What is FengShui?

FengShui is an integrated subject by itself within the whole of Chinese Metaphysics. Basically, Chinese Metaphysics can be described in two words: 五术 WuXu (The 5 Arts). What are they?

They are:

1. Shan 山 (Body enhancement, health, martial arts)
2. Yi  医 (Medicine)
3. Ming  命 (Astrology)
4. Bu 卜 (Divination)
5. Xiang 相 (FengShui, Face reading and Palmistry)
   

The 5 Arts cover the whole spectrum of Chinese Metaphysics 中国玄学, and generally, the 5 Arts share all the same basic theories and philosophies, such as: the theory of Yin Yang; the theory of the 5 Elements, HeTu and LuoShu theories, YiJing Gua (Trigrams and Hexagrams), etc.

Much of the basic knowledge in FengShui stems from fundamental factors such as: Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, HeTu and LuoShu, the Early Heaven and Later Heaven BaGuas and the BeiDou (Big Dipper) stars. These are then correlated with Time, Space and Direction in different formulas to derive different results.

The Meaning of the Word FengShui 風 水

In this chapter, I shall present two different concepts of the word FengShui. The first concept is based entirely on the theory of the HeTu and the other concept is more or less based on the theories espoused in the ZangShu (the Book of Burial).

The word FengShui 風 水is a combination of two words: ‘Feng’ 風means wind and ‘Shui’ 水means water. Together, the two words conjure up an image of scenery, a large track of land with hills and rivers and wind blowing gently across, people going about their daily chores or business, tilling their land or harvesting crops.

KanYu 堪 舆

KanYu was the first word to describe FengShui. The word FengShui was a later development.

The ancients of China, experiencing the unpredictable forces of Nature, decided to observe Nature acting upon the land where they lived. They gathered experience after experience, accumulated data after data, stored knowledge after knowledge, and eventually accumulated a whole body of information concerning climatic patterns and its relationship with the land where they lived.

The accumulated knowledge on the character of Nature, on how to avoid the unpleasant and on how to create a pleasant environment by channeling and intelligently utilizing the forces of Nature, became known as KanYu 堪舆. This was the original term for FengShui in ancient times.

Kan 堪by itself has a literal meaning of ‘May or can’ but here in this context, it has taken on the meaning of KanCha 勘察, which means ‘prospecting’ or ‘measuring.’ Kan 堪 can be Kan 勘, which means to survey or to prospect.

Yu 舆which has a few literal meanings: (a) ‘earth or land’ and YuTu 舆图 means ‘map’, (b) ‘vehicle’ and YuMa 舆马 as in horse cart. But here, it has the intrinsic meaning of ‘the Big Earth’ 大地.

Therefore, KanYu 堪舆, together, took on the meaning of ‘surveying the big Earth.’

 Concept of the Word FengShui Based on the HeTu

This concept of FengShui is based on the theory of the HeTu. It is one of the two most widely accepted explanations of FengShui. The other is based on the theory of the ZangShu.

The HeTu’s fundamental theory has two important facets: Xiang or Appearance and Xing or Image. The HeTu itself is none other than a Map (or Chart) of the Stars (or Heavenly Bodies), and when used in FengShui, the Xiang (Appearance) denotes Heaven and the Xing (Image) represents Earth.

Heaven is Xiang – is Appearance – is about the Stars, the 28 Constellations, is about Heavenly Qi which affects the Seasons on Earth and this Qi is carried by the Wind. Therefore, Heaven represents Feng 風 or Wind.

Earth is Xing, is Image and is about the Four Celestial Animals represented in Landforms – QingLong (Green Dragon), BaiHu (White Tiger), ZhuQue (Red Phoenix) and XuanWu (Black Tortoise). Landforms is all about Mountains as Earth Dragons and Waters (Rivers, streams lakes, etc…) as Water Dragon. All these are Earth and represent Water 水.

Therefore, the word FengShui can be explained using the theory of the HeTu.