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Many articles and books have been written on feng shui and its various meanings. In this article I will try to explain feng shui in simple terms where one does not get lost in a myriad of descriptions some of which are misplaced beliefs. To understand how feng shui works and how it can be applied, I feel it is necessary to know its basic fundamentals.
Feng shui is the art of manipulating qi by studying the movement of qi in our environment; it also helps in enhancing earth luck. Now what does earth luck mean? It is believed that a man's luck can be equally divided in three halves (tien di ren - cosmic trinity). Heaven luck, man kind luck and earth luck. Heaven luck is actually destiny or fate (luck a man is born with), this can be studied through Chinese astrology (ba zi or tzi wei do shou). Mankind luck basically translates into karma, a man reaps as he sows, and therefore his deeds should be upright, steadfast and correct. Earth luck can be studied through the principles of the earth - studying the movement of qi and using it as an aid to accomplish our endeavors.
What is the meaning of qi? The basic properties of qi is that it is omnipresent, it is carried by the movement of gentle winds and qi gets collected or can be retained by water, hence the name feng shui, which means wind and water. This forms the basic fundamentals of feng shui.
Another terminology frequently used in feng shui is yin and yang. Understanding the concept of yin and yang (a term loosely used yet not fully understood) is necessary for the study of feng shui. Yang means movement, brightness, light, water etc. yin means stillness, darkness, night, mountain etc. Yin and yang cannot exist without each other. Yin contains a bit of yang and yang contains a bit of yin. To explain it simply, it means balance - too much light can be blinding at the same time absolute darkness can mean you cannot see. What is required is temperance or balance for you to see. That forms the essence of yin and yang. Qi can be either yin or yang.
A description of feng shui would be incomplete without mentioning the Hetu and the Loshu. There is a legendary story about Fu His who saw a dragon horse emerge from the river He carrying a piece of jade on its back. On the jade was a pattern of dots and it is from this that Fu His arranged the Ba Gua (the eight trigrams in a circular form). The Hetu and Loshu form a powerful tool in the study of qi. Understanding both is necessary in the course of study in feng shui. Hetu represents the perfect universe and is fixed. Many feng shui formulae are derived from the understanding of Early Heaven sequence.
The design of the Loshu is similar to the Hetu except that the dotted patterns are different. This is also known as the river book. King Wen derived the "Later Heaven Bagua" after studying the Loshu. The Loshu represents the changing structure of the universe and is not fixed. Many feng shui applications are based on the Loshu.
The five elements play a vital role in feng shui. The theory of five elements says that everything in the universe can be categorized in five groups which is: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The interaction of the elements and an understanding of how they affect each other play a vital role in assessing the potential of any property. There are three cycles in which the elements react to each other - production, weakening and destruction. In the production cycle wood produces fire, fire produces earth, earth produces metal, metal produces water and water produces wood. In the weakening cycle wood is weakened by fire, fire is weakened by earth, earth is weakened by metal, metal is weakened by water and water is weakened by wood. In the destruction cycle wood is destroyed by metal, fire is destroyed by water, earth is destroyed by wood, metal is destroyed by fire and water is destroyed by earth. These cycles are further applied in various formulae.
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Mountains and water formation (landscape study) is yet another essential part of feng shui. The study of the inflow and outflow of water along with the land embrace (mountain formation) is important.
"The energy of the dragon will be dispersed by wind and stop at the boundary of water".
Guo Po, Zheng Shu (Book of Burial), 276-324 AD
Directions play a key role in the application of feng shui. The eight directions viz. four cardinal (North, South, East and West) and four sub-cardinal (Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast) directions, have been further subdivided into three halves of 150 each making it a total of 24 directions that is called 24 mountains in feng shui. This is one the main reasons that makes the Lo Pan (Chinese compass) an essential tool in evaluating a site or in application of feng shui.
A Lo Pan is made of concentric rings, each ring has valuable observations and knowledge of past feng shui masters for handy reference. The most important rings in the Lo Pan are the earth, man and heaven plates used to decipher the direction, land embrace and its effect on the particular property. It is a beautiful and an indispensable instrument with symbols, trigrams and Chinese characters.
As explained above feng shui has a lot to do with the study of the environment, both in terms of the place you live in and the study of the surrounding area. In short it can be said that feng shui is the study of qi - how qi flows, where good qi is located, how different qi can effect us (for better or for worse), how different qi react with each other and how qi can be manipulated through various techniques (formulae) to obtain the optimal results for any given property.
Read more on related topic
Schools of Feng shui
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