Feng shui is regarded as nonsense by most people. In today's scientific development, from a scientific point of view, the theory of Feng Shui is not without its merits. Most people also regard it as a traditional culture in China. "The Yellow Emperor's House Classic" says: The land is good and the seedlings are flourishing; Zhai Ji, the population is prosperous. In just ten words, the essence of Feng Shui is fully displayed. Geomantic omen literally means that wind is flowing air; Water is the blood of the earth and everything depends on it.
Where there is wind and water, there is life and vitality, everything can grow and people can survive. From a scientific point of view, it is precisely because there is air, water and suitable temperature that there is life on the earth. Therefore, feng shui theory is also correct. Because of this, people have attached great importance to the theory of geomantic omen in architecture since ancient times.
There are many geomantic buildings in China. People will pay attention to the quality of geomantic omen and the orientation of the environment when building houses and choosing houses. People often praise their places with beautiful scenery, outstanding people and other words. Feng Shui culture is also one of the traditional cultures in China. So, what is Feng Shui culture? Is it superstition or science?
The word "feng shui" was first put forward in the book of burial. "Together with the wind and scattered, boundary water. The ancients gathered to make it last forever, and the deeds stopped, so it was called Feng Shui. " The so-called feng shui is: Tai Chi gives birth to two instruments (Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang), two instruments give birth to four phases (five elements), four phases give birth to gossip, and gossip gives birth to twenty-four mountains. Usually people divide Feng Shui into dragon, cave, sand, water, direction, meaning, shape and sky. All senior feng shui masters do it according to these principles, but they should combine human numerology and nature to calculate; In the past, a famous saying of Feng Shui master was: one life, two fortunes, three feng shui products, five virtues and five studies.
China ancients called geomantic omen geomantic omen, also called geography. We can read it together as: geomantic geomantic geography-the research and analysis theory of geography (observing the sky), geography (geodesy), wind (airspace), water (hydrology and water quality) and geography (topography and geology).
On the earth, water and human beings depend on the most basic substances, and the largest substances are wind and soil. (air), water and land (land). On the earth, except for the matter from celestial bodies, almost all matter is all things, including human beings. It can be seen that the ancient geomantic omen refers to all the substances on the earth, and geomantic omen is a theory to study the microscopic substances (air, water and soil) and the macro environment (heaven and earth) on which human beings depend for survival and development. According to the ancients' cognition, except land and water, everything else is space, and there is only wind in space. The ancients believed that wind, space and sky were linked. The wind in Feng Shui is not only air, but also space and sky. Laozi once said: one life is two, two lives are three, and three lives are all things. One is the sky, so there will be water one day, one is the earth, and the third is water. Translated into vernacular: nature, heaven and earth produce water, and heaven and earth produce everything. The word feng shui originated in Fuxi era. According to the simple map developed by Taihao Fuxi, it is inferred that the earth has a period of geomantic omen.
"Su Wen Classic" records: "Yan Di said: one fog, two geomantic omen, three landscapes, four hills, five rivers, six rivers, seven small rivers, eight water shortages and nine water shortages." The feng shui referred to here should be the original meaning of feng shui. In Modern Chinese Dictionary, the term Feng Shui is defined as: it refers to the geographical situation of residential bases and cemeteries, such as the context and the trend of mountains and rivers. There is also an explanation in Ci Hai: Feng Shui, also called "Kanyu". A superstition in old China. It is believed that the wind direction and water flow around the residential base or cemetery can lead to the fate of residents or buried families. Also refers to the method of phase house phase tomb. But neither of these statements is accurate. One is to equate geomantic omen with superstition, and not sure of its scientific connotation; Second, there is no difference between Feng Shui and Feng Shui. Feng shui is a cultural phenomenon that has been passed down from ancient times to the present. On the surface, it is a folk custom, a skill of choosing good luck to avoid evil; In essence, it is a new knowledge for the ancients to study the relationship between man and environment. Simply speaking, it is somewhat similar to modern "human settlement environment" and "environmental geography", but there are still essential differences between them: the latter is a science based on observation and experiment; However, due to the lack of scientific theory and experimental basis, the former is mixed with many idealistic opinions and superstitions, so that we can not regard it as a science, but only as a "magic number".
