Another classification of Feng Shui schools
It is very important to understand that there are several Feng Shui schools, out of which some are newer and easier to understand but they do not take into account the old Feng Shui principles, instead, they are guided by the mentality of the consumption society we are overwhelmed by. These new schools are guided by the principle that everythin must be simplified, brought at the same level, in order to be easy to understand and applied by everybody who buys a book.
In order to help those who want to understand more clearly the differences between the classical Feng Shui schools and those tributary to the new tendencies, the Chinese master Joseph Yu has made the following classification of the Feng Shui schools:
Level 1 – Intuitive school
This school is based only on sensations or perceptions. Most people can tell at a first glance whether a house has a good or bad Feng Shui.
After having seen many houses, a master of this Feng Shui school becomes capable to feel the energy(qi) with more accuracy than usual people. This school can be included in the Feng Shui system because it does not infringe the principle “what is beautiful generates Sheng Qi” (the positive energy we will talk about, in this article)
Level 2 – school of the life aspirations (the 8 aspirations of life)
This school has its origin in Hong Kong. In order to make it easier to understand for most people,this school divides the house in eight sectors according to the cardinal points: N, NE, E, SE, S, SW,W and NW. in each sector a different aspect of life is manifested.
The eight sectors/aspirations of life are the following:
1. Social status (N)
2. Intellect (NE)
3. Family (E)
4. Richness (SE)
5. Fame (S)
6. Romantic relationships and marriage (SW)
7. Fertility (children) (W)
8. Benefactors (NW)
Master Yu warns us though, that it is not known the way how or the reason why these directions influence these aspects of life.
Level 3 – Feng Shui of the black sect
The black sect Feng Shui school combines the modern science, the Tibetan buddhism, confucianism and taoism according to the words of its founder, Lin Yun.
Lin Yun, originary from Taiwan, shows that Feng Shui is made of two parts , the logical and the illogical one (or transcendent). The logical part is a modification of the school of the eight aspirations. The only difference is that here the compass is not used.
The front part of the house is always the “carreer sector”, the other sectors also being fixed and being in the same place for all houses. It doesn’t matter whether they are south-oriented, north-oriented, or towards any other direction. This is a very intelligent solution since it solves the problem of establishing the facing, which is not always the same with the main entrance and which sometimes raises problems in analyzing a building.
The principles of this school are found in the Richatd Webster’s books, which have been published in our country as well.
Level 4 – School of the eight houses
This school starts with the principle that the eight cardinal points bring different types of energy to which people and buildings react, either positively or negatively. In other words, the principles of the eight houses school, used to determine the four lucky directions (areas) and the four bad luck directions (areas) for those living in the respective building.The purpose of the school is to establish whether the inhabitants are compatible with the house and then,using the 5 phases of th energy (that we will further discuss about) to remedy or increase its effects in the living or working place.
In this school formulas are used, which involve the eight trigrams which make the subject of a future article and which I will mention: Qian (heaven), Zhen (thunder), Kan (water), Gen (mountain), Kun (earth), Xun (wind), Li (fire), Dui (swamp).
The eight travelling stars (You Xing) represent another working principle of this school. These are actually the eight types of energy coming from the eight directions associated to the eight trigrams. There are four positive stars (energies) and four negative ones corresponding to the eight directions mentioned above.
Just as the other schools mentioned by now, time is not considered here either, this being an energy with cyclical changes according to the Chinese calendar used in Feng Shui.
The effects of this energy are studied by the next school, Xuan Kong.
Level 5 – School Xuan Kong (time-space)
This school deals with the analysis of time and space as well as the way these energies intract, affecting buildings and people. Although there are no writings to attest the authors of this school it is considered that it developed during the Tang dynasty and not later than the Song dynasty.
There are two branches of Xuan Kong Feng Shui: one called Xuan Kong Fei Xing and the other one Xuan Kong Da Gua. These schools are totally different because Fei Xing (the flying stars) are the result of handling the magical square Luo Shu while Da Gua (the great trigrams) is the result of the work with the 8 trigrams and 64 hexagrams.
The knowledge of the Xuan Kong Fei Xing school can be applied from the very moment when we want to build a house, starting with the choice of a proper land, the house orientation and placement of the rooms in order to obtain benefic effects. For the existing houses and apartments an energetic assessment will be carried out, called “star map” from the analysis of which, the consultant can say which is the best place for bedroom, working room etc also indicating the necessary remedies. I will come back with more details about the traditional school, in a further article.
