This cat can wait

A few evenings ago, Jerry Wang of Taiwan had filmed and posted a 24 seconds video of a cat waiting for her "mom"-- an old lady with signs of osteoarthritis, who picks recyclables like bottles and paper on the streets.  This video generates over 100K views within 48 hours.  Here is the video link:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=4536493626355

In the video, a cat with black and white hair was meowing eagerly while waiting for someone at a cross-junction with traffic.  The cat's tail was waving at "full mast", signaling her happiness of seeing "mom" approaching her in a few seconds.

The cat's owner, an old lady, was staggering across the junction while pushing a cart with recyclables.

"This feline had been there for a long time, waiting for someone." Wrote Jerry.

"Their interactions-- had stopped the activities of all the people in the junction, gazed at the old woman and her cat."

When the cart was moving near the cat, the cat had turned around and walking elegantly with her "mom" into the alley.

A reader wrote:

阿嬤與貓   (Old woman and cat)

牠在馬路的另一頭，喵喵的叫著，
She is meowing on other side of the street.
迎接主人阿嬤的到來。
Welcoming back her old mom
感情是一種很直接沒有修飾的流露，
Love is a direct manifestation without elaboration
它超越了語言和種類，
It transcends language and species
人如此，動物也是如此，
It is same for human and animals
二者是一樣的，身異而情感不異。
The two are identical; experiencing the same feeling and love regardless of body forms
只要善待牠們，你就可以感受到那簡單且滿滿的愛。
Treating them well and you will experience this simple but fullest love

This short video could have elicited heated arguments on social injustice and poverty.  Instead, people see beyond the negative and appreciate the bonding and  simple love between two species.

Go adopt a homeless cat in your local animal shelter.


Ken Lai

“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
“Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career” w/ 7 hr. HD video
“Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques” w/ 6 hr. HD video
“Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
“Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 21 hr. video
“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui”w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
 “Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
 “4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp” with 12 hr. video

 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
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Karma Credit Windfall of the Year

Hi Pals,

The  message below wakes me up from my extended summer hibernation.  It shows you the best deal for getting huge positive karma credit with minimal effort. 

According to Tibetan Buddhism., whatever good deeds (and bad deeds too) that you do during a lunar or solar eclipse will be multiplied by 700 billion to 100k billion times 

Whether you believe in Tibetan Buddhism or not, this is a "one to billion" deal that is too good to miss. Your "good deed" can be as easy as chanting a simple mantra or as "painful" as donating a few dollars to your favorite charity (and getting the karma credit for 700- 100k billion of dollars, even beating Bill Gate). 

This is the best opportunity to dedicate substantial merits from this good deed to your karma creditors, your ancestors, your aborted children, suffering souls and the likes. 

Karma creditors are the primary source of one's suffering and misfortunes. Appeasing your karma creditors will make your life easier and may be richer.

If you don't believe in this karma credit thing, you at least be a good boy or girl during the time periods specified below. So that you will not be in big trouble if this is the real deal.

Best Wishes!

Ken Lai

=============================================================
On Monday, 29 September 2014, 16:23, Buddha Dordenma Image Foundation wrote:

Dear Dharma Brothers & Sisters:

I urge you to chant Buddha mantra during total lunar eclipse period on Oct 8, 2014 and partial solar eclipse on Oct 23, 2014. Any deeds, good or bad, committed during a lunar eclipse period can multiply up to seven hundred billion times, while a solar eclipse up to a hundred thousand billion times. Please take advantage of this rarest opportunity to cultivate great virtues and clear obstacles from previous innumerable lifetimes by chanting Buddha mantra of your choice.

For convenience, consider chanting Chenrezig (Guanyin) mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum" for as many times as you can. Chenrezig practice essentials have been concisely compiled for you here. After the chanting session, dedicate your virtues to all sentient beings, which will further augment the total benefits received by all.

Chanting must be performed during the course of eclipse:
Total lunar eclipse on Oct 8, 2014 at 08:17-13:32 (UTC)
Partial solar eclipse on Oct 23, 2014 at 19:38-23:52 (UTC)

Remember to convert the UTC to your own timezone. For example, if you reside in Hong Kong/ Malaysia/ Singapore, then use UTC+8 hours (= Oct 8, 2014 at 16:17-21:32 and Oct 23, 2014 at 03:38-07:52). You can also convert the timings to your timezones at www.timeanddate.com.

