Funny lineage math

Disclaimer:  Ken Lai is neither a lineage-hugger nor a "no-lineage independent".  He is a "whatever works" opportunist regardless of the origin.

A common criticism of the lineage system is the practice of "keeping a hand" (留一手  liú yī shǒu; witholding some secrets) by the Sifu (teacher) from his disciples.  This practice is probably as popular if not more common today than ancient times.

In the old days, choosing an "indoor student" was like picking a life-long partner.  The master checked everything and especially the moral character of the potential student.  The student will serve the master  from cleaning his toilet to carry his luopan for many years before getting some "real knowledge".   Today, this type of fellowship is replaced by commodity economy -- paying a huge sum of money to the master.  There are cases of "guaranteed indoorship" without even looking at the incoming student provided US$5000 or more is paid.  It is like selling a franchise to the student who will in turn market the same thing as soon as he "graduates".  The master has more incentive to "keep a hand" to maintain his "upperhand"  because people are more materialistic than those in the old days.

Some critics frequently use a simple math formula to discredit the lineage system.  The logic is simple:  if every generation keeps 10% secrets from the next generation, a lineage will have nothing left after 10 to 12 generations.

This argument is mathematically and even logically sound.  It is an example of simplistic or deceptive reasoning using numbers.  It assumes:

1.  the lineage's knowledge-base does not grow over generations
2.  "keeping a hand" always happens, even between father and son situation
3.  the junior generation will always be satisfied with whatever craps that previous generation gave them
4.  the junior generation will not THINK and develop their own solution when critical info is witheld

If you do not believe my arguments, just look at how many different "varieties" of Flying Star Feng Shui out there--- at least 10+ with variations from funny ways of flying the stars, counting yang-yin, tai-ji, periods to mixing concepts with other schools.  Most come with their own re-interpretations of Feng Shui classics like the "Green Satchel Classic".   All claim to be "authentic". Same scenario with Bazhai Feng Shui.

Therefore, this "keeping a hand" practice actually simulates creativity and explorations instead of killing or diluting the lineage system.  People are always curious and trying to "figure out" if something are missing or witheld. Whether the end results are positive or negative will be another long discussion.  Everything comes in a package of both good and not so good.


Ken Lai


"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Practical Imperial Qi-men-Dun-Jia” w/ 10 hr. video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui & Blessing” v.2 w/ 24 hr video
"Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
"4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp” with 12 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com/
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com/

"Heaven's secrets: No transfer to the morally decrepit"

Yesterday, I accidentally opened a digitally-scanned version of my Feng Shui sifu's hand-written manuscript that I had received years ago but never read.  The document has less than 70 pages.

The first sentence of first page had this written: " XXXXXX School Yang Residence Concepts: HEAVEN'S SECRETS: NO TRANSFER TO THE MORALLY DECREPIT" (匪人勿傳  fěi rén wù chuá).

The manuscript lists the XXXXX School version of yin-yang, forms, tai-ji, XKDG, sha neuralizations, sha-fighting, luopan design, water methods and even date-selection with 30% space in diagrams --- all in less than 70 pages!  It even specifies which item is top lineage secret and warns about the indiscriminate transfer to the "wrong" people will cut short your blessings or even your life.

In the "Sha-fighting" section, the writer repeatedly warns that about the possible fatality if the sha-fighting is not done right.  The procedures and techniques are very different from those you found in books  or most of the existing courses out there.  My suggestion is:  do not fight sha unless your life is absolutely worthless.  Your life worths more than the possible wealth that sha-fighting generates.

The crown jewel of this school probably is how to convert an inauspicious region into auspicious.  The writer specifically warns, "do not publicize this; only teach to your indoor student ......"

How do you know these so-called "lineage secrets" are for real?

The first thing is to observe your Sifu or teacher-- is s/he a righteous or honorable person?   Does s/he do what s/he preaches? How s/he treats people gives you a general idea of how credible s/he is.  But this has no guarantee either if s/he is a charismatic person.

