Fengshui

Have you heard of "fengshui"? Perhaps in the context of interior design and balancing your life? I had heard the term mentioned in movies, but it was never something I investigated. Well today in Hong Kong's Heritage class, our professor taught us about fengshui. I thought it was quite fascinating so I will share with you a portion of what I learned.

Fengshui was formed during the Song/Sung Dynasty (960-1279 BCE). Religion and morals have no part in it. It was developed as a scientific concept. In English, fengshui translates to wind-water.

"Fengshui"

Chinese scholars believed that in the "beginning" there existed chaos - a cloud of formless, stationary dust. Creation started with the movement of one particle. There is no explanation of why or how that particle moved; they did not dwell on this point. After the movement of that one particle of dust, three changes occured. More particles started to move, density increased in some parts and decreased in others, and then other particles moved in to fill the vacant space. Circular movements were formed around a vortices along with other counter movements. Eventually in the spaces where the movement was less, matter was formed. If these circular movements of particles ever stopped, then everything would fall back into chaos. "The movement of the vortices can be seen as positive and negative, but in fact they are absolutely equally balanced: if they were not, the vortex would collapse back to stasis."

Anyone confused? I was a little, but it slowly got clearer. I hope I can explain it well. Bear with me.

 
The forward movement of the particles created the yang and the reciprocal (counter) movement created the yin. The yin is the shadow, the female part. The yang is the sun, the male part. Everything exists within the perpetual circle of yin and yang. In nature, each part has a force - yin or yang. Yang forces: mountains, clouds, rain, fast-moving streams, places with moving wind, steep areas, fire. Yin forces: groundwater, plains, slow, still water, mist, marshes, fields, cool, shaded areas.

The yin and yang forces cause the landscape. For example, the mountains rise in reaction to the yang forces already there. If you destroy the mountain, it will eventually come back because the yang forces exist in that spot.

A Fengshui master assesses the flow of the yin and yang forces at any site. A village should be sited at the point where the forces' balance change from yang to yin (however , the Chinese tended to build their village just a few feet more on the male side). The balance is needed because "too much yang leads to violence, quarrels, sudden death, poor harvests and thoughtless acts, while too much yin leads to stolidity, stupidity, slowness, mental illness, rot, and decay."

Hong Kong has a problem with yang forces that are too strong. Thus, trees are planted because they are strong yin forces that will act as filters to the yang forces. Since gods are pure yang (they exist within the boundaries of fengshui), ancestral halls are build right on the main yang force line. During the Sung Dynasty, the study of fengshui was divided into two schools - North and South. The northern school says buildings should face the south and that the relationship with the heavens and stars are more important. The southern school says buildings don't need to face the south and the relationship with the landscape (the mountains) is most important). Good fengshui spots are called "true dragons."

According to my professor, the diagram of a true dragon is supposed to resemble sexual intercourse because the strong ling of the yang runs into the middle and is surrounded/embraced by the flowing lines of the yin. At the point where the yin and yang meet is where the village should be built.

Lingnan University apparently was constructed to have excellent fengshui. If you stand at the main gate and face towards the inner part of campus then you have a clear view of the mountain behind the campus and can see the pools of water in the courtyards that are positioned so they fall on either side of the mountain. The only problem is that if you turn around and look out the fengshui of the campus is ruined because they couldn't control what was built across the road and tall buildings were built which blocks off the view of the mountains on the other side.

Achieving good fengshui means the lives of people living in that site will be comfortable. If a site has bad fengshui, the effects are not immediate because fengshui works slowly; however the lives of people living there will grow to be more uncomfortable.

I don't want to claim that everything I wrote is correct; I am merely summarizing what I learned in class. It is all very general. The study of fengshui is extremely detailed. If you are interested in knowing more, I suggest doing some research, but try to avoid sites that are discussing interior design.