​Lai BuYi 賴布衣 SanHe Sect 賴公三合派 also known as SanHe Heavenly Star School 三合天星派 is an integral part of the New Method 新法. Lai BuYi claimed to have written, a difficult book, Urging Officer Scroll 《催官篇》. It contained techniques known as Embrace Leaning Star Method 撥砂挨星法: -
 
1.       Leaning Star 挨星法 is to Establish Facing to Receive Water 立向收水.
2.       It is also called, eliminate embrace to acquire water 消砂納水.
3.       Or simply Recline Mountain and Push Killing 收山出煞.
 
Many different jargons same story. This Leaning Star is called – Assistant Star Water Method 輔星水法. 

​The operative word – Assistant Star 輔星, self-explanatory is rooted in Changing Yao 飛爻, starts from the Assistant Stars – FuBi 輔弼, ends with WenQu 文曲. These 8 stars will determined the auspiciousness of incoming and outgoing water. Offspring of Assistant Star Method 輔星水法 are Five Ghost Carry Wealth 五鬼運財. This technique is mentioned in Entering Earth Eye 《入地眼》. This work was believed to predate all other YangGong technique. The Human Plate 人盤 and the Heaven Plate 天盤 have not been invented. Assuming. Lai BuYi borrowed this method, the use of Human Plate 人盤 to measure will not get consistent results. Assuming this Entering Earth Eye has been bastardized and somehow Assistant Star Method managed to creep into its pages, shouldn’t the Heaven Plate 天盤 be used to audit water? Blatantly, Entering Earth Eye state that Heaven Plate 天盤 is full of crap, years before Lai BuYi was born! Furthermore, what about Assistant Star’s long lost cousin, Huang ShiGong 3 Nobles 6 Auspicious 黄石公三吉六秀? Simultaneous application or standalone? 

​The predecessor to Assistant Star Method is believed to come from the 24 Heavenly Stars Method 廿四天星法. 24 Heavenly Stars were derived from the ZiWei enclosure. These stars represent the Imperial Court such as Heavenly King 天皇, representing the Monarch. It was said that the Hai Dragon 亥龍 produces Emperor. Hai 亥 is associated with Heavenly King 天皇 star. The other nobles are: -
 
1.       Great Subtlety天贲,
2.       Heavenly Market 天市,
3.       Great Yi 太乙 and
4.       Lesser Subtlety 少微.
 
These collectively made up the 3 Nobles 6 Auspicious 三吉六秀 where the 6 Auspicious were derived from 24 Obscure Heavenly Stars NaJia 廿四渾天星纳甲. To those school who subscribed that Entering Earth Eye 《入地眼》 predates Urging Officer Scroll, they will annex these 24 Heavenly Stars to the Earth Plate 地盤, while LaiGong School 賴公派 will annex these 24 Stars to the Human Plate 人盤 , to derive YinYang. This method became the qualifier to Assistant Star Method and 3 Nobles 6 Auspicious三吉六秀.

​Assistant Star Method 輔星水法 and 3 Nobles 6 Auspicious三吉六秀 measure the dynamic. The Human Plate 人盤, invention of Lai BuYi, measures the static. Static and dynamic are the manifestation of Formula versus Landform as the saying goes 巒頭無假理氣無真. Within Human Plate 人盤, its YinYang were derived from the 24 Heavenly Stars while its element is derived from the 28 asterism 廿八天星.
 
24 Heavenly Stars 廿四天星 differed from 28 asterism 廿八天星. 24 Heavenly Stars are star groups within the ZiWei enclosure while 28 asterism are star groups within the equatorial belt. It is this 28 asterism 廿八天星 that defined the static elements of the Human Plate 人盤. Human Plate’s 24 mountains were divided into 6 groups: –
 
1.       4 Yang Stems,
2.       4 Yin Stems,
3.       4 Ordinal Gua,
4.       4 Stables,
5.       4 Growths and
6.       4 Graves.
 