In recent years, due to the in-depth study of traditional culture, Chinese and foreign scholars have gradually reached a consensus on Feng Shui. They believe that geomantic omen is a landscape evaluation system put forward by China in ancient times to find auspicious places for architecture, and it is the art of ancient people's choice, treatment and layout of living environment. The scope of geomantic omen includes houses, palaces, temples, tombs, villages, cities and many other aspects. Among them, those involving the burial place of the deceased are called "Yin House Feng Shui" and those involving the residence of strangers are called "Yang House Feng Shui". Feng Shui has both dross and essence, so it can't be treated simply with a completely positive or negative attitude. Some scholars also believe that strictly speaking, there is a difference between Feng Shui and Feng Shui. Feng shui is an objective existence, and its ontology is nature; Feng Shui is an activity between subjective and objective, and its essence is human.
China Feng Shui is cosmology, astronomy, celestial movement, geophysics, geomagnetism, hydrology, geological geomorphology, environmental landscape, natural ecological architecture, social ethics, aesthetics, human informatics, meteorology, space selection, time selection, folklore, life philosophy, metaphysics, easy learning, prediction, yin and yang, five elements, and popular spirit. This is the crystallization of the great wisdom of the ancient people in China, which should be learned and carried forward by our future generations. In our life, the familiar geomantic architecture is probably the Forbidden City and the Ming Tombs. There is a Long Mai that runs through the Forbidden City and the Ming Tombs. The ancient kings lived in front of them and rested behind them, all of which were above Long Mai and sheltered by the gods. The Forbidden City has a history of more than 600 years. Long Mai in the Forbidden City is connected with Kunlun Mountain, which is connected with the vitality in the sky. The Jiaotai Hall of the Forbidden City is the Dragon Cave in the Forbidden City, the Dragon Cave in Beijing and the Dragon Cave in China. Judging from the static geomantic omen, there is Jingshan behind the Forbidden City and Jinshui River in front of it, which is located between mountains and rivers. Zhenshan Jinshui is surrounded by mountains and waters, which is the style of prolonging life. From the analysis of the back bedroom of the harem, from the perspective of the three halls in front of the front palace, the main buildings, such as Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Zhong Yong and Hall of Baohe, all occupy auspicious positions. From the point of view of the queen bedroom and the three palaces, Chaoqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace are also in auspicious positions, especially extending the auspicious positions to make them more stable for a long time. The whole Forbidden City was built completely according to the general pattern of geomantic omen.
So is the Ming Tombs, the mausoleum of the Ming emperor, which was built in the seventh year of Yongle. In order to find an auspicious cemetery, Ming Chengzu ordered Jiangxi Feng Shui master to find this mountain in Changping, which was named "Tianshou Mountain" after Judy's personal reconnaissance and confirmation. Later, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty built tombs here one after another, and the Ming Tombs were beautiful and natural, surrounded by mountains and waters. The terrain where the Ming Tombs are located is surrounded by mountains in the north, east and west, and the south is open. The mountain stream flows southeast after merging with the Yulingqian River. The two hills on both sides of Shinto in front of the mausoleum are "Longshan" and "Hushan" respectively, which conform to the four-spirit orientation pattern of East Qinglong and West White Tiger. According to the theory of geomantic omen, Tianshou Mountain stretches, and "Long Mai" is thriving. The mausoleum stands to the south, with the main peak towering behind it, surrounded by the "sand-protecting mountain" on the left and right, and extending to the Beijing Plain to the south, with a bright future. The "Tang Ming" (base site) of the mausoleum is flat and wide, with lush vegetation and "vibrant veins". This is really a paradise built for tombs. During this trip to Beijing, I also heard about another famous geomantic architecture in Beijing-China People's Construction Bank Building. This CCB is located at No.25, Financial Street, West Second Ring Road, Beijing.
