Hi everyone,
Firstly, my apologies that this is actually kind of counted as one of those “marketing emails” you tend to get from retailers or service providers because this is more of an administrative email for business purposes. I have a database of emails which I’m sure you guys know because you won’t be receiving my blog updates regularly.
I will be separating such emails moving forward, so for those who wish to receive updates on lessons/courses I’ll be conducting in future, please sign up for a separating mailing list below.
If you are not interested in taking lessons, feel free to just close the window and not waste your time reading this post.
For those who are interested, I wish to get the logistics out of the way first.
The Lessons I’ll Be Providing
The details and structure of the lessons are still work-in-progress as you are reading this post. The curriculum is easy to plan and I’m more encumbered by choosing the venue and determining the structure of the lessons, meaning how many days it should be and the duration of the lessons. The proposed structure of the classes is below and there shouldn’t be any changes. The only thing I foresee myself adjusting would be the duration of the class although I think 5 hours is really enough on a given day.
I will be launching lessons for BaZi (八字) and Qi Men Dun Jia (奇门遁甲) first as they are less complicated and are more closely linked with each other, so learning one technique will benefit learning the other if you ever wish to learn both techniques. There are currently two lessons I’m going to launch, one being BaZi and the other, Qi Men Dun Jia. Below are the proposed structures of the courses:
BaZi (八字) Bootcamp – 1st Intake
- Module: BaZi Bootcamp 1st Intake
- Date: 13th August’22 to 3rd September’22. Every Saturday. 4 lessons.
- Time: 1pm to 6pm. 30 to 45 min break in between.
- Cost: SGD$3,000 per person. Cash payment.
- Venue: To be confirmed. Likely in Orchard or CBD depending on the take-up rate.
- Curriculum: Please refer to this page for the latest curriculum: Learn Chinese Metaphysics
- Language: English with a mix of Chinese if required.
Qi Men Dun Jia (奇门遁甲) Bootcamp – 1st Intake
Module: Qi Men Dun Jia Bootcamp 1st Intake
Date: 24th September’22 to 15th October’22. Every Saturday. 4 lessons.
Time: 1pm to 6pm. 30 to 45 min break in between.
Cost: SGD$3,000 per person. Cash payment.
Venue: To be confirmed. Likely in Orchard or CBD depending on the take-up rate.
Curriculum: Please refer to this page for the latest curriculum: https://www.masterseanchan.com/chinese-metaphysics-courses/
Language: English with a mix of Chinese if required.
The sign-up form can be found here: Chinese Metaphysics Lessons Sign-Up Form (BaZi & Qi Men Dun Jia)
Similar to how I conduct my consultations, participants will be screened first to ensure we have a healthy group of students and a conducive environment. If you’ve been a follower of my blog for a while, you should know why I have no choice but to do this, so I won’t spend time explaining myself here.
I hope I don’t have to go into why the pricing of the lessons is as such. Giving lessons is not something that I have to do as the core of my business is giving consultations. The extra time and effort to conduct lessons have to make some form of economic sense to me. As always, it’s also benchmarked with what’s available out there and there will always be a practitioner out there charging even more but with a less comprehensive curriculum, or if I may be blunt, teaching absolute garbage. You might as well just Google for online materials.
Giving in-person lessons is a ‘project’ that I’m giving a go at now that the pandemic situation is finally easing. I don’t know how things will turn out. I have no idea if there is a demand out there although there probably is given what I’m seeing during Chinese New Year and what other service providers are doing. It’s something that I’m more than happy to scrap anytime and go back to my usual way of doing things should any unintended consequences arise which I’ll explain below.
The Reason Why I’ve Been Holding Off Giving Lessons
The main reason for holding off giving lessons is always unintended consequences. I’ll keep my explanations simple.
I think everyone knows that I have a lot to say about the industry, what’s wrong with it, and some of the malpractices that certain practitioners engage in. New practitioners are propping up every year which may or may not be a good thing.
The reason why I never wanted to give lessons is that I don’t want to be responsible for churning out yet another unethical practitioner because that’s how some of them first got started. They took lessons from somewhere and someone and one day decided they’ll become a practitioner too because it is good business. My website is very plain and it’s mostly text and it already gets 13,000 visits a month, so you can imagine how many people are out there who are ready to buy a lucky charm or Pixiu bracelet thinking it’ll change their lives. Chinese metaphysics is a field where people turn to when things are not going well and not in the best state of mind and it’s extremely easy to manipulate people in such a state.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to learn something and then using what you learned to make a living because that’s how the world works and that’s how knowledge is passed down, but my field is one where things are often more complicated because I’ve said time and again that it is unregulated. There is no way for the layman to know who is doing the right thing and who isn’t. I’ve had clients who came to me for a reading and even a c-section date selection, and 6 months later they came out to declare themselves a practitioner who clocked thousands or readings, but the main focus of the business is to sell you a lucky charm to make up for what your BaZi lacks because, well, they are a lot of suckers out there that give good business.
