In ancient times as well as today, Feng shui, pronounced in English as ("fung shway"), was known as "Kan-Yu" which means 'The Law of Heaven and Earth. Today's Feng Shui schools teach that it is the ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with the environment. Feng shui literally translates as "wind-water." This is a cultural shorthand taken from the following passage of the Zhangshu (Book of Burial) by Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty:

The qi that rides the wind stops at the boundary of water.

Feng shui is a discipline with guidelines that are compatible with many techniques of architectural planning. Space, weather, astronomy, and geomagnetism are basic components of feng shui. However, many believe there are inexplicable scientific factors involved and so consider it a metaphysical art. Proponents claim that feng shui has an effect on health, wealth, and personal relationships.

Introduction

Early feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe [4] and it is inseparable from an understanding of political power in premodern China.[5] Chinese often used the celestial pole determined by the pole stars to determine the north-south axis of settlements. This technique explains why Shang palaces at Xiaotun lie ten degrees east of due north. In some cases, as Paul Wheatley observed[6], 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. Currently Early Yanshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest evidence for feng shui. Professor David Pankenier and his associates reviewed astronomical data for the time of the Banpo dwellings (4000 BCE) to show that the asterism Yingshi (Lay out the Hall, in the Warring States period and early Han era) corresponded to the sun's location at this time. Centuries before, the asterism Yingshi was known as Ding. It was used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the Shijing. Apparently an astronomical alignment ensured that Banpo village homes were sited for solar gain.[7] The grave at Puyang (radiocarbon dated 5,000 BP) that contains mosaics of the Dragon and Tiger constellations and Beidou (Dipper) is similarly oriented along a north-south axis.[8] The presence of both round and square shapes in the Puyang tomb, and at Hongshan culture ceremonial centers, suggests that the gaitian cosmography (heaven-round, earth-square) was present in Chinese society long before it appeared in the Zhou Bu Suan Jing. Cosmography that bears a striking resemblance to modern feng shui compasses (and computations) was found on a jade unearthed at Hanshan (c. 3000 BCE). The design is linked by Li Xueqin to the liuren astrolabe, zhinan zhen, and Luopan. [10] All capital cities of China followed rules of Feng Shui for their design and layout. These rules were codified during the Zhou era in the "Kaogong ji" (Manual of Crafts). Rules for builders were codified in the "Lu ban jing" (Carpenter's Manual). Graves and tombs also followed rules of Feng Shui. From the earliest records, it seems that the rules for the structures of the graves and dwellings were the same.

Instrumentation

Emperor Di Ku was said to dabble in astronomy. Shun consulted the stars before he assumed the throne. There were feng shui devices before the invention of the magnetic compass (which occurs comparatively late in the long history of feng shui). According to the Zhouli the original device may have been a gnomon, although Yao, Huangdi, and other figures were said to possess devices such as the south-pointing chariot. As Derek Walters observed[11], "The luopan was originally a scientific instrument, used for astronomical observation." The oldest excavated examples of instruments used for feng shui are liuren astrolabes. These consist of a lacquered, two-sided board with astronomical sightlines. Liuren astrolabes have been unearthed from tombs that date between 278 BC and 209 BC. The markings are virtually unchanged from the astrolabe to the first magnetic compasses. Since the invention of the magnetic compass for use in Feng Shui[13], authentic feng shui has required the use of a compass. This compass could be a Luopan (Chinese Feng Shui compass of the types San Yuan, San He, and Zong He) or one of the earlier versions such as a south-pointing spoon (zhinan zhen).

Foundation theories

Qi (ch'i)

Qi is a difficult word to translate and is usually left untranslated. Literally the word means "air". In feng shui, "Qi" means "flow of energy". Max Knoll suggested in a 1951 lecture that qi is a form of solar radiation.[14] A Luopan is used to determine many things. One those being to detect the direction of the flow of qi. Compasses reflect local geomagnetism which includes geomagnetically induced currents caused by space weather.[15] It could be said that feng shui assesses the quality of the local environment and the effects of space weather -- that is, feng shui is qimancy, or qi divination.. Beliefs from the Axial Age, feng shui among them, hold that the heavens influence life on Earth. This seems preposterous to many people, yet space weather exists and can have profound effects on technology (GPS, power grids, pipelines, communication and navigation systems, surveys), and the internal orienting faculties of birds and other creatures.[17][18][19] Atmospheric scientists have suggested that space weather creates fluctuations in market prices.

Polarity

Polarity is expressed in feng shui as Yin and Yang. The polarity within feng shui is buildings of the living (yang) and buildings of the dead (yin).

