The Ancient Art of Feng Shui Essay -- History Research Papers China Es

The Ancient Art of Feng Shui The History of Feng Shui Feng Shui has been practiced in China for thousands of years and is believed to have started in 2953 B.C. when Hu of Hsia found a tortoise that had a perfect "magic square" on its back. From this discovery evolved the I Ching, the oldest book in Chinese history, and possibly the world (Webster 1). This book contains the first written instructions on the theory of Feng Shui. Feng Shui was seen as a sacred power, so much so that in ancient China, only the privileged class had access to the knowledge. There are even stories of members of the Imperial family who went out of their way to obscure the texts in order to prevent those who might be a threat to them from obtaining the sacred knowledge. The first Ming emperor even ordered that the country be flooded with books containing misleading theories and incorrect guidelines on Feng Shui (Too 2). When Chiang Kai Shek fled the mainland he took thousands of books on Feng Shui with him to Taiwan and used its principles in building a regime there. From there it traveled to Hong Kong and eventually to the Western World through Marco Polo (Cassidy). Modern Feng Shui is based on the commentaries from Wang Chi and other scholars from the Sung dynasty, 1126-960 B.C. (Webster 3). What is Feng Shui? Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of living in harmony with nature and your surroundings, in order to maximize your health, prosperity and luck. It literally translates as "wind and water" and it involves the placement of buildings in relation to their surroundings, and the placement of furniture within the building in order to maximize the ch’i, the original energy source on the earth, from which everything else was created (Webster 4). As the dragon is seen as the most revered celestial creature of Chinese philosophy, ch’i has been called the breath of the dragon. Ch’i is an invisible energy that circulates throughout the world but also gathers in certain areas. The basic idea of Feng Shui is to harness as much ch’i as possible by allowing it to gather where you are, whether it is in your home or in your office. Ch’i is the life force that is all living things, and can be found, in its perfection wherever things are done perfectly. An arti st who creates a masterpiece is creating ch’i. Through Feng Shui, we are looking for places where ch’i is ac... ...ents and residential, family dwellings. It is the art of placement, a science and a philosophy that was meant to bring harmony through the observance of our environments and how the balance of the energies created can affect all the aspects of our lives. "All we do is connected to Mother Earth and Ch’i, the Natural Order or Energy which permeates the universe" (Feng Shui Innovations). Within the past ten years there has been an amazing amount of interest in this science in the western world as people, for various reasons, look for answers, and search for a way to be in harmony with the world. An ancient Chinese saying lists the five basic principles of successful living: "First comes destiny, and then comes luck. Third comes Feng Shui, and with that comes philanthropy and education" (Webster 33). Works Cited: Cassidy, William L. "www.qi-whiz.com". Feng Shui Innovations. "www.fengshui-innovations.com". Feng Shui Society. "www.fengshuisociety.org.uk/". Too, Lillian. Basic Feng Shui. Oriental Publications, Australia:1997. Webster, Daniel. Feng Shui for Beginners. Llewellyn Publication, St. Paul:1997. Xing, Wu. The Feng Shui Workbook. Tuttle Pub., Boston:1998.