Some More Things About White Tiger 白虎

Opps! Didn’t realize “Mickey-mouse” also wrote something about White Tiger. 

The awakenings of hibernated insects (驚蟄) also denote a transition from the Hexagram Tai (Unity) to Hexagram DaZhuang (Great Strength), change in the 4th Yao where Yang is increasing in the expense of Yin as such changes in the season does not bring rewards without steadfast and effort. The transformed Hexagram is all Yang. Thunder originates from Heaven denotes sudden movements with Force, resemblance of a swift Forceful General with such cultural reference that brought forth the notion of Tiger. It also states that it is important to behave in proper manners otherwise matters would be perverse and ends would be violent, befitting the dictum of White Tiger opens its mouth (白虎开口). 

On a philosophical note, DaZhuang indicates a season where a person is likely to be successful in his endeavor. However, in the midst of his success he may have the tendency to be stubborn and conceited, thus attracts a lot of unnecessary petty people. It is therefore wise to remain impartial, walk the middle path and find ways for self restraint. It is also this nature that gives rise to the concerted effort of hitting Petty People (打小人).

In the light of DaZhuang, let us not be so petty, then you will see yourself grow an inch taller in wisdom.

Something About White Tiger 白虎

In landforms, it refers to the mountain at the right side, originates from the astrological four enclosures of the western sector of the sky which form the imagery of a tiger. Under the influence of the west being the sunset location, it bears the color white with the Gua imagery of Dui, it also represents the female gender as a collective notion of White Tiger.

The dictum that the White Tiger must not be higher than the Green Dragon is very common but unfortunately, it does not necessary bear the truth and the topography of China is the best testimonial of such. If the right embrace is higher than the left embrace, it is called White Tiger jumps over the wall, signaling the rebellion of the female householder.

Another dictum is that the White Tiger opens its mouth (白虎开口). Traditionally it refers to the right side of the embrace having caves with cavity revealing the rocks and hard surface, resemblance of the tiger’s tooth which is an indication of killing forces emitting there from. Modern interpretation is when a property is built with a grand front porch having at least two grand columns representing the tiger’s fang it is called White Tiger opens its mouth. 

Comes the season of awakening of hibernated insects (驚蟄), another form of White Tiger opens its mouth is largely related to cultural significant of appeasing the White Tiger. Astrologically, the season of awakening of hibernated insects is more or less 15 days after the last seasons of rains. Such will continue with thunder strikes effecting spawning insects to feed on the crops. This season will be the arriving of Mao month at the Zhen sector based on the 24 mountain plate, denoting thunderous awakening. In mountainous area such thunderous roar with the white mist rolling downhill from the mountain is taken, by the ancient, as white tiger descending from their abode to hunt. Thereupon, it becomes a cultural significant. To appease the White Tiger, the villagers literally bring foods in the forms of egg and raw pork with lark to the nearest mountains and caves known to have been infested with wild animals with the hope that these creatures will be kept at bay. 

Taoist interpretation, White Tiger is personified as a group of deities within the earth bound deities category common to the Earth Deity, Datuk-Kong and so forth. It is believed that these earth bound deities have the influenced over the wild animals liked the tigers to descend from their abode to hunt. Thereupon, a Taoist ceremonial aspect is modeled with hitting the Petty People (打小人) in placed. The logic is when you fed the tiger also request it to bite your petty people away. Such wishful thinking leads to hitting the Petty People in the forms of aggression released exercise by hitting the paper effigy with newly bought slippers, then disposed it off via burning later to be followed by other rituals. 

No matter how one looks at the dictum of white tiger, there are many inconsistencies to the practices. Likewise, some say, White Tiger is offended by people born in the year of Hai, Mao, Wei and Si, while others also quoted, Chou, Zi and Chen to be inclusive. The transition time of awakening of hibernated insects (驚蟄) is 6:29am on March 6th, preferably go to a temple close to a mountain for such an act of devotion. 

My take in lieu of hitting the petty people is simple, just do good, avoid evil and purify one’s thought.

Another point of reference – the Sun

It is simple to understand that the Sun as the giver of lives. Without it, there is no wind, seasonal change and ultimately no crops, no foods, no water and no life on earth. These realities make the Sun the most adore object of all time. Likewise, the ancients observed the movement of the sun through the groups of stars on the horizon as it allows them to anticipates events that occurred for a long period of time such as eclipses and full moons and catalog the stars called asterism which were personified as ox, girl, basket, heart and so forth in the four quadrant of the night sky thus mark the seasons of seeding, planting, harvesting and storing of food. For such the Sun is personified and worshipped.