Bagua (eight symbols)

Two diagrams known as bagua (or pa kua) loom large in feng shui, and both predate their mentions in the Yijing or I Ching. The Lo (River) Chart (Luoshu, or Later Heaven Sequence) and the River Chart (Hetu, or Early Heaven Sequence) are linked to astronomical events of the sixth millennium BCE, and with the Turtle Calendar from the time of Yao.[22] The Turtle Calendar of Yao (found in the Yaodian section of the Shangshu or 'Book of Documents') dates to 2300 BCE, plus or minus 250 years.[23] It seems clear from many sources that time, in the form of astronomy and calendars, is at the heart of feng shui. In Yaodian, the cardinal directions are determined by the marker-stars of the mega-constellations known as the Four Celestial Animals.
East: the Bluegreen Dragon (Spring equinox) --- Niao (Bird), ? Hydrae
South: the Red Bird (Summer solstice) --- Huo (Fire), ? Scorpionis
West: the White Tiger (Autumn equinox) --- Xu (Emptiness, Void), ?, ݠAquarii
North: the Dark (Mysterious) Turtle (Winter solstice) --- Mao (Hair), ? Tauri (the Pleiades)

The bagua diagrams are also linked with the sifang (four directions) method of divination used during the Shang dynasty.[24] The sifang is much older, however. It was used at Niuheliang, and figured large in Hongshan culture's astronomy. And it is this area of China that is linked to Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, who allegedly invented the south-pointing spoon.

Fundamental techniques

An often-misunderstood term in Feng Shui is that of schools. A school (at least in Feng Shui) is a technique. The concept is well known to Chinese -- for example, the "Thousand Schools of Thought" mentioned by Mao Zedong. But Westerners often confuse the term with a physical school, when something less tangible may be meant. There are many 'masters' of the different Feng shui schools. However, some maintain that authentic masters impart their genuine knowledge of Feng shui only to selected students.[26]

For example, there is the classical misunderstanding of Form and Shape aspects of Feng Shui, and Time and Space aspects. Westerners are not usually aware of the tendency in Chinese culture to reduce long-winded terms to shorthand (the best example being the often-complex definitions for Feng Shui itself). Because the history of feng shui covers at least 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass,[27] defining authentic feng shui as having a "compass school" and a "form school" misses the point.

In his fieldwork in China, Ole Bruun[28] noted that traditional methods of feng shui (increasingly referred to worldwide as "classical feng shui") all use a compass. Traditional or classical Feng shui is what is practiced and taught in Asia. Classical Feng shui has some features similar to those found in the archaeological record, and in Chinese history and literature, but the application of classical Feng Shui is not identical to that of ancient Feng Shui techniques.

Classical feng shui is typically associated with the following techniques. This is not a complete list; it is merely a list of the most common techniques.[29] * Bagua (relationship of the five phases or wuxing)
* Five phases (wuxing relationships)
* Xuan Kong (time and space methods)
* Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Stars methods of time and directions)
* Xuan Kong Da Gua ("Secret Decree" or 64 gua relationships)
* Xuan Kong Shui Fa (time and space water methods)
* Zi Bai (Purple-White Flying Stars methods)
* Ba Zhai (Four Pillars of destiny)
* San Yuan Dragon Gate Eight Formation
* Major & Minor Wandering Stars
* San He Luan Dou (24 Mountains, Mountain-Water relationships)
* San He Shui Fa (water methods)
* Qimen Dunjia (Eight Doors and Nine Stars methods)
* Zi wei dou shu (Purple King, 24-star astrology)

New Version

One of the grievances mentioned when the anti-Western Boxer Rebellion broke out was that Westerners were violating the basic principles of Feng shui in their construction of railroads and other conspicuous public structures throughout China. At the time, the Westerners concerned had indeed little idea of or interest in such Chinese traditions.

Since Richard Nixon journeyed to China, Feng Shui has been rediscovered by Westerners. It has been reinvented by New Age entrepreneurs for Western consumption. Feng shui speaks to the profound role of magic, mystery, and order in American life.[30]

The following list does not exhaust the varieties.

Black Sect -- Incorporated as a US church in 1984, with temples in California and New York. (The church deviates from what is known of the history of Tantrism in China.) [31]

This new version of Feng Shui was invented in the early 1980s by Thomas Lin Yun Rinpoche who came to the US from Taiwan. [32] Called Black Sect (or Black Sect Tantric Buddhist, or BTB) Feng Shui, it relies on "transcendental" methods, the concept of clutter as metaphor for life circumstances, and the use of affirmations or intentions (what some deride as "happy talk").[33] BTB Feng Shui has a unique and specially created bagua, with each of the eight compass segment directions representing a particular area of one's life.

Shen Dao Feng Shui - Developed in the late '70's by Harrison G.Kyng.

Shen Dao style became the first school of its type in the UK. Based upon both 'Form' and 'Compass' styles, Shen Dao utilises the Five Element modality to assess its clients health as well as their buildings harmony. This relationship is said to create a unique 'viewpoint' that can then be used to create a greater sense of harmony both inwardly and outwards. Shen Dao's unique compass uses the former heavenly sequence and expands the Ba Gua into over 300 harmonics that help to fine tune its results.

This article taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui