Feng Shui means "wind and water" and deals with
understanding the forces and powers that are continually around
us with the hope of harnessing these forces and receiving good
fortune.Many of the fundamental texts associated with Feng Shui
have been around for over 4000 years. This ancient art was confined
to the ruling class until during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907)
when Master Yang Yun-Sang wrote several books that allowed the
general public to have access to the secrets of Feng Shui. 8
The art of Feng Shui became classified as a pseudo-science
around the twelfth century as people started looking more closely
into the location of their houses, temples, graves, etc. to ensure
their prosperity.
Feng Shui was used to ensure auspicious grave sites. The location
of one's final resting place is extremely important to the Chinese.
Feng Shui is said to be first applied to grave sites by Kuo P'o
(d. CE 324), and to house building by Wang Ch'i (11th century).
Divination to determine favorable building locations goes back
to the beginning of the Chou Dynasty (c. 1000 BC). In general,
Feng Shui has been fundamental in China since the Sung Dynasty.
9 Each year the government
of China would release the Imperial almanac giving all the lists,
figures, diagrams, etc. needed in Feng Shui. Feng Shui continues
to be used by people of all levels of society in urban and rural
communities of China.
The first mention of Feng Shui was in the Lun Heng by
Wang Ch'ung a first century CE skeptic philosopher. He characterized
Feng Shui as a 'superstitious belief in aerial currents and subterranean
water-courses which bring good or bad fortune. 10
The Form School of Feng Shui is the original school of Master
Yang's principles.Master Yang focused heavily on the shape of
the hills, mountains, direction of water flow, but primarily
on finding the lair of the dragon, China's most revered celestial
creature. 11 Everything that
happened in China was explained by the dragon and its moods.
So it was extremely important for the Chinese to determine how
to influence the dragon. The books that Master Yang wrote were
all based on the dragon. So the Form School rationalized good
and bad land sites in terms of dragon symbolism in hopes that
their nation would become powerful through the dragon. Thus Feng
Shui was born as the Chinese attempted to discover the dragon
and concurrently learned about their surrounding environment.
Eventually a second school of Feng Shui emerged and viewed
Feng Shui in a different light. This second school, the Compass
School, stresses the Pa Kua with its triagrams and hexagrams
that help calculate imbalances, and the Lo Shu Grid, which helps
describe when to do such actions. There are now several different
branches of the Compass School. Some branches focus on numerology
while others focus on time dimension. Certain branches of the
Compass School also emphasize the influence of the planets on
the quality of good landscape locations. 12
When the first railway was built in China, the designers did
not consult Feng Shui practitioners. The railway ran from Shanghai
to Wu-sung. Despite being only nine miles long, the railway was
purchased and destroyed by the Chinese "on the plea that
the speed of the train destroyed the Feng Shui of the thousands
of people on both sides of the line." 13
In 1949 General Chiang Kai-shek fled China for Taiwan and
his group took with them many valuable old Feng Shui texts. Thus
Feng Shui was introduced in Taiwan and spread to more countries.
Now Feng Shui is taken for granted in both China and Taiwan.
Feng Shui has not been utilized in most buildings in the West,
but Feng Shui knowledge is slowly crossing the waters to the
West. 14 Many prosperous
businesses utilize Feng Shui including Shell, Citibank, Trump
Towers in New York, MGM Grand Hotel and Mirage Resorts in Las
Vegas and Borders Bookstores. 15
The purpose of Feng Shui is to harness the natural forces
around one so as to achieve optimum balance and harmony in the
location and placement of one's living environment. In practice,
Feng Shui seeks to find suitable locations to live, away from
harmful energies so the inhabitants would thrive with happy abundant
lives. 16
The ancient Chinese Masters achieved harmony by observing
land forms, energy lines and sought the balance of Yin and Yang.
They also tried to ensure that the flow of beneficial Chi was
harnessed while the harmful Chi was deflected. Feng Shui is important
not only during life, but in one's burial because harmful chi
can still effect you once you are dead. 17
Chi is believed to be the most important influence on our
lives. Chi means "life's breath" or "energy"
and is the unifying energy that links everything together. It
has been likened symbolically to the cosmic breath of a dragon.
18
The concept of Chi originated in the Chinese Zhou dynasty
and it literally means "gas." 19 Chi is the force that creates mountains, the
brushstroke of a calligrapher, the movement of a dancer and is
everywhere. Chi is also with us from birth to death and without
it, we cannot live. Each person has a different chi and it can
influence the destiny of one's life. Chi can be enhanced through
meditation, positive human relationships and a healthy environment.
Chi constantly changes and no one can escape its powers. Feng
Shui helps teach you how to manipulate the chi in your life.
