A Critique of Qiankun Guobao — The Water Methods of the Eight Dragons of Longmen

The Eight Dragons of Longmen, also known as Qiankun Guobao (National Treasure of Qian and Kun), centers its theory on sitting and facing directions to deduce auspicious and inauspicious conditions across the eight sectors, combined with the Eight Sha as Yao. In essence it is an extension of the Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven water methods plus assorted formulae; many practitioners encounter this theory early in their studies.

Its principal elements are as follows:

1. Heavenly Calamity Position and Earthly Punishment Position

For the Dui, Qian, Kan, and Gen mountains, the Heavenly Calamity position lies in the palace sector to the left of the facing mountain.

For the Zhen, Xun, Li, and Kun mountains, the Heavenly Calamity position lies in the palace sector to the right of the facing mountain.

For the Dui, Qian, Kan, and Gen mountains, the Earthly Punishment position lies in the palace sector to the right of the facing mountain.

For the Zhen, Xun, Li, and Kun mountains, the Earthly Punishment position lies in the palace sector to the left of the facing mountain.

2. Case Calamity position — that is, the Bright Hall (Mingtang)

3. Guest-of-Honor position and Guest position

The Guest-of-Honor position is the Earlier Heaven position of the facing; the Guest position is the Later Heaven position of the facing.

4. Auxiliary Trigram position

This is the trigram sector remaining after removing the sitting mountain, Earlier Heaven position, Later Heaven position, Heavenly Calamity position, Earthly Punishment position, Case Calamity position, Guest-of-Honor position, and Guest position. If all eight trigrams are already occupied, this position shares the same trigram as the Earthly Punishment position.

5. True Aperture position

Qian mountain: true aperture at Xun, secondary aperture at Yi or Jia
Kan mountain: true aperture at Xun, secondary aperture at Bing or Ding
Gen mountain: true aperture at Kun, secondary aperture at Bing or Ding
Zhen mountain: true aperture at Qian, secondary aperture at Geng or Xin
Xun mountain: true aperture at Qian, secondary aperture at Ren or Gui
Li mountain: true aperture at Gen, secondary aperture at Ren or Gui
Kun mountain: true aperture at Jia, secondary aperture at Yi or Gen
Dui mountain: true aperture at Jia, secondary aperture at Yi or Gen

The idea of water exiting through the true aperture is actually problematic. It originates from Sima Toutuo's formula: "Yi, Jia, Gen together with Ding, Bing, Xun; Xin, Geng, Kun with Gui, Ren, Qian." In the Three Yang water method, one further holds that the minor spirit should enter the middle spirit and the middle spirit the great spirit — that is considered ideal. Of course this view is somewhat idealized and suited only to man-made arrangements; in natural feng shui the conditions can only be met when a zigzag (zhi-character) or dark-tortuose (xuan-character) water course happens to be present.

6. True Yao Sha, Earthly Yao Sha, Heavenly Yao Sha

True Yao Sha: the Eight Yao Sha of the sitting mountain.

Earthly Yao Sha: the Eight Yao Sha of the Later Heaven position.

Heavenly Yao Sha: the Eight Yao Sha of the Earlier Heaven position.

7. Auxiliary Trigram position
The Auxiliary Trigram position favors incoming water, not outgoing water.
Qian sitting facing Xun: Auxiliary Trigram position at Kan
Kan sitting facing Li: Auxiliary Trigram position at Gen
Gen sitting facing Kun: Auxiliary Trigram position at Dui
Zhen sitting facing Dui: Auxiliary Trigram position at Kun
Xun sitting facing Qian: Auxiliary Trigram position at Zhen
Li sitting facing Kan: Auxiliary Trigram position at Xun
Kun sitting facing Gen: Auxiliary Trigram positions at Li and Dui
Dui sitting facing Zhen: Auxiliary Trigram positions at Qian and Kun

8. Storage Pool position
Water at the Storage Pool position brings abundant wealth.
Qian sitting facing Xun: Storage Pool at Gen
Kan sitting facing Li: Storage Pool at Kun
Gen sitting facing Kun: Storage Pool at Qian
Zhen sitting facing Dui: Storage Pool at Ren
Xun sitting facing Qian: Storage Pool at Kun
Li sitting facing Kan: Storage Pool at Xin
Kun sitting facing Gen: Storage Pool at Xun
Dui sitting facing Zhen: Storage Pool at Gui

The Eight Dragons of Longmen is primarily based on the Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven water methods. Water should flow into the Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven positions, not out of them. Auxiliary Trigram water should flow in, not out. Water at the Guest-of-Honor and Guest positions relates to daughters, female-line relatives of the maternal family, and tenants. Water may exit the Heavenly Calamity position but must not enter it; the Earthly Punishment position allows neither incoming nor outgoing water; Case Calamity water favors exit over entry. Water at the Storage Pool position is best kept deep. The True Aperture position is the water outlet. The Three Yao Sha positions must not have straight-line clashes, roof corners, large rocks, tall trees, or chimneys.

Characteristics of the Eight Dragons of Longmen:

1. Trigram-sector water methods are rather coarse. Used alone, accuracy is very limited, so in practice they are mostly combined with other systems.

2. In each configuration, water exiting through the true aperture is rare in real situations; auspicious and inauspicious outcomes are hard to verify, and the ROC classification power is too low.

3. If water pools and accumulates at the Storage Pool position, there is no taboo against water breaking through the Earlier or Later Heaven positions; when broken through, it is called a reversed configuration.

4. Trigram-sector transformations are overly complex. Apart from rote memorization, rapid calculation in practice is difficult; consulting a table is most convenient.

5. There are too many methods for analyzing the Yao of the Eight Sha. Some hold that only the True Yao should be used and the other two need not be considered.

6. The method of analyzing Guest-of-Honor and Guest water is a distinctive feature of this school.