Feng shui pinyin: fēng shuǐ, pronounced [fɤ́ŋ ʂwèi] (
listen)) is a Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing everyone with the surrounding environment. The term feng shui literally translates as "wind-water" in English. This is a cultural shorthand taken from the passage of the now-lost Classic of Burial recorded in Guo Pu's commentary:[1] Feng shui is one of the Five Arts of Chinese Metaphysics, classified as physiognomy
(observation of appearances through formulas and calculations). The
feng shui practice discusses architecture in metaphoric terms of
"invisible forces" that bind the universe, earth, and humanity together,
known as qi.Historically, feng shui was widely used to orient buildings—often spiritually significant structures such as tombs, but also dwellings and other structures—in an auspicious manner. Depending on the particular style of feng shui being used, an auspicious site could be determined by reference to local features such as bodies of water, stars, or a compass.
Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water.[1]Feng shui was suppressed in mainland China during the cultural revolution in the 1960s, but since then has increased in popularity.
Modern reactions to feng shui are mixed. The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience states that some principles of feng shui are "quite rational", while noting that "folk remedies and superstitions... [have been] incorporated into feng shui's eclectic mix".[2]
FENG SHUI
History
Origins
As of 2013 the Yangshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest known evidence for the use of feng shui. Until the invention of the magnetic compass, feng shui apparently relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe.[3] In 4000 BC, the doors of Banpo dwellings aligned with the asterism Yingshi just after the winter solstice—this sited the homes for solar gain.[4] During the Zhou era, Yingshi was known as Ding and used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the Shijing. The late Yangshao site at Dadiwan (c. 3500-3000 BC) includes a palace-like building (F901) at the center. The building faces south and borders a large plaza. It stands on a north-south axis with another building that apparently housed communal activities. Regional communities may have used the complex.[5]A grave at Puyang (around 4000 BC) that contains mosaics— actually a Chinese star map of the Dragon and Tiger asterisms and Beidou (the Big Dipper, Ladle or Bushel)— is oriented along a north-south axis.[6] The presence of both round and square shapes in the Puyang tomb, at Hongshan ceremonial centers and at the late Longshan settlement at Lutaigang,[7] suggests that gaitian cosmography (heaven-round, earth-square) existed in Chinese society long before it appeared in the Zhou Bi Suan Jing.[8]
Cosmography that bears a striking resemblance to modern feng shui devices and formulas appears on a piece of jade unearthed at Hanshan and dated around 3000 BC. Archaeologist Li Xueqin links the design to the liuren astrolabe, zhinan zhen, and luopan.[9]
Beginning with palatial structures at Erlitou,[10] all capital cities of China followed rules of feng shui for their design and layout. During the Zhou era, the Kaogong ji (simplified Chinese: 考工记; traditional Chinese: 考工記; "Manual of Crafts") codified these rules. The carpenter's manual Lu ban jing (simplified Chinese: 鲁班经; traditional Chinese: 魯班經; "Lu ban's manuscript") codified rules for builders. Graves and tombs also followed rules of feng shui, from Puyang to Mawangdui and beyond. From the earliest records, the structures of the graves and dwellings seem to have followed the same rules.
Early instruments and techniques
The astronomical history of feng shui is evident in the development of instruments and techniques. According to the Zhouli, the original feng shui instrument may have been a gnomon. Chinese used circumpolar stars to determine the north-south axis of settlements. This technique explains why Shang palaces at Xiaotun lie 10° east of due north. In some cases, as Paul Wheatley observed,[15] they bisected the angle between the directions of the rising and setting sun to find north. This technique provided the more precise alignments of the Shang walls at Yanshi and Zhengzhou. Rituals for using a feng shui instrument required a diviner to examine current sky phenomena to set the device and adjust their position in relation to the device.[16]
The oldest examples of instruments used for feng shui are liuren astrolabes, also known as shi. These consist of a lacquered, two-sided board with astronomical sightlines. The earliest examples of liuren astrolabes have been unearthed from tombs that date between 278 BC and 209 BC. Along with divination for Da Liu Ren[17] the boards were commonly used to chart the motion of Taiyi through the nine palaces.[18] The markings on a liuren/shi and the first magnetic compasses are virtually identical.[19]
The magnetic compass was invented for feng shui[20] and has been in use since its invention. Traditional feng shui instrumentation consists of the Luopan or the earlier south-pointing spoon (指南針 zhinan zhen)—though a conventional compass could suffice if one understood the differences. A feng shui ruler (a later invention) may also be employed.
