Chapter 10 Feng Shui and Ancestral Worship 1 Feng Shui Kan Yu

Yin and yang follow the laws of Heaven and Earth,

Form and Qi principles apply to all things.

Heaven and humans resonate in harmony,

Humans and the earth share vital energy.

 

1. Feng Shui Kan Yu

In a country that places great importance on survival wisdom, the Chinese people have observed the flowing rivers and changing mountains of the natural world to gain knowledge through the study of things. This careful selection of environments suitable for human survival and development led to the formation of a discipline that examines the relationship between living environments and construction layouts, known as Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is a fundamental theory related to the environmental planning and design of cities, villages, residences, gardens, and other architectural environments. It is a significant part of traditional Chinese mystical culture. Feng Shui integrates knowledge from various disciplines, including geography, geology, astrology, meteorology, landscape architecture, architecture, ecology, and human life information science. Applied in both ancient and modern architectural planning, it contains rich and profound scientific knowledge.

From a spatial-temporal perspective, Feng Shui examines the relationship between the human body and the natural environment, as well as changes in Earth's magnetic field. Its purpose is to meticulously study and understand nature, conform to it, and utilize and transform it in a restrained manner to create an optimal living and survival environment.

By doing so, it aims to achieve the best combination of favorable timing, geographical advantage, and harmonious human relations, ultimately reaching the ideal state of "Unity of Man and Nature", seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune, thereby harmonizing human beings with the natural environment. It embodies the laws governing the nurturing of life on Earth and the operational rules of life itself.

After the 17th century, with the spread of "Western thought to the East", the late Qing Dynasty's "Self-Strengthening Movement" advocated the concept of "Chinese learning as the foundation, Western learning for practical use" (中体西用). During the frequent exchanges between Chinese and Western cultures, the essence of traditional Chinese culture—such as Feng Shui and Traditional Chinese Medicine—gradually began to spread to the West, taking root, blossoming, and bearing fruit in various parts of the world. These disciplines have gained the attention and adoption of experts across different fields in many countries. Kevin Lynch, a renowned American urban planning authority, mentioned in his book "The Image of the City" that "Chinese Feng Shui is a field of study with boundless potential that experts are striving to develop."

"Kan Yu" is another name for Feng Shui, but its original meaning is not directly Feng Shui. "Kan" represents the high places, the way of heaven; "Yu" represents the low places, the way of earth. In "Records of the Grand Historian"（《史记》）Kan Yu practitioners are mentioned alongside practitioners of the "Five Elements" , originally referring to the observation of celestial phenomena above and geographic features below. Over time, the term came to be used by common people to refer specifically to those who read Feng Shui.

The principles of Kan Yu are based on the "River Map" (Hetu,河图) and Luo Writing (Luoshu,洛书), combined with the Eight Trigrams（八卦）, Nine Stars, Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and the Five Elements' cycles of creation and destruction. This approach integrates the movement of the "Heavenly Tao", the circulation of Earth's Qi, and the yin-yang energy channels in the human body into a comprehensive theoretical system. This system is used to predict or alter a person's fortune, misfortune, lifespan, and destiny.

Practitioners of Kan Yu believe that the fate of people is closely related to the movements and changes of natural energies. By acting in accordance with the natural flow, one can achieve long-term peace and prosperity. Conversely, disregarding these principles can lead to poverty, disaster, and endless future troubles.

In ancient times, Kan Yu was primarily used for selecting sites for cities, towns, and villages, as well as for constructing palaces. It later developed into methods for assessing residences and tombs. In practice, the core of Kan Yu's "geomancy" revolves around wind and water, where wind refers to vital energy and field forces, while water signifies flow and change.

The book "I Ching" states: "The stars influence the heaven’s Qi, and mountains and rivers influence the earth's Qi. The heaven's Qi represents yang, and the earth's Qi represents yin. When yin and yang interact harmoniously, heaven and earth nurture all things." Later commentators in "Burial Classics" noted: "Without water, wind disperses and Qi dissipates; with water, energy settles and wind ceases. Thus, 'Feng Shui' has become the essence of land studies."

Today, discussions of Feng Shui among modern people often lean towards belief in its effects. As a discipline, Feng Shui has long been an essential part of traditional Chinese culture, integrating cosmological, natural, environmental, and aesthetic perspectives. It functions as a unique natural science that undergoes scrutiny in human social activities.