"Financial Street" was called "Jincheng Square" in Yuan Dynasty, and it was the place where shops and banks gathered in Ming and Qing Dynasties. From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, most banks in China were also located here, which was a treasure house favored by financial institutions in past dynasties. "The current' Financial Street' was built in August 1993 and completed in 2005. Fuxingmen in the south, Fuchengmen in the north, Taiping Bridge in the east and Second Ring Road in the west, with a total area of 103 hectare. National bank headquarters such as China People's Bank Head Office, China Industrial and Commercial Bank Head Office, China People's Construction Bank Head Office, China Bank Head Office and Agricultural Development Bank Head Office gathered here, and a large number of well-known financial and insurance securities units and telecom enterprises such as China Securities Regulatory Commission, China Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Insurance Group, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Netcom settled in. More than 200 domestic and foreign financial and non-financial institutions, such as the Malaysian Hong Leong Group and other famous foreign banking institutions, have settled here, becoming a national financial center for China to master the latest international financial information and understand the world financial trends. " Although it is just above this "land of geomantic omen", the head office of CCB is "located in a depressed place". The overpass in front of CCB is inclined, and it meets the "overpass evil spirit" when it is empty, and its northwest corner is facing the intersection, which is washed away by the "road evil spirit", which is a sign of releasing money. According to legend, Zhou Xiaochuan, then president, invited famous Feng Shui masters from Hong Kong to design suggestions for CCB in an attempt to turn the tide. So there was this "geomantic architecture" which was talked about by Beijingers. The CCB building on the financial street is black, which is rare in the history of world architecture. In feng shui, black belongs to water, and water is also rich. Black not only urges wealth, but also turns decay into magic. At the important position in the northwest corner, the building is designed as two sharp knife-shaped layouts; At the top of the east, south, west and north directions, there are four prosperous wealth designs shaped like sluice gates, which means that financial resources are rolling; At the northwest corner of the intersection and overpass, there is also a pair of white marble, which is called the largest in China and used to make a fortune. Three flagpoles were erected among the brave men, symbolizing three high incense sticks to show their reverence for the god of heaven and earth. Under the protection of such geomantic architecture, in recent years, CCB has flourished and become the leader of the four major commercial banks in China. Zhou Xiaochuan, the former president, was also promoted to the third level, from the president of the head office to the chairman of the CSRC and the governor of the central bank.
The true ancient Feng Shui in China should be a kind of survival knowledge formed by social activities such as ancient human reproduction, governing the country and protecting the people. Studying the role of nature on human beings is a profound knowledge; It is an excellent traditional culture in China. It is a technique of seeking good fortune and avoiding evil; It is a folk activity that has been circulated for thousands of years; It is a unique product of China's philosophical thought with the unity of man and nature as the core; It is a practical technology for the selection and optimization of human settlements formed by accumulated experience in practice; It is a broad school formed by the academic mixture of materialism and idealism of ancient people in China. Science and metaphysics go hand in hand, essence and dross coexist, lagging behind modern technology and surpassing modern science, which is a systematic theory; It is a valuable intangible historical and cultural heritage.
Feng shui can change fate and win divine power, which was highly affirmed by the ancients. Geomantic omen tells people to conform to the laws of nature, realize the harmony between man and nature, and optimize the natural environment, so that there will be a good house of yin and yang, and with the auspicious induction and shade of a good geomantic place, themselves and future generations will be safe and prosperous. Therefore, if everyone can get a good land of geomantic omen and be lucky, the society will be peaceful, happy and harmonious, and the nation-state will prosper because everyone and every family have a harmonious society. This is the greatest benefit of geomantic omen to mankind.
But it is undeniable that Feng Shui is not omnipotent, and Feng Shui is only a force that affects life. Although China's geomantic omen is vast and messy, abstruse and mysterious, which can be proved but lacks data, and is useful but without scientific basis, it still has many limitations, which are vast and boundless, bottomless, difficult to learn and operate, archaic and stagnant. Therefore, I hope that Feng Shui colleagues can abandon their prejudices, strive for innovation, keep pace with the times and enrich themselves while engaging in archaeology today. I hope so!