The Art of Fengshui
Aligning the Human and Natural Realms
Stephen L. Field, Trinity University
Introduction
The Correlative Worldview…
…is the belief that the world is a system where
everything is related to everything else. Correlative
thinking was the universal worldview until replaced by
the scientific method. It is the basis of metaphorical
language and is thus hardwired in the human brain.
Take superstitions for example.
In ancient China, the answer to the ontological
question of what constituted the cosmos was
answered by a complicated correlative
cosmology and several interesting
cosmogonies. One of the most famous origin
myths was the story of Pangu….
Greek Elemental Theory of the Cosmos
ELEMENT
HUMOR
TEMPERAMENT
EMOTIONAL
QUALITY
ELEMENTAL
QUALITY
SEASON
AIR
blood
sanguine
passionate
hot & wet
spring
FIRE
yellow bile
choleric
hot-tempered
hot & dry
summer
EARTH
black bile
melancholic
depressed
cold & dry
fall
WATER
phlegm
phlegmatic
sluggish
cold & wet
winter
Chinese Five Element Correlations
Elements
Directions
Planets
Flavors
Internal
Organs
Animals
Colors
WOOD
East
Jupiter
Sour
spleen
scaly (snakes)
green
FIRE
South
Mars
bitter
lungs
feathered (birds)
red
EARTH
Center
Saturn
sweet
heart
naked (humans)
yellow
METAL
West
Venus
acrid
kidney
hairy (mammals)
white
WATER
North
Mercury
salty
liver
shell-covered
black
The Chinese Correlative Universe
1. Heaven
The Astrophysical Environment
(the origin of fengshui theories)
2. Earth
The Geophysical Environment
(the basis of Form School fengshui)
3. Man
The Metaphysical Environment
(the basis of Compass School fengshui)
Part I. The Astrophysical Environment
Neolithic Tomb in Henan province, China
Note the form of the tomb…
… and the figures that exist within its walls.
A: The circular Heaven covers the square Earth
1. KANYU, the original name of the divinatory art now known as
FENGSHUI, means: “Canopy of Heaven and Chariot of Earth”
2. A Han dynasty divining instrument called the Cosmograph was
constructed of a dome-shaped Heaven disc that sat upon a square
Earth plate
B. The Heavenly bodies circle the stationary Earth
1. A Han dynasty funereal chest
with celestial ornamentation
2. The Chinese Zodiac
3. The Northern Ladle, or Big Dipper
A view of the northern heavens
The cosmographic view.
C. The circular Heaven falls to Earth
1. The Water Lord battles the Fire Lord
Mid-May
Mid-June
2. The Flight of the Dragon
Mid-August
D. Looking for Heaven on Earth
Dragon Veins
Part II: The Geophysical Environment
A. What is Qi?
The Dao began in the Nebulous Void.
The Nebulous Void produced spacetime;
Spacetime produced the primordial qi. . . .
That which was pure and bright spread out to form Heaven;
The heavy and turbid congealed to form Earth. . . .
The conjoined essences of Heaven and Earth produced yin and yang.
The supercessive essences of yin and yang caused the four seasons.
* Huainanzi. See John Major, tr., Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought,
The Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven, p. 62
B. Where is Qi?
1. Astrophysical Qi:
The six qi of heaven--cold, heat, wind, rain, dark and light--"descend and
produce the five tastes," but "produce the six diseases when they are in
excess.“Zuozhuan, Duke Zhao, 1st year (540 BCE)
2. Geophysical Qi:
"Water is the root of all things and the source of all life. . . . Water is the blood
and breath [qi] of the earth, functioning in similar fashion to the circulation of
blood and breath in the sinews and veins." The Book of Guanzi (5th century
BCE)
"Earth is the body of qi--where there is earth there is qi. Qi is the mother of
water--where there is qi there is water." The Book of Burial (3rd century CE)
3. Physiological Qi:
"Man's life is the assembling of qi. The assembling is deemed birth, the
dispersal is deemed death." The Book of Zhuangzi (4th century BCE)
C. What does Qi have to do with fengshui?
1. Geophysical qi recharges physiological qi:
"Truly, life is accumulated qi. It solidifies into bone, which alone remains
after death. Burial returns qi to the bones, which is the way the living are
endowed." The Book of Burial
2. Geophysical qi can be harnessed:
"The Classic says, qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when
encountering water. The ancients collected it to prevent its dissipation, and
guided it to assure its retention. Thus it was called fengshui [wind/water].
