng shui system.

Unfortunately, many people simply hear about the favourable and unfavourable personal directions part of Eight Mansions feng shui and assume that personal directions are the be all and end all of Eight Mansions, or even of feng shui.

The House Gua Method

The second component of the Eight Mansions system, the House Gua method is designed to be used in tandem with the Life Gua method.

The Life Gua method enables us to understand the favourable and unfavourable personal directions of the individual while the House Gua system is designed to enable us to understand the favourable and unfavourable Sectors of the house or property by enabling us to assess, through calculations, its Qi map.

Sheng Qi, Tian Yi, Yan Nian and Fu Wei are the positive or favourable sectors, and Huo Hai, Liu Sha, Wu Gui and Jue Ming are the negative or unfavourable sectors.

The Life Gua method is direction-based, while the House Gua method is location-based.

And the two go hand-in-hand because Eight Mansions, in essence, aims to match the house with the individual. Its goal is to combine the usage of the best sectors of the house with the individual’s best directions.

The House Gua method is also used to qualify forms-based observations made by the consultant. So, for example, a negative landform, such as a pylon or lamp post, in a certain sector may not be so bad if the sector that it affects is a favourable sector based on the House Gua method of calculating the Qi map of the house.

Location and Direction in Eight Mansions

The key to appreciating how the House Gua and Life Gua method are synergistic systems is to know the difference between location and direction.

Location relates to the sector, such as North, South, East or Southwest, while direction relates to the 360° of directions on the compass. In feng shui, the philosophy is to always be located in a good sector AND facing your good direction.

But if you have to chose between being located in a good sector OR facing your good direction, always chose to be located in a good sector. Locating yourself in a good sector means you can tap the beneficial Qi of the sector and your personal favourable direction.

However, if you are located in a bad sector, you have no beneficial Qi to tap into from the sector and you can only make use of your personal favourable direction, which is limited in its benefits.

For example, your personal favourable direction is East. You can face the East direction from any of the eight sectors within a property.

Hence, it is best if you can locate yourself in a favourable sector (such as the Sheng Qi) and then face East in that sector.

If, for some reason, you cannot face East in that sector, at least you can still benefit from the Sheng Qi in that sector.

When the House Gua method is used especially in tandem with the Life Gua method, many of the problems or dilemmas posed by the Life Gua method alone no longer become problems.

Thus, in a house where there is more than one resident or there are residents from East and West Groups, there is no issue of having to favour one resident over another, or do silly things like sleep in different directions on the same bed or different rooms in the case of couples.

Instead, the residents all make use of the favourable sectors of the house collectively, and then, where possible, fine-tune the feng shui further by facing their personal favourable directions.

Using the House Gua Method

To use the House Gua method, you must first be able to ascertain the facing direction of your house. This is quite easy: you can do it with a simple compass and taking the direction of your house based on the direction it has been built to face. Once you have obtained the facing direction, check against the diagram above to see which one of the eight types of houses in Eight Mansions feng shui corresponds with yours.

If your house faces South, you have a Kan house. If it faces West, you have a Zhen house.

There are a few ways to use the House Gua method. First, see if your main door is located in any of the positive sectors. You should also check if your bedroom is located in a positive sector. The kitchen is the only exception to the rule: this should be located in a negative sector.

What do you do if you don’t have a bedroom or main door in any of the positive sectors and you cannot relocate it? An easy way to benefit from the Qi in those positive sectors is simply to make use of those areas more. Place your activity room or your television or Playstation there and spend more time in those areas.

Beyond House and Life Gua

The idea behind Eight Mansions is that each house has a unique energy pattern and the goal is to try to match the house with the residents. This seems to suggest that the entire system boils down to eight types of houses and eight types of people.

But remember, in feng shui there is always the Yin and the Yang aspects and that everything has a static and dynamic component to it.

Yes, there may be only eight types of houses, but the permutations when it comes to the macro environment and the natural external forms around the area are endless.

Also, the interior of a property makes a difference in terms of how two houses facing the same direction can direct, channel and tap into Qi.

For example, House A facing North might have a negative environmental formation that affects its main door, which House B, also facing North, does not have. House B therefore is better able to tap the Qi in the environment compared to House A.

Or House A facing North might have a negative environmental feature inside the house, such as a pillar in front of the main door, or a beam over the main door, which House B does not have.

House A obviously has a problem with Qi collection. Hence House A and House B, whilst both facing the same direction, will receive, collect and circulate Qi very differently.

The House Gua and Life Gua methods are only starting points of Eight Mansions feng shui. It goes much deeper with techniques like the Palace vs Star method and, of course, there is the added component of time calculations that feature in Eight Mansions feng shui.

Nonetheless, for most feng shui hobbyists and enthusiasts looking to make use of feng shui for themselves, these two methods, in particular the House Gua system, are excellent ways to bring a little positive feng shui into your life, without the need for substantial renovations or at great cost.

Joey Yap is the founder, CEO and Master Trainer of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Call 2284-8080 or visit www.masteryacademy.com

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/3/26/focus/13768489&sec=focus

Article: "Simple Ways To Get Started" by Joey Yap

Simple Ways To Get Started ... Feng Shui

[FENG SHUI WITH JOEY YAP : TheSTAR Sun 19 March 2006]

WHILE conducting some courses on feng shui and BaZi in Canada recently, many of the participants told me how surprised they were that feng shui was so straightforward. Many of them had, in the past, found their study or attempts to practise feng shui complicated by uncertainty over a very simple yet fundamental question: when you feng shui a house, what do you focus on first?

Perhaps it is the result of information overdose but many people often have no idea where to start.

If you want to feng shui your house yourself, what should you be looking at?

Think Environment, Forms and Qi

When it comes to feng shui, it is simply not possible to over-state the importance of the external macro environment, i.e the formation of mountains and rivers in the vicinity of your home or property.

A good Classical Feng Shui practitioner will always look at these natural features, known as Landform (Luan Tou) or Forms, before he or she evaluates the feng shui of the property. These Forms dictate the quality and type of Qi that influences the area and property.

In addition to the Forms, which determine if there is positive or negative Qi in the area or if the Qi flow is somehow being blocked or repelled, formulas must always be considered.

Formulas, which are techniques and calculations for determining the energy map of an area or property, help to qualify the Forms, assess the quality of Qi and provide a fuller picture of the feng shui situation.

Finally, when it comes to the property itself, Classical Feng Shui practitioners will always zero in on the three most important factors: the main door, the kitchen and the bedroom, which are known as "Yang Zhai San Yao".

In fact, when it comes to evaluating the property itself, without looking at the macro environment and the formulas, these are the three areas that should always be given priority.

Why is it that only the main door, the kitchen and the bedroom are considered important?

As I mentioned in the past, feng shui is a very practical and logical.

The main door is given significant priority because this is the entrance to the house, for the residents of the property and for the Qi. The main door is considered the Qi Mouth of a home.

Accordingly, it is extremely important to make sure that you have a good main door, as this will go some way towards ensuring you have good Qi entering the property. The main door is considered the primary reference point in any system of Classical Feng Shui.

The kitchen is where food is prepared and so is also extremely important. Food nourishes us and gives us energy and strength to go about our endeavours. Hence, the kitchen should be located in a suitable sector, so as to ensure the vibrant health of the residents.

Finally, the bedroom is where we spend time resting and sleeping. Out of 24 hours a day, most people spend between six and eight hours in their bedroom. As such, it is important that the bedroom is located in a place that is conducive for rest, recovery and sleep with stable and rejuvenating Qi.

If you can look at nothing else, make sure that the above three factors are well taken care of and you would have taken some important positive steps towards improving the feng shui of your property.

Applying simple Feng Shui

For the average person, evaluating the external macro environment and Landforms is not something they can do or, for that matter, should be expected to be able to do without some expert help. So if you want to Feng Shui-It-Yourself, what can you do?

Look at the house itself in tandem with a simple formula-based assessment of the three important factors: the main door, the kitchen and the bedroom.

The technique is known as the Life Gua Method, which is derived from a system of feng shui known as Eight Mansions or BaZhai. It is premised on the theory that every individual is imprinted with certain energies at the time of his or her birth, based on the planetary influences and magnetic fields exerting an effect on Earth.

These energies are unlocked or maximised when used in tandem with certain directions. A simple analogy would be to see the Life Gua as your personal radio frequency and the directions as the antenna that enables you to "tune into" that frequency.

I have selected the Life Gua method because, firstly, it is a safe method with minimal negative side effects, even if applied incorrectly.

Secondly, it is quite easy to use and usually brings about a modest improvement.

Thirdly, it is a system of feng shui that produces very steady improvements, and thus is suitable for people residing long-term in a property.

Begin with your year of birth. Add the two last digits together. For example 1968=6+8=14. Then reduce to a single digit by adding them together: 1+4=5.

If you are female add 5 i.e. 5+5=10, and reduce to a single digit: 1+0= 1. So your personal gua number is 1.

If you are male, subtract the number from 10. For example 10-5=5. Reduce to a single digit and your personal gua is 5.

If your personal gua happens to be 5, your are assigned the number 8 for females and number 2 for males as there is no number 5 in the gua table.

Once you have found your Gua number, match it to either the East group or the West group directions as shown in the table.

From here, you can derive your personal favourable and unfavourable directions.

Each direction is not merely "favourable" or "unfavourable". There are specific types of energies in each direction, which are suitable for a specific use or function.

For example, the Sheng Qi direction taps into Life Generating Qi that's suitable for increasing work performance and vitality, while the Tian Yi direction taps into healing energy that is favourable for health or rejuvenation.

The Yan Nian direction is all about communication and interpersonal relationships while the Fu Wei direction is best used for calming, peaceful and relaxing activities, such as meditation, personal cultivation or just a good night's sleep.

To get an idea of how to use the Life Gua method, take for example a female born in 1957. She will have a Gua number of 8. She belongs to the West group of directions, thus her favourable directions are South West, North West, West and North East. Her personal unfavourable directions are South, North, East and South East.

How then do you apply this information to your property? One way is to check to see if your main door taps into any one of your personal favourable directions.

You can also use this system in the bedroom by making sure that your bed headboard faces one of your personal favourable directions.

The Life Gua method is not by any means the most powerful form of Feng Shui you can use, nor is it the only method. It also has some qualifications and limitations, especially for properties with more than one resident, which I will talk about next week.

