Feng Shui

[ChiDragon]

Please discuss your Feng Shui knowledge here. Thank you for your cooperation.

Edited March 12, 2012 by ChiDragon

[Bum Grasshopper]

All the Feng Shui experts predicted doom when I moved into a house located behind a graveyard, and sternly advised not to move in. It's been 2 years now, and it's been the happiest, most prosperous 2 years of my life.

[Taomeow]

Please discuss your Feng Shui knowledge here. Thank you for your cooperation.

 

 

All right, I'll oblige.

 

Feng shui is the original world view/science/practice of the ancient Chinese civilization which later became known as taoism. To put it concisely, shamanism > feng shui > original taoism. Taoism, in its turn, got influenced (whether enriched or impoverished is in the eye of the beholder -- I behold impoverishment, but many will disagree) by the imported Indo-European religions (primarily Buddhism but also the rest of the major ones) as well as the emergent new paradigm developed and honed to serve the ruling class for the purpose of solidifying its disproportionately usurped power -- Confucianism. As a result, some of the new taoist schools and sects eventually lost their emphasis on the original, Chinese proper and taoist proper, approaches to reality, substituting the imported and/or forcibly superimposed goodies instead. So today you can find an array of schools and sects that think of themselves as "taoist" that retain varying amounts of taoism proper, sometimes only the flavor, sometimes no more than a name. If you remove these from consideration and approach taoism as what it is minus all the foreign interventions, you are left with feng shui. So, a discussion of feng shui is a discussion of taoism proper, and vice versa.

 

In the past few decades "fung shuay" has been "introduced" to the West just as it was largely removed from circulation in mainland China (the Red Guards used to "reform" practitioners of this "bourgeois/feudal superstition" by imprisoning them, sending to forced labor, starvation, or execution), so a modern person, whether a Westerner or a Chinese, is likely to be treated as a mushroom in this regard (kept in the dark and fed shit, that is) unless he or she understands the whole historic perspective in which "fung shuay" is currently occupying a wrongfully and purposely marginalized place instead of the magnificent all-encompassing ancient holistic wisdom it really is. Without such understanding, forays into taoism are futile and yield nothing but fragmented snippets of useless trivia, practices that may or may not have anything to do with what a given person would really benefit from practicing, and sow seeds of disappointment to reap in one's later years.

 

Also sprach Taomeow.

[Taomeow]

All the Feng Shui experts predicted doom when I moved into a house located behind a graveyard, and sternly advised not to move in. It's been 2 years now, and it's been the happiest, most prosperous 2 years of my life.

 

There's no feng shui experts who could give you an accurate assessment without doing a lot of serious work with your and your house's natal charts. If such work hasn't been done, they either weren't experts or didn't have all the necessary information to utilize their expertise properly.

 

Then again, 2 years is not long in the life of a house or a person. Feng shui is long term. My parents lived in a place that had mixed-blessing but mostly bad feng shui for 20 years. The first years there were happy, then everything started going the way the place's feng shui predicted it would ("luck will come but won't stay."). Alas.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

There's no feng shui experts who could give you an accurate assessment without doing a lot of serious work with your and your house's natal charts.

 

What's your take then on the basics, like yin and mirrors in the Fire area, water flow... Do they still apply in general to every house?

 

Also, Taomeow, how do you weigh compass school with schools where south is just the back wall of the house?

[ChiDragon]

Let me make myself clear. I do not believe in Feng Shui. The reason I study it was for my curiosity by testing their claims to see they are true or not. The most interesting was to find out how they made their predictions. It was fun to know how they come up with the formulation to reach certain conclusions.

 

It was interesting to know that there is a Feng Shui master, here, in my state of California. He helped to rearrange everything in the state capitol and become famous for that. Now, he is teaching Feng Shui class in southern California. The best thing about him is that he helps his student to get into the actual practice and make money after the course was completed.

Edited March 12, 2012 by ChiDragon

[Friend]

Let me make myself clear. I do not believe in Feng Shui.

You do not really believe in Qigong you believe in Breath work.

You do not really believe in Feng Shui so I assume you believe in Psychology.

[Aetherous]

I'm no expert, but my view is: become sensitive to those things that are beneficial to you and cultivate them. Become less sensitive to things that feel off...and don't cultivate them.

 

Your experience is more trustworthy than knowledge, which was based off of the intuition of other people and then misinterpreted as the years went by.

 

Maybe my feng shui considerations should differ from yours.

 

It's fun to be creative and rely on yourself.

 

An example of what I consider to be experiential feng shui...open windows in a bright colorful room with living plants...versus no air flow in a black painted room that's filled with incense smoke and posters of pot leaves, and black lights are on. We all know which feels better. There are probably many universal recommendations.

 

But yeah, I'm not an expert in feng shui and don't wish to steal anyone's thunder. I'm all ears when it comes to the subject.

[Protector]

Let me make myself clear. I do not believe in Feng Shui.

