A Quote from Alvin

"A house is just a house. It is the great people you stay with that makes it a home."

Regards
Alvin Chua

Meditation is not a one size fits all cultivation

For those who wants to learn meditation, please go slow...
The following article sheds some light on the potential complications if it is done too excessively or hastily:
Can Meditation Be Bad for You?
http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/MaryGarden.html

Regards
Alvin Chua

A Possible Fatal Feng Shui Sha

I was looking at this picture of a house and the crisscrossing of the power lines just immediate outside the house on the right seems to me a bad physical feng shui threat due to its close proximity. It’s the most prominent feature in the picture. In the year 2003, the annual flying star 3 arrived in the SW sector where this power lines were located. Those who are familiar with annual star 3 will know its meaning; especially with a physical feature to trigger it. To be more detailed, the power lines are in the Wei mountain 未, giving more clues to why the year 2003 is of significance.

This house was a site of a brutal murder of two Singaporeans in 2003.

Coincidence? Maybe.

I do not know the age of the house thus can’t analyze further with XKFX. 

Regards

Alvin Chua

Apparitions?

Recently, I had the chance to take a look at the feng shui report from a friend who got his home audited by a famous master from Hong Kong quite a couple of years ago. It was very interesting as it gives me the opportunity to see the works of a master. This friend of mine actually paid a 4 figure sum for the consultation which is reasonable for a master of that caliber. However, his family after moving into the house did not feel that the feng shui is good at all as each of the family members suffers from some form of illness. But this isn’t so bad compared to what my friend told me later. He said one of his family members has actually seen apparition of 3 different persons in the house. He himself also felt them at times. Luckily, the occurrence did end eventually after a few years but I’m not going into the details here.

The central part of the house contains the 2-6 Flying Stars combo and those who read the old Flying Star text, Fei Xing Fu, wll know what it means:

飞星赋：【乾坤神鬼，与他相克非祥。】

乾为金、为天、为神，坤为土、为地、为鬼。遇衰死，只宜化，不宜克和斗，恐招鬼神入屋。

Some fengshui masters prefer to take the scientific approach and thus they deliberately choose not to mention anything to do with spiritual entities.

Scary isn’t it? Three apparitions? Yikes!

Regards

Videos on history of Chinese Astronomy and calendar

I would like to share the following series of video, which talks about the history of Chinese astronomy and calendar e.g. 节气，二十八星宿, etc. It is very useful for those interested in date selection and also early form of feng shui:
http://210.34.4.53:88/playvideo.asp?id=11064
http://210.34.4.53:88/playvideo.asp?id=11065
http://210.34.4.53:88/playvideo.asp?id=11066
http://210.34.4.53:88/playvideo.asp?id=11067
http://210.34.4.53:88/playvideo.asp?id=11068

Regards

Alvin Chua

My handy method remembering the 12 Cyclic Stages of Heavenly Stems 十二长生

this is method of remembering the traditional 12 Natural Stages of Heavenly Stems (十二长生历程) where Yin & Yang Polarity of the DM determines the stages. I have come up with it in order for me to know the stages without refering to books and the computer.

Just need to memorise the 2 pattens: 1 for 甲乙丙丁戊己, the 2nd one for 庚辛壬癸.
These 2 patterns will give you the 长生 of each heavenly stems, then you count the rest of the 11 stages counter clockwise or clockwise, depending on the polarity of the stem.

Regards
Alvin Chua

观音诞穿耳洞不痛

I saw this advert some years back. Very interesting as it says that piercing one's ears on the birthday of Guan Yin is a less painful affair than any other days.Maybe can try if you or your daugther wants to get the ears peirced.

Good Chinese site on Luopan's History and Uses

This site has many articles on the history and developments of the Chinese compass:
http://www.luopan.org/

Regards
Alvin Chua

金鸡独立 - A simple and effective exercise

Below is an email I received recently and I have done some research on it. Do give it a try.

SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE EXERCISE
The essence of the exercise is that your "Eyes Must be Closed" when you are doing this exercise. You must practise the "Jin Ji Du Li" exercise with the eyes closed. This exercise was so simple and amazing that I thought I had to share it here.
Here is the exercise:
Stand on one leg while your eyes are closed. That is all. Just try it right now, stop reading and stand up, close your eyes and try standing on one foot.


If you are not able to stand for less than 10 seconds, it means that your body has degenerated to 60 to 70 years old level in other words, you may be only 40 years old, but your body has aged a lot faster.

Compare your performance to the norms for various ages:

20 to 49 years old: 24 to 28 seconds.

50 to 59 years: 21 seconds.

60 to 69 years: 10 seconds.

70 to 79 years: 4 seconds.

80 and older: most cannot do it at all.

I tried this exercise myself when I read the mail. I thought “oh, big deal, I’m sure I can do this easily” I was fooling myself, I’m glad I tried it because I discovered much to my surprise that while I could stand easily on one foot with my eyes open, trying the same thing with my eyes closed was another story! I just could not keep my balance for more than two to three seconds before I started wobbling and hopping around.

You do not need to lift your leg high, if your internal organs are out of synch, even lifting your leg this bit will make you wobble.
Now this was quite scary because it told me that my body was almost 60 years old and here was me, barely into my forties! These Chinese are really very advanced in their knowledge of the human body. It was very heartening to know that frequent and regular practice can help you recover your sense of balance. In fact Chinese specialists suggest daily practice of Jin Ji Du Li for 1 minute, this helps prevent dementia.
You can try slightly closing both eyes while practicing Jin Ji Du Li, instead of completely closing them; in fact this is what the health specialist Zhong Li Ba Ren recommends.
Daily practice of Jin Ji Du Li, can help in healing many illnesses or diseases like

• Hypertension,
• High Blood Sugar or diabetes,
• Neck and Spinal diseases,
• it can also prevent you from getting dementia.

Zhong Li Ba Ren has written a book titled "Self Help is Better than Seeking Doctors' Help", which is a bestselling book that has been the best seller health book in China since it was first published last year. Its success can be measured by the fact that it has been reprinted 12 times within 6 months, with more than 1 million copies sold. The book is a hot seller because is it teaches many simple practical health tips.
It is said that according to the understanding of Chinese physicians, diseases appear in the body because the coordination between the various internal organs encounter problems and that causes the body to lose its balance. Jin Ji Du Li can readjust this inter-relationship of the organs and how they function with each other. Zhong Li Ba Ren stated that many people can't stand on one foot with their eyes closed for even 5 seconds, but later on as they practice it daily, are able to stand for more than 2 minutes.
As you gain ability to stand for longer time, the feeling of "head heavy, light feet” disappears. As benefits or practising Jin Ji Du Li, you will experience that the quality of sleep improves, the mind clears up and memory improves significantly. Most importantly if you can practice Jin Ji Du Li with your eyes closed for 1 minute every day, you will not get dementia. (I think it this also means the brain will remain healthy).
Zhong Li Ba Ren explained that there are 6 important meridians passing through our legs. When you stand on a single leg, the weak meridian will feel sore while getting the necessary exercise, and as this happens, the corresponding organs of these meridians and their path-ways, start getting the necessary tuning. This method can focus or concentrate the awareness, and channel the body's qi to the foot. The beneficial effects of practising Jin Ji Du Li on various illnesses associated with hypertension, diabetes, neck and spinal diseases are quick to be seen and felt. Jin Ji Du Li can also prevent gout.
Jin Ji Du Li helps to Strengthen body Immunity rapidly
Jin Ji Du Li it is suitable for everyone generally. It is the basic cure for "Cold Feet Disease” and it can also strengthen the body’s immunity. You do not have to wait until you have any illness to start practising Jin Ji Du Li. It is especially beneficial for young people, when they practice it daily while they are healthy, so that their chances of contracting the various illness associated with aging is comparative lower.
Please note that it is not suitable for people over 70 years old, or those old people whose legs are not strong and cannot stand steadily.

Testimonials, video and more info in Chinese can be found here:
http://blog.39.net/jcj19560518/a_6170560.html
http://blog.sina.com.tw/cj_lankofun/article.php?pbgid=33100&entryid=251171
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4a35e10b0100cyp4.html

English Articles on Sense of Balance and aging:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Senior-Balance---Why-Does-it-Get-Worse-As-You-Age?&id=1498086
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/health/08brod.html

Regards
Alvin Chua

Interesting Discoveries by a Taiwanese Forensic Pathologist

Watched a Taiwanese TV talk show today and one of the invited guests is an experienced forensic pathologist, Dr Gao. He shared with the viewers some interesting trends that he discovered over his 27 years career, having performed autopsies on over 3000 dead bodies. Here’s what he shared:

1. A high percentage of unnatural deaths (e.g. accidents, victims of crimes, etc) occur at the age of 9, 19, 29, 39, 49 and 59.

2. A high percentage of unnatural deaths occur in the 2 months just before the birthday of the victims.

3. Most of the younger victims (age 20s to 30s) of unnatural deaths REALLY do have a shorter Life Line (this is one of the main lines in palmistry, commonly said to denote the lifespan of a person. The longer it is, the longer the lifespan. Majority of palmists however, do not believe this is the case).

Very interesting discoveries indeed.

This forensic pathologist has written a book about forensic medicine before:

http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010258582

Regards

Alvin Chua

活到老，学到老

Few days ago I was at a bookshop looking at feng shui books (as usual, my 职业病). Beside me was an old man in his 70s, and he started asking me if I was looking for books on bazi. I politely replied that I was just browsing around, not just bazi but feng shui as well. He then went on “it is not easy to good books on bazi, furthermore, the more you read, the more confused you become”. How true indeed, I thought to myself. “After so many years of studying bazi books, I came to the conclusion that there is only one author that truly presents the theories and concepts effectively, and his books are highly recommended to you”. He then showed me a book from this author, and I truly agreed with him. The author is almost the same age as this old man and his name is Zhu Que Qiao 朱鵲橋. I thank the old man for sharing his wisdom and secretly marveled at the fact that despite his age, the man is still an ardent fan of bazi study.

Regards and Happy 2012!

Alvin Chua

The Hour Pillar in your Bazi Could be Wrong

Hi all,

Do you know that the Hour Pillar in your Bazi could be wrong if you are born in Singapore?
Singapore have adjusted the national time a couple of times since 1950s, hence, the accuracy of your birth hour could be undermined since being born in each different decade in Singapore's history would mean a wrong hour instead of what is indicated in your birth certificate.

The following article will shed some light on this:
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/timezone.html

Regards and Happy New Year
Alvin Chua

Dynamic Meditation of Luangpor Teean

Today, I would like to introduce a very effective method of meditation called Dynamic Meditation. It is sometimes also known as Rhythmic Meditation or Mahasati Meditation. It is a method that uses a sequence of hand movements to focus the mind, very different from the typical way of which stillness is the keystone.

I have tried it and find it highly suitable for the urban dwellers since you can really achieve the stillness of the mind in a shorter time than the conventional methods. There is less time wasted on the mind wandering during practice.

Someone even did a University Thesis on this method of meditation.

It is a way that is simple to learn and practise.
The following links will provide you the necessary background knowledge as well as the instructions:

http://paulgarrigan.com/luang-por-teean-and-his-dynamic-meditation/

http://www.mahasati.org/

http://www.awarenesswithmovement.org/rhythmic.php

http://www.archive.org/details/Ajahn-Suthep-Introduction-to-Basic-Dynamic-Meditation

http://buddhaleelamahasati.com/

http://www.mcu.ac.th/thesis_file/255122.pdf

Regards
Alvin Chua

Bed Against the Stove

In feng shui for the bedroom, one of the major taboos would be to position the bed with the headboard sharing the same wall with the stove directly on the other side.
Anyone sleeping on such a bed location will become impatient and short-tempered over time.

