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feng shui

 

- feng shui

  • Feng shui is related to the concepts of yin and yang, and chi.
  • Proper practice of feng shui is meant to maintain good health, wealth, relationships, creativity and more.
  • The aim of feng shui is to create a living and working (and dying — feng shui is for graveyards, too) environment in harmony with nature and the flow of energy.
  • The details of feng shui relate to position of elements, color and materials.
  • Fountains, mirrors and crystals are particularly important accessories in feng shui.
  • Feng shui literally means "wind-water."
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(fŭng' shwā') pronunciation
n.
The Chinese art or practice of positioning objects, especially graves, buildings, and furniture, based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.

[Chinese (Mandarin) fēng shuѤ, wind (and) water : fēng, wind + shuѤ, water.]



Traditional Chinese method of arranging the human and social world in auspicious alignment with the forces of the cosmos, including qi and yin-yang. It was devised during the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220). Specialists, called diviners, use compasslike instruments to determine the exact cosmic forces affecting a site, appropriate sites being chosen particularly in relation to bodies of water and mountains. Feng shui, especially as it affects interior design, has recently become popular in Britain and the U.S.

For more information on Feng shui, visit Britannica.com.

(pronounced fung shway) ancient Asian art of creating harmony and balance within an environment.

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(pronounced “fung shway”) ancient Asian art of creating harmony and balance within an environment.


Example: According to the tenets of feng shui, certain colors and elements should be in each “life area” for a home to be in harmony and balance. See Sell Your Home Faster with Feng Shui, by Holly Ziegler (Dragon Chi Publications, 2001).

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The Religion Book:

Feng Shui

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The Chinese tradition of feng shui and its Japanese equivalent kaso involve specialists who are called upon to design or redesign habitable structures in ways that will promote harmony and balance. Corporations in the West have recently discovered the tradition and increasingly employs feng shui consultants to create more psychologically friendly office spaces and reception areas.

When you walk into a space of any kind, your body receives thousands of unconscious signals, making you feel comfortable or uncomfortable. You might say something like, "This place has a nice feel" or a "conducive spirit."

The practitioner would say you are expressing exactly what feng shui is all about. The analogy of wind and water is often used. An obstruction causes both to change their movement and break their natural motion.

The sense of flow and natural movement was originally attributed to spirits. Furniture or architecture would obstruct spiritual entities, causing blockage and a feeling of tenseness or anxiety. But consultants now try to explain the feng shui concept in terms American business will understand. They seem to be succeeding. Office buildings and hospitals report increased efficiency and profitability when people sense the calmness of a strategically placed water garden or sculpture. Clients feel more at ease after a simple rearranging of furniture. Workers take fewer sick days. Peaceful surroundings promote wa, camaraderie between employees and company spirit.

Stripped of what American businesses might call the "smoke and mirrors" of Eastern spirituality, feng shui has been shown to improve the bottom line. It thus becomes yet another example of Eastern wisdom that, in terms of Western sensibilities, was way ahead of its time, a concept that was widely misunderstood in the West until it could be explained in a new context.

Sources: Renard, John. The Handy Religion Answer Book. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2002. FETISH see Healing Effigy/Amulet/Talisman/Fetish


A traditional Chinese technique for planning the layout of a building and for orienting rooms within it, so as to be in harmony with nature and with its surroundings.


In Chinese thought, a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to flow of energy (chi), and whose favourable and unfavourable effects are taken into account when designing and siting buildings.

The Taoist art and science of creating balanced and harmonious surroundings, sometimes associated with geomancy, has been practiced for centuries in China. Feng-shui has been used by the Chinese to build homes and business offices, design cities and villages, and construct tombs for the dead. In recent years Westerners have begun to study and practice feng-shui.

Practitioners of feng-shui claim that the layout and arrangement of a home greatly influences the lives of all its occupants. The alignment of furniture, color schemes, and accessories all play a part in creating an environment that both relaxes and invigorates those who live there. Simply moving a few objects or repainting a room can have a significant impact. On the other hand, misfortunes such as poor health, financial problems, marital or relationship troubles, and infertility can be attributed to a house in which feng-shui principles have been ignored.

Feng-shui is also concerned with the location of a building because its position in an area may be adversely affected by the surroundings unless appropriate countermeasures are taken to deflect negative energy.