Joey Yap is the founder, CEO and Master Trainer of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Call 2284-8080 or visit www.masteryacademy.com

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/3/19/focus/13701188&sec=focus

Article: "Different Schools, Same Goal" by Joey Yap

Different Schools, Same Goal ... Feng Shui

[FENG SHUI WITH JOEY YAP : TheSTAR Sun 12 March 2006]

IT is rare to find a person these days who doesn't know something about feng shui, or "Wind and Water" as so many people are apt to associate it with. In fact, what public knowledge there is about feng shui simply scratches the surface of an incredibly deep and profoundly sophisticated practice.

The universe of feng shui goes deep beyond and far further than just wind chimes and money frogs. It has systems and schools that extend far beyond Flying Star Feng Shui and Eight Mansions Feng Shui, the two systems that most people are familiar with.

It is much more than just tapping into the energies to improve your love life or help you get a promotion: indeed, at its most powerful, feng shui can create emperors and give birth to empires. In this article, I would like to share with you the depth of knowledge that feng shui encompasses, and how it leads to and is inter-linked with other Chinese metaphysical subjects.

Schools of Feng Shui

To begin to understand Feng Shui, one must first be aware of how it came about. Briefly, feng shui originally began as a science of selecting burial grounds, what is known today as Yin House Feng Shui. It also wasn't even known as feng shui back then. It was known as Kan Yu. The name feng shui only came into use in the Qing Dynasty. And while it is an ancient metaphysical science, it is not really THAT old. By most documentary evidence, it is around 1,200 years old and is really thought to only have gained ground and achieved its renaissance period during the Tang Dynasty.

Essentially, feng shui can be separated into two main schools. But before I delve into the two schools of feng shui proper, I must first dispel this long-standing error on the two main schools. It is common today to see books referring to a Compass School and a Forms School of feng shui. While it is indeed true that there are two main schools of feng shui, they are certainly not distinguished in this manner.

All feng shui systems have a core set of principles and theories that are similar: for example, they all refer to the Five Elements, they all take into account the Four Factors of Residents, Time, Location and Direction. And they all use a Compass or Luo Pan. And all schools and systems of feng shui involve taking into consideration the landform. Accordingly, it is incorrect to separate feng shui systems as either being part of the Compass School or the Forms School.

In actual fact, feng shui systems are separated according to whether or not they fall in to the Li Qi School or the Forms School. Li Qi School focuses on the calculation of Qi through formulas. The Forms School focuses on observation of the physical environment (or landforms) to ascertain the Qi in the area.

The more technical terms for Li Qi and Forms Schools are San Yuan School of Feng Shui or the San He School of Feng Shui respectively. San Yuan and San He are what we call the founding schools of feng shui. They are like the Oxford and Cambridge of feng shui.

San Yuan and San He Systems

The San Yuan system (San Yuan means Three Cycles is a mathematical model of the BaGua that is used to calculate the quality of Qi through time. In San Yuan, Qi is thought to be dynamic but cyclical in nature. All is in a constant state of flux, but within the flux, there are patterns and trends. With San Yuan, the objective is to ascertain which point in time is what Qi at its optimum and make use of those energies. San Yuan involves updating one's feng shui to keep up with the Qi cycle and adopting a dynamic approach to stay in tandem with the changing Qi.

By contrast, San He (which means Three Harmony) focuses on the environment, the mountains, rivers and landforms - and looks to understand how the environment shapes and creates Qi. It is more focused on finding an optimal or strategic location in which to benefit from the Qi in the environment. San He recognises that Qi is dynamic and changes through the time but is premised on using the unchanging, or Yin, to counter the changing, or the Yang. Landform features such as mountains and rivers are considered permanent and unchanging through the times. San He systems do not look to adapt to the changing Qi cycle, but to insulate and outlast any unfavourable periods in the Qi cycle through superior landform.

Both San Yuan and San He take into consideration the Time and Form factor. The difference between the two is the priority they accord to each of these two factors. San Yuan focuses more heavily on the Time factor, while San He focuses more on forms. From these two founding schools, newer systems have been developed.

(Feng shui is a highly dynamic field that is constantly being developed, even today.)

The San Yuan system has many derivative sub-systems, such as Long Men Ba Ju (Dragon Gate Eight Formations), Xuan Kong (Time and Space School), Xuan Kong Da Gua (64 Hexagrams), Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Stars) and Ba Zhai (Eight Mansions).

Dragon Gate Eight Formations is based on the mathematical model of the Ba Gua and is a study of landform based on intricate calculations. It is, you could say, San Yuan's answer to the San He Landform approach. It is premised on eight sets of Mountain and Water formations and is popular in Taiwan.

Xuan Kong incorporates the North Dipper Stars into the mathematical model of the Ba Gua and integrates Landform with Star or Qi calculations. It has spawned two sub-schools of its own, Xuan Kong Da Gua or 64 Hexagrams and Xuan Kong Fei Xing or Flying Stars.

In Xuan Kong Da Gua, the 64 Hexagrams are factored into the Time calculations and it is premised on understanding what is the Star that governs the particular period in time and the Qi pattern of that period, known collectively as the Period Luck (Yuan Yun). It is a highly precise and results-orientated method.

Xuan Kong Fei Xing or Flying Stars and Ba Zhai or Eight Mansions are also systems derived from San Yuan. These are two of the more popular feng shui systems used today, especially for Internal Feng Shui.

In Flying Stars, a Qi map of the property is derived from calculations and then used to determine the quality of Qi in each sector of the home.

