Imperial Yi Jing owes a particular debt of gratitude to Taoist Great Grand Master Chue Yen. He and his only student, Grand Master Chue Yan Chan Kun Wah, were introduced in previous articles in this series, History of Chue Style Six Kinships Hexagram Yi Jing. Here you can read more about some of the Grand Master’s extraordinary achievements. Like the other stories in the series, these accounts are true and I offer them in good faith.

• Great Grand Master Chue Yen Repays a Kindness
• A Costly Mistake
• Swimming Underground
• The Devouring Frog

Great Grand Master Chue Yen Repays a Kindness

Great Grand Master Chue Yen travelled widely in China during the Second World War, when food was in short supply and many people went hungry. One very wet winter he caught a cold and then fell seriously ill. He managed to reach a village, where he collapsed unconscious outside a small house. Here the owner took him in, changed his rain-soaked clothes and boiled medicinal herbs for him to drink.

Though very poor, the man was kind-hearted. He treated his guest generously, killing his few chickens one by one to feed the invalid until he was fully recovered. When he was well again, Great Grand Master Chue Yen asked his host what he’d like in return for his thoughtfulness. The householder said there wasn’t really anything he wanted, apart from enough food each day and good weather to secure the harvest. ‘All right,’ said Great Grand Master Chue Yen, ‘I’ll see what I can do to improve your future. Tomorrow you can show me where your ancestors are buried.’ Hearing this, the farmer realised that his guest was a feng shui master.

When they reached the gravesite the following day, Great Grand Master Chue Yen could see from its poor location that the ancestors were in no position to help the worthy farmer. The graves would have to be relocated, and it took Great Grand Master Chue Yen three months to find a suitable place. After the reburial, the feng shui master went on his way.

Several months later, some visitors arrived at the house carrying two heavy pots of dried fish. One of the men asked if the farmer would store the pots for him. When the farmer agreed, the man added that if he didn’t return for the pots within a year, the farmer could have them. The visitors then put the pots in a corner of the house, thanked the farmer, and left.

A year went by without the man returning to claim his dried fish. Because he was so honest, the farmer left the pots untouched. After another year’s waiting, he knew it was time to look inside. Hidden under the fish he found large quantities of gold – enough to make him a millionaire. His life improved even further thereafter through marriage, and he was in his 60’s when his children were born.

A Costly Mistake

Grand Master Chan’s respect for feng shui continued to grow as he studied with his master and observed him at work. An amusing example of Great Grand Master Chue Yen’s skills concerns his favourite restaurant. The Grand Master was a man who relished his food, and every day he visited this restaurant for dim sum. Although business was brisk, the proprietor felt it was time to bring the building up to date. He ordered a complete refurbishment, and also changed the colour of the exterior paintwork from green to red.

After the refurbishment, Great Grand Master Chue Yen shook his head sadly and commented that the restaurant wouldn’t remain open for long. Grand Master Chan asked him how he knew. The Grand Master replied, ‘I’m not going to tell you. If you do your research, you’ll figure it out within seven days.’

Grand Master Chan was puzzled. No matter how he approached the problem, he couldn’t understand how this popular restaurant could be on the brink of closure. Then, on the seventh day, he hit upon the answer. Standing quite a distance away from the restaurant, he suddenly realised its shape resembled the body of a crab.

Less than a month later the restaurant was destroyed in a fire. How had Great Grand Master Chue Yen known this would happen? A red crab is a dead crab!

Swimming Underground

One day Great Grand Master Chue Yen took his student to a place where he said there was underground water. When they arrived, Grand Master Chan looked all around and could see no sign of water anywhere. His master insisted that it was there beneath their feet, and that there were fish swimming in it. The teenager knew enough about his master’s abilities by now to believe that there was unseen water, but claiming it held fish was another matter altogether. So young Grand Master Chan returned a few days later and industriously began to dig. He wasn’t surprised to find water a few feet down, but as he dug he realised it was actually an underground pool – and it did indeed contain some very unusual-looking fish. They seemed more like goldfish than like carp, but even more remarkably they were large-headed like human babies. A strange sight indeed!

The Devouring Frog

One of Great Grand Master Chue Yen’s clients was a wealthy businessman who had consulted another master. This businessman wanted to know whether his hillside property overlooking the ocean was a suitable place to build a home. With the master’s guidance, the house was designed and built according to feng shui principles, and in due course the businessman and his family moved in. Sensing that something wasn’t quite right, the man hired several other masters to give their opinions, but none could find anything wrong with it.

Soon thereafter the man’s business began to lose money. Worse was to come, as one by one his children died before reaching 8 or 10 years of age. In desperation he turned to Great Grand Master Chue Yen, who at first was unable to find the cause of the problem. With the businessman’s agreement, Great Grand Master Chue Yen stayed overnight in the house, and early the next morning he went down to the beach. While the tide was still out, he saw a rock in the sea that was shaped like a huge, open-mouthed frog. The frog was facing the house, symbolically draining its energy and consuming the residents. Although Great Grand Master Chue Yen advised his client to move out of the property, the businessman was unable to do so -- and he died soon thereafter. Later, in bad weather, Grand Master Chan saw black chi spewing out of the frog’s mouth.