Brief History

The Chinese developed feng-shui principles about four thousand years ago. The ancient Chinese recognized how the elements, particularly wind (feng) and water (shui), impacted life: gently flowing winds meant good harvests, stagnant water led to disease; buildings facing the north bore the brunt of dust storms that blew from Mongolia, while southern facing homes maximized the warmth of the sun. Likewise they realized how living harmoniously with surroundings made life easier: villages built among the hills were both protected from the elements and easier to defend from attackers. Legends says that the actual practice of feng-shui began with the shaman-kings who led the early Chinese tribes and understood the powers of wind and water, the changes in earth and sky, and the cycle of the seasons.

Over the centuries and throughout successive dynasties feng-shui organized and eventually was recognized as a professional skill during the Han dynasty (207 B.C.-220 B.C.E.). It was known then as K'an-yu. During the prosperous T'ang dynasty (618-907 B.C.E.) the Taoist arts flourished and K'an-yu, which involved understanding the earth's energy, expanded to en-compass the sciences of architecture, astronomy, geography, numerology, and surveying. Various schools of thought in K'anyu also developed during this dynasty.

After Kublai Khan invaded the central plains of China and established the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 B.C.E.), Taoists were restricted from openly practicing their sciences and K'an-yu suffered a decline. The practice underwent a resurgence during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 B.C.E.). The feng-shui that is practiced today is most similar to that practiced during the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1912 B.C.E.).

Chi

Chi is the key component of feng-shui. It is roughly translated as the invisible energy that circulates through the earth and sky. Chi travels best when it imitates nature by flowing in gentle curves, rather than along straight lines, where it can move too quickly, or against sharp edges, where it can be blocked, and cause sha, or bad chi.

The Eight Directions

The eight directions of the compass (north, east, south, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest) and the center, known together as the Nine Palaces, are basic components of feng-shui. Each direction is associated with a different kind of chi energy. Knowing the characteristics of these directions and their spheres of influence allows the creation of good feng-shui. It also used in making adjustments needed to correct bad fengshui.

The Five Elements

Each of the eight directions and the center is linked to at least one of what is known as the Five Elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. The Chinese are able to group all things into one of these five categories. Contact with the elements is a major part of feng-shui and the interactive nature of these elements is used in enhancing positive energies and reducing negative energies.

Each of the Five Elements is related to the other in a cycle of creation and destruction. When the elements are used to enhance one another, they follow the creation cycle. For instance in the creative cycle, metal in the earth nourishes water in the ground. Water sustains vegetation that creates wood. Wood feeds fire. Fire produces ashes, forming the earth. The cycle is completed when the earth forms ore, which becomes metal. Conversely, in the destructive cycle, fire melts metal; metal cuts wood; tree roots, or wood, choke the earth; earth muddies water; water extinguishes fire.

In practicing feng-shui, one of the most effective ways to create positive energy or remedy bad energy is to make good use of the five elements. Feng-shui is easily adjusted by mixing, separating and arranging the five elements at suitable compass points within the home. The elements interact in either a creative or destructive cycle and their presentation affects the balance of the environment.

Color and Numbers

Color is yet another important aspect of balance in fengshui. Color has an effect on the look and feel of a room, but colors also have associations linked to them. For example, to the Chinese red is a lucky color, associated with life, happiness, and warmth. Green and blue are associated with new beginnings, growth and family life.

Numbers also have meaning and some are more favorable than others. Nine is considered the luckiest, partially due to apparent mystical qualities: when 9 is multiplied by an single-digit number, the sum of the two digits of the product is 9. The number 4 is considered bad-luck because its Chinese pronunciation, "si," sounds similar to the word for death. As with the elements, color and numbers are also associated with the eight compass points.

Sources:

Eitel, E. J. Feng-shui: The Rudiments of Natural Science in China. Bristol, England: Pentacle Books, 1979.

Lagatree, Kirsten M. Feng-shui: Arranging Your Home to Change Your Life. New York: Villard Books, 1996.

Rossbach, Sarah. Feng-shui: The Chinese Art of Placement. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1983.

Skinner, Stephen. The Living Earth Manual of Feng-shui: Chinese Geomancy. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.