Foundation theories
The goal of feng shui as practiced today is to situate the human-built environment on spots with good qi. The "perfect spot" is a location and an axis in time.[21][22]Qi (ch'i)
A traditional turtle-back tomb of southern Fujian, surrounded by an omega-shaped ridge protecting it from the "noxious winds" from the three sides[23]
The Book of Burial says that burial takes advantage of "vital qi". Wu Yuanyin[25] (Qing dynasty) said that vital qi was "congealed qi", which is the state of qi that engenders life. The goal of feng shui is to take advantage of vital qi by appropriate siting of graves and structures.[22] Some people destroyed graveyards of their enemies to weaken their qi.[26][27][28][29][30]
One use for a loupan is to detect the flow of qi.[31][citation needed] Magnetic compasses reflect local geomagnetism which includes geomagnetically induced currents caused by space weather.[32] Professor Max Knoll suggested in a 1951 lecture that qi is a form of solar radiation.[33] As space weather changes over time,[34] and the quality of qi rises and falls over time,[22] feng shui with a compass might be considered a form of divination that assesses the quality of the local environment—including the effects of space weather. Often people with good karma live in land with good qi.[35][36][37][38]
Polarity
Polarity is expressed in feng shui as yin and yang theory. Polarity expressed through yin and yang is similar to a magnetic dipole. That is, it is of two parts: one creating an exertion and one receiving the exertion. Yang acting and yin receiving could be considered an early understanding of chirality.[clarification needed] The development of this theory and its corollary, five phase theory (five element theory), have also been linked with astronomical observations of sunspots.[39]The Five Elements or Forces (wu xing) – which, according to the Chinese, are metal, earth, fire, water, and wood – are first mentioned in Chinese literature in a chapter of the classic Book of History. They play a very important part in Chinese thought: ‘elements’ meaning generally not so much the actual substances as the forces essential to human life.[40] Earth is a buffer, or an equilibrium achieved when the polarities cancel each other.[citation needed] While the goal of Chinese medicine is to balance yin and yang in the body, the goal of feng shui has been described as aligning a city, site, building, or object with yin-yang force fields.[41]
Bagua (eight trigrams)
Two diagrams known as bagua (or pa kua) loom large in feng shui, and both predate their mentions in the Yijing (or I Ching).[citation needed] The Lo (River) Chart (Luoshu) was developed first,[42] and is sometimes associated with Later Heaven arrangement of the bagua. The Luoshu and the River Chart (Hetu, sometimes associated with the Earlier Heaven bagua) are linked to astronomical events of the sixth millennium BC, and with the Turtle Calendar from the time of Yao.[43] The Turtle Calendar of Yao (found in the Yaodian section of the Shangshu or Book of Documents) dates to 2300 BC, plus or minus 250 years.[44]In Yaodian, the cardinal directions are determined by the marker-stars of the mega-constellations known as the Four Celestial Animals:[44]
- East
- The Azure Dragon (Spring equinox)—Niao (Bird 鳥), α Scorpionis
- South
- The Vermilion Bird (Summer solstice)—Huo (Fire 火), α Hydrae
- West
- The White Tiger (Autumn equinox)—Mǎo (Hair 毛), η Tauri (the Pleiades)
- North
- The Black Tortoise (Winter solstice)—Xū (Emptiness, Void 虛), α Aquarii, β Aquarii
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