Journey to the Land Below the Wind: The undying Kadazandusun heritage of Tenghilan, Tambunan and Ranau.

Famously known as ‘Land below the Wind’, Sabah is a land where your heart is. My younger sister, who married a local Tenghilan Dusun took this opportunity to visit her in-laws during the end of the year holidays. It supposed to be a rainy season but thank God, the ‘Bambarayons’ (They are actually the "Spirits of the Rice" according to Kadazan/Dusun beliefs; it is really interesting to find its striking similarities with the Tibetan Buddhism beliefs in local guardian deities) seemed to realize my eagerness to explore these parts of Sabah and blessed our journey throughout the entire week.Ounsikou ginawoku sabab barakat Diolo!

There was something quite odd each time I reached any one of these places; I was greeted by a gentle breeze followed by a sweet smell; perhaps you would consider those things were only made up by my mind but seriously, I never had that kind of experience in my own place. Much to my surprise, I managed to set my foot on one of the most well-kept landscapes I ever seen, the valley town of Tambunan, the birthplace and hometown of the current Huguan Siou.

 

We took some pictures for you to view by yourself. Needless to say anything, a single picture will tell more than a thousand words. Here are some shots taken in various places; namely the capital city of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Tenghilan, Tambunan, Kundasang and Poring. There’s a lot more to explore to Sabah but I think that should be kept for our future plans!

I took a snap with brother-in-law's sister and her family. It's a typical attitude of Sabahans to be super-friendly with any visitors; you will never feel like a stranger, but instead you will quickly adapt and feels just like at home!

Posing in front of the statue of St. Therese of the Little Child of Jesus, Tambunan

The locals said that this once famous Tambunan Village Recreational Centre was a rendezvous for both locals and tourists alike; also known as TVRC is now becoming more like a lifeless-resort compared to its golden era. I hope that the management will do something to attract more visitors to this wonderful place before it is too late!

Tambunan Warrior's Memorial, this is the site where you can find out a brief history of Tambunan and how it got its name: A combination between the names of the tribe "Tamadon" and the once-famous head warrior, Gombunan.

Kundasang War Memorial Park; it's much cooler here despite the sunny evening!

One of Sabah's unused couches used during the reign of North Borneo Amalgamated Company is now being displayed right outside the State's Museum

Compared to my state, Sarawak, Sabahan tourism management is absolutely fabulous! If you happened to visit any of the public places in Sabah, be it the Agnes Keith's House, State's Museum or Mt Crocker National Park, you only need to pay a mere RM2!

The largest lifestyle- shopping mall in the island of Borneo, 1Borneo Hymermall, famously known as 1B by the locals. It reminded me of Mid-Valley Megamall; except its not as sizable as the former and its heavily influenced by Bornean cultures.

This is not a painting; it's a real scenery indeed!. There's nothing on this Earth that could be compared to the beautiful scenery of Tambunan Valley; situated at an elevation of 976m above sea level, it is also the heartland of Pure Dusuns!

A cute Tenghilan Dusun couple gave out wedding toasts to their guests; they're happened to be both cousins of my brother-in-law.

I just loved Tambunan; you can run away from the hectic life in large cities like Kota Kinabalu and spend the rest of your life here; in a secluded and serene valley, deep within the Crocker Range.

Definitely you should not miss posing in front of the tallest, most beautiful and definitely the most accessible waterfall in Sabah! I present you: The Mahua Waterfall

 

My Latest Updates for the Year 2013: Appreciating God's most valuable gift--------LIFE!

Hello everyone and welcome again to my latest updates in my blog,

It has been for a very long time since my last post a few months ago. Life has been so busy that I even cannot spend my time to write even the simplest ideas in this blog. Life has changed so much that even a second is really precious for a busy person like me. A teacher's routine is no small issue; it involves a lot of hard work and sacrifice. There's a lot of things that I needed to settle first before I spend my time with the net. Thank God, now I can breathe for a while and I would like to take this opportunity to share some of my few experiences with all of you here. I used to have a negative view on my life before. If you read my posts before, you will exactly know what I meant. Enduring both physical and emotional pains are no big deals for me. I have gone through a lot of hard times before but He gave me this strength to overcome all the difficulties. 

