Book 69 - Household
Feng-Shui
- Book 69: Household Feng-Shui
- Chapter 29 : Fear of Dying at Twenty-Eight
- Written by : Master Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by : Janny Chow
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In a feng-shui reading I once came across a unique and very strange
case.
The family to which I am referring lived in an old compound with
houses surrounding a central courtyard. Two branches of this family's
clan had experienced quite inexplicable tragedies: all the males
had died at the age of twenty-eight.
The father died of an illness at twenty-eight. An uncle's whereabouts
overseas became unknown the year he turned twenty-eight. The eldest
son, at age twenty-eight, fell to his death while climbing a mountain.
The second son died of cancer at twenty-eight.
Now the third son was fast approaching twenty-eight. His fear of
dying an early death led him to many temples to pray and seek consultations.
The answers he received, however, were all different and made him
very anxious.
The family was very large and several members invited me to inspect
their ancestors's burial sites as well as their living quarters
in hopes of ascertaining the causes of this curse which resulted
in death at twenty-eight.
My inspection revealed nothing wrong with their ancestors' burial
sites, however, there were several shortcomings in the design of
their living quarters. I pointed out the various flaws and suggested
they quickly remedy the situations.
The family compound was built amidst a grove of trees in the countryside.
Many ponds surrounded the compound - some with water, some dry,
and some almost dry. Upon examining the ponds more closely, I found
many problems. Water from one pond entered the courtyard of the
compound, while water from another pond pointed at two houses on
the side. One pond even had its water pointing at the main door.
First I told the family to fill the dry ponds. I then asked them
to modify the ponds that had water into crescent shapes with the
inner curves facing the compound (so the compound would be "inside
the bows").
The front quarter of this quadrangle compound was very tall, but
the newer quarter at the back of the compound, which was built after
the first, was too low in comparison. Such cases, where the front
of a house is taller than the rear, indicate a loss of members,
particularly young family members.
I asked the family to remodel the rear quarter of the compound
and bring it to the same height as the front quarter. I told them
it was very important that the houses at the back be at the same
height as houses at the front.
They followed my recommendations and made the changes.
They then asked, "Why did the men all die at the age of twenty-eight?"
Offhand, it was quite difficult for me to explain. I replied, "There
must be a connection somewhere in this compound with the number
twenty-eight. For example, when you add them up, there may be a
total of twenty-eight pillars or a total of twenty-eight trees surrounding
this compound. Or there may be twenty-eight stoves, twenty-eight
beams, or twenty-eight doors..."
"Twenty-eight stoves? We cannot possibly have that many stoves!"
they exclaimed.
"I don't think so either," I said with a smile. "That
was just an example."
Later, they told me they indeed counted and found a total of twenty-eight
pillars around the compound. They were impressed with the prediction.
They asked, "Does this mean we should add more pillars?"
"No," I replied. "Do you think increasing the number
of pillars to one hundred will allow everyone to live to be one
hundred years old? The number of pillars was just one factor in
determining the age of death. The main causes lay in the ponds and
the fact that the front of the compound was taller than the rear."
I explained, "Too little pond water indicated an inability
to live to a full age. The corners of the ponds pointing directly
at the main door and the side houses fit the feng-shui pattern known
as 'penetrating the heart and shooting the cheeks.' It signified
the inauspicious phenomenon of male members dying young.
"The heights of the front and rear houses represented the
different generations in the family. The front houses represent
former generations and the rear houses represent later generations.
The low height of the rear houses indicated a loss of younger members
of the family. It is proper for the rear part of a house to be at
the same level of taller than the front part of a house. A lower
rear house signifies great disaster."
Ten years after inspecting this large quadrangle compound, the
family told me that, after making the modifications, people living
in the compound have enjoyed greater peace. Several male members
have lived passed twenty-eight without encountering serious catastrophes.
Their features of dying at twenty-eight have now been dispelled.
I, Living Buddha Lian-sheng, am particularly good at identifying
houses that can cause "undue deaths in the family." I
also can identify houses that "bear no children."
In The Secrets of Earth Magic, there is the following verse:
Without protrusion, members will be scarce,
Without earth chi, no child will be born;
With high pressure, all children die,
With assault from water, no child can survive.
A house completely devoid of protrusions is inauspicious for it
signifies a lonely household with few members. If the topography
of the land is so flat that there is little presence of earth chi,
the household will not have any children. Great overbearing forces
oppressing the house from all sides also can cause miscarriages
and the breaking off of a bloodline. In cases where water directly
points at a house on all four sides, not even a single child will
remain!
A house located before or behind a temple may also exhibit the
above phenomena because its earth chi is already drawn up by the
temple.
The presence or absence of earth chi has a great impact on the
feng-shui of a house. In truth, only a geomancer with the ability
to read earth chi can be considered a true expert. The earth chi
of a house not only affects the number of people in a family but
also impacts their health. As a final word of caution: do not live
on land devoid of earth chi.
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