2012 Grand Duke Talismans Charity Drive

This post is based on last year's Grand Duke Talisman charity drive post with some additions and new twists.

If you have just read my previous message about functions of Grand Duke, you know that there are two Grand Dukes watching over your shoulder and counting the good and bad deeds that you have done and execute rewards and misfortunes accordingly. This is a major rationale that donation to get your Grand Duke talisman.  When your talisman is grounded with a charity deed, GD is less likely to execute any misfortunes due from your karma account.

2012 GRAND DUKE GENERAL PENG TAI
2012 is Ren-Chen or year of water-dragon. Grand Duke for the year is General Peng Tai who was born in 13th century during the Ming Dynasty. Peng was intelligent and smart since childhood.  In 1394, he had passed the Imperial Examination and become a high level official.  Yet he still lived an average and frugal life like ordinary citizens and was keen at improving government services for the public.

Before passing the Imperial Examination, Peng was engaged to a poor village girl.  After becoming a government official, Peng's family thought that his fiancee's social status was not compatible with his newfound status.  They also thought she was physically unattractive to be the wife of an official and wanted to cancel the engagement.

When General Peng heard his family's intention, he had strongly opposed the idea and married the original poor girl anyway. The couple lived a happy and loving life together.  Therefore, people who have problem getting married due to physical characteristics and/or financial situations may get the sympathetic ears and help of General Peng this year.

2012  "EXTRA-STRENGTH" GRAND DUKE TALISMAN

With all the end of the world predictions about 2012, I have prepared an "extra strength" Grand Duke Talisman for you.  It is 30% bigger in size.  It invokes protection, blessings and treasures from Buddha, Lord of Sun, Moon, North Dipper, South Dipper, Thunder, Grand Duke and two Celestial armies.  It may make the end of the world impossible (I guarantee it or your money back!)

Here are the four groups of people who need Grand Duke Talismans:

1. "Fu-yin" or same animal sign of Grand Duke-- people with DRAGON sign (also "xing" or penalizing GD)

BIRTH YEARS: 1928, 1932, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000

SYMPTOMS: obstacles, stagnation or running "reverse" instead of forward

2. "Fan-yin" or "clashing" the animal sign of Grand Duke-- people with DOG sign

BIRTH YEARS: 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006 

SYMPTOMS: this is the worst case scenario-- accident, sickness, surgery, losing competitions/wealth, moving, death, changing job

3. "Hai" or "harming" the animal sign of Grand Duke-- people with RABBIT sign

BIRTH YEARS: 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 

SYMPTOMS: minor obstacles

4. "Po" or "breaking" the animal sign of Grand Duke-- people with OX sign

BIRTH YEARS: 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009

SYMPTOMS: minor obstacles and sickness

FOR FENG SHUI REMEDY

If your house faces Chen mountain or SE direction, you need to put up a Grand Duke talisman facing that direction and avoid construction, earth-digging and demolition there.

If your desk or wherever you sit for an extended time faces SE direction, you can put up a Grand Duke talisman there for protection.  It is not auspicious to face the Grand Duke direction.  It weakens your competition power in business/career and examinations.

GRAND DUKE TALISMAN OFFERS
The offer is: your charity donation of US$30 or more to any legitimate local or international charity will get you a specially blessed Grand Duke talisman. Here are some examples of donations already done:

• animal protection shelter
• homeless shelter
• Save-the-Children
• children hospital
• food shelves/soup kitchen
• and more.....

If you are worried about privacy issues and future solicitations-- please be assured that I will not email you in the future other than sending a note that your talisman is sent. You will send me no money. You send your money directly to your favorite local or international charity. You do not even need to pay me postage. You do NOT need to purchase any additional item from me or anyone else. No future solicitation of any type will be sent to you.  This offer is for people who have no access to Daoist temples.  Please support your local temple if you have access to one.


If you need more than one Grand Duke Talismans, here is the discount schedule:

--one talisman US$30 donation (US$5 if you are unemployed/under-employed)

--two talismans US$50 donation ($10 if unemployed /under-employed )

--three talismans US$60 donation ($15 if unemployed /under-employed )

(you may go to www.xe.com to calculate the equivalent of US$30 to your local currency)

Talisman that is grounded with a charity event works more effectively because it has an exchange of one type of energy to protection energy.

All talismans sent are individually purified, bless and stamped with the seal of a major deity.  The ritual itself normally has a suggested donation of US$50- 100.

