Feng Shui - History Of Feng Shui Beginning
From ancient times till today, we can still find many different Feng Shui schools that has its own speciality & characters. Taking a deeper look into each school, you may discover that what is being said can contradict one another. For a starter, you may find hard to know the difference of each school and even harder to judge about Feng Shui readings without a total understanding of the teachings. With this article, we hope to provide beginner a clearly understanding and picture of the overall Feng Shui theory origin.
We believe that Feng Shui started in 11th century BC during Zhou Dynasty where Zhai Bu divination was used to determine the dwelling of fortune location. For burial site of auspicious location, Zhai Bu was used to determine if it was a good location. Thereafter it became the practise of Feng Shui formation.
I Ching study became popular during the warring states in 475 BC. At that time, Daoism, Yin & Yang, Five Element (Wu Xing), Confucianism, Bagua became part of the Chinese Cosomology & Philosophy. Soon it began to take shape and Feng Shui consultations were recorded during the 206 AD Han Dynasty period. The bond between I Ching & Feng Shui study became popular and risen to its peak during Han Dynasty. Everyone seemed to be well aware of I Ching and Feng Shui study, it began to be part of ritual to apply.
During the period 276 AD of Jin Dynasty, Feng Shui was created by Guo Pu who had written the Book of Burial (also known as Zhang Shu). The book stressed about the dead able to take advantage of the Sheng Qi energy where the Wind will disperse it while the water will contain it. It was written that the main purpose of gathering the Qi energy as not to allow it to disperse. So, the theory is said that the Qi energy should keep flowing but to be contained and termed as Feng Shui (Wind & Water).
Declined of the Han Dynasty came the Song Dynasty in 960 AD where Feng Shui began to fourish. The book of Yin Yang Tian Gi Shu (also known as Book Of Yin Yang Celestial Poles) was written by Wu Jin Luan a Feng Shui master. It was written about the first Emperor of Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuan Zhong who had a vast collection of Feng Shui calculations based on the Secret Book of Jade Letter. Chiu Yen Han who was a famous Feng Shui master wrote about Yu Han Bi Shu. During the fall of Tang Dynasty, a copy of the Yu Han Bi Shu was taken from the imperial library and hidden by the Yang Jun Song, a court official in his birth place at JiangXi province. After which, he learned from the Feng Shui book about the concept knowledge and soon began to wide spread Feng Shui in every corner of China.
Due to his popularity at that time, almost every teaching schools for Feng Shui had made claims of their origins in JiangXi School where Yang Jun Song had taught. During the Song Dynasty, a person named as Lai Bu Yi who was a famous Feng Shui master had linked with JiangXi school of Yang Jun Song. After the period of Song Dynasty, the theory of Feng Shui had split into 2 form schools. One is the Mountain School (also known as Luan Tou Pai - Form School as in the West) while the other is Regulating Qi School (also known as Li Qi Pai - Compass School as in the West). Should a person wish to gain the knowledge of both schools will learn from Xing Qi Jian - expert of Qi & form while Yin Yang Jia - expert in Yin & Yang.
The concept of Feng Shui of both schools go hand in hand therefore it does not matter where you start from. A Feng Shui master, Luan Tou Pai is more interested in the Dragon, Xue, Sha and Shui which comprises of the basic elements in topography of land formation. One cannot ignore the 5 Elements - Bagua, Ten Heavenly Stem, 12 Earthly Branches in order to decide the auspicious place which are grouped under the Luo Shu grids. The spread of Feng Shui knowledge are wide and soon people started their own biases practise with hidden agenda.
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