Feng Shui in your garden

By SUSAN M. THOMPSON

Ancient but not old

Pronounced "fung schway," Feng Shui literally translates into English as "wind" and "water" and traces its roots back thousands of years to the beginning of Chinese agrarian life, when early settlers sought harmony with natural forces to survive.

It is described as the "ancient Chinese art of design and placement for health, well-being and prosperity." The ancient Chinese deduced that humans are affected for good or for ill by their environment... that every hill, river, tree, wall, window or corner has an effect. They concluded that if you change your surroundings, you could change your life.

This premise was based on the Chinese understanding of ch'i (pronounced "chee".) In traditional Chinese thinking, ch'i is the universal force or cosmic breath that all things are thought to possess. The Chinese character for ch'i is usually translated as energy and its movement and flow in the universe is like that of water. The ancient Chinese believed that when ch'i moved too quickly, it invited natural disasters. When it moved too slowly, stagnation resulted.

In the ninth century, a systematic approach to Feng Shui was compiled by a scholar named Yang Yun-Sung and was based on observable phenomenon such as the natural formation of land and use of a tool called the "Ba-Gua."

	Contributed graphic BA-GUA - THE IMAGE Yin Yang (Click for larger image)

The Ba-Gua dates from the earliest periods of China's prehistory and was already more than two thousand years old at the time of Confucius (born 551 B.C.). Although our knowledge is scant, it is clear that the Ba-Gua predates by many centuries Confucius, Lao-tzu and the Buddha, founders of the three major religions of China, each of whom made use of Feng Shui. The invention or discovery of the Ba-Gua is attributed to the emperor Fu Hsi, who is said to have first observed a square with nine sections and characters on the shell of a turtle. This is possible, since the ancient Chinese practiced a form of divination called plastromancy, which read the future from patterns in the undershell of a turtle. The pattern of these markings were used by emperors in determining the "auspicious" placement of graves so that their ancestors would look upon them kindly.

While kept secret to the nobility for many years, Feng Shui principles eventually were used in even the most remote regions of the Asian world and became common practice until the modern government in China forbade it. Feng Shui principles were used in the architectural planning of all public buildings in Hong Kong until recently. In 1976 His Holiness Thomas Lin Yun traveled from China to the United States and introduced the healing practice of Feng Shui to our country in California. Today Feng Shui has reached the eastern part of our country and several schools offer certificates in Feng Shui studies.

Applying Feng Shui principles >>