Ken's Cyber Cave: Secrets of Chinese Craftsmen Magic 厌胜术

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Secrets of Chinese Craftsmen Magic 厌胜术

Traditional Chinese carpenters

In ancient China, craftsmen like carpenters, masons, tailors and etc., had practiced mysterious practices of putting certain control objects/ symbols (镇物) or magical objects/ symbols (法物) into their crafts based on how their clients treat them fairly or not. This mysterious practice is called Yan Sheng Shu (YSS, 厌胜术).

Yan Sheng Shu is a branch out of Daoist magical practice. It is divided into "black YSS" and "white YSS". Black YSS will bring misfortune and disasters to the client's family. This usually was practiced as revenges when the craftsmen felt that they were treated unfairly by their clients. White YSS will bring good fortune and luck to the client's family.

YSS can be classified in three major schools:

Magic through imagery: This is based on imagery of an object can exert energy related to that object. For example, Chinese carpenter can secretly draw a bird (representing phoenix which also means success) on the main beam of a house. If the beak is drawn facing indoor, it will bring client good wealth luck. If the beak facing outside the house will bring client wealth-losing luck.
Magic through 5-elements colors: This method put minerals/ rocks of different colors or actual metal (copper, gold, silver) in certain location of the foundation of the house to enhance or hurt the luck of the client's family. For example, cinnabar represents fire energy put in certain location of house foundation to enhance or hurt certain member of client's family.
Magic through 8-directions (palace representations): In Feng Shui, each direction is represented by a "palace" or one of the 8 trigrams in Bagua. Each palace also represents a family member of a house. For example, NW or Qian palace represents the oldest male and SW the oldest female. By placing auspicious or inauspicious object in certain palace, the craftsman can play trick on the fortune of certain member of the client's family.