A real secret is like a lighting rod that suddenly illuminates everything-- something that make you yell "Ah!" Suddenly everything makes sense after you have "plugged" in the secret.

A not-so-real secret will complicate your mind even more instead of simplifying it.  Real secrets normally are simple and eloquent.

Most contents of this hand-written manuscript were published in books except the critical components or "lineage secrets" are missing.  It costs an arm and leg to become an "indoor student" to get the "real thing".

"How about share your lineage secrets here?"

Good try! Pal.  My old teacher still needs to make a living out of it.  He has not given me any dead-bed instructions yet. 

The implication is: if any Feng Shui guy or teacher promises making you a millionaire/billionaire without looking at your 4P or astrological chart, you may be better off donate your tuition to charity and collect some positive karma points.   Your meng or fate has more influences on your well-being than Feng Shui.


Ken Lai

"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Practical Imperial Qi-men-Dun-Jia" w/ 10 hr. video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui & Blessing" v.2 w/ 24 hr video
"Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
"4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com/
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com/

Extreme real estate marketing with numerology

At US$9100 per sq. ft., Hong Kong's Tian-hui Skyscraper (天匯) is the most expensive real estate in the world.

The building is 40 storeys high-- but it has an 88th floor at the highest level! What is going on?

In western societies, the number 13 is considered inauspicious, so some builders have deliberately "skipped" the 13th floor for their buildings. Donald Trump's Trump Tower has done that. For the Chinese, the number 4 sounds like "death", so some buidings will have no 4th, 14th, 40th and 44th floors.

If you go to any China-town, you will see many cars with license plates like "888", "168", "118" and the likes. Properties with "8" number can also be sold at higher prices. Chinese like the number 8 because it sounds like "prosperity" or "getting rich".

Tian-hui Skyscaper is 40 storeys high with 34 residential floors. The followings are the floor number assignments:
*1- 6th floor (commercial/parking)
*8 - 12th floor (5 floors): no 13 and 14th
*15- 23rd floor (9 floors): no 24th
*25- 33rd floor (9 floors): no 34th
*35- 39th floor (9 floors): no 40- 59th
*60- 61 floor (2 floor): no 62nd
*63rd floor (no 64-65th)
*66th floor (no 67th)
*68th floor (no 69-87, jumps to 88th)
*88th floor

This is the most blatant and haphazard floor numbering to attract buyers in history.

Some local consumer groups complain that the real estate developer misleads the public on the numbering of the floors for financial gains. Local politicans criticize the Hong Kong government of failing to regulate the industry. The "4th Uncle", nickname of the developer, said, "Buyers are delighted with the floor numbers!"

Whoever can afford US$9100 per sq. ft. or US$56M for a 6200 sq. ft. unit in the building should not be too stupid.

Incidentially, the height of the building is 152 meters. "152" sounds like "not easy to maintain the #1 position" in the local Cantonese dialect. In terms of Feng Shui, 5-2 combination means disaster and major sickness or even death! Fortunately the "1" mitigates the negative effects of 5-2 a little bit.

Ken Lai

"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Practical Imperial Qi-men-Dun-Jia" w/ 10 hr. video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui & Blessing" v.2 w/ 24 hr video
"Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
"4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com

3-Penalties dates

Xu month  starts and runs till Nov. 16.  Chou year (2009) and xu month already form "semi-3-penalties".  When it runs into a wei day, the day becomes a "year-breaker" day plus "3-penalties" day-- not suitable to make major decision or traveling (susceptible to traffic accident).

The following days are ram days, clashing ox and forming a  "3-penalties day" with xu month--  10/29 (ding-wei day) and 11/10 (ji-wei day).   You better stay home and avoid traveling or doing anything important or making major decision.

