0203-1-21-luo_pan

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LEE SUANG CHUI LEE XUNJIAN, KENNETH LEOW DASHENG, JACKSON LIM FUNG LENG LOKE CHO MUN TAN CHYE HUAT

U011609J U021215X U021863L U011605M U011310H U010019X

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Table of Content Table of Content ............................................................................................................................................2 Objectives of Our Project ..............................................................................................................................4 Origins of Luo Pan.........................................................................................................................................5 Development of Luo Pan ...............................................................................................................................6 The two schools of Feng Shui; earthly forms and compass ......................................................................6 Luo Pan Feng Shui in Ancient China ............................................................................................................7 Landscape surveillance..............................................................................................................................7 Architecture of the ancient dwellings ........................................................................................................7 Cursed birthdays ........................................................................................................................................7 Luo Pan Feng Shui in Modern Singapore......................................................................................................8 Shape of Suntec City: resemblance of a palm ...........................................................................................8 The new Merlion Park ..............................................................................................................................8 Twelve-Four Solar Divisions (Chieh Ch’i) .................................................................................................10 Solar divisions .........................................................................................................................................10 Solar divisions in Luo Pan.......................................................................................................................11 Solar divisions and the Big Dipper..........................................................................................................11 Orientations – The Four Celestial Animals and Four Seasons ....................................................................12 The Four Celestial Animals .....................................................................................................................12 South ....................................................................................................................................................12 East ......................................................................................................................................................12 West .....................................................................................................................................................12 North ....................................................................................................................................................12 Centre of the Compass.........................................................................................................................12 The Four Seasons.....................................................................................................................................12 Former and Later Heaven Sequences ..........................................................................................................13 Differences between Former and Later Heaven ......................................................................................13 Former Heaven Sequence ............................................................................................................................13 Later Heaven Sequence ...............................................................................................................................14 The Nine Moving Stars................................................................................................................................16 The Nine Stars .........................................................................................................................................16 The Big Dipper and the Nine Moving Stars ............................................................................................16 The Moving Stars ....................................................................................................................................17 The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions.............................................................................................................17 Definition of constellation .......................................................................................................................17 Lunar Mansions and the Celestial Animals .............................................................................................17 Lunar Mansions and the Western Zodiac ................................................................................................18 The angles of the constellations on Luo Pan ...........................................................................................19 Lunar Mansions and twelve-four Solar Divisions ...................................................................................20 Ch’i (气): its Sources and Effects ................................................................................................................21 Sheng and SSu Ch’i .................................................................................................................................21 Earth, Atmosphere and Heaven Ch’i ...........................................................................................................21 Heaven Ch’i (t’ien Ch’i)..........................................................................................................................21 Earth Ch’i (ti Ch’i)...................................................................................................................................21 Weather Ch’i............................................................................................................................................21 Yin and Yang...............................................................................................................................................22

3 The Trigrams ...........................................................................................................................................22 Discussions ..................................................................................................................................................23 Is Luo Pan a cosmological representation of the stars? ...........................................................................23 Can Luo Pan work in the Southern Hemisphere?....................................................................................23 Is Luo Pan a scientific tool?.....................................................................................................................23 Closer analysis of the 28 Constellations and the Western Zodiacs .........................................................24 Appendix 1 - Our Luo Pan Model ...............................................................................................................25 Our model of Luo Pan .............................................................................................................................25 How does it work? ...................................................................................................................................25 Stars charts...............................................................................................................................................25 Appendix 2: Overview of Position of starsReferences................................................................................26 Appendix 2: Overview of Position of starsReferences................................................................................27 References....................................................................................................................................................28 Books .......................................................................................................................................................28 Websites...................................................................................................................................................28

4 OBJECTIVES

Have you ever wondered about how Feng Shui masters use their circular metal device (Luo Pan) to conclude that the Feng Shui of a site is good or bad? Did you know that the Luo Pan actually is intimately linked to western astronomy? Have you ever thought about the mysteries and implications different rings of the Luo Pan have in them?

Figure 1 Evil is associated with Yin

Objectives of Our Project 1) History of the Luo Pan

a brief history from the invention of Luo Pan and the development up to the present one.

2) Luo Pan in cultural practices a brief account of how Luo Pan influenced people’s life in ancient times, and how it influences people in modern Singapore.

3) The time-finding art to look into how the Chinese solar calendars and the seasons correlate with direction and stars.

4) The direction-finding art to show how directions are related to the seasons.

5) The astronomical links to show how the Chinese implemented the astronomy concepts into Luo Pan.

