Is it impossible for modern people to understand the Feng Shui of ancient China?
Yes
The ancient Chinese called Feng Shui Kanyu, also called geography. We might as well read them together as: Kanyu Fengshui Geography. We might as well explain it this way: Kan (observation of the sky), Yu (survey of the land), wind (air space), water (hydrology and water quality), earth (topography and geology) (research and analysis theory).
On the earth, what is the material that accounts for the largest volume? It is wind, water, and earth. The most basic substances that human beings rely on for survival are wind (air), water, and earth (land). Please don’t forget “ground” when talking about Feng Shui.
Except for the matter that comes in from celestial bodies, almost all matter on the earth is contained and nurtured by the three elements of Feng Shui and Ground, including of course human beings. It can be seen that what the ancients called Feng Shui generally refers to all materials in the earth. Feng Shui is a theory that studies the microscopic materials (air, water and soil) and the macroscopic environment (heaven and earth) on which human beings survive and develop.
According to the perception of the ancients, apart from the earth and water, the rest is space, and in space there is only wind. The ancients believed that wind, space and sky are connected. The wind mentioned in Feng Shui is not only air, but also represents space, and it also includes sky.
The term Feng Shui first came from the Fuxi era. Based on the simple diagrams he created, Taihao Fuxi deduced that the earth had a period of wind and water. "Jianyi Jing" records: "Yan Yan said: One is fog water, two is feng shui, three is mountain water, four is hill water, five is water, six is water, seven is less water, eight is lack of water, nine is no water." What this refers to is Feng Shui should be the original meaning of Feng Shui.
Lao Tzu said: Two things give birth to two things, two things give rise to three things, and three things give rise to all things. One is the sky, so there is a saying that the sky creates water, the second is the earth, the third is nothing, the third is water. To translate this sentence from Lao Tzu, it means: Heaven and earth give birth to water, heaven and earth give rise to water, and heaven and earth water give rise to all things.
The ancient "Burial Sutra" written by Guo Pu of Jin Dynasty said: "The Qi will disperse when it rides on the wind, and it will stop when it is bounded by water. The ancients gathered it to make it not disperse, and the movement made it stop, so it is called Feng Shui. Feng Shui "The most important method is to obtain water, and the second is to hide wind." Some people think that this is the origin of the term Feng Shui. In fact, Guo Gong has narrowed Feng Shui here.
As the name suggests, we can see how practical, broad and important ancient Chinese Feng Shui is. Those who regard Feng Shui as feudal superstition are so one-sided and ignorant.
Some people later classified Feng Shui as one of the five Taoist arts. This was wrong. Because in ancient China, not only the so-called Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism were all interested in this way, but even those politicians, military strategists, and educators regarded Feng Shui geography as knowledge and scholarship that they must master and master. The so-called omniscience of astronomy and geography means omniscience of the three religions and nine streams. It's just that later some sages and sorcerers took Feng Shui in a direction that was too utilitarian and mystical.
In modern Chinese dictionaries, the word Feng Shui is defined as follows: it refers to the geographical situation of residential sites, cemeteries, etc., such as land veins, the direction of mountains and rivers, etc. Superstitious people believe that the quality of Feng Shui can affect the prosperity and decline of their families and children.
It can be said that the modern Chinese dictionary defines Feng Shui as "referring to the geographical situation of residential sites, cemeteries, etc., such as ground veins, the direction of mountains and rivers, etc." This is one-sided and narrowly defines Feng Shui. The definition "Superstitious people believe that the quality of Feng Shui can affect the prosperity and decline of their families and children." This is to vilify Feng Shui and vulgarize it.
In daily life, the word Feng Shui can be interpreted in two ways. One is a broader meaning, which generally refers to the nearby space, mountains, water, trees and other natural environments. For example, the Feng Shui here is really good, it’s really a Feng Shui treasure land, etc. One is a relatively narrow sense, specifically referring to Yin Zhai (ancestral tombs) and Yang Zhai (housing). For example, do Feng Shui, your home has good Feng Shui, etc.
For the convenience of understanding, the term Feng Shui in this article refers to Feng Shui in a broad sense. In the narrow sense of Feng Shui, the term Yin Yang House is directly used.
Most of the ancient yangzhai and yinzhai, whether they are government offices or civilian residences, whether they are noble tombs or civilian tombs, have a share of the work of Feng Shui masters. Therefore, modern people must admit that Feng Shui has made an indelible contribution to the reproduction and development of the Chinese nation that cannot be denigrated.
The core idea of Feng Shui is the unity of nature and man, and the harmony between man and nature. Take the heaven and the earth as the objects of observation and understanding, take humans as the refuge, and take humans as the purpose of serving. It is real humanistic knowledge.
Personally, I believe that the true ancient Chinese Feng Shui should
be a kind of survival knowledge formed by ancient human beings’ reproduction, governance and other social activities.
It is a profound knowledge that studies the effect of nature on human beings.
It is a kind of excellent traditional Chinese culture.
It is a kind of magic to seek good luck and avoid evil.
It is a folk activity that has been passed down for thousands of years.
It is a unique product of Chinese philosophical thought with the core of the harmony of yin and yang as the core of nature and man.
It is a practical technology for selecting and optimizing the human settlement environment formed by accumulated experience in practice.
It is a erudite school formed by the mixture of materialism and idealism of ancient Chinese people.
It is a systematic theory in which science and metaphysics are on par, essence and dross coexist, lag behind modern technology, and surpass modern science.
It is a precious intangible historical culture heritage.
From my personal understanding, I believe that Chinese Feng Shui mainly has the following ten contents. These contents must be comprehensively considered, comprehensively analyzed, and coordinated.