From going through a 9-years barren spell (without kids, despite trying very hard to conceive, that is) to 2 pregnancies in 21 months is simply amazing!  I am glad and at same time amazed to hear from my brother that my sister-in-law had been pregnant again.  I know Ancestor Fengshui works, but never in my wildest imagination, worked to such efficacy.  This is also not a work of coincidence as can attest to it being personally involved in meddling with our Ancestor Fengshui 2 years ago.

Well, supernatural or superstition or not, all Ancestors like to take care of their Descendants and will act once the communication channels are wired up.

Legalism has no doubt been practised in China ever since the first Emperor Qin Shi Huang(Qing dynasty) ascended the  throne in 259B.C. Legalism concentrates solely on state prosperity as well as survival. It emphasised on the totalitarian regimentation of the society which is rational, cynical and totally amoral.

However, the failure of Qing dynasty resulted in giving Legalism a bad reputation in traditional China. Yet Legalism does not deserved all the odium that has been heaped on it as its philosophy is no different from the view points of many modern managers and politicians today. The earlier philosophers of Legalism were Han Fei and Li Ssu who both studied under Hsun Tzu, the tough-minded authoritarian interpreter of Confucianism. Legalism emphasised on authority, administrative skills and law which forms the guiding principles for rulers and ministers.

Legalist attitude is that as society evolved, population grew larger and the need for goods exceed production. Hence, competition grew and the need for tighter control is needed. Legalist view is that governmental policies must always be adaptable so as to deal with these everchanging conditions that evolve over time.

However, while Legalism was the key to the establishment of the first dynasty in China, its harshness and unsentimental nature were deeply rejected by the people. The collapse of the Qing dynasty and Legalism praved the way for the practise of Confucianism under the Han dynasty. But in reality, Legalism did not disappear altogether, it merely became ‘hidden’ and integrated with Confucianism though the clever administrative skills of the Han rulers!

The Chinese has always considered family value as the fundamental unit of their society. Filial piety had been praised by Confucius and thinkers of all schools took for granted that a well-run family was one in which parents looked out for the interests of their children and children obeyed their parents and support them in their old age.

During the Han dynasty, the notion of filial piety reached new heights and the brief Classic of Filial Piety was written. Purporting as the recorded conversations between Confucius and his disciple, Zeng Zi, it informed readers the importance of wholehearted devotion to parents and superiors. In fact, filial piety as a concept was presented as a political virtue, tied to loyalty to political superiors and up to the Son of Heaven (Emperor).

The success of Classic of Filial Piety paves the way as a primer to educate children on basic moral maxims while they were learning to read. To quote Confucius,”Filial piety is the root of virtue and the source of civilisation. We establish ourselves and practise the Way, thereby perpetuating our name for future generations and bringing glory to our parents. This is the fulfilment of filial piety and it begins with serving one’s parents, our rulers and is completed by establishing one’s character.”

I have seen current practitioners having the nonchalance to cite methods in Feng Shui classics compiled by renowned Feng Shui Master like Jiang Da Hong’s methods like as if these were universal truths that are applicable for all time and social context.  For example, they say that these greats did not mention in their books that they tailor their Feng Shui method according to the beneficiary’s destiny so they believed that Astrology is not needed to carry out Feng Shui.  

If the likes of Jiang omitted to mention about it, does it mean that they are against it or such a practice is useless?  The likely reason is that the context of houses and technology during their time could have rendered it immaterial or unachievable to do so.  In any case, unless one is speaking from the capacity of someone having learnt directly these Feng Shui greats over a few years, they cannot assume to have fully understood the thought processes and approaches of these greats.

During Zhang’s time, there were hardly high-rise apartments with subjective façade that makes for determining the apartment facing and consequently most Feng Shui formula highly subjective.  It can also be said during his time, people that can afford paying for Feng Shui do not live in small apartments unlike now whereby the closer inhabitation means Feng Shui tuning takes on a new level of complexity which therefore warrants a fresh perspective into occupant’s destiny.  

Afterall, it was said that Jiang lead a very tough life and remained very poor even after practicing Feng Shui.  So is he poor by choice or would he have become richer had he incorporated astrological consideration into his Feng Shui methods for himself?  Although we will never know the answer to this question, still it shows that Feng Shui cannot improve beyond the borders demarcated by destiny. 

To read further into our views on this matter, please visit our forum discussion at:

http://fengshuiforward.com/forum/index.php/topic,722.msg6091.html#new

(picture credit of Lexinatrix)

In my previous article about the psychology of resistance to change, I talked about how people are mentally conditioned against changes and usually back themselves up by falling back on precedent cases.  A more extreme form of precedent cases are historical ones.  Ask ourselves, do the past always oppose to changes in the future?  Without change, how can improvements come about?

