Buy, buy and buy figurines

[myfs_92506]

Hi Cecil and Robert,
I have been browsing several Feng Shui sites and they are asking people to buy figurines e.g. three-legged toad, wolu, coins, fish (an aquarium) etc to enhance the feng shui in our homes. It's necessary to purchase such "feng shui" items?
Many thanks,

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Anon,
1. Many of the products are produced at their fraction of their costs.
2. For example, a medium sized wooden three-legged toad can be produced in currently with `cheap' labour in China for as little as US$15 per set. But, if we check out the " Feng Shui " stores, they can sell for a tidy sum. Locally, in Singapore, some of them can sell as much as US$228 or S$388 or more.
3. This simply illustration can show us such a very high mark-up! It is easy to wonder where all these money goes to?
4. In my opinion, many Feng Shui practitioners resort to selling all these highly marked-up items to `guillable' victims (or curely called `suckers').
5. I am truly sad to see, that if we venture to " Feng Shui " websites, 99 percent sell such items. And they do earn a huge profit.
6. Often, if you participate in forums hosted by such people, one often see these `pushed' to us.
7. The saying goes: The rich continues to think ways to make money. The poor, (poor can be anyone who aimlessly purchase objects) continues to be a " sucker " into buying useless things to clutter their home.
8. For example, the rich would buy say a 5 caret diamond to wear. The poor will buy a "cheap" crystal to hang and collect dust all over their homes.
9. The idea of greed begets greed is true: The ORIGINAL idea of Feng Shui is to allow us, to harmonise with our surroundings. Thus, promoting good health. With good health, we are able to `think properly'. Nowadays, many look at it differently i.e Feng Shui MUST EQUAL to $$$.
10. This, is why many Feng Shui practitioners CAPITALISE on our greed by touting Human Luck (ren cai) Feng Shui. The "trick" these practitioners employ include:-
10.1 Every home must have a wealth corner.
10.2 Every home must have a water position.
11. And, if you ask them, the `trick' here is that you should take up their service. As only these practitioners have the special means to let you know where they are. This is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
12. Often, once we give hope to people, and it does not yield results and how often have we heard that these people are still (naive) and check with the practitioner why luck did not come? Often, the practitioner may say, you have not done it right? Huh? One may ask, is this true?
13. A more sensible approach is:-
13.1 Instead of spreading sugar coated hope, it is best that the practitioners be honest with their clients:
13.2 Try to diagnose any leaks if any.
13.2 Understand the breadwinner and family members ba zi and discuss with the family.
13.3 Realistically tell the family, what they are `facing' against. And what can or cannot help. Often, it may mean, in the long term.. a switch of home. For example, if one has stayed in the same home for more than 6 years with little progress? What's wrong...
14. The morale of the story is.. " Don't play to the open arms of the practitioner. "
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

Quote

On 5/9/2003 9:53:54 AM, Anonymous wrote:
Hi Cecil and Robert,
I have been browsing several
Feng Shui sites and they are
asking people to buy figurines
e.g. three-legged toad, wolu,
coins, fish (an aquarium) etc
to enhance the feng shui in
our homes. It's necessary to
purchase such "feng shui"
items?
Many thanks,

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Anon,
Looking at it from a different perspective:-

Quote

On 5/9/2003 10:15:49 AM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear Anon,
7. The saying goes: The rich
continues to think ways to
make money.
This guy takes action (to better compete or look at ways to improve).
The poor, (poor
can be anyone who aimlessly
purchase objects) continues to
be a " sucker " into buying
useless things to clutter
their home.

This `silly' guy, not only is conned but seems to wait for the sky to fall. Or literally, wait for money to drop down from the sky.
Guess who will sucessful?
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Anon,
Please see below:-

Quote

On 5/9/2003 10:59:52 AM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear Anon,
Looking at it from a different
perspective:-
On 5/9/2003 10:15:49 AM, Cecil Lee
wrote:
Dear Anon,
7. The saying goes: The rich
continues to think ways to
make money.
This guy takes action (to better compete
or look at ways to improve).

The rational person: I hope Feng Shui can bring harmony to my family.

Quote

The poor, (poor
can be anyone who aimlessly
purchase objects) continues to
be a " sucker " into buying
useless things to clutter
their home.
This `silly' guy, not only is conned but
seems to wait for the sky to fall. Or
literally, wait for money to drop down
from the sky.

