Reading with one's brain and not one's eyes is the number 1 rule everyone must observe. The sad thing about Feng Shui education is the bad habit of "authors" copying mistakes from other books ruining the entire industry.
One such example is the teaching of timeliness of the nine stars in the San Yuan Jiu Yun system.
The first book that talked about this topic could have something like this:
If today we are in the 8th Yun 八運 of the Lower Yuan 下元, then the ruling star (Ling Xing 令星) is #8 White Star Zuo Fu 八白左輔. #9 Purple Star You Bi 九紫右弼 is the next ruling star while #1 White Star Tan Lang 一白貪狼 is the distant future ruling star. These three stars are timely. The current ruling star is Wang Qi 旺氣, the other two are Sheng Qi 生氣。
#7 and #6 are considered Weakening Qi 衰氣, #5 and #4 are Dead Qi 死氣 while #3 and #2 have been dead for a long time and are considered Sha Qi 煞氣.
So far, so good. Names, perhaps suggestive, do not really matter if the proper understanding is taken care of.
What is detrimental is the following "rule":
Stars have characters, some good, some bad. No star is perfect. When a star is timely, it exhibits its good nature and brings fortunate things to people. When a star is untimely, it exhibits its bad nature and brings misfortune to people.
Then a table describing the good and bad natures of the stars is given. Practicing Feng Shui becomes routine work following instructions to "activate" the timely stars and "cure" the untimely stars. This has the beautiful Xuan Kong Fei Xing Feng Shui 玄空飛星風水 degenerated to the lowest form.
To make the practice a little more complicated, the so called 81 combinations of stars are tabulated with the expectation of the star combinations explained and "cures" recommended.
Thus, stars are compared with fresh apples and rotten apples with the former giving nourishment to people and the latter poisoning people by the "dead qi".
Well, comparing stars with apples is not much better than comparing apples with oranges. The ancients, however, have already given sufficient suggestion of making a valid comparison. The term Ling Xing 令星 implies that the ruling star is timely and in power 當時得令. He is like the prime minister heading a government on behalf of the emperor. The other two timely stars become his assistance and learning how to rule and give orders to other stars. The untimely stars can be looked upon as officers not on duty. Does it make sense to you that officers off duty all become bad guys bringing people misfortune?
It is really unfortunate that such false ideas have been spread because of "authors" copying the mistakes from other "authors".
No wonder there are "masters" openly denouncing the Fei Xing system. The reason is simple: I have been trying hard to convince the frog in the well the sea is much larger than the well. I have also been trying hard to tell summer insects that water will form ice in winter. All such efforts are in vain.
It takes a lot of courage to write this article. Well, I remember the teaching of the ancient saints: 自反而不縮, 雖千萬人，吾往矣!
One such example is the teaching of timeliness of the nine stars in the San Yuan Jiu Yun system.
The first book that talked about this topic could have something like this:
If today we are in the 8th Yun 八運 of the Lower Yuan 下元, then the ruling star (Ling Xing 令星) is #8 White Star Zuo Fu 八白左輔. #9 Purple Star You Bi 九紫右弼 is the next ruling star while #1 White Star Tan Lang 一白貪狼 is the distant future ruling star. These three stars are timely. The current ruling star is Wang Qi 旺氣, the other two are Sheng Qi 生氣。
#7 and #6 are considered Weakening Qi 衰氣, #5 and #4 are Dead Qi 死氣 while #3 and #2 have been dead for a long time and are considered Sha Qi 煞氣.
So far, so good. Names, perhaps suggestive, do not really matter if the proper understanding is taken care of.
What is detrimental is the following "rule":
Stars have characters, some good, some bad. No star is perfect. When a star is timely, it exhibits its good nature and brings fortunate things to people. When a star is untimely, it exhibits its bad nature and brings misfortune to people.
Then a table describing the good and bad natures of the stars is given. Practicing Feng Shui becomes routine work following instructions to "activate" the timely stars and "cure" the untimely stars. This has the beautiful Xuan Kong Fei Xing Feng Shui 玄空飛星風水 degenerated to the lowest form.
To make the practice a little more complicated, the so called 81 combinations of stars are tabulated with the expectation of the star combinations explained and "cures" recommended.
Thus, stars are compared with fresh apples and rotten apples with the former giving nourishment to people and the latter poisoning people by the "dead qi".
Well, comparing stars with apples is not much better than comparing apples with oranges. The ancients, however, have already given sufficient suggestion of making a valid comparison. The term Ling Xing 令星 implies that the ruling star is timely and in power 當時得令. He is like the prime minister heading a government on behalf of the emperor. The other two timely stars become his assistance and learning how to rule and give orders to other stars. The untimely stars can be looked upon as officers not on duty. Does it make sense to you that officers off duty all become bad guys bringing people misfortune?