The chou-xu-wei combination is especially inauspicious for people with ram, ox and dog animal sign.  Even if you do not have these animal signs, but your spouse palace (day branch) has a wei (ram), chou (ox) or xu (dog), you should be extra careful during this month too.  It is not too late to get the Immortal Lu safe-driving metal talisman or at least you put a protection symbol of your favorite deity or religion into your car.



Ken Lai

"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG)w/ 12 hr. video
"Practical Imperial Qi-men-Dun-Jia" w/ 10 hr. video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui & Blessing" v.2 w/ 24 hr video
"Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
"4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com

Feng Shui and 4P

I have run into a case of a ding-fire day-master (DM) with heart problem. But the client does not know her birth hour. Her current 10-year-luck has just entered into strong water formation. Heart problem normally involves ding-fire.

So naturally I would think she is a weak DM, but plugging in all 12 possible Chinese hours into her chart.  However, only one hour will make her DM strong, all the rest will be weak-- 1/12 chance.

I need to find more evidence to prove that she indeed is a strong DM.

How? By asking questions on personality, family relationship and personal preferences. Questions like:
-- who makes more decisions-- you or your spouse?
-- your spouse beats you up or you beat up your spouse?
-- what colors do you like?
-- do you take your time to do things?
........

The answers I got match to that of a strong DM. So what I can deduce is that even if water is favorable to a strong Ding day-master, but too much of a good thing still screws her heart up. It is all about yin-yang balance. She is over 70 years old.

Amazingly, I checked the Feng Shui of her house--- her bedroom is in NE with 5-9 star (causing heart, blood or eye problems) and annual 2-sickness star is at her main door. In terms of 8-mansions Feng Shui, her room is in "disaster" palace.

This is another case of 4P and Feng Shui synchonize to each other. I've used techniques from my Destiny Management courses plus Feng Shui cures for this case. Here are the cures used:

-- certain plants
-- coins
-- white crystal
-- removing certain items from her house

Ain't they green and natural?


Ken Lai

"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG)w/ 12 hr. video
"Practical Imperial Qi-men-Dun-Jia" w/ 10 hr. video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui & Blessing" v.2 w/ 24 hr video
"Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
"4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com

Translations of 4P or Bazi terms

There are no commonly agreed translations of 4P terms. Different schools or teachers translate 4P terms according to his/her personal preferences. There are three major rules used in translations:

1. Literal translations: This simply gives a faithful and very often, horrible (in terms of culture shock) translations of the terms. For examples, “shi-shen” is translated as “eating god”, “qi-sha” becomes “7-killings”, “shang-guan” becomes “hurting officials or officers” and the likes. Problem with literal translations is that it may biase students’perception towards certain terms as “bad” because it sounds horrible. In reality, every one of the “10 gods” or ‘transformation stars” (my terminology) can be positive or negative depending on the composition of the 4P chart. Another common misconception is the ubiquitious uses of the term "god" in 4P, like "useful god" (yong shen), "enmity god" (chou shen) and the like, making 4P sound "religious" when it is actually more statistical in nature.

2. Pin-yin translations: This gives a transliteration of the 4P terms like “shi-shen”, “zheng-guan” and etc. It takes some time to get used to these foreign terms. But it is great when you go back to the original Chinese texts or switching teachers/school.

3. Translation based on interpreted meanings: This translates the 4P terms based on the understanding of the translator. For example, shi-shen and shang-guan are translated as “output” stars. But different people have different understanding of the terms, so the translations can sometimes be confusing and shocking as well. Good translations under this should be “value-free” or NOT “value-laden”. It should also give meanings that are faitful or close to the original meanings of the terms. The translated terms should not influence the perception of the readers and students.

