An Overview of Xuan Kong Feng Shui of the Zhongzhou School!

Since ancient times, when people build their living spaces, they cannot do without choosing a natural ecological environment and a house structure suitable for their own use, in order to seek physical and mental peace and family harmony. Ancient geography thus emerged. Among them, Xuan Kong Feng Shui is a branch of geography that has been secretly passed down for a long time, with very few successors, and was made public quite late. The secrets within Xuan Kong studies have always been kept in the hands of the Zhongzhou School. The so-called Zhongzhou also refers to present-day Luoyang, and this school has always had only one teacher passing on the knowledge to one apprentice in each generation. However, at the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, suddenly a person named Jiang Dahu emerged, writing books and establishing theories to widely promote Xuan Kong, and for this reason, he launched a written debate with the popular "San He" school at that time. This written debate lasted for hundreds of years. Until the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods in the Qing Dynasty, a person named Zhang Zhongshan emerged in Wuxi, inheriting Jiang Dahu's mantle. Since then, everyone has been studying Xuan Kong, and the number of schools of Xuan Kong has also been increasing.

"Xuan" and "Kong"

Explained in terms of meaning, "Xuan" refers to the heavenly time; "Kong" refers to space and orientation. The ancients said, "The sky is black and the earth is yellow," using "Xuan" to represent the sky, and because the movement of celestial phenomena symbolizes the change of time; using the earth to represent space, as the land can nourish all things and is the support of all things. It can be seen that the ground space and the celestial time are inseparable. Therefore, the principle applied in Xuan Kong studies is that the interaction of time and space produces auspicious and inauspicious changes.

Since Feng Shui is related to time and space, we can thus consider that the function of Feng Shui is to select the best space within a period of time to pursue good fortune and avoid misfortune.

There are three characteristics of the Xuan Kong studies of the Zhongzhou School:

1. Taking the Dragon Arrangement Formula and the Star Positioning Method as the main approaches.
2. Applying the theories of the Earlier and later Heaven Trigrams, the River Map, and the Luo Book of Changes.
3. Based on the objective distribution of the energy field and the natural environment.

In terms of its operability, it uses a compass as a tool, arranges the Dragon Arrangement Formula and the Luo Book of Nine Stars to determine the energy, and takes the layout of mountains (buildings) and water (roads) in the natural environment as the basis of the landform. By combining the two, it determines prosperity and decline, studies the changes in the two qi of Yin and Yang in the environment and their relationships of generation and restraint, and uses these rules to pursue good fortune and avoid misfortune. This is the way of considering both the energy principle and the landform. Carefully studying the theoretical basis of the earlier and later Heaven Trigrams, the River Map, and the Luo Book can be used to make predictions and responses. The three are closely linked and have certain internal connections.

In the book "Plain Talk on Feng Shui" by Mr. Wang Tingzhi, the origin of the application of the rise and fall of the stars in Xuan Kong was once discussed. That is to calculate the distribution of the strength of energy in a certain space within a specific time. There is a tip effect rule in physics: the electric and magnetic forces of an object must be concentrated and emitted at the tip and edge of the object. And about twenty years ago, modern scientists discovered the secret of the Egyptian pyramids: if milk and beef are placed in a specific position in the pyramid, they can remain unchanged for a long time. Even if a rusty blade is placed in that position, after a period of time, the blade will actually become sharp again! This may be because the special structure of the pyramid enables this position to absorb the energy of space to the greatest extent. In the traditional Chinese saying, it is to absorb the "essence of the sun and the moon". In fact, after the room with a strong electrostatic field is rearranged through the method of Xuan Kong, the electrostatic field will be greatly weakened, which may be proof of the directivity of energy. Changing the color or placing flowers and water in Feng Shui adjustments can affect the magnetic field of the environment due to the different refraction of light waves. If this assumption can be established, then Xuan Kong can also be explained: that is to calculate the energy of a set of triangular edges within a period of time.

The Dragon Arrangement Formula and the Star Positioning Formula

When the ancients looked at Feng Shui, they started from the big picture and would never determine good or bad luck just by looking at the orientation of a house. Instead, they first looked at the "arrangement of the dragon," that is, according to the relationship between the location and the water mouth, to determine how many house orientations were available for selection, and when choosing, they also had to take into account the surrounding natural situation. Then comes the star positioning, according to the three yuan and nine lucks of the heavenly time and the establishment of the pole in the middle palace of the house orientation, through the nine palaces and flying stars to determine among several available house orientations, which one is favorable. This point is the calculation of the relationship between time and space. Once the house orientation is determined, finally, the architectural form is determined accordingly, whether it is open and exposed or hidden, all depending on the house orientation. The Feng Shui seen in this way is fundamentally that both the earlier and later heavens are already sound, and there is really no need to transform the Feng Shui.

Therefore, when the ancients looked at Feng Shui and transformed it, there were really not many tricks. They only made changes according to the natural situation. The most thorough way was to change the approach road, and the second was to change the internal doorways of the house, or use partitions. So sometimes moving a set of sofas has already achieved the goal, because this set of sofas is like a partition, changing the path. If there is no other choice, they could only use materials, lighting, colors, sounds, and so on. Transforming Feng Shui is like treating a disease, and it can only cure some minor ailments like a cold or flu. For those buildings where the approach road, windows, and surrounding space have all been determined, but the "arrangement of the dragon" is not good, the "star positioning" is not favorable, and the architectural form is incorrect, it is like having an incurable disease. So how can the Feng Shui be transformed? Therefore, under this premise, it can be said that Feng Shui is not necessarily transformable.

