Classic of Suspicious Dragons: Ten Questions on Doubtful Dragons

I ask you: burial rides the vital breath — bones receive fortune, blessing the descendants' bodies. Yet there remains one doubt: an adopted child is not one's own. Monks and Daoists who continue a lineage come from outside — how can they still inherit the blessing? Let me discuss the ancients' reasoning in detail; they raised this point for a reason, not idly. That bones receive qi and bless descendants is a principle too plain to dispute. But how can monks, Daoists, and adopted children be equated with natural offspring? This doubt is indeed reasonable, and we should exhaustively reason through it. When a family produces a heroic child, it is because the mountains and rivers have concentrated their fine qi. The spiritual qi of mountains and rivers descends as a tutelary spirit, and the spirit follows whichever household claims the site, being born into that family's people. Whoever claims ownership of this mountain and this acupoint — the spirit follows the incense-offerings and descends into human form. The ancients sometimes performed 'soul-summoning burials': the soul-summoning of a heavenly being can serve as the model. After the soul-summoning burial, if the sacrificial rites are strictly maintained, the Han dynasty flourished for four hundred years. Why insist that actual bones of a blood-born child must be buried? What matters is that the rites and incense-offerings remain clear. There are also ancestors from four or five hundred years ago whose coffins and bones have turned to dust — yet their descendants number in the thousands, still prosperous. People point to the mountain and ask: 'Who is the owner?' This mountain, this acupoint has an owner — the spiritual power dwells only in that family. When mountains and rivers are splendid, they come to benefit the heir. How could such a family lack wealth and status? Mountains and rivers pay audience day and night; the people born from them are likewise. Thus we know that adopted and natural-born children receive the living spirit identically, without distinction. The ancient practice of grafting flowers and fruits — compare it with this principle. A stepmother can shade the former mother's children; a former mother can also benefit the stepmother's children. This is because receiving grace and receiving nurture create bonds equivalent to birth and shared qi. From this perspective, what matters for succession is only that the incense-offerings continue without interruption. Thus soul-summoning burials, adoptions, and monastic successions all follow this same principle.

I ask how the positions of different lineage branches are distinguished. When parents are alive, they make no distinction among their sons. There may occasionally be favoritism while living, but after death, what causes one branch to prosper and another to decline? It is like one tree growing from the same root — one branch withers while another flourishes. The flourishing one grows fragrant day and night; the withering one daily becomes more desiccated. From this arose the theory of 'branch positions' — dividing eldest, middle, and youngest shares. The theory of favoritism originates in the heart; the theory of flourishing and withering belongs to the land. The heart's favoritism ceases at death; the land's richness and barrenness — this comes closer to the truth. If the eastern root is rich, the eastern branch flourishes; if the western soil is barren, the western branch withers. But you should know this explanation is not quite right — it seems correct but is not, and demands deeper reasoning. Left for the eldest, front for the middle, right for the youngest — who first proposed this? Let me arrange it carefully. To distinguish the eldest, middle, and youngest sons: Zhen (震) as the eldest son occupies the left (east). Kan (坎) as the middle son sits at the rear ridge (north). Gen (艮) as the youngest son sits in the northeast. Qian (乾) governs the three sons and sits beside Kan. Kun (坤) as the earth-mother occupies the southwest. The eldest daughter is in the southeast; the middle daughter is at the south. Dui (兌) as the youngest daughter is in the west. These are the positions of Qian and Kun's sons and daughters.