6) The big principles of Luo Pan to introduce the some of the general concepts about the whole Universe the ancient Chinese had implemented into the Luo Pan.

7) Discussions this is our main focus. There are many materials we had come across and not all facts are true. Through our analysis of certain areas, we arrived at our own conclusions based on the knowledge we have gained so far.

5 HISTORY OF LUO PAN

Origins of Luo Pan Before the Luo Pan was invented to establish the astrology charts, the Sun dial was used to determine the direction of the sun and the time of the day. The North Star was used to determine the location of the North. From these, the Chinese was able to establish the directions of the four cardinals and the four diagonals of the Eight Trigram directions. The Chinese invented the compass needle in 4000 B.C. According to popular legend, the Luo Pan was presented to the Yellow Emperor by the Goddess of the Nine Heavens to assist him in his heroic battle against the evil wizard's clan.

Figure 2 Portrait of Huang Ti

But it was only until the Warring State period (475 –221 BC) that the compass was documented being used as a tool for measuring Feng Shui. The first divination plate that incorporated the compass was called “Si Nan Luo pan”. The Si Nan Luo Pan was a simple design which consists of a magnetized spoon sitting in the center of a square divination plate. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC- 220 AD), another kind of divination plate called the “Shi Pan” appeared. It had a square base plate symbolic of earth, the 地 (Di) Pan, and a round plate symbolic of

Figure 4 a Chinese diagrams illustrating various functions of the magnetized Luo Pan

heaven, the 天 (Tian) Pan. The Heaven Plate pivots on a pin to enable it to rotate around the Earth Plate. The Heaven Plate is not magnetized. The two plates were used together to judge time and direction based on the constellation pattern in the center.

Figure 3 sitting in the centre is the magnetized spoon

6 HISTORY OF LUO PAN

Figure 5 Picture of Shi Pan

Development of Luo Pan From the Emperor’s palace to schools in Southern China, many researches were devoted to the study of the science and philosophy of Luo Pan. Many Sages and scholars made significant contributions to the development of the Luo Pan up to the present one. The two schools of Feng Shui; earthly forms and compass There are two main schools of thought in Feng-Shui, the form school and the compass school. The former and the older of the two is concerned with the visible form of the landscape surrounding the site under construction, be it a house or tomb. The Compass school, however, is concerned with a time axis and a complex set of relationship between ‘sensitive’ directions as indicated by an elaborate many-ringed compass. The Form school was begun by Yang Yun-sun, of ninth century, who was Imperial Geomancer to the Emperor Hi-Tsung from AD 874-888 and was based in Kiangsi. The Compass school began with Wang Chih in the eleventh century and was called the Fukien school since it was in north Fukien that Wang Chih practiced.

7 LUO PAN IN CULTURAL PRACTICES

Luo Pan Feng Shui in

Ancient China

If you had been to China’s any cities with rich history, you might notice almost all the houses along some of the streets facing a single direction, mostly South, instead of facing oppositely each other. Landscape surveillance In the ancient times, the Feng Shui Master (hsien-sheng) would analyze the landscape in very interesting ways. He would be seen carried by his servants in sedan, occasionally took out his compass

Figure 6 paying tribute to the Luo Pan Master in ancient China

and orientated its needle. Sometimes, upon the instant of inspiration, he would plunge down a slope as fast as his legs could take him until he reached an upslope where he marked it. This was known as ‘riding the dragon’, or detecting the flow of the Ch’i. He would pick up the exact locations of the major forms in the landscape such as mountains, ridges and rivers. Finally, he would make a consultation of the night sky to determine the position of the constellations on the horizon before coming to a conclusion.

Architecture of the ancient dwellings For the more well to do families, their houses normally were built in a manner that there was always a wall or a shade blocking the doors of the house or rooms, such that no one can walk a direct straight path into the dwelling. This was to prevent the wealth or fortune of a dwelling to flow out.

Figure 7 Using Luo Pan in the Ching Dynasty

Cursed birthdays Some of the religious Chinese believe that certain days and timings are considered bad luck. When a person happens to born on such unlucky timings, he/she is deemed to have hereditary characteristic (八 字，the set of eight characters that defined the path of an individual life) that were bad or detrimental to his/her parents. He/she is even forbidden to acknowledge his parents. They usually call their parents

8 LUO PAN IN CULTURAL PRACTICES

uncles or aunties. His/her name can be given from birth like Ah Gou which means dog, or Shi Tou which means stone. Bias against the child is often the case until they grow up. Such cases are more often seen in families that run businesses.