To claim your talismans and application instructions, please forward your donation receipt with the talisman recipient names and address to: kenlai88@yahoo.com

All talisman claims will be sent by First Class mail in USA and air-mail outside USA.

Happy Holidays!

Ken Lai

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com

email: kenlai88@yahoo.com

Grand Duke, Feng Shui and Date-Selections

Grand Duke or Tai Sui was probably started as an astronomical concept and evolved into an important metaphysical construct.  For example, in Feng Shui, Grand Duke (GD) represents a direction and space associated with a time frame.  GD is also an important time concept in date-selection.  For example, in a Mao year (rabbit, like 2011), you do not want to choose a You (rooster) day for any important activity because the day clashes Grand Duke.

Tai Sui originally refers to the imaginary or invisible star that orbits around the zodiac in opposite direction of the Jupiter or from west to east along the zodiac.  Sui Xing or yearly star is the visible Jupiter which revolves around the sun once in about 12 years.  The Zodiac is divided into 12 segments and each segment is named after an earthly branch (Chinese Zodiac animal).  Orbit of Tai Sui is assigned with 10 heavenly stems for each year.  Combining the two we have the 60 Tai Sui or Grand Dukes, which fits the 60-years cycle of Chinese calendar system.

GRAND DUKE (YUAN CHEN) HALL WITH 60 GD AND GD MOTHER, DOU-MOU (in center) 

PERSONIFICATION OF 60 GRAND DUKES
The idea of Grand Duke was based on the strong energy field created by Jupiter that is balanced by the imaginary Sui Xing (yin-yang balance principle).  It was not easy to be understood by average people, especially when literacy was not widespread during ancient time.  By assigning a name and face to each of the 60 binomials (GD), people can conceptualize and GD easier than as an energy or qi.

According to Daoism, 60 GDs are the immortals from the North Big Dipper constellation, ruled by Dou-mou , the mother of 60 GDs.   These immortals were born in different historical periods to show and teach people the Dao and righteousness.  The personalities associated with 60 GDs were drawn from actual historical figures who were characterized by high moral principles, civic spirit, patriotism and compassion.  They were mostly pious government officials or loyal and patriotic military generals.  All the 60 GD personalities were taken from pre-1644 time period  (before Qing Dynasty).  So we can deduce the personalization of GD came after 1644. This is relatively "new" in terms of the 5000 years of Chinese history.

FUNCTIONS OF GRAND DUKE
According to Daoism,  60 GDs, are the emanations of Dao ("The Way").  On human level, GD handles the "fortunes and misfortunes, including health and sickness" of people according to their pre-determined destiny and personal choices/behaviors after birth.   GD does not "punish" but simply executes what are scheduled and arrange rewards/disasters based on people's merits..

However, Daoism also stresses "my destiny is determined by myself and not heaven and earth".  It holds that if we do charity work and practice kindness,  GD will protect us from misfortune.

According to Daoism, every individual is under the constant observations of two GDs.  One is his/her "Personal GD" or the one's birth year GD.  For example, I was born in 1955.  GD of 1955 is General Yang Sen.  Yang is my personal GD who is in charge of my life and death events.  He is the Chinese version of your personal guardian angel (note:  there is a daoist method of harnessing the power of one's Personal GD for success and avoidance of misfortunes).  The second GD is the "Annual GD" which changes every year.  Annual GD is the "ruler of the year" who is in charge of your annual luck and events.

Grand Duke statues inside Qing Shan Temple, Hong Kong

GRAND DUKE WORSHIP
The idea of Personal and Annual GDs to keep track of your good and bad deeds and administer rewards and disincentives accordingly may be scary enough to make some people kow-tow or worship GD.  But some people may treat it as another bogeyman story.  How can Daoism draw a direct relationship of GD to every person on earth?

With Chinese metaphysics, it is easy to accomplish because almost every Chinese metaphysics subject is associated with heavenly stems and earthly branches.  60 Grand Dukes is based on the 60 Jia-zi calendar system.  This means it is in terms of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals.  People in China are born with an Zodiac animal sign.  The basic interaction rules of branches like 6-clashes, penalty, and combinations are turned into personal relationship between individual and GD.

Basically, if one's animal sign has any interaction with Annual GD's animal sign, is generically called "violate GD" (fan tai sui) with clashing GD being the most serious violation that could bring major misfortune, sickness and even death.