20
There are three main forces of Chi that sustain all of life:
Cosmic Chi, Human Chi and Earth Chi .
Cosmic Chi is the force of nature. It comes down on
us from the planets, sun, moons, etc. This energy is similar
to the way the earth is pulled by the sunand the way the tides
are effected by the moon. Even stars and planets far away project
cosmic chi. The existence of Cosmic Chi helps explain why the
weathereffects personal moods and feelings. Cosmic Chi is considered
the source of abundant wealth, fortune, peace, honor, and good
health. Businesses with plentiful chi will prosper and continue
to grow.
Human Chi is inside each person. Each person has his
or her own unique chi that flows in its own path. It effects
your personality, interactions with others, general mood and
much more. Feng Shui practitioners try to help adjust your environmental
chi to best suit you. Human Chi can be likened to the western
concept of bioenergies.
Earth Chi is the way the earth effects you. The forces
of mountains, streams, valleys, plains, etc all impact and influence
you. In the way mountains protect us from harsh elements and
also provide psychological support. We tend to feel more stable
and grounded when we have mountains around. Those who live in
the mountains tend to be more stubborn, loyal and honest. Like
a mountain, those people are more steadfast in their values.
21
Other earthly forms effect us in their own ways. Our chi is
also changed by the earth's magnetic field and its pull.
Chi can be broken into five elements or phases: metal ,
wood , water , fire and earth . These
elements characterize all matter around us. All five elements
of Chi are associated with colors , moods , seasons
, body organs , times , etc. For example, water
is associated with black. The deeper the water, the blacker it
is. 22 Also, metal is white,
sometimes gold and it symbolizes the west and represents fall.
The five elements of chi are combined in different amounts
and cause good and bad luck to a person. Sometimes the elements
work to cancel one another out and sometimes they enhance one
another. 23 Feng Shui masters
analyze the symbolic elements and categorize everyone under a
Chinese system, which looks at the date and hour of one's birth.
One's chi is greatly effected by the year they are born. If
a person was born in a fire year, they should not have too much
water in the home because water destroys fire. The five elements
are constantly interacting with one another in productive and
destructive cycles, 24 effecting
the balance of negative and positive chi in our lives.
The concept of yin and yang is a concept if balance as well.
Yin and Yang are two opposite forces that govern the universe.
Together they make up all aspects of life around us. Yin is dark,
yang is light; yin is feminine, yang is masculine. They need
each other, can never be separated and together create harmony.
25 If yin and yang are not
balanced in your life, then the imbalance canbe harmful to the
body. Feng Shui aims at striking a balance between the forces
of yin and yang.
Another premise associated with Feng Shui is the premise of
the Eight Triagrams, or "Pa Kua." The Pa Kua comes
from the I Ching and is used by the Compass School approach
to Feng Shui. It is used to interpret good and bad Feng Shui
according to the placement of the symbolic hexagrams and triagrams
in a compass shape. 26 For
each compass directional, there are corresponding attributes,
symbols, colors, etc. One would throw wooden blocks, yarrow stalks,
and later coins. Based on where these objects landed one could
interpret divine omens and gain wisdom. 27
Chinese history books describe how around 2005 BC, a turtle
emerged from the River Lo with ninenumbers arranged in a grid
upon his back. The numbers were arranged in such a way that when
they were added vertically, horizontally or diagonally, they
always added up to fifteen. Fifteen is the number of days it
takes for a new moon to become a full moon. 28
The grid pattern corresponded with the Eight Triagrams of
the Pa Kua around a ninth critical point. This group of numbers
became known as the Lo Shu square or grid. The Lo Shu square
is another important foundation in the Compass School of Feng
Shui because of its relation to the Pa Kua. The Lo Shu grid is
said to unlock the meanings of the Pa Kua with its added numerology.
Each day, month and year has its own Lo Shu number and Masters
within the Compass School look to the Lo Shu grid to decipher
good and bad days for activities.
Examples of Applied Feng Shui:
A large part of understanding Feng Shui is understanding how
your surroundings effect you. Practitioners have explained these
effects of Feng Shui in our daily lives so people will be able
to make the chi around them flow as smoothly as possible. Illustrations
of Feng Shui help to show its practicality.
- The foot of your bed should not face the door. The Chi's
flow will disrupt your sleep. 29
- Living next to a place of worship,
school, hospital, or fire station can cause health risks. 30
- Pools with rounded corners
are believed to create beneficial chi for the residents of the
house. 31
- The ideal situation for a business
is to be located on a street corner with the entrance on a diagonal,drawing
in chi, customers, and money from two directions. 32
- Windows should not slide up and down because they only let
in half as much chi as their size and occupantstend to give people
a false impression. 33
- The closer the bedroom is to the front door, the less peace
residents will feel. 34
- Dining Chairs should be even in number because even numbers
represent luck and single chairs represent loneliness. 35
- Colored ribbons and wind chimes
near artificial ventilation devices will flutter and make music
and enliven chi. 36
But is Feng Shui a Religion?
