What is Feng Shui and different schools of Feng Shui

What exactly is Feng Shui? Some people might see it as moving around furnitures to change your luck, or placing cures and enhancers such as a water fountain or money toad. Or, is it the Chinese fortune telling to predict future? They are all part of the Chinese feng shui practice but not the whole picture either.

Watch the video about what Feng Shui is or is not

The basic schools of Feng Shui

In the traditional Chinese feng shui, there are 2 basic schools and many other schools are based on these 2 schools.

1. Form school or the landscape school of feng shui.

This school focus on the landscape and geography in relationship to your home or property. The natural mountain and water can create certain energy. The houses located at different part of the mountain or water can be affected by different Qi. Depending on the formation and shape of the mountain and water, there are auspicious/inauspicious energy and strong/weak energy.

In the modern days, besides the actual mountain and water, anything higher can be seen as a mountain and lower as water. For example, in the city, tall buildings can act as mountains and traffic flow can act as water. And feng shui is the practice of interpreting the energy and trying to take advantage of the auspicious Qi to bring into your house.

2. Compass school of feng shui

This school is focusing on using a compass to find out the exact direction and calculate the energy based on the numbers. The compass school includes the famous 8 mansions (Ba Zhai) feng shui and the Flying Star (Xuan Kong) feng shui. There are many different other schools of feng shui but most of them fall under these 2 schools.

The compass school has ceratin theories and rules to follow. You can draw up a chart to overlay on top of your house. From there, you can see which part is lucky and which part is unlucky. Then you can set up your room, furniture, or cure accordingly.

3. The BTB school of feng shui

The BTB feng shui is a newer version of feng shui that gets popular in the western world. It is based on the Bagua (the 8 trigram) and each of the 8 sectors represents part of your life. When you overlay the chart on top of your floor plan, you can set up each space based on what you want to enhance.

This feng shui school is not based on the actual house sitting and facing degrees. It is based on the main entrance direction. So this is a variation of the traditional feng shui schools.

Timing in feng shui

One important element in feng shui we often forget is the timing. Life comes in cycles. It is the same with a house. There are 9 periods in Feng Shui and each period consists of 20 years. We are at the end of the period 8 now. Besides the 20 years cycle, there is the yearly, monthly, daily, and even hourly cycle that is changing all the time. The timing will affect the feng shui of buildings. One famous example is the yearly flying star feng shui chart. Each lunar year, we refer to the chart for the best arrangement of our home.

Birth chart, Ba Zi, and the human factor

Another aspect of feng shui is us human beings. Each person has a unique birth chart. It can be the Ba Zi (4 pillars) chart, Zi Wei astrology, or 12 animal zodiac signs. They play an important role in feng shui. The same house will have different luck for different people.

In the Ba Zhai (8 Mansions feng shui), there are eastern/western groups of people, and eastern/western groups of houses. Eastern gorups of people benefit from living in a eastern house, and vice versa.

Feng Shui vs. fortune telling

The basic theory is similar in feng shui and Chinese fortune telling such as Ba Zi reading or 12 animal sign astrology. Some people focus on these areas more, and can certainly predict or guess the future based on the theory and experience. It is for general reference only. I don’t think you should only rely on that to make life decisions. Personal effort is still the most important factor.

Another popular Chinese fortune telling is the I-Ching prediction by throwing coins. The basic theory is from Yin/Yang, Bagua, 5 elements, timing and so on. So there is a lot of overlap. But feng shui is not just fortune telling. A feng shui practitioner is not always the best fortune teller.

Feng Shui vs. Chinese medicine

Another profession that is closely realated to feng shui is the Chinese medicine practitioner including acupuncturist and herbalist. Again there is a lot of overlap in the theory of Yin Yang, 5 elements and so on. They can understand each other easily but they do have different focus. So feng shui practitioner usually have some knowledge of the Chinese medicine but they are not Chinese medicine doctors.

Be mindful about your current environment and stay on the right track

So feng shui is about mindful living. Learn the pattern of your past, the pattern of the landscape, and plan your future by adjusting your current environment.

It does not matter which school of feng shui you practice. You might be drawn to certain aspect of feng shui. If it benefits you, it does not matter what others say.

Be sensitive to your surroundings, see what we can improve and act on it. Feng Shui is about setting up an optimal space for you to move forward and realize your full potential.