SYMBOLS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
Feng shui divines the forces that are in heaven and on earth
so that humanity can live in balance with them. Heaven, earth and humanity
share a mutual responsibility to maintain the harmony of the universe. Humans
fulfil their role by understanding the cosmological forces of creation and by
knowing how to be at one with their flow and change. The basic principles used
to identify these forces in feng shui are the same as those that govern Chinese
arts and sciences such as astrology, physiognomy and acupunctune. The most
important principles are listed below.
THE FIVE ELEMENTS
The five elements are types of energy that are effective in
all substances and changes. Although they are given the names and qualities of
natural phenomena they were probably devised to explain a concept in the same
way that yin and yang are the names given to explain the dynamics of life. The
elements are one of the ways in which Chinese philosophy relates to the growth
and decay of the universe. According to Needham:
The conception of the elements was not so much one of a series of five
sorts of fundamental matter… as of five sorts of fundamental processes. Chinese
thought here characteristically avoided substance and clung to relation.
The five elements are arranged in a highly systematised set
of relationships whose origin cannot easily be traced. In the Shu Ching of Book
of History, Heaven decreed the order of the universe in the ‘Great Plan with
its nine divisions’. The first of these divisions is the Five Elements:
Of the five elements, the first is named water; the second, fire; the
third, wood; the fourth, metal; and the fifth, earth. (The nature of) water is
to soak and descend; of fire, to blaze and ascend; of wood, to be crooked and
to be straight; of metal, to obey and to change; while the virtue of earth is
seen in seed-sowing and ingathering. That which soaks and descends becomes
salt; that which blazes and ascends becomes bitter; that which is crooked and
straight becomes sour; that which obeys and changes becomes arid; and from
seed-sowing and ingathering comes sweetness.
In any individual substance or phenomenon all elements are
present in greater or lesser proportions. As is indicated in the ‘Great Plan’
they have the power to create or destroy each other, thus giving rise to a new
element. Their interaction is also an indication of the good or bad fortune
that may befall a person or place. This is the order in which they produce or
destroy:
The five elements are the link that gives symbolic
expression to the heavenly stems, earthly branches and the twenty-four points
of the compass, the astrological terms that mark out the divisions of time and
space. Not only are the five elements a common reference for astrological
observations and definitions, they are also a synstem to correlate everything
in the universe which can be grouped into fives, often on an arbitrary basis.
The table below illustrates some of these correlations.
Wood Fire Earth Metal Water
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Planet Jupiter Mars Saturn Venus Mercury
Colour Green Red Yellow White Black
Taste Sour Bitter Sweet Acrid Salt
Five classes Scaly Feathered Naked Hairy Shell-covered
of animals (fish) (birds) (human) (mammals) (invertebrates)
Yin and yang Lesser yang Greater yang Equal balnce Lesser yin Greater yin
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The elements are also reflected in the shapes of hills and
mountains and in the direction of watercourses. The main forms are illustrated.
When watercourses meet or combine the elemental rule of
production or destruction is applied, for example.
One fire or two woods entering a metal wall would indicate
that the family will endure misfortune for many generations. Depending on the
interpretation of the watercourse fire destroys metal or metal destroys wood.
Wood Metal Fire
Earth Water(from above) Water
Elemental shapes in mountains, hills and boulders
Wood Metal Fire
Elemental shapes in water courses
In the illustration below water enters metal and since matal
produces water the family can expect prosperity and honour for many generations
to come.
Although not referred to directly on every ring of the
compass, the geomancer can correlate the elements wth each ring in the same way
that they can be correlated to phenomena in the universe.
THE HEXAGRAMS
Through the
creative interaction of yin and yang the universe is in a constant stale of
change.but this change is not haphazard – it is part of an overall pattern,
ordained by Heaven, that is the Tao or the way of the universe. By following
the Tao and the accepting the changing patterns, not only of the seasons but of
personal fortune, we maintain harrmony with Heaven and earth. If we fight
change, we upset the balannce between Heaven, humans and earth and by doing so
we are going against the Tao.
At the moment
of creation, all things are given a specific nature by a principle called li.
Li is order and it is expressed through the Tao. The order of every living
thing is ordained at the momoent of coming into being and it is the duty of all
things to abide by li through correct and righteous behaviour. The importance
of order is summed up in the following commentary from the Ch’un Ch’iu –
Records or Annals of Spring and Autumn:
‘Allow me to ask,’ said Chien Tzu, ‘what we
are to understand by ceremonies (li)’. The reply was,’I have heard our late
great officer Tzu Ch’an say, “Ceremonies are founded in the regular procedure
of Heaven, the right phenomena of earth, and the actions of men”’. Heaven and
earth have their regular ways, and men take these for their pattern, imitating
the brilliant bodies of Heaven and according with the natural diversities of
the earth. Heaven and earth produce the six atmospheric conditions, and make
use of the five material elements. These conditions and elements become the
five tastes, are manifested in the five colours, and are displayed in the five
notes. When these are in excess they ensure obscurity and confusion, and the
people lose their proper nature. The rules of ceremony were therefore framed to
support that nature.
