A peak standing on Yin
On Yin the first thing a master checks is the peak. Stand on the site, or inside the door, and look to 52.5 to 67.5 degrees. What stands there? A hill or building there is judged by its shape first. Upright, whole and clean, with a straight edge, it reads as a guard standing with his staff. Jagged, leaning, split at the top or strewn with bare rock, it reads as the staff swung badly. That second kind is a sha to screen, not a peak to face. The same test is applied when the ridge enters from Yin: a wood dragon should be straight and lean, like a trunk, not twisted.
Tianbang, Heaven's Staff
Tianbang is a star of the Purple Palace. A bang is a staff or cudgel, the tool of the man who keeps order; used well it is law, used badly it is just force. It is a common star, and Master Zhang's rule for common stars is short: they print what the ground shows and add nothing of their own. On Yin that means the form of the peak decides which face of the staff you get. A clean peak confirms order; a rough one is not softened by the star's name. People who hear staff and think punishment, or hear Tiger and think danger, are reading the name instead of the hill.
What this means on the ground
Take the reading inside the door with your back to it, or behind the stone along its face. Hold the luopan level, keep it clear of the gate and the car, and read three times. A facing of 240 means sitting on Yin. Inside the mountain, 57 to 63 is the centre. From 52.5 to 55 you lean on Gen: earth, the noble star Tianshi, a different page. From 65 to 67.5 you lean on Jia, and the 67.5 line is the border between the Gen and Zhen trigrams, which we keep furthest from. A stone set on it has no trigram to belong to. Phone users must set magnetic north first.
Common mistakes
The first mistake is borrowing from Gen. Gen is noble and Yin is not; a reading of 55 degrees is Yin, not a weak Gen. The second is fear of the name. Tiger and staff are images, not verdicts; the only verdict is the shape of what stands on Yin. The third is mixing the luopan with the calendar: the Yin month and the Yin year of a Bazi chart are time, and the mountain is a direction. The last is a phone set to true north, which moves a Yin reading onto Jia or Gen.
Questions people ask
What direction is Yin on a feng shui compass?
Yin is 60 degrees magnetic, east by north-east, from 52.5 to 67.5 degrees. It is the Tiger, a wood mountain at the eastern end of the Gen trigram. A stone on Yin faces Shen.
Is the Tiger direction dangerous in feng shui?
No direction is dangerous by itself. On Yin we look at the shape of the hill or building standing there: whole and upright is fine, broken or leaning is a sha to screen.
What is the star on Yin mountain?
Tianbang, Heaven's Staff, a common star of law and order. In our school it confirms what the peak on Yin already shows and does not change it.
If a sharp hill, a tower or a broken slope stands east by north-east of your door or grave, send photos and three readings for a site reading with Master Zhang.