THE SELEC TION OF SCHOOLS AND ME THODS IN FENG SHUI

Feng shui represents an extensive system

of traditional Chinese knowledge with dif-

ferent schools and methods. Based on his-

torical development we can speak of the

form school (xingshi pai) and the compass

school (liqi pai). The form school is more in-

tuitive and deals with the assessment of

the landscape, the surroundings and the

building itself, whereas the compass school

is mathematically analytical – it uses com-

pass readings and calculations to analyse

favourite and less favourite areas as well as

time influences in and around the building.

Individual schools and methods have vari-

ants and derivatives which bear varied re-

sults. The biggest problem seems to be

that authors promote different techniques.

Also, some things gain and the others

loose importance with experience and

feedback. It happens that the author/prac-

titioner changes the method so much that

it basically gives a different result. Some-

times, a generalisation is systematically in-

troduced to make it easier for laymen to

understand the technique, yet for the price

of getting a misleading result. What should

one present in the overview of schools and

methods then?

The first, most obvious, and probably also

the easiest solution would be to present

schools and methods from a point of view

of a single author — for example, an ac-

knowledged master and teacher of feng

shui. The advantage of this approach is

simplicity, transparency and non-ambiguity

of presented information, but it is also one

of its greatest weaknesses as it lacks width.

Indeed, feng shui has been ambiguous

throughout history. The next problem is se-

lecting the master himself. In the absence

of scientific evidence the possible selection

criteria for the author could be: the number

of satisfied customers, a successful teach-

ing career (numerous students become

successful feng shui practitioners), public

lectures with published feng shui work in

books, articles and on-line, as well as active

cooperation with state institutions that

deal with space. Using these criteria, the

selection of candidates shrinks enormously, nonetheless, picking

out just one author is always an ungrateful and subjective act.

Since the primary purpose of this chapter is to present the main

schools and methods of traditional feng shui, a combined ap-

proach was used. The base for each method is the teachings of

one or two masters of feng shui. The selected authors are the

most active in this area and practise the traditional feng shui with-

out populist and mystical additions. Each method is explained

along with variations which can be found in literature. The chapter

is divided into four thematic sections; feng shui tools are present-

ed first, since they are the base of all feng shui techniques. The

second part presents the traditional schools of feng shui: Yin and

Yang in a Space, The Five Phases in a Space, The Form School, The

East-West System and The Flying Stars – Feng Shui Time. These

techniques are taken from the masters Larry Sang (American Feng

Shui Institute), Joseph Yu (Feng Shui Research Centre) and Eva

Wong, as well as from the selected chapters by Stephen Skinner,

Derek Walters, Evelyn Lip and T Y Lim. The third part presents the

commercial variations of traditional feng shui, the so-called Life

Stations or The Bagua, taken form Lillian Too and Günther Sator. In

the end we discuss two approaches which don’t belong to tradi-

tional feng shui but are very important for our wellbeing in a

space - these are dowsing and the cleaning of space (physically

and energetically) by Karen Kingston.

Contents

FOREWORD

SPACE BEYONDSENSORY PERCEPTIONTHE WORLD OF PERCEPTION AND THE MIND WORLD – HISTORICAL SPLIT ENERGY WORLDVIEW QUANTUM PHYSICS WORLDVIEW

PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF FENG SHUI CHINESE PHILOSOPHYCAL THOUGHT UNIVERSAL QI FORCE FENG SHUI AND UNIVERSAL QI FORCE BASICS OF DAOIST COSMOLOGY YIN AND YANGTHE PRINCIPLE OF THE FIVE PHASES PRODUCTIVE CYCLE DOMINATION CYCLE REDUCTIVE CYCLE THE PRINCIPLE OF THE EIGHT TRIGRAMS QIAN KUN ZHEN KAN GEN XUN LI DUI TRIGRAM RELATIONSHIPS THE SYMBOLISM OF NUMBERS AND THE MAGIC SQUARE YELLOW RIVER MAP THE LUO RIVER WRITING AND THE MAGIC SQUARE

THE UNIFIED THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE THE HEAVENLY STEMS AND THE EARTHLY BRANCHES THE THREE ORIGINS

FENG SHUI THROUGH HISTORYTHE HISTORY OF FENG SHUI PREHISTORICAL FENG SHUI THE FORMING OF FENG SHUI CONCEPTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF FENG SHUI SCHOOLS EAST MEETS WEST THE CLASH OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE AND TRADITIONAL FENG SHUI THE ARRIVAL OF FENG SHUI INTO THE WESTERN WORLD FENG SHUI IN WESTERN ARCHITECTURE THE PATTERN LANGUAGE AND FENG SHUI FENG SHUI IN OTHER CULTURES

