Feng Shui Eight House Bright Mirror School Part 2 – The Directions

The first thing most people need to know about an Eight House reading is whether they are an "East House Person" or a "West House Person." This refers to the favorable and unfavorable directions I mentioned in the last post.

The East or West designation is determined by the following diagram. This is not the complete HeTu diagram; I've erased the center and drawn a dividing line so you could clearly see the East and West House groups by trigram and number.

The trigrams/energy-phase in the East Group include the symbols in the directions of east and south (the left and the top of the diagram respectively): water/water (7) and wind/wood (2) combined with thunder/wood (8) and fire/fire (3). The West Group is represented by the trigrams for earth/earth (1) and mountain/earth (6) in the direction of north (at the bottom), combined with lake/metal (4), and sky/metal in the west (on the left side).

In the cycle of the five phases of energy, the East Group contains the creative cycle energies of water (which creates) wood (which creates) fire. The West Group contains the creative cycle and energies of earth (which creates) metal.

You'll notice that if you sum-up the numbers in the groups, east+south and north+west, they will add up to 5, 10, or 15. If you subtract the same-side numbers, the result is 5. This shows favorability and harmony between the signs of each group since 5 represents heaven, 10 represents earth, and 15 represents the harmonious combination of the two. (Usually, the HeTu diagram has five white/yang dots in the center representing heaven, framed by ten black/yin dots representing earth. To see the complete diagram, see my previous post The Correct Orientation of the Yin/Yang Symbol)

For example, in the East Group, 7-2=5, 8-3=5; 2+3=5, 2+8=10, 3+7=10, 7+8=15.

In the West Group, 6-1=5, 9-4=5; 4+1=5, 1+9=10, 4+6=10, and 6+9=15.

Moving along, we're going rearrange the symbols from the HeTu to correspond to the annual cycles of earthly energy phases, and to correspond to the growth, climax, and decline of earthly yin and yang. To show these changes, a new diagram was created, the Luo Shu.

You will notice that, like a crazy game of musical chairs, all the trigrams and most of the numbers changed places! The thing that remains constant is the favorable trigrams – but not the numbers!

You saved your ming gua from last time, right? If you did, skip down to "Ready to continue?" If you didn't save it, or if you didn't read the last post, don't worry! Here are those instructions again:

First, determine your birth year. I know, that sounds a bit like a no-brainer, but the cycle used to determine annual energy in feng shui begins on February 4th or 5th depending on the position of the sun. For people born on a date from January 1 through February 3, you will use the number for the previous year: i.e. if your birth date is January 14, 1972, you will use 1971 as your year of birth. If your date of birth is February 4 or 5, you will need to find out the solar calendar new year date for that year.

Once you have your proper year of birth:

First, add together the four digits of your birth year: 1 + 9 + 7 + 1 = 18

Second, if needed, continue adding until you have a single digit: 1 + 8 = 9

Third, for a woman: add 4 to the number from step two: 4 + 9 = 13. If this results in a two-digit number, add those together to get a single-digit number: 1 + 3 = 4.

Third, for a man: subtract from 11 the number from step two: 11 – 9 = 2.

Fourth, for men and women, if the calculations in step three result in 5, women use the number 8 as your ming gua, and men use the number 2 as your ming gua. We transform the number 5 into either 2 or 8 because 5 is reserved for the center and is not assigned a direction or a trigram.

Ready to continue?

In the table immediately below, find your ming gua in the top row. This will also tell you your Harmony direction, your trigram, and your personal energy phase for the purposes of feng shui.

The first four numbers, 1, 3, 4, and 9 belong to the East House Group; the last four numbers belong to the West House Group. You may notice that even though the numbers have changed, the trigrams have stayed with their East or West Group affiliation as originally shown in the first diagram above, the HeTu: water-wood-fire, and earth-metal.

Ming gua > Trigram&phase Influences V	1 N water water	3 E thunder wood	4 SE wind wood	9 S fire fire	2 SW earth earth	6 NW sky metal	7 W lake metal	8 NE mountain earth
Wealth	SE	S	N	E	NE	W	NW	SW
Health	E	N	S	SE	W	NE	SW	NW
Longevity	S	SE	E	N	NW	SW	NE	W
Harmony	N	E	SE	S	SW	NW	W	NE
Accidents	W	SW	NW	NE	E	SE	N	S
Obstacles	NE	NW	SW	W	SE	E	S	N
Loss	NW	NE	W	SW	S	N	SE	E
Exhaustion	SW	W	NE	NW	N	S	E	SE

The directions are standard abbreviations:
E – East, SE – South East, S – South, SW – Southwest, W – West, NW – Northwest, N – North, NE – Northeast.