According to the laws of fengshui, the site that attracts water is optimal,
followed by the site that catches wind." The Book of Burial
D. How to locate the Dragon Lair
1. Look for the Dragon Veins:
"Arteries spring from lowland terrain; bones spring
from mountain terrain. They wind sinuously from
east to west and from south to north. Thousands
of feet high is called forces [shi]; hundreds of feet
high is called features [xing]. Forces advance and
finish in features…. Where the earth takes shape,
qi flows accordingly; thereby things are born. For
qi courses within the ground, its flow follows the
contour of the ground, and its accumulation
results from the halt of terrain. For burial, seek the
source and ride it to its terminus." The Book of
Burial
2. The Four Heavenly Deities become the Four Terrestrial Palaces.
"Where forces cease and
features soar high, with a
stream in front and a hill
behind, here hides the head
of the dragon." The Book of
Burial
A. White Tiger, B. Dark Warrior (Turtle), C. Green
Dragon, D. Red Bird
Part III: The Metaphysical Environment
道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。老子
Dao sheng yi, yi sheng er, er sheng san, san sheng wanwu.
The Dao begat the One,
One begat the Two,
Two begat the third,
Three begat the Ten-thousand things.
--Laozi Daodejing
A. The Evolution of Qi
Qi
2 Primary Forces:
Yin and Yang
4 Seasons:
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
5 Elements:
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water
8 Trigrams:
Zhen,
Xun,
Li,
Kun,
Dui,
Qian,
Kan,
Gen
Thunder,
Wood,
Fire,
Earth,
Lake,
Heaven,
Water,
Mountain
9 Stars:
Tan Lang, Wu Qu, Ju Men, Fu Bi, Lu Cun, Wen Qu, Lian Zhen, Po Jun
10 Heavenly Stems:
Jia,
Yi,
Bing, Ding,
Wood, Wood, Fire,
12 Earthly Branches:
Ji,
Earth,
Earth, Metal,
Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si,
Rat, Ox,
28 Lunar Lodges
Fire,
Wu,
Tiger,
Jiao,
Kang,
Horn,
Neck,
Hare,
Di,
Geng,
Wu,
Xin,
Ren,
Metal,
Water,
Wei, Shen, You,
Gui
Water
Xu,
Hai
Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig
Fang,
Base, Room,
Xin,
Wei,
Heart,
Tail,
The 10,000 Things
Ji,
etc.
Basket, etc.
B. 五行 Wu Xing: the Five Elements
1. “Heaven has the three lights; Earth has the five movements.” [Zuozhuan]
In its first appearance in the philosophical tradition, the wuxing were understood as
natural processes such as water sinking, fire rising, wood bending, metal molding, and
soil growing. By the Han dynasty the wuxing had become five states or phases of qi,
analogous to the three states of water: solid, liquid, and gas.
2. Production and Destruction Orders. These phases were continually transforming
into one another according to the following two laws of nature:
Mutual Production
Order
Mutual Destruction
Order
Earth harbors Metal
Wood digs Earth
Metal condenses Water
Metal cuts Wood
Water nourishes Wood
Fire melts Metal
Wood feeds Fire
Water extinguishes Fire
Fire burns to Earth
Earth dams Water
C.八卦 Ba Gua: the Eight Trigrams
Sky
Thunder
Mountain
Earth
Wood
Lake
Fire
Water
1.
The Eight Trigrams are the symbolic basis of the 易经 Yijing, or Book of Changes, which is
composed of 64 “hexagrams,” or doubled trigrams. For example, the trigram for "earth" over
the trigram for "wood" forms hexagram 46, "Pushing Upward" (because plants push up through
soil).