Too, Lillian. Essential Feng-shui: A Step-by-Step Guide to Enhancing Your Relationships, Health, and Prosperity. Ballantine Books, Inc., 1999.

Wong, Eva. Feng-Shui: The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living for Modern Times. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc. 1996.

Feng shui
Fengshui Compass.jpg
A Luopan, Feng shui compass.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 風水
Simplified Chinese 风水
Literal meaning wind-water
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese phong thủy
Thai name
Thai ฮวงจุ้ย (Huang Jui)
Korean name
Hangul 풍수
Hanja 風水
Japanese name
Kanji 風水
Hiragana ふうすい
Filipino name
Tagalog Pungsóy, Punsóy

Feng shui (/ˌfʌŋ ˈʃweɪ/ ( listen) fung-shway,[1] formerly /ˈfʌŋ ˌʃuːi/ fung-shoo-ee;[2] Chinese: 風水, pronounced [fɤ́ŋ ʂwèi]) (or Fung shui) is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven (Chinese astronomy) and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi.[3] The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu (simplified Chinese: 堪舆; traditional Chinese: 堪輿; pinyin: kānyú; literally: Tao of heaven and earth).[4]

The term feng shui literally translates as "wind-water" in English. This is a cultural shorthand taken from the following passage of the Zangshu (Book of Burial) by Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty:[5]

Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water.[5]

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. Feng shui was suppressed in 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."[6]

Contents

History

Origins

Currently the Yangshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest evidence for the origin of feng shui. Until the invention of the magnetic compass, feng shui apparently relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe.[7] In 4000 BC, the doors of Banpo dwellings were aligned to the asterism Yingshi just after the winter solstice—this sited the homes for solar gain.[8] 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 is on a north-south axis with another building that apparently housed communal activities. The complex may have been used by regional communities.[9]

A grave at Puyang (c. 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.[10] The presence of both round and square shapes in the Puyang tomb, at Hongshan ceremonial centers and the late Longshan settlement at Lutaigang,[11] suggests that gaitian cosmography (heaven-round, earth-square) was present in Chinese society long before it appeared in the Zhou Bi Suan Jing.[12]

Cosmography that bears a striking resemblance to modern feng shui devices and formulas was found on a jade unearthed at Hanshan and dated around 3000 BC. The design is linked by archaeologist Li Xueqin to the liuren astrolabe, zhinan zhen, and Luopan.[13]

Beginning with palatial structures at Erlitou,[14] 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 (simplified Chinese: 考工记; traditional Chinese: 考工記; "Manual of Crafts"). Rules for builders were codified in the carpenter's manual Lu ban jing (simplified Chinese: 鲁班经; traditional Chinese: 魯班經; "Lu ban's manuscript"). Graves and tombs also followed rules of feng shui, from Puyang to Mawangdui and beyond. From the earliest records, it seems that the rules for the structures of the graves and dwellings were the same.

Early instruments and techniques

A feng shui spiral at LA Chinatown's Metro station.

The history of feng shui covers 3,500+ years[15] before the invention of the magnetic compass. It originated in Chinese astronomy.[16] Some current techniques can be traced to Neolithic China,[17] while others were added later (most notably the Han dynasty, the Tang, the Song, and the Ming).[18]

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,[19] 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.[20]

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[21] the boards were commonly used to chart the motion of Taiyi through the nine palaces.[22] The markings on a liuren/shi and the first magnetic compasses are virtually identical.[23]

The magnetic compass was invented for feng shui[24] 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.[25][26]

Qi (ch'i)

Qi (pronounced "chee" in English) is a movable positive or negative life force which plays an essential role in feng shui.[27] In feng shui as in Chinese martial arts, it refers to 'energy', in the sense of 'life force' or élan vital. A traditional explanation of qi as it relates to feng shui would include the orientation of a structure, its age, and its interaction with the surrounding environment including the local microclimates, the slope of the land, vegetation, and soil quality.[citation needed]

The Book of Burial says that burial takes advantage of "vital qi." Wu Yuanyin[28] (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.[26]

One use for a Luopan is to detect the flow of qi.[29][citation needed] Magnetic compasses reflect local geomagnetism which includes geomagnetically induced currents caused by space weather.[30] Professor Max Knoll suggested in a 1951 lecture that qi is a form of solar radiation.[31] As space weather changes over time,[32] and the quality of qi rises and falls over time,[26] 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.

