백두대간

The Baedudaegan (백두대간-白頭大幹) can be translated literally as the "White Head Great Ridge". I guess the term "Baedu" or "White Head" has something to do with its snow-capped peaks. It is termed great ridge because it stretches over 670km from the northern end to the southern end of the Korean Peninsula. The ridge lines of Baedudaegan are shown in the map to the left.

Baedudaegan's start point originates at Mt. Baedu (백두산-白頭山) in the North and its end point terminates at Mt. Jiri (지리산-智異山) in the South. It includes most of the Korea's highest peaks and is the main source of water for rivers that feed the fertile lands at its base. The flow of water is synonymous with the flow of "qi" or energy and when there is flow of energy, the land gets its life force. Baedudaegan has an important role to play in the Korean agriculture and for this, it is revered and many of its mountains are made sacred by worshippers.

What I find interesting about Baedudaegan is that it is described as the "spine" of the tiger. In order to illustrate this, I have arranged three pictures side-to-side below. The first picture is a map of the Korean peninsula. The second picture is a picture of a crouching tiger. Without the picture, you may need a lot of imagination to picture a crouching tiger inside a map of the Korean peninsula. I am quite amazed by how somebody can actually make that connection which is Korean peninsula is shaped like a crouching tiger. For the third picture, I have superimposed the Baedudaegan's ridge lines on the tiger. Are you able to see that Baedudaegan is like the spine of the tiger?


From the fengshui perspective, Baedudaegan, being the backbone of the Korean Peninsula, needs to be properly preserved and managed to ensure its well-being. Only with that will the Korean Peninsula continues to receive its steady stream of life energy and vitality.

Now that I see a tiger in the Korean Peninsula, I am also seeing a tiger with a deep gash of wound at its stomach area. Sorry for being a bit political here but Korea to me is like a wounded tiger. There is so much that a wounded tiger can achieve. It cannot leap and jump until its wound is healed. China was once described as the sleeping lion and when the lion is awaken the world will hear its roar. We are indeed hearing its roar getting louder day by day. Hopefully, the tiger will heal its wound and the world will also hear its roar.