Wandering in Metaphysics

17/03/2019

Zen and Self-Penalty

Posted by kenlai under Bazi, buddhism, Ken Lai, penalty, self-penalty | Tags: 4P, Bazi, 苦難, 訴苦, grievance, Ken Lai, penalty, psychology of suffering, second hand penalty, self-penalty, suffering, Zen |
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I get the following story from the web about a conversation between a venerable monk and a woman. The original is in Chinese. I translate it here:

一位女士不停地述說自己的苦難，沒完沒了。

A woman had been talking non-stop about her suffering and grievance.

法師打斷她的話說：你的苦還真多呀！

The master had interrupted her, “You really have lots of suffering!”

女士：別人訴苦最多需要三天三夜，我訴苦需要三年！

Woman: Other people may at most take 3 days and nights, my grievance needs 3 years to spell out!

法師：那是什麼時候的苦？

Master: When did your sufferings occur?

女士：前幾年。

Woman: Within the last few years.

法師：那不是過去了嗎？為什麼還緊抓不放呢？（停了一下）你拉出的糞便臭不臭？

Master: Were these sufferings already passed? Why do you still hold on to these sufferings? (Paused). Do the feces of your bowel movement smell?

女士：當然很臭啦！ poo

Woman: Of course, very smelly!

法師：現在糞便在哪裡呢？

Master: Where are your feces now?

女士：拉完就沖掉了。

Woman: I had flushed them away after I was done.

法師：為什麼不把它包起來放在身上？見到人就拿出來告訴別人，說我被這東西臭過？

Master: Why don’t you wrap your feces up and carry with you? Then show and tell anyone you meet that you were smoked by these feces.

女士：那多惡心！

Woman: This is nauseating!

法師：對呀！苦難也是一樣，它已經過去了。回憶和訴苦就如同把糞便拿出來向人展示，既臭自己又臭別人！越訴苦越苦，越抱怨越怨。

Master: Exactly! Sufferings and grievance are similar. They had already passed. Recollection and grieving about them are similar to showing your feces to people– smelly to other people and yourself . You suffer more when you recollect your past suffering. You grieve more when you talk about your past grievance.

The story above illustrates the Bazi concept of “self-penalty“– people’s tendency to relive their grievance and suffering by talking and thinking about their unpleasant experience repeatedly. People who listen to their grievance also suffer from this self-penalty like second-hand smoking. We may call this “second hand penalty“.

Psychologists and psychiatrists like self-penalty because they get paid US$200+ per hour here to listen to people’s grievance.

Ken Lai

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Averting or Deflecting Misfortune and Disaster

Posted by kenlai under Bazi, Grand Duke Talisman, Ken Lai | Tags: averting misfortune, deflecting disaster, Grand Duke Talisman, homeless cat, Ken Lai, life-saving, Lotus Guru Mantra Wheel, Lotus Guru Padmasambhava, misfortune remedy, saving life |
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During my Grand Duke Talisman charity drive in last January, a couple from the Philippines sent me this order (all names and city are renamed for privacy reason):

Dear Sir,

I would like to order two Grand Duke talismans for 2019. One is for myself and the other for a friend. We are currently both not employed but do what we can to rescue cats from the streets. Hopefully 2019 will be kinder to us and our rescue kitties.

Attached is the receipt of the donation.

Thank you in advance!

Best,

Susan

**********

Below is my reply to this couple:

You volunteer work for stray cat rescue is good enough for the talisman (no donation needed). So I give you an extra talisman to help you with job-seeking. You may print it out in any size (business card size or bigger size) and carry with you (similar to the instruction listed for Grand Duke).

**********

The extra talisman that I had sent is the Lotus Guru Padmasambhava Mantra Wheel. Usually I offer this talisman to my relatives and students only. It offers protection from negative annual luck, astrological events and removes misfortunes and obstacles.

Last week, I have received a surprise email from this couple:

Dear Ken,

In January you gave us a gift of the Mantra Wheel. This is to let you know how it has saved us twice this month.

About two weeks ago Rick was on his bicycle at around 10pm. He was on a main road in the business district of Main City. As he was approaching an intersection two dump trucks came rushing past him on his left side. The first one cut in front of him to make a right turn at the intersection barely missing him. Luckily he was able to swerve to the right as the second dump truck came rushing past him too. He was shaken but unharmed. He said that if he didn’t swerve the truck would have run over him. It was a close call. And the trucks didn’t stop at all. Rick carries the Mantra Wheel in his wallet at all times.