One similarity, as in accordance to Zeitgeist, the biblical tales may have been a record of astrological events. For example the birth of the Son of God by the virgin mother on December 25th with the brightest star in the East accompanied by the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem, which alternatively is completely astrological. The star in the East is Sirius, the brightest star in December 24th aligned with the 3 brightest stars of the Orion’s Belt which in ancient times, it is called the Three Kings, pointed towards the direction of the rising Sun, at winter solstice. So, the birth of Christ may actually represent the birth of the Sun in winter solstice of December 25th. 

The virgin mother is the constellation Virgo, bearing the personification of a virgin holding a sheet of wheat. It also called the house of bread represents August to September the time of harvest and Bethlehem is sometimes translated as the house of bread and thus not an earthly abode but a reference to the constellation Virgo, Latin for Virgin. 

The shortening of the day in winter solstice of December 22nd represents the death of the Sun and it ceased to move southwards for at least 3 days at the vicinity of the constellation of the Southern Cross or the Crux. At the end of the third day the sun is seen to move upward one degree to bring about the change in season. So, it is said that the son dies on the cross and to be resurrected 3 days later. The other astrological observation in relation to the biblical tale is the 12 Disciples of Christ, being him as the sun travels along the path of the 12 constellations, with the crown of thorns, which may be the representation of sun rays as depicted in most of the ancient cult arts. 

The constellations had their implications on the notion of Age as symbolically woven in the Biblical tales. Astrologically speaking, the angular wobble of the earth axis maintained that for every 2150 years the sun rises at the different sector of the 12 constellations and it is called the precession of the equinoxes. It takes approximately 26,000 years for a full cycle called the Great Age. 4300 – 2150 BC it is called the Age of Taurus. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the 10 commandments, he was very upset to see his people worshipping the golden bull calf representing the Age of Taurus. Whereas, Moses represents the age of, 2150 BC – 1 AD, which it is called the Age of Aries. From 1AD to 2150 AD it is called the Age of Pisces, the Age of Christian-dom. In 2150 AD to 4300 AD it is called the Age of Aquarius, the New age as prescribed in Luke 22:10, “…Shall a Man meet you Bearing A Pitcher of Water…” , a manifestation of the Age of Aquarius, the water bearer, for once may have been misinterpreted as the end of day. 

With all these astrological accounts of Sirius alignment with the belt of Orion pointed towards the rising Sun of the constellation Virgo, the winter solstices sun moving towards the Southern Cross only to be resurrected across the horizon due to seasonal change and the precession of the equinoxes to mark the passing of ages are all but astrological accounts woven deeply into biblical tales. 

Similarly so with Chinese metaphysics, if one wants to know the truth in relation to the Sun, HeTu, the 7 governors and 9 layers of heaven of Chinese astrology, pour through the Taoist tales and lore and read it in the perspective of science. One may be of surprise of what can be found within.

What Is Your World View

Every year the fortune teller tell us story of the fortune of the world based on a sequence of numerology in the grid formation of 9 squares called the LoShu annual visiting PurpleWhite star map.

XinMao Purple White chart has the 7 red stars residing in the center palace. On the same basis many fortune tellers are telling us because of the nature of the 7 red star which is untimely, it causes havoc and unrest to the center region and in this case, middle east. Just take a look at the fall of Mubarak and now, Gaddafi is in the line of fire even before LiChun (beginning of spring) steps in. What is next? This prompted a very serious question as to what is the Chinese's world view and I remembered vividly, at least 3 models as in accordance to Wan Burhanuddin's RAG132 introduction to the built environment.

One, the euro-centric model. If this is how the hypothesis of the 7 red star residing in the center, then we must also admit that the Chinese way of thought is the same as the westerner. No wonder it is said that Marco Polo borrowed from the Chinese Yuan Dynasty! Perhaps also, FengShui has its root in the West? It can't be true???

Two, the Buckmister's model. Creator of the Geodesic Dome and credited of placing the entire world map into the political Eastern and the Western Block. Here middle East is no longer the palace where the 7 red star resides. Therefore it is a modern interpretation of the world view and has nothing to do with FengShui. More importantly as described in Wikipedia, "More unusually, the Dymaxion map does not have any "right way up". Fuller argued frequently that in the universe there is no "up" and "down", or "north" and "south": only "in" and "out". Gravitational forces of the stars and planets created "in", meaning 'towards the gravitational center', and "out", meaning "away from the gravitational center". He attributed the north-up-superior/south-down-inferior presentation of most other world maps to cultural bias."

Three, the sino-centric model. China is called the Middle Kingdom, ZhongGuo for a reason as it may represents a middle Kingdom for the descendant of the dragon as opposed to the upper Kingdom of the Jade Emperor and the Lower Kingdom of the Underworld. More likely then not, it represents a reference point as being the center of the Chinese Universe. Now, based on the same logic, China being centered is visited by the 7 red star, should be at least in turmoil with political bloodshed? So, is either our Chinese world view is freaking wrong or the theory of the PurpleWhite is wrong and we continue to see it appearing in the almanac or ThongShing without fail every year.

Well, the sino-centric model is always the basis of the reference point. If the way we interpreted the PurpleWhite chart correctly, middle east should be at least Northwest or West side of the Middle Kingdom, currently visited by the number 8 and 9 prosperous stars! Perhaps neither the Chinese world view is wrong or the PurpleWhite theory is wrong. Only our current understanding of its application is grossly mistaken.

Need another Metaphysics Overhaul? 

At times, overhaul may be good. With a noble heart we explored all possibilities and take the workable model as the guiding principles while the unworkable model as a seed for our future exploration. We really do not know where is the end to the tunnel of knowledge especially the ancient ones. Even at times we wanted to break new grounds and yet we must realized your new grounds are also meant to be broken by others, that is where the notion of Geodesic comes in to replace the notion of Pi (22/7). When one places Change or Yi as  to replace the principle, just move on with what is thoughtfully the right way to do, hopefully without ulterior motives, back stabbings and bickering, we would be able to be in the company of good souls without the burden of being called a master. Heaven always have mercy on man.

HUAT AH With A Stove

Another article on Chinese New Year FengShui. Remember we wrote about 财神到 (Arrival of The God of Prosperity). One novel methods which were make known to us is the use of the earthen stove to receive good Qi. Yes a cooking stove in lieu of the joss urn. Here is how it is applied: -

1. Place the stove in the center of the living room.

2. Based on the Purple White natal chart of XinMao year, measure with the LuoPan the entry of the favorable star via openings to the living room.

3. Open up the relevant favorable windows/doors accordance to the natal chart.

4. Light up the stove and kept it burning for at least 2 hours.

5. Select a good date for that matter.

What it did not specify is where the Fire mouth should be aligned to face.

For the matter of discussion, we did gossip about stove in Kitchen Gossips, moreover the above method seems to contradict the following assumptions: -

1. The uses of stove are to turn bad Qi into good Qi via the fire mouth. So, why opens up the entire favorable Qi intake and closed up the entire unfavorable Qi opening? What if the main door is receiving unfavorable Qi?

2. The center of the space should be kept undisturbed. Why put a stove in the middle of the living room?

Perhaps anyone who has tried that and prosper would like to drop us a note. While the Chinese New Year Festival is approaching to “Chap Goh Mei”, we wish all our reader: -

HUAT AH, HENG AH, ONG AH!!!!

财神到 (Arrival Of The God of Prosperity)

One of the events that cannot be missed during the Chinese New Year is the welcoming of the God of Prosperity (CaiShen). It is a cultural significant that has been blended into the practice of FengShui. More importantly is the application of FengShui in receiving Qi during a particular hour of prayer with relation to the altar. Thus, such act of devotion has become a must among the Chinese during the New Year Eve. As the Eve of the Lunar New Year is based on the Lunar calendar, it is significant if such act of devotion is based on the Solar calendar instead which is the arrival of LiChun, February the 4th at 12:32pm. That marks the importance of not having a blind year to begin with.

There are basically 3 steps in receiving the God of Prosperity such as: -

1. Identify the House Structure based on the annual Purple White and the locations of the Human Portal. In the application of the 8 Doors, both SanHe and SanYuan methods will differ in its structure. So care has to be taken so that the technique is consistent with the method applied. 
2. Set up the altar table to receive such Qi, when the 8 Doors open at a specific hour in relation to the House structure.
3. Select a time, where it is favorable to commence prayer. The order is the hour must support the structure and the structure must support the Host (You). Follow whichever methods deemed fit in according to your preference be it Buddhism, Daoism or Confucian. 

Who is the God of Prosperity? In the genre of Metaphysics, the God of Prosperity is the resemblance of the 3 Nobles, FuLu and Shou,  福祿壽 being the personification of the 3 stars or body of Qi that will have their impact on Earth, comes every LiChun. Besides these stars, there are other stars which may be malignant instead. So, it has become prudent for the informed Chinese to actually practice receiving the God of Prosperity based on a specific hour and day. So a consultation of the Oracle Book, ThongSheng is of paramount important. The art of understanding the book rest on the proficiency of the reader, usually also a Chinese Metaphysics practitioner. His background knowledge in the application of the annual Purple White chart is to enable him to locate the correct placement of the 8 Doors, where the door of Nobility, Growth, Open and Scenery are the portals for the arrivals of the 3 Nobles aka God of Prosperity. With a correct structure and timing, one is able to receive such Qi. This is called receiving the God of Prosperity.

