YFS

If you are also asking opinions whether we think saying dan dao is right or wrong, I'd say it depends on your intended audience. If you are writing for people familiar with this, go for it. Otherwise it has to be explained. Personally, when translating texts I translate 丹道 as Daoist alchemy.

Yes you could do that. Feng Shui can always be applied in layers: first the macro layer, then the micro layer. One big part of Feng Shui has been derived by certain land formations that are seen as ideal, this is concerned solely with the visible environment. This would be the first thing to use in order to plan the general layout of the city. And then everything else you mentioned can and should be factored in for the "fine tuning". However, for such a big structure, there can never be ideal Feng Shui for everyone. It would be possible to discern city blocks by the quality of Feng Shui, but the degrees will always vary. Then there are is also the factor of time, governing certain cyclical Feng Shui-periods where one area may be supported for a time, and when it changes the area may struggle to keep up with the rest of the city. This can often be seen in industrial estates when new projects suddenly take ages to finish.

However, what you describe is not really Feng Shui. The placement or exchange of the paintings can have a effect on the psyche, they can motivate the guy to really go looking for a partner, but this is not what we would have done by means of traditional Feng Shui techniques. At the very least, it would only have been a start but not the one and only measure, since this is only anchored in the realm or layer of man in the concept of Sancai 三才. Feng Shui always works on all three layers at the same time. But I'm fully with you that there has to be a focus and clarity on what you want to achieve. There are techniques in spiritual Daoism and Faqimen 法奇門 that are (to some degree) based in what you describe.

Personally, I don't think there is a conscious use of Feng Shui color theory. When I watch movies and TV series, I notice the colours, but it always seemed to me like the style of that time (of filming) or the style and preferences of the director. Of course there are some that use this deliberately. I was just thinking of Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower" that is extremely vibrant with colors. Feng Shui interiour design using colors and the placement of furniture is more of a peripheral, modern application of the knowledge. Things like the (outer) environment, position of streets, lighting, the orientation of the site and house itself, as well as factors of time have a much bigger impact on the "feel" of a place.

As a Feng Shui consultant, I don't really see a practical way to use this technique on the battlefield. The most detrimental effects we can calculate and measure by means of Feng Shui still need a good amount of time in order to really manifest as (health) problems. There may be triggers to activate this sooner than later, but still.... However, there is one related technique that was directly used by military strategists: Qimen Dunjia (奇門遁甲). The most famous applications for war can be found in the time of the Chinese Three Kingdoms, where Zhuge Liang used this to calculate the timing of favourable winds for his stratagem. Today we use Qimen as a tool for analyzing practically every area of life. It is great for prognostications and developing strategies for success. If you want, you can look at it in the way of "life being a battlefield".

Okay let me think about specific, interesting cases.... Hi everyone, it's been a while but I have not forgotten about this topic. Yesterday I was asked to analyze an extraordinary case and it might be interesting for you as well. I've been asked to check the situation of a woman who has just "outed" herself to her parents as transsexual, wanting to become male and actually already receiving hormonal treatment. The parents wanted to know if this was "just a phase". Please follow this link to see a screenshot of the chart: https://gyazo.com/d36f7072652d49dd4d6fcde55f61af47 Now this chart answers the question of this being just a phase with a definitive and big no. For me the most interesting points concern the state of the woman, who is represented here by the heavenly stem Geng (Yang-Metal), which represents a huge potential and urge for transformation and change. It is combined and conflicting with the heavenly stem Ji (Yin-Earth), which can represent certain forms of womanhood.Furthermore, the woman is inside an "empty palace", which here may point to an overall restlessness and a lack of self-confidence and to take the process further on her own, hence the act of outing to receive support from the parents (they are very close). The whole chart displays some conflict situations and a big urge for change. The woman knows what she wants and did not tell this to her parents just in order to shock them, but because she actually feels that she was born into the wrong sex. I've also checked her birth chart with Qimen Dunjia and found some big potential for transsexuality as a central theme for her life.... With this knowledge, I could reassure the parents and maybe help them cope with the situation and support their child. As this was also quite the extraordinary question and scenario for me, I thought it may be of interest for you as well to see what kinds of topics we can examine by means of these ancient chinese techniques

