Fundamental techniques
A building in Hong Kong with a hollow middle hole, maximizing on
fengshui benefits.
School in Feng Shui:
A school in Feng Shui terminology is a technique The term should
not be confused with the physical school There are many 'masters' of
the different Feng shui schools However, some maintain that
authentic masters impart their genuine knowledge of Feng shui only
to selected students. Early fundamentals.
The history of feng shui covers at least 3,500 years before the
invention of the magnetic compass, therefore defining authentic feng
shui as having a "compass school" and a "form school"
misses the point.
Feng Shui developed thousands of years ago in little villages of
the Orient It was called Folk Feng Shui Their livelihoods were
dependent on it They studied the formations of the land and ways of
the wind & water to determine the best setting for their
survival Good Feng Shui would produce bountiful harvest, healthy
livestock and abundant life Harsh winds would destroy their crops,
leaving no food for their family and their animals Violent storms
would tear down their homes and villages.
The elements, water, rain, wind, fog, sun were believed to be the
energy of heaven and earth These shaman-kings had knowledge of
landforms and weather, that could drive back the elements that
threaten a village This divinization of land forms was the beginning
and foundation of Feng Shui.
Landform Technique is the fundamental basis of feng shui Compass
Feng Shui originated after Landform techniques Compass Feng Shui
uses the compass and magnetic north for all of its readings.

In
his fieldwork in China, Ole Bruun noted that these ancient methods
of feng shui all used a compass'Traditional' and 'Classical' feng
shui is what is practiced and taught in Asia today and while both do
use a compass and base their theories and applications on their
understandings of Chinese literature about feng shui it is not the
methods of ancient feng shui masters.
Combining techniques
Classical feng shui is typically associated with the following
techniques This is not a complete list; it is merely a list of the
most common techniques.
- Bagua (relationship of the five phases or wuxing)
- Five phases (wuxing relationships)
- Xuan Kong (time and space methods)
- Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Stars methods of time and
directions)
- Xuan Kong Da Gua ("Secret Decree" or 64 gua
relationships)
- Xuan Kong Shui Fa (time and space water methods)
- Zi Bai (Purple-White Flying Stars methods)
- Ba Zhai (Eight Mansions)
- San Yuan Dragon Gate Eight Formation
- Major & Minor Wandering Stars
- San He Luan Dou (24 Mountains, Mountain-Water relationships)
- San He Shui Fa (water methods)
- Qimen Dunjia (Eight Doors and Nine Stars methods)
- Zi wei dou shu (Purple King, 24-star astrology)
Modern developments
One of the grievances mentioned when the anti-Western Boxer
Rebellion broke out was that Westerners were violating the basic
principles of Feng shui in their construction of railroads and other
conspicuous public structures throughout China At the time,
Westerners had little idea of, or interest in, such Chinese
traditions.
Since Richard Nixon journeyed to The People's Republic of China in
1972, there has been substantial interest in the subject of feng
shui by Westerners It has been reinvented by New Age entrepreneurs
for Western consumption Feng shui speaks to the profound role of
magic, mystery, and order in American life.
The following list does not exhaust the varieties.
Black Sect
Incorporated as a US church in 1984, with temples in California and
New York (The church deviates from what is known of the history of
Tantrism in China). This new version of Feng Shui was invented in
the early 1980s by Thomas Lin Yun Rinpoche who came to the US from
Taiwan Called Black Sect (or Black Sect Tantric Buddhist, or BTB)
Feng Shui, it relies on "transcendental" methods, the
concept of clutter as metaphor for life circumstances, and the use
of affirmations or intentions (what some deride as "happy talk")
BTB Feng Shui has a unique and specially created bagua, with each of
the eight compass segment directions representing a particular area
of one's life.
Shen Dao Feng Shui - Developed in the late '70's by Harrison GKyng.
Shen Dao style became the first school of its type in the UK Based
upon both 'Form' and 'Compass' styles, Shen Dao utilises the Five
Element modality to assess its clients health as well as their
buildings harmony This relationship is said to create a unique
'viewpoint' that can then be used to create a greater sense of
harmony both inwardly and outwards Shen Dao's unique compass uses
the former heavenly sequence and expands the Ba Gua into over 300
harmonics that help to fine tune its results.
Criticism
Till now Fengshui is being very popular in many countries, not only
because of its advantages bu also in order to use beautiful items in
the house, which, of course are easily available in the market. In
India too one may find certain pretty articles to be decorated
inside the living room or bedroom. But Victorian-era commentators on
feng shui were generally ethnocentric, and as such skeptical and
derogatory of what they knew of feng shui.