From most favorable to least favorable (though there is some debate on the proper order of Accidents, Obstacles, and Loss), the influences the directions have on you are listed down the left side, and the directions spread across the row in the table. For example, say your ming gua is 3 and you want to know your Wealth direction. Follow the row for Wealth until you intersect with the column for 3 and you will see that S (south) is your Wealth direction.

Say you are a ming gua 2 and you want to avoid your worst direction: follow Exhaustion across the row until it intersects with your ming gua from the top row; a 2 person is going to want to avoid the direction North! (You sure aren't going to want to activate any energy, or even spend much time in that direction!)

Now for your house!

You need to use a compass and find the direction your house faces. There are some exceptions, but generally speaking the wall that contains your front door is the "face" of your house and is called the "facing" or "faces" direction; the back or opposite side of your house is called the "sitting" or "sits" direction.

Set aside your jewelry while you do this. Stand with your back to the front door but away from the door frame or beams so the metal or nails don't affect the compass reading of the direction you are facing. (If your front door were your home's eyes, you and your house should be looking in the same direction, facing the same way.) Write down the degree number on the compass; i.e. if your home faces due south, the compass should read close to 180 degrees. You may also take a couple more readings from different places along the front of your home, but facing in the same direction, just to make sure there is nothing affecting the compass reading. You will use the number and direction from the reading to determine the areas and energies of your home.

If the compass reading is between 22.5 and 67.5 your house faces NE and sits SW
If the compass reading is between 67.5 and 112.5 your house faces E and sits W
If the compass reading is between 112.5 and 157.5 your house faces SE and sits NW
If the compass reading is between 157.5 and 202.5 your house faces S and sits N
If the compass reading is between 202.5 and 247.5 your house faces SW and sits NE
If the compass reading is between 247.5 and 292.5 your house faces W and sits E
If the compass reading is between 292.5 and 337.5 your house faces NW and sits SE
If the compass reading is between 337.5 and 22.5 your house faces N and sits S

Ok? Now comes the interesting part, matching you with your house.

Get some 10-squares-to-the-inch graph paper and draw your house using the scale one foot equals one square and cut around the edges so you have just your house. Then, click on the circle below and print it out. When you're done, click the back button to return to the article.

Write into each section of the "pie" you just printed the meaning that area has for you as outlined in the table above according to your ming gua number. (i.e. if your ming gua was 1, you would write "Wealth" in the southeast section, "Health" in the east section, etc. As closely as you can, placing the center of your house on the center of the "pie," match the facing direction of your house with the degree around the outer edge of the circle. (If the compass reading was 163, do your best to set your graph-paper house on the circle so it is facing the 163 degree mark.)

Now you evaluate!

In what area of the "pie" is your front door (or your garage door, or the exit you most often use)? Where is your bedroom? These should be in one of your four favorable directions. See if the areas you spend most of your time in are your favorable or unfavorable areas (see explanation below). If you find that you are often in unfavorable areas, you should consider leaving home in the morning from a door in a better direction if possible, or changing bedrooms if your sleep area is in an unfavorable location.

Here is what each direction means:

Wealth: This area is the highest-energy area. It is a good direction for your front door if you work outside the home, or a home office if you work at home. The energy of this area has the potential for above-average good fortune in all areas of life, especially money. However, it also has the potential to make you work too hard or too long! This area may be too energetic for your bedroom or area where you like to relax.

Health: This area has the potential to keep you healthy, or to help you recover from an illness. It is a good area for any sort of self-improvement or health maintenance, mental and physical. This is a good area for your bedroom and should bring restful, regenerating sleep.

Longevity: The potential of Longevity is favorable over time; want a long life, a long marriage? How about staying a long time in your job, or improving communications between yourself and others? If so, you want your bedroom or front door in this area.