Luo Pan Feng Shui in

Modern Singapore Feng Shui has immersed influences in Hong Kong and Singapore. Luo Pans are being consulted by Feng Shui Masters on matters from the dates of

Figure 7 Suntec Convention - where international conferences are held

the opening ceremonies to the shape of a building. Shape of Suntec City: resemblance of a palm Suntec City is an example where Feng Shui is consulted extensively. It has five office towers, a convention hall and a large fountain. The 5 towers is supposed to represent the fingers of the hand, the convention hall the wrist and the fountain in the center of the Suntec City, means water (wealth) flowing into the palm of the hand, which is a

good omen. The architecture of the

building has obviously taken Feng

Shui into consideration and a Luo Pan

is most likely to be needed in

determination of the geomancy.

Figure 8 Resemblance of a Palm

Figure 10 Fountain of Wealth

Figure 9 the office towers

The new Merlion Park Another example is the position of the Singapore Merlion at the old Merlion Park at the mouth of Singapore River. At its original position, the Merlion Park is the mouth of the Singapore River, which has good Feng Shui. Not so anymore as its view is blocked by the extension of the Marina Bay and the

9 LUO PAN IN CULTURAL PRACTICES

newly-built of the Esplanade Bridge. Because the Merlion does not have open access to the sea, it is interpreted by a Feng Shui master as a sign of wealth being blocked, as seen during the recent financial crisis. As a result, it was shifted into a new position which is supposed to have good Feng Shui as it faced the mouth of the Singapore River. Again, a Luo Pan is most likely to be needed in this case to determine the Feng Shui of the new position.

Figure 11 the opening ceremony of the new Merlion site by Senior Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 15 Sep 2002

10 THE TIME-FINDING ART

Twelve-Four

Solar Divisions (Chieh Ch’i)

The Chinese’s approach to meteorology involves the aid of the weather Ch’i in explaining the seasons and was used as a solar calendar by the Chinese farmers in the ancient times. Solar divisions Chinese solar calendar begins at Li Chun when the Big Dipper (See p. 16 The Big Dipper and the Nine Moving Stars) points to the 15th degree of the constellation Aquarius, which happens on either Feb 4th or 5th of every year. The Spring Equinox (0 degree Aries) is "mid spring" which happens in between the beginning of spring (Li-Chun) and the beginning of summer (Li-hsia). The summer solstice (0 degree Cancer) is the mid point between the Li-hsia, beginning of summer, and the Li-Chiu, beginning of autumn. The autumn equinox (0 degree Libra) is called Chiu-Fen, the mid autumn. The winter solstice (0 degree Capricorn) is called Tung chih, the coming of winter. The following are the 24 Chieh Ch’i (solar fortnight): Chieh