 

ChiDragon, meet Haunted Cat Picture

Haunted Cat Picture, keep hanging

[ChiDragon]

You do not really believe in Qigong you believe in Breath work.

You do not really believe in Feng Shui so I assume you believe in Psychology.

Breath work, to me, is the ultimate breathing method in QiGong.

 

Feng Shui is all psychology which are the things were affecting you emotionally.

[Aetherous]

"It's all in your mind...you just don't know how big your mind is."

[Cameron]

"It's all in your mind...you just don't know how big your mind is."

 

nice.

[Friend]

Breath work, to me, is the ultimate breathing method in QiGong.

 

Feng Shui is all psychology which are the things were affecting you emotionally.

 

Emotion are affecting the surrounding as the surrounding affect you emotionally.

It renders your appearance and so attract and influence your choice.

 

In Feng Shui Space can be separated into a Bagua with certain interest like Health, Creativity etc and corresponding assoziative Items like a pair of Dolphin or something else. The objects are reminders in most time, the more important and impressive they are personal, the greater they create a emotinal state and make one interested into such things.The rules as above so below as inside as outside runs here.

 

For example if one is angry and can tune into oneself then one would find specific things more comfortable but would nourish this anger. While in peaceful state this things would be avoid by all cost. So having a specific concept like health in mind one is tuned to this lifequality and make choices which direct ones into possibility to nourish the health and it depends on oneself if on is aware enough to take the offer.

 

This how incomplete I can describe the standard Feng Shui effects.A nice object is as well to distract the mind and stop him to give energy to a dark and gloomy thought which would create some non ideal choices. Thinking back and forth is a sort of awareness concentration.

 

Feng Shui has also the concept of Qi and Changes and I guess it is something

where the things get more interesting. The influence of placement of something.

And here things starts with talisman and charged objects with intent and energy. A room can as well be charged by the repeated thoughts and emotion and energy - rituals. So this why there is a need of cleansing a room energetically.

It is something also very interesting when one place energetic charged objects things somewhere, depending on where they are there influence is more or less.

 

And above all this ,a room can also be changed energetically even permanent which is not so easy.

 

And something one should not forget is ones character beside the natal charts.

One itself is as well a Feng Shui Element a thing in a room.

 

One of the chinese things is to incooperate one concept into all area of life

to have it cover logical, poetric, fantasy, politial, religious,daily life, martial arts, relationship in speech, thought and deeds. The chinese saying is "To learn one and understand ten" are words for this concept. So saying that it is psychological is not correct as the old traditions still share that all science belong together.

Feng Shui has the psychology but it is not psychology alone.

[Clarity]

One of the chinese things is to incooperate one concept into all area of life

to have it cover logical, poetric, fantasy, politial, religious,daily life, martial arts, relationship in speech, thought and deeds. The chinese saying is "To learn one and understand ten" are words for this concept. So saying that it is psychological is not correct as the old traditions still share that all science belong together.

Feng Shui has the psychology but it is not psychology alone.

 

Spot on! And it's not really a question of belief either.

 

Does that mean you are now giving Feng Shui consultations?

[Friend]

Does that mean you are now giving Feng Shui consultations?

nope. People like to believe what is general know, taking this as fact.

If they read the same fact in 10 different books then it become fixed in the head.

One stop asking if there is something different. I had for example thought in the past placing bed here and there and hang this and so one would be the only solution.

 

Later there was then energetic Feng Shui mistress who sealed things in the room because I had nightmare and I am very suprised about what she told. She even found a hollow place in the wall. Very small behind a cupboard. She said darkness is invading from this place and there was a secret. I was very suprised as 1.She never saw this room before. 2. The cupboard was before the wall. 3.I do not know that the wall was hollow. She places a half gem there with a charge to pacify.

At other times with a other client she found the solution to alcohol addiction

in a house finding a secret chamber with stored alcohol of a previous owner.

The addicion was gone. She said that she never touch the cellar if one is not the owner of the house because it take very big changes and affect all people.

Without agreement from all this is not allowed from her lineage.

 

As well a other things is not to raise a vibration to a level of the weakest member in the appartment. Well she is very good in seeing the energetics also do healing,

work with gems and juwels.

 

So this I find very interesting as it directly touch the energetic problems.

And there was zero move of furniture.

 

Seeing such level I would not dare to give a consultation. (some tips maybe)

me is still need lots to learn and I know my place.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Any ideas about using a compass to find South, vs. using the back wall as South?

[ChiDragon]

Any ideas about using a compass to find South, vs. using the back wall as South?

If you find North with the compass, then South is in the opposite direction. How can you just using the back wall as South...???

[Harmonious Emptiness]

If you find North with the compass, then South is in the opposite direction. How can you just using the back wall as South...???

 

It's used in many schools, you face the front door of the house from outside and consider your left side Wood/Dragon, right side Metal/White Tiger, etc. etc.

[ChiDragon]

It's used in many schools, you face the front door of the house from outside and consider your left side Wood/Dragon, right side Metal/White Tiger, etc. etc.

That doesn't mean that the back wall of any house is South.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

That doesn't mean that the back wall of any house is South.

 

Well, Fire trigram, if you prefer..

[ChiDragon]

Well, Fire trigram, if you prefer..

Yes, Fire trigram is at the South, but one must locate the Ba Gua in its proper direction first. One has to find South and place the Fire trigram of the Later Day Ba Gua there. One cannot just place it anywhere and assume that is South. Do you know what I mean...???

Edited March 14, 2012 by ChiDragon

[Taomeow]

It's used in many schools, you face the front door of the house from outside and consider your left side Wood/Dragon, right side Metal/White Tiger, etc. etc.

 

These are all schools I said earlier to steer clear of. All spun from "professor" Lin Yung, who invented this approach some 30 years ago and called it "Black Hat" or "Black Sect Buddhist Feng Shui" (which buddhists of the corresponding sect vehemently deny has anything to do with them). His students (and, notably, Sarah Rossbach with her lively writing style that won followers by radiating the charm and confidence all con art of the higher order must possess) wrote some of the first "Western FS" books and their students took it further -- the dilution of the dilution of the bogus -- interestingly, many of them are Chinese who don't know any better because the easy and bogus got the widest exposure (as often is the case) and the real, which involves a lot of study and work, digging for what isn't readily available, etc., does not become obvious to anyone just because he or she is a member of any given ethnic group. So, as things stand today, 95% of feng shui out there is this bogus stuff, what "everybody" has heard of as feng shui is those "sectors" -- Wealth, Relationships, all that jazz. Of course the bogus school incorporates some stuff from the real one, but it is useless because it is misused -- e.g. they're big on "remedies" (a whole industry has come into being selling those -- crystals to hang, flutes, wind chimes, images of animals, water fountains, etc.). Remedies are indeed used in real FS, but not the way they are used in the bogus version. They are time-sensitive and connected to the motion of the Flying Stars through the real (rather than imaginary) compass directions of the place, and are different for different years, months, sometimes even days. The bogus school ignores all the real energies of the world (celestial, terrestrial, and man-made) and substitutes man-made ones only, which of course is ridiculous if you think of it -- how can man "appoint" South and North, what's the North Pole Star, chopped liver? What's Jupiter, a non-consideration? with a mass greater than all other planets of the Solar System combined and a field of qi that's been making and breaking civilizations on this one for aeons? And so on.

 

So, of course all those fixed-arrangement schools are bogus. Also all those "intuitive FS" deals. You do develop much intuitive understanding of these things AFTER you've worked for years with the form-compass approach, not before. You can't intuit everything all cosmic energies focused on a place are up to. Not even all terrestrial ones. Not even all man-made ones. There's a lot to perceive there... the best intuitives perceive some of it, but they may well miss the bulk of it, which is what real FS does not miss.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Yes, Fire trigram is at the South, but one must locate the Ba Gua in its proper direction first. One has to find South and place the Fire trigram of the Later Day Ba Gua there. One cannot just place it anywhere and assume that is South. Do you know what I mean...???

 

Yes, and thank you for your response.

 

Jerry Alan Johnston uses the house direction method to some degree as well to ensure that a dwelling is set up as a living "Yang Dwelling" with Green Dragon on the left, rather than as a tomb or "Yin Dwelling" which is set up in the opposite way.

 

I've also read that this way is more common in Tibet.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Harmonious Emptiness

[ChiDragon]

Yes, and thank you for your response.

 

Jerry Alan Johnston uses the house direction method to some degree as well to ensure that a dwelling is set up as a living "Yang Dwelling" with Green Dragon on the left, rather than as a tomb or "Yin Dwelling" which is set up in the opposite way.

 

I've also read that this way is more common in Tibet.

 

edit: reading your response now TM, tnx

 

The idea way for "Yang Dwelling" is to have the door facing South. In the other hand, for "Yin Dwelling" is to have the front of the tomb facing West. However, not all houses can be facing South. The houses facing in different directions will affect the life of the owner based on one's birthday. That is why a Feng Shui master was called to investigate to make improvements to correct the geomancy condition for the owner.

 

The Flying Stars method is another method, but not the only method of Feng Shui, used to rearrange the furnitures every year for a particular owner based on one's birthday.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

So then I guess the "Black Sect" method is more building shrines rather than geomancy. I could see some advantage to that in setting at least reminders of what your aims are.

 

I thought there might be something to it though given J.A. Johnson's writing, and also that Form feng shui has a lot to do with other considerations like the flow of mountains and rivers. I'm only a few chapters into his book, I should say, however.

 

It's not the first time I've heard of determining energies based on which way they relate to your direction rather than East and West, so I'm hesitant to disregard some potential to it.