What is Feng Shui?

The term Feng Shui literally means wind-water. However, before existence of the term Feng Shui (风水), it is also known as Kan Yu (堪舆). Kan (堪) means Heavenly Way (天道) or Astronomy while Yu (舆) refers to Earthly Way (地道) or Geography. Traditionally, Feng Shui is an art of observing astrology and geographical condition to determine good location for living and building cities, as well as best time to relocate people to a better location. Therefore, part of Feng Shui is to observe and analyse landform, mountain and river flow, determining where people can access water supplies, conduct agriculture and get shelter. Thus, people can live well, thrive and less susceptible to natural disasters.

晋朝郭璞：“气乘风则散，界水则止。古人聚之使不散，行之使有止，故谓之风水。”

The term Feng Shui (风水) comes about during Jin Dynasty (Year 266–420) and was quoted by Scholar Guo Pu. His words described that Qi energy disperse where there is wind, halt where there is water. Feng Shui is an art of accumulating energy through prevent wind from dispersing it and using water to accumulate it. Therefore, landform and water features play very important role in good Feng Shui, and thus the term Feng Shui was created. This lays the early foundation for the school of landform, Xing Shi Pai (形勢派) "form" methods in Feng Shui, which emphasize on shape, formation of environment and tapping on Earthly energy (地气).

As Feng Shui continues to evolve over time, theories from ancient Chinese wisdom such as Book of Change (易经), Ba Gua (Eight Trigrams) (八卦), Yin Yang (阴阳), Five Elements (五行) and Luo Shu (洛书) He Tu (河图) were incorporate to further improve its accuracy and prediction. From there, Feng Shui theories reach a new level, with invention of famous techniques such as Eight Mansions (八宅), Flying Stars (紫白飞星). This creates another school in Feng Shui, Li Qi Pai (理气派) calculated (数术) methods, which emphasize calculation and prediction of Heavenly energy (堂气生气) in our surrounding.

In addition, invention of magnetic compass has also played an important role in Feng Shui evolution. There are many good Feng Shui techniques, but without good tool, it can be useless. Thus, magnetic compass with Feng Shui theories imprinted on it, Luo Pan (罗盘) was invented. With Luo Pan, a Feng Shui Master can accurately ascertain Sitting and Facing directions of a house, direction and position of landform and water features, etc. This brings about convergence of practical practice and theories, this has helped to push the Feng Shui to an even higher level. Therefore, direction and orientation of a house are important aspect that Feng Shui Master look out during Feng Shui assessment.

Above gives a brief introduction on the evolution of Feng Shui and its original purpose. In summary, despite of the various schools and methods of Feng Shui, this ancient art is truly a collective invention and continuous refinement from many intelligent and wise men over long history and many generations. The fundamental purpose of Feng Shui is about creating a conducive environment for us to thrive and succeed in life, by cleverly adjusting our surrounding to leverage on positive energy around to help us in our life.