BY ARCHITECT PIERFRANCESCO ROS

Preface
Feng Shui a discipline practiced as far back as 3000 years ago in China, then evolved gradually through the introduction of new theories and models, developed for the primary needs of survival and defense: making the best use of land resources from the settlement point of view, protecting oneself from cold winds, sheltering from the weather and insolation, shielding oneself, and defending oneself from possible enemies. All of this later is combined with concepts related to culture, philosophy, climate and territory, which is why similar studies and theoretical models that can be traced back to Feng Shui can be found all over the world in different eras.

Man has a heart that beats the same way all over the world; he is subject to the principle of expansion and contraction, which we may call universal in character both internally and externally to him.
Indeed precisely because of their universal significance, traces of these principles are found in theoretical models and patterns in Japan in the study of Fudo, in Peru through Sacred Earth Geometry, in Vietnam with Phong Tuy, in India with Vastu, and in the West through Geomancy. This suggests that Feng Shui in its fundamentals is not Chinese prerogative but human.

For example, in Feng Shui, the theories of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements and reflexively the Four Animals, are an attempt to build theoretical models to understand the universal laws of the deeper cycles and mechanisms of existence in order to be able to make choices that are as harmonious and beneficial as possible while respecting the environment. In every age and place, whatever the theory that goes back to these principles, human beings have always found themselves in a position of having to make choices, otherwise time would eventually make them.

Even in Feng Shui as in many traditions, as we have moved away from the source, deeper content has been lost and attachments to sometimes superstitious and limiting patterns have been created.
In order to resurrect a tradition one must first relive it, reincarnate it and not simply understand it, and at that point the tradition becomes living again, one must not get caught up in haste nor in easy formulas or assumptions, but experiment and feel…. and slowly the veil of those universal principles that have done so much writing for mankind will open.
At that point it is like talking about borders of states looking at the earth from the outside…. where are the borders?

The translation of Feng Shui, which literally means Wind and Water, says very little, but if we analyze well the wind that binds to Heaven and Water to Earth, it is like saying Heaven and Earth.

This concept implies the idea of balance between the energies of Heaven and Earth, of naturalizing the human environment using the principles that nature itself and we have. In fact, man stands in the middle between Heaven and Earth as a demiurge whose task is to best marry these two forces for the ends he chooses.

Feng Shui is to be applied by following a methodological approach that initially evaluates the School of Form or Earth Qi, covered in the Earth Way video courses, and briefly covers:

the analysis of the surroundings, the study of the viability and energy flow of the local Qi and the subsoil, the analysis of the best orientation, the use of water and greenery up to the use of environmentally friendly materials and technologies.

Next, the Compass School is used, which is linked to the Qi of Heaven, which will be covered in the Heaven’s Way video courses, with its various methods:

the Flying Stars or method called the Flying Stars or space-time method, which through a triad of numbers (Mountain Star – back dwelling, Water Star – front dwelling and Time Star – current period) suggests useful information about the energetic evolution of spaces, based on twenty-year cycles.

Next we apply the method of Bazhai or school of the eight Palaces/Houses, which evaluates the energy of the environment divided into four favorable and four unfavorable areas, superimposed later on the study of Ming Gua or personal energy, which also divides the environment into four favorable and unfavorable areas.

Next we use the methods that link personality to space and time that will be covered in the Way of Man video courses,including:

The Nine Stars Qi method and the Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi).

The Inner Feng Shui linking to Man’s Qi, the analysis of the symbolic aspects of the site and the home, the effects possessed by the conscious and unconscious forces of man driven by his deep needs, and the techniques of energetic upgrading of a space.

All this will be integrated into a comprehensive reading of the Lo Pan

Feng Shui Architecture paradigm.
To better understand the emergence of the Feng Shui Schools, let us look at the diagram above that represents the evolution of the basic universal principles used to define three major models of reading space or environment.

It all begins with Wu Ji or great emptiness or formless unity, which in our culture we may call “the Ain Sof Aur” of the Sefirotic Tree of the Kabbalah, that is, that which exists before creation or rather that which underlies as invisible energy to the visible, a principle also formulated in Feng Shui as the Anterior Sky. Next in the scheme, we have the representation of Tai Ji or Manifested Energy, which has duality as its basic principle that is presented as the stability of opposites in continuous becoming; this concept is represented by the well-known diagram of Yin and Yang.

By way of example we can mention that in evil (represented in the classical diagram by the color black) there is also good (small white dot in the black part), this is to suggest that in the world of duality there is nothing absolute or isolated, but everything is related to the whole.

What is to be meditated on in the global diagram is the figure of the circle that encloses the two opposites and not its interior, this pattern in Feng Shui is also represented with the Rear Sky.

To analyze more precisely the theory of Yin and Yang, and its effects as a dual principle in its intermediate phases, five qualities or energetic phases called Wu Xing or Five Elements were observed, then raised to eight phases to be read in space (the eight cardinal directions), and then to nine to be read in relation to the Lo Shu magic square (a map or grid of nine sacred numbers).

From this kind of analytical approach, the environment was catalogued through the energy phases described above; this study led to determining when the five energies are in harmony with each other following the natural Archetypal pattern and when they are not. As a result, all those correctives and balancing useful to remedy energetically disharmonious situations arise.

