Sunday, April 24, 2011

The state-of-the-art of Feng Shui in our society

Today no city planner will seek a Feng Shui (風水)master to find the Dragon hole to house its administrative head-quarter, legislative council or supreme court.  With scarcity of space, finding a permanent grave for one's ancestor is a real luxury, not to mention finding one at a good Dragon hole, which is almost an impossibility nowadays.  Who then still demand the services of a Feng Shui master?

In Hong Kong, Feng Shui is a hot topic.  TV shows at noon time for the housewives often times will invite Feng Shui masters to give advice on this and that.  Many objectives, for health, for good fortune, for winning the lottery, for children studies, for job-promotion (or prevention of demotion), and for a more caring husband. And for some working man and woman, something to be done at the office to ensure better colleagues or boss relations and above all, promotion and salary raise.

Most Hong Kong people live in apartments, some people will seek advice of a Feng Shui master to choose the right one, having consideration to some modified (or brought up to date) principles from ancient Dragon hole practice that I mentioned in a previous post.  That is not where most questions lie.  The most important question for Feng Shui masters today is: Given the location and its defining elements (巒頭), how can a family plan the usage of the rooms and positioning of the furniture (in particular the bed of the bread-winner) to maximize Feng Shu for the family?  A secondary question is: What more can be done to enhance the Feng Shui?  The same can also apply to an office setting, assuming one is senior enough to do something about it.

In response to the need of the customers, the concept Chi-logic (理氣) has been elevated to be the most important one in contemporary Feng Shui practice.  There are many different schools of Chi-logic, ranging from the simple to the highly complex.  The gist is that a harmony or balance has to be achieved between the forces of Sky, Earth and Man (天地人), resulting in good chi being "absorbed" by the person or family.  And good-chi thus absorbed will have all the beneficial effects as stated above!

In order that we can have a better understanding of the concept of Chi-logic, let's look at how one major school, Flying-star school (飛星派), works (of course, there are lots of subdivisions in the school, some principles only will be explained below, rather than going into any internal intricacies or differences).  The Flying-star school makes use of the study of astrology in its practice.  In essence, the position of the stars during different time (year/month/day/hour) will influence good chi or bad chi positions within a dwelling unit (or working unit).  A dwelling unit will be further divided into 9 subunits receiving different influences (good or bad) from the positions of the stars from different directions.  The internal positions of furniture/usage of each subunit will need to be modified in order to maximize the in-flow of good-chi and to prevent (or neutralize) the in-flow of bad-chi.  And in case such internal changes are not possible (e.g. one can't sleep in the kitchen [Stove 灶]), Feng Shui gadgets, as advised by the Feng Shui master, can be used instead.  Since the stars are not stationary, periodic usage of the services of a Feng Shui master is recommended (I mean as recommended by the Feng Shui master).

Feng Shui has been and still is a psychological reality for many people.  In Hong Kong it is not something as serious as organized religion.  It is however an IN topic for people to discuss, and certainly some people will feel more protected (psychologically and/or metaphysically) by following some Feng Shui principles or advice.  I can see there are now an increasing number of Feng Shui books published in the English language, many by practicing Caucasian Feng Shui masters in the West.  I therefore believe it is fair to say that the practice of Feng Shui has successfully redefined itself, and has formed part of the repertoire of healing practices in our society.

Feng Shui compass (風水羅盤): essential tool in Chi-Logic determination

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