Grandmaster Tan Yang Wu
Master T’an Yang Wu began his studies in Feng Shui at a tender age of 19 under the careful instruction and guidance of Master Yong Chin Lu who was 70 at that time. He later learned Yin Feng Shui from another Master and realized that his was not accurate. On finding this out, he apologized publicly via a newspaper for the unfortunate mistakes and promised to compensate former clients for these mistakes and re-do their Feng Shui at no extra charge.
In 1922, Master T’an Yang Wu started a Feng Shui school at No.716, Chentu Road, Shanghai, while continuing to carry out inspections. In 1923, he authored his first book entitled “T’an’s San Yuan Xuen Gong Feng Shui” which dealt with the theory of Yang Feng Shui (living) and Yin Feng Shui (graves).
In 1924, he authored a second book with the same title as above and concentrated on the practical experiences, analysis and research that he had carried out and observed over the years. The books were authored for the purpose of sales in China, but unfortunately during the Japanese occupation of China and the subsequent communist takeover, all the books were either burned or destroyed with the exception of one book each of the two books. Master T’an handed these books over to Master Sui Beng with the intention of avoiding extinction of the art. These books were later handed down to Master Leyau, which he later republished.
It should also be noted that with the unfortunate destruction of the books only Master Eu See Ying @ Yen Pen and Master Sui Beng carried down the knowledge.
Grandmaster Yen Ben
Master Eu See Yin @ Yen Pen was one of Master T’an Yang Wu’s disciples. Having learnt all that he could from his mentor and acquired practical experiences, Master Eu See Yin @ Yen Pen authored three books for sale. His first book appeared on the shelves in the late 1920’s. Three of the books were entitled “Theory and Case Studies on Yang Feng Shui”. A third book which had the same title as the pervious two was written by one of his disciples when Master Eu See Yin @ Yen Pen was in China, the recorded case studies on Yin andYang Feng Shui.
His first book contained 195 case studies and his second book had 260. These case studies included the name of the occupants, the addresses of the premises, the ‘nature’ of the year, the month and the resultant effects before inspection and the results after correction. The places he covered were far and wide. He covered all the provinces in China, Borneo, Java and Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, India and Thailand. The case studies were analyzed and recorded, making them an invaluable source for research, which also made the school a class above other schools of Feng Shui which did not have similar documentations. In pages 408 to 410 of his second book, there is a case study on the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang, which many people may be familiar with.
Prior to his research and analysis into Feng Shui, he was an educator and taught in a Catholic school in Shanghai. There, he encountered conflicts with the school authorities, as he was a Buddhist. Owing to this, he resigned and took up a position as a manager in a textile factory. Once more, he found that there was conflict with his religion as DDT was sprayed to kill the creepers and it was unacceptable to Buddhists to kill any living creatures. He once again resigned and committed his life to full time religious work. He therefore began editing magazines and preaching.
Master Eu See Yin @ Yen Pen arrived in Singapore where he became a monk, and later moved to Indonesia. It was while he was there that his house burnt down forcing him to relocate to Malaysia. He arrived in Penang and moved on to Cameron Highlands where he ran the Sampo Temple.
In 1950, owing to ill health he returned to Penang where he conducted Feng Shui classes. It was during this period that Master Hung Chuan enrolled and learnt Feng Shui of which he later became a master himself. This will be explained later on.
In 1957, Master Eu See Yin @ Yen Pen passed away, a year after meeting Master Sui Beng.
Grandmaster Sui Beng
Master Sui Beng learnt Feng Shui from Master T’an Yang Wu around the time of the Second World War. At the age of 19, Master Sui Beng became a Buddhist monk. When he was 38, he arrived in Penang, Malaysia to serve in a temple carrying with him the books authored by Master T’an Yang Wu. He was also a traditional Chinese herbalist and physician and was accredited with the formulation of the ‘sampo’ medical oil.
He initially traveled around Peninsular Malaysia preaching Buddhist teachings and healing people with his medical skills. In 1956, while serving at the Sampo Temple in Cameron Highlands, he met with Master Eu See Ying @ Yen Pen who was stationed there. It was there that they discovered they had both been disciples of Master T’an Yang Wu. On realizing that, they discussed their Feng Shui experiences and ideas in great details. However, their reunion was short-lived as Master Eu See Ying @ Yee Pen was taken till and returned to Penang where he died in 1957.
A few years later, Master Sui Beng sold his rights of the ‘sampo’ medical oil to a Singaporean in order to purchase a plot of land in Johor Bharu where he established the Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) Temple. He later set up an old folks’ home and an orphanage for the retarded.