Feng Shui can be viewed as a theory of landscape design, Eastern environmental science, or human habitat studies. It has become a core subject in fields such as architecture, landscaping, and municipal engineering in many universities worldwide. Wherever there is an environment, Feng Shui principles apply, reflecting human perception of natural surroundings and mapping human psychological needs and behavioral guidelines onto landscapes.

In advocating for humanistic care in landscape design today, Feng Shui's strong practical value and enduring vitality demonstrate its theoretical foundation and philosophical depth. Rather than contradicting modern science, Feng Shui reveals its technological content, integrating seamlessly with disciplines such as physics, geography, meteorology, and life sciences.

Ancient wisdom says: "A blessed person resides in a blessed place, and a blessed place is where a blessed person resides." It also states, "In a household that accumulates good deeds, there will be abundant blessings; in a household that accumulates evil, there will be calamities."

This emphasizes that virtuous people leave blessings for their descendants, and only those who are "blessed" can enjoy a blessed place. A person of great virtue and blessings inherently possesses a powerful frequency energy field. The flow of energy around them gradually fills the entire residence, nurturing the land with blessings just as they themselves are blessed. Historical records from ancient times document many great virtuous individuals whose presence brought peace from wars and plagues, improved local environments with favorable weather and abundant harvests, transforming regions into prosperous and peaceful communities.

Conversely, "when virtue does not match one's position, disaster will follow." Without virtue, even the best Feng Shui cannot be maintained; it will gradually deteriorate, leaving disasters for future generations.

From this perspective, the fundamental principle of Feng Shui lies not merely in the environmental factors of wind and water, but in the human heart. The virtue manifested by one's thoughts and actions determines the level of energy in the field, which in turn determines one's destiny. As it is said, "Form is condensed by Qi; Qi gives birth to fate; fate is created by the heavens, and the heavens follow the heart; the heart is the embodiment of heavenly principles, and principles reside in the human heart." All things originate from the heart. "A single thought of goodness resonates throughout heaven and earth, revered by spirits and gods; a single thought of evil is rejected by heaven and earth, and all laws deviate!"

In the previous statement regarding quantum mechanics, everything is nothing more than a cluster of atoms. Atoms themselves are not solid matter but are composed of fundamental particles at different levels, which are energy bodies exhibiting "wave-particle duality" and are essentially "empty". Therefore, the material world we perceive around us is a visual phenomenon constructed by a deeper level of consciousness. All changes in physical appearance, whether they involve worldly fortunes or misfortunes, or emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, are results of the interaction between one's own energy and the larger cosmic energy field.

"Sun-loving flowers and trees greet spring early," as all things carry yin and embrace yang. Plants, unable to move, cannot alter their fate, hence the saying "a tree that is transplanted dies, while a person who moves thrives." When we survey our Earthly habitat, it's nothing more than a spatial energy field operating within defined frequencies. All beings resonate together within similar frequencies, forming and manifesting due to this natural resonance. In fact, all natural entities resonate at frequencies quite similar to those of humans.

For most people, their energy remains diffuse and scattered, lacking aggregation or focus, influenced by self-awareness, environmental circumstances, and position. When we adhere to natural laws, resonating at similar frequencies can amplify and yield positive outcomes. For instance, being in the presence of energetically strong individuals or platforms often facilitates meaningful achievements. Conversely, disrupting energy resonance inevitably leads to discordant chain reactions. For example, human collective actions evidently influence the natural energy field, resulting in increasingly visible extreme climates and natural disasters.

Science perceives physicality through observation, while psychology regards the mind (in its quantum state) as significant. Similarly, Feng Shui aligns with human life, intertwined with causality. They operate jointly to achieve the complete aspect of things, as elucidated in Taoist teachings of "yin and yang in harmony" and Buddhist principles of "form and emptiness". As such, without one, the other cannot exist.

Thus, it is evident that yin and yang are interconnected, humans and the environment are interconnected, and humanity and all earthly beings are interconnected. At first glance, it may seem that everything follows its own rules and operates independently. However, from a quantum perspective, the world resembles a vast "Indra's net", where each element connects to another, events link to one another, energy bodies interlace, spreading endlessly through time and space. This extension permeates not only the material dimension but also the spiritual and higher-dimensional planes, all interconnected in a "holographic" manner.

For example, a significant event in one place can trigger a response in another, much like the ancient Chinese tale of "the bronze bell in the palace ringing in response to the collapse of a distant mountain". Similarly, changes in the spiritual or higher-dimensional realms also affect the material world. Ancient people could predict worldly changes by observing celestial phenomena, validated by various convincing prophets throughout history.