The early parts of my career as a practitioner were filled with incensed blog posts about the wrong in this industry and I’ve already said all that I wanted to say. The industry isn’t actually getting any better frankly. I don’t wish to make it worse. I guess one consolation is that I’ve never met an item selling practitioner who is actually good at deciphering charts because we all know where their time is spent – marketing the items instead of gathering more experience.
It is basically this fear of churning out the next unethical practitioner that has kept me from giving lessons for the longest time. Perhaps I’m thinking too much, perhaps I’m not. But for me to not launch lessons for such a long time goes to show just how much this bothers me, even when giving lessons is, well, the most monetarily rewarding channel.
As such, expect a lot of T&Cs for the courses.
Why I Decided To Give Teaching A Try
There are a few reasons.
Firstly, I decided to give teaching lessons a try because, well, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to try just to see how things will turn out. It is really more for the business side of things. I made it very clear in all my blog posts that giving lessons is actually just a cash grab and providing supply to a demand in the market. I will not try to be pretentious and say that it is to spread the wisdom of Chinese metaphysics and philosophy because I already have my blog and there are books out there for everyone to read.
Everyone should know me as a very forthcoming person – I always was and I still am because I respect everyone and myself to feel that I don’t need to hide my intentions or be pretentious about things. Teaching lessons is a cash grab and it always will be. There is nothing noble in wanting to conduct lessons and I won’t pretend it is.
Secondly, refraining from giving lessons is not going to change the fact that there will be incumbent and new practitioners out there doing the wrong thing and teaching the wrong thing. I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal but it does make me wonder if things would have been better if the lessons were done with me instead, so at least people can apply it correctly and not end up harming themselves, or worse, someone else should they ever decide to do a casual reading for someone else. Or perhaps taking a lesson with me will make people realize BaZi and Qi Men Dun Jia is way more complicated than what the internet or celebrity practitioners are portraying, and it’ll make people realize it’s not for them.
Last but not least, I’ve been wanting to slow down a bit for quite some time now as I’m constantly overwhelmed by consultation requests. Teaching classes is, honestly, less emotionally draining and it frees up a bit of my time to do other things. Perhaps I can finally take the TCM degree I’ve always wanted to.
I’ve spoken to a lot of friends and clients, and I’ve even used QMDJ and went to the temples too, well, to get some guidance. I will give it a shot, so let’s see.
I’ll be honest, part of me is still very uncomfortable, but I guess I’ll still try and give it a go and see where it leads. The good thing about this is if the unintended consequences really start plaguing me, I can stop the lessons anytime I want.
Important Things To Take Note Of + Terms & Conditions
There are a few things I really need everyone to be cognizant of and please take this seriously as I am willing to go as far as taking legal action if the T&Cs aren’t followed:
- Please remember these lessons are not to turn you into a practitioner. If you were meant or fated to become a practitioner, I truly believe you can self-study this because I did. A genuine interest should lead you to the right sources, people, and books. You don’t need to take lessons from me to become a practitioner. And frankly, a practitioner’s chart is hard to come by. These lessons are for your own enrichment in hopes that you can use it in your own life, or to scratch that itch you’ve always been wanting to. Please do not be too eager to turn this into a business or to do readings for others – you really have no idea what you’re getting yourself into and the harm you might cause.
- Taking lessons from me is not an endorsement from me. I cannot control whether someone wants to go out there and declare themselves a practitioner even though they are not qualified, but attending my lessons does not mean it’s an endorsement from me or gives anyone the right to say that they studied with me as a form of marketing. I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal here and come across as the practitioner to learn from. It’s just a preference.
- There will be no certificates given at the end of the course. I don’t understand why some people are obsessed with this. It’s like the company you’re working for is going to bump up your pay just because I printed a certificate for you designed by a freelancer I found on the internet and with my ugly signature on it. If you really want a certificate, then be prepared to sit for an exam designed by me, which you’ll likely fail. If you’re obsessed with certs, go get one from a recognized institution that will help with your workplace.
Some Final Words
I guess whatever it is, if the lessons do take off at some point, I hope everyone has a good time and learns something. My aspiration is that people walk away with a newfound respect for Chinese metaphysics and what our ancestors passed down, not to go spin-off another business selling Chinese metaphysics as a shortcut. To those who have such thoughts, please allow me to remind you that at the end of the day, you’re answering to Heavens – not me. Because at the end of the day, how successful you will be is also already decided by the Heavens.
If you think success is found by selling false hope to people using Chinese metaphysics, then I wish you knew what I knew about other practitioners and how they end up. It does not look pretty.
Honestly, for goodness sake, if you wish to sell bracelets and stuff, just let me know. I have friends who are diamond traders and one even owns jade mines in Myanmar. Go do a proper jewellery business instead of selling lucky charms or Pixiu bracelets claiming it’ll raise someone’s IQ or imbue wisdom. You’ll earn much, much more doing a proper jewellery business.
Anyway, to those interested in the classes, I guess I’ll see you in the classroom!
Let’s just see how it goes.
– Sean