4. Mixing of all of the above

The following examples are the common translations of 4P's "10 gods" or "transformation stars":

4P TERMS: 10 GODS OR TRANSFORMATION STARS TRANSLATIONS
Jie-cai 劫财
Ken: JC, +peer ("+" stands for polarity "yang")
Others: rob wealth, competitor, unfriendly parallel, contender-star, unfriendly partner

Bi-jian 比肩 
Ken: BJ, -peer ("-" stands for polarity "yin")
Others: friend, collegue, unfriendly parallel, friend-star, friendly buddy,

Pian-cai偏财
Ken: PC, –wealth
Others: indirect wealth, wealth, unbecoming wealth, unexpected wealth, unexpected property, windfall star, godsend wealth, unexpected possession

Zheng-yin正印 
Ken: ZY, +resource
Others: direct resource, resource/education, proper resource, main funds, proper care, mother-star, willingly nourished

Pian-yin 偏印 
Ken: PY, –resource
Others: indirect resource, resource/education, unbecoming resource, unexpected funds, unbecoming care, guardian star, unwillingly nourished

Shang-guan伤官
Ken: SG, +output
Others: hurting officer, intelligence/aspirations, drastic ouput, actor-star, offending-star, harsh output

Shi-shen食神 
Ken: SS, –output
Others: eating god, intelligence/aspirations, gracious output, artist-star, food-star, emotional IQ

Zheng-guan正官 
Ken: ZG, +power
Others: direct officer, power/status, proper power, discipline, angel star, the obedience

Qi-sha七杀 
Ken: QS, –power
Others: 7-killings, power/status, unbecoming power, unbecoming discipline, evil star, the stern

My personal bias is trying to make the translated terms as neutral as possible, so as not influencing the reader's perception. Each of these 10 "stars" or "gods" can be positive or negative depending on the combination of the natal chart and luck periods.

I do not mean other translations are not as "good" or "horrible" as mine. Translations reflect the worldviews, command of the Chinese language and mental conditions of the translators.


Ken Lai

"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Practical Imperial Qi-men-Dun-Jia" w/ 10 hr. video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui & Blessing" v.2 w/ 24 hr video
"Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
"4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com

Eye problems and 4-Pillars

A friend told me that he has an eye surgery. Recently I also have problem with my right eye-- a big floating particle blurs my vision from time to time.

This friend encourages me to see an eye doctor ASAP. So I called an eye doctor for an appointment. But I can't get in until 4 weeks later. The doctor is very busy!

  

Someone has canceled his appointment and I took over this morning. The doctor went through the normal examination like dilating my pupil, checking the cornea and retina... etc. Dr. M found the "floater" inside my eye.

Dr. M is around 60 years old and pretty friendly and casual.

Dr. M found the "floater" inside my eye. Floater is the falling debris inside one's eye due to the aging of eye tissues.

"You did nothing to create that floater problem. It is simply that you are OLD! Older people have problem like this" The doctor said.

Doctor M is darn honest. This hurts more than me being the culprit!

"Is there any medication to fix this floater problem?"

"No."

"Do I need any surgery to get rid of it?"

"Surgery is normally not needed, unless the floater bothers you. It normally disintegrates after a month or two." The doctor replied.

"I'm into astrology. Do you have more patients this year than the average?" I asked the doctor because I suspect there is correlation between a strong earth year (2009) and eye problems.

"I don't know. I just keep working everyday in the last few weeks." Doctor M replied. Age must catches up with her too.

"So you think astrology has something to do with eye problems?" She curiously asked.

"Yes, I think strong earth energy cause more eye problems."

 Well, to keep the story short, Dr. M said that I do not need to see her again unless something happen to my eyes and gave me some free eye-drops sample.

 In terms of 4P, current year ji-chou (earth-ox) is a strong earth year and my own chart has a pair of earth (stem and branch) and fire. The strong earth drains my fire. Fire stands for eyes and heart. So I think if one's chart has weak fire and strong earth and annual luck brings in more earth, one's eyes may have problem.

 If a chart has a lot of earth already, the likely health issues will be digestive system and skin for 2009.


Ken Lai

"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG)w/ 12 hr. video
"Practical Imperial Qi-men-Dun-Jia" w/ 10 hr. video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui & Blessing" v.2 w/ 24 hr video
"Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
"4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com