May you and sentient beings benefit from the immeasurable virtues that you cultivate.

Buddha bless us all,
His Eminence Trizin Rimpoche
Founder & Chairman __._,_.

Jersey Colors and World Cup Wins-- First 8 Matches

Note:  In 2010,  I had found a strong correlation of 60% or more on the influences of jersey color on World Cup wins.  The followings are "green materials" (recycle)  with updated statistics for the first 4 matches of the World Cup in Brazil. (updated June 15 with  results of 8 matches)

Chinese 5-elements theory states that the world is made up by the interactions between 5 type of energies;  metal, water, wood, fire and earth.  The relationship between these 5 types of elements are as follow:

• Metal is represented by white color. It is controlled by fire (red), drained by water (blue or black) and nurtured by earth (yellow or brown).
• Wood is represented by green color.  It is controlled by metal (white), drain by fire (red) and nurtured by water (blue or black).
• Water is represented by blue or black color. It is controlled by earth (yellow or brown), drain by wood (green) and nurtured by metal (white).
• Earth is represented by yellow or brown color. It is controlled by wood (green), drain by metal (white) and nurtured by fire (red).
• Fire (red) is represented by red or purple or orange color.  It is controlled by water (blue or black), drained by earth (yellow or brown) and nurtured by wood (green).

Here are the rules for picking the winning team:

• If that team's jersey color controls the opponent's jersey color (example, red will lose to blue) or
• If that team's jersey color drains the opponent's jersey color (white will lose to blue)

How does it work?
Jersey color stands for part of the energy field surrounding the players.  By controlling or draining the energy field of your opponent using appropriate colored jersey, you can enhance the energy level of your own team and weakening the energy level of your opponent.  There are other Chinese metaphysical methods like Qi-Men-Dun-Jia that can increase the odds of  winning by 10- 15% through the use of directional energies.

Plugging this 5-elements theory to the first 4 matches, we have the following results:

FIRST 4 MATCHES

1.  BRAZIL vs CROATIA  (Jersey: yellow vs red)

-- yellow is earth and red is fire.  Earth drains fire.  The 5-elements theory predicts Brazil will win.
Result:  Brazil 3,   Croatia 1

2.  MEXICO vs CAMERON  (Jersey: green vs yellow)

-- green is wood and yellow is earth.  Wood controls earth.  The theory predicts Mexico will win.
Result:  Mexico 1,   Cameron 0

3. NETHERLANDS vs SPAIN (Jersey: blue vs  white)

-- blue is water and white is metal.  Water drains metal. The theory predicts Netherlands will win.
Result:  Netherlands 5,   Spain 1

4. CHILE  vs  AUSTRALIA (Jersey: red vs yellow)
-- red is fire and yellow is earth.  Earth drains fire.  The theory predicts Australia will win. (Incorrect prediction)
Result:  Chile 3,   Australia 1
=======================================
Prediction accuracy for first day:  75%

SECOND 4 MATCHES

5.  COLUMBIA  vs  GREECE  (Jersey: yellow vs  blue)

-- yellow is earth and blue is water.  Earth controls water.  The 5-elements theory predicts Columbia will win.
Result:  Columbia 3,   Greece 0

6.  URUGUAY  vs  COSTA RICA (Jersey: blue vs  white)

-- blue is water and white is metal.  Water drains metal. The theory predicts Uruguay will win. Incorrect prediction.
Result:  Uruguay 1,   Costa Rica  3

7. ENGLAND  vs  ITALY  (Jersey: white  vs blue)

-- blue is water and white is metal.  Water drains metal. The theory predicts Italy will win.  
Result:  England 1,   Italy 2

8. IVORY COAST vs  JAPAN (Jersey: yellow vs blue)
--  yellow is earth and blue is water.  Earth controls water.  The theory predicts Ivory Coast  will win.
Result:  Ivory Coast 2,   Japan 1
=======================================
Prediction accuracy for second day:  75%

Similar to 2010, Chinese 5-elements theory's predictions are almost 75% accurate for the first 8 matches of the World Cup.

You may enhance your World Cup betting with consideration of jersey colors.

May the best team win (Coaches:  Make sure you pick the winning color for your team jersey)!

