|
The
Origin of Eight Houses School Feng
Shui
Taken
from “A Guide to Reading the Bazhai Ming Jing
(The Bright Mirror of Bazhai)”, written by
Jiang Jue-Ming, 1997. Translated by Howard Choy.
Chinese
Kanyu Dili (Feng Shui) was mainly concerned with
the study of Yin and Yang Houses. The Yin Houses
(graves) emphasised on predicting the fortune
and decline of a deceased’s family and the
Yang Houses (residence) emphasised on analysing
the fortune and decline of the Living. Kanyu is
intimately related to our lives. It is one of
the five important inventions by the Chinese.
Kanyu
of Yin and Yang Houses has produced many schools
after thousands of years of development, and the
Bazhai School is one of the more important
schools. It has its beginnings in the Tang
Dynasty (618-907) and became popular in the Song
Dynasty (960-1279). Three representative books
on Bazhai were mentioned in the “History of
the Song Dynasty”; they were: -
1.
“Huang-di
Bazhai Jing
The
Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Bazhai.
2.
“Huai-nan-wang Jianji Bazhai Jing”
The
Classic of Bazhai According to the King of
Southern Huai (Jiangsu).
3.
“Huang-shi-gong
Bazhai”
The
Bazhai of Old Man Yellow Stone.
Since
the word Bazhai was mentioned in all 3 classics,
the ‘Bazhai School’ was known from then on.
After
the Song Dynasty, the school continued to
prosper and became quite popular. During the
Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911)
Dynasties, many more books on Bazhai appeared.
They included: -
1.
“Yang Zhai Cuo-Yao”
Yang
Houses Abstract.
2.
“Yang-zhai
Da-Cheng”
The
Great Achievements of Yang Houses
3.
“Jin-guang-Dou-Lin
Jing”
Classic
of the Dipper Casting its Golden Light
4.
“Yang-Zhai
Shi-Shu”
The
Ten Books of Yang Houses
5.
“Yang-Zhai
Ji-Cheng”
The
Complete Anthology of Yang Houses
6.
“Yang-Zhai
San-Yao”
The
Three Requirements of Yang Houses
7.
“Bazhai
Ming-Jing”
The
Bright Mirror of Eight Houses
8.
“Yang-Zhai
Ai-Yiang Pian”
A
Companion for Yang Houses
Up
until now, Bazhai is still considered by many
overseas Chinese as an authentic school of Kanyu.
Bazhai
(or Eight Houses) is in reality the eight
directions, which are related to the Nine Stars
(of the Big Dipper), the Nine Palaces (of the
Luoshu Diagram) and the Bagua (the Eight
Trigrams). It is part of Yang House Kanyu.
The
directions and the auspiciousness of the East
Four and the West Four life are related to the
Bagua, which can be traced back to popularity of
the Yi Pictures Study in the Song Dynasty.
The
diagrams of the Hetu, the Luoshu, the Xiantian
(Earlier Heaven) and Huotian (Later Heaven)
Bagua were passed down by Huashan Haoist Chen
Tuan during the Song Dynasty. Later on, they
were transmitted through Shao Yong in his book
“Huang-ji Jing-shi” (The Empirical YiJing),
Zhou Din-Yi’s “Taiji Tu Shuo” (An
Explanation of the Taiji Pictures) and Zhu
Xi’s “Zhou-Yi Ben-Yi” (The Original
Meaning of Zhou-Yi). Nowadays, the Yijing Bagua
is a household name.
Zhu
Xi’s “Zhou-Yi Ben-Yi” has the Fuzi and the
Wen Wang Bagua arrangements in his classic. The
Fuzi Bagua (Earlier Heaven Bagua) is made up of
the Taiji dividing into the Yin Yang polarity (Lian
Yi), which further divided into the Sixiang of
Tai Yang, Xiao Yang, Tai Yin and Xiao Yin.
The
Yang House (Bazhai) method grouped the four gua
belonging to Tai Yang and Tai Yin into the West
Four Life (Xi-Si-Ming) and the four gua
belonging to the Xiao Yang and Xiao Yin to the
East Four Life (Dong-Si-Ming, see diagram at end
of article). It then used the Wen Wang (Later
Heaven) Bagua to set the directions for the East
Four and the West Four Life. By comparing them
to the Nine Stars, they assigned Auspiciousness
and Harmfulness to the orientations.
Bazhai
Feng Shui is also called Yi Gua (Yijing Trigram)
Feng Shui. These days, it is one of the more
popular Liqi (compass) schools. Some people
think Bazhai Feng Shui is too simple, since, in
principle, it divides the house and people into
two categories. If the house and people fit in
with each other, then it is auspicious, if they
don’t then it is harmful. This is the most
basic dictum. However, if we study the subject
deeply, we will find Bazhai Kanyu has more depth
than first realised. Of course, establishing the
auspiciousness and the harmfulness of a
situation are the main characteristics of Bazhai
Kanyu.
“Bazhai
Ming Jing” (The Bright Mirror of Eight Houses)
was passed down by Doist Monk Ruo-Guan Daoren.
It is a representative work of knowledge
transmitted by Yang Jun-Song of the Tang
Dynasty. Although Ruo-Guan Daoren has no real
name, and we don’t know his age or birth
details, we know his book was first published by
“Xu Jiang Diao Sou” (The Old Fisherman of Xu
River) Gu Wa-lu in the 55th year of
the Reign of Emperor Qian Long (1791). In the
last 300 years, it has become a must-read book
for those who want to study Kanyu seriously.
|