It is hard to classify Feng Shui. Some might classify Feng
Shui as a religion, while others note that no worshipping happens
within it. There are no elixirs or potions to solve one's problems
and it is not magic either. Rather Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese
art of placement aimed at understanding and harnessing the energies
for one's prosperity. Feng Shui has characteristics of religious
groups interwoven into it, especially Taoism.
Taoism is based on the Tao Teh Ching and is concerned
with being one with naturethrough intuitive knowledge and harmony.
This knowledge can be attained through meditation on the Tao.
The Tao is incomprehensible, and indescribable with words, through
balance one can understand it. 37
Taoism focuses heavily on balance and harmony seen through
the yin and yang which constitute the Tao, or "the Way."
38 In fact, all Chinese beliefs,
traditions and lifestyles are based upon the principle of opposites
seen in the yin and yang. 39
One aspires to not go to extremes, but find harmonious balance
with nature. Along with Feng Shui, Taoism recognizes the idea
of chi and how everything is interrelated through it. Another
concept within Feng Shui that is shared with Taoism is the Lo
Shu square. This square is the basis of Taoist magical practices
and rituals. 40
On top of Feng Shui and Taoism exhibiting many similarities,
in general, the religions of the far east share many similar
premises. The religions of the far east are different than the
typically monotheistic religions of the west. Religions in the
east tend to be more holistic by looking at how everything around
a person effects their life. These religions tend to be tied
to nature and the serenity that it brings. On the contrary, religions
in the west are typically monotheistic and more structured. These
religions are based on a collective experience that is less related
to nature and balance than religions in the east.
Considering that religions of the east are considerably different
than religions of the west, it becomes increasingly difficult
to classify Feng Shui using western ideas, but one classification
available for Feng Shui would be as a quasi-religion. Arthur
Greil discusses quasi-religions and includes in the category
groups that "are deliberately ambiguous with regard to the
issue of whether they are sacred or secular in nature."
41 Feng Shui is often categorized
in book stores in the 'home improvement' category, but Feng Shui
is a lot more than merely a type of home improvement plan. Quasi-religions
emphasize their secular or spiritual sides, depending which is
needed in any given situation. This is done within Feng Shui.
One can look at itand see the religious ideas of the energy flows
and their effect on all aspects of life. But Feng Shui can also
be seen purely as a way to evaluate one's environment without
looking at the religious aspect of it. Therefore we could classify
Feng Shui as a quasi-religion.
Another potential classification of Feng Shui is as a client
cult. A client cult tends to provide specific tangible compensators
for life's problems. 42 Some
examples of rewards that Feng Shui offers would be: harmony with
the people around you, a job, improved health, and more motivation.
In general, client cults solve people's problems and provide
solutions for a fee. The prevalence of Feng Shui "Masters"
might suggest that either Feng Shui is easy to master or many
people are conning people with their supposed expertise. There
are thousands of people who claim to be Feng Shui "Masters"
but true masters are rare. There are perhaps a half-dozen practitioners
in the world who can claim mastery of the subject and none have
much contact with the general public. 43
One could argue that a master is a person who has studied
under a master for several years and studied ancient Chinese
philosophy and religion. True Masters are concerned primarily
with new temple construction, consultation with builders and
architectural firms, and city planning. 44 There is no real way to decipher whether these
"Masters" truly are masters or creating a client cult
for their own personal gain.
Using the terms "quasi-religion" and "client
cult" to classify Feng Shui is purely to understand Feng
Shui better. These conceptualizations in no way are right or
wrong, but rather they are more or less useful to someone not
familiar with the practices associated with Feng Shui. Unfortunately,
there are no scholarly books about Feng Shui in English so we
are forced to relyupon the advice and teachings of the numerous
"Masters." 45 Regardless
of where the information comes from, there is something about
Feng Shui that draws people and seems to provide the answers
people are looking for. 46
Feng Shui is spreading to the west rapidly. As more Asians
move to the west, their traditions move along with them. Along
with sushi, martial arts, and organic remedies, Feng Shui has
crept into western society. One can go into a bookstore and find
a dozen books on Feng Shui, not to mention the thousands of websites
dedicated to Feng Shui. Eastern ideas have penetrated western
society in the same way that western society has penetrated eastern
cultures. This is evident by McDonald's in Japan and skyscrapers
in Hong Kong. This cultural exchange will continue to help people
all over the world understand each other and understand each
other's beliefs. Feng Shui could lose its cultural identity and
becomea worldwide traditon. 47
