Design Your Life
In October 2013, I traveled with James and Helen Jay to China for a Feng Shui immersion studies program. It was a fascinating trip to the country where Feng Shui originated and is alive and well. I will be posting stories, photographs, design details, and reflections from my trip sharing experiences and illustrating concepts that are important to consider when exploring Feng Shui history and design.
Tibetan Buddhist Temple where Prof. Lin Yun first studied Black Sect teachings with Lama Da De.
On Sunday I was in eastern Oregon hiking along the Deschutes River near downtown Bend. It was one of those beautiful “blue-bird” days. The air was clear, the sky was blue, and the early morning dew glistened in the bright sunlight. Walking along the trail, I could see the sun in the east and a faint remnant of the half-moon from the previous evening still visible in the west. Seeing both the sun and the moon in the same sky during my early morning walk was a very “auspicious sign” according to the teachings I received from H.H. Professor Thomas Lin Yun, Rinpoche.
As a Feng Shui practitioner, I notice my surroundings and what is happening energetically. I am constantly reading the “chi” of the people I encounter and the places I go, and I am always looking for “auspicious signs”. This practice has become second nature for me. Yet for many of my clients, this is new language and a new way of seeing the world and at first they do not know what I mean when I say something is “auspicious” or an “auspicious sign.”
According to the Webster’s Dictionary, characterizing something as “auspicious” means that it “shows or suggests that future success is likely” or is “attended by good fortune.” And several of the definitions of the word “sign” capture what I am referring to: (1) “something material or external that stands for or signifies something spiritual”; (2) “something indicating the presence or existence of something else”; or (3) “one of a set of gestures used to represent language”.
The “auspicious sign” I saw on Sunday morning — seeing the sun and the moon in the same sky — was a gesture from the natural world indicating that success is likely. Why? Because seeing both the sun and the moon at the same time allows you to access both the yin energy of the moon and the yang energy of the sun to effect positive changes here on earth.
Start looking for auspicious signs. You may be surprised by what you see. And consider what it may mean to you and what is currently happening in your life.