Some of the cats rescued

The second incident happened two nights ago. We were watching TV and once or twice we would get a whiff of burning rubber. It wasn’t strong so we thought it was coming from the outside. Checked outside and nothing there to account for the smell. Back inside one of my cats laid down on top of the DVDs player. As Rick picked her up he noticed the smell of burning rubber was stronger in that area. I immediately turned off the TV and player. We found out that the plug of the DVD had a broken prong and the rubber insulation was melting. It’s a good thing we discovered it on time. If it had lasted longer I am almost sure it would cause a short circuit or even a fire. The Mantra Wheel is displayed on a shelf in the room where the TV is in. Thank goodness Coco the kitty decided to lie down on the DVD when she did.

In both instances, carrying and displaying the Mantra Wheel has saved us from misfortune. And it’s worked so quickly.

I can’t thank you enough for your kindness! The Mantra Wheel saved us twice already. What a blessing!

Thank you again for giving us the Mantra Wheel. Bless you, Ken!

Hugs,

Susan

*********

While I believe the Lotus Guru talisman may have helped averting their misfortunes, I think what they have been doing– saving the lives of homeless cats helps more in saving Rick’s life and their house.

This incident illustrates one of the most effective methods of deflecting misfortunes is saving lives of any living things. This couple has rescued 12 homeless cats so far. Hence, if any astrological reading predicts you have an upcoming “obstacle” or major misfortune, saving a life is an effective way to averting it. Yes, it is difficult to have the opportunity of saving human lives, but saving animal lives like cats and dogs are easier to accomplish.

Some of you may want the Lotus Guru Mantra Wheel talisman for protection. For a donation of US$30 (or US$5 if you are unemployed or cannot afford US$30) to your local Animal Humane or Welfare agency (or any charity that reduces human suffering), I will email you a Lotus Guru talisman consecrated and blessed in your name. DO NOT SEND MONEY TO ME. Send it directly to your favorite charity. Your donation “activates” this talisman. This limited offer is good till April 30, 2019 and will not be offered again.

Email your order and proof of donation to: kenlai88@yahoo.com

Ken Lai

04/03/2019

Another Approach to Self-penalties

Posted by kenlai under Bazi | Tags: 3-penalties, 4 cardinal elements, 4-storages, 4P, addiction, Bazi, depression, Ken Lai, Peach Blossom, penalty, self-penalty, self-torture, suicide, Traveling horse, yang-knife |
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Previous post derives self-penalties by matching branch 3-unities (San-he) to 3-meetings (San-hui). This post uses branch groups to locate self-penalties.

Classic Bazi segregates 12 branch elements into 3 groups:

4 cardinal or peach-blossom elements

— zi, wu, mao and you

4 sub-cardinal or traveling horses elements

— yin, shen, si and hai

4 storage or tomb elements

— chen, xu, chou and wei

From the above, we have 3-penalties

zi-mao penalty
yin-shen-si 3-penalties
xu-chou-wei 3-penalties

The branch elements that are missing in these 3-penalties actions become self-penalty when running into identical element.

Self-Penalties:

Chen-chen
You-you
Wu-wu
Hai-hai

Don’t overlook the destructive power and influence of self-penalty. It could be as serious as other penalties. Out of the 4 self-penalties, wu, you and hai self-penalties are most serious because:

Wu-fire is the yang-knife (羊刃) of bing-fire
You-metal is the yang-knife of geng-metal
Hai-water is the yang-knife of gui-water

Self-penalty becomes serious matter when the corresponding stem showing up in the stem level, especially if the stem is also the daymaster (DM).

Self-penalty could mean:

self-inflicted pain/ injury
self-sabotage
addiction
depression
worrisome
meddlesome
petty
cannot let go of trivial matters

If the self-penalty element is also the yang-knife of the DM, s/he may have health problems (self-inflicted, psychosomatic or psychological), suicidal due to depression, love-sickness depression and the likes.

Self-penalty is also one of the causes of depression.