Eight Mansions by contrast is about understanding the individual and unique Qi pattern of the House, and then matching the House to the Individual.

A relatively recent addition to this family of systems is a new system known as Qi Men Dun Jia. It is a hybrid system that theoretically is not Feng Shui, but more of divination or scientific probability. It is mainly used for highly advanced time selection, such as choosing the right time to install a cure or remove a structure.

Which is Better?

I prefer not to pursue the debate of which is best, because this is something that has caused the development of feng shui to be stymied for years. As modern students of feng shui, the focus, I believe, should not be what is best but what works in the given circumstances.

In any case, both San Yuan and San He have common denominators: they all agree that the factor of Time must always be considered and that Landforms cannot be ignored. They are both premised on a mathematical model of the Ba Gua, both make use of the Five Element theory and both are firmly rooted in the concept of Yin and Yang.

And both San Yuan and San He have one goal in common: the best way to harness Qi in the environment to support one's goals and objectives in life.

Joey Yap is the founder, CEO and Master Trainer of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Call 2284-8080 or visit www.masteryacademy.com

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/3/12/focus/13623339&sec=focus

Article: "Opinion: You must first be, before you can have"

You must first be, before you can have ... Feng Shui

[OPINION : TheSTAR Sun 05 March 2006]

You must first be, before you can have

A RESPONSIBLE feng shui consultant does not automatically tweak every client’s house to create wealth opportunities.

Why? Because the fact is that not every client needs to have their wealth opportunities enhanced or is suited for such an approach.

In a feng shui consultation, the BaZi of the client must always be considered. A person’s BaZi reveals his or her Destiny or Heaven Luck. It reveals what the person can have, and cannot have, in this lifetime. It also provides a clear indication to the feng shui consultant as to the nature of problems the person is facing at that point in time, be there health, relationship, wealth or career issues.

If a person is not destined to be a billionaire, no amount of feng shui can turn him into a billionaire although it may help to improve his wealth-generating potential within the limits of his destiny. If the person already has a lot of wealth in his chart, giving him more via his feng shui can be detrimental.

In feng shui, there is a saying that too much wealth deteriorates the health. If a person already has strong Wealth in his BaZi chart, enhancing the wealth aspects of his feng shui might just end up making him sick or creating problems for him as a result of too much wealth.

If feng shui was only about money, then the world’s richest men (on the Forbes 500 list) should all be feng shui masters. But that is not the case.

Feng shui is a practice of improving your life and quality of living by tapping into the qi in the environment, within the playing field that you have been given, based on your life capacity. Keep this in mind and you will understand the true possibilities feng shui can offer.

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/3/5/focus/20060305084402&sec=focus

Article: "Master, Show Me The Money" by Joey Yap

Master, Show Me The Money ... Feng Shui

[FENG SHUI WITH JOEY YAP : TheSTAR Sun 05 March 2006]

AN unfortunate by-product of the increased public awareness and knowledge of feng shui is the creation of the mentality that feng shui is all about money and nothing else.

From the waving cat you’re supposed to position on your cash register to money frogs under your table, from so-called trade secrets of specific feng shui lineages to high-sounding get-rich feng shui formulas, society is constantly fed a barrage of information centred around how to get rich using feng shui.

Of course, the fact that many well-known Asian tycoons in Hong Kong and Taiwan make use of feng shui helps to perpetuate this view that feng shui is about making millionaires.

It is human nature to want wealth. And certainly, there is nothing wrong with a person wanting to have more money in life or aspiring to be rich. Let’s face it, who wants to aspire to poverty?

But the problem with this perception is that it has made people vulnerable to what are sometimes very outrageous claims, which bear very little semblance to feng shui.

At the elementary and fairly harmless level, it encourages superstitious practices and creates false hope for people. Sometimes, though, it can get to a serious and dangerous level.

I have heard of practitioners who claim to possess secret Water Dragon formulas that will turn the average individual into a billionaire and who charge hefty fees for the formula. Many people do not know that these “secret” Water Dragon formulas are cheaply and freely available in a Chinese bookstore!

The real cause for concern is the implementation of these formulas, which some practitioners have boiled down to as simple a task as digging a drain around your house, entering at a certain direction and exiting at a certain direction.

Making a Water Dragon is not that simple. For starters, it cannot be “made” with a drain. It has to be a natural formation in the land, with real water, not what comes out of the kitchen or drains out during a storm.

Also, instead of enhancing the feng shui of the property, this kind of “man-made” Water Dragon can, in some cases, create negative qi in the form of “Cutting Feet Water”, which can have detrimental outcomes on the health of the occupants. Instead of becoming billionaires, they may end up with financial woes or health issues.

True meaning of wealth in feng shui

During my annual talk on the feng shui and astrology for the year, I outline the Flying Star chart for the year. I also provide pointers on what is generically referred to as the “Wealth Sector”. For many people, this translates to the “making money” sector.

In fact, in feng shui Flying Star terminology, there is no such term as “Wealth Sector” or “Wealth Qi”. Instead, there is something called “Wang Qi”. When translated, it means “Prosperous Qi”.

In the Eight Mansions feng shui system, which is where the personal favourable directions are derived, there is no reference to a “Wealth” direction either. Rather, Eight Mansions talks about the “Sheng Qi” or “Life Generating Qi”. However, this too, has been assumed as being synonymous with “Wealth Luck”.

