Master Szeto using a hammer and a kitchen knife to remove sins from the man. The man will have to bathe himself for 7 days using flowers supplied by Master Szeto to seal up his body with the good luck injected in the ceremony.
About 100 men and women bought the service that took the master 6 minutes for each client and a total of about 10 hours to finish. The luck of both the master and the clients changed immeidately of course, the former $880,000 richer and the latter $8,800 each poorer.
JY
13 comments:
太平山下老襯多！
Master Szeto has to work very hard and very fast and charge a lot, because it is not easy to keep 4 wives and 4 families happy and feed:
http://www.xkb.com.cn/html/xinwen/yule/2010/0207/42116.html
Dear Joseph,
Only Time as Heaven rules will tell us how this case will mark your legacy. Don't be discouraged.
You have dedicated your life's work presenting Feng Shui in a logical and scientific format to help the people know what is a scam in hopes they would no longer be robbed by those who seek greed and fame rather than truth.
I often think of you as the Carl Jung of Feng Shui. In the early days when psychology was established as a science, Carl Jung risked his reputation when he chose to break away from Freud's lineage. He was ridiculed, felt isolated yet, in the end who is more revered? Whose theories did more for healing the human soul?
As far as Mr. Szeto goes, when you offend Heaven who can turn you to?
Mary
www.marybax.com
What goes around comes around..........we all get what we deserve in the end.
Well, people get what they deserve :o) If they are wise - they get genuine feng shui advice and meet knowledgeable teacher. They understand that changing a life is no magic or superstition, it is hard work and making decisions.
If people are in a very low spiritual level - some magic is enough for them - they needn't do anything. They don't improve their life.
Guess who will be happier and get more satisfaction in the end?
Hi Joseph, all,
He should have charged 8888 HK$, then it would have been even more lucky for everyone :-)
I remember we had an interesting exchange about this same question a few years ago. Practice or malpractice?
Back then you were arguing that feng shui masters can charge anything they want for their products or "services", even if it is only a placebo effect.
Quoting:
---
"The way people do business is of no interest to me. I have no right to allow or disallow people selling objects loosely related to feng shui at a reasonable profit or 1000% profit." EOQ
---
The entire exchange is here:
http://fsrcenter.blogspot.com/2007/09/q-and-about-feng-shui-2.html
***
As for this case, Mr Sveto is clearly working in the role of a priest here.
Let's consider a few things:
1) In most countries it is still allowed to be active in more than one profession, so there would be no good reason for him not to continue his "work" right after the NW case.
2) Religious rituals always look stupid for those who don't believe in said religion.
In Belgium some people go to church to have their newborn babies baptized. The priest throws some water over the baby's head and says some words in Latin. Next charges his fee for the "service" and you can go home.
It doesn't look any less stupid and is not really much different from what Mr. Sveto is offering to his clients here.
3) We have to consider that
religious freedom is still one of the human rights (article 18).
Priests can perform rituals and charge their fees for it.
***
Last year I visited a Bulgarian monastery as a tourist.
In a corner of the place we saw the head priest spraying his holy water over an expensive luxury car, next the bonnet was opened and he blessed the motor of the car.
Then the owner of the car was seen forking out several $100 for the "service".
It only took the priest a few minutes.
I asked a neighbor about it, and this seems to be a common practice in Bulgaria. The more you pay the longer the car will last, and of course no accidents.
You can find this kind of things all over the world.
Danny
In my opinion what counts are the results of Mr. Szetos technique. As long as it brings a positive effect to the people who go for it it is just fine I think.
Placing a calabash for enhancing health also looks funny for most people who don´t know about Feng Shui.
Antje
大道 is for 君子，左道 is for 小人, unless there are only 君子 in this world, there will always be people like Szeto.
We can be as righteous as we like, but that is a fact of life.
Aim to be a 君子 and walk the 大道, let the 小人 walk their 小道.
君子 or 小人 is still 人. 大道 or 小道 is still 道.
That is life, let it be 仁.
Hi Howard, Annie, all,
The problem is not in people like Mr Szero. He is only a kind of symptom.
The cause of the problem is in people being too gullible.
People are too gullible, always looking for some "master" figure in which they can put their trust and will hopefully lead them to paradise...
And of course that guarantees them to find hell, because man is not made to be led like a mule, man is meant to carve out his own way.
So, why are many people so gullible, and thus easy prey for the "services" of Mr Szeto and co?
Why don't they see that they are being fooled and exploited?
It is mainly because of culture and education.
As long as children are being told (and forced) not to argue or disagree with elders, just obey the parents and the teachers..., then their critical thinking remains underdeveloped.
And then you have a docile population who is always looking for a leader, a teacher or a priest, a population that is always ready to "follow" something or somebody.
And that somebody can be any Mr Szeto.
Some people go on walking from one Mr Szeto to the next.
Till one day their skepticism wakes up. They discover the value of the proverbial grain of salt. And then they can finally become their own student.
Danny
Hi Danny,
It is good to teach our children to think for themselves, I hope we can also teach them that there is a subtle difference between critical thinking and being critical all the time.
Critical thinking: The purposeful and reflective judgement about what to believe or what to do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions....
Being critical: Inclined to find fault or criticize; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting....
The former is an inward process while the latter is an outward one, a child being critical and argumentative with elders, parents and the teachers all the time, do not necessarily equate to using critical thinking, it could show a need to be rebellious just for rebellious sake - a sure sign of an adolescent growing up.
A grown-up critical thinker will not follow Mr. Szeto, nor will disrespect his or her elders, because age and experience are valuable assets for a mature thinker. They prevent an adolescent from being too subjective and too self-righteous.
fsa
Hi Danny, all,
I don't believe it is a matter of people being gullible rather than lazy. We are in the era of instant gratification with the sense of entitlement.
It is the quick fix people are seeking when they pay someone like Master Szeto.
As Malgorzata mentions, there is no substitute for the hard work required to know who we are and what is our purpose in this life. It cannot be bought.
The service we can offer as those who study Feng Shui and Astrology is to give advice based on the time and space a person is in.
We'll never be able to take away a person's struggles. They may be just what they need at the time.
Again as Malgorata said, hopefully, we can create an environment to give them the support they need to take the right action with the right conduct at the right time.
Mary
www.marybax.com
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