Fengshui materials.docVIP

Feng shui (/?f?? ??we?/?( listen) fung-SHWAY,[1] formerly /?f?? ??u?i/ FUNG-shoo-ee;[2] Chinese: 風水, pronounced?[f??? ?wèi]) (or Fung shui) is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven (Chinese astronomy) and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi.[3] The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu (simplified Chinese: 堪舆; traditional Chinese: 堪輿; pinyin: kānyú; literally: Tao of heaven and earth).[4] The term feng shui literally translates as wind-water in English. This is a cultural shorthand taken from the following passage of the Zangshu (Book of Burial) by Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty:[5] Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water.[5] Historically, feng shui was widely used to orient buildings—often spiritually significant structures such as tombs, but also dwellings and other structures—in an auspicious manner. Depending on the particular style of feng shui being used, an auspicious site could be determined by reference to local features such as bodies of water, stars, or a compass. Feng shui was suppressed in China during the cultural revolution in the 1960s, but since then has increased in popularity. Modern reactions to feng shui are mixed. The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience states that some principles of feng shui are quite rational, while noting that folk remedies and superstitions... [have been] incorporated into feng shuis eclectic mix.[6] History Origins Currently the Yangshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest evidence for the origin of feng shui. Until the invention of the magnetic compass, feng shui apparently relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe.[7] In 4000 BC, the doors of Banpo dwellings were aligned to the asterism Yingshi just after the winter solstice—this sited the homes for solar gain.[8] During the Zhou era, Yingshi was known as Ding and used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the