Does religion have a role in Feng Shui?

This is a frequently asked question.
The answer is: No.  Feng shui is not a religion nor has it ever followed any religious tradition or practice.

However, most religious groups do apply feng shui principles in building their temples and monasteries. Most Taoist and Buddhist temples in China are built on a site that nourishes spiritual energy.

Headmaster Monk, Dr. Hsu and group at Temple Site

Last November, I was invited by the headmaster of Yunjui Shan (雲居山Cloud Residing Mountain) ,in Jinagxi, China,  to locate a proper site to build a new meditation and training center for the monastery. This Ch’an (zen) monastery, was established during the Tang dynasty and has over 1200 years of history.  The headmaster was very much into feng shui and I found him also sensitive to the energy of the land.  Since my suggestion was very much in accord with what he had in mind, he was very happy with my visit.

This past March, he once again asked me to help with the proper positioning of the gate for a new temple. High up in the mountain, in the rain and cold, the master walked so briskly through the woods and muddy ground, that I had to pay attention to keep up.   Overall, it was a most interesting and rewarding experience.

Dr. Hsu with Headmaster monk

From all the Buddhist and Taoist temples I have visited, I hardly find a temple without good feng shui.  Although in general, the energy at such sites is more supportive of spiritual cultivation and may not necessarily support business or commerce.

Good feng shui for business requires a more mundane energy, which in general means sites are on low ground, such as cities close to bodies of water.  Temples, on the other hand, are for spiritual cultivation, thus are mostly located on mountains or higher ground in a city.

Balance with the intended purpose is one of the key considerations of feng shui design.

Shan-tung Hsu Energy, Feng Shui

On April 12, 2006 Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, formally announced Google’s business name in China;   谷歌 (Guge)。During recent months there has been a soap opera played out between the Chinese government and Google, over which Google made the decision to move its operation to Hong Kong.   Then on April 3, 2010,   Google decided to discontinue using its Chinese company name and replaced it with “Google in China”.  The Chinese name, Guge, was used for just under 4 years.

A name as well as logo represents the information level of a company, for everything in the universe has matter, qi-energy, and information attributes.  Therefore, all successful companies have a good logo and name. When Google’s Chinese name was chosen and announced four years ago, I was very surprised and commented it was not a good sign for Google’s operation in China.  Google could have easily chosen a better name.  I wondered who was behind this naming? Doesn’t Google have better talent in its Chinese team to foresee the future difficulty by using this name?  I was puzzled.

The Chinese word Gu means Valley, Ge means Song or Singing. To sing and to have the energy extended, to have the song heard in a big way, one should stand on high ground, on top of a mountain or on top of the Great Wall, not in a valley. A valley means one is confined and trapped.

Things always begin on the information level, moves to the qi-energy level and than on to physical manifestation.  What happened today for Google was already determined when it chose its Chinese name four years ago. It was destined to fail.  Maybe by restoring its name to English it will have a 2nd chance in China.

Shan-tung Hsu Energy

In our past blog, I mentioned that a transparent glass floor is never a good idea.  Even if one understands that it is structurally sound and therefore not a safety issue, many people would still avoid walking on a glass floor.  The question I asked was; why is this so?

Several people have tried to interpret it from a yin-yang prospective.  However, this is actually an energy issue.  We project our energy through our eyes.  When we look at an object, our energy stops right there.  So keeping this in mind, let’s see how it relates to a glass floor.  When we walk on wood floor, as it is within our peripheral vision, we are subconsciously aware of the solid floor and at the same time our body, energy and mind all stop there.  On the other hand, when we walk on a glass floor, our energy and mind move beyond the glass floor, and naturally our body has the desire to move there too.  However, the body is not able to move there and stops at the floor.  At which point, the body, energy and mind are all not in unison, creating an unsettled feeling.

This brings up another question.  So, what happens when we look at something and does it affect our energy?  Firstly, many are often unaware that we are naturally projecting energy when we see something.  This is why we feel uncomfortable when someone is staring at us.  It feels like we are being pushed by a force.  Secondly, when we anchor our mind on something in our line of vision, we create a mental and physical stability.  There is an easy test to see how this works.   Try to stand on one foot.  Most people will be able to keep their balance for a while.  Now, this time try to stand on one foot with your eyes closed.   You will find that it is very difficult to maintain the same physical balance.  Why is this so? It’s not that your foot has less strength.  It’s because when your eyes are closed there is only one point ,your standing foot, to hold your balance. On the other hand, with your eyes open, you are able to project energy and anchor your vision, creating an additional point of reference to keep your body stable.  Two points of energy are easier to hold a balance than one point.

Now with this information be aware on how we use and waste our energy.

Shan-tung Hsu Energy, Feng Shui

I have been fascinated by crop circles for some years.   However, once in a while, I believe there might be some created as a hoax. But because of the consistent neat and intricate patterns, created by UFOs or other mysterious forces or not,  I find it is impossible to be the work of man.   In the world of art design, how often does one encounter such unique and beautiful designs by humans?  The crop patterns not only have been changing in size, from small to large, but the designs have developed from very simple, to extremely complicated in its detail.  The recently appeared 250 meter by 60 meter jelly fish crop circle is most amazing!  Form Defines Energy!  I do believe the design represents some sacred meaning or message.  For those of you into the Tai Chi symbol, here are two crop circles with the sacred Yin-Yang image.

Shan-tung Hsu Energy, Yin-yang

When things in nature grow and their size and quantity is plotted on a chart, they tend to exhibit what is called the normal distribution curve or a bell shaped curve.  This growth pattern, as seen in most natural objects such as, plants, animals and  humans, shows the medium size will always be the dominant size, while quantity of the small and big size are much less, creating the bell curve.

In the novel, The Medicine Box, I described a professor experimenting using qi to enhance mushroom growth.  The results created a crop that had  a mixture of very giant sized and very tiny sized mushrooms, with only a small number of middle sized mushrooms.  If we chart the crop results, it creates the normal bell curve flipped upside down, looking more like the letter ‘U’, an inverse bell curve, which is the total opposite from what is exhibited in nature.  Why does this happen?   It’s a mystery.

In 2008, the Chinese Shenzhou space craft carried 87 kinds of vegetable seeds into space.  Recently, many vegetables grown from those seeds have come to maturity and their fruit has been harvested.  All exhibit a very interesting result.

In the crop of eggplants grown from the seeds brought back from space, there were some the size as big as a honey dew melon!  What also caught my attention was the fact that on the other hand, some eggplant were as small as an egg, with very few medium sized.  This phenomenon is exactly the same as the mushrooms that were treated by qi projection.  Similarly, both exhibit the upside-down bell curve, opposite to what is seen of vegetables grown in nature.   Is there a common factor or influence from qi-treatment and space-treatment to these plants?  If so, what is it?  This could be a very interesting subject for researchers to study.

Shan-tung Hsu Energy, The Medicine Box