Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Cultivating Virtue

The conclusion of Tian Yu Jing 天玉經 emphasizes on virtue:

若還求地不種德   穩口深藏舌

If people only want fortunate site ignoring cultivating virtue, then keep your mouth tight with your tongue well hidden.

This refers to selection of virtuous clients but more importantly virtuous disciples.

I have seen people using Feng Shui with an intention to capture fame and fortune from neighbours. I have also seen master and disciple bitterly and openly attacking each other and the cause is also fame and fortune. If these people really possess good Feng Shui knowledge, they would have been enjoying all the benefits of good Feng Shui. Action speaks louder than words. No matter what the wild claims may be, their action brutally tears the mask off to show the true colours.

JY

7 comments:

Jodi Brunner said...

Hi Joseph I spent today with clients who were arguing and fighting in front of me the whole time. They have a (wang shan wang shui) P5 house, so the ws5 at the front door was causing them to be less than virtuous. Let's see whether they can be helped by blocking off the front door!

Howard Choy said...

Hi Joseph,

There is no need to post my reply in public with this one, but reading the part of the Tian Yu Jing prior to the quote you have given;

世人不知天機秘,洩破有何益,汝今傳得地中仙,玄空妙難言,翻天倒地更玄玄,大卦不易傳。更有收山出煞訣,亦兼為汝說。相逢大地能幾人,個個是知心,若還求地不種德,穩口深藏舌。

IMHO, it is not really about "cultivating virtual" [sic] in one's action, but more about keeping the "Tianji" (the working of Heaven) hidden from those who don't deserve the knowledge. We do get a sense of this because the author asked in an earlier paragraph,"洩破有何益?" - What good is to let out (the secret)?

You might not agree with my comment, please send your reply to my private email box, to avoid the impression that we are openly attacking each other:

fengshuiarchitect@googlemail.com

Much appreciated.

Howard Choy

Howard Choy said...

Hi Joseph,

Looks like you don’t mind an open discussion and I hope your students here don’t think we are openly fighting each other. For me it is an opportunity to know how each other thinks.

Tian Yu Jing was passed down to us by way of Jiang Da-Hong and he was well known for wanting to keep secrets, below is the way I would translate the earlier passage leading to your original quote:

世人不知天機秘,洩破有何益,汝今傳得地中仙,玄空妙難言,翻天倒地更玄玄,大卦不易傳。更有收山出煞訣,亦兼為汝說。相逢大地能幾人,個個是知心,若還求地不種德,穩口深藏舌。

"The people of the world don’t know the working of Heaven, what benefit is to let it leak out? You now have received (the teaching of) the Earth Immortal (ie. Feng Shui Expert), the wonderful Xuan Kong is difficult to express, the more (you) turned it over (ie. study) the more mysterious it seems, (for) the Da Gua is not easy to transmit. There is also the formula of “Receiving Mountain and Giving-out Sha” which is not easy for you to explain as well. There are not many you can often meet, that knows your heart, as if one can still seek the Earth (ie. Feng Shui knowledge) without cultivating virtue, (it is best to) keep (your) mouth tight with (your) tongue well hidden."

As I said earlier, the way I understood it is more about hiding the true knowledge of Xuan Kong from the unworthy, than about cultivating virtue (not “virual” BTW), although it is mentioned.

No offense is intended.

HC

Joseph Yu said...

Hi Howard,

求地不種德 is to describe a situation metaphorically. 求地 - seeking land. This apparently points at people who just want to get the benefit of good Feng Shui from a piece of land that is the dragon's qi node (long xue 龍穴). 種德 - planting virtue. This considers virtue similar to a plant that can grow on land. It means living a virtuous life.

求地不種德 - request to enjoy good Feng Shui but at the same time following an immoral life.

Well, this points at people who don't deserve to enjoy good Feng Shui. It also points at people who don't deserve the knowledge.

In the end, if you want to acquire Feng Shui knowledge (Heaven's mysterious mechanism 天機 - 天之玄機), you have to be virtuous. Isn't it about the importance of cultivating virtue?

JY

Howard Choy said...

Hi Joseph,

Reading the whole article and not in parts, the gist of what Jiang Da-Hong was saying is to hold secret against those he considered not virtuous. You did not mentioned holding secrets at all but only cultivating virtue, that was the missing half I tried to point out.

In a way, by holding secrets Jiang was not cultivating virtue at all, he created a lot of confusions and misinformation instead, right down to our time.

HC

Joseph Yu said...

Hi Howard,

Tian Yu Jing 天玉經 was written by Yang Yun Song 楊筠松 and not Jiang Da Hong 蔣大鴻. It was written in the form of teaching notes given to his disciple, probably Zeng Wen Chan 曾文辿.

世人不知天機秘,洩破有何益 - People in this world do not know the secret of Heaven's mechanism. What benefit does it yield to leak it out?

This is a warning to his disciple that Heaven's mechanism should not be casually disclosed. He was telling his disciple be careful to leak this secret only to trustworthy people. Who are considered trustworthy? - those who are proven virtuous.

JY

Howard Choy said...

Hi Joseph,

I am glad that you now mention about keeping secrets and only pass them down to those who are considered trustworthy.

The trouble is, only those who are disciples were considered trustworthy, so how can we ever learn the secrets just by reading books? That is why we ended up with six Xuan Kong schools in the late Qing period and endless in-fighting between one school with another.

I did mentioned "Tian Yu Jing was passed down to us by way of Jiang Da-Hong", whether it was written by Yang Yun-Song or not is debatable, but thai is another story.

HC