Introduction to Feng Shui

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1 WISDOM ACADEMY Introduction to Feng Shui JAMPA LUDRUP Lesson 3: Essentials of the Form School, Part 2 Course Notes

2 COURSE OUTLINE Module Two Garden Entrance Paths and driveways Garden Water Rock Dragon path Shape of the building Profile Floor plan Missing corners Protruding corners Front door Location Direction Materials Poison arrows Dimensions Interior layout of the house Room shapes Corridors Stairs Ceiling Shrines

3 Dragon path Make a winding pathway on the Dragon side of your garden. That is the left side looking out or the East side. This can be a pathway of stones bounded on both sides by low flowering plants. A space of 10 feet wide (three metres) is enough to do this.

4 Some garden tips Gates are better if they do not give off poison arrows. Arrows on the gates are popular around Sera Monastery. May be this is OK on South facing gates, as long as they are not directly in line with the front door. Gates should not be in line with the opposite house. Gates should not be at the side of the house facing a wall. The main entrance should be obvious, not hidden. Tall trees behind are good. In front not so good. Trees should not overwhelm the house. Particularly from the right (looking out). Have an open area at the front of the house where the Chi can settle. Use pathways, trees and shrubs to make the Chi wander and settle.

5 More garden tips Trees (big wood) in the East help with health luck. Shrubs and flowering plants (small wood) in the Southeast help wealth luck to ripen. Keep lower shrubs on the Tiger or Western side. It is good to have a white wall on this boundary. Clear away dead and decaying plant material regularly (once a week). Choose round and wide-leaved plants. Succulents are good because they contain a store of water. A few cacti outside are good for protection, but not inside. If you would like to have a rockery or a Japanese style section of your garden then this is best located in the Southwest, Northeast, West or Northwest. It should not be located in the South. Gardens are best located in the Southeast. Window boxes in the Southeast are also good

6 Flower colours You can colour coordinate your garden according to Feng Shui principles! Red in the South. Blue in the North. White in the West. Yellow in the Southwest and West. Any colour in the Southeast and East.

7 Water Water is a wealth-creating feature and can enhance your career. Always have water features flowing towards the house - never away from it. This symbolises wealth coming IN. It is good to have landscaped ponds, artificial waterfalls, birdbaths and swimming pools. Swimming pools can be a problem. Make sure that they are only located in the North, Southeast or East and do not dominate the house. They should not be located in the South, West or Northwest. They should be in front of the house - not behind and definitely not on top of the apartment building.

9 Light Bright lights can be used to compensate for missing corners on the building. Bright lights in the Southwest will enhance Romance and Relationship luck. In the South they enhance Reputation. In the Northeast they help Knowledge and Examination luck. Do not locate a light in the Southeast, where it will adversely affect wealth luck, or in the East where it affects Health. Also do not locate lights in the West or Northwest where the luck of children and mentors is affected. A barbeque should be located in the South, Southwest or Northeast.

10 Building profile Buildings together become mountains. They can become your Dragon, Turtle, Tiger and Phoenix hills.

11 Building profile Conventional roof shapes are auspicious although sometimes they can be poison arrows for neighbours. Beware of having a downward pointing poison arrow over your main door. A flat roof is not auspicious because it lacks a sheltering canopy. Chinese temple style roofs are considered most auspicious. Domes are OK for places of worship. Water on the roof is always a problem.

12 Floor plan - orientation First determine the compass directions. Use a good compass with a strong magnetic needle. Take three readings: One just inside the front door One ten feet from the door One twenty feet from the door. There will be differences but they should be no more than 15 degrees. Take the average direction. If in doubt use the direction closest to the front door. For apartments - take the direction of the main door into the apartment block, and the direction of the main door into your apartment itself.

13 Floor plan - Lo Shu square Next you must impose the Lo Shu square onto the floor plan. This is sometimes the source of much confusion. The Lo Shu square is a grid of nine equal sectors, which will determine whether there are missing or protruding corners. Take the orientation of your main door as the baseline for the Lo Shu square. By convention we place the main door at the top of the diagram. N SE E South facing front door S Centre SW W NE N NW

14 Floor plan - Lo Shu square Southwest facing door Example of SW facing Lo Shu square. S SW W SE Centre NW E NE N N

15 Floor plan - Lo Shu square Example of NE facing Lo Shu square. Northeast facing door The main door is facing NE but is located in the North N NE E NW Centre SE N W SW S

16 Floor plan - missing corners Missing corners affect the luck of the family member associated with that particular direction. For instance if the NW corner is missing then the luck of the patriarch is affected and therefore the luck of the whole house. This is regardless of the front door position and whether it is a good personal direction or not. NW

Floor plan - dealing with missing corners If there is a missing corner in the Southwest, South or Northeast you can compensate by placing a bright light on a high pole.

17 Floor plan - dealing with missing corners If there is a missing corner in the Southwest, South or Northeast you can compensate by placing a bright light on a high pole. In the Southeast or East you should have a row of trees and shrubs that form the corner that is missing. In the West or Northwest a brick wall is better than placing a light.

18 Floor plan - protruding corners On the other hand, protruding corners can enhance the luck of the family member associated with that particular direction. For instance if the W corner is protruding then the luck of the youngest daughter is enhanced. The if the corner protrudes too far it will create missing corners in other areas. W

19 Floor plan So in general it is better for the floor plan to be a regular square or a rectangle - of course, it very rarely is! If it is a rectangle then it should not be too long and narrow.