• Shocked by a Spirit
• Yin Energy: Too Close for Comfort
• Feng Shui Sickness
• Ghosts and Gourds

Shocked by a Spirit

Great Grand Master Chue Yen often talked with spirits. His student wasn’t convinced that spirits actually existed, let alone communicated with people. Each morning as they went up into the mountains, master and pupil would arrive at a set of crossroads. Here Great Grand Master Chue Yen would politely speak to a person the teenager couldn’t see. He began with ‘Good morning’ or ‘Excuse me’, then went on to ask ‘How are you?’ or ‘Have you had a good breakfast?’ After awhile, this got on Grand Master Chan’s nerves, and he challenged the older man to tell him who he was speaking to. ‘I’m talking to my friend,’ Great Grand Master Chue Yen replied. Grand Master Chan retorted with, ‘No, you’re not! You’re just doing this to scare me!’

The day came when, annoyed with his student for always arguing that spirits were imaginary, Great Grand Master Chue Yen decided to demonstrate their presence. Aloud, he explained to the friendly spirit, ‘The boy doesn’t believe in you. Can you please do something to prove yourself to him?’ Suddenly the unsuspecting teenager found he couldn’t lift his foot from the ground. Feeling a force gripping his ankle, he tried to pull his leg forward, but his whole body was frozen in position. Alarmed, he called back to his master for help. Great Grand Master Chue Yen asked him whether he now believed in spirits, and the young man hastily agreed that he did. Great Grand Master Chue Yen then asked the spirit to released the boy, who immediately was able to walk normally again.

Yin Energy: Too Close for Comfort

Grand Master Chan and Great Grand Master Chue Yen were walking one night near a very steep cliff when the teenager was threatened by a ghost. The ghost was a woman who mesmerised passers-by and lured them to their deaths at the cliff’s edge. As though he were drifting in a dream, the young man moved away from his master. Fortunately Great Grand Master Chue Yen quickly realised what was happening and pulled back his student just in time, rescuing him from the yin energy.

Feng Shui Sickness

A group of children were on a school trip into the mountains, where they stopped for a picnic. After their meal they were given time to play before making their way back. Enjoying their freedom, they ran about, played games and chased each other. One of the girls collided with a ceramic pot, which fell and broke apart as she raced on.

By the time she reached home after school, the girl had completely changed. She spoke angrily and incomprehensibly in a very deep, masculine voice. Alarmed by their daughter’s behaviour, her family suspected a medical problem and took her to the hospital. After she’d been examined, they were told that nothing was medically wrong. Dissatisfied and increasingly anxious, they visited one hospital after another, but always the diagnosis was the same: their daughter was in normal health.

More than a week passed, with no improvement. Sympathetic family friends knew Great Grand Master Chue Yen, and suggested that he should be asked to have a look at this unusual child. Great Grand Master Chue Yen was invited to the home, and brought his student, Grand Master Chan, with him. Slowly the two approached the girl, who shouted in a man’s voice, ‘Stand back! Don’t come near me!’

Understanding that the girl had been ‘possessed’ by a ghost, Great Grand Master Chue Yen asked, ‘Why have you damaged her?’ ‘Wrong!’ came the furious reply, ‘She damaged me far more!’

‘How did she damage you?’ asked the Grand Master. ‘She destroyed my house, that’s how!’ shrieked the voice. ‘Now there’s nowhere for me to live, so I’m going to stay inside her!’

Quietly and patiently, to calm the ghost, Great Grand Master Chue Yen explained that breaking the ceramic pot had been an accident. The ghost remained indignant and refused to leave the girl’s body. Great Grand Master Chue Yen suggested that they come to an arrangement, but the ghost saw no reason to cooperate. The Grand Master then told the ghost where the broken pot was located, and that he knew the skeleton inside had been disarranged and exposed. The ghost agreed that these things were true, but he wasn’t impressed enough to change his mind. Then Great Grand Master Chue Yen promised to make a new and better house for the ghost, and to give him extra money for the afterlife. The ghost was tempted, but he still wouldn’t budge. So Great Grand Master Chue Yen asked him politely what else he would like, and gradually the two struck a deal.

Great Grand Master Chue Yen and Grand Master Chan left the girl’s home, promising to make the necessary arrangements. The Grand Master worked out the best day to rebury the skeleton, and bought a new funeral pot. When the appointed day arrived, master and student climbed to the gravesite. Grand Master Chan remembers it well, not least because he laboured up the mountain carrying the big pot, a cooked chicken, a bottle of wine, some joss sticks, extra money and everything else needed for the reburial – leaving only the luopan (feng shui compass) to Great Grand Master Chue Yen.