li ch’un

立春

beginning of Spring

5 Feb (first day)

Ch’i

yu Shui

雨水

rain water

20 Feb

Chieh

ching chih

惊蛰

excited insects

7 Mar

Ch’i

ch’un fen

春分

Spring Equinox

22 Mar

Chieh

ch’ing ming

清明

clear and bright

6 Apr

Ch’i

ku yu

榖雨

grain rains

21 Apr

Chieh

li hsia

立夏

Summer begins

6 May

Ch’i

Hsiao man

小满

grain filling

22 May

Chieh

mang chung

芒种

grain in ear

7 Jun

Ch’i

hsia chih

夏至

Summer Solstice

22 Jun

Chieh

Hsiao shu

小暑

slight heat

8 Jul

Ch’i

ta shu

大暑

great heat

24 Jul

Chieh

li ch’iu

立秋

autumn begins

8 Aug

Ch’i

ch’u shu

处暑

limit of heat

24 Aug

Chieh

pai lu

白露

white dew

8 Sep

Ch’i

ch’iu fen

秋分

Autumn Equinox

24 Sep

Chieh

han lu

寒露

cold dew

9 Oct

Ch’i

shuang chiang

霜降

hoar frost descends

24 Oct

11 THE TIME-FINDING ART Chieh

li tung

立冬

Winter begins

8 Nov

Ch’i

Hsiao hsueh

小雪

slight snow

23 Nov

Chieh

ta hsueh

大雪

great snow

7 Dec

Ch’i

tung chih

冬至

Winter Solstice

22 Dec

Chieh

Hsiao han

小寒

slight cold

6 Jan

Ch’i

ta han

大寒

great cold

21 Jan

Table 1 Table of the Chieh Ch’i

Solar divisions in Luo Pan Each division corresponds to 15 degrees of the sun’s motions in Longitude on the ecliptic. The compass links them to 24 directional points. Each Ch’i is divided into 3 hou and each hou into 5 days. The year then is made up of 360 days. The omission of 5 days of the solar year makes correlation with a circle. Each degree indicates a point on ground appropriate to and telling something about a day, integrating time and space considerations. It is noted that before the advent of the Jesuits in the late sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries, the Chinese had circles of 365¼ degrees. The full solar Chinese year begins and ends at Tung Chih (meaning end of winter, beginning of spring) which is different from the lunar calendar. Hence the arrangement of the divisions is starting from Tung Chih in the centre of the North in the Luo Pan. Therefore at centre of East, it meets the Spring Equinox. At centre of South, it meets the Summer Solstice. And at centre of West, it meets the Autumn Equinox.

Solar divisions and the Big Dipper

When the Big Dipper points East direction and Chen1 quadrant, this is the Li-Chun, beginning of spring. The sun rises at 15 degree of Aquarius. Li-hsia, the summer beginning, is another Jie which sun rises at 15 degree of Taurus. The Big Dipper points South (180 degree compass) direction and Li quadrant. When the Big Dipper points to the west 270 degree compass direction and Tui quadrant, the sun rises at 15 degree Leo. This is the Li-Chiu, beginning of autumn. When the Big Dipper points to the north 360 degree compass direction and Kan quadrant, the sun rises at 15 degree Scorpio, this is the Li-Tung, beginning of winter. The Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, and the Winter Solstice are the mid points between the Li-Chun, Li-Hsia, Li-Chiu, and Li-Tung (the beginning of the four seasons).

1

All the trigrams here refer to the Later Heaven Sequence

12 THE DIRECTION-FINDING ART

Orientations – The Four Celestial Animals and Four Seasons The basic directions are North, South, East and West. The Luo Pan attributes a symbolic animal to each direction. Figure 12 The Green Dragon and the White Tiger interlock in embrace

The Four Celestial Animals Traditional Chinese geography insisted upon rivers flowing eastwards (e.g.

the Yellow River) and all mountains (sources of rivers) in the west. As China is in the Northern Hemisphere, ancient Chinese pictured the south as source of warmth (equator being in the south of China) while most of the cold wind (Feng) came form the dark north. Accordingly all Chinese maps placed the quarter of greatest warmth, the south, at the top of the page. Luo Pan follows this convection, identifying the South in the North direction. The Chinese uses four celestial animals to represent the four directions. They might have interpreted it from the stars. Below are the four animals associated with each of the directions: South Red Bird/Phoenix (Source of warmth, light and fire) East Azure Dragon (the blue China Sea or eastern seaboard) West White Tiger (the snows of the high mountains of inland China) North Dark Warrior/Tortoise and Snake (of the cold dark northern plains) Centre of the Compass The Earth is sited at the centre of the compass.

The Four Seasons Figure 13 the Four Celestial Animals

13 THE DIRECTION-FINDING ART

The sun rises in the East (spring), reaches its peak in the South (Mid-Summer), sets in the West (autumn) and is dark in the North (Mid-Winter) Spring – East Summer – South (Maximum Yang) Autumn – West Winter – North (Maximum Ying) The four animals traditionally attributed to the compass quarters are colored in a way which reflects their geographic / climatic attributes.

Former and Later Heaven Sequences What are they all about? Can the Heaven be split into two? Are they related to the seasons? We shall explain in the following sections. Differences between Former and Later Heaven The difference between these is that the Former Heaven Sequence is the representation of ideal Heavenly order and is used mainly in the Feng-Shui of tombs. As this is not suitable for Feng-Shui of dwelling places, the Later Heaven Sequence was devised by the King Wen. It took into consideration of the Earth’s rot and decay. It is more appropriate to the Feng-Shui of houses and gardens (See p. 22 Yin and Yang) for overview).

Former Heaven Sequence In Former Heaven sequence, the third line determines the sex of each Trigram, the middle line is the next criterion of relative Yin or Yangness and the first line is the least crucial. As a result, ( ) is major Yang and minor Yin while ( ) is major Yin and minor Yang. In this way a hierarchy can be built up extending from Chien to Kun. Hence, ( ) means very Yang while ( ) means very Ying. Very Yang trigram symbol ( ) called Chien corresponds to the summer solstice whereas the very Yin trigram symbol called Kun corresponds to the

