By Janet Shin

How much do you believe in saju or destiny? Especially when I hold a conversation with young students or intellectuals, we talk over this subject quite seriously. While they listen to a saju reading in awe, when their hidden stories of life are told, they still question how much the readings can be trusted for their future. Some even question the degree of accuracy in percentage.

In conclusion, I leave some possibility of quirks in life and I do understand people’s exertion of the mind whether to submit to their fate or not. Then, how can this uncertainty be answered? This is an extremely difficult but important task for a sincere saju master to study endlessly.

In order to verify whether the path we are taking is the correct move or not, and what other aspects we have to be prepared for, and so on, we need to broaden and deepen our view of destiny.

Among popular anecdotes, there was a story about a man with same saju as one of the former presidents. He was actually a homeless. Also, the saju of a famous historical Korean geisha had same saju as that of a king in Joseon Kingdom. How can we discriminate the destiny of twins as they have same saju. There must be a lot of people born on a same day, and same time. Then, are they going to live same destiny according to saju?

Just as those anecdotes say, not all of their actual lives are not exactly identical with each other.

Men and women live in opposite cycles of stem and branch combinations owing to the yin and yang theory. And those who were born closer to midnight tend to have better luck in their destiny. Other than these orthodox answers, I value that sociologic aspects can be a persuasive answer to discriminate the different life paths of people born with the same saju.

Recently, I had a chance to meet many morticians. I met them in person and viewed their faces in a group too. When I don’t want to bother to read one’s saju, I usually view one’s face instead. Then I had an unforgettable impression, especially when I met them in a group. When they gathered in an office along with other clerical workers, I was able to identify them from others. Was it because I had a special insight? Maybe yes, but I do believe there was something different in their face, which everyone else can also recognize.

Here is another case. A group of school children visited a police station for their field trip day. Upon returning, the kids told me that the faces of police officers in a section in charge of violent crime, were just like those of the criminals they saw through the television news. The chief nicely explained to the kids that it was to confuse the criminals.

I have a strong feeling that our appearances are influenced by the socio-environmental factors and these two anecdotes just proved it.

Is it because of their destiny, environment or behavior? This can be a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. But it is undeniable that there is a strong interaction among people, the environment and destiny.

In feng shui, especially in the sphere of yin feng shui, people believed that if the descendant chose a good place for their ancestors’ tombs, they are benefitted with a good fortune. This is controversial-whether the fortune is truly caused by the feng shui of their ancestors’ tombs or by their own virtue.

According to allegedly reliable modern belieifs, it is not just the feng shui of graves that brings good luck to the descendants. Owing to the descendants’ virtue, they were able to find the good place for the graves. It is nonsense that the good fortune goes to anyone whether they are wicked or not, just because of their graves. Some insist that the good places are only seen by virtuous people.

When a client comes in, I often guess the day master of the client just by reading his or her face, and/or the attitude and manner of speach. I do consider other factors in one’s life other than saju in determining one’s fate. There is something else that fills a certain space of our destiny. Although this can also be read by some saju masters, our life would be futile if everything is determined just by one’s birth day. That’s why we still have hope to live for, and continue to do our best for a better life.

Info: Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teaching about the “Four Pillars of Destiny”? Saju (Ancient Chinese Teaching ― Four Pillars of Destiny) or face reading Workshop is held at Itaewon, Seoul Korea.

For further information, contact Janet at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com.

The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea, and the author of “Learning Four Pillars” For more information, visit her website at www.fourpillarskorea.com