The power of Five elemental energy (五行)

Chinese metaphysics or the 5 skills (refer to 1^st article dated on 23 May 2018) are a study of cosmos energy which govern the universe, heaven, earth and man.  The cosmos energy is derived from the 5 major planets (Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury) influential gravity force which is visible from the earth. The 5 planets manifested as 5 basic elements are wood, fire, earth, metal and water.  The 5 elements’ energy is seasonal with direction phase that are dynamic in nature and it is also called wuxing (五行) in Chinese.  Xing (行) means movement and 5 planets are 5 moving stars.  Each of elements has its own attributes.

Elements	Attribute	Planet	Description	Associated direction	Season
Wood	Tree- growth	Jupiter	Biggest planet powerful gravity force	East	Spring
Fire	Warmth& happiness	Mars	Red planet	South	Summer
Earth	Comfort & resources	Saturn	Natural earth energy	Center	seasonal transition
Metal	Execution & enduring	Venus	Second planet from the sun	West	Autumn
Water	Flow of emotion & wisdom	Mercury	Smallest innermost planet	North	Winter

The 5 planets, Mercury(water), Venus(metal), Mars(fire), Jupiter (wood) and Saturn(earth)  in the solar system which is visible on earth sky

The 5 elements are interrelated to each other through the following cyclic relationship

1. Strengthening  (One element produce another element) eg.  water produce wood,  wood produce fire etc
2. Weakening   (One element weaken another element) eg. wood weaken water, fire weaken wood. etc
3. Restraining  ( One element control/clash  another element) eg.  metal chop wood,  wood control earth etc

5 Elements producing, weakening, and clashing relationship

The five element energy (wuxing) are applied in all branches of Chinese Metaphysics in the 5 skills (refer to ), with various time dimension base on movement of earth, planets and stars which also impact the weather.  It is desirable have all 5 elements exist in harmony and balanced with each other in order to produce a balance in all aspect of life such as wealth, health and relationship. It is highly desirable  to have the 5 elements exist in balance and harmony with each other in all things universal.  

5 elements exist in balance and harmony

In my future articles there will be more insights on how prediction is done based on the five element energy in a day 

Interesting tidbits

According to the Chinese culture, every year there is a powerful deity call “tai sui” (Duke of Jupiter) which will sit in a certain direction of the animal sign of the year.  If Tai sui happen to sit in the opposite direction to your animal sign, then you are offending the Tai Sui or Fan Tai Sui.  Therefore you have to go to the temple to pray to Duke of Jupiter.   In reality,  since Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system with its mighty gravity  force,  it might affect a person emotion according to person birth energy animal sign direction.  In feng shui we do not want to activate the force Tai Sui by doing renovation in Tai Sui direction as the energy might affect the house dwellers in negative manner. 

The 4 planes which governs human destiny

There is a famous Chinese saying that a man’s fortune is governed by 3 planes as depicted by the trigram per below (refer to my previous blog on how trigram is derived).

First is heaven luck - what is already programmed into you based on your birth time which determine your life’s path

Second is Man luck - we can use our intelligence and mind power to take actions which will complement our destiny heaven luck.

Third is earth luck - we can still choose to enhance our default settings by harnessing the environment qi/energy using Feng Shui

Most master said that each will contribute to about 33% of your destiny.  Although we have the default program already set in us at our birth hour, day, month and year, we can still enhance our fortune by activating the environment energy and use our will power and intelligence to achieve the best outcome.  

There is the 4^th plane beyond the heaven, earth and man that we can tap on to create a better future and not many Chinese metaphysics master knows about this dimension.  I was introduced to the 4^th dimension about 5 years ago by the famous Dato Joey Yap which is the universe.

It is believed that the highest form of Chinese metaphysics practice is the ability to tap into the powerful divine energy (also known as deity) from the universe.  The universe’s divine energy is based on 7 star paths (big dipper castellation) to the brightest star which is the north Polaris star.  Three oracles systems  -  Qi Men Dun Jian, Da Liu Ren and tai yen Shen Shu are used to tap into the divine universe energy. 

Dimension	Meaning	Practice
Universe	Most powerful energy from deity connection through mind	spiritual practice /Divination 3 oracle system
Heaven	Energy base on Time of birth	Life Destiny Baizi, purple star astrology
Earth	Environmental energy	Feng shui
Man	Energy base on intelligence, will power and mind	Man Virtue, learning

Tapping into the universe energy could be as simple as manifesting to the great power of the universe for a realistic wish to come true. It can also be as complicated as divination of potential outcome in relationship to complicate energy map of the movement of stars in time and space.   I was taught by a few great masters on how to tap into the universe’s power and I have also shared with many of people on simple ways to tap into the power of the universe to make realistic wish come true.  In order to connect to the universe our mind must be in calm condition to state our wish.  The wishes must be realistic and within a person’s destiny capacity.  For those who have already learned meditation, they should have a calm subconscious mind to connect to the universe faster.   The universe also deals with spiritual aspect therefore it would become even more prevalent in next period nine.  Some masters could already have the knowledge of the universe dimension, however it is not very prominent until lately.  Perhaps it is the fire energy from upcoming period nine which have led to popularity of spiritual development related to the universe.

We should be grateful to be born as man where we can activate 3 out of the 4 dimensions  man, earth and universe to complement with our heaven luck birth time in order to create a harmonize life.  Therefore it is very important for everyone to invest in a good birth chart analysis to be followed by harmonize activation of Universe, man, earth.

From Three to Eight - Trigram to Pa Kua

Ancient sages observed that the universe is always changing due to the rotation of the planets, stars relative to earth where  the energy is also changing with each rotation.  The two opposing polarity of cosmic energy Ying and Yang  is also epitomized by line straight continuous line and broken line apart from the tai ji symbol in order to form three lines which represent  Heaven,  Humanity and Earth.

There is an ancient tao universe poem loosely translated as : -

Tao gives birth to One,

One gives birth to Two (Ying Yang) ,

The Two gives birth to Three (Trigram),

The Three gives birth to all things (combination of 8 possibilities).

All universal things shoulder the Yin and embrace the Yang.

When Yin and Yang combine, the universe  achieves harmony.

Pa Kua -  The eight trigrams

There are 8 possible combinations of the Ying and Yang line in the trigram signify 8 directions,   north, south, west, east , north west, north east, south west and south east known as Pa Kua.    Pa kua or 8 trigrams denote many aspect of the universe energy in relation to astronomy, astrology, geography,  human relationship, family and health.  There are early  heaven (Fuxi -Xian tian, 先天八卦) and later heaven (king wen Hou tian後天八卦)  due to the observed environmental changes which causes the energy to shift.

Later Heaven Pa Kua table

Pa kua is normally used in feng shui and me- Ching divination where 2 trigrams will form a hexagram with 64 outcomes.

Pa kua, 8 trigrams is also used to dictate the 20 years feng shui time dimension flying star period of the earth.  The current earth period is 8 from 2004 to 2023  represented by trigram Ken kua which means 3^rd son or young man.  This is also the reason why there are so many young male becoming successful entrepreneurs   in the IT world such as Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Larry Page etc. 

 Interesting tidbits

The next earth period will be period 9 which will be governed by Li kua (fire period)  which represent 2^nd daughter or middle age woman from 2024.  The earth energy is already in the transition to Li kua fire energy.  Therefore we have begun to see the uprising of women’s leadership in the corporate world and politics.  It is predicted  that this will be the trend for the next  20 years.  So guys you better be nice to your wife.  Li kua is also a fire energy which is related to religion, spiritual cultivation and  computer socio media,  there will be strong movement in those areas as well. 

Therefore there could be more middle aged women appearing in Forbes 500 most powerful list in the next 10 years.

One plus One Equals to Two - Chinese Philosophy Tao Solitary infinity to Binary of Balancing Yin and Yang

Ancient Chinese text stated that the universe starts with void emptiness  with infinity forms and shapes which slowly turn into 2 cosmic forces opposing polarity of ying and yang.  The binary  force is represented by  the symbol, known as  Taoism Taiji (太極圖). It could be one of the most recognized symbol in Chinese culture which also forms the core value of Chinese philosophy. 

Many literature have  cited the originator of this symbol is Lao Tzu,(4-5^th century)  believed to be a sage  who emphasized on living in harmony with nature through the “Way”, Tao (道). 

Tao focus on spiritual development to find the path of liberation from physical form  to become part of the universe.  The highest form of Tao is emptiness of oneness.  From oneness arises  two polarity binary code of heaven and earth.  Human and nature should be in unity with heaven and earth with minimal intervention to achieve a balanced state.  Heaven and earth is represent by yin (black) and yang (white), taiji symbol with accordance to the binary code of positive and negative polarity in the  law of nature.

 

Binary code in Chinese Metaphysics

Examples of Ying  and Yang Binary code

Yang	Ying
Life	Death
Day	Night
Hot	Cold
Light	Dark
Male	Female
White	Black
Time	Space

There is no distinct straight  line to separate both Ying (black) and Yang (white) as both cosmic forces are dynamic flowing from one to another as represented by the swirling line.  In the yang white portion there is one dot of ying and vice versa for the ying black portion.  Therefore there is no true perfection in the law of the universal tao.  Both ying and yang does not represent absolute good and bad as the ideal state would be that both forces are equal and balanced to achieve harmony between heaven, man and earth.

