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There are different theories as to why the East Four Houses are located at Zhen (east), Li (south), Xun (SE) and Kan (north), while the West Four Houses are located at Qian (NW), Dui (west), Kun (SW) and Gen (NE). Here is one theory based on using the Early Heaven Bagua with the Later Heaven Luoshu Numbers by applying the Yijing principle, “Early Heaven is the Ti (Principle) and Later Heaven is the Yong (Function)”.
If we look at th diagram below, we can see the Hetu pairing of 4,9 Metal generates 1,6 Water and 3,8 Wood generates 2,7 Fire, thus giving the two groups of Zhen, Li, Xun and Kan, with Qian, Dui, Kun and Gen, making them the East Four and West Four grouping respectively, and forming the two arms of a cross.
The justification for this explanation is the Yang facings need Yin water and the Yin facings need Yang water to make the intercourse of Yin and Yang complete. The Yang in this case refers to the odd numbers with their related Gua, namely 9 (Qian), 1 (Kun), 7 (Kan) and 3 (Li), while the Yin refers to the even numbers with their related Gua, namely 6 (Gen), 4 (Dui), 8 (Zhen) and 2 (Xun). As shown in the diagram, each Yang number faces a Yin number and vice versa, so for this reason, it is not desirable to mix neither the “East” with the “West” nor the “West” with the “East”.
The Oxford dictionary defines superstition as “any blindly accepted belief or notion”. So people who think Feng Shui is superstitious would think that Feng Shui is a belief or a notion entertained regardless of any reason or logic.
Is this the case? Is it true that Feng Shui is just a belief? Is its analysis without reason or a theoretical framework?
Feng Shui is not superstitious…
Feng Shui is not just a belief. We do not need to have faith for Feng Shui to work. If we live in an environment with bad Feng Shui, sooner or later it will affect us somehow. We may not be aware that it is Feng Shui at work: we may just feel uncomfortable, or unsettled for some reason but can’t put words to it. Feng Shui has a paradigm and a terminology to describe this unbalanced state of being. The theoretical framework for Feng Shui is based on Chinese metaphysics whose origin comes from the observations of nature and the interaction of the yin and yang forces in our environment. There is a great deal of know-how that has been collected through the 2000 – 3000 years of evolution of Feng Shui practice.
On the other hand…
To say that Feng Shui is completely devoid of superstition is not true either. There are many examples of gross misinterpretations of the metaphysics, the classic example being an old Feng Shui method called “Wu-Yin-Xing-Li” – interpreting the auspiciousness of a dwelling according to the five sounds of an owner’s surname. This method was severely criticized by Han Dynasty scholar Wang-Chong (born 27AD) and subsequently dropped out of Feng Shui practice.
Because Feng Shui involves a multi-disciplinary approach to its practice, we should not look at it only from a Western scientific point of view. Feng shui is also an art. A large portion of Feng Shui analysis requires a personal and subjective interpretation of the given data. One needs to balance out the subjectivity with the objectivity of a given situation. To the Chinese, the brain is tied to the heart (Xin-Yi), so science and art can exist and should exist as one discipline, instead of two separate entities.
Ultimately, Feng Shui looks at the interaction of the environment with its user. Since the user is a human being and by nature we are a part rational and part irrational being, so Feng Shui has to be part scientific (rational) and part intuitive (irrational/superstitious) as well.
We have an irrational fear of superstition…
If we can accept the notion that everything in nature is composed of the yin and yang complimentary opposites, why can we not accept the fact that behind the rational thoughts are the intuitions and the irrational feelings that seem superstitious? Why can’t science and faith exist side by side? Western science does not have all the answers. Chinese science may be able to provide some of the missing answers. The sceptics are good at attacking irrationality and superstition but they don’t realise that in their zest for Western science and rationality, they are being irrational as well. They give more power to the devil than it deserves.
Feng Shui is unique…
In that it tries to work with the opposing forces of nature. It is extremely complex to practice even though the principles and the objectives are quite straightforward. It looks for balance and harmony, both inside our head as well as out there in the environment. To dismiss it as mere superstition is to throw away a valuable resource from the Chinese culture.
“The Westerner is a man of extremes, who fails to see the basic unity of positive and negative. He strives for the positive and denies the negative. He identifies himself with one extreme, which he makes the goal and god of his life. But the opposite still remains and reacts on him. Unable to reach his god, he finds his self divided, and being self-divided he creates one-sided things that split nature and in turn disrupt man and his order. He fights the devil within his heart and in fits of despair turns negative and creates destruction. He turns to science, technology and formulas to create machines that will bring happiness to man, only to discover that they also bring unhappiness. The happiness and suffering which he brought about he calls progress and thinks this is his mission in life”
A Taoist speaking to Wolfram Eberhard in his book with Hedda Morrison “Hua Shan – The Taoist Sacred Mountain in West China” Vetch and Lee Ltd, Hong Kong 1974.