Ken Lai

“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
“Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career” w/ 7 hr. HD video
“Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques” w/ 6 hr. HD video
“Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
“Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 21 hr. video
“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui”w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
 “Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
 “4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp” with 12 hr. video

 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
 http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com  

New Revenue Source for Feng Shui Practitioners

Someone posted a link about the Singapore Government chasing down Feng Shui masters for refund on their work for the Singapore Flyer (ferris wheel) in my Facebook page.
http://newnation.sg/2014/05/govt-seeking-refund-from-feng-shui-masters-as-spore-flyer-still-bankrupt/

This is scary for people in the Feng Shui ecosystem (if not egosystem).  But I have doubt about the authenticity of this article for 2 simple reasons:

1. Singapore Government is one of the few smart governments left in this world.  For sure they would have caught the Feng Shui masters or at the least, frozen their bank accounts.
2. Anyone with half a brain will know that Feng Shui is only part of the equation for personal or business successes.

 "First fate, second luck, third Feng Shui, fourth good deeds, fifth study, ........"   is the famous Chinese saying on the ranking of important attributes of destiny.  Feng Shui is ranked number three only.

Economic forecasters do not guarantee results. Business consultants do not guarantee successes. Even weather forecasters with advanced equipment like doppler radar cannot guarantee accurate forecast.  How can one expect a few Feng Shui audits or designs to replace marketing research/ planning and management practices?

Can Feng Shui handle changing business environment, physical environment (Feng Shui) and competitions? Local Singaporeans figure these factors out without blaming Feng Shui.
http://sbr.com.sg/hotels-tourism/exclusive/singapore-flyer-placed-under-receivership-what-went-wrong
http://www.singapolitics.sg/views/why-singapore-flyer-hasnt-taken

Thanks to this "Feng Shui lynching" article, it gives me a new revenue idea for our hardworking (and maybe starving) Feng Shui folks --we can offer "Feng Shui pinata" service for professionals in marketing and management.

"Ken, are you kidding?  You mean clients can beat us up when their business sucks?"

Kind of.  We offer the service to be the "fall guy" of business people's marketing or management flops. So they can blame their failures on Feng Shui and keep their jobs.  If their business is a great success, they can keep all the glory to themselves and mention nothing about the Feng Shui work done.

If you offer this "Feng Shui pinata" service, please send 10% royalty to Ken Lai's PayPal account or any charity of your choice.

Ken Lai

"Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
"Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
"Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career" w/ 7 hr. HD video
"Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques" w/ 6 hr. HD video
"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G" w/ 21 hr. video
"EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui"w/ 3 hr. HD
"EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui" with 4 hr. HD video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing" w/ 24 hr video
 "Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
 "4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
 http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com  

Feng Shui Secret of Disability

A young man with disability in my city got a call from Walmart:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/12/man-with-disabilities-walmart_n_5489333.html

Here is a Feng Shui  secret:

Business or family with a disable member will always somehow makes "it" (a living).  It works even with crappy Feng Shui.

Hence if you run a business, hiring a person with disability will be an insurance against going out of business.  Helping people to achieve what they could is good business (and karma).  Good karma attracts positive energies and business. 

Taking care of a family member/relative or friend with disability is as good as taking care of yourself.

In some religious belief systems,  people with disability are sometimes believe to be the emanations of deities from heaven. They often come to earth in the forms of undesirable physical appearances or sickness to test our humanity.


Ken Lai

"Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
"Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
"Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career" w/ 7 hr. HD video
"Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques" w/ 6 hr. HD video
"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G" w/ 21 hr. video
"EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui"w/ 3 hr. HD
"EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui" with 4 hr. HD video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing" w/ 24 hr video
 "Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
 "4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
 http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com  

Accidental Feng Shui Battle

A few years ago, I put my surplus "wealth cat" figurine, a relic from my old retail business,  in the NE window of my house.

In terms of  Feng Shui's 24 mountains (directions), cat is "yin" and it is put in the NE side.

The NE side of my house is my left side neighbor Vic's SW side.  He has a SW window facing my NE window.  He saw this strange looking cat statue staring and waving its paw towards his house and felt threatened.  He knows that I teach metaphysics and wondered if I tried to voodoo him.

So he put up a  triangular "777" sticker on his SW windows to deflect my wealth cat energy.  I guess "7" is considered lucky number in western thought.  You hit the jackpot when you get "7-7-7" in a slot machine.

