Click here to enlarge |
|
DAY 5 of the Mastery Academy Imperial China Excursion began
with an early 6am wake-up call. We had a 3 hour, 125 mile
journey to the Eastern Qing tombs ahead of us and with 4 tombs
to inspect at the site, a 7.30am kick-off was an absolute
necessity.
The Eastern Qing tombs is essentially a large Spiral City
"Luo Cheng" (the term used to describe the area
that is encapsulated and encompassed by Sar or embraces all
around it). 6 Emperors are buried in the Eastern Qing Tombs,
including 2 of the most famous Qing Emperors, Emperor Kang
Xi and Emperor Qian Long. It is also the site of the tomb
of the infamous Dowager Empress CiXi.
|
Click the photo to enlarge.
On the way, students saw the familiar signs of the Emperor
Formation, starting with the Flag (Qi Feng) and Drum Mountains
(Gu Shan), and Chastity Mountains (Lian Zhen Xing Ti) in the
distance gradually sending out the Dragon's Veins (Long Mai)
and tantalisingly leading us closer and closer to the Qi powerspot,
the Dragon Spot (Long Xue). Students were now getting accustomed
to spotting the different types of mountains and most importantly,
distinguishing them - a case of knowing one's Table Mountain
(An Shan) from one's Greedy Wolf (Tan Lang Xing). All these
visual indicators were much clearer than the ones seen on
the first day of the Imperial China Excursion on the way the
Yong Ling Mausoleum, or perhaps it simply was that students
were slowly but surely, getting to grips with spotting the
Luan Tou (Land Forms Feng Shui) and reading the mountains!
Many students felt a great sense of achievement and excitement
as the forms like Flying-Goose Tent Opening (Fei Ngo Dai Xiang)
and Prawn Whiskers (Xia So) started becoming immediately apparent.
Power to the White Tiger
Click the photo to enlarge.
From the marble gates that mark the entrance into the massive
cemetery complex, the bus rumbles 12 miles to reach the site
of the first tomb to be audited by the students, the tomb
of Qing Emperor, Shun Zhi. After a quick walkabout, Luo Pan
measurements and taking in the splendour of the mountain vistas
from the top of the tomb, Joey shared his analysis with the
students before we sped off to the next tomb on our list,
the tomb of one of the most famous Emperors of the Qing Dynasty,
Emperor Kang Xi.
Click the photo to enlarge.
Both Shun Zhi and Kang Xi secured excellent burial spots
for themselves, with superior landforms surrounding the tomb
area, a burial that reaches the critical Dragon Spot (Long
Xue) and facing a Rising Mountain (Zhao Shan) ahead. Students
noted however that in both these sites, the White Tiger Embrace
was higher than the Green Dragon Embrace. This explains the
empowering of the Empress during the reign of Shun Zhi and
Kang Xi and also repeats the pattern found at the Yong Ling
tomb in ShenYang.
The real fun began after a quick lunch at a nearby hotel
within the Eastern Qing Tombs as students headed to the tomb
of Emperor Qian Long.
"Beautiful is not always Good" - Emperor Qian
Long's Tomb.
Click the photo to enlarge.
Regarded as one of the more opulent tombs in the Eastern
Qing Tombs, Qian Long's tomb was built over 12 years, at a
cost of over a million taels of silver. The tomb is built
into the ground to tap the Dragon's Spot and its interior
is entirely made of marble stone.
Click the photo to enlarge.
Qian Long's tomb also comes with a fascinating legend. The
story goes that Qian Long, who reigned for 60 years (and another
4 more years from behind the screen as the Supreme Emperor,
following his 'abdication' in 1795) was renown as a man of
many talents and skills. He was a hunter, a scholar, a poet
and therefore, unsurprisingly, an apt student of Feng Shui.
Click the photo to enlarge.
Emperor Qian Long selected the Dragon Spot himself and then
marked it by burying his jade ring in the spot which he regarded
as the spot. He then sent his Imperial Astrologer to double-confirm
the location of the spot, which the Imperial Astrologer duly
did.
Click here to enlarge |
|
Di Grobbler volunteered to take a quick Luo Pan reading at
Qian Long's tomb. Students were completely blown away as Di
returned to the spot where everyone had gathered for the analysis
session to report that the tomb was in fact, square on the
Death and Emptiness Line! A mind-boggling possibility it was
but as Joey reminded the students, even Emperors make mistakes
with the Feng Shui, and yes, to the extent of placing the
Facing of the tomb squarely on a Death and Emptiness Line.
Ominously, this particular Death and Emptiness Line signifies
'Evil Woman' and again, ties in with the eventual decline
of the Qing Dynasty in the hands of the decadent and ruthless
Dowager Empress Ci Xi.
(Note that there are many types of Death and Emptiness Lines.
Each one carries a different effect).
|
|
The mitigating factor was the excellent structure of the
landform around Qian Long's tomb site. Accordingly, pointed
out Joey, the fact that the facing of the tomb was far from
ideal did not bring a disasterous outcome immediately, although
it is clear from history that Qian Long's descendants did
not enjoy good luck, with the quality of character of each
Emperor that followed Qian Long declining and eventually,
succumbing to the controlling influence of the Dowager Empress
CiXi.
|
|
Click here to enlarge |
What went wrong?
It may simply have been a genuine mistake. Joey added that
on his first visit to the tomb, he found it mind-boggling
that such a dire mistake could be made. But it affirmed several
points: one, doing your own Feng Shui is not always a good
idea and two, that even Emperors can have bad Feng Shui!
Perhaps as an omen of ill-portents to come, Qian Long's tomb,
despite the lavish amounts spent on it, eventually become
waterlogged, considered to be an extremely inauspicious occurrence.
Click the photo to enlarge.
The final tomb on the Eastern Qing Dynasty trail was the
tomb of the Dowager Empress Ci Xi. Even more opulent than
Qian Long's tomb, Empress Ci Xi's tomb is a testament to how
good Feng Shui makes no difference if one has no descendants
who can benefit from the good luck.
Click the photo to enlarge.
The Dowager Empress was the iron fist in a velvet glove -
ruled 'behind the screen' throughout the reign of 3 Emperors
(and was the hand behind the selection of Pu Yi, the famous
Last Emperor), Ci Xi was rumoured to have had a hand in the
death of the Eastern Empress and the poisoning of her own
son, the Emperor Tong Zhi. Her tomb is marked by numerous
motifs of the Phoenix, rising above the Dragons, symbolising
her control over the Emperor.
Click the photo to enlarge.
In murdering her own son, the Dowager Empress rendered meaningless
and pointless, the locating of her tomb in a good site within
the Eastern Qing Tombs. Ci Xi's tomb is also a good illustration
of a burial into the ground that MISSES the Dragon Spot!
With the visit to the Qing Tombs, students have followed
the ancestral path of the key Emperors in the Qing Dynasty,
from Nuerhachi to Qian Long and studied their Yin Houses.
The final day of the Imperial China tour will see students
take to the famed Forbidden City and Summer Palace in Beijing
to tie in their Yin House findings with Yang House analysis.
|