Figure 14 the Former Heaven Sequence

winter solstice. Symbol Name

Seasons

Directions

Yin and Yang

14 THE DIRECTION-FINDING ART

乾 Chien Summer South

maximum Yang

兑 Tui

South-East

more Yang

East

equal Yin and yang

震 Chen

North-East

more Yin

巽 Sun

South-West more Yang

離 Li

坎 Khan

Spring

Autumn

艮 Ken 坤 Kun

West

equal Yin and yang

North-West more Yin Winter

North

maximum Yin

Table 2 The Names of the Eight Trigrams and their associated directions and seasons

In terms of the Former heaven sequence, south is associated with summer while north is associated with winter. This is because Chinese in the past view the beginning of spring as the beginning of a new year. They also correlated the beginning of the year with the beginning of the day. Since the sun rises in the east, they naturally linked east with the spring. The sun when viewed from China reaches its peak in the south at all times of the year during noon, and as noon is the warmest period of the day just as summer is the warmest period of the year, the Chinese correlated south with midsummer. The same goes for autumn, as the sun sets in the west and both are thus correlated. After the sun sets, the sun continues its revolution until it is in the north of China, when it will be at midnight. As midnight is the coldest period of the day just as winter is the coldest period of the year, they are both correlated.

Later Heaven Sequence As mentioned earlier, the Eight Trigrams are arranged in two distinct and separate arrangements, the Former Heaven and the Later Heaven sequence. The Former Heaven sequence stands for the heavenly order and the ideal situations in which the 4 seasons will occur; while Later Heaven sequence takes into account the less perfect circles of seasons, and manifestations on the earth itself. Symbol Name

Seasons

乾 Chien Heaven

Directions South-West

Figure 15 The Later Heaven Sequence

15 THE DIRECTION-FINDING ART

兑 Tui

Autumn

離 Li

Summer South

震 Chen

Spring

巽 Sun 坎 Khan

East South-East

Winter

艮 Ken 坤 Kun

West

North North-East

Earth

North-West

Table 3 the names of the eight trigrams in the Later Heaven

The Later is linked to the Former Heaven as it was devised from it. Both may exist as two different rings together in Luo Pans and are used for the detection of Yin-Yang harmony or disharmony at particular points. They are prominent in Luo Pans used nowadays.

16 THE ASTRONOMICAL LINKS

The

Nine Moving Stars

“Of all cosmological forces in Luo Pan the most directly manifested in the forms of earth are the Nine Moving Stars”. The Nine Stars Their details are to be found in Han Lung Ching by Yang Yun-sung (the form school), but are not of central importance to the Compass school. Therefore, it is not a necessary component in the compass. There are 24 divisions in the ring. In practice, they are used as categories to define the various hill and mountain forms. T’an lang

贪狼

greedy and savage

Chu men

巨门

great gate

Lu ts’un

禄存

Rank (salary) preserved

Wen ch’u

文曲

civil or literary activities

Figure 16 the Stars arrangement on Luo Pan

Lien chien 廉 真 honesty, purity and uprightness Wu ch’u

武曲

military windings

P’o chun

破军

breaker of the Phalanx Broken Army (luck)

Tso fu

左辅

left assistant

Yu pi

右弼

right assistant of the Celestial Emperor

Table 4 the names of the nine stars and their meanings in Chinese

The Big Dipper and the Nine Moving Stars Seven of the Nine Moving Stars are identified with the seven stars of the Great Bear Constellation or Big Dipper asterism. Constellation is a collective group of stars while an asterism is a smaller group of stars

Figure 18 the Great Bear Constellation

Figure 17 the Position of the 9 Stars

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Figure 19 the Big Dipper

that is part of a constellation. The remaining two are assistance stars, which are located many light years away but appear near the Mizar Star. A Java Applet showing the Urza Major constellation (Please refer to the CD-Rom): Stars of Urza Major

The Moving Stars As the title implies, the Nine Stars are moving stars. They are not really ‘stars’ as they have no specific astronomical or astrological locations. In Han dynasty, it was already established that the Dipper annually swung around the pole star in a full circle and the constellation that the handle pointed were those appropriate to the current time of year. As they correlate with the seasons of the year, the tail of the constellation at nightfall points to the quarter attributed to the current season. For example, when in spring the tail points to the east or in autumn to the west (See p. 10 Solar divisions).

The Twenty-Eight

Lunar Mansions

In the Luo Pan one of the rings is called the Lunar Mansions containing the Chinese 28 constellations. The Chinese stars charts were known to be the most accurate in the ancient times. Definition of constellation A constellation is a collection of stars, grouped together to form a

Figure 20 this is the famous Suzhou Astronomical Chart of 1247, displaying the Milky Way and Chinese constellations

recognizable figure. They are observed from the Earth. Although there are far away from each other, but from Earth’s position of observation, they appear next to each other.