Mountains within the same group shares the same element, which correspond exactly to the 28 asterism.
Human Plate 人盤 is used to: -
 
1.       Evaluate the quality of the embrace 砂
2.       Ascertain that the embrace protects the meridian.
 
It is not a water method 水法 but an embrace method 砂法.
All the peaks within the embrace 砂 shall collectively produce 生 or prosper 旺 the Xue in the 5 elemental五行生克 interplays.

​Zhang JiuYi 張九儀 (1660 – 1730) studied under Jiao RenShan 焦仁山, disciple to Lai BuYi 賴布衣. He is believed to be the torch bearer for LaiGong’s lineage. From his writing, Earth Study Alchemical Towrope《地理鉛彈子》, it is learnt that one undisclosed secret technique called – Central & Fire Two Star Methodology 中火二星法, is the key to ignite LaiGong’s method.
 
As a rule of thumb, this technique require one to: -
 
1.       Employ the Heavenly Ruler 量天尺, simply means measuring the 28 asterism 廿八天星.
2.       There is a full fledge art of doing this - Seven Governors and the Four Remainders 七政四餘.
3.       Narrow down and to locate the positions of the Central Star 中星 and the Fire Star 火星 (see table).
4.       To establish the 4 Auspicious and the 3 Nobles 四吉三奇 within.
5.       4 Auspicious 3 Nobles 四吉三奇 are Yi乙, Bing丙, Ding丁, 3 Nobles 三奇.
6.       Locate the Salaried Horse Nobleman Method 祿馬貴人法 within.
 
It is really Rocket Science in Lai BuYi’s time. In Urging Officer it states, Fiery Star 火星 not rise Officer 官 not prominent 火星不起官不顯. In Zhang’s writing, it states, without the Central Star, nobility will not see 無中不發富, without the Fire Star, ignition will not take place 無火不開科. Can you believed it? We must take this with a huge pinch of salt…

The 24 Heavenly Star methodology 廿四天星法 forms the Body 體 or the Principle. To some it is a way to locate the Meridian Spot – LaiGong Dotting the Meridian Technique 賴公點穴法. Others believed that it is how based on the precedents of the Royal Imperial Tombs’ FengShui, these proved the quality of the TangLang 贪狼, JuMen 巨门, WenQu 文曲, WuQu 武曲 and FuBi 輔弼 stars are auspicious perpetually as it corresponds to the Great Subtlety 天贲, Heavenly Market 天市, Great Yi 太乙, Lesser Subtlety 少微, Heavenly Monarch 天皇 and the Purple Enclosure 紫微. Collectively, they are named – Mother Earth Flipping Trigram Nine Star Plate 地母反卦九星盤, where Kun trigram is the Host. That is also where GuiChang 归藏 was to be arranged…

Mother Earth Flipping Trigram Nine Star Technique 地母反卦九星法 was later enlarged to cover what is now known as 3 Auspicious 6 Elegance 三吉六秀 as Mountain Method 山法 and Assistant Star 輔星 as Water Method 水法. Both methodologies form the Application 用. When one uses the Mountain Method 山法, one is able to simultaneously narrow down to the specific 60D Penetrating Dragon 穿山龍 GuiChang Gua 归藏卦. When one uses the Water Method 水法, one is able to simultaneously narrow down to the specific 60D Penetrating Dragon 穿山龍 Obscure Heaven Gua 渾天卦.

Human Plate Embrace Method 人盤中針撥砂法 is a static application to evaluate the quality of the embrace 砂 protecting the Meridian 穴.  When one uses the Embrace Method 砂法, one is able to simultaneously narrow down to the specific 60D Penetrating Dragon 穿山龍 LianShan Gua 连山卦, by measuring the embraces’ peaks. All the 3 sets of Gua 三般卦 derived from the 3 sets of   60D Penetrating Dragon 穿山龍 GuiChang 归藏, Obscure Heaven 渾天 and LianShan 连山 Gua would enable a detailed readings of: -