Thus, it came to me as a surprise when I watched a documentary about Northern rural China, where it is a norm in certain villages to deliberately position their bed this way. This is because of the cold temperature they experience most part of the year. By having the bed behind the stove, the warmth created after cooking will help to warm their bed before their bedtime. Since they use wood as the fuel, the smouldering can provide warm throughout the night.

Hence, in their environment, this feng shui taboo has lost its significance and instead providede a more conducive living condition. Very interesting.

Regards
Alvin Chua

Feng Shui Shops no biz...

In the last few years I have seen a handful of feng shui shops, selling feng shui paraphernalia, cures and offering consultation services by their in-house masters, all closed down after a few years of bad business.

Yesterday, I saw another feng shui shop in town area, located in a recently opened shopping mall. I was surprised that the owner chose to open his branch here since the mall is known to be a flop since day 1. There are no customers at all and rental is not going to be cheap in town area. It will probably fold once the lease is up.

All these make me question about the validity of feng shui applications for retail businesses. After doing some extensive research about it, it seems that feng shui theories used for commercial premises is a rather recent development. The earliest record I can find is a theme park in Shanghai built in 1916, where a fengshui master was consulted in the building of the place. In fact, up to the 1960s, feng shui was used solely for Yang Zhai (town planning, residential dwellings, basically buildings for non-commercial basis) and Yin Zhai (burial places). It was only after the Cultural Revolution, in the early 1970s when feng shui became a primary concern of businesses growing during the post-unrest economic boom. So to say, feng shui being applied to retail businesses has less than a century of history and developments.

Regards
Alvin Chua

A simple prayer to the Di Ji Zhu (地基主)

Conducted a prayer to the Di Ji Zhu (地基主) at a client's new home today. After which a space cleansing ritual was conducted.

Hope all will be well and blessed for the new occupants of the house.

Regards
Alvin Chua

A Case Study - Period 6, 3 Room HDB Flat

The following was a recent case I attended. The house is a 3-room HDB built in the late 1970s and the couple moved in 1986 when they tied the knots. As it is an old flat, getting a copy of the floor plan was not easy since most people who bought their flats in the 80s don’t really see the need to have one.

The house has a 9 Facing Star located at its main entrance, which is excellent in terms of prosperity. But this is true during the current period 8. The couple moved in Period 7 and thus the auspiciousness of Star 9 was not strong enough to be of any benefit.

Unfortunately, there are a few serious flaws of the house that undermines the feng shui even further. First, the bedroom has a 2-5 combo at the room’s door and the bed was locate in the 3-6 sector, with the quarrelsome 3 Sitting Star activated.

The sector representing the male owner’s was severely drained and the sector representing the female owner was weakened by the Wood element (a big tree, this unit is on the 6^th floor but you can see canopy of the tree from the living room).

Marital woes started in 1990 onwards and eventually ended in estrangement and finally divorce.

Regards

Alvin Chua

Birth Month Suggests Career Path -- Science & Technology -- Sott.net

The recent study in UK suggests that being born in certain months will determine the career paths as well as potential health problems. Maybe this is why in Bazi, the month is always the most important aspect.

Birth Month Suggests Career Path -- Science & Technology -- Sott.net: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234518-Birth-Month-Suggests-Career-Path

观世音菩萨的一串念珠

今天上网看易学文章之余， 看到了这个故事，非常有道理：

佛印禅师与苏东坡同游灵隐寺，来到观音菩萨的的像前，佛印禅师合掌礼拜。忽然，苏东坡问了一个问题，“人人皆念观世音菩萨，为何他的手上也和我们样，挂着一串念珠？观世音菩萨念谁？”佛印禅师：“念观世音菩萨。” 苏东坡：“为何亦念观世音菩萨？”佛印禅师：“他比我们更清楚，求人不如求己。”

A Feng Shui training recently attended

A photo taken with my latest teacher (my 4th one), Mr Wilson Heng from True Yijing Training Center. Definitely have improved my perspective on feng shui analysis. The truth is learning feng shui is a lifetime process.

Regards
Alvin Chua