The Shikongren Method: Cases, Volume Ten

Translator's note. Fourteen short cases recorded by a student, and the most compact demonstration in the volume of how the method scales down: a scald on the index finger, a woman sweeping water, a butterfly, a mosquito, a fistful of a trouser leg, a bag strap over the head. Each entry has the observation, the derivation and the reported fact. Read them as a workbook rather than as proof.

1.

On a certain day, while pouring water in the morning, I (Hu Lina) was suddenly scalded on the index finger of my left hand by hot water from the flask. Teacher Longlong read from it: a sudden situation involving the seal would require a decision (the seal stands for cars, houses, documents, contracts, receipts, diplomas and the like).

Analysis: the fingers stand for the progress of what one is doing or planning; the index finger stands for making a good decision; being scalded suddenly means the event is sudden.

Feedback that evening: I was at the high-speed rail station with my nephew, waiting. Because of an earthquake in a certain city, most trains were suddenly cancelled or delayed, with no estimate of the delay, and countless passengers were stranded. The station announced that regardless of tickets, anyone could board a train that passed through their destination. In the end I decided on the spot to board whatever train came that passed through Xuzhou. It was delayed, but we squeezed onto one and got home safely.

2.

Near Teachers Gao, Ma and Zhu, a middle-aged woman was sweeping up standing water from the ground, sweeping all the way to the three of them. She stopped near them, and there was a joyful exchange of glances between her and the three.

Analysis: (a) A middle-aged woman stands for wealth — information of money coming in. But is it certainly money coming in? Look at how the distance between her and the three changes: growing further means more loss than gain, growing nearer means more gain than loss. If the middle-aged woman is inauspicious sand, she means loss. (b) The standing water she sweeps is also wealth. Water swept in the X direction carries information of loss, but there was little water, so it does not amount to inauspicious water. (c) Her stopping in the X direction means first that there is inauspicious sand in that direction, and that at the times X and X there will be an error of decision, or a bad habit picked up (with a client one should not say “bad habit”; say “a particular interest”). Though it is inauspicious sand, the exchange of glances was joyful, which means the error of decision brought a pleasant experience.

Feedback: (a) Teacher Gao took in money in the renyin and gengzi years, but with trouble and disputes. From the trouble we can reason backwards that when the woman swept the water, some splashed on Teacher Gao: money came in, yes, but being splashed is irritating; and the woman standing in the X direction is inauspicious sand, and inauspicious sand in that direction also means disputes and trouble. (b) In the year X a superior gave Teacher Ma a car, and after three months he gave it back; in the year X he bought American shares and hit a funding obstacle, which was resolved; in the year X he bought a car. (c) Teacher Zhu: in the year X someone gave him a laptop.

If the three teachers were in the same company, one could read what happened as a collective event, connected with the company. And because their positions differed, the time points read from each also differ.

3.

A butterfly flew from Teacher Chen's hai direction to his si direction and away, almost hitting him in the face. Chen watched it with a smile. There was no contact between them.

Analysis: a butterfly stands for feeling. It was small, so the money information can be left aside; it is chiefly feeling. At the time X, or recently, a beautiful woman took a liking to Teacher Chen, or he took a liking to one; there was a fluctuation in feeling.

Feedback: Chen said he had thought about it, but nothing happened.

In modern society, attraction and emotional fluctuation are universal. It does not follow that something necessarily happened; but the accuracy of the judgement in this theory exceeds what social generality alone would explain.

4.

Teacher Lü stroked the back of his head; his hand was in the X direction.

Analysis: the back of the head stands for dangerous people, matters and things. Stroking stands for handling something properly — difficulty and crisis will pass easily, or quickly.

Feedback: in the year X he was reading feng shui for someone and was held overnight because of the epidemic; the next day epidemic controls began and he was quarantined locally for more than a month.

5.

Teacher Lü was standing by the roadside when a mosquito bit him on the left forearm. After he noticed, Teacher Tang swatted the mosquito dead with one hand, and there was blood.

Analysis: a mosquito stands for a petty person; that there was blood after it was killed means a loss caused by that petty person. The mosquito being killed means the petty person was dealt with. Since the petty person was dealt with, and though it was only a monthly cycle, the blood was still on the body, it means money came in because of the petty person. It bit the forearm; one would normally say the arm rather than the forearm or upper arm, and the arm stands for assistants, subordinates and children.

Feedback: in the year X a petty person interfered and affected his children; the petty person was placed under shuanggui — detained by the discipline authorities. (The petty person was dealt with, brought under control.)

6.

Teacher Qin braced himself against a red pillar with his right upper arm, his left hand on his hip, thumb forward and the other four fingers behind.

Analysis: bracing means finding support, a way to solve a problem; the X direction means a close connection with the opposite sex — help obtained from the opposite sex, the problem properly solved. The waist stands for important and critical people, matters and things; the hand on the hip is a state of controlling the waist, so it reads as the ability to control important people, matters and things. Thumb forward, four fingers behind, is an awkward grip, meaning that controlling the matter took some effort. The pillar did not move here; it has only the meaning of support, and no meaning of its own. A red pillar is conspicuous, and red can be understood as sand: one is receiving the influence of auspicious sand's energy. (Colour does not move or not move; colour moving or not is still movement. Colour is a wave; as soon as colour is observed it has colour's meaning.) Do push-ups in a sandpit and the sand has its meaning.

Feedback: on the day X at the hour X he collected three sets of “Shikongzuobiao” clothing; in the year X, while renovating his house, someone reported him, the property management staff were women, and the property office handled it properly.

7.

A teacher repeatedly stroked his chin with the middle and ring fingers of his right hand; the hand was in the X direction.

Analysis: the middle finger stands for plans, schemes, methods of communicating with people. The index finger stands for making decisions, and for a woman, for spouse and lover. The chin stands for children, subordinates, houses, vehicles, documents, certificates, and female elders. In physiognomy a poor chin means a bleak old age; the chin does not stand for elders — a bleak old age is mostly bad children.

Feedback: during period X he received a call from his child: the boy had passed the first medical examination for military service and was preparing for the second.

Here a medical examination does not mean illness; it means something connected with the seal and with certificates, since a certificate of health must be obtained. Examinations have two meanings: (a) a health check, (b) an examination whose purpose is a driving licence or proof of fitness for service. The judgement: it is either a health matter or a seal matter.

8.

Teacher Ma struck the cap of a pillar on a railing hard twice with his right hand, reddening his palm, and then rubbed his two palms together.

Analysis: a pillar stands for support. A railing stands for obstruction. The cap on the railing means what he struck was in effect the railing; the cap is not there for obstruction but for appearance. Striking hard means handling the obstruction with effort. The railing did not fall, which means it was not handled well. The palm reddened means the problem was not solved and injury was added. Rubbing repeatedly means looking for a way to lessen the pain.

Feedback: in the year X, to take on a project, he paid a deposit of five hundred thousand; then he did not want to do the project, and could not get the deposit back. That year his child replaced his car for him.

Reasoning backwards: because the hand hurt, the other hand rubbed it to lessen the pain; a hurting hand can mean disaster to children, or to oneself. A child changing his parents' car is also the fulfilling of a wish — spending money to change his parents' car fulfils a wish.

9.

Teacher Lou touched his buttocks; the hand was in the X direction.

Analysis: the buttocks, for a man, stand for money and wife. The hand stands for what one plans to do, for tools, subordinates and children.

Feedback: in the year X his son married; the children gained.

Touching one's own buttocks means money coming to oneself, and also an elevation in feeling between oneself and one's wife.

10.

Teacher Liu was standing taking notes when a black, elongated flying insect rushed at his abdomen and then flew away. He was startled and cried out.

Analysis: an insect one does not recognise stands for strange people, matters and things. Rushing at the abdomen means the strange thing came into close contact with him. The insect was small, so its energy was small: a small bad person, matter or thing.

Feedback: on the day X, while standing, Teacher Liu suddenly felt dizzy and his vision blurred, and he went back to the dormitory and lay down for a while.

11.

A little girl was holding a cup of water facing the X direction, stroking the cup again and again with a happy expression.

Analysis: stroking the cup repeatedly — a cup stands for people, matters and things connected with the seal. At a particular time, the seal brings a joyful mood.

Feedback: before the guimao year of X, her New Year money was kept every year by an elder; after the year X she kept it herself. There was no feedback of a seal matter, but a seal matter will still occur.

12.

Teacher Lü was walking on the temple stairs and saw a small pink shoe — a girl's shoe — abandoned at the side.

Analysis: a small shoe means encountering petty people, encountering bad things, being given a hard time behind one's back (in Chinese, “giving someone small shoes”).

Feedback: in the year X, while building the Foyin Temple in Meizhou, he met a very large petty person — an elderly woman of great age.

Meeting a small shoe, best to kick it away at once, or keep away from it and not go near. Do not pick up any shoe you find, and above all not a worn-out one. Do not give shoes as a gift to someone you like: you will send the one you like away. If the relationship is already close, you may; and giving shoes to someone with whom a relationship has already occurred will make it closer.

The Shikongren method predicts mainly the past, but it can predict the future too. What happens in the future, if it has happened before, will manifest as something small or very small; if it has not happened before, then what happens at that future point will be large.

13.

Teacher Zhou hung the strap of his backpack over the top of his head, so that the bag covered the half of his face below the nose, hiding his nose and nostrils.

Analysis: the head stands for important people, matters and things; a strap hung over the top of the head means enormous pressure on them. The bag covering the mouth means something hard to say or something he does not want to say. Covering the nostrils — the nostrils being an organ essential to life — means something connected with the safety of his life will occur.

Feedback: in the year X he underwent major surgery, and in the year X he had surgery again.

14.

Teacher Hua took a wooden stick in both hands and prodded his own abdomen.

Analysis: a wooden stick struck against one's own shoulder or neck is a tool. Prodding carries danger. The abdomen stands for money. Together: a dangerous matter concerning money.

Feedback: in the year X he lost money.

Recorded by Hu Lina