A glimpse on the above annual Purple White chart with its corresponding 8 Doors, we understand that the palace of Xun, Li, Kun, Zhen and Kan are protected. So, we need not worry too much with all the untimely malignant stars that may visit these palaces. So, all the 1 – 9 stars in these protected palaces can be used. Whereas the palaces of Dui, Qian and Gen, would require some fine tuning. There are benevolent stars visiting the palaces of Gen and Qian. Only the palace of Dui having a 7-9 combination may spell disaster, potentially fire disaster. So, make sure that this palace is free of ShaQi within view such as broken mountain, Pylons and gushing rivers. Get a competent master to advise you on how to tap into the favorable 1, 4, 6, 8 and 9 stars for immediate results. You will be fascinated how fast, would the God of Prosperity arrive at your door step especially for punters.

From the same chart, we also see the locations of these 8 doors. There are different ways of arraying the doors be it in the Yin or Yang Dun formations. Some practitioners would base on QiMen 24 seasonal nodes to determine its YinYang arrangement whereas, in the practice of others such as SanYuan QiMen, its YinYang arrangement may be within the 24 mountain configurations or even within its inherent sub-sectors. Remember, it is always the correlation between heaven and earth Qi preferences. These we would leave it to the readers and in summary, Qian palace would see the arrival of the God of Nobility, Kan and Dui palaces would see the arrival of God of Wealth or the God of Happiness, Xun palace with the arrival of the God of Opportunity. Between all these palaces, Dui palace is less favorable. 

Knowing where the heavenly stars are within the earthly palaces and the locations of the human doors, the triune of SanCai is formed, thus making the other methods of receiving Qi much easier to apply be it DaGua or QiMen. 

To all our QuanYuan fans and friends who wrote in and asked about the Chinese New Year makeover, we hope that our above said explanation sheds some light into the delicate art of receiving the arrival of the God of Prosperity. Drop a note to Lenny if you wish to receive the arrival of the God of Prosperity the Daoist way.

Meanwhile, let us contemplate. If there are Three Nobles visiting your house one day and you can only invite one to come in, who would you invite? The God of Good Luck (Fu) 福, the God or Wealth (Lu) 祿 or the God of Longevity (Shou) 壽?

Home Improvements During Chinese New Year

We haven’t been updating the blog lately due to busy schedule of FengShui auditing. Close to the Chinese New Year celebrations, off we go to Penang, not to appear in any Chinese New Year programme but to assist in a home improvement project. Was feeling a little strange as to the continuous opportunity of doing high rise FengShui in Malaysia, where lands are abundant. 

 This is quite a different cup of teas as compared to Maple, Bangsar South, Fairlanes and the sorts of up market condominiums. On the menu is the typical PDC high rise housing modeled against the 1950’s Public Work Departments Flats.  

 We were amazed by the mega structures of monolithic block while viewing from the open car park as its Bright Hall and one thing caught our attentions was the simple makeovers by the residents liked a small shrine tugged at the corner, beautifully crafted concealed in glass box. 

 Without such beautiful things in human scales liked the pet shops and coffee shops, it will be drawn by the megalomaniacs of tower blocks and huge bright halls.

While enjoying the ambiance, we manage to enjoy in the light discussion of placebo FengShui such as the salt-copper cure for the 5 yellow and the figurines and such to remedy the otherwise malignant stars. You will not fail to see this in any Chinese households, especially when it was suggested by FengShui practitioners alike. Absolutely nothing wrong with such, we started with our heavier doses of audit and recommendations.

A small family while staying there for decades is able to bring up 3 children, raised with education up to tertiary levels with good jobs is indeed a blessed family. Would the FengShui of such a simple household that bad after all? Not really, we just make some recommendations so that a higher benchmark could be reached. Along sides, we manage to visit a few locations of FengShui interest around Penang.

As a New Year “Ang-Pow”, we compiled our findings and make it available as an E-Book for free distributions. It is only made available to our fans of Facebook, followers of Yifengshui blog and generous donors.

Let us know if you are interested and met the above said criteria. If you are accustomed to Penang and with some FengShui knowledge, it will even make your reading of the E-Book pleasurable. 

Feels free to comment as it is modeled as Wealth Enhancement with Good FengShui from our Penang Observations. 

Otherwise Click HERE for a short write up.