Lunar Mansions and the Celestial Animals

18 THE ASTRONOMICAL LINKS

The stars of the 28 constellations are situated around the Celestial Equator on different times of the year. The 28 constellations are grouped into the four Celestial Animals (See p. 12 The Four Celestial Animals) which corresponds to the seasons they appear. This means that during each season, there will be 7 constellations appearing in the sky one after another. The stars appear to rise in the East and set in the west in clockwise direction as Earth rotates anti-clockwise around its axis. As the Earth revolves around the sun, the stars appear to move in anti-clockwise direction with respect to the Sun. Eventually, the current stars disappear and new stars appear. Therefore, the position of constellations changes with the time of the year.

Lunar Mansions and the Western Zodiac Some of the 28 Chinese constellations are very close to the Western Zodiacs. Some of Chinese constellations’ stars maybe the same

Figure 22 the names of the legendary people appears on Luo Pan

Figure 23the ancient Chinese star chart showing the 28 constellation (Part 2). There are 615 stars in this chart.

Figure 24 the ancient Chinese star chart showing the 28 constellation (Part 2). There are 660 stars in this chart.

stars of the Western Zodiac (See p. 25 Stars charts). Similarly to the Western counterpart, the Chinese also Figure 21 The Chinese celestial sphere

19 THE ASTRONOMICAL LINKS

inferred shapes from the stars. Later, the name of the shapes became names of legendary people. Therefore, on the Luo Pan, you will see strange names given to the constellations.

The angles of the constellations on Luo Pan From observations of the different Luo Pan from different centuries, we realized that the angles of the 28 constellations deviated from one to three degrees from one another. This maybe attributed to long span of time. Due to the precession effect of the Earth’s rotation over a few hundred of years, the constellations may appear earlier or later than the predicted time. The angles were adjusted from time to time when the precision is not accurate anymore (around 1 degree every 71 years). One more point to note is that ancient Luo Pans adopted the old Chinese degrees, in which the circle is divided into 365¼ parts while the modern ones divide the circle into 360 parts for convenience. This results in the differences. 28 Chinese Constellations (Asterisms) 二十八宿 28 Constellations Name

No. of Degrees Pinyin Quadrant

#

Approx. Western Constellation/Key Star

角 (Horn)

12

Jiao

1

Spica/Alpha Vir

亢 (Neck)

9

Kang

2

Virgo/Kappa Vir

氐 (Base)

16

Di

3

Libra/Iota Lib or Alpha Lib

4

Libra/Delta Sco or Pi Sco

5

An tares/Sigma Sco

East 東

房 (Room)

6

Fang

心 (Heart)

6

Xin

尾(Tail)

18

Wei

6

Scorpios/Mu Sco

箕 (Basket)

9

Ji

7

Sagittarius/ Gamma Sgr orEta Sgr

斗 (Ladle)

22

Dou

8

Sagittarius/Phi Sgr

牛 (Ox-Boy)

7

Niu

9

Capricorn/Beta Cap

女 (Maiden)

11

Nu

10

Aquarius/Epsilon Aqr

虚 (Void)

9

Xu

11

Aquarius/Beta Aqr

危 (Rooftop)

16

Wei

12

Aquarius and Pegasus/Alpha Aqr

室 (House)

18

Shi

13

Pegasus/Alpha Peg

壁 (Wall)

9

Bi

14

Pegasus/Gamma Peg

奎 (Astride)

18

Kui

West

15

Andromeda/Delta And

娄 (Mound)

12

Lou

西

16

Aries/Beta Ari

Green Dragon

North 北 Black Tortoise

20 THE ASTRONOMICAL LINKS

胃 (Stomach)

15

Wei

White

17

Aries/35 Ari

昴 (Pleiades)

11

Mao

Tiger

18

Pleiades/17 Tau or 16 Tau

畢 (Net)

16

Bi

19

Taurus/Epsilon Tau

觜 (Beak)

1

Zi

20

Orion/Lamda Ori or Phi Ori

参 (Orion)

9

Shen

21

Orion/Delta Ori or Beta Ori

井 (Well)

30

Jing

22

Gemini/Mu Gem

鬼 (Ghosts)

3

Gui

23

Cancer/Delta Cnc orTheta Cnc

South 柳 (Willow)

14

Liu

星 (Star)

6

Xing

张 (Bow)

18

Zhang

翼 (Wings)

20

轸 (Carriage)

19

24

Hydra/Delta Hya

Red

25

Alp hard/Alpha Hya

Bird

26

Crater/Nu Hya

Yi

27

Corves/Alpha Crt

Zhen

28

Corves/Gamma Crv

南

Table 5 this is based on 1950 Luo Pan. The North is at the mid-point of ‘zi’.

