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Day 5: The view’s great but what about the Feng Shui?
Reported by Bernice Low
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It was back on the trail of the Ming Dynasty for the students of the Mastery Academy, with a visit to the 13 Ming Tombs in Changping
County, Beijing. The 13 Ming Tombs is a massive burial complex where 13 Ming Emperors, their empresses, and a few princes are buried.
It is located 50km from Beijing, or around a 1 hour drive.
It was a day to focus on Imperial Feng Shui and students began their first audit of the day at the tomb of Emperor Yongle, the 3rd Emperor of the
Ming Dynasty. His tomb,
known as Changling is a majestic and expansive tomb.
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Emperor Yongle was the son of Ming Dynasty's founder, Zhu Yuan Zhang. After being bypassed for the throne by his father, he eventually returned to Nanjing to
seize control of the throne from his nephew and ascend to the Dragon Throne as the third Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He is one of the most well known among the
Ming Emperors. He was a good administrator, moderniser and also, a great war general. He moved the capital of the Empire to Beijing and commenced the construction of
the Forbidden City.
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The tomb of Yongle is set against a charismatic, majestic mountain, known as the Tianshou Mountains. Students got to work
immediately in their teams, evaluating the Feng Shui of the tomb. Unfortunately, it was a rather misty day, which made viewing the
mountains in front of the tomb difficult but the Tianshou Mountain at the rear and the dragon’s veins, were clearly visible.
Students immediately picked up the Chastity Fire shape mountains that were formed by the mountains and of course, the flags and drum shape (Qi Goo Feng)
mountains as the bus entered the tomb area. However, there was some confusion as to what mountain and which peak was being tapped into by the tomb. The mist
that made the table mountain difficult to see also somewhat complicated the audit for the students. A few students picked up the wind gap in the mountains but
they were not sure how quite what to make of it.
Joey confirmed that the Feng Shui of the tomb of Emperor Yong Le was indeed excellent but for different reasons. Firstly, the Green Dragon (Zuo Sha)
on the left of the tomb is a special formation Green Dragon, known as the Rainbow Dragon Dipping Water reaching out to the river. The range of mountains
on the left extends far down towards the Ming Tomb Reservoir in the distance. There is also a unique ‘Rising Phoenix’ formation on a specific location of the
Left Embrace, right at a special XuanKong Da Gua direction, ensuring a lasting empire and outstanding greatness. The Zuo Sha is also higher and longer than the You
Sha, providing empowerment to the male leaders in the family. The wind gap (Li Feng Yao), pointed out by Joey, was not too worrying because it is a gap that is higher
than the tomb and so, sha qi does not strike the tomb.
There is also an excellent water formation in the front of the tomb, indicating at least four generations will benefit from the good Feng Shui of the tomb.
Patching the Dragon
The next place was a Ming tomb that was not open to the public so students were asked to walk around the perimeter of the tomb.
However this was adequate for the purposes of evaluating the Feng Shui of the tomb.
Emperor Zhu Gao Chi is buried in Xian Ling and this is a small and simple tomb. He was the fourth Emperor of the Ming Dynasty but he had an
extremely short reign, only 9 months on the Dragon Throne before he died.
This tomb rewarded students who took the trouble to walk all the way around the perimeter to observe the Dragon Vein. Their eyes now trained to
recognise the landforms, thanks to the guidance of Joey during the past few days, the students were able to quickly analyse Dragon Veins.
The tomb utilises the same mountain range as the Changling tomb but because the Changling tomb was a Dragon Palace (Long Lou) mountain that produces many veins,
this particular tomb was able to secure a good Dragon vein. It is important, explained Joey, that each Emperor seek to find a good tomb for himself.
This is known as patching the Dragon – ensuring the continuity of the dynasty by continually invigorating the descendants with good and powerful Qi in the Yin House.
The next tomb, Jing Ling, was a short drive away and was the tomb of Emperor Xuan Zong. Again, students had a good opportunity to observe the Dragon
vein that the tomb is tapping into, even though the tomb was closed. But the question was not about finding veins any more but rather, whether or not the
Feng Shui was good. Students were somewhat undecided – everything seemed right. But was it right?
