Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The illness of men

When I was young (in the twenties), due to success in studies and writing books, I was very proud of my achievement and the ability to understand things I wanted to learn. When I studied ancient books on Chinese Metaphysics, I thought that I knew much more than all those who had been practicing for 30 years. In a way it was true. But when I continued to study, I was alarmed at the fact that I actually knew very little.

Today, I see my shadow in some talented young men who are teaching Chinese Metaphysics in the west. It was lucky that I did not teach until my master allowed me to - 10 years after his death. Why? Otherwise I would have passed on a lot of immature materials that could be harmful and created bad karma.

There is a famous Chinese saying (maybe from Confucius): The illness of men is that they love to be teachers of others (人之患在好為人師). This is the origin of the term : The illness of men (人之患) to represent "teachers".

Therefore, I demand my students to teach only after they have practiced for at least 2-5 years depending on the amount and quality of the cases. It is not practical to demand that my students teach 10 years after I die!

Today, there are a lot of people who start teaching after attending a weekend course. There are people who, after taking a few lessons, claim to have mastered the entire true teaching passed down from Yang Jun Song 楊筠松 (honoured as Yang Gong 楊公). 


Beware! 

People today use a lot of cooked up stories to tell how effective their practice (with no theoretical background to support) is. When the practice brings misfortune, they would say that without the practice, it would have been much
greater disaster. The practice actually saved peoples' lives so that they are only hurt, not dead.

An incompetent doctor can kill a patient. An incompetent feng shui practitioner can bring misfortune to a family. What can an incompetent feng shui teacher bring?



JY

5 comments:

love-gratitude-blessings.blogspot.com said...

Dear Shifu,
I agree with you say... the more I study Metaphysics, the more I feel that I do not know... I have yet to start teaching... Anyone who asks me to teach... I ask them to read your book... Idiots Guide to Feng Shui...

Elizabeth Teberio said...

Thank you for sharing this insight. Too often I have encountered individuals who claim to be experts or masters and do not comprehend the depth of their actions.

bmgeiqa65 said...

ya, people like us who cannot distinguish the real & the phoney ends up paying and learning garbage.

pay for services yet receive no result. My girl friend too pay for service, receive no result yet was molested. Its so sad, Fengshui world has become corupted.

sriguru said...

dear master,
what you told is correct. till now i feel i have not practised enough, to be considered my self as a practitioner.
sreevatsan

sriguru said...

dear master,
what you told is correct. till now i feel i have not practised enough to consider my self as a fengshui practitioner..
regards