When they reached the damaged grave, Great Grand Master Chue Yen solemnly removed the lid from the new pot and asked Grand Master Chan to select the bones from the broken skeleton as he called for them. (At one point, when he asked for a foot, Grand Master Chan mischievously handed him an arm.) Bit by bit the Grand Master reassembled the skeleton so that it looked like a person sitting upright in the pot. When he finished, he replaced the lid and used the luopan to help him find a better position for the grave. Master and student performed a ceremony and burned all the money for the ghost, then returned down the mountainside. When they reached the girl’s home, they found she’d returned to normal, and her parents were very grateful. This was another turning point for young Grand Master Chan, who had never before believed in ‘Feng Shui Sickness’ (ghostly possession) or in exorcism.

Ghosts and Gourds

Grand Master Chan was in his mid-teens when he saw a similar case of ‘Feng Shui Sickness’. This time the victim was a man whose character and voice had both coarsened. Again the hospital could find nothing medically wrong, and a family friend recommended that Great Grand Master Chue Yen be called in.

Yin feng shui was one of Great Grand Master Chue Yen’s outstanding skills, and as he prepared for the visit he was certain that this was no ordinary ghost. He enquired into the background of the case and learned what had happened. Then, aware of the wickedness he was about to confront, he spent some time in prayer. He gave Grand Master Chan a charm to protect himself, then gathered up his luopan and a bottle gourd before setting off with his student to see what could be done.

Outside the apartment, Great Grand Master Chue Yen warned Grand Master Chan to keep well away from the man inside. ‘You must be very, very careful. This is an extremely powerful ghost. Stand absolutely still, don’t move, and keep hold of the charm.’ Then he opened the door and stepped inside.

A fierce voice boomed out the words, ‘Don’t come in here or you’ll be in big trouble!’ Speaking very softly, Great Grand Master Chue Yen asked the ghost not to do anything bad to the man whose body he was occupying. Then he asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’

‘It’s none of your business!’ raged the ghost. ‘I won’t tell you! Get out! Get out, or you’ll be in big trouble!’

For more than two hours, Great Grand Master Chue Yen tried to reason with the ghost. Eventually he turned to Grand Master Chan and said, ‘It’s better for us to go back now. The day doesn’t suit what we’re trying to do.’

For the next visit, Great Grand Master Chue Yen also brought representations of three gods with him. Again he warned Grand Master Chan to stand still and keep clear of the ghost. This time there was even more talk than on the first visit and without realising it, Grand Master Chan edged closer to the possessed man. Suddenly ‘thwack!’ – the ghost reached out and punched the teenager in the head. The violence and unexpectedness of the blow knocked Grand Master Chan down, and Great Grand Master Chue Yen was livid with him. Clearly they’d get no further that day, so master and student returned home.

Great Grand Master Chue Yen carefully chose the time for the third encounter. He brought a representation of the most powerful god along with his luopan and the gourd, and he checked that Grand Master Chan still carried the charm.

Once again there was a lot of talk between the angry ghost and the gentle Grand Master. Eventually Great Grand Master Chue Yen shot out his hand and slapped his palm onto the possessed man’s head, catching the ghost. Very quickly, he thrust the ghost into the hollow gourd and placed a charm over it to seal the ghost in, and the man returned to normal.

Great Grand Master Chue Yen gave the sealed gourd to Grand Master Chan, who put it in a bag that he hung from his shoulder. Together they made their way down five flights of stairs, and all the while Grand Master Chan felt the gourd striking out at his back. Reaching home, Great Grand Master Chue Yen placed the gourd with a number of others, then turned to his pupil. ‘I feed the ghosts every day, and burn incense sticks for them. It’s a good idea to make friends with ghosts. They’re better friends than humans are, and will always try to help you.’

Unable to resist the temptation, young Grand Master Chan once tried to open a gourd to see what was inside. He didn’t succeed, but he earned a very hard smack from his master. Great Grand Master Chue Yen freed the ghosts one by one as they improved their behaviour and became ‘good ghosts’, but whenever he was away from home it was Grand Master Chan’s job to care for them.

• 
• 

I'm indebted to the following for their help in providing information, illustrations and general assistance for the articles in this series, History of Chue Style Six Kinships Hexagram Yi Jing:

• Anecdotes:
  • Grand Master Chue Yan Chan Kun Wah
  • Lana Cook
  • Tom Coxon
  • Marianne Druant
  • Aine McCaffrey
  • Kajal Sheth
  • Kaiser Shroff
  • Jillian Stott
  • Ian Wallace
  • Jared Westcott
  • Oliver Winkler
• Editorial Assistance:
  • Ivy Morgan (Qing Zhao)
• General Assistance:
  • Mike Chester
  • Pamela Forsyth
  • Maria Green
  • David Knowles
  • Arthur Tatchell
  • Kay Tom
  • Ian Wallace
  • Michael Warden
  • Linda Watt
• Calligraphy:
  • Grand Master Chue Yan Chan Kun Wah
• Illustrations:
  • Grand Master Chue Yan Chan Kun Wah
  • Val Burnham
  • Bernard Cloutier
  • Pamela Forsyth
  • Kaiser Shroff
• Ambient Music:
  • David Knowles