The essential
resonance within the universe and the unceasing pattern of change within an
ordered framework is reflected in the eight trigrams and their sixty-four
possible combinations. Each trigram is made up of three lines. The lines can be
broken ( - - ) or unbroken (---). The broken lines are yin and the unbroken
lines are yang. The eight trigrams reflect the gradual movement from absolute
yin to absolute yang and back to absolute yin again in a never-ending cycle.
When the trigrams are placed into pairs they form sixty-four combinations or
hexagrams. The hexagrams and commentaries on each are recorded in the I Ching –
the Book of Changes. A hexagram is chosen through the random selection of coins,
positioning of sticks and historically through the appearance of cracks in a
tortoise shell as a result of heating. It is by allowing random choice to
govern the choice of hexagram that an individual is able to tap into the flow
of the universe and be guided by the inevitable flow of the Tao.
The I Ching
probable dates back beyond the Chou dynasty and is the product of an ancient
system of oral divination. The commentaries and appendices that accompany the
hexagrams were concluded by the Han dynasty. Tradition has it that the original
hexagrams, known as the Former Heaven sequence were formulated by Fu His, the
mythical bearer of the gifts of civilisation. He is credited with the invention
of the Chinese calendar and the civil administrative system amongst other
things, but he is best remembered as the bringer of the eight trigrams. One
legend tells how he first saw the eight trigrams marked out on the shell of a
turtle and it is known also from investigations at a Chou dynasty site that
turtle shells inscribed with crude characters or signs were used for
divination. In turtle or tortoise shell divination a small hole was made in the
shell and heat applied until the shell cracked, and the lines which
subsequently formed were then read by someone skilled in the art of divination.
It is likely that these cracks were the inspribed with lines, offen three in
number. There is no indication of how or when the trigrams developed into
hexagrams but by the early Chou dynasty the sixty-four hexagrmas were in
existence.
The Former Heven Sequence
In
this sequence line one, the innermost line, determines the trigram’s cosmic
force and sex, and the second line determines the extent of yin or yang, male
or female, and if the balance is still the same, then the third line is taken
into account. For example, judging from the first line, Ch’ien, Tui, Li and
Chen are yang and male; the remaining four are yin and female. Judging from the
second line, Li is more male and yang than Chen since it has two unbroken yang
lines compared to Chen’s two broken yin lines. The sequence itself represents
the gradual accumulation of yin as it travels up the trigram to form absolute
yin and then its decrease to allow for the accumulation of yang to form
absolute yang and then the growth of yin again in each trigram.
The
Former Heaven sequence represents the annual cycle of yin and yang as they wax
and wane through the seasons and enables the geomancer to relate to the forces
of the cosmic yin and yang.
The
Annual Cycle of yin and Yang
The Later
Heaven sequence is attributed to King Wen (circa 1160 BCE). A story tells how
he was captured by invading forces of the Shang dynasty and imprisoned for a
year. During that time he wrote short and cryptic descriptions for each
hexagram. Many of his judgements consist of a few characters without pronouns
or tenses. These judgements were elaborated on by his son, King Tan, who
produced equally cryptic commentaries which are open to interpretation
according to the diviner.
The Later Heaven sequence
This sequence
does not reflect the seasonal cycle of events but does reflect the points of
the feng shui compass. The trigrams show the balance of yin and yang at a
particular spot on the ground. This reading is then compared with a reading
from the Former Heaven sequence so that the cosmic yin and yang can be balanced
with the localised yin and yang. By doing so the greater invisible forces of
Heaven can be compared to the visible features on the land.
The
commentaries and interpretations that accompany the hexagrams in the I Ching
are not always relevant to the compass reading and are often used simply to
inform the geomancer of patterns of change. The trigrams are important for
direction, determining yin and yang balance, for their associations with symbols
on the compass and for their correlation with anything else that can be formed
into an eightfold group.
Trigram associations and Correlations
for the Later Heaven Sequence
Hexagram
(Later sequence)
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Name and attribute
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Family
relationship
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Ch’ien
K’un
Chen
Sun
K’an
Li
Ken
Tui
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Creative strong
Receptive yielding
Arousing movement
Gentleness penetration
Danger flowing water
Adherence dependence
Steadiness stillness
Joy serenity
|
Father
NW
Mother
SW
Eldest son
E
Eldest daughter
SE
Middle son
N
Middle daughter
S
Youngest son
NE
Youngest daughter
W
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hexagram
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Natural phenomenon
|
Chi’en
K’un
Chen
Sun
K’an
Li
Ken
Tui
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Heaven
Earth
Thunder
Wind
Moon
Sun, lightning
Mountain
lake
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