You're very welcome! At the bottom of the site, there are also some teasers of advanced classes that took place in Russia (English with Russian translation). Let me know if you have any questions about our system

Unfortunately there is no english book that I would wholeheartedly recommend. The books on the market are mainly quite basic and repeat the same stuff, and you still won't be any smarter. Then, some contain more case studies, but I have found these to be flawed as well. I don't even mean the different possibilities for constructing a Qimen chart, I can respect that. My school uses an alternative way to derive the chart number (e.g. 3 Yang), based on an oral transmission of the teachings, that you won't find in the books. But what I really criticize is this: They write something like "a Fuyin and Fanyin is bad." Period. But in which way exactly is it bad and what's the difference for the interpretation? In my system, there is a vast difference between these two and we even differentiate between two kinds of Fuyin that can appear. The chinese books aren't much better, because they tend to hold back the "juicy" parts Sure, they can contain huge lists of interpretation structures for every kind of question you might have, but they don't help you much with really interpreting them. An "okay" book I can recommend for starters is Qin Ruisheng's "Shipan qimen yuce xue" (秦瑞生 - 時盤奇門預測學). Okay let me think about specific, interesting cases.... If you ask me directly for recommendations for teachers, I would recommend my own teacher, Dr. Alejandro Penataro. He was born in Spain, went to Germany to study Chinese and wrote his Phd-thesis about "Divination arts in Imperial China: the prognostication system Qimen Dunjia". He was accepted into the taiwanese Maoshan lineage and is recognized today as daoist master. He's living in Taiwan but teaches all over the word. He was just here in Germany two weeks ago to teach an advanced class for Qigong (Wuqin zhi xi) and daoist alchemical practices. Personally for me, coming from an academic background in Chinese and Japanese studies as well, I think it's great to have a teacher who not only knows about the theoretical side, but also lives the teachings. For Qimen, there hardly is a deeper school that is publicly available. For example, we incorporate the 12 Qi phases into our interpretation of the heavenly stems, I've seen no other school using this. On his website, you can check out some free introduction videos in English, if you like. http://daomac.com/courses/resources-media-free-lessons-and-conferences If, by any chance you would be interested in studying with Dr. Penataro, you can drop me a message and I can help you get in touch, as he's always extremely busy. Also, if you already have extensive Qimen knowledge and just want to delve into specific topics, it's possible to just take individual lessons with the teacher. I have nothing to add to Taomeow's great answer, that would be my guess as well.

Ah those can be quite extensive topics, especially regarding the Bashen. Are there specific cases or Shen that you want to talk about? In general, the Yima causes fluctuations of any kind within the specific sphere of its palace. The emptiness of a palace may point to a lack of drive or power regarding the specific palace/s or even the absence or unwillingness of the empty representatives concerning our question. An empty hour even points to a general futility or lack of energy regarding the whole situation. As I'm sure you know, detailled interpretations are only possible for specific questions, so I can only talk about the general case here

Sure, I'd be happy to Is there anything specific you'd like to talk about? Personally I use Qimen for virtually every kind of situation or question. It's a great technique, e.g. for understanding interpersonal relationships, bringing projects into fruition or even checking the Fengshui of a site from afar. It can also be used like Bazi Suanming or Ziwei Doushu for analyzing the personal potential and life cycles of people, based on the date and hour of birth.

Hi Taomeow, are you still interested in this topic? I'm a student of the taiwanese lineage of Maoshan Qimen Dunjia and encorporate this technique (amongst others) into my consultations and coachings.

Hi Marblehead, hi cold, thanks for having me

Hi everyone, nice to meet you. I'm Felix from Germany, a professional consultant and practitioner of the "chinese life sciences". I'm looking forward to broadening my horizon here and getting to know about you and your methods. Best regards Felix