|
My earliest exposure to the field of Chinese Metaphysics came many years ago when I was in Hong Kong. I turned on the television and chanced upon a talk show, which featured a well-known Hong Kong Feng Shui master. The gentleman had been invited to the talk show to demonstrate his face-reading skills. Members of the audience were picked randomly and invited up onto the stage, where the Master would promptly read their faces, tell them about themselves, just by looking at their faces.
Face reading, aside from its obvious practical advantages it offers in business and daily dealings, is considered an important complementary discipline for Feng Shui practitioners. A handy back-up skill as it were that helps a Feng Shui consultant practice more effectively and efficiently.
Originally, Mian Xiang or Face Reading was developed for medical purposes. The famous Chinese medical text, the Yellow Emperor Classics, contains many references on how to make use of facial features to ascertain medical problems. Later on, the basic principles of Face Reading were extended beyond medical diagnosis, to support Destiny Analysis. Imperial advisors would use it often to vet candidates for Imperial positions. You see, in the olden days, a person didn't submit his CV for an imperial position - instead he would submit his BaZi or Destiny Code.
Now, occasionally, a candidate might attempt to submit a false BaZi to improve his chances of securing a position on the Imperial payroll, which in those days, was a very desired job posting, since a person was more or less assured of what the Chinese call an 'iron rice bowl'. So, the Imperial advisors would use Mian Xiang to confirm the BaZi, and make sure the candidate did actually have the skills he professed to have.
If you have been reading my past articles, most of you would probably be familiar with how BaZi and Feng Shui work together. As I have indicated in the past, a complete Feng Shui consultation usually involves the use of BaZi, which is a person's Destiny Code, to determine the nature of the problem faced by the person at that particular point in time. The Feng Shui consultant then uses Feng Shui as a prescription, to help resolve or alleviate the problem, diagnosed using the help of the person's Destiny Code.
However, there are some occasions where a person's Destiny Code is not available or the client asks something on the spot, during the consultation, and the BaZi chart is not available. In such cases, a Feng Shui consultant who has studied face reading, can use Mian Xiang or Face Reading, as a back-up discipline to see where the client's problems are, or what challenges he is facing at that particular point in time. This is because Mian Xiang represents what we call Later Heaven Luck - it tells us about the present, the outcome of current events as a result of the present state of mind, beliefs, character and virtues.
By examining Qi colour on the face, and the specific age point co-relating to the client's age, and looking at the contours and features on the face at that particular age point, the consultant can get a concise snapshot of the person's state of health or luck at that point in time. A person's face, almost always will confirm, what is in his/her BaZi generally. So for example, if a person has a problem with holding on to money in his/her BaZi, what we call a Rob Wealth (Jie Cai) problem in BaZi consultant terminology, this will invariably show on his/her face, in the form of very thick eyebrows.
A case of Prevention is better than Cure
A good illustration of how useful Mian Xiang is, when combined with BaZi and Feng Shui is when it comes to a person's health. I remember a client from a few years back, who had engaged me to audit his house, which was being built at the time.
The client met us at my office to show us the way to his property. When the client sat down in my office to show me the plans of the house, something on his face drew my attention: he had a distinct line crossing the lobe of both his ears (see attached diagram). In the study of Mian Xiang, this is usually one indication that the person has a risk of developing heart-related problems. I double-checked my concern by looking at his eyes. There was a distinct blue ring around the pupil of his eyes, another clear indication of heart-related problems.
Now, often, a conclusion derived from one discipline, such as Mian Xiang, will be supported and confirmed through another discipline, like Feng Shui or BaZi. So, we proceeded to the gentleman's house.
At his house, this is what we saw.
The house was in the process of being constructed at the time but it was enough for me to ascertain where his Main Door would be located and the facing of this property. I also noticed that he had a lamp post directly in the part of his Main Door, a formation known in Feng Shui as Piercing Heart Sha. This is definitely an unfavourable formation to have at the Main Door. As you will recall, the Main Door is one of the three important factors that must always be considered when we are looking at the Feng Shui of a property. When the Main Door is affected, the Qi that enters the property is blocked or is transformed into negative or Sha Qi.
A simple check of the directions with the Luo Pan revealed that the lamp post was located in the South sector of his house. Now, the South sector of a property is governed by the Gua known as Li Gua. Li Gua, amongst other things, represents the eyes and the heart. Now, I think most people can pretty much figure out what it means if you have Piercing Heart Sha, located in the sector that is governed by the Gua that represents the heart and the eyes. Hence, it matched my initial concern from what I had seen on the client's face, i.e. he may have a heart-related problem, especially if he were to also move into the house he was building with the environmental feature located where it was.
So what then was the outcome you might be thinking? How does the story end? Positively, I'm pleased to say! The client decided, that since he hadn't been for a medical check up in a while, he would go for a thorough one. He also, decided to change the design of the house to move the location of the Main Door, which was not too difficult to rectify since the house had not been finished yet and he could still make changes to the design.
When I checked the gentleman's BaZi, it revealed a clash between the Zi (Rat) and Wu (Horse), known in BaZi terminology as Shui Huo Xiang Cong or Fire and Water Clash. This is an explosive clash of the Fire and Water elements and is an indication of a heart problem also.
What the face and the BaZi reveals in this case is an area that is a cause for concern, but more importantly, action. Hence, I have always emphasised the importance of taking the right action, once you have been alerted to a potential problem.
I recently saw my client again, on a different matter, and I noticed that the lines on his earlobe had diminished significantly. He told me that since then, he has also been trying to eat better and had been exercising more, as the medical check-up revealed some problems which if he did not change his lifestyle, could lead to heart problems.
Now, it's not absolutely essential that your Feng Shui practitioner know Mian Xiang or practice it as a complementary discipline to his Feng Shui practice, but as you can see from this little story, it is a very helpful back-up discipline to have, as it helps the Feng Shui practitioner fine-tune and focus his efforts. By combining his knowledge of BaZi with Mian Xiang, a Feng Shui practitioner can zero in on not just long-term problems, but also short-term and more immediate, pressing issues at hand, such as health concerns.
|