At least once every three years one will "violate" GD in some ways and once every 6 years a major clash with GD.  This really brings a major reason to appease GD.  GD worship is an important income source for most Daoist Temples.  Even some Buddhist temples put up Grand Duke Halls to draw in worshipers.

Stems and branches, the "a-b-c" of Chinese Metaphysics, are multidimensional concepts.  They can represent directions, time, seasons, shapes and the likes.  In other words, they can jump or change to different dimensions, be it time, space, seasons and etc..  So for Feng Shui, GD becomes a directional space with strong energy that should not be disturbed or misfortunes will happen.  For example, in Dragon year (2012), GD will be in the Chen mountain (SE1).  One should not have construction or excessive movement there.

For date-selection systems, the logic is similar to Feng Shui except in this case, GD is in terms of time dimensions-- year, month, day and hour.  For example, in Chen year (2012), you don't want to chose a time (month, day, hour) that has the Xu (dog) sign.

The GD concept and its applications are pervasive in Chinese metaphysics.  It is used in Feng Shui, date-selections, Bazi and more.  The origin of it may be just from the 12 branches/ animals!


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Ken Lai
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Church Bells, Temple Bells and House-cleansing

Church bells inside a bell tower

I have watched a BBC documentary "Come Bell Ringing" last night.  Conductor and musician Charles Hazlewood  had created a concert with the bell towers of 3 churches and a group of bell ringers in Cambridge, England. There are some historical footnotes about medieval Europeans had used bells to expel evil and sickness.

Bell ringing during a medieval funeral

In China or most Buddhist countries,  one can find a giant temple bell in a temple. The biggest temple bell in China is located in Tianning Temple in Changzhou City.  It weighs 15 tons and sits on the 13th floor of a pagoda.  When this bell is rung, its tone can be heard within a 10 miles radius.

The 15-tons Bell of Tianning Temple

Chinese Buddhists and Daoists believe that the metal sound of copper or brass bell can cleanse and purify the qi or energy of nearby environment, especially when the bell is inscribed with holy texts and blessings.  These texts and blessings will be converted to sound energy and spread into the area nearby to cleanse and harmonize the energy field there.

It seems that both eastern and western cultures believe in that metal sound has certain mythical cleansing power.

In Chinese Feng Shui, metal sound is believe to cure the 2-black sickness and 5-yellow disaster stars.  The rationale is that both 2 and 5 stars are earth in nature and metal sound is akin to their children crying for help (note:  this is based on 5-elements theory-- earth produces metal). These negative earth energies, which would have caused sickness or misfortune, will be re-directed to nurture metal.  Therefore, the Feng Shui cure for 2 and 5-stars-- small copper bells are hanged at the door or even chiming grand father clocks are used.

Tibetan Bell

QUICK AND EASY WAY TO CLEANSE YOUR HOUSE
You may want to do a cleansing of your house if:

• you feel depressed lately
• you feel tired or no energy all the time
• many people get sicked in your house
• overall family luck drops or suffer more accidents
• your house is full of tension
• annual end of the year cleansing 

The cheapest and easiest way to cleanse your house is go buy a copper or brass hand-bell.  You may buy a Tibetan Bell if you can afford one.  First you cleanse the bell by running it over lighted candle or incense urn.  You may also cleanse the bell with holy water obtained from a church.

The house cleansing process is easy-- simply ringing the bell while walking around your house. While walking, visualize heaven or the universe is sending cleansing and blessing energies into your house and the stagnant and sickness energies are pushing out. Make sure the dark corners, especially those that cannot see sunlight, are also "rung" at. Those are the high risk areas for hidden "stuff" or energies.

How about adding blessing and amplify your manifestations while cleansing your house?

Today is your lucky day.  Here is how:  Simply write down the blessing like "good health", 'harmony", "better wealth-luck" (don't ask for $1M), "improving career".....etc.  on a small piece of paper and stick it on the bell.  Make the paper removable so that you can change your wish and blessing whenever you do house-cleansing.




Ken Lai
© 2011 Ken Lai, all rights reserved.

Video Correspondence Courses: (click for details)   
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui” w/23 hr. HD video
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"The Over-metaphysicalized Person"

A "metaphysicalized person" is someone who uses metaphysics methods like Feng Shui, Bazi, ZWDS, Qi-Men-Dun-Jia,  date-selections, astrology, tarot cards, runes and the likes in some aspects of his or her daily life.

