Clarissa Tan

Why do Brits seek Eastern spirituality when they have so much of their own?

If you doubt that a building can affect your spirit, try going to church

I used to hang around a group of friends who worked for a British events company. Their boss was a keen follower of Buddhism and all things Oriental and, since the course of business never does run smooth, regularly consulted a feng shui practitioner. The practitioner, who wanted to be called Jampa, gave advice on everything from the setting up of a branch office to the placement of a goldfish bowl. He charged £500 a visit, with the viewing of two floors in an office counting as two visits.

Jampa’s real name was something like Trevor Stevens, and in the days before he started donning the saffron robes of an eastern monk he was more often spotted in the crimson cloth of a Liverpool FC supporter. But a stint in southern India brought about his spiritual transformation, and he turned from steak-lover to meat-loather, tippler to teetotaller.

Thanks to Jampa’s guidance, my friends often found their office desks in peculiar locations like a stairwell or — once — a large cupboard. Their boss had to come and go via the fire escape because that was the most propitious entryway. Jampa was particularly concerned about how best to avoid ‘poison arrows’, by which he meant books, which in certain schools of Chinese thought are potent objects that, if placed wrongly, project energetic darts that destroy your chi (never put your bed in front of a shelf of Penguins).

Such was the boss’s faith in Jampa that the geomancer was dispatched — in club class — to branch offices all over the world, including Asia. Thus this feng shui wallah of west London visited places such as Singapore, administering back to the natives their own ancient teachings. So East isn’t just East and West isn’t always West, and ever the twain shall meet, and the Tao circle be squared.

What is it about Westerners’ love of eastern philosophies (and, for that matter, Easterners’ love of Westerners’ love of eastern philosophies)? I am constantly puzzled by certain Westerners who regard it as a bit of an embarrassment if one were to attend church every Sunday but who, on visiting a temple in the Far East, can’t wait to cast off their footwear, clutch the joss sticks and roll the Heavenly dice of Fortune, or whatever.

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