Lunar Mansions and twelve-four Solar Divisions The practical use of the system of 28 constellations was to determine the position of the Sun, and consequently enable corrections to be made to the calendar. As the stars cannot be seen during the day, the position of the Sun has to be inferred from the position of the Full Moon, which is always in the opposite direction of the Sun. This means that by determining the position of the Full Moon with respect to the 28 constellations, the Chinese were able to identify the position of the Sun. This is one of the methods that the Chinese used to determine the seasonal days (See p. 10 Solar divisions) to add leap month.

21 THE BIG PRINCIPLES OF LUO PAN

Ch’i (气): its Sources and Effects Ch’i (气) is the active energy which flows through the forms produced by li. The closest western terminology that can describe Ch’i is the Earth magnetic field. It acts at every level – on human, agricultural and climate. On human level, it is the energy flowing through the acupuncture meridians and only departs on death. All living things depend on it and it is literally ‘the breath of life’. On agricultural level it is the force which ensures the fertility of crops; and on climatic level it is the energy carried by the wind and by the waters.

Sheng and SSu Ch’i

Figure 25 Acupuncture Chart showing flow of Ch’i along meridians

It is responsible for the changes in form which is a characteristic of all living things, including the Earth. The various forms of Ch’i include sheng Ch’i or vital Ch’i and ssu Ch’i or torpid Ch’i. The former is Yang Ch’i and the latter Yin Ch’i. The sheng Ch’i flows most readily during the hours of rising sun while ssu Ch’i prevails during the declining hours of sun (noon to midnight). Hence, as the sun moves from east to west, the compass point from which one will expect either sheng Ch’i or ssu Ch’i alternate.

Earth, Atmosphere and Heaven Ch’i Ch’i pervades in the form of Earth, Heaven and Weather Ch’i. Heaven Ch’i (t’ien Ch’i) This is affected by the state of t’ien. They are governed by the Former Heaven sequence (See p. 13 Former Heaven Sequence) of trigrams.

Earth Ch’i (ti Ch’i) This is contained in the ‘dragon veins’ of the earth. It runs through

Figure 26 the five types of Weather Ch'i extend between Heaven and Earth Ch'i

the earth and along the watercourse and subjected to decay. They are governed by the Later Heaven sequence (See p. 14 Later Heaven Sequence) of the Trigrams.

Weather Ch’i

22 THE BIG PRINCIPLES OF LUO PAN

This is consists of rain, sunshine, heat, cold and wind. The weather partake the nature of both Heaven and Earth and is governed by both. Ch’i is an all important principle underlying Luo Pan. It acts on every level from human to climatic and exists in Heaven, Earth and Weather. The essence of good direction finding is to determine the best site which is able to trap the Ch’i energy flowing through the site and accumulate it without allowing it to go stagnant.

Yin and Yang Yin and Yang are the root of

the Chinese views of the

universe. The symbol in the

centre is the Yin-Yang

symbol. Dark half represents

Yin and Light half represents

Yang. Inside each half

contains a seed of opposite

force. One of the Chinese philosophies

behind Luo Pan is the Yin and

Yang. Yin governs the Earth and

represents all that are negative.

Yang derives from Heaven and

Figure 27 Yin Yang

represents all that are positive. The

concept of Yin and Yang came from the classic I’Ching, as a whole line (Yang) and as a broken line (Yin).

The Trigrams The trigrams are unique combination of the Yin and Yang. A trigram consists of three lines on top of one another, each line being either a whole line (Yang) or a broken line (Yin). Sage Fu Hsi invented the Trigrams more than 4000 years ago. It is consisted of all the eight combinations of Yin and Yang called the Former Heaven sequence (See p. 13 Former Heaven Sequence). Later King Wen (the first ruler of the Chou dynasty, 1150BC) combined each of the eight Trigrams with each of the others to form the 64 hexagrams, forming the classic I’Ching. Each of these Hexagrams had a textual interpretation. The ancient Chinese believes all changes can be predicted from these 64 hexagrams. King Wen derived the Later Heaven sequence (See p. 14 Later

Figure 28 Fu-Hsi, creator of Former Heaven Sequence

Heaven Sequence) from these 64 Hexagrams using complex and metaphoric formulas.