THE SCHOOLS AND METHODS IN FENG SHUI THE SELECTION OF SCHOOLS AND METHODS IN FENG SHUI FENG SHUI TOOLS FENG SHUI COMPASS -LO PAN DEFINING BAGUA GRID SOLAR AND LUNAR CALENDAR FENG SHUI PROPORTIONSYIN AND YANG IN THE SPACETHE FIVE PHASES – THE FIVE ELEMENTS WOOD FIRE EARTH METAL WATER THE FIVE PHASES IN THE ROOMTHE FORM SCHOOL THE FIVE ANIMALS FORMATION The cosmological source of the five animals formation Yin feng shui and yang feng shui THE EVALUATION OF THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING The street network and the water currents Tilted ground Sharp edges and corners The surrounding buildings of special importance Special elements in the surroundings of the building GENERAL RULES FOR DESIGNING A BUILDING The form of the object and its character Main entrance Doors and windows Staircases and corridors Ceilings Corners and edges THE FORM SCHOOL IN THE APARTMENT Kitchen Dining room and living room Bedroom Nursery and study Bathroom and toilet Garage THE SCHOOL OF FORM IN THE WORK SPACE THE COMPASS SCHOOL THE EAST WEST SYSTEM The eight trigrams and the different values of qi Defining the buildings trigram

Defining personal trigram Analysing the gathered data according to east–west system XUAN KONG – FENG SHUI TIME The time cycles The nine stars, their nature and their adjustment Drawing the time chart The combinations of stars Special time charts Good for health and wealth Bad for health and wealth Double facing direction Double sitting direction The combination of three The combination of ten The interpretation of the time chart THE RESULT SYNTHESIS OF THE FENG SHUI ANALYSES THE SCHOOLS OF THE LIFE STATIONS THE BAGUA OF EIGHT LIFE STATIONS THE BAGUA OF THREE DOORS DOWSINGTHE CLEARING OF SPACE

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY CREATING THE DESIRED CHARACTER OF THE SPACE Intellectual living Artisan living Teammate life Sophisticate living RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF THE HOME Nonverbal communication of the space Technology and future challenges Children Children with special needs Elderly

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF THE WORKPLACE Nonverbal communication of the space Natural and artificial light Nature, greenery, water and paintings Colours and noise Creativity and thinking strategies Individual workspace Workspaces for groups and meetings RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF RETAIL SPACES Music and sound Smell Visual stimulation General rules RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Colours Natural light and greenery Noise Forms and arrangements School as home Special learning spaces RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF HEALTHCARE FACILITIES Nature, pictures, water Light and colours Noise and music Privacy and socialisation Signalisation COMPARING ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND FENG SHUI

VITAL ARCHITECTURE VITAL HOUSE

GLOSSARY OF CHINESE PHRASES

SOURCES

VITAL HOUSE: Feng shui and contemporary architecture hand in hand.

Špela KryžanowskiHer professional career started after graduating from the Faculty of Architec-

ture in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1997. She always took pleasure in being creative

and is perpetually drawn to ‘the space beyond’, the world of light and frequen-

cies. Feng shui, the combination of energies and classical architecture, has been

the focus of her studies after graduation and her rich knowledge was encom-

passed in her master’s degree in Feng shui. She is fluent in English and German

and is constantly widening her understanding of alternative sciences. Focusing

on vitality in architecture and design in her own architectural studio Arhitelje,

she has received several awards at public competitions in collaboration with

her colleagues. Since 2006, she has been lecturing on Feng shui at the Faculty

of Design in Ljubljana, exploring the ways of bringing this traditional Chinese

knowledge into contemporary design and living.

International Rights DepartmentTel.: +386 1 241 32 89Fax: +386 1 425 22 94E-mail: intsales@mkz.si

MLADINSKA KNJIGA ZALOŽBA, d. d.Slovenska cesta 29, SI-1536 Ljubljana, Slovenia

www.mladinska.com/publishing © Mladinska knjiga Založba, d. d., Ljubljana 2013

ABOUT THE BOOKThe book gives a detailed historical overview of feng shui methods and schools, and the most

important concepts that can enrich contemporary architecture; the reader learns of the sensory

perception, materialistic and spiritual worldview, the laws of the energy fields as understood by

bio-energy healers and the laws of contemporary physics related to this field. The book takes the

reader through philosophical concepts which are the founding stones of all traditional Chinese

knowledge and through long and gradual entry of feng shui into the modern world. It gives a

systematic overview of the different feng shui methods and schools, among others the concept

of the five phases, the form school and the compass school. A detailed reference of the recom-

mendations of the environmental psychology is added and a comparison between psychology

and the feng shui school of form. At the end, the book reveals an original concept of the Vital

house which merges classical feng shui and contemporary architecture.

352 pages • 22,7 x 23 cm

Feng shui is our perception of the world and our relationship to it, and we are all affected by it. It’s not

about esoteric knowledge or the art of sensing the invisible energies, but about the skill of designing

great spaces where we feel good about ourselves.