In
1896 at a meeting of the Educational Association of China, Rev PW
Pitcher railed at the "rottenness of the whole scheme of
Chinese architecture," and urged fellow missionaries "to
erect unabashedly Western edifices of several stories and with
towering spires in order to destroy nonsense about fung-shuy"Some
modern Christians have a similar opinion of feng shui It is entirely
inconsistent with Christianity to believe that harmony and balance
result from the manipulation and channeling of nonphysical forces or
energies, or that such can be done by means of the proper placement
of physical objects Such techniques, in fact, belong to the world of
sorcery.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, feng
shui has been officially deemed as a "feudalistic superstitious
practice" and a "social evil" according to the
state's atheistic Communist ideology and discouraged or even
outright banned at times. Persecution was the most severe during the
Cultural Revolution, when feng shui was classified as a custom under
the so-called Four Olds to be wiped out Feng shui practitioners were
beaten and abused by Red Guards and their works burned After the
death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the
official attitude became more tolerant but restrictions on feng shui
practice are still in place in today's China It is illegal in the
PRC today to register feng shui consultation as a business and
similarly advertising feng shui practice is banned, and there have
been frequent crackdowns on feng shui practitioners on the grounds
of "promoting feudalistic superstitions" such as one in
Qingdao in early 2006 when the city's business and industrial
administration office shut down an art gallery converted into a feng
shui practice Communist officials who had consulted feng shui were
sacked and expelled from the Communist Party. Partly because of the
Cultural Revolution, in today's PRC less than one-third of the
population believe in feng shui, and the proportion of believers
among young urban PRC Chinese is said to be much less than 5% Among
all the ethnic Chinese communities the PRC has the least number of
feng shui believers in proportion to the general population Learning
feng shui is considered taboo in today's China Nevertheless, it is
reported that feng shui has gained adherents among Communist Party
officials according to a BBC Chinese news commentary in 2006, and
since the beginning of Chinese economic reforms the number of feng
shui practitioners are increasing A number of Chinese academics
permitted to research on the subject of feng shui are
anthropologists or architects by trade, studying the history of feng
shui or historical feng shui theories behind the design of heritage
buildings, such as Cao Dafeng, the Vice-President of Fudan
University, and Liu Shenghuan of Tongji University.
Feng Shui practitioners have been skeptical of claims and methods
in the "cultural supermarket" Mark Johnson made a telling
point:
This present state of affairs is ludicrous and confusing Do we
really believe that mirrors and flutes are going to change people's
tendencies in any lasting and meaningful way? There is a lot of
investigation that needs to be done or we will all go down the tubes
because of our inability to match our exaggerated claims with
lasting changes.
A travelogue-type article from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
explained feng shui initially as "a commonsense alignment of
structures to conform to the shape of the land, an idea shared by
any sensible architect in a land fraught with typhoons and
torrential rains" However, after reading two books (one by
field researcher Ole Bruun), the writer's conclusion was that feng
shui "is more of a mystical belief in cosmic harmony"
Penn & Teller did an episode of their television show Bullshit!
that featured several Feng Shui practitioners in the US, and was
highly critical of the inconsistent (and frequently odd) advice In
the show, the entertainers argue that if Feng Shui is a science (as
some claim), it should feature a consistent methodology.
People have reacted skeptically towards the alleged benefits of
crystals, wind chimes, table fountains, and mirrored balls, etc, on
one's life, finances, and relationships Often, these claims are
dismissed as New Age, pseudoscience, relying on the placebo effect,
or even outright fraud.
Current research in this direction
A modern feng shui fountain at Taipei 101, Taiwan.
A growing body of research exists on what is now called "traditional"
or "classical" feng shui.
Landscape ecologists find traditional feng shui an interesting
study In many cases, the only remaining patches of old forest in
Asia are "feng shui woods," which strongly suggests the "healthy
homes," sustainability and environmental components of ancient
feng shui techniques should not be easily dismissed.
Environmental scientists and landscape architects have researched
traditional feng shui and its methodologies.
Architectural schools study the principles as they applied to
ancient vernacular architecture.
Geographers have analyzed the techniques and methods to help locate
historical sites in Victoria, Canada, and archaeological sites in
the American Southwest, concluding that ancient Native Americans
considered astronomy and landscape features.
Whether it is data on comparisons to scientific models, or the
design and siting of buildings, graduate and undergraduate students
have been accumulating solid evidence on what researchers call the "exclusive
Chinese cultural achievement and experience in architecture"
that is feng shui.
Modern Usage
Architects in Sydney and Hong Kong were surveyed by researchers
regarding their selection of the environment for a building and
interior layout The architects generally concurred with the ideal
feng shui model.

The
hospitality industry has documented the expensive retrofits members
must undertake when accommodations were not designed with feng shui
principles in mind.
It has been suggested that Prince Charles of Wales and Donald Trump
have used feng shui.
News Corporation consulted feng shui experts regarding the
headquarters offices of DirecTV after News Corp acquired that
company in 2003.
Cowboy Bebop featured an episode called "Boogie Woogie Feng
Shui" which centered around a daughter's search for her father,
a Feng Shui master By using Feng Shui principles and the use of of a
luopan coupled with some sci-fi elements, the Bebop crew help locate
the master in an unexpected place.