Feng Shui and Virtue

(Minghui.org) Ancient Chinese valued the harmony of heaven, earth, and mankind. As a result, people often chose favorable locations for their private residences or business use in hopes of becoming prosperous and receiving good fortune.

Bad Omen Turned to a Blessing

Fan Zhongyan, a chancellor of the Song Dynasty, was born in a poor family and he studied very hard at a young age. After becoming a chancellor, he cared about people and paid attention to education. Using his own money, he bought some land for poor people to make a living.

Once he bought a land planning for his own residence and asked a feng shui master to check out the place.

“Congratulations!” said the feng shui master, “This is a great location that will produce high-ranking officials.”

“If that is the case, were students to study here, wouldn’t we have more well-educated high-ranking officials?” Fan replied.

He then built a school on the land and invited renowned scholars to teach here. Many people praised him for that.

In another time, Fan saw another feng shui master examining graveyard locations near Taiping Mountain. The master stopped at a place surrounded by five rocks and said such a location was “a goat captured by five tigers,” or “a person’s heart shot by five arrows,” meaning that whoever buys this grave site would bring bad omens to five generations.

To prevent this place from harming others, Fan purchased this place for his family. “This way, only my family will suffer and others would be good,” he explained.

Touched by his kindness and selflessness, local residents prayed for Fan. “We are so fortunate to have Fan as a great official who cares about people,” one of them said, “We hope the divine could help make his family more prosperous so that we would be blessed.”

Interestingly, the weather suddenly changed and a clear night changed to a thunderstorm. When the storm passed, local residents were glad to see all five rocks were now pointing upward, a rare auspicious location according to feng shui.

One of the most renowned quotes from Fan was, “Worry before the rest of the world worries about it, and enjoy happiness after the rest of the world has enjoyed happiness.”

Reversal of Fate

Another story was related to Qin Hui, another chancellor of the Song Dynasty notorious for killing loyal, upright officials such as Yue Fei.

Once Qin asked Lai Buyi, a renowned feng shui master, to look for an auspicious grave site for his family. If the place was not good enough, Lai would be executed, Qin threatened.

Having no other choice, Lai found a good place for Qin. He then led his family to flee to southern China to avoid trouble. Before leaving, he stood at the place and said, “There is no logic if this place is not prosperous, but there is no heavenly law if this place is prosperous [for the Qin family].”

Pleased by this location, Qin moved his ancestral tomb here waiting for blessings for him and his offspring. One night, however, a thunderstorm broke out. Hardly anyone noticed that this auspicious place was turned into one with a bad omen.

After his death, Qin was often known as one of the worst chancellors in Chinese history. According to Yu Shi Ming Yan (Instruction Stories to Enlighten the World), Qin, his wife, and his senior officials continued to suffer endlessly in the netherworld for their sins.

Modern-Day Feng Shui

While traditional feng shui concerned locations of residences or gravesites, Falun Gong practitioners believe that the best feng shui is accumulating virtue and conducting oneself based on one’s conscience. Good fortune will follow if one does good things and supports the innocent. On the contrary, bad luck will follow those who do bad deeds, including perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong.

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999, tens of millions of practitioners have been targeted for their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Many of them were detained, imprisoned, and tortured.

Many perpetrators have met with consequences for targeting practitioners, while those who stand up for Falun Gong have received blessings.

Qi Qingyuan, former Qishan Village Party Secretary in Huangzhuang, Jinan City, Shandong Province, used to have a happy life. His wife began to practice Falun Gong in 1996. Her diabetes was cured and their entire family was happy. After the persecution started, however, his wife turned in her Falun Gong books to officials out of fear. Her diabetes soon relapsed. She sought medical treatment, but it did not help.

Qi followed the persecution policy closely. He led police to practitioners’ homes, both day and night, to harass and arrest them. In addition, he treated practitioners badly, such as refusing to assign them land like other villagers and seizing their personal belongings. He also swore at Falun Gong and its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi.“If practitioners run away again [during harassment or arrest], better shoot them and kill them – once and for all,” he once said to practitioners, “Or we can keep you at detention centers forever.”

All these bad deeds brought consequences. In summer 2007, a mental illness patient stabbed Qi in the stomach, killing him instantly. He was 52. The patient was acquitted without any charges.

Qi’s son worked at the township government and his wife ran their own restaurant. They bought an expensive house and a nice car. But the younger Qi was diagnosed with late-stage cancer in 2016 and died in two months in his 40s. His wife was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2019 and died the following year. Their son, 24, had autism and lived with his grandma, Qi’s wife. The young man played video games all day long and refused to work. “If someone asks me to go to work, I will jump out of the building and die,” he said.

I Ching (or Yi Jing), an ancient Chinese classic, wrote, “The family that accumulates goodness is sure to have superabundant happiness, and the family that accumulates evil is sure to have superabundant misery.” But many people ignored it like Qi’s family.

Learning Lessons

Through consistent efforts from practitioners, many people have learned what Falun Gong is and decided to stop participating in the persecution and quit the CCP organizations.

One security officer at a village in Qixia City, Shandong Province, often protected practitioners. When the police came to arrest practitioners, he would say, “No worries, I will talk with them and take care of them.”

When officials asked who posted posters related to Falun Gong on the electrical poles, he would reply, “How could we know? They [practitioners] are very agile and there is nothing we can do. So better let it be!”

An officer from the political and legal affairs committee (PLAC) in Guizhou Province met with consequences for persecuting Falun Gong – his son had an incurable disease and was on the verge of death. After practitioners told him the facts of Falun Gong, the official regretted and apologized to Master Li. His son soon recovered and this official began to protect practitioners from then on.

One security officer in a village used to mistreat practitioners badly including his own mother. He once dragged his mother by the hair and pulled her forward by hundreds of yards. Later on, he was removed from his post and he regretted his sin. He also supported his wife – who was diagnosed with an incurable illness – to learn Falun Gong from his mother.

An officer in Sichuan Province was a Domestic Security Bureau chief in Butuo County. He once fined a practitioner 10,000 yuan. Soon after that, he had a car accident and spent 10,000 yuan on the repair. This incident and words from practitioners helped him understand what had happened. Later on, he retired early to avoid persecuting practitioners again and lived a happy life.

There are many things in our life that are out of our control. By cherishing virtue and rejecting the vicious CCP, we would be heading to a better direction.