1. Salaried Horse Noblemen 祿馬貴
2. 3 Mysterious and 6 Auspicious三奇四吉

Having said so, there is a much reserved techniques called the Central and Fire Two Stars Methodology 中火二星法. It is where you need to determine the arrival of the Central 中星 and Fire Stars 火星 respectively. These require a little bit of acrobatics with astronomy as both stars are in reference to the Pole Star 紫微 (To locate the Pole Star read HERE) and the planet Mars 火星, to enable specific date selections so as to allow for immediate FengShui outcome.
​
To eliminate Killing Qi or ShaQi 殺氣, the techniques of Great Sun and Great Moon formulas 太陽太陰到山 are prescribed as the saying goes, when the Great Sun and Great Moon 太陽太陰到山 arrived at the particular mountain, all malignant Qi will be dissolved. This will enable one to determine your seating… not just the greatly misunderstood basic date selection techniques.

​There are 2 sets of 28 asterism rings currently found in most modern LuoPan: -

1. The Old – Epoch is set in the beginning of Sung Dynasty  宋朝  960, known as KaiXi 開禧 epoch.
2. The New – Epoch is set in the beginning of Qing Dynasty 清朝 1644, known as ShiXian 時憲 epoch.

By 2008 (another JiaZi cycle) it would have lapsed 364 years. By virtue of YuXi 虞喜 calculation (being the first Chinese astronomer who observed the Precession of the Equinoxes), suggested that for every 70+ years the precession of the equinoxes ShuiCha 歲差 would rendered the asterisms to be deviated by 1 degree and with such 364 years, that will make up a total of 5.2 degree deviations. 

LaiGong 賴公 uses the Old Epoch. By this time, due to precession of the earth, the current degree of the 28 asterism 廿八天星 would have been out of sync by 15 degree (that is One Mountain). By the same token, it means to say these techniques of LaiGong 賴公 would have been stale. Some practitioners warrant that the current degree of the 28 asterism 廿八天星 would have to be updated every 70 years – most likely you only need to do once every life time and to re-engineered the entire techniques to keep them applicable.

One School suggested that you may need to read the New Epoch and to traced back to the Old Epoch when validating old graves based on LaiGong's methodology.

What a daunting task…

One Grain Millet  《一粒粟》 is a rare classics on Land Form FengShui, claimed to have been the true transmission of YangGong. Why it is titled as One Grain Millet is everyone guesses but as what we understood a single grain of millet could well be the pinhole size of a meridian spot and it is that difficult to come to find one. There is a saying, it takes 3 years to walk the dragon 三年寻龙 and 10 years to dot the meridian spot 十年点穴, see HERE for details. So this classic is supposed to be telling you how to locate a meridian spot. Some classify this as a summary of HanLong Jing 《撼龍經》, another classics that looks like a dictionary for land form. Collectively they are the integral part of the study of LongMen BaDa Ju / QianKun GuoBao 龍門八大局 / 乾坤國寶.

Another question is who wrote this? Could it be YangGong? Here is the clue, 纯阴纯阳，天乙太乙。Pure Yin and pure Yang, TianYi and TaiYi. Yet, this sentence tells you that the author is using the Human Plate (RenPan) to measure embrace because these 2 stars TianYi and TaiYi are the celestial pole where the RenPan is aligned to. Therefore it cannot be the work of YangGong.

In this short classics, you will term with strange jargons such as: -

1. RuShou 入首
2. SanFen SanHe 三分三合
3. ShouShan ChuSha 收山出煞
4. Ge 字个
5. SanYa 三丫
6. ChanYi  蝉翼
7. QiuYan 球檐虬髯
8. QiuRan 虬髯
9. RenZhong 人中
10. ChunYin ChunYang 纯阴纯阳
11. Xia Xu 虾须
12. JingYu 金鱼
13. LuoWen 罗纹
14. Zhen 枕

And Human body parts as reference such as: -

1. Er 耳
2. LingTou 淋头
3. GeJiao 割脚

No explanation offered and such is to be taken as oral transmission by a true master. Without a throughout understanding of these terms, any form of translation as found in the internet may not necessary reflect the actual meanings of the text such as described as the followings: -

阳落有窝，阴落有脊。“Yang seated on usefulness, Yin seated on thriving.”, as translated by someone. It means differently if it is to be translated as – Yang drops (vein) have meridian (sunken), Yin drops (vein) have meridian (protruding). The second translation described the types of the meridian spot.

