Online Courses in Feng Shui Architecture – Introduction

WELCOME TO THE FENG SHUI COURSES VIA ZOOM
This video is a sequence of seven videos that serve only to show the topics we will cover; the actual course will consist of an audio course, an attached powerpoint to follow, and a pdf to print as a handout.

Now immerse yourself in this fascinating introduction.

Here are the pdf attachments of the various chapters: Chapter 1 – Chapter 2 – Chapter 3 – Chapter 4 – Chapter 5 – Chapter 6 – Chapter 7

INTRODUCTION
In this session, we will talk overall about Feng Shui in a general level, just to give an idea of how large is the knowledge that stands behind this ancient Chinese awareness.
Let’s start saying Feng Shui falls within in one of the five categories of Chinese metaphysics, called Wu Shu, as to say five arts, that if interiorized and comprehended, bring to the attainment of the Tao, that is the Way, the essence, the principle.
So, it’s perceived how Feng Shui is not simply a territorial, a spatial or a magnetic study, but a study and an experience of universal principles that slowly let the human being finding his connection with deeper realities.

The classical Chinese metaphysics categories are five: the first is called Shan, or Mountain, that contains several internal subjects, like meditation; the Tai Chi, Qi Gong; the Taoist philosophy; the use of talismans and finally the feeing used like full-blown medicine.
The second traditional art is called Yi, or Medicine. This was the traditional Chinese medicine that used diagnostic methods like the lecture of the pulse, the voice, the colour and the smell of the skin, and therapeutic methods like acupuncture, acupressure and phytotherapy.
The third was the Ming, or Fate, linked to numerological calculations, based on birth date, overall to find the forces in play, both temporal and fixed, that govern a person. Specifically we find several methods, for example the Ba Zi and the Zi Wei Dou Shu.

The fourth art was the Xiang of Shapes, based on observation and analysis of natural shapes. Through this art it could be possible to discover hidden forces that submit to the shapes in order to better know we ourselves and the environment we live in. In these whole studies there’s the Feng Shui, the reading of the face, of the hand and of human body. It’s interesting to notice how Feng Shui falls within this group of arts, indeed landscape was seen and analyzed like it was a living body.
The last one, the Bu or Divination, was based on predictive methods, on the use of the I Ching, through the coin method or the sticks method, or on other methods like, for example, the divination of the plum flower.

As we saw Feng Shui falls within in one of these metaphysics arts, that bring to the comprehension of Tao, indeed wise man, or of a certain age, was directed toward one of these ways to search for himself and the meaning of his life.
So, the study of this large knowledge basin that is Feng Shui, develops an inner experience and a deep search, bringing near the studious to the comprehension of life itself principles.
In this first introduction, we can say, to embrace a more complete vision, that Feng Shui masters were great studious, researchers, astronomers, astrologers and numerologists.
They knew many arts and they were, due to their level, more or less near to the emperor and his officials to give them suggestions, overall in the was strategies, in the seeking of the favourable site, during planning of the territorial urbanization. All this in order to increase and maintain the power.
It was a very important art, just for the consolidation of the power during time. This can make us think why Feng Shui is not a banal study about it, indeed we could affirm that China still the last one coming out from an imperial form, just due to planning and the strategy given by these great studies that suggested a set of valuations to hold and contain the power as a long time as possible.

But then, the question is: which valour have all these studies? Are they really serious or simply a jumble of ancient pagan superstitions?
I will answer this question demonstrating that these great studious of the territory weren’t absolute beginners, surely is a little serious to say that these studies are all superficial conjectures, indeed already in 1000 B.C. we find, at the beginning of the Song dynasty, a set of maps inscribed on the rock that describe the landscapes of the territories in a so precise way that seems made by a satellite technology, not even comparable to anything made in that period in the Occident.
Such a detail of analysis was very widen and this demonstrate great skills and knowledge.
Unfortunately this is a story we already know, almost every Oriental culture that arrives in the Occident is seen with mockery or superstition, or as a maximum, it becomes fashion or simply ethnic custom elements.

Nevertheless, just if we penetrate it more and more, we could notice how much research substance man has had in this side of the world.
Acupuncture, for example, got a similar story: first mocked by medical institution, only after deep analysis and scientific tests entered officially like one of cure methods.
This example let’s us understand that occidental approach to this knowledge has to be revised. In order to bring to light these ancient knowledge, reaching a decidedly scientific answer is not possible without suitable technologies that consider an holistic vision of life.
Feng Shui masters, advisers of nobles and officials, and the emperor itself, were assigned to suggest best place and best time for the several political functions.
All this is imbued with symbolism, but we have to remember that the emperor was considered like a sun, a divinity, he moved himself to one side to the other of his royal palace through a set of ceremonies that were linked to planetary circles and seasons.

These studious got his lineage that was transmitted from master to disciple, in this way carrying on this tradition.
In this picture, shot by a movie, it’s possible to notice the stick, or meter, of a Feng Shui master, symbol of the careful study of the space, trough the proportion and the numerology secrets …