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Chapter 5 of 5
水龙经
The forms of water methods are ever-changing and truly difficult to describe exhaustively. Here I only outline the main principles to unravel the long-standing confusion of the world. 🌊
The fixed patterns and verses of Feng Shui circulating in the world number in the hundreds and thousands—one school says auspicious, another says inauspicious, contradicting each other and leaving people utterly perplexed, making practical application nearly impossible.
The core secret of the Natural Water Method—you must remember it well: it simply requires that water flows winding and circling, with affectionate regard. Incoming water must not rush straight at the site; outgoing water must not depart in a direct line; water passing horizontally must not curve away in a back-bowing arc; water approaching diagonally must not be swift and oppressive.
Horizontal water must embrace and curve around like an arm encircling in protection; incoming water should approach in "之" (zigzag) or "玄" (mysterious) patterns of winding turns; outgoing water should also meander and return, as if reluctant to leave. 💫
Water that is clear and still-pooling is most excellent—what benefit can there be in cascading, plunging torrents?
Water channels that separate in a figure-eight pattern portend licentiousness in men and women; rivers that divide into three branches will topple the family estate. Water that rushes swiftly and drains quickly makes wealth difficult to accumulate; straight in, straight out diminishes the household's offspring.
Water shooting from the left brings calamity to the eldest son; shooting from the right brings disaster to the youngest child. If water advances straight from the center, the middle son's life shall be short.
Water sweeping across the protective perimeter brings scarcity of descendants; striking the heart and piercing the flanks portends a life of solitude and widowhood. Water recoiling and leaping away disperses family members and strips away fortune; curtain-rolling water emerging brings remarriage and adopted son-in-law arrangements, with the household's lordship changing hands.
Where water is clear, talented and handsome people are born; where water is turbid, descendants are mostly dull-witted. 🏞️
Great rivers, vast and expansive, irrigate ten thousand acres of fertile fields, secretly supporting rank and emolument, enabling one to enjoy the five-tripod feast; ponds and lakes that gather without dispersing produce ministers and chancellors; vast waters coursing toward the hall bring nobility beyond words.
Where water drifts floatingly and diagonally out—this is "peach blossom water"—it portends licentiousness in men and women, ultimately ruining the family; those born into such conditions are fond of wandering, spending whole days singing and performing, flaunting extravagance.
Clear beauty bending and flowing toward the hall shall surely secure triumph in examinations and resounding fame. Though water flows away, it brings no harm—ample wealth accompanies high official rank.
The water method is not bound by going or coming; it always requires flowing away in curves yet still returning in loops. Three turns, five revolutions to attend the site—lingering affectionately, unwilling to part. 💧
Why cling to the Nine Stars and Eight Trigrams? What is called arising, flourishing, death, and extinction are all fabricated concepts. What has been stated above is the true oral formula; readers must achieve thorough comprehension deep within their hearts. Do not be misled by the ossified patterns of contemporary practitioners—whether fortune or misfortune exists, you must discern it on your own through direct observation.
The central idea of this Ballad of Natural Water Method can be distilled into one sentence: Water is auspicious when it is winding and affectionate; inauspicious when it is straight-rushing and reverting. This represents a highly condensed refinement of the "water method" theory in Feng Shui.
The ballad sharply criticizes the malpractices of the Feng Shui community of its time—each school and lineage creating its own "fixed examples" (stereotyped patterns and verses), contradicting one another, leaving learners utterly lost. The author advocates returning to natural observation, judging fortune and misfortune by the actual forms of water flow, rather than mechanically applying the Nine Stars, Eight Trigrams, and the arising/flourishing/death/extinction framework.
The specific criteria for auspicious and inauspicious are as follows:
| Water Form | Auspicious/Inauspicious | Primary Manifestation |
|---|---|---|
| Winding and encircling | ✅ Auspicious | Success in exams, ample wealth, high rank |
| Clear and still-pooling | ✅ Auspicious | Refined people, ministers and chancellors |
| Vast waters coursing toward the hall | ✅ Auspicious | Rank and five-tripod feast, nobility beyond words |
| Straight in, straight out | ❌ Inauspicious | Loss of descendants, wealth not accumulating |
| Reverting bow and leaping away | ❌ Inauspicious | Family dispersion, fortune receding |
| Figure-eight separation | ❌ Inauspicious | Licentiousness in men and women |
| Piercing heart and striking flanks | ❌ Inauspicious | Solitude, middle son's short life |
| Floating diagonal exit (peach blossom water) | ❌ Inauspicious | Licentiousness, family ruin |
| Turbid and swift currents | ❌ Inauspicious | Foolish children, wealth hard to retain |
From a contemporary perspective, the value of the Ballad of Natural Water Method lies not in its esoteric "fortune and misfortune" dimension, but in its embedded wisdom of landscape ecology and architectural psychology.
1. The Scientific Substance of "Winding and Affectionate"
The "winding" of water flow means reduced velocity, increased sediment deposition, and enhanced self-purification capacity. Meandering rivers possess greater ecological diversity than straightened channels, and their banks are more fertile. The so-called "winding and affectionate" is, in essence, an empirical summary of healthy aquatic ecosystem traits. 🌱
In contrast, "straight in, straight out" corresponds in modern engineering to channelized rivers—accelerated flow, intensified erosion, and ecological degradation. The ancients' observation that straight water depletes wealth and offspring astonishingly parallels modern issues of urban flooding and soil erosion.
2. The Connection Between Water Quality and Human Talent
"Clear waters produce refined talents; turbid waters breed dull-witted descendants"—setting aside the astrological overtones, the inner logic is: water quality directly reflects environmental health. Contaminated water sources cause disease and impaired intellectual development, a fact amply confirmed in modern public health science. The ancients' observation of the correlation between water quality and population quality a millennium ago represents nothing less than a nascent empirical science. 🔬
3. The Empirical Spirit of "Do Not Be Misled by Fixed Examples"
The author's critique of "a thousand inherited school-based patterns" reveals an anti-dogmatic, observation-first empirical attitude. This aligns with the core philosophy of modern scientific methodology: theories must withstand testing against reality, rather than forcing reality to conform to theories. "Whether fortune or misfortune exists, discern it yourself"—encouraging practical verification over blind adherence to authority is remarkably rare and valuable in ancient divination literature.
In modern life scenarios, the principles of the Ballad of Natural Water Method can be translated into the following actionable decision-making references:
The deeper philosophical import of the Ballad of Natural Water Method lies in this: Form is information; configuration is meaning.
Water itself is "formless," yet precisely this formlessness gives rise to its richest "legibility." Every form water takes—winding or straight, clear or turbid, gathering or dispersing, coming or going—speaks of the state of the environment. The ancients "read water" to "read the land," and then to "read humanity." This is a primordial form of ecological semiotics.
On a deeper level, "winding and affectionate" expresses reverence for the power of gentleness. The "winding" of water is not weakness but rather the survival wisdom of overcoming hardness with softness. Laozi declared "Highest good resembles water"—water's goodness lies in its not contending yet benefiting all things; "winding" is precisely the formal expression of this non-contention. In an era that champions "wolf-like ferocity" and values "direct aim at goals," water's way of winding reminds us: detours are not inefficiency—within the curve lie deep affection and genuine strength.
"Why use the Nine Stars and Eight Trigrams? Arising, flourishing, death, and extinction are all fabricated claims"—this final line is, in truth, a warning against all closed theoretical systems: when a theoretical framework replaces direct perception of reality, it transforms from a tool into a shackle.