Fengshui: The Ways of Wind and Water – Teaching Guide
Vocabulary of Note:
- Oasis – water hole in a desert; place to rest
- Divination – foretelling the future
- Geomancy – divination using earth forms
- Cosmology – study of the universe
- Qi (ch’i) pronounced “chee” – energy
- Ganying – stimulus and response; interaction of forces in the universe
- Yin and Yang (short vowels sounds) – opposites that are complementary
- Yin – associated with the passive; represented by line broken in half
- Yang – associated with the active; represented by a solid, unbroken line
- Five Elements – wood, fire, earth, metal, water (each carries a certain quality)
- Trigram – 3 lines, solid ☰ or broken in half ☷ (8 possible variations); each trigram has a name
Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode] & Slide #
Introduction: Human ways of Adapting to the Environment [00:03]
Geomancy [02:48]
Basic assumptions [03:20]
History of Fengshui practice in China (from earliest times) [05:18]
Heaven-Earth-Man always in constant interaction [06:20]
Key Concepts [07:20]
- Cosmology; divination; heaven/nature; Qi; ganying #21
Manifestations of Qi through the 5 Elements [08:35] #22
Qi in constant flux, through the 5 Elements [09:46] #23
Chinese naming practices to balance qualities of 5 elements [10:45]
8 Trigrams – like force fields [11:00]
- Yin and Yang also like force fields
Two theories of Fengshui (c. 1200–1912 CE) [12:25]
- Directional and positional
- Forms and Configurations of land
- (measuring cosmic forces)
Forms and configurations: choosing a burial site [14:00]
- Needs to balance 5 elements
- Needs to be compatible with a person’s birth sign
- (from micro to macro)
“Dragon Veins” of land forms [15:27]
Auspicious land forms and grave sites – examples of [16:06]
- Ideal grave site #35
- Ideal village site #36
Dragon veins – charted on maps of the earth and maps of countries [18:17]
- Dragon veins should not be cut or disrupted
- See [26:35] for note on issues with Western imperialist entry into China in the 19th c and the perceptions of building placements in relationship to dragon veins
Morality is part of feng-shui [19:10]
- Importance of morality in Chinese culture
Summarizing above [20:00]
Impediments to evil spirits, which are believed to travel only in straight lines [21:48]
Ways to improve fengshui of a site: [22:50]
- “Precious pagoda” use – fusing Buddhism with fengshui [23:29]
- Use of charms [24:04]
Fengshui considered in all government and religious life in traditional China [25:00]
- Legal significance
- Economic significance
Fengshui as “pre-modern science” impacting medicine, astronomy, and other areas of life [27:00]
Aesthetic impact: see, for example, Chinese gardens [28:00]
Spread throughout East Asia: from China to Japan, Korea, Vietnam [28:30]
- Each country adapted to its own situation and understandings
- Remains extremely popular today throughout East Asia
Contemporary spread and use in Western countries – more frivolous; less relationship to basic principles [31:00]
