'Feng shui' and the President's health

By Dr. Mauro Rahardjo

BANDUNG (JP): The aim of feng shui is to live in balance and harmony with nature. The result of such practices should be health, wealth and happiness. As most of us know, President Abdurrahman Wahid has not been in perfect health. However, his task to lead this country carries a very heavy workload because so many things were plunged into chaos as a result of the prolonged crisis. Such factors need to be looked into and resolved. Hence, the President is and should be in good health. This article is to contribute to the understanding of one function of feng shui: to achieve health, as well as to provide some simple advice on feng shui's principles for avoiding health troubles.

Everyone wishes to possess good health, so any illness can cause great concern. In terms of feng shui, a newborn baby carries with him or her some inborn qualities which include his or her personality, temperament certain weaknesses in health. In feng shui, the birth data of an individual is symbolized by elements and the Year, Month, Day, and Hour of his or her entry into the world. Each is represented by the Heavenly Stem and Earthly branch elements. Therefore, if the complete birth data is known, there will be eight characters. The basic philosophy is that when the elements in our body are balanced, we will enjoy good health. However, if there is too much or too little of any one element, the condition may bring about illness and discomfort.

President Abdurrahman Wahid's birth data is Aug. 4, 1940, (hour data unknown). His elements are composed in the accompanying Pillar table.

The self element of the President can be seen in the Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar, which is Earth. He was born in the month of summer where Fire is dominant, hence his Earth is strong. Additionally, two other Earths found in his Year and Month Pillar.

In Chinese medicine, each of our vital internal organs is assigned an element. The heart is symbolized by Fire, the stomach by Earth; the lungs by Metal, the kidneys by Water and the liver by Wood. The functional relationship between the vital organs also follow the Cycle of Birth and Cycle of Destruction of the five elements. For example in the Cycle of Birth Water nourishes Wood; Wood sets up Fire; Fire turns things to ashes/earth; Earth contains Metal and Metal produce Water. In the Cycle of Destruction Water puts up Fire; Fire melts Metal; Metal cuts off Wood; Wood treads on Earth and Earth absorbs Water.

Various organs in the human body are linked to the five elements:

Metal symbolizes: Lungs, respiratory organs, skin, intestines, nose and teeth.

Wood symbolizes: Limbs, neck, spinal cord, liver, eyebrows and hair.

Water symbolizes: Kidneys, bones, sex organs and ears.

Fire symbolizes: Heart, blood, brain, nervous system, lips and eyes.

Earth symbolizes: Stomach, muscles, digestive organs and cells.

By analyzing the weakness and strength of each of the elements in a person's pillar, a deep insight into his state of health can be predicted. The overabundance or weakness of any one element allows us to pinpoint potentially troublesome organs. In the Pillar table, it is shown that President Abdurrahman's pillar is dominated by Earth elements. Since Earth absorbs Water (e.g. bones) and Earth exhausts Fire (e.g. eyes), the President may possibly have some health problems related to the organs that are mentioned above.

The elements favorable for the President are Metal and Water. The Metal is necessary for Abdurrahman, because Metal can exhaust the Earth elements (Earth contains Metals). Whereas the Water is an element that benefits the President, because his water element is surrounded by Earth (see the table) and therefore needs strengthening.

According to the calculation, a person born on Aug. 4, 1940 has the Kua number 6. This number indicates that the President is a west person. His good compass orientation will be: West (wealth), North-West (health), South-West (happiness) and North- East (luck). With regard to the President, his preference for his health is in the North-West position and orientation. By means of the feng shui position, the President's relative position in the building can be determined; and by the feng shui orientation the compass orientation. When the President sits facing North-West his luck compass lines up in terms of his health.

The writer is a Feng Shui consultant and lectures at the Catholic University in Bandung.

The Pillar of President Abdurrahman Wahid

Heaven Stem: +Metal (year), -Water (month), -Earth (day); Earth Branch: +Earth (year), -Earth (month), -Wood (day).