228
MAURICE FREEDMAN
a stretch of water (the sea). The Green Dragon is satisfactory, but the White Tiger is imperfect; there is a break in the line of the hills through which too much wind can pass; so that the whole configuration, while being good, falls short of being a perfect embrace. For that reason Sun enjoyed power but not for long. A stream runs obliquely across the valley robbing the grave of its virtue in respect of money; Sun was poor. In the sea below there are several small islands which are to be taken as warships, some of them sailing out into the open sea, showing Sun's desertion by his armed forces. Finally, there appears in the distance just over the line of the White Tiger, the peak of another hill; such a feature means robbery-Sun was kidnapped. The site explains Sun's career (or some version of it) and justifies the geomancer who predicted that Mrs. Sun's son would be a king.
This simple case illustrates two systems of analysis being employed together; the system of metaphysical forces composing a site, and the system of resemblances, the latter being invoked to interpret the islands. But the chief interest of the case lies in the example it offers of retrospective interpretation. Geomancy is a self-reinforcing system of ideas. What is predicted must always come true, because what is foretold is vague, or inevitable, or subject to frustrations which deny a part of the system or the competence of a particular practitioner without damaging the system as a whole. Retrospectively it can be demonstrated to be valid because the material can be read in a number of different ways to justify any collection of events. Moreover, the existence of prosperity by itself presupposes that it has been produced by fung shui, and failure to detect the precise reasons why the fung shui has operated so well leaves it in the realm of knowledge which in principle can be obtained but for the moment, because of lack of expertise, remains inaccessible. (One geomancer told me that Mr. Mao Tse-tung's mother is buried in a good fung shui. And he added, perhaps for political symmetry, that General Chiang Kai-shek also enjoys geomantic benefits, the fall in his fortunes being due to the operation of the cycle which governs all affairs. Retrospective fung shui is illustrated also in the traditions of the Tang clan. When the Sung princess who married a Tang in the twelfth century became old a famous geomancer chose a fung shui for her which resembled a lion, asking her whether she preferred to be buried in the lion's head or tail. 'She asked what difference it would make, and she was told that if
228
MAURICE FREEDMAN
a stretch of water (the sea). The Green Dragon is satisfactory, but the White Tiger is imperfect; there is a break in the line of the hills through which too much wind can pass; so that the whole configuration, while being good, falls short of being a perfect em- brace. For that reason Sun enjoyed power but not for long. A stream runs obliquely across the valley robbing the grave of its virtue in respect of money; Sun was poor. In the sea below there are several small islands which are to be taken as warships, some of them sailing out into the open sea, showing Sun's desertion by his armed forces. Finally, there appears in the distance just over the line of the White Tiger, the peak of another hill; such a feature means robbery-Sun was kidnapped. The site explains Sun's career (or some version of it) and justifies the geomancer who predicted that Mrs. Sun's son would be a king.
This simple case illustrates two systems of analysis being employed together; the system of metaphysical forces composing a site, and the system of resemblances, the latter being invoked to interpret the islands. But the chief interest of the case lies in the example it offers of retros- pective interpretation. Geomancy is a self-reinforcing system of ideas. What is predicted must always come true, because what is foretold is vague, or inevitable, or subject to frustrations which deny a part of the system or the competence of a particular practi- tioner without damaging the system as a whole. Retrospectively it can be demonstrated to be valid because the material can be read in a number of different ways to justify any collection of events. Moreover, the existence of prosperity by itself presupposes that it has been produced by fung shui, and failure to detect the the precise reasons why the fung shui has operated so well leaves it in the realm of knowledge which in principle can be obtained but for the moment, because of lack of expertise, remains inacces- sible. (One geomancer told me that Mr. Mao Tse-tung's mother is buried in a good fung shui. And he added, perhaps for political symmetry, that General Chiang Kai-shek also enjoys geomantic benefits, the fall in his fortunes being due to the operation of the cycle which governs all affairs. Retrospective fung shui is illustrated also in the traditions of the Tang clan. When the Sung princess who married a Tang in the twelfth century became old a famous geomancer chose a fung shui for her which resembled a lion, asking her whether she preferred to be buried in the lion's head or tail. 'She asked what difference it would make, and she was told that if
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