Ask yourself whether a man living in contemporary society like you will like a dish that was cooked exactly the same way 1000 years ago? With technological advancements we have high pressure cookers, deep fryers and plenty of other cooking equipments.  Why should we still think that a dish that was cooked using wood and the pathetic stove of few hundred years ago is still the best way to process it? Such an insistence to adhere to historical practice betrayed one’s reluctance to innovate and follow up with times. 

In fact a Feng Shui practitioner ought  to be lauded for his ability to modify and adapt Feng Shui advices to the modern and local context.  Why is this so?  The logic is that Feng Shui method evolved from a context was set few hundred years ago in China and  houses and social practices have changed significantly since then.  Even if Feng Shui methods were only developed in recent years in China, its geo-political and cultural differences with other countries meant that modification and adaptation of the methods must still be made for Feng Shui advice in another country.   

For example, few hundred years ago in China, toilets were never housed within the same roof as the living quarters.  But in modern society, toilets are under the same roof as the living quarters are the norm now and differences like this inevitably means that a Feng Shui practitioner that continues to copy methods listed in Feng Shui classics blindly run a great risk of messing up his client’s environment.  Feng Shui practitioners should not be mistaken to think that they can continue to practice Feng Shui by following ancient Feng Shui classics to a T.

We all know the power of motivational speech and technique like Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Yet, it is often contradicting that people who attend motivational talk organised by the likes of Anthony Robbins also consult fortune tellers. Presumably,it could be that they are eager to improve their fortune and curious about their future. For the Chinese, destiny has always been a fundamental aspect of one’s belief.

If everything is fixed by Fate, then why do we need motivation? Yet, deep down our mind, we know that blindly following Fate is often fatalistic and can be an enemy of motivation. Having discussed the issue of destiny with a fellow forum member, I felt that there is a need to discuss more about the concept of one’s destiny.

The many sayings claiming about Destiny’ s all pervasive influence on all walks of life showed that the Chinese culture acknowledges Destiny’ s stronghold. We all tend to have a passive resignation to Destiny because Destiny seems so mysterious and so powerful. When one studies carefully the record of human experience, we would have noticed that the majority of humanity are not living in good fortune. If Destiny really rules, then Destiny is more prone to create misfortune. Realising this, we must cultivate the desire to alter Destiny. And this is where motivational technique and chinese metaphysics come hand in hand.

Let me list one example whereby the ancient Chinese classic I Ching motivates us to overcome the hurdle of Destiny.

…the Book of Changes; hence it enables us to penetrate and understand the movements of the light and dark, of life and death, gods and demons. This knowledge makes possible mastery over Fate, because Fate can be shaped if its laws are known (Wilhelm 1951, p 296)

Hence, to overcome Destiny is to first understand that Destiny is real and that you need to know what Destiny is before you could overcome it! Know the rules of the game and you can bend it!

‘Fate is decided by Heaven, happiness is sought by oneself.’

Read other related post: Is destiny a choice or choice is destined by Ken

All men are brothers?’

What do you really want in life? Most people need two things generally in order to be happy.

First, he does not wish to be poor. That is, he should have the basic things in life like food, clothes, shelter and good health. No one wish to become a beggar!

Second, he needs a community life which include his family and friends. As the Chinese always say, having a true friend is a greatest fortune.

Hence, to achieve these two targets would mean satisfactory happiness for most people. Yet, when satisfactory happiness is achieved, people want more. He will wish to have power and wealth. Although wealth is important, the pursue of material wants should not be overdone as this will lead to unbalanced development through blocking meaningful interaction with people, resulting in frustration and unhappiness. There is also no point in gaining all wealth if one were to find himself isolated and alientated from his family and friends. It is also worthless to work so hard for wealth and ruined one ’s health.

The ancient Chinese philosphers were all too aware of the corrupting influence of wealth and power and devised a success philosophy to counter this potential problem. Although the Chinese culture encourages ‘wealth pursue’, it also advocates that one is only truely successful if he is part of a great society and contribute to humanity.

The Chinese Culture emphasizes the total brotherhood of Man. If we were to examine some of the ancient Chinese sayings, we would have understood that the secret to Chinese culture upholds a concept of ‘ sharing and helping’.

‘All men are brothers’ – a phrase taken out from the Water Margin(Chinese classics) tells us more than anything about the great importance of friendship in Chinese society. So, when you only seek to better yourself, your strength will be average. When you seek to use your strength to help others, this force will be unstoppable and inspirationally strong which will allow you to accomplish things which otheriwse cannot be done.