Feng Shui: Encyclopedia II - Feng Shui - Archaeology

Feng Shui - Archaeology

In 1978 researchers presented evidence at a Zhouyi conference that the Hetu and Luoshu, the two most-recognizable diagrams related to feng shui, are actually 3-D star maps. The estimated date for the astronomy is at least 6000 BCE. A page in "The Astronomical Phenomena" (Tien Yuan Fa Wei) compiled by Bao Yunlong in the 13th century also shows the Luoshu as a star diagram. The original trigrams of the Yijing, known popularly as the eight digrams or "Bagua," seem to be included in these maps.

Traditional Feng Shui began as an interplay of construction and astrology. An early Yangshao village at Banpo (c. 4800 BCE) had its cemetery at the north and its dwellings built on a north-south axis. The dwellings were oriented to catch the mid-afternoon sun at its warmest a few days after the winter solstice. (Some tribes in southern China still refer to this month as "House-building Month.") Professor David Pankenier and his associates performed retrospective computation on the Chinese sky at the time of the Banpo dwellings to show that the asterism Yingshi (Lay out the Hall, in the Warring States period and early Han era) corresponded to the sun's location at this time. (This housing alignment persisted throughout the Neolithic through the history of China; it is used today whenever space permits.)

The asterism Yingshi originally was Xuangong (“Dark Palace”), a name that indicated winter and the northern sky. It was a star-landmark of the spring equinox and winter solstice from c. 7000 BCE to c. 3900 BCE. Ding (α Peg) was the leading-star. Yingshi was used to indicate the appropriate time and orientation for a capital city, according to the Shijing; by the time of the Zhou the asterism had been used to orient homes, villages, and capital cities for three thousand years. Most capital cities of China, including Beijing, follow this design. The rules for capital cities and other habitations can be found in the Zhou-era Kaogong ji (Manual of Crafts). Rules for builders were codified in the Lu ban jing (Carpenter's Manual).

A grave at Puyang (3000 BCE) that contains mosaics of the Dragon and Tiger constellations and Beidou (Big Dipper) is similarly oriented along a north-south axis, and it includes the classical "heaven-round, earth-square" design applied to other buildings in China at varying periods, and was used in the design of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

At Lamao, an excavation recently yielded an artifact (c. 3000 BCE) that researchers claim to be marked with the Twelve Branches commonly used for calendars and feng shui calculations. Other markings appear to be constellations of the time.

An excavated grave at Lingjiatan contained a jade plaque (c. 3000 BCE) with a compass design. (Similar markings were also found on pottery from the Taihu region.) According to researchers, the shape of the jade denotes the Earth. The center square is the sun. The larger circle is the movement of Earth through the seasons. The “arrows” point to cardinal and intercardinal directions. Historian Li Xueqin links this artifact with the liuren astrolabe, the ancestor of the shi and the Luopan.

At Taosi the traditional home of King Yao, an observatory (c. 2400 BCE) with 12 sighting windows may have been used as mentioned in Yaodian (in the Shijing) and Wudibenji (in the Shiji), as Yao assigned astronomers to observe sunrise, sunset, and evening stars in culmination. According to modern astronomers, Yao's pronouncement of the four major constellations is consistent with the astronomy for the age of the observatory. By tradition Yao is linked with the practice of feng shui.

The tombs of Shang kings and their consorts at the cemetery of Xibeigang near Anyang lie on a north-south axis, ten degrees east of due north. The Xia and Shang palaces at Erlitou are also on a north-south axis, slightly west of true north. These orientations were obtained by astronomy; the magnetic compass or zhinan zhen was not invented until the later Han era.

Feng shui devices in the late Qin and early Han eras consist of two-sided boards with astronomical sightlines. Liuren astrolabes have been unearthed intact from Qin-era tombs at Wangjiatai and Zhoujiatai. These devices date between 278 BC and 209 BC. The earliest feng shui manual unearthed by archaeologists has been dated to the Qin era.

Today feng shui practitioners can select from three types of Luopan: San He (the so-called "form school", although the compass name means "Triple Combination"), San Yuan (the so-called "compass school", although the compass name actually refers to time), and the Zong He that combines the other two.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Archaeology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki