Book 69 - Household Feng-Shui

In my younger days, I performed numerous feng-shui consultations. The one rule I always maintained was to treat everyone equally, whether they were rich or poor. When the rich came to seek my services, I gladly advised them. When the poor families approached me for help, I gladly accepted their invitations.

During these times, whenever I agreed to feng-shui readings, I also stuck to one important principle: I never asked for a service fee but allowed the other parties to pay whatever they wished.

Since my only motive for studying geomancy was to help people, I have done readings for very poor families. One such family, whose head of the household made a living selling vegetables, lived in a very low area at the foot of a broken precipice that rose in a steep wall to the sky. The area around the house was surrounded by bamboo. After studying the house and its surrounding geographical features, I came to the conclusion that the house fit the pattern of that of a "low and overshadowed" house.

As written in The Secrets of Earth Magic:
The lowest site will meet suicide.
The overshadowed site will encounter unexpected hardships.

My analysis turned out to be an accurate one. After a fight caused by their declining financial situation, the owner's wife committed suicide by drinking insecticide. The grandmother of the household became half paralyzed from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. One child was afflicted with polio, another with asthma. The owner himself, who worked as hard as he could to sell his vegetables, was facing a crushing defeat.

Why are houses built in low and hollow sites tied to the fate of suicide? This is because such houses are always in an inferior position. People living in such houses develop emotional blockages and have trouble seeing their own ideals fulfilled. Due to their frustrated emotional state, they often fail to find safe exits when angered or provoked. Also, low and hollow sites are sites of "yin" energy, where disembodied spirits and ghosts like to converge. "Yin spirits" may play mischievous tricks on one and engender thoughts of suicide.

The close proximity of the tall and broken cliff to the house created a feeling of being "pressure and overshadowed." This "suppression" type pattern predisposes one to strange illness. The closeness of the tall and broken cliff also provoked a sense of desolation and misery. Living in such a house, one would never have the opportunity to become wealthy.

There is also a more realistic problem for homes built in the hollows at the foot of mountains. During rains, water accumulates and does not drain quickly. When earthquakes strike, an avalanche may bury the entire house. How can one not be wary of the inherent problems of such sites?

I asked the owner of the house, "Are there seven inhabitants in your house now?" He gave me a puzzled look. "There are only five." I smiled and said, "There are indeed seven, although two of the seven could be considered frequent visitors." He replied, "We rarely have any visitors."

I asked him to check with the grandmother to find out if there were, indeed, two visitors at their house. To his surprise, the grandmother confirmed my words. She described seeing a man in black and a woman in red, in Ch'ing Dynasty attire, frequently entering and exiting their home. This reply brought great shock to the owner.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he asked the grandmother. The grandmother replied, "I was worried you might be frightened. Besides, I didn't think you would believe me. You would probably have accused me of hallucinating and becoming senile."

I told the owner that the low and overshadowed site was unsuitable as a residence because it encouraged the convergence of yin spirits. A healthy person living there would become ill and encounter numerous hardships. Oftentimes, due to the influence of disembodied spirit, one may succumb to their calling and attempt to commit suicide.

The grandmother was aware of the yin spirits because she was at the end of her years. The yang energy in her body was dispersing as yin energy accumulated, and this had led to an opening of her psychic vision.

Some feng-shui practitioners believe a low and hollow site accumulates chi from the water element. Because water is regarded as the equivalent of money, such a site is considered a wealthy spot. However, ensuring optimal movement of "water chi" into such a site requires proper inflow of "major water chi" and an outflow of "minor water chi" Otherwise, the sole inflow of major water chi without an outlet, will cause every resident of the home to become "engulfed by the water."

A house built upon a site that is too low and too hollow is therefore inauspicious. It is also inauspicious to have a tall, broken cliff directly behind (or to either side of) the house as this overshadows the house.

I remember, after the reading, receiving a red envelope with fifty Taiwanese dollars (approximately U.S. $1.25 then) from the owner. I did not mind the amount because I knew they were poor, and I was not a feng-shui master who sought to profit from his consultations. Feng-shui, as a worldly Dharma, is merely a skillful means. More important is the goal to move and inspire people to practice the "transcendental" Buddhadharma.

So, before selecting a building site, one should first inspect the terrain. This is just too important a factor to ignore. Too high a terrain invites "feng-sha" (noxious wind energy); too low a terrain invites "shui-sha" (noxious water energy). An ideal site is neither too high nor too low.

The study of the feng-shui of homes is actually a study of balance and harmony. To learn feng-shui, one must first master "the art of balance and harmony."

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