The greedy: There was a true story of this young financial university graduate.. who has worked for a company for several years:-
I want a Feng Shui plan that maps out my financial wealth.
Is this graduate over zealous in his requirements or has he read to much Financial planning? Hmm..maybe this person works as a relationship manager for wealth management bank? Is there such an equivalent in Feng Shui?
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

[Robert Lee]

Dear Anon,

Quote

On 5/11/2003 6:55:33 AM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear Master Cecil,
Thank you for your prompt
reply. Is Kua Calculator also
known as Ba Zi? If yes, why
Answer here is NO. The Ba Zi shows the Gua Type. Not the Gua number. The number represented in the Gua is actually more related to the position of the Gua to the Flying Star sector where there are 9 sectors, so the 5 which is center is EMPTY.
Eight House there are only 8 Gua Type, thus eight directions.
Whereas the Gua Number depending on which type of calculation method you use, can result in Gua Number from 1 to 9 or even 0.

However, the Gua Number 5 and 0 often have to be related to another one of the Eight Trigrams depending on Male or Female.
Thus, if you use the Ba Zi report, you will find the actual Gua type being shown. If you want to know about the Gua Number, use the Gua Number report in the Members Area. That will identify your Gua Number as 5 which means your luck number is also related to 5.
We have our reasons here for doing and numbering the Kua Type as 1 to 9 where 5 is missing, instead of 1 to 8.

Quote

did I get a different Kua No.
for the same date of birth. I
used the Kua Calculator at
another feng shui owned by a
famous lady feng shui master,
who is the author of many feng
shui books, and I got the same
kua and ba zi nos. for all the
dates of birth for my family
except one female member. The
other site depicted a kua no.
5 and your ba zi gave a no. 8
for the same date of birth
i.e. 13th October 1981. Is
You can do a check on the Gua Number, as it will show you the Gua Number is 5 - Ken / Gen. And if you check the Gua Type on the Ba Zi, it shows Kua Gen, but the Gua Type number is 8 because of it's position and or Gen is considered to us the 2nd Last Gua in the order.
there a forum bug here as
Robert mentioned to a poster
that he was attending to forum
bug.

Please note here that our online reports system has been already online for 5 years. It is a system which has been extensive tested and used by us personally.
It uses a different system compared to the forum. So a bug in the forum DOES NOT affect the Reports website. In fact our whole website is fully modular, meaning that a failure in any one section of the website does not affect the other.
There was a bug in the FORUM, simply because the NEW forum interface you are using is COMPLETELY written by me from scratch (last week) instead of using the original one. So when we launched it several days back, there was a few intergration problem, thus resulting some initial difficulties for users to properly login as their own user account, instead of a Guest user.
However, as you can know by now the forum is working perfectly with many of the interface cleaned up. The new FORUM gives you more space since no frame is used. And it is more informative, much easier and contains many cool features in addition to the old frame version. Plus, it allows us to customise the forum even more than the original one.
Warmest Regards
Robert Lee
GEOMANCY.NET - Center for Applied Feng Shui Research

[myfs_92506]

Dear Master Cecil,
Thank you for your prompt reply. Is Kua Calculator also known as Ba Zi? If yes, why did I get a different Kua No. for the same date of birth. I used the Kua Calculator at another feng shui owned by a famous lady feng shui master, who is the author of many feng shui books, and I got the same kua and ba zi nos. for all the dates of birth for my family except one female member. The other site depicted a kua no. 5 and your ba zi gave a no. 8 for the same date of birth i.e. 13th October 1981. Is there a forum bug here as Robert mentioned to a poster that he was attending to forum bug.
Thank you. :)

Quote

On 5/9/2003 11:53:13 AM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear Anon,
Please see below:-
On 5/9/2003 10:59:52 AM, Cecil Lee
wrote:
Dear Anon,
Looking at it from a different
perspective:-
On 5/9/2003 10:15:49 AM, Cecil Lee
wrote:
Dear Anon,
7. The saying goes: The rich
continues to think ways to
make money.
This guy takes action (to better compete
or look at ways to improve).
The rational person: I hope Feng Shui
can bring harmony to my family.
The poor, (poor
can be anyone who aimlessly
purchase objects) continues to
be a " sucker " into buying
useless things to clutter
their home.
This `silly' guy, not only is conned but
seems to wait for the sky to fall. Or
literally, wait for money to drop down
from the sky.
The greedy: There was a true story of
this young financial university
graduate.. who has worked for a company
for several years:-
I want a Feng Shui plan that maps out my
financial wealth.
Is this graduate over zealous in his
requirements or has he read to much
Financial planning? Hmm..maybe this
person works as a relationship manager
for wealth management bank? Is there
such an equivalent in Feng Shui?
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

[myfs_92506]

