Walking with Empress Cixi (象)

Dear friends,
I believe many of you have visited Yi He Yuan (颐和圆) in Beijing, the favourite summer retreat for Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), who was the de facto ruler of China for 47 years from 1861 until her death.
Empress Dowager’s favourite place in Yi He Yuan is the famous Long Corridor, which is 2,238 feet [...]

Concept of Phase 象

Dear friends,
I touched upon “forms” (象) or “phase” in a recent exchange with friends. Thought of sharing with all my dear readers in this blog.
“象” (“xiang”) is an important tool in tradtional Chinese culture. It is used to represent a certain stage of thing or event.
As an illustration, lets look at our emotions : happy, sad, angry or [...]

Health Pointers for Free

Dear Friends,
I have described human body’s growth/reproductive pattern and it’s “4 seasons” in earlier postings.
So how do we ensure we do not deviate too far off the natural patterns ?
They are summed up nicely by our ancestors in the following few words, in the Chinese Medicine classical text of <黄帝内經> (“Huang Di Nei Jing”) :
“… 法于阴阳, 和于术数, 食饮有节, 起居有常, [...]

Your growth/reproductive pattern

Dear Friends,
This was what our ancestors have observed re our growth and reproductive pattern.
First, for the ladies :

1×7=7 yr   : permanent teeth replacing primary teeth, hairs getting longer,
2×7=14 yr : arrival of “sex hormone”, commencement of periods, can have pregnancy, (note too late arrival of this is symptom of Qi deficiency, esp kidney system),
3×7=21 yr : [...]

Your Kids, Your Parents

Dear friends,
Well, enough Ba Gua for the time being.Lets take a look at what our ancestors said more than 2 thousand years ago about our life cycle. This is from the Chinese Medicine classical text, 黄帝内經.
The human body “machine”, if unhurt and used according to natural laws, will last 120 years. This is called human’s [...]

Pre-Conditions (先天八卦) (2)

Dear Friends,
We have earlier touched on the astronomy aspects of Pre-Condition Ba Gua (先天八卦）.
Lets look at the diagram again.

You will notice that for any pair of Gua opposite each other, they complement each other. For example, for the top Gua (乾卦, Qian Gua），its has three Yang-Lines. Its opposite Gua at the bottom, 坤卦 (Kun Gua), [...]

Pre-Conditions (先天八卦) (1)

Dear friends,
We have addressed the concepts of Wuji and Taiji in the previous posting, the world of “nothingness” versus “somethingness” and that “somethingness is born out of “nothingness”.
Before I elaborate further on this, lest you think I am drifting into the world of wilderness, think about the following two examples :

Before we were born, we [...]

“Nothingness” to “有生於無”

Dear Friends,

“有“ literally means “something that’s there”, something that we can describe, see, touch, detect with or imagine.

“無” literally means “nothingness”, something that we cannot describe, see, touch, detect or imagine.

However, it is very important to note “無” is not “empty”. It is simply beyond our human ability to comprehend. We can only describe something or imagine [...]

Human being (人)

Dear Friends,
Every expression of life, when group together, think they are somehow special.
Thus the Goldman boys and girls think they are special, they beat even the most optimistic market expectation most of the times.
The Citigroup boys and girls also think they are special, never mind they seem to keep on burning away cash for the [...]

Cosmic Forces : Last Period of 2007

Dear Friends,
I have addressed the large 60-year cycle of Cosmic Forces earlier.
Each year (lunar calendar) is further divided into 24 节气 (“Minor Qi”) and 6 气 (“Major Qi”).
Each Major Qi period consists of 4 Minor Qi’s.
Tomorrow is Nov 23. It will be the beginning of the last Major Qi (6th Qi) for lunar year 2007. It [...]