Ken Lai

26/02/2019

Mountain and Water

Posted by kenlai under buddhism | Tags: buddhism, heart and reality, inner self, Ken Lai, mind and reality, mountain, perception of reality, perception of self, philosophy, reality, self, water, Zen |
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Buddhists have 3 levels of perceptions of reality:

One sees a mountain. It is a mountain to him. One sees water. It is water to him.

看山是山，看水是水；

The mountain one sees is not a mountain and water is not water.

看山不是山，看水不是水；

This mountain is still a mountain no matter how one looks at it, so is the water.

看山還是山，看水還是水。

Our perception of reality revolves around these 3 levels.

What I want to see.

What the society has conditioned me to see.

What my inner self really sees.

Is reality real?

Buddha says reality is a reflection of our heart (mind).

Ken Lai

21/02/2019

Feng Shui of Clock Placement

Posted by kenlai under 2-black, 5-yellow, 9-stars, Feng Shui | Tags: 2-black remedy, 2-black sickness, 5-yellow disaster star, 5-yellow remedy, clock Feng Shui, clock placement, grandfather clock, Ken Lai, movement, Yi-Jing, 吉凶悔咎生乎动 |
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The essence of Feng Shui is about balance of static and dynamic elements around our living environment.

According to Yi-jing (“Book of Changes”, the source of Chinese civilization), “Auspiciousness and inauspiciousness are generated from movements 吉凶悔咎生乎动). Hence the placement of moving objects in any location, especially inside your home, could affect the well-being of residents much faster than stationary objects. Items like fish-tank, water-fountain, clocks and the like should be placed with great caution.

For this post, the focus is on clocks, but the principles for other moving objects are similar.

FENG SHUI PRECAUTIONS FOR CLOCK PLACEMENT

One clock per room/location: Too many clocks within a room will confuse the energy there. People may feel uneasy or distressed.
Clock shapes: should be square/ rectangular or circular shaped. Avoid triangular, hexagon and octagon shapes. Odd-shaped clocks could generate bickering and arguments.
Bed room clocks: should be small and not too big. Big clocks may cause distress and frequent separations for the couple.
Big or grand-father clocks are not suitable for small home. It creates imbalance visually and energetically.
Clock should be placed in auspicious location and facing inauspicious direction to block and convert negative energy.
Do not put movement (clock!) in 5-yellow disaster and 2-black sickness star locations or you will suffer disasters or sickness. Exception is the grandfather clock with brass/copper bells which is the remedy of 5-yellow and 2-black stars.

Ken Lai

15/02/2019

Bazi: Where do penalties come from?

Posted by kenlai under 3-penalties, 4-Pillars, 4P, Bazi, Ken Lai, penalty, self-penalty | Tags: 3-penalties, 4P, Bazi, chen-chen self-penalty, hai-hai self penalty, Ken Lai, penalty, self-penalty, wu-wu self-penalty, xu-chou-wei 3-penalities, yin-si-shen 3-penalties, you-you self-penalty, zi-mao penalty |
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Where do all these penalties come from? I have created the tables below for you to figure out the relationship at a glance:

SOURCES OF PENALTIES

One approach to derive penalties is matching 3-unities (San He) with 3-meetings (San Hui) like additions. From the tables above, we have the following penalties:

3-Penalties

Yin-si-shen (from 4 sub-cardinal branches)
Red is 4 cardinal branches; blue is sub-cardinal; brown is 4 storages

Xu-chou-wei (from 4-storages)
Zi-mao (from 4 cardinal branches)

Penalties:

Yin-si, yin-shen, si-shen
Xu-chou, xu-wei, chou-wei

Self-Penalties:

Chen-chen
You-you
Wu-wu
Hai-hai

It will be a long story to explain the above individually. Please check my past blog articles on this topic for details.

Ken Lai

13/02/2019

A Walk in the Park

Posted by kenlai under Bazi, Chinese custom, Chinese metaphysics, Chinese new year, Chinese zodiac animals | Tags: Chinese New Year, heaven, Ken Lai, mudslide, snow, snow scene, snowstorm, Year of Pig |
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Year of Pig has been here for just 10 days. It has already brought many inches of snow to us here. My deck has collected 17.5 inches (48 cm) of snow in last few days. Pig or Hai is water in nature according to Chinese metaphysics. 2019 is Ji-hai earth-pig year. There are mudslides in certain parts of the world recently.