Dear Master Robert,
Me: Thank you for your prompt reply. Is Kua Calculator also known as Ba Zi? If yes, why>>
Master Robert (MR): Answer here is NO. The Ba Zi shows the Gua Type. Not the Gua number. The number represented in the Gua is actually more related to the position of the Gua to the Flying Star sector where there are 9 sectors, so the 5 which is center is EMPTY.Me: Thanks for the clarifications but I still don't understand it. :( Excuse my Chinese knowledge. Is Gua the same as Kua?
MR: Eight House there are only 8 Gua Type, thus eight directions. Whereas the Gua Number depending on which type of calculation method you use, can result in Gua Number from 1 to 9 or even 0. However, the Gua Number 5 and 0 often have to be related to another one of the Eight Trigrams depending on Male or Female. Thus, if you use the Ba Zi report, you will find the actual Gua type being
shown. If you want to know about the Gua Number, use the Gua Number report in the Members Area. That will identify your Gua Number as 5 which means your luck number is also related to 5. We have our reasons here for doing and numbering the Kua Type as 1 to 9 where 5 is missing, instead of 1 to 8.
Me: I'm now confused. May I know what are your reasons for doing and numbering the Kua Type as 1 to 9 where 5 is missing, instead of 1 to 8? Why is the Kua Type 5 is missing? Can you link me to your Kua/Gua Calculator on this website?
Me: Why did I get a different Kua No. for the same date of birth? I used the Kua Calculator at another feng shui owned by a famous lady feng shui master, who is the author of many feng shui books, and I got the same kua and ba zi nos. for all the dates of birth for my family except one female member. The other site depicted a kua no. 5 and your ba zi gave a no. 8 for the same date of birth i.e. 13th October 1981.>>
MR: You can do a check on the Gua Number, as it will show you the Gua Number is 5 - Ken / Gen. And if you check the Gua Type on the Ba Zi, it shows Kua Gen, but the Gua Type number is 8 because of it's position and or Gen is considered to us the 2nd Last Gua in the order.Me: As I said, every members of my family Kua no. and Ba Zi are the same except for one female member which is Kua no. 5 and your Ba Zi showed a Kua Type no. 8. In other words, they are the same, right? I thought all Feng Shui Masters used the same Kua calculators to show the Kua number and type. I mentioned the forum bug because I thought it may have caused the "error".
By the way, it would be nice to have a new feature on how to pronounce the Chinese words. *g*
Thank you.

[Robert Lee]

Hi Anon,

Quote

On 5/12/2003 7:44:24 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Me: Thanks for the
clarifications but I still
don't understand it. :( Excuse
my Chinese knowledge. Is Gua
the same as Kua?

Yes, however, Gua is the proper Chinese (rather than Kua which is based on Cantonese Dialect, just like Qi = C'hi)

Quote

Me: I'm now confused. May I
know what are your reasons for
doing and numbering the Kua
Type as 1 to 9 where 5 is
missing, instead of 1 to 8?
Why is the Kua Type 5 is
missing?
Eight House there are only 8 trigrams which represents equally the Eight Directions.

So how can Gua 9 numbers be equal to represent 8 Trigrams? There is no way so that is why the Gua Number itself does not yet equal to the 8 Trigram. Especially not the Gua number 5. Thus, the number 5 is often converted to represent one of the other two Trigram depending on Male or Female.
Since the Eight Trigram is used or part of the Compass School (ie quite related to the Flying Stars) except that the center sector is empty. Thus, We relate the Trigam exactly as how it would link to the Flying Star. Eight House and Flying Star are part of the Compass School, thus it is more appropriate to allow both theories to be associated to each other.
Thus, when we number them we number them as it should related to the Flying Star where there are 9 grids and only 5 (Center) is missing.
In fact, this is not much different as to the Gua Number, as it does the same by assigning Gua 5 to another Trigam number.

Quote

Can you link me to
your Kua/Gua Calculator on
this website?

It is found in the Members Area (Under the Personal Self)
URL: http://login.geomancy.net

Quote

Me: As I said, every members
of my family Kua no. and Ba Zi
are the same except for one
female member which is Kua no.
5 and your Ba Zi showed a Kua
Type no. 8. In other words,
they are the same, right?
Yes, it is the same because Gua number 5 is not yet converted to the appropriate Gua Type / Trigram. Thus, in your case the Gua 5 is actually Gua 8 Gen Trigram. No difference here. But we do not just because of this change the position of the Gen Trigam from position 2nd last position to 5 position.
I thought all Feng Shui Masters
used the same Kua calculators
to show the Kua number and
type. I mentioned the forum
bug because I thought it may
have caused the "error".

As mentioned, Gua Number and Gua Type is different. Your Gua Number maybe number 5, but that does not mean that it is a special 9th Gua Trigram. In fact, you still have to associate it to the proper Trigram.

Quote

By the way, it would be nice
to have a new feature on how
to pronounce the Chinese
words. *g*
We has converted most of our website to use the proper Chinese where possible. However, due to the too many resources on the website, sometimes this is not possible to remember to convert each and every page.
Thank you.