Even from the days of the Tang Dynasty, the true concept behind feng shui has never been only about money. It is about prosperity and prospering.

Prosperity is a term that most Chinese people today associate with wealth. But that is far from what prosperity is about. Prosperity is about good health, functioning at the top of your game, good relationships, enjoying peace and bliss, and having good opportunities.

In feng shui, the goal is to place the individuals in a natural environment that is supportive of their personal goals and, above all, is a comfortable, energising and healthy place to live in.

When the individuals are healthy, when they are thinking and acting at their most alert state, they are able to see opportunities, capitalise on opportunities and fulfil their potential, which includes making more money or achieving great wealth.

Feng shui’s role, first and foremost, is to make the home (or the office) a place where the individuals can function at their best – emotionally, physically and mentally. When all these are taken care of, the person will naturally prosper, do well in life and make money.

Myth of aquariums and money fish

If you study the ancient classics on feng shui, you will find that the techniques and formulas are mainly focused on collecting qi, qi flow, bringing the qi into the right parts of the home and keeping negative qi at bay. There is nothing about flowerhorn fish, arowana, goldfish, money frogs or aquariums.

Feng shui practitioners do sometimes advise clients on the placement of aquariums in certain sectors of their homes. But this has absolutely NOTHING to do with the aquariums or the fish inside the aquariums helping to transform their owners into billionaires.

The placement of aquariums makes use of the principles from the “Book of Burial” that “Qi is dispersed by the wind and gathers at the boundaries of Water”. By placing Water (in the form of an aquarium) at specific areas in the house, the feng shui consultant is looking to collect qi in certain sectors. As for the fish, they are simply placed in the aquarium to, firstly, prevent the aquarium from looking out of place in the home or office and, secondly, to keep the Water active.

Joey Yap is the founder, CEO and master trainer of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Call 2284-8080 or visit www.masteryacademy.com

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/3/5/focus/13565111&sec=focus

Article: "The Myth Behind FengShui Lineage" by Joey Yap

The Myth Behind Lineage ... Feng Shui

[FENG SHUI WITH JOEY YAP : TheSTAR Sun 26 Feb 2006]

WITH a booming demand for classical feng shui services and knowledge all over the world, the business of feng shui is becoming more and more competitive. Naturally, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the main source of much of today’s knowledge in classical feng shui, is where the battle to attract students and clients is most intense.

Subtle marketing is a thing of the past – these days, it is a no-holds barred approach to getting clients and pupils. The latest strategy unleashed in the marketplace, to attract clients and students, is the lineage card.

Stuff of kung fu movies The concept of a lineage was popularised not so much by feng shui masters but by Chinese kung fu movies. It’s a familiar scene: the dying master usually calls forth his most loyal or talented pupil and in a shabby hut, mossy cave or dark dank valley, hands over a blue-cover book or withered scroll containing “the great secret” of techniques, or teachings. After a few muttered cryptic lines that are key to deciphering “the great secret”, the old master dies.

All these movies are set about 400 years in the past, when being a student meant you were a disciple who would follow your sifu around for half your life and do lots of chores for him with the hope of being taught on the job. Today, the concept of “indoor disciples” is rare. Feng shui education, like any other form of education, is about paying fees and attending lectures!

And those blue-cover books containing “the great secret” are freely available at the corner Chinese bookstore. As for the cryptic lines that are the key to deciphering “the great secret”, most reputable masters who teach and practise are quite happy to “reveal all” to paying students.

Feng Shui genealogy

Feng shui does have its own lineages. Some are extensive and can be traced back quite accurately to the Qing, even Ming Dynasties. So, it is always more impressive to belong to a reputable feng shui lineage, especially since this is perceived to add creditability and pedigree to the master’s knowledge and skills.

What constitutes a lineage? If a feng shui practitioner really is of a particular lineage, he/she should be able to trace his/her roots of knowledge back to the original Ming or Qing Dynasty. Simply being able to name one or two teachers is not what is traditionally considered as having an authentic feng shui lineage. Lineage holders are also usually tied to certain feng shui classics. For example, students of the Wu Chang school of feng shui possess references to the original classical texts written by Great Grand Masters – Shen Zhu Reng and the lineage founder Zhang Zhong Shan.

Some feng shui practitioners today claim 40 to 50 years of experience constitutes a lineage. A proper system of lineage goes back a few hundred years and not only do the lineage carriers document all their cases, they also make it a point to document what works and what doesn’t in practising their system. In the present environment where anyone may claim to be a lineage holder, it is important to verify these claims.

Attending a class or a course with a feng shui school does not make you a lineage holder either. In today’s environment of study and teaching, it is more likely that you paid a fair fee to undertake a feng shui course with a feng shui practitioner or master. Like any university or college you may have attended, you are a student of that school. You do not gain a lineage by attending a particular class; you merely receive certification or accreditation for having taken the course. A clear distinction must be made between the lineage concept and that of studying with a particular school or feng shui master.

Does lineage translate to superior skills?

As Deng Xiao Peng once said, it doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.

Lineage today is partly a romanticised concept, but mostly, it’s a marketing tool that is often used a bit too loosely to gain some commercial advantage. Though it may be reassuring to know that a feng shui practitioner is from a certain reputable lineage, it is often very difficult for a lay person to establish if the lineage is real or not. This is why using lineage as a basis for determining the pedigree, qualifications and indeed, expertise and experience of the feng shui master or consultant, is dangerous.