The tomb suffers from one key defect and that is the Zuo Sha which is much too close to the tomb. This formation is called “Ya Pi Sha”. This results
in the Qi being squeezed. The mountains are also bony and hard, indicating aggressive Qi being concentrated and pumped in the direction of the tomb.
There is also a low wind gap.
History confirms that Jing Ling is not a sound tomb, as far as Feng Shui is concerned. Emperors that followed Emperor Xuan Zong had less than
smooth reigns – the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong’s son, Ying Zong, was interrupted by his kidnapping by the Mongols, resulting in the throne being
assumed by another before Ying Zong was able to return and seize the throne back. But, because the tomb of Emperor Yongle had excellent Feng Shui,
the dynasty was able to persevere and perpetuate.
Feng Shui: It’s not a beauty contest
The final tomb for the day was the tomb of Emperor Shen Zong, called Ding Ling. This tomb
is the only Ming tomb to have been excavated and is also one of the most extravagant tombs in the entire Ming tomb complex, with
an underground palace where the coffin of the Emperor and his Empresses was placed, along with other valuables of the time.
The local Ming Tomb tour guide extolled the Feng Shui virtues of the tombs, especially Ding Ling. He added that many European Feng Shui tours often
made it a point to stop and admire the Feng Shui of Ding Ling, especially the elephant statues, dragon motifs and Imperial Symbols commonly used in Ming
Tomb architecture, which he said, was the source of the great auspiciousness of the area.
But of course, the students of the Mastery Academy are expected to make up their own minds with what they have been trained to see, analyse and logically deduce.
Not what the tour guide says to be Feng Shui gospel.
Most of the students immediately picked up the fact that the table mountain in the distance was too high and while a few harboured
suspicions about the dragon vein, uncertainty as to whether or not the Feng Shui was good reigned. The gusting windy section at the top
of the tomb hinted at the likelihood that the tomb was affected by sha qi but students couldn’t quite figure out why.
So there was much eagerness and anticipation when it came to Joey’s analysis. Students, who had minutes prior to Joey’s analysis session, been extolling the
virtues of the embrace, realised, that they had forgotten to qualify the embrace. Yes, there was an embrace around the tomb but the mountains, instead of curving
in sentimentally to protect the tomb, were in fact, merciless and moving outward, opening the tomb to the aggressive qi. There was also a large wind gap that send
the Qi hurtling towards the centerpoint of the tomb, like “ a punch to the heart” as Joey described. The structure of the mountains around the Ding Ling tomb are in
fact, a ‘Dragon and Tiger Separating Formation.’
Even the vein, said Joey, must be qualified. By the time Emperor Shen Zong died and was buried, the Ming tombs were over-crowded and the veins exhausted.
“Leftover veins” was how Joey termed the vein being tapped into by the tomb. What should the Emperors have done? Patched the Dragon by looking for new
mountains and new veins to tap into instead of recycling the same old vein and exhausting the energies.
While the reign of Emperor Shen Zong was a prosperous period for the Ming Dynasty, Emperors that followed on did badly, with short reigns and disasters plaguing
the country. The powerful Feng Shui of Emperor YongLe was simply not enough to see the dynasty through past its 16th Emperor. With such poor Feng Shui and a
Dragon that was not patched properly and sufficiently, the end arrived in the form of a full scale rebellion and conquest that marked the end of the Ming
Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty.
What then was the takeaway for the students? The moral of the story as it were? The view is not what Feng Shui is all about. Nor are the words of the
tour guide, that the Ming Tombs have superb Feng Shui to be taken at face value. They're not experts in Landform Feng Shui.
A beautiful area, and seemingly beautiful mountains, sometimes disguise a bad spot. As Joey reminded the students, what was said in the ancient classics,
fake landforms always look good, but really truly powerful landform are usually hidden by Heaven.
The day ended with dinner at a Beijing restaurant. Tomorrow, students will be visiting the Western Qing Tombs in Hebei, west Beijing, to examine the tombs of
the Qing Emperors and to determine for themselves, with the knowledge of the past few days, if the Qing Emperors, fared any better than their Ming counterparts
in ensuring good Feng Shui for good descendant and dynastic luck.
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