In 1983, he acknowledged Leyau Yoke Sai (Francis) as a disciple after Francis Leyau personally visited and sought out him at the Kuan Yin temple. It is interesting to note that the temple’s Feng Shui was personally done by Master Sui Beng and with the benefits of good Feng Shui, he was able to run the old folks’ home and the orphanage which had a combined monthly overhead of RM 70,000 on donations that he attributed to the Feng Shui that worked very well.
In 1997, Master Sui Beng donated RM 200,000 to the state’s coffers following the government’s appeal to the public of South East Asia. On 5 July 1998, Master Sui Beng passed away leaving behind a cash saving of more than RM10 million, two plots of land and a row of fifteen double-storey shop houses in Kulai, Johor Bharu, all of which he donated to the Buddhist Association of Malaysia.
Master Francis Leyau visiting Master Sui Beng on 2 May 1998, two months before the demise of Master Sui Beng on 5 July 1998
Grandmaster Hong Chuan
Master Hung Chuan participated in Master Yen Pen’s Feng Shui classes in the 1950’s. He learned Feng Shui and became very competent, in the process turned into a consultant to many rich and famous people in Singapore.
In the Nanyang Siang Pau – Sunday Edition of 12 April 1987, there was an article about one of the Feng Shui analysis done by Master Hung Chuan which concerned the Hyatt Hotel in Singapore.
He did this analysis in 1973 when the occupancy ratio at the Hyatt was around 40%. At the time of the implementation in 1973, Master Hung Chuan chose an auspicious date and time to make the existing fountain operational at 10am. On the very same day at 2pm, the Hyatt received a call that a 747 flight had been delayed and rooms were required for the 380 passengers. On the fourth day after the implementation, the hotel was fully booked. On redesigning and completion, the Hyatt experienced growth in occupancy to around 57% in the first year, 69% in the second year and 75% in the third year. He also made a prediction that after 10 years from his date of analysis the Hyatt would have a second entrance, which did happen in 1984. Astonishingly, in 1979, the Hyatt was experiencing 100% occupancy rates, requiring an extension which happened in 1984.
We were told that Master Hung Chuan informed the Singapore Hyatt that a renovation would be needed to be carried out by 1983/ 84 in order to accommodate the change in Feng Shui reigning Period from 6 to 7.
Grandmaster Francis Leyau
In 1973, Master Francis Leyau Yoke Sai began his studies in Ying and Yang Feng Shui with other masters till he met Master Sui Beng in 1983. With the knowledge he had gained from his learning, he started conducting classes in Feng Shui in 1984 in both Peninsular and East Malaysia, and Singapore.
Over the last 24 years, he has had over a thousand students from all walks of life including professionals. Among his students, some have become masters themselves while some others have become practitioners and consultants.
From 1984 to 1986, he was a Feng Shui columnist and consultant for the Sun Min Daily News where he wrote articles and answered queries from the readers. In 1984, he was appointed as a Feng Shui Instructor to the Keng Jiang Association in Malacca, Malaysia, a post he relinquished in 1988. From 1991 to 1994, He was the adviser and Instructor to Malaysia Yi jing Association (formally was Kuala Lumpur I-Ching Association) and he had many time represented the association to the world I-Ching conferences. He was also a regular contributor on Feng Shui to Feminine Magazine in 1993 and 1994.
Other than his extensive knowledge of the Five Elements, Ba Zi, Date Selection, Palmistry, Tong Shu, Yin and Yang Feng Shui, Ba Qua, I-Ching and etc., he has carried out studies which involved the analysis of tombs and mausoleums in China of the Song, Tang, Ming and Qing Dynasties among many others. He has also visited areas of Feng Shui importance in China and Hong Kong to carry out further research on the historic significance of Feng Shui and to find out the reasons behind the fall of various dynasties in China.
Other than being the only remaining disciple in the fourth generation of the Tan’s School of San Yuan Feng Shui, he is also the only person who holds the original texts written by Grandmaster T’an Yang Wu. Master Francis Leyau however did reprint the books in Taiwan a few years ago. He has also undertaken Feng Shui analysis for numerous clients, both ordinary and well-known people within and outside Malaysia.
Apart from that, he is the sole person in Malaysia to design various Feng Shui compasses. The compasses (Luo Pan) are designed to establish a more complete study on the subject and are made available to his students, Feng Shui practitioners and even masters.
At present, he is the Master Trainer, Author and Consultant of the Central Academy of Feng Shui (CAFS). He still conducts courses at different competency levels and gives seminars on various subjects.