Harmony: The potential of this area is pretty quiet and relaxing. If your bedroom is here, you will most likely enjoy overall good health and have a harmonious marriage. If your front door is here, you probably will make enough money to live comfortably, but not earn great wealth; you will probably have a job you like, but won't work too hard.

Accidents: The potential of this area is for "things" to happen; annoying things but not overly awful things. You get a nice bonus at work and then the car breaks down and guess what – the cost of repairing the car eats your whole bonus. People misunderstand something you've said and get mad or annoyed at you causing arguments or backbiting. If your bedroom is in this area, you may have trouble sleeping.

Obstacles: This is a "bad luck" sort of area. If your front door is in this area, you could experience bad luck in financial or legal matters. No matter what you try to do, something is always getting in your way, keeping you from getting ahead at work or at home with your family. If your bedroom is in this area, you could experience frequent illness and sleep problems.

Loss: Just what it says: loss. If your front door is here, you could experience loss of job, loss of wealth, loss of business. The losses could be through natural disaster like a fire or flood, or human intervention as when your boss "downsizes" you or a thief robs you. This area is very poor for heath, so you don't want your bedroom here.

Exhaustion: This is the worst area, with the potential for serious misfortune in wealth and luck, serious illnesses, early death, tragedies and injuries, accidents, loss of family. You definitely do not want a door or bedroom in this area, and shouldn't spend much time here.

To recap: It is good to have your front door and bedroom in one of your four good directions, especially for the primary wage earner. If you would like to increase your wealth, exit your home from a door in your Wealth area, but be prepared to work harder! Have your bedroom in one of the other three favorable areas.

Try to avoid having a front door in any of your unfavorable directions. These are more suited to the bathroom (where you don't spend a lot of time) and the kitchen where the heat from the stove is said to symbolically "burn off" the harmful energies.

If you would like a detailed, professional Eight House Bright Mirror reading done for you, please contact me at phoenix_qi@yahoo.com I do excellent work and my rates are very reasonable!

Feng Shui Eight House Bright Mirror School Part 1 - Ming Gua

After the Form or Landform school of feng shui comes Eight House Bright Mirror (ba zhai ming jing). This is where the bagua (eight signs) comes into the practice.

A traditional Eight House (sometimes called Eight Mansion) reading measures and determines the energies of eight areas in your home based upon the direction of the front and back of the dwelling, and it compares these energies to the energy of You as determined by your year of birth to determine favorable and unfavorable areas. There will be four favorable directions and four unfavorable directions. There are a variety of names used, but basically, the favorable directions represent Prosperity, Health, Longevity, and Harmony. The unfavorable directions represent Difficulties, Loss, Obstacles, and Exhaustion.

However, before I talk about your home, I have to talk about You.

If you have any feng shui consultation done and the consultant does not ask you the year of your birth, and the year of birth for all the people living in the house, you are not – I repeat NOT – receiving a traditional feng shui reading.

The energy of You is called your ming gua, your "life symbol" (gua can mean symbol, sign, or trigram) and represents the energies symbolized by one of eight three-line figures called trigrams. You can see the trigrams in their directions with their numbers, Chinese names, and energy phases:

A proper feng shui reading cannot be done without knowing your ming gua. To say that the energy directions of everyone's home is the same is like doing an astrology reading for every person using the same birth date! You would never accept an astrology reading done under those circumstances, so you should also not tolerate a feng shui reading that does not take into account your personal energy signature, and your home's true directional energy as measured with a compass.

Just as your body has unique areas of measurable energy, so too does your home. Just as your doctor would not measure your brain waves and call it an electrocardiogram, or use an electrocardiogram of your heart's activity to diagnose a possible brain dysfunction, so too your front door should not be used to asses your potential for wealth if it is not in that area, and you cannot seriously expect the energy which enters through your front door to behave as if the door faced the north if it really faces east!

As an example, let’s say sunrise in the east represents Wealth. Your feng shui consultant comes in and says your front door is your East/Wealth area. However, you know that your front door actually faces west. You can get up at dawn every day of the year and sit in your doorway, but you are never going to have the energy of sunrise enter through your front door no matter how diligent you are because the door does not really face the direction of sunrise.

Feng shui is about energy; real, measurable energy and the changes of that energy, the cycles of that energy, and the interactions of different directions and cycles of that energy (for example, the cycle of You and the cycle of your House). As soon as the bagua, the eight signs and directions, is used to assess that energy, feng shui ceases to be one-size-fits-all and becomes very personalized. Don't settle for anything less!

