Marking the dragon lairs
> In feng shui speaks, these are reservoirs of strong early qi which form auspicious sites for the building of a house, village, town or even a tomb
HIGHLY-AUSPICIOUS feng shui sites are known as ‘dragon lairs’. These sites are reservoirs of strong early qi that are beneficial to the occupants of a building or place.
Before proceeding to identify these dragon lairs, we must first understand (or try to understand) what qi is about.
In my opinion, qi is one of the hardest words to explain in the Chinese Metaphysics world. Most Chinese dictionaries define it as air, vapour or vital energy.
One ancient forefather described it as “something that can blow as wind, ascend as clouds, fall in rain and travel under the ground”. That is a wide definition.
A modern-day researcher theorises that “qi as simply positive and negative ions”, with good qi being negative ions and bad qi being positive ions.
So, who is right? They are all probably correct. But where does this lead us?
The good news is that we can identify dragon lairs even if we do not know what qi is exactly. We do this by looking out for manifestations of good and bad qi.
For example, if a mountain is covered by green trees and grass, has some water flowing in it and its soil is fertile, moist and well shaped, then this mountain must have an abundance of good qi.
On the other hand, if the mountain is dry and barren, devoid of trees and grass with only rocks, then this mountain must be low in qi.
Most people think that one needs to have mountains and water to have an auspicious site. This is incorrect.
An auspicious site (dragon lair) can be found in the mountains or in the vast plains.
Armed with an understanding of the subject, you can then learn how to identify dragon lairs on many different terrains.
Dragon lairs can be large or small. When small, they are usually used for a tomb or tombs, as in Yin House (or Burial) Feng Shui.
Larger ones can support a village, while lairs that cover wide areas are good enough to house a town.
Qi is found both below and above ground.
Our forefathers called the ones that flow underground earthly qi, while those above ground are known as heavenly qi.
In Yin House Feng Shui, more emphasis is placed on earthly qi since the body is buried underground, while for Yang House Feng Shui (or Feng Shui of the Living), both the earthly and heavenly energies are important.
Here, I will focus more on the Yang House Feng Shui but I will also share the underlying workings of Yin House Feng Shui.
How does Yin House Feng Shui actually work?
The Chinese believe that even after death, we are connected to our descendants for a few generations through some kind of mysterious qi.
Therefore, if the ancestors are buried in an auspicious site, with strong earthly qi, the descendants will enjoy a successful and happy life. Otherwise, they will be unsuccessful and miserable.
This connection, however, will weaken with each generation.
Some time back, I came across a more ‘scientific’ explanation.
Some have suggested that earth is a powerful battery, while the bones of our ancestors are like antennas.
The earth charges the bones and trasmits a signal which only the descendants can receive due to their similar DNA structure.
Ground waves carry these transmissions across the globe so that the descendants can benefit, even if they live on the other side of the world.
As you may have already guessed, the more auspicious the earthly qi, the more powerful and better the quality of these transmissions and the benefits enjoyed by the descendants.
Finally, do the earthly qi ever get depleted? According to our forefathers, they do.
If a site has produced a number of highly-successful and prominent descendants, then the qi is somewhat diminished and the chances of producing more successful descendants in the future is lower.
In coming columns, you will learn more about auspicious sites and how to spot them, both near the mountains and on flat land.