While official titles, such as a Datukship, can be easily verified, feng shui lineages cannot be confirmed by a Google search or making a phone call to an official department. You have to be tenacious, very persistent and know where to look before you can verify a lineage.

Furthermore, clients or prospective students are not likely to suspect or question the origins of a lineage or even the lineage itself, if the practitioner states having decades of experience by virtue of his age and if the practitioner looks the part of an old sifu – you know, white hair, Chinese collar and full of “I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve eaten rice” exclamations of wisdom.

It can also be extremely convincing when a practitioner claims to be the sole recipient of a potent secret technique or formula handed down through the generations that no one else has but him, contained in, you guessed it, an old dog-eared papyrus paper blue-cover book!

It is best not to accept at face value a feng shui practitioner’s claim to be of a certain lineage – ask him or her, politely and respectfully, the roots of his or her lineage. Who are their teachers? Who taught their teachers? Do they have their lineage tree? If you intend to pay for pedigree, then you should make sure that you are getting a pedigree. Researching and establishing a master’s pedigree is important if you intend to learn from the person based on his or her claim of lineage, or if you are paying a premium for their services purely and solely on this basis.

Assuming that your feng shui consultant or master is an authentic lineage holder, is he better or superior to consultants who are not lineage holders? Lineage should be regarded in the same way as a person’s university qualifications. Someone with a degree from Harvard University may not necessarily be any better on the job than a person from a non-Ivy League institution. The school simply is a testament to the quality of knowledge they have received. It does not affirm the person’s ability to make use of that knowledge on the job. Similarly, lineage testifies to the quality of the knowledge, but not the quality of the consultant.

If you are hiring a consultant, it is more relevant to ascertain what systems of feng shui he/she practises and how well he/she knows those systems. In practice, feng shui consultants cannot afford to be pigeonholed by lineage or techniques. Feng shui consultants provide a service: they trouble-shoot for clients, solve their problems and help them achieve their goals. To rely on one method alone to achieve this is simply not practical or feasible any more.

A good practitioner is one who can integrate different systems, different schools and different practices in his work without conflict. The decisive factor is whether or not the feng shui skills of the master work, whether his feng shui knowledge is sound, authentic (based on classical texts), practical, useful, effective and beneficial to the clients. Lineage means nothing if the practitioner himself is not good enough.

Clan mentality – a barrier to knowledge

LINEAGE can also be a barrier to knowledge or an obstacle to learning. The devotion and single-minded focus on only the texts of that one particular lineage can sometimes lead to a dogmatic approach and ignorance of the effective techniques and theories of other schools of feng shui.

For example, in the olden days there was much debate over whether the San He or the San Yuan school of feng shui produced more measurable results. This resulted in both schools missing the obvious point – why not apply the theories from each other’s school and achieve even more exceptional results?

Devotion to lineage and fixation with the supremacy of their own theories lead to a lack of development in looking for methods to combine the theories effectively.

In today’s learning environment, a lineage approach can prove to be a limitation in truly gaining effective knowledge in feng shui. Yes, it may be reassuring to learn from an authentic lineage holder in that it is a testament to the quality of the knowledge you receive.

From a knowledge point of view, however, it can be limiting and restrictive. How can there be growth and development in any science, if the dogmatic approach is maintained?

Indeed, how can we know if one theory or approach is superior to another if we know nothing about the opposing theory?

The concept of lineage may not be applicable any more in today’s teaching and learning atmosphere.

The more effective practitioners and teachers are those who can integrate multiple schools or systems of feng shui, bazi and other Chinese metaphysical studies into their practice.

Like all things, a true professional has to approach feng shui in a pragmatic, practical manner. There is a place for tradition and for things like lineage but it is not the be all and end all when it comes to feng shui.

For more information about Life Gua, visit www.joeyyap.com where you can make use of the Life Gua Calculator there.

Joey Yap is the founder, CEO and master trainer of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Call 2284-8080 or visit www.masteryacademy.com

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/26/focus/13489927&sec=focus

Article: "Feng Shui - It's A Science, Not A Religion" by Joey Yap

It's A Science, Not A Religion ... Feng Shui

[FENG SHUI WITH JOEY YAP : TheSTAR Sun 19 Feb 2006]

THIS may come as a surprise to many people, but feng shui actually has absolutely nothing to do with religion nor does it have any religious components to it.

It is important to talk about these misconceptions because many people have reservations or are negative about feng shui because they perceive it to carry some religious connotations.

Firstly, there are people who see feng shui as a cult practice, as it seems to involve being part of a following and having to “believe” or have faith in order for it to work.

For many people, this concept of feng shui suggests the need to change one’s faith or accept another faith. Thus, feng shui and their personal faith are not reconcilable.

Secondly, there are people who see feng shui as paganistic. As a result of excessive commercialism, feng shui has been perceived as a practice that requires “worshipping” wealth objects, placing items around one’s home and placing one’s faith entirely in an item to resolve one’s problems in life, or bring luck in life.

Of course, this is not reconcilable with a person’s personal faith, especially if those objects are seemingly derived from a specific religion like Buddhism or Taoism or involve using symbols from these religions.