20 Floor plan - the effect of missing and protruding corners SE Eldest daughter Wealth S Middle daughter Reputation SW Matriarch Relationships The different sectors are either enhanced or afflicted depending on whether there are protruding or missing corners. E Eldest son Health Centre Luck of the whole family W Youngest daughter Children NE Youngest son N Middle son NW Patriarch Knowledge Career Mentor

21 Front Door location The front door is the most crucial aspect of Feng Shui. The front door is the mouth of the house through which the Dragon s cosmic breath - the Sheng Chi enters. If you destroy the luck of the front door you destroy the luck of the house. In Form School Feng Shui the best aspect for a front door is south facing. The southern aspect is best in both the northern and southern hemispheres. In Flying Star Feng Shui, other front door directions can also be very auspicious. So don t panic if your house does not face south. The best location for the front door is in the middle of the side that faces the road or the most Yang feature. For instance if your house faces a lake, or one side is much brighter than the other that is where the main door should be. Hopefully everything coincides. This makes Flying Star analysis much easier. A front door at the side of the house is not so good because it usually faces another house, wall or fence.

22 Front Door - bright hall The front door should have a bright hall outside. This is a light space where the Chi can collect before entering the front door. It can be a covered porch with a bright crystal lamp over the door. Similarly, the front door should open into a bright foyer with a crystal lamp or chandelier just inside and above the door. If the foyer is cramped, make it bigger by installing mirrors on each side. But never place a mirror in front of the door otherwise all that hard-earned Sheng Chi will be reflected straight out again! The foyer can open directly into a large living space.

23 Front Door - size and materials The door should not be too large or too small. It should be the largest door in the house. Should be made of solid wood rather than glass, which offers no protection. Sliding doors (usually glass) are not so good for a front door. The colour is important and should be according to the Lo Shu recommendations. If it faces a Yin place it can be Red (Yang).

Front Door - beware of poison arrows As you look out of the front door, you must be aware of any

Poison arrows include: An upward-pointing arrow from a neighbour s roof line.

Stairs leading straight down to or running away from the front door - common in apartment blocks.

24 Front Door - beware of poison arrows As you look out of the front door, you must be aware of any poison arrows that are hitting it. Poison arrows include: An upward-pointing arrow from a neighbour s roof line. The corner of an adjacent building. Stairs leading straight down to or running away from the front door - common in apartment blocks. A straight road or driveway leading directly to the front door A cross, cannon or Ba Gua opposite your front door. An exposed straight tree trunk. An electrical or telegraph pole. A tower. A pillar. A pylon or bridge. A cemetery, hospital, rubbish dump, and so on.

26 Front Door - beware of poison arrows As you look in through the front door from the outside, you must be also be aware of poison arrows. These include: Stairs leading straight down to or running away from the front door into a basement - common in houses and office buildings. Put a screen in between. A pillar just inside the main door. Cover it with some kind of hanging. A spiral staircase. - These are pretty much a disaster wherever you find them, especially if they are boring into the centre of the house. A mirror facing the door. Relocate it to the side. A toilet door. Cover the door with a heavy curtain. Keep the door closed and do not use this toilet if possible. A toilet directly above the main door is a problem. A window. This will allow the Chi to zoom straight through. Keep the window closed and covered with a thick curtain. The back door. The same problem as with a window. Put a screen in between to make the Chi slow down and wander. Again, the seriousness of a poison arrow depends on how close it is. If it is an obvious feature as you look in through the door then you should try to do something to disguise or deflect it as explained before. A well-located front door causes the Chi to wander - not go in straight lines. NEVER have a Ba Gua inside the house.

29 Interior layout - inner half and outer half Private rooms should be in the inner half of the house or apartment. Kitchens and bedrooms should be in the inner half of the house. Bedrooms in the front half of the upper storeys are OK. The Northwest is a good location for the master bedroom or study - not a guestroom or storeroom. Worse still if there is a kitchen or toilet located in the NW sector it will hit the luck of the head of the household. The bedrooms of the other family members are best allocated according to the Lo Shu square. The Dining Room should be in the centre - not too far forward or back, or too close to the front door. The Kitchen and particularly toilets are a problem wherever they are located.

30 Room shape The best shape is a square or a rectangle. A protruding corner gives a poison arrow. Put a tall plant in front of it (fake ones are OK - in some places they will even be better). Pillars in the room are not good. In Sera Je Temple they cover the pillars with brocade hangings.

31 Ceiling No overhead beams. Some houses make a feature out of this. Beware of heavy beams above a false ceiling and do not sleep or sit under them. Beams directly over doors are not good - that is, leading to the door. Do not sleep or work directly under an overhead fan - especially if it is cross-shaped (that is, four blades). The ceiling should not slope or be wedge shaped.

34 Corridors Corridors should not lead in a straight line from the front door directly to the back door or a window. The doors in a corridor should not be opposite each other. This is called a centipede configuration and causes squabbles. Put a picture of a Rooster in the corridor to counteract the centipede. You almost always see this configuration of workstations in offices. A room at the end of a corridor receives a poison arrow from the corridor itself.

35 Stairs Avoid spiral stairs. They always affect the sector in which they are located. Stairs should have backing otherwise they are poison arrows like exposed shelves. Stairs should not face the front door. But often they do. Stairs should not face a toilet. You can change the angle of the last three or four stairs so that they do not cause a problem.

37 Shrines It is good to have a shrine or altar opposite the front door or the door to the family room. It need not be very big. Shrines should not be opposite a toilet or kitchen. Keep holy images high. Have your shrine in a fairly (but not completely) Yin space. Better not located in the bedroom.

Damascus

Damascus Flag Locations 1. Sitting on the roof of a building on the north side of the canal. 2. On the second floor of a building in the north east corner of the district. 3. Sitting in a boat on the west