You can calculate your personal trigram or ming gua by completing a very simple calculation.

First, determine your birth year. I know, that sounds a bit like a no-brainer, but the cycle used to determine annual energy in feng shui begins on February 4th or 5th depending on the position of the sun. For people born on a date from January 1 through February 3, you will use the number for the previous year: i.e. if your birth date is January 14, 1972, you will use 1971 as your year of birth. If your date of birth is February 4 or 5, you will need to find out the solar calendar new year date for that year.

Once you have your proper year of birth:

First, add together the four digits of your birth year: 1 + 9 + 7 + 1 = 18

Second, if needed, continue adding until you have a single digit: 1 + 8 = 9

Third, for a woman: add 4 to the number from step two: 4 + 9 = 13. If this results in a two-digit number, add those together to get a single-digit number: 1 + 3 = 4.

Third, for a man: subtract from 11 the number from step two: 11 – 9 = 2.

Fourth, for men and women, if the calculations in step three result in 5, women use the number 8 as your ming gua, and men use the number 2 as your ming gua. We transform the number 5 into either 2 or 8 because 5 is reserved for the center and is not assigned a direction or a trigram.

Find your number in the eight-sided figure above. That is your direction, along with your environmental energy signature – one of the five phases of energy: earth, metal, water, wood, or fire.

Next time, I'll talk about how to determine the directions of your home, and how to use the information you have calculated.

If you like, you may get a compass and take a reading on the facing direction of your house. Set aside your jewelry while you do this. Stand with your back to the front door but away from the door frame or beams so the metal or nails don't affect the compass reading of the direction you are facing. (If your front door were your home's eyes, you and your house should be looking in the same direction, facing the same way.) Write down the degree number on the compass; i.e. if your home faces due south, the compass should read close to 180 degrees. You may also take a couple more readings from different places along the front of your home, but facing in the same direction, just to make sure there is nothing affecting the compass reading. You will use the number and direction from the reading to determine the areas and energies of your home.

Until next time….Explore the Mystery of Life!

Moon Phases and Trigrams in the I Ching

There will be a new moon this Saturday, and it is also the Chinese Lunar New Year, so some moon information seemed appropriate.

This diagram shows how the trigrams of the I Ching can be used as symbols for the yin and yang of the light of the moon as it passes through its phases. Beginning at the bottom with the New Moon, follow the trigrams on the right through the moon phases on the left in a clock-wise direction.












The New Moon is most yin, dark and invisible, so its symbol is Kun, made of three yin/dark/broken lines. Circling upward to the left, the light of the crescent waxing moon is symbolized by the bottom yang/light/solid line of the trigram Zhen. Dui, the trigram of bottom and middle yang lines and top yin line, represents the waxing gibbous moon phase. At the top, the three yang/light lines of Qian as the Full Moon keep the darkness of night at bay.

As the moon wanes, the darkness creeps in as shown in the lower line of Xun in the waning gibbous phase. The waning crescent that is two-thirds dark is represented by the two yin/dark lower lines of the trigram Gen. Coming full cycle, we arrive back at Kun and the next new moon.

Below is a photo from Wikipedia showing some of the figures found in a Full Moon, followed by some Chinese Moon Myths.

The rabbit is a popular lunar creature. Some folkloric paintings show Chang-E [moon goddess] clutching the furry creature as she floats to the sky. Legend has it that her husband, divine archer Hou Yi, summoned the rabbit to be his wife's companion for those lonely days at the cold moon palace. She rose to the moon after drinking a magic potion and became an immortal.

Matchmaker Yuexialaoyren is "the old man in the moon." Many tourists, young couples especially, adore posing with his sculpture in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong. He is said to preside over all earthly marriages. In some folklores, he is depicted as playing chess with the God of Longevity in a mountain cave.

The eclipse of the moon was a bad celestial sign in the old days. The Chinese believed that the Heavenly Dog was trying to eat up the moon. They would beat drums and gongs to scare the dog away.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Feng Shui Land or Landform School

I guess I would have to call this feng shui phase one, the Form or Landform school.

