Imperial Yi Jing has its roots in the most powerful style of feng shui, Chue Style Yuen Hom. Yuen Hom, also known as Xuan Kong, translates intriguingly as ‘Mystery of the Void’, or ‘from everything to nothing, from nothing to everything’. This hints at the power of the system, which can turn negative to positive, and useless to useful.

Feng shui has been described as ‘the art of placement’. Its aim is to bring human lives and the environment into harmonious relationship. Yi Jing divination forms part of the repertoire of a good feng shui practitioner. Chue Style Yuen Hom Feng Shui is a hexagram method with a number of distinctive characteristics.

Yuen Hom Feng Shui originated mainly in what is now Guizhou Province, and in the Lijiang (Li River) area between Guilin and Yangshuo in modern Guangxi Province. Guilin (‘ Forest of Sweet Osmanthus’) and Yangshuo (‘Bright Moon’) are set among chalk caves and bizarrely-twisting limestone pinnacles. For centuries poets and painters have been inspired by the magnificent scenery here. As the famous Tang Dynasty author Han Yu (AD 768-824) wrote, ‘The river is a blue ribbon of silk, the hills are hairpins of jade.’

The practice of Yuen Hom Feng Shui is based on interpreting and manipulating the 64 hexagrams or kwa of the Yi Jing. Yuen Hom began to develop during the Zhou Dynasty (c 1027-221 BCE). This was when the hexagram (six-line) system evolved from the simpler trigram (three-line) system of portraying the universal energy known as chi.

For thousands of years, Chinese farmers had studied the weather, seasons and landscapes. Feng shui was born out of their common-sense observations on the timing, quality and effect of natural phenomena. Its function was practical, enabling people to find optimal locations for creating communities, building homes and planting crops. ‘Form Style’, the earliest approach to feng shui, developed from these initial observations on the interacting influences of the surrounding environment.

Ancient sages compared their studies of the heavens with earthly events. They began to understand how the flow of chi could actually shape the destiny of individuals and nations. The power of feng shui was so convincing that the ancient rulers of China confined its use to the Imperial Courts. The task of the feng shui masters was to ensure that the rulers and their people would flourish. The penalty for failure was execution.

To determine whether a location, time or plan was auspicious, these masters needed to have a realistic understanding of the various ways in which the universal energy was expressed. Over many generations of cumulative wisdom, the Imperial Masters developed a variety of very detailed and precise methods to improve the human condition.

Yuen Hom Feng Shui in particular became a closely-guarded secret. However, the actions of one man, Imperial Grand Master Yang Kwan Chong, have ensured that Yuen Hom and its related skills survive today.

The Tang Dynasty (AD 617-907) was a mainly prosperous period when all of the arts flourished in China. Landscapes became the main focus of Chinese painting, in a genre known as ‘shanshui’ (‘mountain and water’). Shanshui attempted to capture the essence or chi of a scene by evoking its atmosphere. The Tang Dynasty was also the golden age of poetry, and proficiency in composing poems was added to the numerous skills expected of civil service examinees.

The Tang central capital was prosperous Chang’an (modern Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province), at the eastern end of the Silk Route. At that time Chang’an, with more than 1 million inhabitants, was easily the largest city in the world. Grand Master Yang Kwan Chong lived toward the end of the Tang Dynasty, when Yuen Hom and other styles of feng shui were well-established in the Imperial Court.

Anyone who wanted a position in the government had to take part in a system of very difficult examinations. The main reason for having an examination system was to ensure that civil servants were appointed on merit rather than through influence. During the Tang Dynasty, the pass rate for these comprehensive exams was only about two per cent. The examinations were held every four years, and the feng shui tests included long-term weather forecasting, locating underground streams, assessing gravesites, and describing the properties of soil lying deeply out of sight. Candidates who passed the feng shui exams had the opportunity to become masters.

In his childhood, the future Imperial Grand Master Yang Kwan Chong had no interest in feng shui. Nevertheless his father had insisted on training him thoroughly, and this early education laid the foundation for his exceptional skills. When it came time to sit the exams, the young man was very successful. He drew on his aptitude for the Yi Jing to ensure that he’d pass the other feng shui tests. Using the Yi Jing at a gravesite, he described the circumstances of a family who’d been buried there for generations. To predict the weather for 15 days to come, he not only watched the behaviour of insects but also used the Yi Jing as a forecasting tool. Though his examination technique was a little unconventional, it demonstrated his higher knowledge and got him his place in the government.

