Taoist Feng Shui The Ancient Roots of the Chinese Art of

Placement

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 Taoist
Feng Shui

SUSAN LEVITT

Destiny Books

Rochester, Vermont
 Dedicated to Professor Takeko Stover, who opened the door to 10,000 things.

Destiny Books
One Park Street

Rochester, Vermont 05767

www.InnerTraditions.com

Destiny Books is a division of Inner Traditions International

Copyright © 2000 by Susan Levitt

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permis-
sion in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Levitt, Susan.
Taoist feng shui : the ancient roots of the Chinese art of placement / Susan
Levitt.

p. cm.
ISBN 0-89281-723-2 (alk. paper)
1. Feng-shui. 2. Taoism. I. Title.

BF1779.F4 L46 1999

133.3337—dc21 99-054415

Printed and bound in Canada

10 98765432 1

Text design and layout by Virginia Scott

This book was typeset in Berkeley Book
 What is Tao?

There was something formless and perfect

before the universe was horn.

It is serene. Empty.

Solitary. Unchanging.

Infinite. Eternally present.

It is the mother of the universe.

Eor lack of a better name, I call it the Tao.

It flows through all things,

inside and outside, and returns

to the orgin of all things.

The Tao is great.

The universe is great.

Earth is great.

Each human is great.

These are the four great powers.

A human follows the earth.

Earth follows the universe.

The universe follows the Tao.

The Tao follows only itself.

 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012

http://www.archive.org/details/taoistfengshuiOOIevi
 Contents

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

ONE History of the Dragon 1

TWO The Way of the Tao 6

THREE Eight Trigrams 9

FOUR Ba-Gua Map 14

FIVE Five Elements 21

SIX How to Practice Feng Shui 37

SEVEN Feng Shui Solutions 79

EIGHT Reckoning of Fate 102

NINE Lo P'an Compass and I Ching 117

appendix Lunar Calendar from 1900 to 2032 142

Feng Shui Resources 147

 Foreword

INSIGHT, INTUITION, AND THE ABILITY TO OBSERVE NATURE are

essential for understanding the intimate interplay between the energies of

people and place. Universal principles underlying timeless wisdom are

always waiting to be discovered, if only we are willing to pay attention, and

open our minds and hearts to the feelings and sensations that surround us,

particularly those from our living and working environments.

Long ago in ancient China, the sage rulers developed a conceptual system

to understand and explain how the spaces we inhabit affect our lives. Their

forms, location, orientation, color, characteristics, design, and arrangement

all play critical roles in what came to be feng shui, the science and art of

placement.

Along with destiny and luck, feng shui exerts a powerful, almost all-

encompassing influence on the course of our lives. With feng shui we are able

to work directly with and even transform chi, the basic energy that underlies

all life, to overcome obstacles, create prosperity, and bring us into balance

with ourselves and the world around us.

As with any path to greater understanding, unless we find an entry and

gain access to even the simplest of its truths, it will serve little practical use

no matter what its intrinsic value may be. We can all thank Susan Levitt for

her excellent job of presenting the Taoist approach to feng shui in an emi-

nently clear and thorough fashion. Translating ancient ideas and practices in

a way that lets us apply them to our busy and often overcomplicated modern

.X
lives is no easy task, let alone achieving a seamless integration between the-

ory and practical examples.

I first met Susan when she invited me to analyze the feng shui of her

Sausalito home. Captivated by the opportunity to expand her Taoist studies

into a new arena, and incorporate feng shui with her practice as a Chinese

astrologer, she accompanied me on a series of appointments arranged with

her astrology clients. From the very first session her zeal and acumen were
inspiring, as there is nothing a teacher enjoys so much as a dedicated student,

particularly one who brings such unique gifts and talents. She continued

with professional training as a consultant, studied with Grand Master Lin

Yun, and now has achieved the distinction of reintegrating modern feng shui

with its Taoist roots.

I wish you the best of success applying the practical wisdom contained

within the pages of Taoist Feng Shui, and urge you to follow Susans example.