This was the first form of feng shui, and we know for sure it was practiced around 200BCE, though probably much earlier. It was initially used to determine the best placement for the coffin of a deceased loved-one. It was believed that if the ancestor were in a favorable location where their spirit could be happy, the descendents would be happy and prosperous also. This art of placement is still practiced today, and is often called Yin Feng Shui.

The art of placement for living people is Yang Feng Shui. In the landform school, when we talk about the art of placement, we don't mean placement of items inside the house, we mean the placement of the house!

Animals and constellations.
Viewing orientation: standing in the center, looking up at the sky.

The four sovereign animals you will meet in a moment are derived from the twenty-eight constellations and stations of the moon. At the time this style of feng shui was developed thousands of years ago, on the winter solstice night you looked up into the sky and saw the constellations that comprise the Black Tortoise from horizon to horizon. On the spring equinox, the Green Dragon's constellations filled the sky. The summer solstice saw the constellations of the Red Bird fly overhead, and on the Autumnal equinox, the seven constellations of the White Tiger stalked the night.

The Chinese constellations are quite different from those which we are familiar, but we can roughly compare the area of the four seasonal animals. The Green Dragon spreads across Spica, Virgo, Libra, Antares, Scorpius, and Sagittarius. The Red Bird or Phoenix includes Gemini, Cancer, Hydra, Alphard, Crater, and Corvus. White Tiger covers Andromeda, Aries, Pleiades, Taurus, and Orion (which you may have noticed is now a winter constellation). The Winter Black Tortoise reaches across Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pegasus.

Landform.
Viewing orientation: facing North.







Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase "as above, so below?" Here is where we transfer the symbolism of the animals in the sky above to the earth below.

Qi is scattered on the wind, but can be caught and retained by the water in the stream there at the front of the house thereby bringing good fortune to the residents. This is why the practice is called Feng Shui which I'm surer you already know means Wind & Water.

Landforms are the first thing you should consider in a feng shui reading. Looking at the layout of the land in the diagram, notice that the house is protected on three sides by hills or mountains, and that the front of the house is open to receiving qi or energy. This is often called the "armchair configuration." You can see why if you imagine yourself sitting in an armchair, the Tortoise supporting your back, and resting your arms on the Dragon and Tiger. (Just as you wouldn’t sit sideways or backwards in the chair, your house shouldn't sit in an unfavorable position, either!) There are exceptions to every rule, but generally speaking, you want the land in the back of the house to be higher than the front of the house to afford protection. If there isn't a mountain handy, a raised garden bed or fence will do.

Your front door should never be blocked unless you know that unfavorable energy or qi will enter there. (Frankly, it's best not to live in such a house.) Blocking the front door prevents qi from entering and circulating. Your house needs energy circulation – preferably favorable energy – just as your body does. Stagnant environmental qi can be as unhealthy as sluggish or blocked flow of your qi or your blood through your body.

For the purposes of feng shui, streams and streets are equivalent since both can be corridors of qi. The stream or street should meander past your home instead of rushing past and taking the good qi with it. Living on a busy street can negatively impact your energetic quality of life. You should also avoid living in a house at a T junction where oncoming traffic zooms directly at your home.

Landforms are also symbolic of the five phases of energy (see the previous post on the five phases of energy if this is new to you) based upon shape: Very pointed forms represent the fire phase, flat forms like wide plateaus represent earth phase, rounded-top hills are metallic in energy, rolling hills are considered to belong to the water phase, and tall, thin hills with flat tops symbolize the wood phase of energy.

This is very basic knowledge about environmental qi, but a good first step in understanding traditional Chinese feng shui.

The Astronomy of Christmas and the Epiphany

I had an epiphany a while ago: I discovered that the Twelve Days of Christmas is most likely the observance of the relationship of two astronomical cycles and events.

What is an epiphany? It's defined as "a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience." In other words, an "Ah-ha!" moment. The word epiphany comes from Greek epi- a prefix meaning “upon,” “on,” “over,” “near,” “at,” “before,” “after," combined with phan "to show, see, or appear."

The Feast of the Epiphany is a Christian observance, and the reason there are "Twelve Days" of Christmas is because there are 12 days between the birth of Jesus on December 25 and the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. The Feast of the Epiphany is "A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi."

During the Christmas holiday (which is a contraction of Holy Day) season of 2005, I noticed a very interesting relationship between two astronomical events, one in December and one in January, that further research revealed occurs on the average of twelve days apart every year: twelve is the number of days between the December Winter Solstice and the date in January that the sun is at Perihelion (closest to the planet Earth).

Could it possibly be a coincidence that the number of days between Winter Solstice, when the Sun's strength (the masculine god) is reborn, and Perihelion, when we in our orbit are closest to the sun (the light, enlightenment), is the same as the number of days between Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of a male deity, and Epiphany, the day the people were enlightened as to his holiness? Keep in mind: There is no such thing as coincidence.

The Sun has almost always been a symbol of masculine energy, strength, and divinity; most cultures did at one time worship a male deity represented by the sun. The god most often associated with the Winter Solstice is Mithra or Mithras, the masculine sun god of the Persians (and later worshiped by the Romans) who was born on the day of the Winter Solstice, the day the sun regains his strength. For more on the sun cycle, see Daoism on Winter here at Phoenix Qi.

If you look closely at the above picture of Mithras, you will see the signs of the zodiac arranged around the central image of Mithras slaying the bull (taurus). Mithraic imagery is very astronomically oriented. For a comprehensive explanation of the real astronomy behind the iconography and symbolism in Mithraism, see the wonderful book The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World by David Ulansey.

Another spiritual symbol associated with the sun is the halo (often associated with Jesus) which is representative of the inner light or divinity that shines forth from holy people. Light itself is very often symbolic of intelligence, as when we say a person is "bright" which is a way to say he is "smart," or spiritual achievement as when one is "enlightened."

A couple of thousand years ago, the Winter Solstice was on the twenty-fifth of December, so Perihelion would have occurred around January 6. Due to calendar reform over the millennium, the Winter Solstice now falls as early as December 20, and as late as December 23, and Perihelion usually occurs between January 2 and 4, occasionally as late as January 5.

Astronomical events don't always follow an exact schedule, so the number of days between the Winter Solstice and Perihelion can be as few as 11 and as many as 14. However, on the average, the Winter Solstice and Perihelion are separated by twelve days – those Twelve Days of Christmas.

Update April 1, 2007: There is a post illuminating several similarities between Christian and Mithraic beliefs. Included is information about the astronomical significance of the December date of birth of Jesus and Mithras, and the spring resurrection. Please read: Similarities between Mithraic and Christian beliefs and practices.

Which spiritual leader do you most resemble?

This is just a fun little thing, a quiz that is supposed to tell you which spiritual leader your personality most closely resembles.

I took it three times last year and resembled Jesus, Zoroaster, and Baha'u'llah.

My two best friends, both Celtic pagans, took the test; one of them resembled Moses while the other was close to Buddha.

My son's former girlfriend was closest to Lao Tzu, the founder of Daoism!

Click here to take The Religion Founder You Resemble Test. Don't forget to come back and leave a comment telling us who you most resembled!

Daoism on Teachers

I believe this is the modern equivalent of the guqin, the ancient Chinese 7-stringed zither. It is said that Confucius (c. 600 BC) was a master of this instrument.

The quote below is "Music" from p. 100 of Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony by Deng Ming-Dao, Harper San Francisco, NY, 1996, ISBN 0-06-251395-8.

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Yue

Music, joy.

The music of nature is entirely different from the music of the academy.

There once was a zither student whose master, frustrated by his pupil's lack of musical progress for so many years, pronounced him unsuitable for learning. To understand how devastating this was to the young man, one must remember that playing the zither was considered a very high and demanding art, practiced only by refined and learned people. In addition, one's master was like a parent. He or she was usually as dedicated to teaching as a parent is to rearing a child. So to be rejected by his teacher was a great shock to the student.

The master abandoned the young man on the shores of an island, leaving the student only a zither. Left to his own resources, the disappointed pupil provided first for his survival. The island, although uninhabited, had enough wild fruit and vegetables to sustain him. In the time that followed, he listened to the singing of birds, the chorus of the waves, the melodies of the wind. He spent long periods of time in meditation and musical practice. By the time he was rescued, several years later, he had become a virtuoso player and composer, far greater than his master: he had entered into Tao.

And so it is with us. We need teaching. But there is a point beyond which teaching cannot provide for us. Only direct experience can give us the final dimensions we need. That means learning from nature, and learning from ourselves. As long as we remember that, there can be no mistake.

Deng Ming-Dao

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Here we have a quintessential Quest Story with the Archetypal Hero who makes his appearance as "unsuitable" and inept, who leaves town for a long time and seeks that which he knows will bring him joy (the music) but did not with the Teacher, who experiences an enlightening adventure, who returns to his place of origin as an admired adept.

In our immaturity, we often deliver ourselves into the hands of teachers and unquestioningly believe what they tell us regarding our ability and value. The problem with that is, even if those teachers are friendly toward us and want us to succeed, their judgment is still subjective. If they are unfriendly, over-demanding, or ego-driven, teachers can instill a lack of confidence in us that we may shoulder throughout our life. (As you can see, choosing and being a teacher carries a lot of responsibility, and should never be taken lightly.) Also, students' learning styles differ; for a successful teaching/learning experience, the student and teacher must be compatible.

Now, here is something that may seem to be a paradox but if you think about it, you'll find that it makes complete sense: sometimes we place too much importance on finding or having a teacher. The reason, I believe, is because somewhere deep inside, whether we admit it or not, we believe that if we find the right teacher, he or she can instill abilities in us like pouring water into a bottle. Logically, we know this is untrue, but it's human nature to hope to find that magical someone from whom we may effortlessly learn. Teachers are guides; a teacher may be the best way to learn some types of knowledge, but for other areas there may be better ways to follow. In any event, we still have to do the learning for ourselves.

The big question is, how difficult should it be? Think about effortless learning for a moment. When is learning effortless? Is it when you follow your natural inclinations and learn/practice that which is your purpose in life? I believe it is. Remember the principle of "wei wu wei," doing without doing, and that it means doing that which follows the laws of nature, doing (any action) in accordance with the natural flow of energy not against it. Now, I could take zither lessons, but I'm tone deaf....how sensible would it be for me to take any kind of music lessons? Not sensible at all - I'd be wasting my time and money. However, the student in the story was flowing with the universal energy when he chose to take up his instrument, he just needed the right teachers....the birds, the waves, the winds, his inner self.

Oftentimes, we will find that the best teacher for a natural inclination is Nature herself, inner Nature (that which we feel, or Dao), and outer Nature (that which we observe).

I like that this story is about Music because that is what the Language or the Voice of the Universe is often called; music of the stars, music of the heavens, etc. "The so-called music of the spheres was thought by Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras in the 6th century BC — and by later classical and medieval philosophers of the Western world — to be a perfectly harmonious music, inaudible on Earth, produced by the movement of the stars and planets. In many non-Western cultures ancient thinkers understood music as part of a system of cosmological, philosophical, or scientific thought. For instance, the musical scale of ancient China, derived through arithmetic from a basic note, reflected the ancient Chinese conception of the organization of the universe." (Source: Encarta)

Another thing I love about this story is the island metaphor: island as a spiritual realm. There was the Hero - abandoned on an island....and, worse, left with only the object of derision & scorn, the zither. In his isolation, he discovers self-sufficiency, and the greater enlightenment of hearing the song of the universe as presented to him by the birds and the waves and the wind. Left to his own devices, naturally finding his way to the Dao as we all are wont to do when left to our own devices, he is not only able to hear the Song of the Spheres, he is able to translate the Language of the Universe using his zither, gifting the Sound of the Universe to mortal men like the old teacher who never advanced as far as his pupil.

To ponder the idea of isolation a bit further....in isolation, many of the great religious leaders have found enlightenment: Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad. Buddha of course spent his time at the edge of a forest seated beneath a tree, Jesus went into the desert for an extended time, Muhammad meditated in caves outside Mecca. Lao Tzu, author of the Dao De Ching, was a man who shunned the public eye, though we don't know if he spent time in isolation as did the others mentioned. (One article claims he worked as the librarian in the emperor's library!) I suspect that he did spend some quality alone-time because legend tells us his philosophy of peaceful, simple living in natural surroundings was rejected by society so it stands to reason he must have lived in this way in order to espouse the ideal. After having his philosophy rejected, he went into retirement away from the city, and it was during a break in this long and lonely journey he was asked by a border gatekeeper to write his philosophy so it would not be lost. So, spending time in isolation does appear to be a common thread among enlightened human beings.

