The Shikongren Method: Cases, Volume Six

Translator's note. A restaurant scene read as a sequence of directions — and, unusually, a correction made in the middle of the reading: Lü points out that directions should be taken from the point where the object is set down, not from the observer. The scene then resolves into a story about an affair, repeated losses through friends, and a return to the old trade. The student's feedback confirms all three.

A student asked: the person observed, the male owner of a restaurant, carried three plates of eggs from the kitchen “in front” and set them down on the table “in front of me.” Just then a tofu seller arrived, and he ran “behind” to buy tofu. At the same time a man standing to his “right” left; a man came from the “left,” glanced over and left; a woman came from “behind” with a little boy, stood at his left hand and said nothing. Then he paid, picked up the tofu and went back to the kitchen past “in front of me.” How is this read?

Teacher Lü's analysis on the spot:

1. Carrying three plates of eggs from the kitchen “in front” to the table “in front of me” and setting them down. Carrying three plates is relatively laborious and troublesome. It means that recently, and at the corresponding point, troublesome matters will occur. Setting the plates down when he reached a place means that after a period the trouble was put down. Note: going “from the front to the back” takes the observer as the origin for judging direction. Strictly, one should take the point where the observed person sets something down — the place where he put the eggs — as the origin, and see from which direction he came. The observed person himself has no direction; an origin has no direction. Only once there is a landing point does the question arise of what direction the starting point lies in relative to it. Judging direction from the observer, as in this case, is incorrect.

1. A tofu seller arrived and he ran “behind” to buy tofu. Buying tofu is loss of money. If, taking the place where he set down the eggs as the origin, the direction in which he bought tofu is “to the left,” it means that recently, and at the point marked X, he will lose money.

1. A man standing to his “right” left. This means that the people, matters and things corresponding to inauspicious sand in the “right” direction have, recently and at the point marked X, gone away.

1. A man came, glanced, and left. Coming and then going means that recently, and at the corresponding point, a thing the observed person planned or had just begun was abandoned soon after starting — the corresponding person, matter or thing was given up halfway.

1. A woman arrived with a little boy, stood at his left hand, and said nothing. For a man, a woman arriving at his side means money coming in, and also means a romantic connection with the opposite sex arriving at his side. A child stands for one's children and subordinates. A child arriving can be read as a new person entering the household — a hire at the workplace, a birth in the family, a godson or goddaughter, or a child born to a woman with whom he has a romantic connection (a stepchild). A little boy also stands for petty people, so it means that recently, and at the corresponding point, petty people will also come to his side.

1. He bought the tofu and went back to the kitchen. As an event, he went around in a circle and returned to his starting point — he busied himself in a circuit and ended up back doing what he had been doing at the start. For instance, he is living with his original wife again; he has gone back to his original trade.

The student's feedback on the spot:

1. He took a lover, found it exhausting after half a year, was discovered by his wife, and put it down the following year.

1. Friends often ask him into projects, and he almost always loses money and is taken advantage of.

1. This year his mind settled, he stopped doing anything else, and went back to his old trade — running a restaurant.

In the cases above, key points are sometimes blurred to keep the material from leaking. The purpose is to let you understand the basic lines of reasoning of the Shikongren method, not to teach you to do it. Grasp the general shape of the reasoning and you will see how simple, and how precise, the method is.