On a large scale, Feng Shui is just choosing the natural forms of mountains and rivers to build capitals, open up cities, and open up villages; on a small scale, it is to choose a suitable environment according to the changes of time to build houses and determine orientations. Therefore, you can regard Feng Shui as environmental science and landscape science, and the function of Feng Shui is only to find the most suitable living environment or the most appropriate working environment for people, and it cannot be regarded as a magic art that can control human destiny.

When looking at Feng Shui, it is necessary to start from the "arrangement of the dragon", and before Mr. Wang Tingzhi wrote and expounded on it, no one knew the "Dragon Arrangement Formula". To observe the Feng Shui of a city, the "Grand Xuan Kong" is used; to observe the Feng Shui of a certain area in the city, it is based on the main passageways in and out of that area; to look at the arrangement of the dragon of a house, it is necessary to rely on the neighboring road network. This is the way of considering both form and principle in the Xuan Kong technique of the Zhongzhou School, so looking at Feng Shui just with a floor plan of a house is not very useful. Therefore, the reason why some friends who took a floor plan to ask about the good or bad luck of the house were politely refused by me is precisely this. However, the application of the Dragon Arrangement Formula in today's cities is very difficult, because there are many tall buildings standing near the roads. If there are tall buildings blocking between the measured object and the water mouth, or if the distance between the two is relatively far, the measurement will be more troublesome, so an extremely accurate floor plan or some instruments must be used to accurately determine the arrangement of the dragon.

A Brief Talk on Feng Shui Props

True Feng Shui does not rely on items for warding off evil spirits or blocking negative energy. What to hang or place is not uniform. Just as Mr. Wang Tingzhi said, an excellent Feng Shui arrangement will never make people feel a deliberate "Feng Shui flavor", everything is so natural. It can be seen that true Feng Shui values nature and is by no means artificial. Now some people use the topic of "Feng Shui" to sell some quirky items for warding off evil spirits or blocking negative energy, placed in the so-called "wealth position" and other positions, but it should be noted that fixing the position is no longer Feng Shui. There are also copper unicorns used, and in terms of materials, it is to use metal to change Feng Shui, then why must it be a unicorn? Any copper ornaments should be fine. What's even more ridiculous is that even the compass is used as a tool to ward off evil spirits and hung at the door. So these items for warding off evil spirits or blocking negative energy are just deceiving talk.

The above is merely an overview of the origin, development history and some common sense of application of Xuan Kong. Most of the content is excerpted from Mr. Wang Tingzhi's "Plain Talk on Feng Shui". Friends interested in this book may consider purchasing it. Although this book is not a textbook for learning Xuan Kong, it provides detailed accounts of the history, allusions and application principles of Feng Shui, and indeed has its unique aspects. Therefore, the purpose of citing several articles here as a general introduction is actually to give students a rough concept of Feng Shui knowledge. Students can gradually master this numerology through subsequent learning to benefit the world.

On Zi Wei Dou Shu and Xuan Kong Feng Shui

(Excerpted from the Xuan Kong School of Zhongzhou)

At present, the major Feng Shui schools are "Eight Mansions" and "Xuan Kong", and Xuan Kong is also known as the Nine Palaces Flying Stars, whose origin can be traced back to the Song Dynasty.

Even if they belong to the same Xuan Kong school, there are still many factional differences. Party A considers it auspicious while Party B considers it inauspicious. Party A will surely accuse Party B of ignorance, and Party B will surely accuse Party A of absurdity. This phenomenon is caused by the fact that many ancient books on Feng Shui and Geomancy are ambiguous, resulting in different methods and opinions among different masters on some key issues.

The Xuan Kong of the Zhongzhou School originated from Zi Wei Dou Shu. According to the Purple and White Formula passed down by the sages of the Zhongzhou School for Xuan Kong, it is the combination of the flying stars of Dou Shu. It is said that only the flying stars of the Life Lord series, namely Tanlang, Jumen, Lucun, Wenqu, Lianzhen, Wuqu, Pojun, Zuo Fu and You Bi, are combined with the flying movements of the necessary palaces. As for the flying stars related to the Body Lord series, only those familiar with the ancient method of Zi Wei Dou Shu understand. The method is to combine the flying movements of six stars including Mars, Tianxiang, Tianliang, Tiantong, Wenchang and Tianji with three stars including Ziwei, Zuo Fu and You Bi.

The star chart derived from the Life Lord galaxy is called the Heavenly Plate, and the star chart composed of the Body Lord galaxy plus Ziwei, Zuo Fu and You Bi is called the Earthly Plate. The combination of the two plates can determine good or bad luck. The principle is consistent with the Purple and White Formula, but more facts can be inferred.

Therefore, if one is familiar with the flying stars of the Life Lord and the Body Lord, there is no need to remember the Purple and White Formula at all and can apply it more freely. However, probably since the late Qing Dynasty, there has been another school that uses the star chart of Dou Shu to study Feng Shui, but it belongs to self-invention and does not use the ancient method.

The rise of this school is because they know that Dou Shu is related to Feng Shui but do not know its essence. Therefore, they created new methods through speculation. Hence, it cannot be regarded as the orthodox of Dou Shu Feng Shui.