Feng Shui

Feng shui (fung seui in Cantonese) is a technique of managing the landscape to maximize favorable circumstances and minimize misfortunes. Although it is uniquely Chinese, it has spread to other east Asian countries, and, very recently, to the rest of the world.

Feng Shui defies categorization. It has been erroneously called magic, science, religion, mysticism, and charlatanry, or “the art or pseudo-science of manipulating the occult forces that are believed to run through a landscape, site, house, or even room.” It is also called “geomancy,” but is does not resemble the ancient Greek and Near Eastern magical art of geomancy.

In Imperial China, Feng Shui built on the experience of billions of Chinese peasants. The roots of Feng Shui are pragmatic perceptions. These include the following guidelines: not building houses or villages in a floodplain or on a steep unstable slope; not building on good agricultural land; growing trees above and around villages for protection from wind and erosion and for provision of shade, fuel, and wood; having a reliable water supply; keeping a village difficult to reach, with a winding path to discourages invaders; encircling a village with hills like a womb, with the highest hills on the windward side, to block winds and storms; no undercutting of a steep slope; facing houses south, toward the warmth and light of the sun; and situating graves relatively far from settlements and with pleasant views, since traditional Chinese believe that parts of the spirits of the dead remain with the bodies.

A further set of rules, again based on common sense, applies within the home. An occupied room should not face the front door; the kitchen should be near the main door, bedrooms farther away; and furniture should not block lines of flow. Rules for room placement and arrangement can get very complicated, but in good Feng Shui practice the arrangements are grounded in practicality.

The “occult forces” concept results from perceptions of early Chinese thought, which seems to have been broadly animist. Every rock, hill, tree, and watercourse had its spirit, often a dragon, magical tiger, or other supernatural animal. These spirits had their own will and intentionality.

These beliefs persist today and do influence Feng Shui practice. Evil spirits travel in straight lines, for instance, hence the be winding paths to the house and blocking direct air routes with trees and religious structures. Failing that, one can set up a pottery model of a fortune-bringing animal on the roof; dragons and Buddhist “lions” are popular. A house must have symmetrical double doors, partly to provide a place to attach the spiritual door guardians. Painted images of Tang Dynasty generals have the power to repel ghostly evil, as the original generals repelled living enemies.