The history and theory of the feng shui

The feng shui is an ancient chinese art on which its goal is to improve the life through the qi (also known chi). Qi or Chi means literally “air” and it is very difficult to define it. Its synonymous is energy and it can be interpreted like life force. In fact, if we define it in the feng shui, qi represents the understanding of climate, structure orientation, time and interaction with the surrounding environment. Feng shui means “wind water” and it has been taken from a passage of the Zhangshu book written by Guo Pu during the Jin dynasty. In the old time, people get used to say “raise the head and observe the sky. Lower the head and observe the environment". It was mainly used to find a good place to live and a good place to bury,

along with agricultural planning on which the study is based on the interactions of the heaven, of the earth and of the individual.

The history

The first time, that the feng shui appeared in the world, was during the Yangshao (5000 BC - 3000 BC) and Hongshan (4700 BC - 2900 BC) cultures and until the invention of the magnetic compass, it depended on the astronomy to discover correlations between humans and the universe.

Archaeologists found out a lot of evidences that feng shui was born during this period but not the exactly time. Indeed, in the Banpo archaeological site, they discovered that in 4000 BC all the doors were aligned to the asterism (star map) Yingshi to benefit of the solar gain.

At Puyang city, they discovered a grave dating from 3000 BC which contained mosaics of the dragon and tiger asterism and beidou (chinese constellation) which were oriented along the north south axis. Moreover the fact to find round and square shapes (heaven round, earth square) in the tomb support this theory. At Hanshan, a jade, dating around 3000 BC, was found where in his interior hidden a cosmography which looks like a lot of the modern feng shui devices and formulas.

Until the creation of the magnetic compass, chinese based his study on the astronomy and they used circumpolar stars to determine the north-south axis of settlements. When the luopan (magnetic compass) has been created for the feng shui, it has been used since the Han era and until now.

The theory

Like said above, feng shui is used to improve our life by finding the good place to live where the qi is the most influential. Not all the places are good so in this situation, better to let the nature instead to build.

Except for the qi, the other components which determine the feng shui theory is the yin and yang theory and the bagua.

The yin (literally traduced “shady place” or “north slope”) and yang (literally traduced “sunny place” or “south slope”) is used to describe 2 opposite forces which are bound, intertwined and interdependent in the natural universe. In spite that all are dark inside the yin, it will always exist a shinning spot and in the whiteness of the yang, a black spot meaning that opposite forces can’t live without the other and need both to create the balance and the harmony of the universe.

The 5 elements of the feng shui are created from them which are composed of water, wood, fire, earth and metal and that is one of the reason the feng shui is said to be about balance.

The bagua is defined like eight diagrams to represent a range of interrelated concepts which are composed of three lines (broken or unbroken) representing a yin line or a yang line. In practice, it exists 2 versions for the feng shui. One called “earlier heaven bagua” for burial site and the other called “later heaven bagua” for residential site.

It has been found out that the bagua is linked to the astronomical events like in the turtle calendar of Yao (in the Yaodian section of the Zhangshu book) dating around 2300 BC. In Yaodian, the cardinal directions are determined by the constellation of the 4 celestial animals known as:

• the blue green dragon of the east (spring equinox)
• the red bird of the south (summer solstice)
• the white tiger of the west (autumn equinox)
• the mysterious turtle of the north (winter solstice)

The bagua is also linked with the sifang (4 directions). It is a method of divination used during the Shang dynasty. At the end, it seems that the time expressed in calendars and in astronomy is very important for the feng shui.

In our actual time, the feng shui is mainly used to arrange objects within our space to create a perfect harmony in our environment. Also it is used to achieve our goals to reach peace, serenity, well being and love.

A lot of architects use it to design and to build residences and a lot of people ask advises to the feng shui master to know the better place to live and/or how we can organize our home to improve the flow of the qi. By this way each person can reach the balance of the energy which corresponds to him/her in the universe.