入首星辰，从顶而立。“To protect the auspicious dragon, start from the stems next on the branches” could have been translated as – Incoming Dragon 入首 star forms 星辰 from the peak here establish. The meanings absolutely changes as the second translation tell you to identify the incoming dragon by observing the peak.

阳来阴受，阴来阳作。“When Yin received Yang it holds power, when Yang received Yin it rise and act” could have been translated as – Yang incoming, Yin embrace. Yin incoming, Yang adorn. Embrace and adorn means almost the same thing. Yet the connotation changes compared to the earlier translation. The second translation simple means – when Qi flows from the Yang direction, collect it by embracing the Yin. This is a typical concept of Reclining Mountain Extending Sha, ShouShan ChuSha 收山出煞.

上有三分，下有三合。“The stems must be differentiate by combine, control, compliment and the branches comes with three combine”, could have been translated as – On top there come 3 division, downward come 3 combination. Notice the totally different ideas convey by different translation? The second translation explain the idea of 3 divide 3 combinations, SanFen SanHe 三分三合.

个字三丫，要知端的。“Every branch comes with its own energy, one must understand what is termed auspicious and inauspicious”, could have been translated verbatim as – the Chinese character Ge 个 and three Ya丫 meaning fork, must know to observe this. The character Ge 个 is pictorially telling you the drop of vein from the peak and the character Ya丫is pictorially telling you how the rivers join together to form what is probably known as the water mouth. These have nothing to do with the first translation.

大小八字，贴身蝉翼。“The formation of our environment whether it is big or small will follow and stick closely to us just like the wings of the cicada”, could have been translated as – Big or small the Chinese character Eight 八 close to the body embrace liked a Cicada’s wings 蝉翼. This passage tells about the embrace protecting the Xue and could come in multi layers huge or small.

股明股暗，有缓有急。“The leader can be upright, the leader can be despicable, some are patient and some are impatient”, could have been translated as – Partially exposed partially concealed, have sentimental have rapid. The first translation totally off tangent as what has it got to do with a leader? Partially exposed partially concealed denotes how these embraces are, with channel the rivers to be flowing sentimentally or rapid.

上耸明肩，下开暗翼。“The stems rise and look upright, the branches operate in secret”, could have been translated as – Up rise exposed over the shoulder, down opens concealed. Continue from the explanation of the embrace, the human figure is used to measure the correct height and width of the embrace and in this instance the shoulder height.

球檐虬髯，人中难识。“Is this the dragon or a chameleon, it will be difficult to differentiate for the untrained eye”, could have been translated as – QiuYan (spherical eves) and QiuRan (young dragon’s whiskers) the RenZhong 人中 (meridian spot) difficult to know. QiuYan and QiuRan are all metaphorical jargon of land form FengShui to denote a certain landform characteristic. These are liked the marker to denote where the veins and meridians are. RenZhong 人中 may have been translated as within the masses, but in this case it may also mean RenZhong 人中 Xue – the acupuncture meridian of the Philtrum. In face reading, this point denotes the meridian spot of landform FengShui.

纯阴纯阳，天乙太乙。“Pure Yin and pure Yang, useful god or noble god”, could have been translated as – Pure Yin and pure Yang, TianYi and TaiYi. This single scrip only say Pure Yin and pure Yang, TianYi and TaiYi but did not go further. What has Pure Yin and pure Yang 纯阴纯阳 have to do with land form? This is a top secret, cannot reveal. What has TianYi and TaiYi have to do with land form? Yet, this sentence tells you that the author is using the Human Plate (RenPan) to measure embrace because these 2 stars TianYi and TaiYi are the celestial pole where the RenPan is aligned to. Therefore it cannot be the work of YangGong.

