The following are stories (which I know well) to illustrate these beliefs:

About 10 years ago, raising dragonfish became an extremely popular trend in the Vietnamese community in the US. According to Feng Shui, the dragonfish is called the fish of good fortune; raising dragonfish will bring good luck to its owners.

At that time, one dragonfish cost about 5, 7 or even tens of thousands in US dollars. My wife’s brother was one of the enthusiastic believers in dragonfish. He bought one at the price of $20,000. His daughter once complained to me that her dad has been devoting all his time, day and night, to the care of the fish and neglecting her. He was living in a million dollar mansion, and it cost him quite a lot of money to build a fish pond. Having knowledge in the principles of mysticism I explained to my relatives that the belief in having good fortune through raising dragonfish is just nonsense. If one wants to change one’s fate, he or she has to live righteously, perform good deeds and cultivate good virtues. It is said that whoever has merits of good virtue can eat to his heart’s content. This is an unchanged truth. However, no one believes me. They think I said it out of jealousy!

5 years passed by without further news of my brother-in-law, and then one day I heard that he had gone bankrupt and run away from his debt which was not yet settled with the bank. He had to temporarily stay with his relatives because his house had been seized. This unhappy ending proves that my remarks were right.

The story shows that there is no prosperity even with the purchase of a 20,000 dollar dragonfish, let alone pursuing cheap activities advocated by Feng Shui practitioners, like planting trees, hanging bells, breeding a few goldfish in an aquarium, offering roast pork, ducks, bananas or some fruits to the earth god and the divinities with the hope of changing one’s destiny. All these things are mere superstition.

I know of a Cambodian shaman who is well-known for using charms and spells in the community. He was consulted by a restaurant owner who was having many financial difficulties. The shaman came to the restaurant, and after checking the place out he blamed the underworld spirits for being the cause of all the troubles, and attempted to negate its effects. After reciting magical formulas and mantras, and making mudras, he hammered a number of nails into the pillars of the restaurant. He returned another day and repeated the same ritual, three times altogether. However, just a few months after his third performance the restaurant went bankrupt.

By deduction, if Feng Shui fails to help an individual change his fate then it is not possible for Feng shui to change the fate of a family or a dynasty.

In Chinese history, all emperors and kings have consulted great magicians and Feng shui masters to help them reign forever, but as a matter of fact, all dynasties eventually came to an end. Royal families having good merits can rule for a few centuries, while those having fewer or no merits only rule for some decades, or collapse after just a few years.
The last Emperor Puyi, of the Qing dynasty, ended up being a guide for tourists coming to visit the palace that was formerly his.

All is according to the saying: wealth or poverty- neither is to last longer than 3 generations.

And yet, people still perform absurd superstitious practices that do not actually work. The poor still buy fruits and flowers; better-off people buy chickens, ducks and roasted pork; the rich make offerings to monks, and donate to charity. Kings and rulers still consult Feng Shui masters for auspicious times to start any kind of work, to build royal tombs and to lay out the palaces according to Feng Shui instructions in order to have long lasting luck. It is mankind’s wish and desire to get blessings from Heaven and deities while living in sin and doing evil, creating bad karma instead of mending themselves. People bribe the gods with offerings to ask for small favors, or pray to divine beings for bigger ones, instead of cultivating virtue and without realizing that it is useless to pray for wealth and glory when one is doing evil things.

Thus, the secret to changing the fate of a person, a family or a country, or to turn misfortune into good luck is cultivating virtue and performing good deeds. A rich and strong nation owes its stature to wise and righteous rulers, using talented people and implementing good policies for the benefit of the people and the country. The people also have to lead an honest and good life, abiding by Heaven and earth’s laws. The advisors of the nation must clearly understand spiritual principles as well as world affairs in order to assist the rulers in governing the country, thus they can change the country’s fate by teaching moralities and metaphysical principles in accord with Heaven’s way, not by means of Feng Shui.

What Feng Shui teaches is 90 percent nonsense. The remaining 10% may be used effectively, with the condition that everyone, from an individual to a family to the whole nation, must cultivate and mend themselves in order to live in harmony with Heaven’s will. Otherwise, if rulers and the people are evil and greedy, even when that 10% of Feng Shui is applied properly, when auspicious sites are found and great ceremonies are being performed to worship Heaven, all efforts to improve one’s fate, or that of the family or the nation will ultimately fail.