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 Yin Yang Theory and its corollary, Five Phase Theory (Five Element Theory), have also been linked with astronomical observations of sunspots.[33]

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.[34] 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.[35]

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,[36] 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.[37] 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.[38]

In Yaodian, the cardinal directions are determined by the marker-stars of the mega-constellations known as the Four Celestial Animals:[38]

East
The Green Dragon (Spring equinox)—Niao (Bird 鸟), α Scorpionis
South
The Red Phoenix (Summer solstice)—Huo (Fire 火), α Hydrae
West
The White Tiger (Autumn equinox)—Mǎo (Hair 昴), η Tauri (the Pleiades)
North
The Dark Turtle (Winter solstice)— (Emptiness, Void 虛), α Aquarii, β Aquarii

The diagrams are also linked with the sifang (four directions) method of divination used during the Shang dynasty.[39] 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.[40]

A building in Hong Kong with a hollow middle hole, utilizing fengshui benefits

Schools

A school or stream is a set of techniques or methods. The term should not be confused with an actual school—there are many masters who run schools.

Some claim[41] that authentic masters impart their genuine knowledge only to selected students, such as relatives.

Techniques

Archaeological discoveries from Neolithic China and the literature of ancient China together give us an idea of the origins of feng shui techniques. In premodern China, Yin feng shui (for tombs) had as much importance as Yang feng shui (for homes).[25] For both types one had to determine direction by observing the skies (what Wang Wei called the Ancestral Hall Method; later identified by Ding Juipu as Liqi pai, which westerners mistakenly label "compass school"),[26] and to determine the Yin and Yang of the land (what Wang Wei called the Kiangxi method and Ding Juipu called Xingshi pai, which westerners mistakenly label "form school").[26]

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.[42][43]

Xingshi Pai ("Forms" Methods)

  • Luan Dou Pai, 峦头派, Pinyin: luán tóu pài, (environmental analysis without using a compass)
  • Xing Xiang Pai, 形象派 or 形像派, Pinyin: xíng xiàng pài, (Imaging forms)
  • Xingfa Pai, 形法派, Pinyin: xíng fǎ pài

Liqi Pai ("Compass" Methods)

San Yuan Method, 三元派 (Pinyin: sān yuán pài)

  • Dragon Gate Eight Formation, 龍門八法 (Pinyin: lóng mén bā fǎ)
  • Xuan Kong, 玄空 (time and space methods)
  • Xuan Kong Fei Xing 玄空飛星 (Flying Stars methods of time and directions)
  • Xuan Kong Da Gua, 玄空大卦 ("Secret Decree" or 64 gua relationships)

San He Method, 三合派 (environmental analysis using a compass)

  • Accessing Dragon Methods
  • Ba Zhai, 八宅 (Eight Mansions)
  • Water Methods, 河洛水法
  • Local Embrace

Others

  • Four Pillars of Destiny, 四柱命理 (a form of hemerology)
  • Eight Characters, 八字 (the date and time of birth)
  • Major & Minor Wandering Stars (Constellations)
  • Five phases, 五行 (relationship of the five phases or wuxing)
  • BTB Black (Hat) Tantric Buddhist Sect (Westernised or Modern methods not based on Classical teachings)

Modern developments

One of the grievances mentioned at the start of the anti-Western Boxer Rebellion, was that Westerner developers were violating the basic principles of feng shui in their construction of railroads and other conspicuous public structures throughout China. After Richard Nixon journeyed to the People's Republic of China in 1972, feng shui became marketable in the United States.

It has since been reinvented by New Age entrepreneurs for Western consumption. Feng shui speaks to the profound role of magic, mystery, and order in American life.[44] The following list does not exhaust the modern varieties.

Black Sect—also called BTB Feng Shui—does not match documentary or archaeological evidence, or what is known of the history of Tantra in China.[45] It relies on "transcendental" methods, the concept of clutter as metaphor for life circumstances, and the use of affirmations or intentions to achieve results. The BTB Ba gua was developed by Lin Yun. Each of the eight sectors that were once aligned to compass points now represents a particular area of one's life.