Essential skills of Chinese Metaphysics (中华玄学)

In recent years,  Chinese metaphysics which is related to destiny analysis, feng shui  and forecasting have spread across the world like wild fire, thanks to a few entrepreneur  feng shui/Chinese Metaphysics masters such as Lillian Too,  Dato Joey Yap, Jerry King etc.  These masters have managed to educate  mass layman on the knowledge of  Chinese Metaphysics  through their books,  courses and social media which otherwise used to be “trade secrets” to a few very established feng shui masters working  exclusively for prominent tycoons.

There had been many controversial debates on Chinese metaphysics practices such as feng shui, destiny analysis based on 4 pillars etc whether it is a real deal or some kind of scam.  Some masters have debate if Chinese Metaphysics is the correct word to use in representing destiny analysis, feng shui, divination!   I have started this blog to embark on a journey with my reader to understand more about Chinese Metaphysics and if there is any scientific phenomenon which can substantiate some of the Chinese metaphysics practices.   I would like to start by exploring  a bit of history and core value on this knowledge which also form the Chinese philosophy and culture.

It was believed that the Yellow Emperor who was  the initiator  of the Chinese civilization at about 2500BC and the practice of Chinese Metaphysics could have started in parallel with Chinese civilization.  The Yellow Emperor had already engaged astronomers in his court to study the movement of the planets and stars and its relation to seasons, weather and dimension of time which is important in the practice of Chinese metaphysics.  The study is compiled in a book of alamac where it is used a guide for farming activities which rely heavily on seasons in the ancient world.  Book of Alamac had evolved over centuries to become a very important tool in Chinese Metaphysics.  Chinese Metaphysics rely heavily on astronomical studies involving  movements of planet and stars.

According to some Chinese culture researcher, there are  5 skills/arts, call Wu Shu (五 术) which form the core of Chinese metaphysics.   Below are the table which I had summarized on the core of 5 skills for a better understanding:-

Skills	Famous Practice*	What it is
1.  Mountain /Sage (山/仙)	Taichi Qi Gong Meditation Faith Religion Spiritual	Happy life is equal to balanced and virtuous life through philosophy of Tao (the way, 道).   Tao focus on 3 values of compassion, frugality and modesty It emphasize on living in harmony with nature, practice self healing through cultivation of internal qi (energy) meditation, diet, and martial arts.  Encompass faith and religion and spiritual practice using the wisdom of binary black (Yin) and white (yang) energy (qi)
2.  Medicine 中醫	Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Massage Diet therapy Cupping	Understand the body’s physical energy or qi circulation through meridian points.  Good health can be achieved through a balance of Yin & Yang with 5 elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) Illness will happen when the 5 element and ying and yang are not balanced and  conflict exists between 5 elements.  Chinese herb is also divided into ying & yang and 5 elements base on colour, shape etc.
3.  Life 命	Bazi Purple Star astrology Horroscope	Destiny analysis based on birth time and date.  Your birth date and time seals  your life destiny.  Professional astrologer can decipher this information and translate into  your character, wealth, career, relationship and health.  Accurate forecast can be given to the major event in your life such as marriage, time to create your wealth.
4.  Appearance 相	Physiognomy Classical Feng shui Palmistry	Macro - Analysis of land form in environment for the yang force ,  human living space and ying force,  ancestral burial place. Micro - Analysis of individual human appearance through face, palmistry
5.  Divination 撲	I Ching Qi Men Dun Jia Tai Yi Shen Shu, Da Liu Re Tie Ban Shen Shu Tarrot reading	Forecast on the outcome of an event through tapping into  your subconscious mind or using a time marker. Use by great emperors of China for making decision and predict the macro environment such as natural disasters.

Famous Practice*  -  I have put in some popular western practice which have the similarity in relevant skills intent. 

All the 5 skills are treasures which are useful generally to all,  irrespective of which culture you come from.  Most of us are already practicing one or more of these skills to help us to find our life’s purpose and help us to become wiser as we age.  

The famous practices of the 5 skills which had gained popularity  internationally  are feng shui,  destiny analysis and divination as  great business minded masters are able to apply those skills to achieve results in wealth related activities.

After being a Chinese metaphysics student and a practitioner for more than a decade,  I find that it is very important to practice virtue and mindfulness (skill-Mountain) followed by understanding your destiny code (skill-life) to guide you through life.  Only with a clear mind and understanding of your destiny and life’s goal,  then can you tap on energy of  healing, feng shui and divination to complement  your preprogram destiny  towards life’s path of maximum return. 

Application of 5 skills towards a full filling life