History

Searching for my Grand Master

After a number of years searching Vietnam for a suitable Feng Shui Master, my cousin finally introduced me to Grand Master Nhi Nguyen in 1997. Born in 1925, Grand Master Nguyen is the third generation of his family to practice Feng Shui. However, as his own children had shown little interest in Feng Shui, he has agreed to pass his knowledge and skills on to me by accepting me as his student. Grand Master Nhi Nguyen's practice, about 40 km from my old home in Qui Nhon, offers I Ching, Time Related Questions/Predictions, Relationship Advice and, of course, yin and yang Feng Shui.

I never cease to be amazed at the accuracy of Grand Master Nhi Nguyen's predictions and his positive use of his great experience. On a recent trip to Vietnam, we visited the gravesite of a famous traditional Vietnamese singer. The government of Vietnam has honoured the singer by providing a mountainside grave, which is reached by 221 specially built steps.

Following my Grand Master up these to the site we found that the grave had been placed facing in the 'wrong' direction and needed re-aligning if the living relatives were to benefit from it.

From local people we learned that the singer's immediate family were living in poverty and had gained nothing from the gravesite. The singer's parents had been buried in such a manner as to make him famous, but not rich. His own burial produced no benefits for his living family; in fact it had probably had a detrimental effect. Whether the position of the body is to be corrected or not is still to be decided.

After an initial period of training in yang Feng Shui, Grand Master Nguyen advised involving and me to specialise in the yin discipline, as this would be more challenging. This area is also less widely known and least practiced by others. I continue to research in yin Feng Shui, which has developed into my special interest.

There are so many options and permutations involved in burial decisions, that to determine the correct alignment for a grave it is necessary to consider a multitude of questions. There are 24 fixed location sites with 96 choices of alignment. Add to this, such components as the landform, water dragons (rivers and streams), and water exit from the area, and you have a very involved and complicated process that is easily accessed incorrectly. At this stage I will avoid mentioning the part played by the Lo Pan Compass as this could fill many volumes! Simply put, if correctly buried, an ancestor’s skeleton absorbs maximum energy from the burial site and passes this on to the living generations to help them be successful in this life. This can cover intelligence, wealth and power.

Vietnamese Masters prefer the paddy fields for burial rather than mountain sites as the fields offer a safety tolerance factor should alignments are incorrect. Mountain sites can radiate more powerful energy but any problems with grave positioning can have devastating and detrimental effects for the living family. My Grand Master never stops reminding me of the responsibilities attached when considering mountain burials. It is vital to investigate the personalities of the living family to determine if they are suitable to receive the intense power and energy that they will derive from the strong mountain locations. Major problems (e.g. misuse of power) could ensue. If we consider political power, which in Asia can mean almost total undemocratic control of an area or country, the implication could be horrific. It should be noted that incorrect decisions would reflect back on the Grand Master and can affect his personal longevity.

In my family's case, I found that it would be beneficial to modify my grandfather's grave at An Thai. A traditional site for graveyards is in or around the paddy fields. My grandfather's grave faces onto a large paddy field at the edge of which is a low retaining wall. Unfortunately the wall was concave just in front of my grandfather's grave.

This situation resulted in the family being distanced from the area causing the children not to visit and tend the site. Changing the shape of the wall to convex would result in the family being brought together and visiting home for reunions. I arranged with the paddy field owner that I would reposition the critical part of this wall when the fields were drained in April 1999. This I did and there have since been family reunions! A mother's grave is the most influential burial site; a father's grave comes next followed by the grandfather.

My mother has asked that she be cremated so as to allow my grandfather's grave to continue its influence. However, if a suitable site could be found for her grave it is possible that my mother would choose burial after all. I am working on a project to summarize and simplify the details of yin Feng Shui hoping to facilitate a greater number of people having the opportunity to understand and benefit from all the issues and practices.

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