My most beloved person, my own father left us even before I started my career. Sadly enough, he was the one who sacrificed himself to make sure that I could make it to the end during my 6-years' course. I was really distressed during that fateful moment; it seemed like the world around me is already crumbling. My mom and my sisters were also deeply affected. Then, the metamorphosis took place; like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, I was fully transformed into a new "being", with new life and new look. I began my quest to search for the meaning of life; I started to learn more about GOD; not through what other people's view or through 'religious means', but through His words; the Holy Bible. 

I admitted that I was grown up in a non-religious family; despite the strong background in Catholicism. "Sunday Christians" or a "lukewarm believer" is the best term used to describe my family members. I don't blamed them for my own lackadaisical attitude towards "committed Catholics".  I found my life in Jesus Christ when my housemates introduced me to the "real" concepts of being a true Christian witness of Lord Jesus Christ; not just merely a "professing Catholic". At the same time, my faith was already challenged due to drastic cultural changed as I suddenly moved to an area where if you do not have the strength to be a witness of Christ, you will easily fall into the bottomless pit; to a point of no return.  

Definitely God has a unique plan for an ordinary being like me. At the same time; either I would called it Karma or whatsoever proper terms that anybody could apply, I accidentally met my new "interest", Feng Shui. 

Out of my respect, this millennial-aged esoteric knowledge survived  the powerful forces of time and modernization. I won't put this in details since I already discussed them in my earlier posts. You can read my previous posts on Feng Shui and how I applied this knowledge in my daily lives. I used to view it as something religious due to its non-Christian origins and might even opposed the Absolute Truth itself. I heard about it before, but I just rather ignored it and considered it as an irrelevant subject. Alas! The life-changing incident had a deep impact and Feng Shui made its way into my life; and thank God, my life really changed so much ever since!

I am sure enough that the Great Almighty GOD is still watching from above; much better than a 24-hour surveillance camera..LOL! Ohhh..praise HIM! When my heart gave up on doing anything to change my life, God is always there for me; being a secret life-planner. I always keep a notion that if I failed to carry out plans as expected, I will put that total blame on myself; considering myself as a loser. But hey...wait! You forgot someone! I am definitely sure He has a better plan for me indeed. GOD is always there and I am sure He has bigger plans for me ahead.I will keep this prayer in mind each time I am in trouble; asking GOD to give me strength and virility to fight against the desires of the flesh. 

"O Heavenly Father, Thou art my strength and through Thee nothing is impossible, Thou has granted us the grace to persevere in faith by being the witnesses of Thy Most Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ by being a nation of priests that consecrates ourselves to Thy Eternal Kingdom. When I was lost in my own bodily desires, I forsake Thee O Lord; but Thou didst not; instead Thou art the one who remindeth me of Thy undying Love. Give me strength O Father, when I am weak; give me courage when I live in fear; to fight against the desires of the flesh; so that one day O God, that I will behold Thee, face to face in Thy Endless Glory. I asked this through the same Christ, Our Lord. Amen". 

Come, Lord Jesus, come!!

 

LEARNING “BA ZI”: KNOWING THE PURPOSE OF LIFE AND WHAT IT MIGHT CONTAIN: A CASE STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF COMBINATION-DESTRUCTION IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Certain things happened for reasons, and Ba Zi would give you a clearer picture on your destiny even though it only makes only 33% of your total destiny!

Alright, let’s go to the core of our issue—Learning Ba Zi. I won’t reveal my Ba Zi chart to you for the moment, since I consider it to be more personal in nature, but no worries, since I will share some parts of my Personal Chart and show you how Ba Zi can be utilized to maximize your potentials to its fullest!  My Ba Zi chart clearly shows that my present 10-year luck is not quite a promising one, even though there are some “favourable elements” do play their parts. I would like to pin-point this issue to one issue only--personal relationship. There is a very clear and permanent indicator in my own 8 Pillars of Destiny that says “It is better to stay away from relationships and even if there is one, it will never last for long”-TRUE! This is one of the checkpoints of Ba Zi where one of my unluckiest encounter did occur exactly on the time indicated in my Luck Pillars.

Based on the advanced concepts of Ba Zi, one very important point that I would like to focus on is what the Ba Zi experts called as the “Monkey-Snake-Tiger Combination” that occurs somewhere a few years ago that gave me a deep grief; even to this day. It was worsened by:-

(a)  The existent permanent clash that in the Spousal Pillar;  the Yin Fire Snake in the Day Pillar clashes with the Yin Water Boar in the Month Pillar!

(b)  This clash occurs in my Personal Eight Pillars Chart; that means this clash will occur throughout my entire life! The presence of the Direct Wealth star in the spousal pillar clearly shows that I will be in direct confrontation with the person whom I considered as my soul mate.

(c)  This type of clash is considered as a severe one since the same polarity (Yin Snake –Yin Boar) clashes are more serious than the different polarity slashes (e.g Yin Snake- Yang Rat).

No matter how "perfect" is your new boyfriend, if he is not meant for you, then does it, understand?

This already explained why any kinds of spousal relationships will never come to a good ending---despite whatsoever effort or good luck Feng Shui trinkets used to heal the situation. What’s the only solution? Stay single for the rest of my life---I guess..LOL!

A full-screen capture of my eight pillars of destiny chart. For confidentiality, I have deleted some of the information to avoid people from manipulating my Ba Zi.

I am sure those who practice Classical Ba Zi will realize that the only solution to heal or at least to minimize its bad effects is by introducing a certain “animal sign” into the clashing animal signs in the Ba Zi chart. In most cases, where no other combinations involved, a relationship can be healed, but in my case, for instance, it wasn’t as easy as suggested. The year of the Tiger (2010) which was supposedly to “heaI” the clash actually worsened the condition. WHY? The Fire Snake from my Day Pillar combines with the Yang Metal Monkey from the 10-year luck pillar (age 30-39). This pair is known as the Combination-Destruction structure.

As the Combination-Destruction pair entered the Year of Tiger (2010)…you will get the super-worst Snake-Monkey-Tiger combo! You got the picture right? The Tiger can only act as a ‘saviour’ only after I have moved into another 10-Year Luck Pillar, which is going to happen in another 8 years! As I did further reading in a book on Classical Ba Zi,  the events and the person involved in the combination were accurately depicted!  Let us go into each animal sign. For those who are used to the directions of the 12 animals, surely they know that the Snake’s location is the South East; the Monkey Southwest and finally the Tiger, Northeast. Then how could the directions tell me the origin of the persons involved in this formation? I will list out each detail as follows:-

(a)  The Snake represents my Self (homeland) which is Sarawak; exactly located southeast of Malaysia. (check my birth certificate; surely it is 100% TRUE!)

(b)  The Monkey (10-year Luck Pillar) represents where the relationship first took place (spark); yupp you get it now, southwest of Sarawak is exactly its capital city, Kuching (read the map if you’re saying that I’m bluffing around)

(c)  The Tiger (the Year Pillar—so-called “savior”), specifically mentions the origin of the person involved (origin)…(Northeast of Sarawak/Borneo?)---I’m not going to purposely annoy someone for this; but you should know how to read directions, right?). 

This is the permanent clash that I meant just now; the Yin Fire Snake in the Spousal Palace clashes with Yin Water Boar

This depiction was so accurate that I totally awed years after the incident! It clearly explained that a supposedly “healing animal sign” becomes the one that causes destruction in a relationship. Was that possible? Yes, it was. Further reading of the book explains that this combination means that the “right person” who is considered as a “savior” was the one who betrays and kills the short-lived relationship. As we go deeper into the analysis, it was also revealed that another Combination-Destruction structure exists as the Snake-Monkey branch was formed throughout the present 10-Year Luck Pillar. The Combination-Destruction can be interpreted as a good beginning with a tragic ending vice versa. 