In contemporary China, practitioners of the divination systems of Qi Men Dun Jia and Da Liu Ren adopt these modes of divination for highly detailed and analytic problem-solving in Feng Shui.[citation needed]

Feng shui today

Today, feng shui is practiced not only by the Chinese, but also by Westerners. However, with the passage of time and feng shui's popularization in the West, much of the theory behind it has been lost in translation, not paid proper attention to, frowned upon, or scorned.

Robert T. Carroll sums up what feng shui has become in some cases:

"... feng shui has become an aspect of interior decorating in the Western world and alleged masters of feng shui now hire themselves out for hefty sums to tell people such as Donald Trump which way his doors and other things should hang. Feng shui has also become another New Age "energy" scam with arrays of metaphysical products ... offered for sale to help you improve your health, maximize your potential, and guarantee fulfillment of some fortune cookie philosophy."[46]

Others have noted how, when feng shui is not applied properly, or rather, without common sense, it can even harm the environment, such as was the case of people planting "lucky bamboo" in ecosystems that could not handle them.[47]

Still others are simply skeptical of Feng Shui. Evidence for its effectiveness is based on anecdote, and there is a lack of a plausible method of action; this leads to conflicting advice from different practitioners of feng shui. Feng shui practitioners use this as evidence of variations or different schools; critical analysts have described it thus: "Feng shui has always been based upon mere guesswork."[48][49]

Nevertheless, even modern feng shui is not always looked at as a superstitious scam. Many people[who?] believe it is important and very helpful in living a prosperous and healthy life either avoiding or blocking negative energies[clarification needed] that might otherwise have bad effects. Many of the higher-level forms of feng shui are not so easily practiced without either connections, or a certain amount of wealth because the hiring of an expert, the great altering of architecture or design, and the moving from place to place that is sometimes necessary requires a lot of money. Because of this, some people of the lower classes lose faith in feng shui, saying that it is only a game for the wealthy.[50] Others, however, practice less expensive forms of Feng Shui, including hanging special (but cheap) mirrors, forks, or woks in doorways to deflect negative energy.[51]

Even today feng shui is so important to some people[who?] that they use it for healing purposes, separate from western medical practice, in addition to using it to guide their businesses and create a peaceful atmosphere in their homes.[52] In 2005, even Disney acknowledged feng shui as an important part of Chinese culture by shifting the main gate to Hong Kong Disneyland by twelve degrees in their building plans, among many other actions suggested by the master planner of architecture and design at Walt Disney Imagineering, Wing Chao, in an effort to incorporate local culture into the theme park.[53]

The practice of Feng Shui is diverse and multi-faceted. There are many different schools and perspectives. The International Feng Shui Guild (IFSG) is a non-profit professional organization that presents the full diversity of Feng Shui.

One of the best known Feng Shui users is real estate mogul Donald Trump. After losing Asian clients a few years ago due to his properties' apparently bad Feng Shui, he hired a Feng Shui master to analyze the auspiciousness of Trump Towers.[54]

At Singapore Polytechnic and other institutions like the New York College of Health Professions, many students (including engineers and interior designers) take courses on feng shui every year and go on to become feng shui (or geomancy) consultants.[55]

Historical criticism

Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), one of the founding fathers of Jesuit China missions, may have been the first European to write about feng shui practices. His account in De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas... tells about feng shui masters (geologi, in Latin) studying prospective construction sites or grave sites "with reference to the head and the tail and the feet of the particular dragons which are supposed to dwell beneath that spot". As a Catholic missionary, Ricci strongly criticized the "recondite science" of geomancy along with astrology as yet another superstitio absurdissima of the heathens: "What could be more absurd than their imagining that the safety of a family, honors, and their entire existence must depend upon such trifles as a door being opened from one side or another, as rain falling into a courtyard from the right or from the left, a window opened here or there, or one roof being higher than another?"[56]

Victorian-era commentators on feng shui were generally ethnocentric, and as such skeptical and derogatory of what they knew of feng shui.[57]

In 1896 at a meeting of the Educational Association of China, Rev. P.W. Pitcher railed at the "rottenness of the whole scheme of Chinese architecture," and urged fellow missionaries "to erect unabashedly Western edifices of several stories and with towering spires in order to destroy nonsense about fung-shuy."[58]