For those who are non-religious, this implies the need to insert some religious overtones into their life, which they do not find acceptable.

Thirdly, there are people who have a profound discomfort with something that is ritualistic in nature. Therefore, the perception of feng shui as something that involves chanting, doing love rituals, love chants or using mirrors to reflect energies off a person or object is a big turn off to many level-headed, practical people.

The truth is, Classical Feng Shui is none of the above.

HOW FENG SHUI BECAME 'RELIGION'

How, then, did religious overtones creep into feng shui? Like all classical sciences, it has suffered from a case of “lost in translation”. The rush to popularise feng shui has led to some creative interpretation, to say the least.

A good example of how a non-religious science has become “corrupted” into a religious, cultish and paganistic practice can be seen in the innocuous BaGua mirror.

In the old days when technology was less advanced, BaGua mirrors were made from brass. So when a feng shui consultant wanted to introduce an element of Metal into an area, he would advise his client to place a mirror in the area: Not because it was a BaGua mirror, but because it was made of brass, which is a metal element.

Somewhere along the way, the BaGua mirror became less about the brass, and more about the reflection. By the time the new millennium rolled around, the BaGua mirror had become a magical amulet for reflecting bad luck. So something that was not meant to have a religious significance in its original application, somehow, over the years, became religious.

Another reason why feng shui is seen as “religious” is the use of cures. You know, put a five-layer pagoda in the five yellow star and bye-bye problems.

Want to get rid of some bad qi? How about a crystal in your West corner?

The obsession with curing everything negative under the sun through trinkets has contributed substantially to the “religious flavour” that feng shui has acquired, especially since many of these objects are based on Buddhist or Taoism symbols.

These objects have nothing to do with collecting karma points or, at least, no significance in the Classical Feng Shui sense. Think about it – how can an object in itself change the course of your fortunes?

Over the years, quite a number of spiritual masters and part-time mediums have also doubled-up as feng shui masters, and so feng shui and religious practices as well as ghostbusting activities somehow became inter-related.

Sadly, this image of feng shui being synonymous with religious practices, as well as ghostbusting, still sticks in some people’s mind.

It is for a combination of these reasons that people think feng shui is related to Buddhism and Taoism or some form of Chinese religion or practice. It is not. It has its roots in the philosophy of Yin and Yang, which also happens to have some crossover with Taoism.

There is neither God nor spirits in feng shui, the natural environment. Many theories and practices relating to Chinese medicine, martial arts, health, religion and science overlap – almost all are premised on the backbone principles of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements.

So while the BaGua does have some application in Taoism, it is ALSO a mathematical model used to calculate and ascertain different types of energy patterns in feng shui.

THE FAITHFUL FACTS OF FENG SHUI

Feng shui is a science – it has a clear methodology based on the principles of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements and the use of direction to tap into qi, which is simply the natural energies found in the environment.

Feng shui has clear theory and basic principles, all documented in classical texts going back to the Tang Dynasty such as the Green Satchel Classics, Purple White Scripts, Entering Earth Eye and empirical evidence, outlined in various other classical texts.

Classical Feng Shui, as explained in all the ancient texts written from the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, does not contain any religious element, any reference to placing your faith in an object or symbol, and certainly doesn’t require you to chant anything or flash mirrors in people’s faces.

In Classical Feng Shui, the use of cures is highly restricted and always related to the Five Elements – Metal, Fire, Water, Earth and Wood. Most of the time, there’s nothing to put in the house and no special colours to paint.

In Classical Feng Shui, the best cure is using natural qi through alignment, changing directions or making use of strategic positioning of your house, office, room, bed, or desk.

Feng shui is about using space and land, making use of what is natural, what is readily available from your environment. It is up to you to think who make the energies: God, a higher being part of the natural universe, or whatever you are comfortable with.

The key point to note here is that feng shui is really just about making use of natural energy that already exists in the environment.

In this day and age, it is perhaps more relevant for people to see feng shui as technology (which is applied science) rather than a pure science. It affords a means in which to improve one’s quality of life, health, wealth and even relationships.

It is the science of ensuring that one’s home or office is located in an area with a living environment that supports one’s personal goals and endeavours.

I am not suggesting that people who are into crystals, space clearing, dousing or the “alternative” practices are in any way wrong or misguided. Or that it is wrong to believe or accept such practices. Rather, I want to make it clear that these practices are not what could be called Classical Feng Shui.

Similarly, if you are told that bringing feng shui in your life involves worshipping an inanimate object, placing your faith in a pile of trinkets or living your life in constant fear of shifting even a stick of furniture in your house lest you “upset the energies”, then this is not Classical Feng Shui as practised since the Tang Dynasty.

Classical Feng Shui involves using directions to tap into the prevailing qi of the environment, which stems from the Mountains and Rivers.

Classical Feng Shui always makes reference to the Time Factor, the Residents, the Directions and Location of the property. Practices that incorporate these elements along with spiritual rituals, chanting or object placement are not considered Classical Feng Shui.

Feng shui is culturally neutral, non-religious in nature and does not require you to compromise your principles or faith. Using feng shui is about benefiting yourself, helping yourself and making use of the natural energies that already exist in nature, not changing or compromising your beliefs in God. As long as we keep religion and feng shui separate, each can co-exist peacefully in our life.

For more information about Life Gua, visit www.joeyyap.com where you can make use of the Life Gua Calculator there.

Joey Yap is the founder, CEO and master trainer of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Call 2284-8080 or visit www.masteryacademy.com

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/19/focus/13408958&sec=focus

Article: "To DIY or not to DIY ..." by Joey Yap

To DIY or not to DIY ... Feng Shui

[FENG SHUI WITH JOEY YAP : TheSTAR Sun 12 Feb 2006]

THE Do-It-Yourself trend has become so popular these days that it has even extended to feng shui.

With a large number of books on the market designed to enable Do It Yourself feng shui, it is no surprise that many people decide to have a go themselves, before bringing in a professional.

I am in favour of DIY feng shui but to a modest and limited degree. After all, we have over-the-counter medicines but that doesn’t mean you can buy a book and do brain surgery on yourself.

It is the same with feng shui, where there is often the added danger of misinterpretation of theories, caused by the rush to simplify feng shui for popular consumption.

Nobody undertakes a DIY project unless it is simple enough actually to DIY. But the problem is, oversimplification sometimes results in literally doing the wrong thing.

As a writer of books on feng shui, I know it’s not easy to show people how to engage in DIY feng shui. The writer needs to provide as complete a picture as possible on the theory, without confusing the reader or making it complicated.

You’ve also got to absolutely make sure that it is applicable by everyone, not just those with a measure of feng shui knowledge, and that even if the reader makes a mistake or does something wrong, there is a minimal risk of negative implication. In other words, safety always comes first.

How NOT to Do It Yourself

A good example is a recent consultation I undertook for a businessman.

The gentleman in question was an avid feng shui enthusiast and quite well-read on the subject, but he had never really taken any formal classes in it.

Despite that, he was keen to “tinker” with his office feng shui and so when he moved into a new office, he decided to do the feng shui himself.

Upon visiting his office for the consultation, I immediately saw what the problem was. The office itself had been partitioned into a very strange shape, leaving many awkward angles. The desks were haphazardly positioned, making movement very difficult. Finally, the door was tilted to a very extreme angle. Very Picasso-inspired but, frankly, a feng shui disaster zone.

I informed the client that he was likely facing revenue problems, tension in the office, colleagues not getting on with each other, team in-fighting, office politics galore, projects at a standstill and senior staff leaving by the truckloads.

Quite simply, it was a case of the enthusiast having misinterpreted the basics of Eight Mansions Feng Shui.

The Big Picture

Feng shui is accessed and applied on two levels – internally and externally. The external environment influences about 70% of the feng shui of your property. The remaining 30% is a result of the internal feng shui in your property.

In feng shui, we are always concerned with determining what is in the environment that surrounds the property, such as mountains and rivers, before we concern ourselves with how the inside of the property is laid out.

My businessman client had the right approach when he used Eight Mansions Feng Shui to adjust the feng shui of his office. This is because Eight Mansions is a formula-based assessment method predominantly used for interior feng shui. For this reason, and because it is relatively simple to make use of, requiring practically minimal calculation, it is a popular system for DIY books on feng shui.

The Eight Mansions system of feng shui has two aspects – the Life Gua and the House Gua. Most people are familiar with the Life Gua aspect, which is used to derive the individual’s personal favourable and unfavourable directions.

However, they are usually not aware of the House Gua method, which is the actual method that should be used when evaluating the interior feng shui of a property. This is especially the case when the property is used by more than one person, as with an office.

When my businessman client undertook the feng shui of his office, as he was only familiar with the Life Gua method, naturally he tried to position all his staff’s desks according to their personal favourable directions. Hence, the desks at all sorts of angles and the door tilted in a peculiar manner.

This strange office layout and tilted door, instead of enhancing his office feng shui, did more harm than good.

Qi flow was disrupted and Sha Qi was created in the office rather than benevolent qi. The tilted door did not achieve the function and purpose of the Main Door, which is to tap and receive the qi from the environment. This is because a slanted or tilted door is like a slanted mouth on a person’s face. It is not possible to eat properly with a slanted mouth, similarly a tilted or slanted door doesn’t generally receive qi well from the environment.

The client also did not take into account the external environmental influence on his property, the forms, which are an extremely important factor in any feng shui evaluation and which easily account for at least 70% in terms of feng shui significance.

It would also have been far better in this case to ensure that the property itself was correctly positioned to receive positive qi from the external environment and then to use the internal locations within it to fine-tune the qi flow and ensure the organisational and business concerns were met.

Fixing the problem was not difficult. It was simply a matter of straightening the door, ensuring it was tapping the right direction based on the forms in the external environment and the House Gua.

The office layout, in terms of the location of certain key personnel and certain areas, was re-designed according to the House Gua of the property, the Flying Star chart, and then fine-tuned based on the Life Gua of certain key personnel, including the owner himself.

When it comes to Eight Mansions Feng Shui, it is important to recognise that the Life Gua method, which gives us individual favourable directions, is used for fine-tuning the interior feng shui.

At a macro level, it is the House Gua method, which gives us the energy map of the whole property, and the external environmental forms, which tell us what kind of qi there is in the area, that must be considered.

For more information about Life Gua, visit www.joeyyap.com where you can make use of the Life Gua Calculator there.

Joey Yap is the founder, CEO and master trainer of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Call 2284-8080 or visit www.masteryacademy.com

ps. original story at:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/5/focus/13306238&sec=focus