The original screen-captured view of how the Day Master (Yin Fire Snake) forms the Combination-Destruction with the 10-year luck pillar (29-39 years old!)

    (a)  Fire Yin Snake represents Friends and Companions while the Metal Yang Monkey represents the Wealth Element.

    (b)  The favorability of a combination depends on the type of new element produced. In my case, the Snake-Monkey Combination produces a new element; which is Water and surely this is my most unfavorable element! In a nutshell, this Combination is like adding a salt to the wound!

Since I am a weak Yin Fire, the presence of the new Water and Metal Elements will further weaken my Self Element and definitely I was totally extinguished! When we interpret it into a real life situation, it clearly means that the purpose of gathering wealth (money; and since its polarity is Yang, it means money gained from a “moving source”, which is salary) is to impress my friends and colleagues around me. Since I can’t gain control over my Wealth, instead of making me feeling happy, it became a source of burden and suffering for me. The new Water element represents authority and that represents an “extinguishing task”. Luckily, even though I was feeling demotivated by the incidents that occurred around me that time, my friends and colleagues never took advantage on me since the Companion element was direly needed in this crucial situation.

I am not cynically pointing out my ex-lover’s fault, but rather I would like to prove that things did happen despite whatsoever effort that we put on to “save” the relationship. Yes, after almost a decade since my last breakup, I did know someone during that particular year which I believed as “the one” who was going to change my life forever but….alas! Our unexpected web-based love relationship which was initially for lust satisfaction suddenly turned into an almost-serious relationship; it was almost a near-perfection version of the person I was looking for; as that was truly an Utopian manifesto. Serve me right, I was too carried away by my lovey-dovey feelings and heeded all the warnings that were clearly indicated in my Ba Zi! As an end result, I fell into the bottomless pit and I was totally out of sync! I was ignorant and say ‘nay’ to the warnings portrayed symbolically in the Ba Zi chart that time and to my surprise, it did happened!  As you read this, I would strongly encourage those who are still learning the knowledge of the Ba Zi to practice what you have learnt, never ever be a pharisaical person, who is good at preaching doctrinal values but never practice it! I was, but I will always remind myself that it won’t happen again next time.

Years that follow (be it the years of the Snake-Boar) will not even promise anything either, even the luck of the present Dragon year won’t do any good to heal the permanent clash in my Ba Zi chart. Neither the next 8 years in my present Luck Pillar. In the other hand, I should concentrate on other aspects of my life such as career (and definitely the partnership type career) and financial planning for the future. By the way, the next 10-year luck pillar will promise a better future. At that time, my most favourable element, the Yang Wood which represents the Resource Element will push my dreams to the limitless skies! Hopefully my luck will change for good as my age will turn 39…hmm…that means I have to wait for another 9 years for my luck to be truly ripen and bear its sweet fruits..:). I won’t mind at all if my hair will turn grey that time. The Wheel of Karma will always spin; it solely depends on our past and present karmic actions that will determine whether it’s going to move faster or slower.

Many people asked me when I am going to have a settled life and a family of my own. Since I’m not a “waiting silently” type, so I know exactly how to respond to this irritating but yet can be answered in a simple manner:--“I’m searching but I found no one that suits my taste. I don’t want to just simply marry anyone and regretting myself spending my lifetime with the WRONG TYPE OF PERSON!” By the way, I’m not really concerned about getting old; many couples married at a relatively “later” age, but yet they enjoyed a prosperous and joyful life. There are also some couples who got married at a very young age and ended up with divorce and another chain of marriage-divorce-remarriage dilemma.  I learnt my lesson that love s not simply just marrying a person; but to love and cherish your spouse for all days of your life. It is not necessarily old means worn out or out of date, but rather it means an age of maturity. Cross my fingers, I am working ahead towards it, I know I can! 

