What is feng shui？
Feng Shui is an ancient and profound discipline in traditional Chinese culture.
Feng Shui Meaning
Wind (Feng): Represents flowing energy, which can be understood as the movement of air.
Water (Shui): Represents gathered energy, which can be understood as the movement and form of water.
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese environmental selection and philosophical discipline that studies the spatial layout, form, and energy flow of mountains, rivers, terrain, direction, climate, architecture, homes, and cities, and how these factors influence the health, fortune, wealth, interpersonal relationships, and overall well-being of residents or users. It emphasizes the harmonious coexistence of humans and the environment.
The core of Feng Shui: “Hide the wind and gather energy; water is the most important.” That is, find and create an environment that can gather, guide, and balance life energy, avoiding energy being scattered by the wind or destroyed by bad water flow, thereby enabling people to obtain health, harmony, prosperity, and good luck.
The Historical Origins of Feng Shui
Feng Shui originated in China over 8,000 years ago. A Chinese emperor named Fu Xi observed the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, the forms of mountains and rivers, and the habits of birds, beasts, insects, and fish. He invented the Yin-Yang Tai Chi diagram, the Five Elements, and the Feng Shui Bagua diagram to simulate and demonstrate the changes in Feng Shui energy flow. This helped humans transform their living environments to make them more suitable.
Feng Shui Basics
Qi: The life force energy of all things. Good feng shui allows positive energy to gather and flow smoothly, avoiding the impact of negative energy.
Yin Yang: The interdependent, opposing, and unified forces in the universe (e.g., light/dark, movement/stillness, soft/hard). Spaces need a balance of yin and yang (e.g., sufficient light that is not glaring; areas for activity as well as quiet areas).
The Four Symbols originated from the Taiji and represent four cosmic forces:
- Qinglong (East): Wood attribute, symbolizing vitality and influential people
- Vermillion Bird (South): Fire element, symbolizing fame and prospects
- White Tiger (West): Metal element, symbolizing military might and severity
- Black Tortoise (North): Water element, symbolizing support and stability
The Four Symbols also correspond to the four seasons (Spring-Azure Dragon, Summer-Vermillion Bird, Autumn-White Tiger, Winter-Black Tortoise) and the constellations.
Five Elements (Wu Xing): The five basic elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and their interdependent and conflicting relationships. Used to analyze the balance of spatial elements (colors, materials, shapes, and directions).
- Mutual generation: Wood generates fire > Fire generates earth > Earth generates metal > Metal generates water > Water generates wood
- Mutual destruction: Wood destroys earth > Earth destroys water > Water destroys fire > Fire destroys metal > Metal destroys wood
Ba Gua Map (Eight Trigrams) and Posterior Heaven Ba Gua Directions: The core tools of the Feng Shui compass. Space is divided into eight directions (north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest), each corresponding to a trigram representing different areas of life (career, wealth, health, relationships, etc.) and Five Elements attributes. Beginners should first memorize the directions and their corresponding areas:
- North (Kan hexagram): Career, professional life
- Northeast (Gen hexagram): Knowledge, learning, spiritual cultivation
- East (Zhen hexagram): Family, health (especially the eldest son)
- Southeast (Xun hexagram): Wealth, prosperity (especially the eldest daughter)
- South (Li Gua): Reputation, fame, light
- Southwest (Kun Gua): Love, marriage, mother/female head of household
- West (Dui Gua): Children, creativity, joy (especially the youngest daughter)
- Northwest (Qian Gua): Benefactors, father/male head of household, leadership
- Center: Health, overall balance (earth element)