How This Site Handles the Traditions It Presents
Chinese metaphysical traditions span thousands of years across dozens of distinct systems. They have been interpreted, reinterpreted, simplified, distorted, commercialised and romanticised by countless hands along the way. This site exists to cut through that noise and present these traditions as close to their original form as the available evidence allows. The following principles govern how every page on this site is researched, written and published.
Every claim on this site is traceable to a specific tradition, a specific text or a specific historical context. If a connection between two systems is described, it is because that connection is documented in the source material. Associations are never fabricated for the sake of making content sound more impressive or more mystical. If a tradition says something, it is attributed to that tradition. If it does not, we do not put words in its mouth.
When the site discusses the I Ching, the information comes from the Zhou Yi, the Ten Wings, the historical commentary tradition and the work of documented scholars and practitioners such as Shao Yong, Wang Bi and Zhu Xi. When it discusses Shen Sha spirit markers, the information is traced back through the classical texts that codified them: the Zhu Shen Jing, the Hu Zhong Zi, the Wu Xing Jing Ji, the Yuan Hai Zi Ping and the San Ming Tong Hui. Surface-level claims that cannot be traced to a credible source are not published.
The internet is full of content that invents connections between traditions for SEO value or to make articles sound authoritative. This site does not do that. If there is no documented link between two concepts, we do not create one. If a popular belief about a tradition is inaccurate, we say so and explain what the tradition actually states. If a modern interpretation has drifted from the original meaning, we present the original and note the drift.
For example, many Western sources present feng shui as a system of interior decorating with lucky colours and wealth corners. Classical feng shui is a complex system of landscape analysis, compass measurement and mathematical calculation rooted in the observation of qi flow through physical terrain. This site presents the classical system and makes clear where popular simplifications have obscured the original practice.
Chinese metaphysical terminology is presented in its original Chinese characters alongside pinyin romanisation and English translation. This is not decorative. The original language carries meaning that translation alone cannot capture. The character 气 (qi) does not mean "energy" in the way English speakers understand energy. The character 道 (dao) does not mean "way" in the casual English sense. Providing the original characters allows readers who can read Chinese to verify the terminology and allows all readers to see the actual words these traditions use for their own concepts.
Simplified Chinese characters are used as the default throughout the site. Traditional characters are used where the context specifically involves Cantonese, Hokkien or other traditions where traditional script is the norm.
This site does not tell readers what to believe. It does not tell readers that the I Ching will predict their future. It does not tell readers that feng shui will make them rich. It does not tell readers that BaZi reveals their fixed destiny. What it does is present the systems as they are, explain how they work on their own terms, document their history and their logic and leave readers to draw their own conclusions.
Some readers will engage with these traditions as living spiritual practices. Some will engage with them as historical and cultural knowledge. Some will engage with them as mathematical and philosophical systems. All of these approaches are respected. The site's role is to ensure the material itself is accurate, complete and presented with integrity regardless of the lens each reader brings to it.
Where historical evidence is uncertain, this site says so. Where scholars disagree about the origin or meaning of a text, the disagreement is acknowledged. Where a tradition attributes something to a mythological figure and there is no archaeological evidence to confirm or deny the attribution, both the tradition and the state of the evidence are presented without forcing a conclusion either way.
The Shan Hai Jing, for instance, describes geography that partly matches real terrain and partly matches nothing on any modern map. This site does not claim the unmatched geography is proof of lost civilisations. It also does not claim the unmatched geography is proof that the text is fiction. It presents the evidence as it stands and lets readers examine it for themselves.
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