LEARNING FENG SHUI AND THE EIGHT PILLARS OF DESTINY: A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Hello everyone, how things went on all these days? Weren’t they beautiful days to be enjoyed, or nothing but gloomy days where most of the times keeping oneself shunning himself from reality? I won’t dare to say anything about that, but surely my boring blog which do not attract any followers would have something else to offer which outweighs everything else; KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE. Please stop by and read what I have to offer for all of you. As you read, you will come to a realization that my writings are completely consist of genuine ideas which I have amalgamated from various sources—be they are from the web, written articles or books written by countless numbers of authors.  As usual, for copyright purposes, I would cite other people’s quote in brackets to differentiate them from my original quotes. As far as I concern, any similarities found here are purely non-intentional and if they do, the phrases cited here were actually just came across my mind.

Sadly enough, there are some people, no matter what their intentions are, questioned my proficiency in the English language. They said that my superbly-written articles were extracted from somewhere else either from the net or much worse; I am falsely accused as a copycat! I am really wishing to know this person and ask him (or her) to pin-point his evidences to proof that I am an expert in plagiarism. Copy and paste my whole article and put it in the “Google Search Box”. Would you find any similarities? Can they list put any books or articles that I had copied into my blog? I bet that your effort will come to the highest point of disappointment when they finally realized that my ideas are 100% authentic out of from the frontal cortex of my cerebrum! 

I am not sure the motives of these ill-intentioned people, but surely it will never stop me from sending up blogs to be shared with those who are still interested. Amazingly, as I checked my blog-review statistics, I have viewers not only from Malaysia, but from all over the globe; Russia, China, United Kingdom and there are from the Unites States of America throughout the past 3 years! I was so surprised to know that there are some westerners who would like to take a glimpse on my simple articles which I simply wrote in a quite ‘merry-go-round’ style. I have to inform that my writings are not done in a professional manner. If I choose to do so, I would apply for a Master’s Degree Course in the University of Malaya where I can truly utilize my potentials to its zenith. I am not able to trace these kind readers but I prayed that blessings and good tidings shall be showered by you by the Higher Being above. Perhaps they are looking for the flip side of their life. I don’t know for sure, but you know the best, I bet.

Most people feel contented with their life without knowing their potentials and how to utilize them to the fullest. They just say “It’s already fated and there’s nothing much that I can do about it” or “God has fixed everything for me; and no matter how hard I have tried, I can’t alter His decision.” Well said, but it’s purely nonsensical. First, God or whatever that “Higher Being” might be called in other faiths, never fated something terrible to happen in our life. Correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I know, most religions, or if not all, believe that GOD is an All-Good and All-Perfect Being, and definitely when we say that He is “Good”, then by logical means He will never let such bad things to happen to us.

So, how bad things could happen and what is their purpose on us? Why certain people are tremendously rich despite their minimal effort and why are some people who aren’t? There are people who lived a moderate life but yet they are contented with their happy marriage life. The term “happiness” is subjective; but people; especially modernized people will define this term in much less common than its actual meaning. They tend to associate it with “big money, big car/s, big house/s and a handsome/beautiful K-Pop star-like spouse”. They think that the purpose of their own life is to impress others, but the ugly truth is never to be revealed…yet.

If you followed my previous articles in my blog page before, you will realize that I wrote an article on Symbolic Feng Shui which I heavily practiced all this while. As we go into another level, we will add another different but related field which without it Feng Shui practices are incomplete. Here I present you the package: The Knowledge of Feng Shui which is intricately merged with another related field of Chinese Esoteric Knowledge: The Ba Zi or better known as “The Eight Pillars of Destiny”; though some Classical Feng Shui Practtitioners  do not agree with the this translation but at least it is the nearest to the actual meaning of this field of knowledge.