An "over-metaphysicalized person" is someone who will fine-tune every activity with metaphysics methods OR obsessed with maximizing the advantages from applying metaphysics methods to a major activity-- most likely in business or wealth enhancement aspects for both genders and relationship or romance for females.  These people think that metaphysics is their ticket to solve all their worldly problems.

Because I teach Chinese metaphysics, some people thought that I have a magic wand or direct hot line to heaven.  They have requested me to help them move the slow-selling houses in an estate, selling a 50 feet yacht, houses or even pushing up the margin call of stocks.

An average "metaphysicalized person" simply tries to enhance some aspects of his/her life with metaphysics whereas an over-metaphysicalized person try to get an upper-hand in every facet of life or in competitions for wealth.

I have clients who keep begging for new metaphysics techniques to enhance their wealth acquisitions.  I have told them that how much wealth one will acquire and enjoy is pre-determined.  By pushing for wealth, they are doing "early withdrawal" from their life-time pre-determined wealth account.  They will die prematurely when their life-time account is drawn empty.

You may not believe in this Buddhist view of wealth pre-determinaton.  In Bazi or 4-Pillars, there is a term called "weak day-master cannot handle wealth".  Bazi classifies people in strong, balanced or weak "day-master".  People who belong to the "weak day-master" group cannot handle or enjoy big wealth when they are still "weak".  There are numerous stories about lottery winners' life got worse or even got killed after hitting the jackpot.  A recent example is the relative short life of Apple's Steve Jobs.  His health got worse as he made more wealth after 2000.

There are three major types of over-metaphysicalized persons:
1.  The successful business people:  These are the luckiest group who enjoy successes in their business with application of metaphysics.  But their appetite for metaphysics tricks keeps growing and become "metaphysics junkie" and are hard to satisfy.

2.  Business people who WAS successful and is low on luck now:  These people either fail to change with time and/or adapt to new business environment.  Their major problem is not metaphysics but personal problems.  They hope the metaphysics magic wand will turn their business around overnight. I know a businessman who has built two "5-ghost carry wealth" and a few "water-dragons" in his house. But his business still "sucks" because the problem is people-problem.  The better one will use metaphysics to boost their confidence while the worse one will use metaphysics to justify their failure because of "bad luck" or "bad Feng Shui".

3.  Non-business people who WAS successful and is low on luck now:  Like the business counterparts, these people sometimes dwell on their past successes and fail to change or adapt to new realities. They will max out their credit cards to buy new metaphysics course and hope to turn their luck around. The new courses will dig a deeper financial hole for them.  They also tend to justify their lack or action or failures on "bad luck " or "bad Feng Shui".

"Ken, do you mean metaphysics does not work?"

Of course, not every metaphysics method works.  But some methods like Feng Shui, Bazi, date-selection methods are likely to enhance your goal-directed activities.  However, my personal bias is:  use metaphysics methods to avoid or keep bad things from happening to you. Methods for wealth enhancements should be used sparingly or "unless you have to".

Metaphysics methods, especially the wealth enhancement ones, behave like anti-biotic, the more you use it, the less effective it becomes to your personal qi or energy field.  I use metaphysics methods to the max only for important occasions.  For everyday life, I just use my own natural qi or energy to handle the events.  It is better to develop your own energy defense (like medicine's immunity) than borrowing from metaphysics.  When you get some benefits from metaphysics, sooner or later, you will somehow pay back.  This is simple law of karma.

Ken Lai

© 2022 Ken Lai, all rights reserved.

Video Correspondence Courses: (click for details)
“Visual Bazi: Wealth Secrets and Maximization” w/ 18 hr. HD video
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui” 2020 w/23 hr. HD video
“Visual Form Feng Shui” w/13 hr. HD video
“Applied Bazi: Sickness Forecasting and Management” w/33 hr. HD video 
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 1: Forecasting and Decision Support” w/32 hr. HD video
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 2: Basic Bazi Therapy w/18 hr. HD video
“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. 3 w/ Advanced Bazi Therapy w/18 hr. HD video
“Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth and Career” w/ 7 hr. HD video
“Period 7/8 FS Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques” w/ 6 hr. HD video
“Practical Date-Selection Methods 2020 (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
“Practical Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 12 hr. video
“Professional Imperial QMDJ 4G” w/ 21 hr. video
“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/ FS”w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
“Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
“4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp+ 2021″ w/ 18 hr. video 

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com