However, "7" is not a lucky number in traditional Chinese thought.  The Chinese count the period or unit of one's passing in terms of 7 days like the "first seventh" refers to the first 7 days after one's death. The 49 days after death is the "last seventh" which marks the day the departed goes to heaven or hell.

But to me, "777" can be interpreted as hitting the jackpot which is great.  In terms of Yi-jing, I can also see "777" as a "Ming 蒙" or "immaturity" hexagram, which is an accurate reflection of reality:  two "old" teenagers goofing around.

Last year (2013),  San Sha ("3-killings") negative energy were in yin, mao and chen mountains (directions) .  I had removed the wealth cat and put a pair of Ki-lun figurines there to fix San Sha.

Vic saw two new monsters replacing the fat cat and panicked.  He had responded with putting two cat figurines,  a tile with a heart drawn on it and a "444" sticker on top of the original "777". Who the hell did he get the ideas from?  I had laughed my head off when I saw this hodgepodge of objects and numbers.

Chinese dislike the number 4 because "4" sounds like "death".  But I see "444" as a different number without 4 with some mental twists.

"444" over "777" forms the "Heng 恆" or  "consistency" hexagram with Yi-jing.  It means old habits do not hurt but could be changed for the better.

With two cats sitting on SW side of the house, it will dampen his wife's grip on him (Do you know why?).  Vic at least gets some benefits out of this accidental Feng Shui battle.

Vic and me are both metal daymasters.  Cat is classified as wood in terms of elemental nature in Chinese metaphysics. Wood is the wealth element to a metal daymaster.  But wood is my favorable element but unfavorable to Vic because he is a weak daymaster (please refer to my previous blog on wealth potential).  So his cat figurines will not affect me or even bring me some money but may drive him to overspend or lose some wealth opportunities.

I will give him a Feng Shui talk when my lawn needs mowing.  He had traded a few rounds of lawn mowing for metaphysics advice with me before (Ken note: Yes, the lest that you can get for taking my courses is to trade the knowledge for lawn-mowing service).

If you want to learn these numerology and hexagram symbology, you can take my "Destiny and Luck Management: Forecasting and Decision Support System".

Ken Lai

"Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
"Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
"Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career" w/ 7 hr. HD video
"Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques" w/ 6 hr. HD video
"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G" w/ 21 hr. video
"EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui"w/ 3 hr. HD
"EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui" with 4 hr. HD video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing" w/ 24 hr video
 "Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
 "4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
 http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com 

Traditional Chinese Date-Selections and South Korean Ferry Disaster

On April 16,  I was saddened by the news of the South Korean Ferry disaster and wondered if it has any correlation to the metaphysical properties of the date.   I had written the following message to my "Practical Date-Selection Methods" discussion list:

This ferry took off at April 15, around 9 pm.

I ran a date-selection program which gives results from different traditional Chinese date-selection methods.  It is about 50% for and 50% against traveling in April 15 . (see enclosed pix if you can read Chinese).

But out of the numerous results from this Chinese program, three pieces of data are most relevant:

1. The Purple White Star of the day is 5-yellow disaster star and the likely sailing hour is 2-black sickness star bing-xu hour.  Combination of 5-yellow and 2-black is the worst combination in Purple White Star Astrology.

2. One of the month San-sha locations is south. The ferry had sailed towards south from north. Year San-sha is in the north.

3. The date is a Wu-chen month, bing-chen day, sailing hour likely was wu-xu hour (9 pm).  Chen-dragon clashes Xu-dog.  So the hour clashed both the month and day.

I ran Qi-Men-Dun-Jia day pan for the day, south has Shang-gate (hurt) with bing-ren (heaven and earth pans fighting). It is not the worst direction for the chart. SE palace has xin-yi (white tiger) was the worst direction. I wonder if the ferry was off-course to SE.

Anyway, from this unfortunate case, we can see that choosing the right date-selection method is also based on your luck (for choosing the "right" method).  But it seems basic traditional stuff like purple white star and San-sha, 5-yellow and the date breakers, are still your best bet. You don't really need fancy methods.

Now let's pray for miracles for the missing passengers in that ferry.