Most Feng Shui practitioners will suggest their clients to have their personal Ba Zi to be read in tandem with the Feng Shui chart of their homes. Like Feng Shui, the Five Elements and Yin Yang concepts are also applied in reading one’s Ba Zi chart. A deep knowledge in The Productive, Destructive and Exhaustive Cycles of the Five Elements of a Feng Shui and Ba Zi practitioner will be a determining factor between a professional and an amateur. Learning Ba Zi can be likened to peeling an onion; you removed one layer to find out that there are actually many other layers inside. It is totally a never-ending knowledge on learning the destiny and purpose of our life. At first, I was totally perplexed by the difficult terms, but soon, as I finally grasped the actual meanings through a lot of readings and searching in reliable-web sources, I began my quest to plot my Ba Zi chart and learn it, bit by bit until I finally get a clearer view on my own purpose of life. For the unlearnt, the Ba Zi chart is nothing more than a piece of paper with unknown Chinese characters; and even if is translated into the English language, it is still incomprehensible and definitely a big headache for the newcomers. Thank God, due to my exceptional level of command in English, reading these translated versions of Classical Feng Shui books is obviously no big obstacle for me.

Learning Feng Shui and Ba Zi is never an easy thing for me. I have to do a lot of readings; and since my own understanding in the original tongue of this esoteric knowledge is near to none, I only have a knee-deep expertise in consulting people who were intrigued by my practice. They are so keened when they saw my “Fly on a Horse” figurine on my work table, the Kalachakra Mandala Plaque above my doorpost or even my “Wish Fulfilling Gold Plated Pendant” that I am wearing all this while. I am saying that I am reluctant to give any advice to them concerning Feng Shui and Ba Zi, but from what I have read, I realized that many professional experts, especially those from the classical schools of Feng Shui claimed  that the “Do-It-Yourself Feng Shui” which is gaining popularity due to its simplistic and hassle-free methods pose more risks than its benefits. I won’t explain this for the moment since it’s going to make this blog another Iliad and Odyssey epic story. I prefer simplicity even though the fact proves that the Feng Shui is a never-ending subject. No wonder why it took not hundreds, but thousands of years for this intricate knowledge to develop into what we have known today.

The Feng Shui and Ba Zi books were originally written in classical Chinese and most foreign readers, including Westerners who are highly interested to learn them get access via books translated by popular Chinese Feng Shui Authors who are very well-versed in English. I won’t give any reviews on their books or discuss about commercialism issues since me myself is a baby compared to those mega-fabulous Feng Shui ‘Masters-cum-celebrities’. In the other hand, my Feng Shui knowledge is still far from better and can be considered as only on the surface level. There’s still a lot more for me to learn in this unending field of knowledge.

I did some research on Ba Zi from various books translated from the Chinese to English; in a layman’s language. There are several series of books on Classical Ba Zi which are very modestly written. No worries, if I can read them, so are you! You can take a glimpse on the contents of these books and their prices are quite reasonable too!  The knowledge on Ba Zi worth more than your pocket and you won’t regret it either. These books are very easy to be read even for beginners who are totally alien to the terms and concepts of Feng Shui or Bazi.  I started out learning the Five Elements, how they interact with each other and finally the practical aspects of Ba Zi. I earnestly follow the guidelines set by the author from A-Z and even I was doing so, it was still far from enough. My thirst in pursuing knowledge made me feel more intrigued to learn this art of studying one’s path of life in detail.  

I still remembered the first day I encountered Feng Shui; about 8 years ago when I accidentally read a book on Symbolic Feng Shui written by a local Feng Shui authoress. I’m sure Destiny did played its part in making sure that this special moment arose or else I won’t have a chance to learn and practice Feng Shui! My mother bought the book as its title attracted her lot. I knew nothing about Feng Shui at all at that time, and to my amazement, I fell in love at the first sight! My knowledge in Ba Zi comes later after learning various Feng Shui branches; be it from the Classical or New Age Feng Shui. I believe that Feng Shui is no longer a secret thing since that all people are now gaining access to this always-on-a-high-demand thing. With the advent of smart phones and tablets, plotting a personal Ba Zi chart is no longer a hassle anymore; a single click and walaaa…your destiny can be overviewed just at your fingertips!