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Recently, a student told me some enterprising individuals have thought of an "easy and fast way" of selecting property for investment - just follow the feng shui guys, buy where they buy! It seems having a Feng Shui practitioner as your neighbour is the best way to be sure you're buying in a good neighbourhood!
Now, I can appreciate why this idea comes about - as knowledge of Feng Shui grows, people are beginning to realise that getting a head start or an edge these days, extends to living in an area with good Feng Shui. However, because many people are uncertain of how to select a suitable location or place, they logically conclude that just "buy where the Feng Shui guys buy" and it should be okay.
My philosophy has always been that we should not give the fish, but we should instead show people how to fish. This way, everyone can try to find a place with good Feng Shui rather than just following the Feng Shui guys. Hence, Land Selection 101 is the subject of my article this week.
Personally, I have always been an advocate of knowledge, not as an end in itself, but as a means to an end. It is always better to know 'why' rather than 'it just is'. Many of the students who come to my classes are not there because they want to practice Feng Shui. Rather, they are there because they want to be able to find and select a good piece of property or land, either for investment or just to give themselves that Feng Shui edge in their home or workplace.
However, I do appreciate that many people also, due to time constraints or personal commitments, cannot always take a class. So I hope you will find this week's article beneficial to helping you gain some general insight and basic understanding about Land Selection using Feng Shui and how to approach finding and selecting property in an informed manner.
In professional Feng Shui practice, Land Selection is a highly specialised field of Feng Shui practice, requiring a strong foundation in Luan Tou or Landform Feng Shui and a good grasp of the key classics on Landform such as Ru Di Yan or Entering Earth Eye classics. And of course, a really good piece of property should ideally be a piece of land that is in tune with the individual's personal needs and requirements (based on his/her BaZi) and the property is built to specifications and conforming with Feng Shui principles. But that is the gold standard when it comes to Land Selection and is of course, not practical and feasible for every one out there.
So from a practical standpoint, how does the average person go about finding a place to stay with what I call, good Feng Shui Quotient (FSQ)?
Eyes Wide Open Please
Feng Shui is considered part of the field of physiognomy or the study of land through observation, in the Chinese Five Arts. Hence, when it comes to selecting land or a good piece of property, you need to have your eyes wide open and observe what is in the environment, so that you can understand what is the quality and nature of the area you are considering. For example, if a location is extremely windy, this indicates the Qi is easily dispersed and so it is not a very good location. If the land is particularly rocky, this is an indication of a poor quality Dragon Vein and unstable Qi. If the land has muddy, sticky soil, this indicates it is waterlogged and Qi is trapped.
When it comes to a more substantive evaluation, we are concerned with Mountain and Water. At the absolute basic level of selecting land or property, you need to look for these two features. If you find the area that you are considering has no mountains and no water, it might be a good idea to look elsewhere! I might add that there is a principle known as Flat Land Dragon (Ping Yang Long) that also applies to very flat areas, but you need to have highly specialised knowledge of Luan Tou Feng Shui to be able to identify the Mountains and Water in such areas. So for practicality sake, if there are no Dragons and no Water in the area, you need to look at other options.
But of course, merely having the presence of Mountain and Water is an extremely elementary level of Feng Shui. In Feng Shui, we are always interested in the quality of the area (not just the mere presence of Mountains and Water) and also, to qualify the Mountains and Water in the area.
Are the Dragon Veins (or in layman's terms, mountain ranges) coming from the right direction for this particular period of time? Remember, Feng Shui has a dynamic quality and that Qi changes and shifts over time. For the next twenty years, ideally, you want to have Dragon Veins to be incoming from the Northwest, Northeast, West or South. However, if it is people luck that you need, then specifically look for an incoming extension of the mountains from the Northeast.
You also need to look at the type of star that the Mountain is originating from because this will tell you what the potential the area affords and you will be able to determine if this is in line with what you want to achieve. 'Star' here refers to the "form" of the mountain. For example, if reputation, status and recognition are what you want, then you need to find an area with a good Wood star like the Tang Lang or Greedy Wolf Star. If it is Business and Wealth Luck that you're interested in, then the Dragon in the area should be powered by a good quality Ju Men or Huge Door star. The correct mountains must arrive from the correct directions, and be located in the right sector, when measured from the property in question. Only then is the property considered truly good.
After observing the Mountains, it is essential to then see if the location of Water in the environment conforms with the formulas and principles. The junctions of the rivers and streams, and the convergence of water, known as the Qi Mouth, needs to be at the right sectors. In Period 8, ideally, the Qi Mouth should be in the Southwest. Of course, if you could strive for a specific degree on the compass measurement, it would be desirable to have the Qi Mouth at certain Xuan Kong Da Gua directions. But water in the South East, East and North is also considered good for Period 8
Finally, once you have made sure that the environment is right, the property itself must be designed to be a Qi conduit and receive Qi from the environment, as well as circulating it throughout the structure. But if you are already located in an area with good Qi, supported by the right incoming Dragons, and Water in the right locations, you already have a head start!
Chasing the Dragon and your Dream House
Some developers do make it easier for property buyers because they have done their Feng Shui homework, and taken the requisite steps to select suitable areas for their developments. This is usually a good choice because then, a house owner simply needs to make minor modifications or adjustments, usually without too much renovation, to personalise the Feng Shui to their own needs. Remember, when it comes to finding a good piece of land or property in Feng Shui, the goal should be to find a place that you can renovate to improve and fine tune the Feng Shui, not a place that you have to fix to make the Feng Shui vaguely decent in the first place, before then renovating to make the Feng Shui better.
How do you know if a developer has done the Feng Shui homework? Well, one easy way to find out is to see if they have developed the property or area in conformity with some of the criteria and principles I have discussed above. I must of course add that these are not the ONLY formulas that would be used by a Feng Shui professional - there are a lot of other formulas and techniques that a professional Feng Shui consultant may make use of, because often, the Feng Shui consultant will have to see what type of land they are asked to work on. So use the above criteria as a general guide, but more importantly, as a means to ask the right questions, should the developer affirm that their survey and development of the property is along Feng Shui principles.
Now, it may seem like a lot of hard work but to be honest, finding good land or a good piece of property is not a matter of opening the classifieds and picking the cheapest spot available. But equally, finding a good piece of land does not always entail paying through your nose. Like any good bargain, you need to invest time and effort into finding the right place. I do think it is worth the effort and the legwork although I suppose in this day and age of instant everything, people are sometimes reluctant to do the homework and legwork just to find the right house. But if you are going to invest in a dream house, surely you should make sure it is also a house that supports your dreams and goals too.
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