It is really unfortunate that such false ideas have been spread because of "authors" copying the mistakes from other "authors".
No wonder there are "masters" openly denouncing the Fei Xing system. The reason is simple: I have been trying hard to convince the frog in the well the sea is much larger than the well. I have also been trying hard to tell summer insects that water will form ice in winter. All such efforts are in vain.
It takes a lot of courage to write this article. Well, I remember the teaching of the ancient saints: 自反而不縮, 雖千萬人，吾往矣!
2 comments:
Hi Joseph,
I posted this in the chatroom "Feng Shui Coneecting People" already but I thought I repost here for your comments:
“The untimely stars can be looked upon as officers not on duty. Does it make sense to you that officers off duty all become bad guys bringing people misfortune?
It is really unfortunate that such false ideas have been spread because of "authors" copying the mistakes from other "authors".” - Joseph Yu Thinking Aloud
It is always refreshing to read some of the creative thoughts in Joseph’s Thinking Aloud.
The so-called “Bible” for Xuan Kong Flying Star, “The Xuan Kong Purple-White Rhymed Formula” (Xuan Kong Zi Bai Jue) must be one of these “copying mistakes” because the first two lines implied 得運者吉、失運者凶 － “when a star is timely it becomes auspicious and when a star is out of time it becomes harmful.” . 總以氣運為之權衡，而吉凶隨之變化。It always use the Qi of the cycle of time as the controlling standard, to track the changes in the Ji (auspicious) and the Xiong (harmfulness) .
《玄空紫白訣》
紫白飛宮，辨生旺退煞之用，三元分運，判盛衰興廢之。
生旺宜與，運未來而仍替。退煞當廢，運方交而尚榮。總以氣運為之權衡，而吉凶隨之變化。
The “Zi Bai Jue” clearly contradicts what Joseph says － officers off duty can become bad guys bringing people misfortune.
This highly respected book may not be wrongly copied after all, if we think more about it using Joseph’s analogy of good and bad officers on and off duty again. Can you imagine that there are only good and no bad guys? There is only good fortunes and no bad fortunes, what an idealistic world it could be! But is our world really like this?
In my humble opinion, the so-called detrimental "rule" according to Joseph: “Stars have characters, some good, some bad. No star is perfect. When a star is timely, it exhibits its good nature and brings fortunate things to people. When a star is untimely, it exhibits its bad nature and brings misfortune to people” is not detrimental at all, it simply reflected the Yin/Yang nature of our world.
If the untimely stars are also auspicious (Ji), what is the point of having timely star in the first place then?
Contrary to Joseph, I think the degeneration of Xuan Kong Flying Star is not in the “rule(s)”, it is in the way we only look at the stars and not at the people concerned and the environment surrounding us to resonate with the stars.
But it is just my opinion about timeliness of the stars, which can be confusing for some because there is timeliness for the time stars and there is also timeliness for the sitting and facing stars and they are ”calculated” differently, at least that was what I have learned from one of my teachers. I still remember sitting in his tiny room in Hong Kong, while listening to him patiently explaining to me Master Shen’s commentary on the “Zi Bai Jue” in the book “Shen Shi Xuan Kong Xue”. Ahh… I missed him!
Dear Howard,
I like your point, and I find it inspiring to think again every statement or association we made. However, the mentioned reference to Xuan Kong Zi Bai Jue can be easily misinterpreted by those who did not read the quoted classic. The first two lines from the book:
紫白飛宮，辨生旺退煞之用，三元分運，判盛衰興廢之時。
生旺宜與，運未來而仍替。 退煞當廢，運方交而尚榮，總以氣運為之君，而吉凶隨之變化。
It actually tells: it is the waxing and waning of qi that the periods of San Yuan discern (三元分運，判盛衰興廢之。). Auspiciousness and inauspiciousness also varies according to the periods (吉凶隨之變化), but it is not the same as concluding that 'timely = auspicious' and 'untimely = inauspicious'.
Expression 得運者吉、失運者凶, in such form, does not occur in this classic at all.
Moreover, Xuan Kong Zi Bai Jue offers techniques, application methods that differ from the conventional Xuan Kong Fei Xing, sometimes even challenge each other. The expression 運 Yun in the book does not necessarily refer to the San Yuan 20-year periods, it can also mean ‘Luoshu Period’ or ‘Hetu Period’ (以圖運參書、書運參圖、此法之變也。), as introduced in later parts of the book.
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