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A
History of Feng Shui
Feng Shui is the term now
used for a technical earth science, a natural science
that was part of a wider scientific and philosophical
system developed in Neolithic (and possibly Paleolithic)
Asia and brought to the height of refinement by Daoists.
The
original science was Kan Yu, literally rendered
by many as "time theory and geographical theory," or
"looking into the heavens/looking at the earth." Yuan
Kong, another name for the science, literally translates
as "space-time." It is the theory of time and geography
in Chinese culture that forms the basis of what most
people call Feng Shui (fung shoy, fung shui, fung
schway), which became the layman's term for Kan
Yu because of a misinterpretation.
The specific methodology
for detecting patterns of terrestrial energy using movements
of wind and water is mentioned in a Daoist encyclopedia,
Huai-nan Zi (c. 100 BCE), a collaboration between
King Lui-an of Huai-nan and various Daoist scholars invited
to his court. The term "Feng Shui" possibly developed
from a discussion by Kuo Pu (267 - 324) of the Huai-nan
Zi in his commentary to an old dictionary, the Er-ya
and a book about geography (Shan hai Jing). The
uneducated trivialized the science as an observation of
wind and water. When white missionaries entered China
and learned of the practice, they associated it with geomancy,
a Latin term literally meaning "earth prophecy," which
is a method of divination using handfuls of dirt scattered
on the ground or markings made on the earth. Kan Yu is
part of a broad field of study known in Han times as Yuan
xue, which combined Kan Yu with Yi Jing, Zi-wei,
and other disciplines. This combined field of study is
what is generally referred to today as "traditional" or
"classical" Feng Shui.
Westerners
and even some Chinese misinterpret the term on a regular
basis. For many Classical scholars, "Feng Shui" is a
term used by those of low culture. Those of a higher
calling tend to call themselves "practitioners of principles
of the land," that is Di Li Shi or Kan Yu
Shi.
The Book of the Devil Valley Master (c. 400 BCE)
and the Book of Master Han Fei (c. 300 BCE) mention
the antiquity of the "south-pointer" or Si Nan
(the lodestone compass) for establishing direction,
and it is known that the Si Nan was originally used
to site buildings and settlements. Huangdi's reign (2697
- 2597 BCE) supposedly saw the invention of the compass;
but historians believe it was during Zheng Wang's reign
(1115 - 1078 BCE) that the Si Nan came into use. Archeology
and site cosmology make it plain that a compass was
most certainly used before Zheng Wang's time to site
temples and other structures. Longshan culture (2500
- 1900 BCE) suggests early use of Kan Yu in its elaborate
ceremonial and funerary precincts. Mohenjo-daro and
certain Neolithic Chinese settlements laid out in the
"magic square" grid pattern characteristic of Preheaven
and Postheaven Baguas argue for advancing the age of
the science beyond current boundaries. (Interestingly,
Huangdi's reign is roughly concurrent with Wayland's
Smithy Phase II in England, while Zheng Wang's reign
is later than Stonehenge.)
Professor
Stephen Field, Dept. of Languages and Literature at
Trinity University, has presented research suggesting
that there was a system of Feng Shui employed before
development of the Five Elements (c. 4th century BCE)
and practices that are known from the time of the Tang
Dynasty. Based on his analysis, an earlier system of
divination using the houtian arrangement of the trigrams
common to Kan Yu was available to practitioners before
the Han Dynasty. However, most Western historians, examining
the form of Feng Shui accessible today, tend to date
it during the Warring States Period (480 BCE - 221 BCE)
when it was the province of esoteric scholars, forecasters,
and mystics known as Fang Shi.
Fang in ancient Chinese dictionaries generally
meant "efficacious," "formulaic," "correlative," "comparative,"
"medicinal," "spiritual," "esoteric." It also referred
to people, places, and cultures far away from the emperor's
court -- to outlying provinces where most esoteric masters
(Fang Shi) were born and lived. Shi generally
referred to a scholar-bureaucrat. For instance, the
"I-Shi" was the Chinese equivalent of the U.S. Surgeon
General, but the term also referred to a Fang Shi medical
practice in the Yellow Emperor tradition. In Shang times,
the esoteric masters read the oracles and possessed
other arcane skills; in later times they would become
part of the scholarly, bureaucratic gentry, but because
of their Daoist practices philosophically opposed to
the entrenched Ju-ist (Confucian) majority.
Fang Shi originally comprised three different disciplines:
- Divination and the invocation of spirits (but not
always in terms of the shamanic)
- Pharmaceutical and hygienic medicine
- Astrology and calendrics
Over
millennia, the pharmaceutical/medical form evolved with
other scientific disciplines into what we now know as
Chinese medicine. Although medicine was a respectable
study of Confucian physicians, due to its associations
with pharmacy it was connected to Fang Shi medical practitioners
and Daoist alchemists and herbalists.
The
divination and astrological/calendrical forms were merged
into one form with many subdisciplines, but many are
recognizable today as part of the science of traditional
Feng Shui.
In
ancient China, Fang Shi practitioners preferred to specialize
in one of the three forms. The medical practitioners
received less attention from the historians than the
divination experts because the latter's skills and education
were closer to their own.
NEXT
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Okay,
Duke Zhou: Is that a compass you're pointing, or are
you just glad to see me?
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