Being on an island surrounded by water is like being in the womb. In being removed from his village and left on the island, the Hero has been returned to his True Source, the realm of spirit. An island in the sea (or the sky) has always been the equivalent of the spiritual realm. (In this type of story, the sea and sky are interchangeable; even the Milky Way was called by the ancient Egyptians the Celestial River (which was crossed on one's way to the World of the Dead), and was the equivalent of the River Styx in European myth, the crossing of water into the land of the dead - which was also the land of Spirit! In the I Ching it's called "crossing the great water" or "...the great river.")

His rescue is, of course, his rebirth. Having entered the Dao through his music, he is now perfectly in harmony with the Universe; through his enlightened experience, he shares with those who rejected him the Music of the Spheres through the playing of his zither.

No matter who your teacher is, and especially if you have no blood-and-flesh teacher, align yourself harmoniously with the natural laws of the universe...enter the Dao.

Correct Orientation of Taiji Yin/Yang symbol

Subtitle: are you a yin/yang snob?

I admit it….I was until a few months ago when I observed a most interesting symbolic association of the taiji symbol with a symbolic energy map.

Most people believe the proper orientation for the taiji is yang on the left originating on the bottom, growing around in a clockwise direction from 6:00 to 12:00 positions, and reaching maturity at the top while yin is on the right, has its origin at the top, also grows in a clockwise direction from 12:00 to 6:00 positions, and matures at the bottom of the circle. If you trace the center curving line, you will see that it creates a reversed "S."

Many people believe the above symbol is related to this sequence of the trigrams (three-line symbols) of the I Ching. Imagine you are standing in the center of the diagram looking toward the edges. Beginning in the lower left position, the symbol for "thunder" comprised of a bottom solid line (yang), middle and top broken lines (yin), the yang energy grows clockwise around the left side until at the top, there are three yang lines indicative of the peak of yang energy. The yin cycle begins with the trigram for "wind" in the upper right corner; you can see how the yin energy begins to grow from the yin line at the bottom, continues to grow clockwise around the right side of the circle, until yin is at its peak as shown by the three yin lines at the bottom.

You may recognize this circle of trigrams as the Early Heaven Arrangement I spoke of earlier in my post about The Sacred Wheel of the Year as revealed through the I Ching. It can represent just about any cycle you care to apply it to, but is most often used to indicate the seasonal cycles of summer/winter and daily light/dark cycle.

However, there is an alternative possibility and orientation.

This diagram is called the HeTu or HoTu, the Yellow River Map, and was the original Mystical message sent to Fu Xi; from this he created the Early Heaven Circle of trigrams seen in the second diagram above. The Hetu is used mainly by practitioners of Xuan Kong (aka Time & Sapce, or Flying Star) feng shui who create and study a diagram of the energies of your home. The pairs of numbers 1-6, 3-8, 2-7, and 4-9 represent favorable or unfavorable energetic influences. I may go into feng shui at a later date; the only thing you need be concerned with in the present discussion is that the white circles represent yang, and the black circles represent yin, and the forward progression of the numbers starting with the lowest: 2-4-6-8 for yin and 1-3-7-9 for yang. The center represents Heaven (five white circles) and Earth (ten black circles).


Now, take a look at this ancient taiji diagram and notice how the yin and yang start at a spot on the edge of the inner circle, grow in the direction that corresponds to the ascending numerical sequence for their type (yin or yang) from the He Tu diagram, moving from an inner aspect to an outer aspect just as the groups of black and white circles do on the He Tu.

Assume that Heaven and Earth, the five yang and ten yin circles are in the center of this ancient taiji circle. 2 and 4 on the He Tu correspond to the yin area on the right which is inside the yang, and numbers 6 and 8 correspond to the HeTu where yin had moved to the outer aspect and continues around on the left side from the bottom to the top. Yang behaves the same, starting on the inside with the number 1, growing clockwise to the number 3 position, and then becoming the outer aspect at the numbers 7 and 9 He Tu positions.

Rounding it out a little, softening the edges, we get the mirror image of the first taiji diagram:

So, if you had a bet with someone on the "correct" orientation for the taiji or yin/yang symbol, you're both right!

As everything else in life, nothing is ever what it seems, and everything is only a matter of perception.