2.
A unique characteristic of Compass School fengshui is its reliance on a special configuration of
the eight trigrams to determine good and bad fortune. This figure is called the “Magic Square,”
because each row, column, and diagonal adds up to 15.
D. The Palace of Nine Halls
NW Metal
1. The Four Western
Halls are compatible with
each other because each
hall produces the other:
Southwest hall
West hall
Northwest hall
Northeast hall
Earth
Metal
Metal
Earth
Earth harbors metal
QIAN
(Heaven)
6-White
North Water
KAN (Water)
1-White
GEN
(Mountain)
8-White
5-Yellow
7-Red
2. The Four Eastern Halls
are compatible with each
other because each hall
produces the other:
3-Jade
North hall
East hall
Southeast hall
South hall
Water nourishes wood
Wood feeds fire
East Wood
West Metal
DUI (Lake)
NE Earth
ZHEN
(Thunder)
SW Earth
South Fire
SE Wood
KUN (Earth)
LI (Fire)
XUN (Wood)
2-Black
9-Purple
4-Green
However, Eastern Halls are not compatible
with Western Halls because each destroys the
other:
Wood digs earth
Fire melts metal
Metal cuts wood
Earth dams water
Water
Wood
Wood
Fire
E. 1948 Natal Guardian Stars 1983
Star
Element
Male
Female
Star
Element
Male
Female
1-white
water
1954
1950
1-white
water
1972
1968
9-purple
fire
1955
1949
9-purple
fire
1973
1967
8-white
earth
1956
1948
8-white
earth
1974
1966
7-red
metal
1948
1956
7-red
metal
1966
1974
6-white
metal
1949
1955
6-white
metal
1967
1973
5-yellow
earth
1950
1954
5-yellow
earth
1968
1972
4-green
wood
1951
1953
4-green
wood
1969
1971
3-jade
wood
1952
1952
3-jade
wood
1970
1970
2-black
earth
1953
1951
2-black
earth
1971
1969
Star
Element
Male
Female
Star
Element
Male
Female
1-white
water
1963
1959
1-white
water
1981
1977
9-purple
fire
1964
1958
9-purple
fire
1982
1976
8-white
earth
1965
1957
8-white
earth
1983
1975
7-red
metal
1957
1965
7-red
metal
1975
1983
6-white
metal
1958
1964
6-white
metal
1976
1982
5-yellow
earth
1959
1963
5-yellow
earth
1977
1981
4-green
wood
1960
1962
4-green
wood
1978
1980
3-jade
wood
1961
1961
3-jade
wood
1979
1979
2-black
earth
1962
1960
2-black
earth
1980
1978
Find your year of birth in the column of your gender (1951 male). Note your Star and Element (4 green wood). Locate your
star in the Palace of Nine Halls (SE of eastern halls). These are your lucky directions (N, E, SE, S). The remaining
directions are unlucky for you (SW, W, NW, NE)
*If your star is 5 yellow, you are 2 black if female, and 8 white if male.
F. How to cure the harmful flow of qi.
1. Destroy the harmful element by enhancing the
environment with the element that destroys it in the
Mutual Destruction Order. [Example: your Natal Star is
Wood, but your living room is in the direction of West,
which belongs to the element Metal. Metal cuts Wood,
so the qi of that direction is harmful. To counteract the
harmful qi, you should enhance the living room with the
element Fire (candles, lamps, mirrors, crystals, etc.)]
2. Produce more of the beneficial element to replenish
that which is destroyed by the harmful element.
[Example: your Natal Star is Earth, but your library is in
the Eastern portion of the house which belongs to the
element Wood. Wood saps Earth, so the qi of that
direction is harmful. To counteract the harmful qi, you
can enhance the library with the element Earth
(terrarium, terracotta pots, etc.)]
Thank you for listening to my lecture! Here are two of my
websites filled with information for your personal use.
The Fengshui Gate
http://www.fengshuigate.com/
Fengshui Readings by Master Ten Li
http://www.fengshuigate.com/MasterTen/reading.html