界水虾须，微茫交揖。“In the boundary of the vast ocean the dragon awaits, if the transformation can take place it will be boundless”, could have been translated as – Boundary water liked a prawn’s whiskers, trifling boundless must cross bow. The book of burial state, Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when boundary by water, can this boundary of water relates to ZhangShu? Prawn’s whiskers are another form of land form jargon denoting how the vein drops.

左右金鱼，罗纹土缩。“To search for the golden fish, the legendary earth must process”, could have been translated as – Left right have Goldfish. LuoWen 罗纹 has earth tighten. Luo 罗 refers to spiral Wen 纹 refers to pattern. So this landform jargon means spiral pattern within where earth are tighten at its rim to form another landform jargon – Goldfish 金鱼, a shape of the water bodies.

We shall not continue to discuss about how it should have been translated, instead herewith are our attempt to translate the remaining parts of the classics:-

XuanKong Three Scripts 玄空三诀 summarize the three important factors of doing FengShui based on XuanKong 玄空. Different schools may call these scripts differently, but ultimately they are pointing to the same aspect of doing FengShui. It is used to be known as the three ancient oral transmitted scripts 三個古訣. There are many interpretation to these scripts, many beholding such as the top secrets. In some schools, these had been further expended to six, giving birth to the Six Methods of XuanKong or LiuFa. These scripts also generally shared among schools outside SanYuan such as SanHe. Generally the Three Scripts are: -

1. HARBORING STAR SCRIPT 安星訣
2. ARRANGING THE DRAGON SCRIPT 排龍訣
3. RECEIVING YIN PUSHING SHA SCRIPT 收山出煞訣

These scripts are made known by the so-called lineage holder of ZhongZhou Pai 中州派. Please do not get confused with SuZhou Pai 蘇州派. They are entirely different thing (read HERE for details). ZhongZhou Pai 中州派 was claimed to be a less known school of XuanKong based on its principle of One Teacher, One Student, 一师一徒. It was only made known by Wang TingZhi 王亭之 via his writing ZhongZhou Pai XuanKong School 中州派玄空学. He claimed that as he has made enough fortune to retire into “Shangrila”, he no longer needs to practice this exoteric knowledge thus he decided to disclose them via his writing. It may also mean, this method may not be really reliable and therefore can be disclosed to others… Being a renaissance man, Wang TingZhi 王亭之 professed many talents ranging from FengShui, ZiWei DouShu, food critiques, linguist, tea connoisseur to Tibetan Buddhist Master.  Having such illustrious profile also made him an outspoken provocateur to many areas of Chinese Metaphysics especially FengShui, with equal amounts of brickbats as well.  He owes such knowledge to his lineage master from Taiwan, famed for his skill in ZiWei DouShu, having also to say that without ZiWei, there is no ZhongZhou Pai 中州派.

The term 下卦 is aptly more appropriate to mean Placing Gua instead of Lower Gua, as in a game of chess, 下 means to place. By the same token, before one can be Placing Gua 下卦 or making the first move, one has to lift a Gua or called Lifting Gua 兼卦. Analogically speaking, it is like lifting a chess piece and placing it in the appropriate grid thus first to lift a Gua 兼卦 then to place a Gua 下卦.

Both these processes of to lift a Gua 兼卦 then to place a Gua 下卦, by some other terminology means, a star is taking a vector flight with a point of departure and another point of arrival. Collectively, it can also be construed as a number of origination and a number of completion, one Yin and one Yang. Postulations of these sorts may lead to various interpretations and applications.

The term Harboring Star 安星 analogically speaking may means to find a home (palace) for the star to reside, just like a boat that may need to be harbored 安. Collectively Harboring Star 安星 means the natal chart of the Flying Star or the LoShu grid. Basically there are 2 ways to harbor the star, one being the conventional Placing Gua 下卦 while the other unconventional Replacement Gua 替卦.
​
In a more general terms, Harboring Star 安星 is a mean to identify the Qi Map of a given location. By the same token it is to identify areas of growth, prosperous, weakening, death and killing based on the structure and formation of the land. Such include identifying incoming and outgoing of water. 

This replacement star poem is the VERSION 17 of the earlier write-up on AiXing Jue, Leaning Star Script (detail read HERE)