During his years at Court, Grand Master Yang read many books on Yuen Hom in the Imperial library. He grew so proficient that he became the highest-ranking Imperial Feng Shui Master in the country. He was an expert in observing and interpreting the movements of stars and planets, the omens, the flow of chi, the character and fortune in a man’s face, and many other subjects. A charitable and benevolent man, Grand Master Yang used feng shui to rescue poor scholars, orphans and widows from their poverty. Because of his philanthropy he became known as ‘Yang Who Feeds the Poor’.

Grand Master Yang was a nature-lover and a sensitive person, so he wasn’t really suited to the restrictions and intrigues of Court life. There came a time when he was approached by an ambitious and very high-ranking official. This man was determined to overthrow the ruler and seize the throne for himself. Thinking that feng shui could help him achieve his aim, he tried to involve the Grand Master in his scheme. Grand Master Yang Kwan Chong refused to help the traitor, thereby putting his own life in great danger.

Grand Master Yang had to flee from the Imperial Court. He took with him many of the library’s valuable Yuen Hom manuscripts. To escape pursuit by the vengeful official’s army, he journeyed deep into the mountains. Eventually Grand Master Yang went into hiding in Ganzhou (Ganzhou Shi), at that time a small village, in what is now Jiangxi Province. There a wealthy man named Jang Mon Jun gave him shelter and support for six years.

Grand Master Yang copied out the stolen manuscripts, recording the secret Yuen Hom methods. Because he would have been beheaded for making this knowledge available outside the Court, he cleverly disguised his work. Some of his sentences were lengthy, yet contained only one or two meaningful words. Other statements were written upside down, or back to front. Sometimes he hid the key words. In this way Grand Master Yang ensured that the Yuen Hom texts could only be recognised and translated by someone who was already familiar with the teachings. Much later, during the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911), his manuscripts were filed with the government. Although today it’s possible to obtain photocopies, these are too obscure for the average reader to understand.

Grand Master Yang Kwan Chong became the first person to teach Yuen Hom Feng Shui outside the Imperial Court. He taught feng shui to Jang in exchange for his hospitality, and he also had three other students: Lou, Tsin and Wong. Tsin and Wong learned each of the several feng shui styles from him, but Lou only studied Form Style.

Form Style feng shui doesn’t have formulae like Compass Style, which is one reason why it’s more difficult to learn. At its best, Form is a gift as well as a skill. A talented Form Style master, for example, would be able to tell the colour of soil lying deep beneath a boulder.

Grand Master Wong excelled at Form Style. He had very sharp, ‘x-ray eyes’, and he never forgot what he saw. Though he didn’t use a compass (luopan), he could identify the degree measurements of any property. He could actually see energy (chi), and he could tell from the outside of a house what problems the people who lived there would have. Grand Master Wong was able to look at a person with his x-ray eyes, and discover what was wrong with his or her health. He was adept at face reading, another aspect of feng shui, which has much in common with Form Style.

 

Grand Master Wong never married. He had no children of his own and no students. Grand Master Lou had only studied Form Style feng shui, and so there was no demand for his teachings. It fell to Grand Master Tsin, then, to hand on the knowledge of Imperial Grand Master Yang Kwan Chong. It was Grand Master Tsin’s own student, Chan Hai Yee, who became an Imperial Grand Master and founded the Chan family lineage.

Over the years Ganzhou grew famous as ‘The Feng Shui Village’ because of the number of students it attracted. These students were invited to choose the feng shui style they’d study, but the process was unusual. The masters would set out their compasses, and each student would select the compass he was most attracted to. If it turned out to be a Yuen Hom compass, for example, then the fortunate student was taught Yuen Hom Style.

As the Tang Dynasty drew to a close, peasants rebelled in northern China and massacred many of the aristocracy. The northern capital at that time was at Hangzhou, in modern Zhejiang Province, a walled city made prosperous by the silk trade. Struggles continued in the north through five short-lived shifts of power. Meanwhile southern parts of China were under the rulership of powerful military governors who styled themselves as kings, and they controlled ten comparatively prosperous and peaceful kingdoms. This troubled period of disunity in China’s history, from AD 907 to 960, is known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Xiangguo Temple, Kaifeng
© Bernard Cloutier. Link to his site: www.berclo.net

The Song Dynasty emerged in 960, with its capital at the flourishing northern city of Kaifeng, now in Henan Province. The civil service examinations there were extended to attract ever more talented people, and both education and the economy expanded. It was during the Song Dynasty that Imperial Grand Master Chan Hai Yee lived. As the student of Grand Master Tsin, he had inherited the teachings of Imperial Grand Master Yang Kwan Chong.

