# Feng Shui

Feng Shui (which means “wind and water”) is the ancient art of placement. It is an Eastern philosophy that, among other things, determines how you can position and structure the items that make up your personal living space to achieve maximum benefits in terms of health, mental peace, financial success, job satisfaction and spiritual fulfillment.
But it was never the intention of the Chinese masters who developed the philosophy of Feng Shui thousands of years ago to suggest that all these wonderful benefits could be achieved by a simple rearrangement of the things of your physical world.
Rather, the ancients believed that equal attention should be paid to the inner person in terms of lifestyle factors, such as exercise and diet, channeling the natural energy forces, and working with the powerful influence of the stars.
This internalized approach to health is known as ‘inner Feng Shui’ incorporating inner and outer Feng Shui into your daily life may therefore be seen as a journey of enlightenment and one that also takes in other important spiritual approaches along the way.
Feng Shui, like Indian Vaastu Shastra, believes that the directions play an important role in the luck of an individual. Each direction represents a certain aspiration. It also represents a certain element. This means that when the elements in each direction are in perfect balance, the place has the potential to produce the best luck for the persons staying there.
In addition to the directions, Feng Shui also gives a special importance to the various positions in the house irrespective of the direction. This thought has given rise to the form school of Feng Shui. Here we can correct the house problems without considering the directions.
But the fact remains that each direction has its own energies and we cannot ignore it. We have to give due importance to them.
The form school is good for correcting the Feng Shui of things that have no specific direction, i.e. the moving things like cars or advertisement banners or hoardings etc. at other places the remedies applied just with form school are seen to show only temporary effect.
Then comes the compass school that gives due importance to both. Also we have personal Feng Shui that can help us get the best of all schools. Let us see more of Feng Shui in the later pages.

## History of Feng Shui

Feng Shui was practiced in China for several years. We can trace the use of this science as back as the Tang dynasty. It was used mainly in the imperial court practice. Those days the Feng Shui masters were either highly honored or put to death in order to ensure that they do not give the benefit of their knowledge to others. Chinese folk tales are full of stories about the Feng Shui practitioners.
It is believed that the first Ming emperor Chu Yuan Chaun could overthrow the last Mongol emperor with the help of an extremely auspicious Feng Shui of his father’s grave. But this ungrateful emperor ordered the killing of all the Feng Shui masters on gaining power. He was also instrumental in making and distributing fake Feng Shui literature in the public.
The third Ming emperor suffered due to this fake literature as he had a new capital created in the place that is presently known as the Forbidden City in Beijing. This was created as per this fake Feng Shui and shortly after the palaces were built, they were burnt away. There were a number of mishaps during this time due to the wrong Feng Shui. Later when Manchus overthrew the Mings, they to succumbed to the effects of wrong Feng Shui. This continued till emperor Chien Lung took a personal interest in finding & introducing correct Feng Shui. His period was full of good luck and prosperity to his people. Later it was seen that even Mao Tse Tung and Deng Xioa Ping had benefited with the Feng Shui of the graves of their ancestors. Yet Mao Tse Tung did not allow the practice of Feng Shui during his rule as he was always having the fear to be overthrown.
All this shows that Feng Shui was always away from the reach of common man in the ancient China. But today even a common man is able to use this science for making his life better. Feng Shui traveled to the other countries with the masters who left the motherland to settle in other countries. These countries include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

## Schools of Feng Shui

Different practitioners follow Feng Shui in different ways. On the basis of its use, Feng Shui has different schools. The main schools are the form school, the compass school & the I Ching.
The form school is the school that follows the concept that the areas in the premises with reference to the entrance determine different aspirations and can be corrected or enhanced just by placing the symbolic correcting of enhancing things. This symbolism has hardly anything to do with the elements. This can work well to things that have no fixed directions, but the total use of this school or houses is doubtful to produce accurate results. To begin with Feng Shui, form school is good as it is simpler, but in the long run it is always advisable to consider the compass school as well. This is because, there are times when the form school remedies may clash with the compass or personal Feng Shui remedies. This may cause problem in stead of help! The compass school is the school that considers the eight compass directions, the elements connected with these directions and the qualities of these elements. Here we generally consider the four main directions namely, East, West, North and South. The four sub-directions are, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. The sub-directions are further divided into eight parts namely, North Northeast, East Northeast, North Northwest, West Northwest, South Southeast, East Southeast, South Southwest and West Southwest. This means, the compass school eventually considers twelve directions. These directions correspond to the twelve animals. But still as far as the consideration to the elements is concerned, we do have eight directions.
The I Ching is the technique of studying the changes of the movements of the aspiration with time. This means that the I Ching studies the time dimension of things. In this view, the changing nature of all things is totally accepted. This view also accepts that in each good fortune, there is a hidden bad fortune and in each bad fortune, there is a hidden good fortune. We have to learn to tap the good fortune in each case without labeling the fortune as good or bad. The I Ching school is mainly used when we deal with personal Feng Shui and Feng Shui astrology. The consideration to this can make the use of Feng Shui more perfect with the best possible results. Of course, we cannot rule out the presence of the heaven luck that differs from person to person. Actually it is the heaven luck that causes the difference in the intensity and quality of results even though the same remedies are applied for two persons with the same number staying in similar conditions.

## Rules of successful Feng Shui

When we want to use Feng Shui in the best possible way, we have to consider the compass, the form as well as the astrology based on Feng Shui. It is advisable to follow certain rules before you actually start the Feng Shui consultation. This will ensure best results for the persons who receive advice. Since Feng Shui is essentially about you and your life, luck and health, it is important to clearly establish ‘who you are’. All of us have a unique constitutional make up from an astrological perspective, which provides important insights into potential & capacity. Some regard this as our fate or our destiny. The kua number, character number & energy number determine this.
The kua number is found by calculating the total of all digits of the birth year & continuing to take the total of sums till we arrive at a single digit number. Then subtract this number from 11. This is the kua number. To get the character number we have to take the month of birth. Then take the group number of the kua number. Subtract the month number from the group number of kua number. This is the character number. On getting the character number, we have to see the trigram of that number and locate the position of kua number in it with reference to the regular lo shu with 5 in the center. This is the energy number. (for more details, refer to chapter on personal Feng Shui.)
Then you have to determine where you are. This can be quite simply known when we begin to study our own unique nature and place or the premises ‘where we are’ within the cycles of time and space. It is always necessary to establish ‘who’ the client is and ‘where he or she is with reference to his or her astrology, when we study their problem and suggest a remedy to them. This can focus on their areas of vulnerability or success at the time. We also have to see what is placed in a certain area in the premises and see if it matches to relevant elements. If not, the area needs correction. This means we have to first study the whole plan of the premises where the client stays or works with all its interiors, its colour scheme and the materials used therein. This will give us the exact idea of the kind of energies present and the kind of energies actually required.
Then we can make a comparative study and locate the problems faced by the residents. Before we go to suggest the remedies, it is always advisable to cross check our observations regarding the problems. If the client says that he has exactly the same or similar problems as we have noticed, then we can say that our observation is accurate. Then we can go ahead and suggest remedies, which can work successfully with good results.

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