I ask: though branch positions can be distinguished, what explains their rising and falling? Some prosper first and decline later; some decline to the end and then revive. How should this principle be clarified? Contemporary masters erroneously attribute it to 'water-palace calculations,' not understanding that as years accumulate and generations deepen, perpetual prosperity without pause is impossible. The beauty of mountains and rivers, though substantial and enduring, has cycles of qi-flourishing and qi-decline. Families that prosper generation after generation simply have many auspicious sites added in succession. Those that decline lack later reinforcement — as years pass, the qi exhausts and gradually dissipates. When discussing branch positions, do not be rigid. First examine the family's ancestors over several generations. If old and new tombs are all on true sites, the newer ones necessarily reinforce the older ones. Such a family prospers generation after generation — their fortune and emolument are immeasurable. A true site need not be large or small — accumulating small ones into something large is the finest strategy. If one tomb is true but many are false, even a great site's power is divided. It is like trying to quench a bonfire with a cup of water — too little water against too much fire cannot avert disaster. If many are true and few are false, fortune results — like many streams joining to form a great river. How can one acupoint's branch positions be the whole story? One must consider multiple tombs together. Great sites are hard to find; small ones are easy to obtain. Accumulated without cease, they build into a mountain. The combined power of many tombs becomes great — people say 'small sites produce dukes and marquises.' How much more when a great site has several acupoints! Dukes and marquises generation after generation, without end. Whenever you observe a great and prominent family, they invariably possess a great site of boundless fortune. Though descendants scatter over a hundred generations, the salvaging power of the land maintains their glory. One great acupoint can shade ten generations; a thousand small sites can do the same. A thoroughbred covers a thousand li in a single day; a draft horse with ten relays also arrives eventually. If you cannot obtain a great site, settle for the next best — this matter is for the knowledgeable to deliberate.

FOURTH QUESTION: Yang dwellings require comfortable habitation — the principle is the same as setting a tomb. A family without tombs but with a fine dwelling receives blessings equal to a yin site. Generally, yang dwellings are unsuited to small acupoints — small acupoints are ideal only for tombs. If a small acupoint is turned into a grand residence, the qi-veins are damaged and destroyed by excavation. Moreover, descendants inevitably multiply, gradually dividing with less harmony. One acupoint split into four or five — front, back, and sides — how can there be no error? Yang dwellings require large acupoints: broad, continuous, and level. A jade-screen mountain crossing in front, with open space ahead — suitable for market and commerce inside and out. Only this qualifies as a yang dwelling; cramped and small sites, however appealing, should be avoided. FIFTH QUESTION: Yin and yang each have their dwelling type; the ancients insisted on distinguishing them. Lu Cai discussed this in detail in his completed work — his arguments are clear and need no further elaboration. For dwellings, what matters most is momentum: water embracing and mountains paying audience ensures qi. If there is sudden steep drainage and the facing mountains tilt — broken and askew, it is not auspicious land. The lower arm curves back in proper audience; the seated host is dignified without reversal. Regardless of size, there is peace and harmony; dwelling there a hundred years, the family prospers. Burial acupoints should be small; dwelling acupoints should be large. Burial acupoints are set laterally; dwelling acupoints need breadth. SIXTH QUESTION: When host and guest mountains are both upright, with sharp and rounded peaks mirroring each other — the host arranged in a three-peak triangle, the guest also three peaks of the same form — how does one distinguish host from guest? Simply check which side the water embraces: the embraced side is the true host; the side where the water turns its back is the guest. Many contemporary masters have fatally erred on this point. SEVENTH QUESTION: Dragons certainly have branches and trunks. A trunk may suddenly sprout branches, and branches may yield several successive acupoints. This is the flourishing qi of a branch dragon — like a melon vine first putting out tendrils. Each tendril produces fruit, and the fruit's form is always similar. Human-shaped formations always have several acupoints; beast-shaped formations always appear in matched pairs. Form-acupoints always come in twos or threes, because the qi-type is consistent. Snake formations always have male and female; tiger formations are always paired, never solitary. Do not seek snakes in great mountain gorges — what seems a snake may just be a high mountain's slipping foot. A true snake has mouse-and-toad features; without them, it is a false illusion. EIGHTH QUESTION: The previous text discussed the ranking of nobility — marquises and feudal lords at the top, then prefectures and counties. Trunk dragons mostly produce kings and marquises; branches acting as trunks also proliferate descendants. NINTH QUESTION: As previously discussed, acupoints are hard to find — only the audience-mountain reveals the fortunate heart. Height is determined by the audience; from this, the true acupoint's elevation can be calculated. The difficulty is that false and decoy acupoints exist fore and aft. TENTH QUESTION: When tracing a dragon, do not lose its track. The three auspicious stars have their own three auspicious peaks. Going forward, the formation takes the form of Greedy Wolf; it repeatedly looks back to the Fire Star ancestor. Even after stripping down to Auxiliary and Deputy, it still forms small peaks that honor the ancestral mountain.