Grand Master Chan Hai Yee was the founder of the Chan family lineage of feng shui masters. By a powerful and secret method, he had read in the Fates that the lineage would come into being and continue through the centuries. Grand Master Chan was an exceptional man who more than deserved his appointment to the Court. He is particularly remembered for his outstanding ability as an astrologer, his skill at face reading, and his development of a very potent technique of Yi Jing forecasting. A prolific writer, Imperial Grand Master Chan Hai Yee produced many books which survive today, though the language he used is difficult for us to interpret.

For many hundreds of years, the ideal Chinese home was laid out according to feng shui principles. This resulted in a courtyard house built of wood with a prominent, tiled roof. The main building was situated at the northern end of a walled quadrangle, opposite its southern entrance. Supplementary buildings were arranged symmetrically along the east and west sides of the courtyard. This basic design was extended to monasteries, palaces and cities.

From its first settlement more than 2000 years ago, Beijing (Peking) gradually developed as China’s modern capital. It became a series of nested rectangles organised along a north/south axis. The Outer City surrounded the Inner City, which in turn held the Imperial City. The Imperial City enclosed the Ming (AD 1368-1644) and Qing emperors’ Forbidden City, so called because no one outside the Imperial household was permitted to enter it.

Great Grand Master Chue Sum was another of the many other Masters and Imperial Masters in the Chue lineage. He lived during the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911) and his title, ‘Chue Sum’, means ‘Follow the Heart’.

The future Taoist Great Grand Master Chue Yen was born late in the Qing Dynasty, in China’s Canton ( Guangdong) Province. He had one elder sister, and their parents were very wealthy. A top student in primary and secondary school, he was diligent and exceptionally clever. He studied hard for China’s most prestigious examinations, setting his sights on a prominent governmental position. Unfortunately the outbreak of the First World War forced the cancellation of exams, leaving him without a plan for his future.

While he considered his options, Great Grand Master Chue Yen explained to his parents that he wasn’t interested in marriage. Incredulous, his father argued that if his son married and had children, he could look after one of the family businesses, and his attitude would change. Ignoring the lad’s continuing protests, Great Grand Master Chue Yen’s parents called in a matchmaker, who asked for his photograph and horoscope.

At this point, knowing that his parents already had a girl’s photo, the teenager ran away from home. He made his way to a Buddhist monastery in the mountains near Canton ( Guangzhou), intending to become a monk. There he spent approximately four years carrying out duties like chopping wood and cooking rice and vegetables.

Great Grand Master Chue Yen attracted the attention of the Abbot, who taught him Sam Hap (Three Combinations) Feng Shui, Sam Yuen (Three Periods) Flying Star, and Chinese Astrology. Based on what he found in his student’s horoscope, he advised Great Grand Master Chue Yen not to accumulate money of his own, but always make donations to charity.

The Abbot had become a monk when he was very young, so he was similar in age to his pupil. He was short with a round head and smiling face, and looked just like a ‘happy Buddha’. He was a very kind-hearted and devout Buddhist who respected all forms of life. He released flies trapped in spider webs, took care not to step on ants, and was considerate in all his undertakings. In the temple were two large bells that rang the hour. The Abbot knew just how to strike the bells to make a variety of musical sounds so loud that they could be heard three miles away.

One day after lunch the Abbot told Great Grand Master Chue Yen that the life of a monk wouldn’t suit him. When the young man protested, the Abbot said that his student had too much on his mind and too many strong opinions. He might succeed in becoming a monk in the future, but it wouldn’t happen at this time. The Abbot added that he had nothing left to teach him about feng shui. All in all, he advised Great Grand Master Chue Yen to leave the monastery and seek out a future that was more appropriate for him.

Great Grand Master Chue Yen asked where he ought to go. The Abbot replied that if he were to leave the monastery that very day, he soon would find his next master. He gave the young man directions, and said that at sunset he should spend the night in a roadside pagoda. The following morning he would meet a Taoist of the Chan family who was the descended master of Imperial Grand Master Chan Hai Yee. This man would accept him as a student.

Events unfolded as the Abbot had foreseen. At first the future Great Grand Master Chue Yen found his Taoist master’s teaching methods very challenging. There was none of the formal study he’d been used to as a schoolboy. Instead, he was expected to learn feng shui by observing, absorbing and understanding the natural energies of the landscape. He and his master travelled at very high altitudes through the mountains, where the energy was pure. There Great Grand Master Chue Yen learned to control his own chi (life force or energy), so that he could breathe well even when oxygen was scarce.

For about seven years, the two men followed the undulating energy of the ‘Mountain Dragon’ and its offshoots. At night they slept out of doors or, during the bitterly cold mountain winters, in temples and hunting lodges. Following these and other experiences, Great Grand Master Chue Yen became both a Taoist Master and a Master of Yuen Hom Feng Shui. You can read more about him and his only pupil in the next article from this series, The Indoor Student.

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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