Ken Lai

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com

Factors Affecting Wealth Potential in 4P/ Bazi

After figuring out the wealth potential of his 4P birth chart,  a new student of my "4P Bootcamp" wrote:

"Realizing that my chart doesn't have much wealth in it has been a big relief.  It's allowed me to break my attachment to thinking that I should be attaining, or measuring up to my preconceived idea.  It's been a relief to let go of the goal/judgement, and just focus on the cultivation, intention and effort of the moment."

This is real positive thinking at its best.  It obliterates the need to take any motivational seminars or buy any self-help books.  It will save him tons of money too.

However, a 4P chart with few or no wealth elements does not necessarily imply the chart-owner (daymaster) will be poor or wealth-deprived.

To honor this student with this refreshing attitude, I hereby "spill some beans" about wealth element in 4P/ Bazi.  Of course, you can read the whole thing in my "4P Bootcamp" manual and videos (Note:  one of the secrets of wealth is to get people buying your courses).

It is a common misconception that the more wealth elements a 4P chart has, the richer will be the person.

The number of elements in your natal 4P chart shows only potential for wealth and not certainty to get wealth.  Luck periods, especially 10-years luck, affect one's wealth potential greatly too.

A chart with strong or numerous wealth elements (2+) can be a poor person if the daymaster is weak. This is called "poor person living in a grand mansion".  He could be a servant in the mansion or a teller in a bank.  He will get even poorer when wealth luck period comes.  This is called "weak daymaster cannot handle wealth".  His wealth luck will soar when running into peer luck (bi-jian) periods because his daymaster becomes strong (and has the energy to pick up the wealth).

A chart with few or no wealth elements (zheng-cai/ pian-cai) may get wealth when the daymaster runs into 10-years and annual wealth luck periods for strong daymaster and peer luck periods for weak daymaster.  However, to make meaningful or substantial wealth, one needs to have at least a 10-years wealth luck period and preferably two consecutive 10-years wealth luck period.  Annual wealth luck will be likely "money-comes-money-goes" scenarios.

There are more finer points about wealth potentials, like charts with strong daymaster and few wealth elements are likely to jinx wife and father, weak daymasters with numerous wealth may be beaten up by wives and who can or cannot keep the wealth.........

Ken Lai
© 2014- 19 Ken Lai, all rights reserved.

Video Correspondence Courses: (click for details)   
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“Practical Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 12 hr. video
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“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/ FS” w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
“Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
“4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp+ 2019 edition” with 18 hr. video

http://www.kenlaifengshui.com

Mudslides Buried Feng Shui Master Alive

A Hong Kong celebrity Feng Shui Master Zheng went to China for a Yin Feng Shui reburial job in March 30 (Geng-zi day) 2014,  A rare "black rain" thunderstorm came causing mudslide in the cemetery and buried him and 6 others alive.

The incident happened when they lowered the coffin to the grave. Due to custom, women were requested to stay away and thus no female died.

Geng-zi day is a year-breaker day. (zi clashes wu-year). In addition, the date  fan-yin (clashing) Grand Duke Jia Wu from head to toe.  The wrath of Grand Duke is horrific-- 6 deaths and one injured.

Check out this video even though it is in Cantonese dialect:

http://hk.dv.nextmedia.com/actionnews/local/20140402/18676286/20039191

You may ask:  a famous Feng Shui master should have known a breaker date is not a good day to do important tasks, especially a reburial.

However, there are date-selection systems that do not care about traditional inauspicious or taboo dates like year breaker, San Sha and etc.,  like QMDJ and Gui-Gu-Zi methods.  Master Zheng might be using something like that because it is inconceivable to do a reburial without doing a date-selection to avoid clashing the deceased and the living. 

This is why I always remind my students to stay away from traditional inauspicious dates even the date-selection  system that they employ does not care about these taboos.  Besides,  some clients may have general knowledge of these taboo dates and question them if they use those dates.  

In 2007, the 35W Bridge in Minnesota also had collapsed in a breaker day.

Do not do anything important or potentially changing destiny of someone during an inauspicious date. 

RIP Master Zheng

Ken Lai
http://www.kenlaifengshui.com

"Personal Grand Duke" Versus "Annual Grand Duke"

In China, when we pay our annual homage to the Annual Grand Duke (值年太歲) in a temple, we also pray to our "Personal Grand Duke" (本命元神) for blessing and safety.