As requested by Jessie earlier, I have attached two Dao Fu examples from ancient times.
Example 1:
This Dao Fu written on a wooden slip was discovered in 1957 in an Eastern Han (25-230 AD) tomb in Jiangsu Province. The talisman writing is located at the top with a sign of the Big Dipper.
Above it is written the characters “Fu Jun” (Talisman Gentleman) and below it are the distorted Chinese characters that formed the main body of the talisman.
The only recognizable character is “Gui” or Ghost (second from the bottom), written as usual for Fu writing, without the first stroke.
On the lower pat is the three columns of writing, which identified the day it was written (Yi Si), the ghost name of the deceased (Tian Guang) and the purpose of the talisman (a safe journey to the Underworld).
This is most likely to have been used in a Doaist funeral rite and is a typical example of the long rectangular Dao Fu passed down to us; the only difference is the design got more colourful and complicated as time went by.
Example 2:
This Dao Fu is again written on a wooden slip and was discovered in the Dunhuang Caves dating from the Western Jin period (265-316 AD) with most of the characters recognisable and not distorted in the usual way.
Since “Xian Shi”, or the Celestial Master, were the first two characters written, it is called a Xian Shi Fu or the Celestial Master Talisman. I have made a rough translation below:
“An Imperial Order from the Celestial Master: The San Tian (one of the highest of the Daoist deities) demands the Long Xing (the Dragon Star – an auspicious star that is responsible for rain and agriculture) to pacify the atmosphere (and give rain)”
Most likely this Dao Fu was used in a Daoist ritual to pray for rain and safe guard agriculture. Dunhuang is located to the northwestern part of China where it is dry and often had severe draughts.
Both examples came from Prof. Wang Yu-Cheng’s article, “A Discourse on the Ancient Chinese Daoist Talismans based on Cultural Relics”.
Like all other major cities in the world, Sydney also has her fair share of Feng Shui blunders and here is one – a “warship” welcoming the guests in front of the Star City Casino! Fortunately, she will be decommissioned in the forthcoming upgrade of the Casino.
If you have something similar to share, please send them in and we can make a collection of pictures of them. It is good to learn from other’s mistakes.
………I will always call Sydney my home.
We are here for one week to carry out a major Feng Shui commission. Sydney is a magnificent city, especially when one can capture her magic moments. Here is one looking into the city from the Pyrmont Bay Wharf just as the sun is setting, making the city sparkled in the late winter afternoon.
Greg Winder, one of my old friends, who is also a Lohan Qigong practitioner and a great artist, has done a series of beautiful drawing on the Da Lohan Qigong form. You can find out more about Greg’s work in his blog: http://greg.exblog.jp/by Master Chen Yong-Fa, after the Lohan 18 Hands and the Siu Lohan form and before Tai Git Kuen (Taijiquan) and Mo Git Kuen (Wujiquan).
It uses the mind intent and visualization as main means of circulating the vital qi in the body, hence there is little movement comparatively speaking and the form is done sitting in a meditational posture but strictly speaking it is not meditation in the true sense. It is a Qigong exercise because the aim is to move the Qiby making Yin Yang with movement, breathing and conscious striving, rather than just watching your breath and emptying the mind.
The “luck” that we are talking about in Feng Shui is called “Yun” and it has the meaning of “cycle of time” as in the term San Yuan Jiu “Yun” (3 Eras and 9 Periods) to divide time. We can take advantage of this kind of luck by being timely, or “de shi” – obtaining the right time by taking advantage that things always repeat in cycles, and that is one of the main aims behind Liqi Pai (Compass School) Feng Shui.
There is another type of luck the Chinese called “Cai”, which literally mean the prize one wins in a gambling context, and that is an arbitrary kind of luck that we have no control over at all.
In Yinzhai Feng Shui, when we think that our ancestors will give us “luck”, if we can bury them in the right places, then it is this kind of arbitrary “Cai” luck, because neither the Feng Shui, the dead nor the living can influence the matter at all. Arbitrary luck just happens, no matter what.
When someone is lucky in the former sense, the Cantonese would say “ni xing yun”, or “you rode the cycle”, and when someone is lucky in the latter sense, the Cantonese would say “ni hao cai” or “you (got the) good prize”. “Yun” or cyclical luck has a repeatable structure we can work with whereas “Cai” or arbitrary luck has none.
Like fate and many other things in life, being “lucky”, in whichever way we would like to define it, has parts that we can influence and parts that we have no influence at all, even though the two may not be mutually exclusive. We need to know and accept the subtle differences to be realistic and effective in doing Feng Shui.
Throughout Chinese history, many learned scholars, especially the Confucians and the Neo-Confucians like Wang Chong and Zhu Xi, have criticised the false assumptions people have made with Yinzhai Feng Shui, namely that if we bury our parents in an auspicious place, then the dead would help the living to be prosperous via the Earth Qi. This unrealistic expectation is called “Yin Ying” or Hidden Resonance of Feng Shui.