Sycee-shaped incense used in feng shui

Some modern Christians have a similar opinion of feng shui.[59]

It is entirely inconsistent with Christianity to believe that harmony and balance result from the manipulation and channeling of nonphysical forces or energies, or that such can be done by means of the proper placement of physical objects. Such techniques, in fact, belong to the world of sorcery.[60]

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, feng shui has been officially deemed as a "feudalistic superstitious practice" and a "social evil" according to the state's ideology, and discouraged and even banned outright at times.[61][62]

Persecution was the most severe during the Cultural Revolution, when feng shui was classified as a custom under the so-called Four Olds to be wiped out. Feng shui practitioners were beaten and abused by Red Guards and their works burned. After the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the official attitude became more tolerant but restrictions on feng shui practice are still in place in today's China. It is illegal in the PRC today to register feng shui consultation as a business and similarly advertising feng shui practice is banned, and there have been frequent crackdowns on feng shui practitioners on the grounds of "promoting feudalistic superstitions" such as one in Qingdao in early 2006 when the city's business and industrial administration office shut down an art gallery converted into a feng shui practice.[63] Some communist officials who had consulted feng shui were sacked and were to be expelled from the Communist Party.[64]

Partly because of the Cultural Revolution, in today's mainland China less than one-third of the population believe in feng shui, and the proportion of believers among young urban Chinese is said to be much lower.[65] Learning feng shui is still somewhat considered taboo in today's China.[66] Nevertheless, it is reported that feng shui has gained adherents among Communist Party officials according to a BBC Chinese news commentary in 2006,[67] and since the beginning of Chinese economic reforms the number of feng shui practitioners are increasing. A number of Chinese academics permitted to research on the subject of feng shui are anthropologists or architects by profession, studying the history of feng shui or historical feng shui theories behind the design of heritage buildings, such as Cao Dafeng, the Vice-President of Fudan University,[68] and Liu Shenghuan of Tongji University.

Feng shui practitioners have been skeptical of claims and methods in the "cultural supermarket."[69] Mark Johnson[70] made a telling point:

This present state of affairs is ludicrous and confusing. Do we really believe that mirrors and flutes are going to change people's tendencies in any lasting and meaningful way? ... There is a lot of investigation that needs to be done or we will all go down the tubes because of our inability to match our exaggerated claims with lasting changes.

Recent developments

A modern "feng shui fountain" at Taipei 101, Taiwan

A growing body of research exists on the traditional forms of feng shui used and taught in Asia.[citation needed]

Landscape ecologists find traditional feng shui an interesting study.[71] In many cases, the only remaining patches of old forest in Asia are "feng shui woods",[72] often associated with cultural heritage, historical continuity, and the preservation of species.[73] Some researchers interpret the presence of these woods as indicators that the "healthy homes",[74] sustainability[75] and environmental components of ancient feng shui should not be easily dismissed.[76][77]

Environmental scientists and landscape architects have researched traditional feng shui and its methodologies.[78][79][80]

Architects study feng shui as an ancient and uniquely Asian architectural tradition.[81][82][83][84]

Geographers have analyzed the techniques and methods to help locate historical sites in Victoria, Canada,[85] and archaeological sites in the American Southwest, concluding that ancient Native Americans considered astronomy and landscape features.[86]

See also

References

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Further reading

  • Ernest John Eitel (1878). Feng-shui: or, The rudiments of natural science in China. Hongkong: Lane, Crawford. pp. 84. http://books.google.com/?id=TSQOw0JJ6BQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-07-06. 
  • Ole Bruun. "Fengshui and the Chinese Perception of Nature," in Asian Perceptions of Nature: A Critical Approach, eds. Ole Bruun and Arne Kalland (Surrey: Curzon, 1995) 173-88.
  • Ole Bruun. An Introduction to Feng Shui. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  • Ole Bruun. Fengshui in China: Geomantic Divination between State Orthodoxy and Popular Religion. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003.
  • Yoon, Hong-key. Culture of Fengshui in Korea: An Exploration of East Asian Geomancy, Lexington Books, 2006.
  • Xie, Shan Shan' Chinese Geographic Feng Shui Theories and Practices National Multi-Attribute Institute Publishing, Oct. 2008, ISBN 159261-0048

External links


 
 
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