Like the ancient Taoist sages, investigate, observe, explore, and add your spe-

cial insights and discoveries to the wealth of techniques and methods for

transforming life with feng shui. Together we can create places filled with bal-

ance and harmony, for ourselves and the generations yet to come.

Seann Xenja

x FOREWORD
 Acknowledgments

THANKS TO His Holiness Grand Master Lin Yun Rinpoche, a Monkey, wise

trickster, and holy being, and feng shui educator Seann Xenja, a brave white

Tiger. The purity of their souls is a great inspiration. Thanks also to my sis-

ter Char Levitt, a Dog strong and true, and my sister-in-law, Nadine Greiner,
a mighty Dragon. Their love and guidance are my most treasured gifts.

X.
 ONE

History of the Dragon

EVERYWHERE ON OUR PLANET— from the pyramids in Egypt to the

monoliths of Stonehenge in England to the Ming tombs in China —ancient

people honored sacred places. Unique mountains, rivers, hills, and groves, or
places where natural phenomena occurred, such as geysers and volcanoes,
were sacred places.

Feng shui (pronounced "fung shway") is the ancient Chinese art and sci-

ence of locating a sacred place on earth. The literal translation of feng shui is

"wind" and "water," two elements of nature. The ancient Chinese people

developed feng shui based on their unique spiritual view of the world. They

studied nature to make sense of the universe. In nature they sensed chi ener-

gy, the breath of life in all things. They understood the harmony of life by
observing nature. By recognizing chi in a landscape, the ancient ones deter-

mined which locations would be safe from danger, provide lush vegetation,

or harmoniously align with the geomagnetism of the earth. Through obser-

vation of natural forces, the Chinese invented the magnetic compass. Feng

shui is also based on compass directions and astronomical patterns.

The philosophy of the balance of nature became the religion of Taoism

(pronounced "Dowism"). Priests of Taoism, who were both female and male,

discovered and developed feng shui geomancy through observation of land-

forms, river flows, the movement of planets, the behavior of animals, and

changing weather conditions. When to cultivate crops, how to irrigate with

the flooding rivers, and where to construct buildings and tombs were feng
 SOUTH
Summer, warmth
red phoenix

EAST WEST
Spring, blue seas Autumn, snowy mountains
azure dragon white tiger

NORTH
Winter, coldness
black tortoise

shui concerns of the early Taoists. China is a vast and geographically varied
country. The many ways to interpret chi in a landscape are specific to each

environment. Certain land formations were named after animals, such as the

azure dragon, white tiger, red phoenix, and black turtle. These vivid animal

metaphors describe different types of chi.

The ancient Taoists observed that we humans live where earth meets heav-
en, between these two great forces in the "Middle Kingdom." In the Northern
Hemisphere of the Middle Kingdom, we receive warmth, heat, and vitality

from the south. South is located at the top of the Chinese compass. Its sym-
bolic animal is the red phoenix, which represents beauty and goodness. From
the north comes winter cold, snow, and darkness. North is located at the bot-

tom of the compass. Norths symbolic animal is the black tortoise, which rep-
resents long life and endurance. The direction east corresponds to spring-

time, blue seas, and new growth. Easts symbolic animal is the azure dragon,

which represents majesty and magnificence. The direction west corresponds

to autumn and snowy mountains. Wests symbolic animal is the white tiger,

which exemplifies bravery and strength.

Taoist observation of nature concluded that curved, flowing lines slow chi
and bring abundance. Harmonious chi moves in a curved, graceful line, as if

following the natural course of a river. Sharp, straight lines bring sha chi, or

History oj the Dragon

bad chi. An example of architecture that avoids straight lines is the Great Wall

of China, first constructed during the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.). The mas-
sive wall winds through the countryside along the ridges of mountain chains
known as the "dragon's veins." The landform of a mountain is symbolized by

a dragon. Hills, ridges, and mountains are all shapes through which the drag-

on's blood (chi) circulates. Watercourses are the ducts through which more

chi can flow. If there are too many channels, the chi is dispersed and weak-

ened. The higher the concentration of chi in the dragon's veins, the greater

the harmony of an area. An ideal dragon's lair is a hollow well protected on

three sides.