This working methodology is used to identify the favorable and unfavorable forces, which underlie in the architecture and surroundings. These forces or energies (Qi) derive from three major pathways:

The intangible path of Heaven that infuses the Qi of Heaven in its tangible aspects such as celestial bodies and the intangible ones, which are their effects on man, determining cycles and propitious moments. This Way that is linked to Time was formulated by the so-called Liqi Pai School, of the Compass, Compass or Directions, modeled in its highest synthesis within the Lo Pan..;

The Tangible way related to the Earth, which infuses Earth Qi in its tangible aspects such as landforms, architectures, and the intangible ones which are their effects on man determining atmospheres, sensations and emotions, this way that is related to space was formulated by the so-called Xing Shi School, of Form or Configuration;

The way of Man infusing human Qi, in its tangible aspects derived from conscious and conscious forces, and the intangible ones related to unconscious forces and impulses, binds to human action. There is no recognized school for Human Qi as for the first two gives always considered as main schools of Feng Shui, however in the volume series an effort has been made to bring together the various thoughts and schools that fall under this category calling it the Intuitive School.

To be even more precise, these three subdivisions that determine different systems or Schools of Feng Shui, can be classified under two main ideologies, San He (three Harmonies) and San Yuan (three Cycles). Both deal with Territory Formation and Qi distribution, however San He puts more emphasis on Territory Formation , San Yuan on Qi distribution with respect to Time. For didactic linearity, however, we will distinguish the various Schools in the three ways just listed.

In reality these patterns were not created at a desk in a linear order, but were developed through settlement experiences respecting nature and its cycles, initially for reasons of survival and defense and later refined more and more for reasons of well-being.


Archaic patterns
For example, searching for the ideal site named Xuè with a river in front and a mountain behind tied in with the need to first have the proximity of water as a source of nourishment (fishing), transportation and defense from frontal attacks; while the proximity of the mountain as an element of shelter (cold winds and bad weather), nourishment (game), to find raw materials for construction (wood) and for defense from attacks in the rear.

These primary spatial needs determined the first embryo of the Form school.
Consequently, for the same primary reasons, settlements and thus buildings (in the early days the cave with the fire near the opening) were oriented with the front facing the river to allow more visibility and defense.

Settlements were often sought with the river to the south for ease of water use, more visibility from the early hours, warmth to the often cold water area, and the Mountains to the north for reasons of defense against cold winds.

Reflexively, the house was also oriented tendentially with the front and largest openings to the south, where the rooms used for daytime activities were placed, to increase its use of passive heating. The back of the house oriented to the north, was designed with few openings where the rooms used for service and sleeping area activities were placed. These primary orientation needs determined the first embryo of the Compass school.

The origins of Feng Shui
The origins of Feng Shui are ancient.
It was recently discovered how ancient Chinese tombs dating back to the Neolithic period, 6,000 years ago, were built following certain principles of Feng Shui.

Ancient Chinese tribes were headed by wise shaman kings who possessed knowledge of the divinatory, astronomical, astrological and meteorological arts and who outlined the foundations of Feng Shui over time. In fact, especially through Fuxi (2852-2737 B.C.E.) and Yu (2205-2197 B.C.E.), the foundations of the divination system that underlies all Feng Shui theory (the cross of Hetu and the Anterior Heaven and the magic square of Lo Shu and the Posterior Heaven) were determined. Through the guidance of kings, the Chinese began to establish settlements and build cities.

Yu founded the Xia Dynasty (2100-1600 B.C.E.) which lasted, around four hundred years, later succeeded by the Shang Dynasty (1600-1045 B.C.E.) for another six hundred years, which over time slowly lost the use of knowledge, which was revived, expanded and developed later by King Wen who founded the Chou Dynasty (1045-221 B.C.E.). He is apparently credited with the creation of the Chou-i system of divination (1100 b.c.) the basis of the modern I Ching.

Another contribution on the foundations of Feng Shui was made by King Huang-ti called the Yellow Emperor who helped perfect the studies on numerology and orientation, to him we owe the basic treatise the Huang Di Zhai Jing, i.e., the Yellow Emperor’s classical treatise. The later Emperor Shing also of the Chou dynasty made important changes and insights.

In later centuries the divination arts became a branch of knowledge, managed by the Fang-Shih (formula expert). Initially they were political and military advisers of the War of the States Period (475-221 B.C.), they later became a social and political force during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) and the Three Kingdoms Era (220-280 A.D.).

During this period, Feng Shui initially called Kanyu (Way of Heaven and Earth) became a full-fledged profession. Improvements and new interpretations followed, and at the end of the Three Kingdoms Epoch and the beginning of the next Jin Dynasty (265-420), there lived Guo-Pu (276-324 CE) who made Kanyu a recognized branch in the field of Daoist arts.

Guo-Pu and another great scholar of that period, Guan-Ge, were the two most influential Feng Shui masters of the time. Both wrote books that can still be consulted today, such as Guan-Ge’s Guide the Di-Li and Guo-Pu’s Burial Book in which we first find the term Feng Shui.

During subsequent dynasties up to and including the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) the concept of orientation was even more developed, consequently more refinements, sub-schools and branches were created until the modern formulation. In fact, the Classical Feng Shui applied in the world today by masters is very similar to that applied and codified in the Qing dynasty.

With the formation of the Chinese republic (1912-1949) opposed to “esoteric” knowledge, until today, Feng Shui from millenary knowledge has been disowned and relegated to mere superstition. A number of Feng Shui masters then moved to the West divulging to the world this divine knowledge, which today we bring to light in its entirety.