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SCHOOLS OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE FENG-SHUI
Like the San-yüan school, the San-ho (Three Combinations) school can be traced back to Yang Yun-sun, so that its history also goes back at least 1,000 years. Focusing not on buildings but on the relationship between mountains and waterways, San-ho uses a compass (the San-ho lo-p'an) that is specially developed for use in Landform Classification. San-ho is especially useful in environments with complex arrangements of mountains, valleys, and water systems.
The Hsüan-k'ung School The Hsüan-k'ung (Mysterious Subtleties) school, founded by Hsü Jen-wang during the Sung dynasty (960-1279 CE), has existed for at least 800 years. Originally designed for use with buildings, it was intended as a complement to San-yüan, which in its early years concerned itself exclusively with landforms. Like the San-yüan school, Hsüan-k'ung uses the lo-p'an in conjunction with the Flying Stars system to chart the flow of energy in buildings, but the two schools have different interpretations of the meaning of the numbers on the Flying Stars grid. During the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911 CE), the classic form of Hsüan-k'ung was expanded to incorporate Landform Classification of both natural and human-made structures. As practiced today, Hsüan-k'ung is a complete system of feng-shui, with both Landform Classification and Building Characteristics branches, though it emphasizes buildings over landforms.
While the Pa-chai (Eight Mansions) school is the newest school of traditional Chinese feng-shui, nevertheless it has a 300-year history. Designed exclusively for use with buildings, it matches a person's guardian star (based on his/her year of birth) with the direction that the main entrance of a house faces. According to original Pa-chai, people are ruled either by a "west" or an "east" type guardian star. When the main entrance of a house faces a direction that "favors" the personal guardian star of an occupant, it will bode well for his or her fortunes. In traditional China, the main entrance and the direction of the house with the most expansive views are usually located on the same side. Pa-chai uses the simple eight-point compass (the four cardinal and four diagonal directions) to locate areas of positive and negative energy in a house. Pa-chai shouldn't be confused with the contemporary school of feng-shui that divides the house into eight areas of life corresponding to wealth, fame, relationships, children, mentors, career, education, and health.
Cross-training Many skilled feng-shui practitioners are trained in two or more schools, applying the principles of one school or the other depending on the situation. For example, I use Hsüan-k'ung for residences and commercial buildings, San-yüan for burial sites, both San-yüan and Hsüan-k'ung for evaluating complex landforms, and San-ho for designing and evaluating waterways. In evaluating houses, I've found that Pa-chai works best when the floor plan and architectural features are simple and when nearby landforms don't exert any significant influences on the house. San-yüan, on the other hand, works best when landforms dominate or if you need to choose a site on a large piece of property; San-ho works best for houses on properties where waterways dominate the landscape; and Hsüan-k'ung works best for houses with complex floor plans and architectural features.
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© 2001, Shambhala Publications
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