Classic of Suspicious Dragons: Middle Chapter

Though one already recognizes the trunk within the branches — long trunks forming capitals, short ones forming counties. Branches contain trunks and trunks contain branches; the heart can understand what the mouth can articulate. The only fear is that tracing the dragon reaches exhaustion here — two waters converge and wind scatters everything. Some prefectures and great towns extend right to where water ends and mountains vanish. Some walled cities and metropolitan centers hide deep in mountain-plain recesses. Today you trace to where the water ends — gravel and sand lie flat, with wrapping and protection fleeing. Seeking right, no acupoint; seeking left, no form. With neither acupoint nor form, you turn to search again — searching up the branch divisions for acupoints, but finding only tangled branches and leaves everywhere. You recognize turning and calling; you recognize wrapping. You recognize protective support; you recognize interception. But doubt persists and the acupoint eludes capture — when the acupoint is false, there is no correct fronting-case. At this moment, doubt fills the heart. If you meet a master of high clarity who can dissect the problem, the resolution for your doubtful heart when branches and trunks are confused is: distinguish face from back. Suppose two waters converge flanking the dragon — look which side the outer wrapping returns to. Where the wrapping-mountain and wrapping-water curve back in embrace — that is the face. Where the wrapping-mountain and wrapping-water turn away into recesses — that is the back.

Even granting that one can distinguish face from back — the face being broad and level, the back being cliffs and crags — suppose two waters converge flanking the dragon as it bends, twists, and turns dramatically. Each pause-and-descent is followed by a flip; each turn-and-shift is followed by a severance. Both sides have mountains and water paying audience. Both sides have water embracing rock-faces. Both sides show true acupoint-forms. Both sides have mountain-and-water fronting cases. Both sides' audience-greetings are worth observing. Both sides' bright halls qualify for selection. Both sides receive identical wrapping and protection. Both lower arms turn and curve. This mountain's face and back are not easily distinguished. The heart's doubt seems unresolvable. Yet both sides cannot both establish acupoints — large and small cannot both lack differentiation of rank. It is the decoy acupoint that creates this confusion. Look further at the protective body's feet to distinguish each side. Do not come here to discuss the true dragon — when two waters converge, the dragon must turn. A counter-turning dragon has a ghost mountain — the ghost mountain's trailing feet all curve around behind. Once you recognize face and back, learn to recognize ghosts. Beyond recognizing ghosts, learn to recognize officials.

I ask: where is the suspicious dragon most difficult? Between two waters there must be a mountain; between two mountains there must be water. Mountains and waters flanking each other are the mechanism's source. Suppose ten mountain-ridges converge at one place — there must be ten waters gathering at one point. One of those waters is the exit-gate; nine mountains together form the gate-posts. Walking east, you look west — the western mountains are fine. Climbing west, you look east — the eastern mountains are wonderful. From the southern mountains, you see the northern highlands — mountains are strange, waters are beautiful, doubt and certainty mingle. From the northern heights, you see the southern waters — sharp peaks, elegant and lovely. When you encounter such a place, which of the two converging waters is the true one? How to distinguish further? First, rank the stars arrayed before you as noble or base. Then investigate the dragon's length. Then observe the pause-and-descent stars for their quality. The honored star does not willingly serve as an audience-peak; even though attendant dragons arrive, they conceal their oar-strokes. The noble dragon repeatedly enters and exits curtains; the base dragon has curtains that are merely imposing emptiness. When ten mountains and nine waters are hard to assess at once, the noble dragon occupying the center must be extraordinary.

If one cannot trace origins to discuss ancestral mountains, at least seek the pauses and descents to identify the true track. The ancients traced dragons by tracing pauses and descents — because pauses and descents produce sharp turns. At slow turns, branches necessarily emerge; on the branches, small barrier-enclosures necessarily form. It is like a person traveling a thousand li — surely there are stops for unsaddling and lodging. The lodging-place may not be the destination, but there are companions and retinue there too. Pausing, descending, shifting, exchanging, retreating, shedding — observe which direction the mountain-face descends. For shifts and exchanges, seek the returning mountain — where the mountain returns, there is welcoming and escorting. By following the welcoming and escorting, you recognize the dragon's face. On the dragon's back are the wrapping-mountains; when wrapping-mountains turn and the dragon embraces its body — finding acupoints there presents no difficulty. The ancients built capitals and towns by first tracing pauses and descents to identify the dragon's barrier. 'Ascending the height to survey Chu' and 'wading through the laziness' — these are tracing pauses and mountain-faces. 'Descending to observe the mulberry-fields' and 'descending to the plain' — these are tracing descents to level fields. 'Measuring the evening sun, aligning by the daylight' — north, south, east, and west never err. 'Ascending the southern ridge, taking the prospect of the capital' — this is surveying the acupoint and recognizing the dragon's form. 'Scaling that hundred-spring summit to observe where water goes' and 'surveying that dissolving plain to observe where water gathers.' Whether scaling the southern ridge or the Taiyuan plain — this is tracing pauses and descents, not idle work. The ancients esteemed careful deliberation in selecting sites. The Classic's principles are clear and transmitted to later generations.