Annual Grand Duke is the ruler of the year and changes every year.  It is similar to the "annual luck" of everyone's 4-Pillars chart.

"Personal Grand Duke" is the Grand Duke on duty when a person was born.  For example,  people who were born in 1954 or 2014 (Jia-wu year) have the same Personal Grand Duke Zhang Ci. Zhang Ci is the "Personal Grand Duke" of these people for the rest of their life.

Why do we need to keep our "Personal Grand Duke" happy?Because he is in charge of our physical well-being and life expectancy.  Personal Grand Duke is similar to the western notion of personal guardian angel.

There are elaborate rituals for worshiping  Personal Grand Duke  to enhance personal safety, health, wealth luck, neutralize disasters. Here I give you an ultra simple way to solicit help from your own Personal Grand Duke -- simply recite the name of your Personal Grand Duke when you are in trouble, fear, difficult situation or danger.  The names of 60 Grand Dukes are posted below (click to enlarge).  Find the name of your Personal Grand Duke and remember it by heart or tattoo it onto your palm.

HAVE YOU GOTTEN YOUR GRAND DUKE TALISMAN?
To keep things simple, I only list which animal sign clashes or violates Annual Grand Duke in previous blog message.  In reality, it is more complicated than that.  For example, if your 4P chart has zi (mouse) branch in pillar other than the year pillar, you are also clashing Grand Duke!  If month pillar clashes Grand Duke, your parents may be in danger.  If day pillar clashes Grand Duke, you or your spouse may have problem (divorce, sickness, injury or even death).  So some people play it safe and get Grand Duke talismans  for their whole family every year (please read previous blog on how to get your Grand Duke talismans). For example,  Joyce of Philippines, who has also requested talismans in 2013 and write again:

"We kindly request for this year's talisman for our growing  family I believe we had a good 2013 and look forward to a wonderful 2014

1 - House
2  - Joyce 
3 - Dominga  - mother
4 - Jonathan - brother
5 - Jonine  - sister
6 - Jonas - future brother in law..."

Here is an interesting response from a QMDJ student who has purchased one in 2013:

"Well, the end of the year is coming.  My wife Mary surprised me when she asked about the talisman I purchased last year.  She noticed that 2013 was a good year for us despite many 2013 predictions. And many friends and relatives have not had such a good year.  I found your article from a while ago, and went to Heifer International to donate two starter hives of bees.  It is a small thing.  My father, my uncles and my grandfather were bee keepers.  Some of my earliest memories are when daddy would take me and my brother to the bee yard in the spring as he woke up the bees.  So we played with the bees and learned to understand the songs of the bees.  And as in Qi-Men-Dun-Jia, we learnt from the bees about their paths. It is a wondrous thing for a small boy to stand in the flight path of hundreds of bees on a sunny spring day as they go out to the flowers and then return.  

So I ask if you could find two talismans for us.  I work in the Government Center, a most back stabbing place and not a place for a farm boy but that is my karma in this life.  My wife and I dream of moving to the farm and starting a vineyard and maybe a winery but it takes money to do that."  

Interesting analogy between bee dances and QMDJ formation!  Maybe one day you will build a farm with QMDJ principles.


Ken Lai

"Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
"Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
"Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career" w/ 7 hr. HD video
"Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques" w/ 6 hr. HD video
"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G" w/ 21 hr. video
"EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui"w/ 3 hr. HD
"EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui" with 4 hr. HD video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing" w/ 24 hr video
 "Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
 "4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
 http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com 

4P/ Bazi Terminology Conventions

The following is taken from the "4P Bootcamp" manual.  This is an update of an earlier version published a few years ago.

I wrote this because a software developer wants me to recommend his 4P software to my students.  The software is above average but the English translations of 4P terms are horrible and confusing, like translating day-master as "self" and bi-jian also as "self".  So you will find more than one "self" in a chart.

Let's begin:

There are no commonly agreed translations of 4P terms.  Different schools or teachers translate 4P terms according to his/her personal preferences.  There are three major rules used in translations:

1. Literal translations: This simply gives a faithful and very often, horrible (in terms of culture shock) translations of the terms. For examples, “shi-shen” is translated as “eating god”, “qi-sha” becomes “7-killings”, “shang-guan” becomes “hurting officials or officers” and the likes. Problem with literal translations is that it may bias student perceptions towards certain term as “bad” or negative because it sounds horrible. In reality, every one of the “10 gods” or "transformation stars” (my terminology) can be positive or negative depending on the composition of the 4P chart. Another common misconception is the ubiquitous uses of the term "god" in 4P, like "useful god" (yong shen), "enmity god" (chou shen) and the like, making 4P sound "religious" when it is actually more statistical and logical in nature.