I have made a rough translation below (not word by word but by my own interpretation of the author’s intent) of a scholar by the name of Xiang Qiao, who wrote a common-sense piece about Yinzghai Feng Shui:
People often asked Xiang Qiao, “Do you believe a good burial site is related to Feng Shui?” and he replied, “To bury one’s parent is an important matter, this is something everyone has to do and to bury them in a safe and sound place is our responsibility. I am also someone’s son, so I must do likewise and find a good Feng Shui place for burial. But to me, the “wind” in Feng Shui refers to the landform that can protect the grave site from the attack of the sha qi wind and the “water” in Feng Shui refers to the landform that keeps the soil dry, so the water would not attack the dead body and make it rot too soon”.
Then the people followed with another question, “If Feng Shui is so important for burial, then do you also believe in the “Yin Ying” of Feng Shui?” and he replied, “We are alive when our Qi is assembled and we die when our Qi is dispersed and when that happens, our body rots and our spirit returns to its origin, there is nothing left to “Yin Ying” the descendants. The situation is not unlike when our parents are alive, they can look after us when they are awake and mindful, but when they are asleep and don’t know that we are in danger, there is no way they can come to our rescue when we need them. If when they are alive but unaware, they cannot help us, how can they continue to do so after they are dead and gone?”
What scholars like Xiang Qiao are saying is Yinzhai Feng Shui is more about respect for the dead and keeping their memories alive, and not about creating false expectations that the dead will continue to help us even when they are no longer able to do so. Let the dead rest in peace and let us fulfill our own destiny.
(Photo by Kristiina M)
This photo from Flickr looking across the Lapinlahti Bay at the Hietaniemi Cemetery near downtown Helsinki remained me last Saturday we spent the whole day in the Luopan workshop looking at calculations that would give us the best locations and orientations to bury the dead, so the living can remember them, then the next morning, Kristiiina came in with some lovely photos taken in the cemetery and made me realized that a better way may be is to have our graves immortalized, would be to have a piece of work of art as the lasting memorial. It is to “cheng” or “ride” the Shen Qi of the Human instead of the Earth.
The harbour side cemetery is more like a park than a cemetery, taking a walk against a setting sun in a summer’s day, one would think some of the tombstones are like sculptures on display, it is a peaceful place where the dead and the living can enjoy the beauty of nature, below are some of the photos taken by Kristiina and they included Yinzhai for Aalto the architect (with his two wives), Gallen-Kallela the artist and Mannerheim the politician. These words just came to my head:
When I am dead
I am not gone,
Like the seasons
I have moved on
Instead.
Today is the last day of the Luopan workshop in Helsinki organized by the Finnish Feng Shui Society and we will try to cover the four San He methods, “Si Da Shui Kou”, ‘Huotian Shui Fa”, “San He Si Da Ju” and “Lai Bo-Yi’s Bu Sha Fa”, all in one day!
Yesterday we covered the last five rings relating to the Xuan Kong Da Gua system and realized how some system invented by the masters of the past can be so theoretically orientated that it may not be practical in everyday use. For example with the 64 Hexagrams, each Hexagram take up less than 6 degrees and each Yao less than one degree, how can we judge with such a precise measurement for one usable Yao relating to the Coming Dragon, the Going Water, the Sitting and the Facing? Also with the 64 “One Pure Gua” arrangements, in theory they can be “Undefeated in 180 Years” but in reality this is not possible, as there is neither endlessly prosperous families nor an imperial line that can last forever in power.
The other interesting discovery we made is that the various Feng Shui systems invented in the past also was influenced by the needs and the socio-political situation of the time and when we interpret them, we need to be mindful of our own time and own values to be practical and realistic. We were amused to read the written interpretation for the Hexagram with Dui over Qian: “Two Metals of the same, so there is harmony in the family and both wealth and off-springs will prosper. The family will produce scholars and definitely will have four sons, but the owner will favour a concubine to run the family and love the younger one more than his wife”!
I resisted translating all the written interpretations and asked my students to use the Bagua Correlations to do there own interpretations according to the situation and the needs of their clients, I think this is a better way to learn.
We have been so busy so there is not enough time even to take a group photo, so here is a one taken a few years back. Thanks Kristiina and Paivi for doing the organization and the interpretation.
Kristiina: http://fengshui.pp.fi/english.html
Paivi: http://koti.welho.com/ivilkki/Paivi-Joseph_Yu-FSRC-e.html
But here we are, the class of 2008, thanks to Kristiina Mantynen again. We had a great time learning how to use the whole of the San Yaun Bazhai Luopan Compass as well as the four San He Methods in two full weekends (from left to right):
Kristiina Hassan-Zade, Kaarina Somersola, Paivi Vilkki, Howard,
Kristiina Mantynen, Taina Rajala and Maire Lehtonen.
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