The dragon symbol may seem odd to westerners. In the West, the dragon

is a hideous beast who personifies the worst moral qualities. But in Asian cul-

tures, the qualities of the dragon are the opposite of European interpreta-

tions. The dragon is not an evil, malefic enemy. Instead, the mighty and mag-

nificent dragon symbolizes royalty, prosperity, wisdom, and benevolence.

The dragon was the most sacred mystical animal throughout thousands of
years of Chinese history and was even associated with imperial majesty For
example, the chair a Chinese emperor sat on was referred to as the "dragon

chair," and the robe a Chinese emperor wore was called the "dragon robe."

In a landscape, a large dragon mountain is complemented by a smaller

hill. This smaller hill is symbolized by a tiger. An old Chinese way of describ-
ing where the dragon meets the tiger is to compare the site to the upper and

lower portions of a human arm. In the elbow bend of the arm is the best

place for luck and harmony, for within this horseshoe shape is the best nat-

ural collection of chi. Regardless of compass direction, the dragon side is

located on the left-hand side when looking out from (not facing) the front of

a building. The tiger side is on the right.

The famous burial place of Chinese royalty, the Ming tombs northwest of

Beijing, was built according to classic dragon and tiger harmony. The

Tianshoushan hills behind the tombs are a natural barrier against harmful

forces brought by winds. The beautiful landscape includes gentle streams

that run in front of the tombs. The Ming tombs to the east are on the Azure

Dragon Hill, and the tombs to the west are on the White Tiger Hill. The

History of the Dragon 3

emperor's tomb was, of course, placed in the center of the horseshoe shape.

The other royal graves were scattered in harmonious locations among the

hills. This dragon and tiger harmony is seen all over the world where indig-

enous people follow geomantic earth patterns. For example, the Meso-
american cities of present-day Los Angeles and Guadalajara exist in dragon

and tiger junctures.

The spiritual importance of the ancestral tradition is a key feature of clas-

sic feng shui. A correct burial site that is balanced in the landscape promotes

the ancestors ability to aid the living. The ancestors and the land they inhab-

ited create a continuous link to modern humanity. This may seem like an

unusual concept to westerners, especially those Americans whose ancestral

lands are on the other side of the world. But the benevolence of ancestors is

a cardinal aspect of many ancient traditions. Countless generations devel-

oped the traditions of guardianship of the landscape in which those ancestral

spirits are located. In Chinese ghost stories and legends, an unhappy corpse

haunts the living until his burial site is corrected. Then he can rest in peace

for all eternity.

Northern Chinese culture originated along the banks of the Huang Ho

(Yellow) River during the first Chinese dynasty of the Bronze Age, the Shang

dynasty (ca. 1766-1122 B.C.). The ancient Shang people created a picto-

graphic script with which to express abstract ideas. Archeologists have

unearthed inscribed bones that were used for divination, indicating the spir-

itual and mystical values of the Shang times.

About 1122 B.C. the Shangs were overthrown by the Zhous, who estab-

lished their own dynasty (1122-221 B.C.). Political trouble and social unrest

existed at the end of the Zhou dynasty, and the empire declined as the result

of warring among the states within the Zhou feudal system. But the Zhou
dynasty was also a time of great intellectual and artistic ferment. Feng shui was
documented as early as 960 B.C., and a great flowering of feng shui took place

during 770-475 B.C. under Zhou rulership. Taoist philosophers from the late

Zhou period (600-221 B.C.) include Lao-tzu (ca. 604-531 B.C.), author of the
Tao Te Ching, and Mo Ti (bom ca. 500 B.C.), the teacher of universal love. The
third great Zhou philosopher was Confucius (ca. 551-479 B.C.). The philoso-

4 History of the Dragon