2. Pin-yin translations: This gives a transliteration of the 4P terms like “shi-shen”, “zheng-guan” and etc. It takes some time to get used to these foreign terms. But it is great when you go back to the original Chinese texts or switching teachers/school.

3. Translation based on interpreted meanings: This translates the 4P terms based on the understanding of the translator. For example, shi-shen and shang-guan are translated as “output” stars. But different people have different understanding of the terms, so the translations can sometimes be confusing and shocking as well. Good translations under this should be “value-free” or NOT “value-laden”. It should also give meanings that are faithful or close to the original meanings of the terms. The translated terms should not influence the perception of the readers and students.

4. Mixing of all of the above

My personal bias is trying to make the translated terms as neutral as possible, so as not influence the reader's perception.  Each of these 10 "stars" or "gods" can be positive or negative depending on the combination of the natal chart and luck periods.  Ancient Chinese writers used the term “god” pretty loosely to draw attention.  In fact, the meaning has nothing to do with religion or gods or spirits.

In this course, we use both pin-yin and interpreted meanings approach.  The following table shows some major terms as translated by different schools:

Note:  top row is the convention used in 4P Bootcamp

4P TERMS: Stem/ Branch interactions

Five Stem Combinations (天干五合) -- combinations

Stem Clashes (天干相剋 )“ke” -- clashes and countering

Six Branch Combinations (地支六合) ”he” -- combinations

Six Branch Clashes (地支六冲) “chong” -- clashes

Branch 3-Meetings   (地支三会) “san hui” -- frame, directional combinations, regional combinations

Branch 3-Unities (地支三合)  “san he” -- 3-harmony, triangular branch combinations, 60-degrees combinations

Half 3-Unities (半地支三合) “san he” -- semi/half 3-harmony

Branch Six Harms (地支六害) “hai” -- harms

Earthly Branch Six Damages (地支六破) “po” -- destruction

Branch 3-Penalties (地支三刑) “san xing” -- punishment

Branch Self-penalties  (自刑) “zi xing” -- self-punishment

4P TERMS: Miscellaneous

Favorable element (“Yong Shen”) 用神 -- “useful god”: the element that a chart needs most

Unfavorable element (“Ji Shen” ) 忌神 -- “annoying god”:  the element that hurts a chart most

Supporting element (“Xi Shen” ) 喜神 -- “happy god”:  the element that nurtures the favorable element

Vengeful  element (“Chou Shen” ) 仇神 -- “vengeance god”:  the element that nurtures the unfavorable element

Trivial  element (“Xian Shen” ) 閑神 -- “trivial god”:  the element that does not affect Day-master much

Transformation platform (“Fa Shen”) 化神 -- “transformation god”:  the element needed for combination and transformation to take place

Profiles/ Chart type

Extreme strong专旺格 w/ Extreme wood 曲直格, Extreme fire 炎上格, Extreme earth 稼墙格, Extreme metal 從革格, Extreme water 潤下格 -- ultra-strong

Extreme weak 從弱格 w/ Follow wealth 從财格, Follow sha (power) 從杀格, Follow offspring 從兒格, Follow the powerful 從势格 -- ultra-weak

Follow the strong 從强格 -- follow strength

Qi-transformation 化氣格 JIA-JI EARTH transformation 甲己化土格 YI-GENG METAL transformation 乙庚化金格 BING-SHEN WATER transformation 丙辛化水格 DING-REN WOOD transformation 丁壬化木格 WU-GUI FIRE transformation 戊癸化火格 -- qi-transformation

 Happy Chinese New Year!

Ken Lai

"Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
"Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
"Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career" w/ 7 hr. HD video
"Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques" w/ 6 hr. HD video
"Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
"Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G" w/ 21 hr. video
"EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui"w/ 3 hr. HD
"EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui" with 4 hr. HD video
"Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing" w/ 24 hr video
 "Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth" w/ 3 hr. video
 "4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp" with 12 hr. video

 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
 http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com