23 DISCUSSIONS

Discussions Is Luo Pan a cosmological representation of the stars? In our opinion, we feel that the Luo Pan is actually a cosmological graph of the stars in the skies of China; we think that Luo pan might just be what ancient people produced while trying to relate what they saw in the sky and what actually happened around them. From our interpretation of the Luo Pan, we think one can actually determine the constellations which are visible to the Chinese in that particular season. By pointing the south needle in the direction of the current season, we can observe the constellations visible to the people. The constellation which is at the furthest end of the line extended from season in the Luo Pan will appear first followed by the rest of the constellations until it reaches the constellation which coincides with the ending of the season. This will be clearly illustrated in our model of the Luo Pan.

Can Luo Pan work in the Southern Hemisphere? During our discussions, we feel that Luo Pan (as a cosmological graph) is not applicable in the Southern hemisphere. This is because the Luo Pan was invented in Northern China, and the sighting of the night skies was observed in Emperor’s palace in Northern China. The motion of sun is always in the South. This was the reason the Chinese identified summer (warmth) as the south. However in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun is always in the North. Not only that, while China is having summer, Southern Hemisphere is having winter. The seasons are totally opposite. The same constellations visible to the Chinese may not be visible to the people living in the Southern Hemisphere. For example, the important Polaris star in Luo Pan is not even visible to them. And in Singapore, there is no way to apply the seasons. There has a been a fierce debate raging on about whether the Luo Pan can really be used in the Southern Hemisphere as a tool for judging Feng Shui. In our opinion, since we feel that the cosmological graph is a vital part of the Luo Pan, we think Luo Pan is only applicable in Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, those Feng Shui masters who feel that Luo Pan can be used in other places are not astronomically correct.

Is Luo Pan a scientific tool? The rings we have covered are partly scientific and astronomically based. However, most of the principles behind Luo Pan are not so as there is no concrete evidence or reliability and validity in its results. It is mainly based on fantasy imagination and metaphoric explanations. We think that Luo Pan is effective in the sense that through the manipulation of the objects, it can result in a harmonious and comfortable environment. Thus it will make the inner mind state more peaceful. Although Feng Shui is not taken

24 DISCUSSIONS

seriously by scientists, people have begun to adapt and explore the underlying concepts and theories behind them.

Closer analysis of the 28 Constellations and the Western Zodiacs In the Western Zodiac, there are total of 12 astrological houses spreading evenly around a sidereal year. Each occupies 30 degrees on the sun ecliptic plane. As Sun moves along the ecliptic path, it resides in each of the twelve zodiacs. The ancient Chinese 28 constellations were similar to the zodiac in the big picture. However, there are of totally different concept. First of all, the zodiacs are based on Sun’s position throughout the year while lunar mansions are based on observations of stars appearing throughout the year. It is impossible for us to observe the stars of the zodiac that the sun resides in at a particular time of the year. Therefore, it is expected that the zodiac sign is completely opposite of one another. For example, we take Aries which the sun resides from April 22. However for the Chinese, the corresponding Aries star appears on the West direction of the Luo Pan based on the Table 5. The Chinese has associated the West direction with the autumn equinox as earlier mentioned. This implies that the Chinese star will only appear around autumn equinox period, which happens around September 23. This is almost half a year difference between the two. Secondly, the zodiacs inferred the constellations from the stars residing along the ecliptic path while the Chinese based on stars along the celestial equator. If we based the year on both observations, both will be a sidereal year. Therefore, we need to consider the precession effect. Both will be affected differently. As Earth wobbles, every 71 years will result in 1 degree faster. So about 2000 years later, it will be 30 degrees. That’s the size of a zodiac. Therefore, every 2000 years the zodiac signs are changed completely. For Lunar Mansions, we will see stars ranging from +23.5 degrees to -23.5 degrees from the ecliptic plane. The Celestial Equator is perpendicular to the axis of Earth. Therefore, as Earth wobbles, the Equator shifts along with it, changing the angle between the Equatorial and ecliptic plane. In this case, there is a flaw. Few thousands years later, the 28 constellation appear on the other side of sky. As mentioned earlier, time of occurrence of seasons can change due to precession. Luo Pan has a few thousand years of history. The effect will be significant. It is possible to notice this effect through comparing of Luo Pans from different eras. Hence Luo Pan could possibly contribute to study of the effect of precession in the ancient time.

25 APPENDIX 1

Appendix 1 - Our Luo Pan Model Our model of Luo Pan We have made a model of Luo Pan to better illustrate the rings we have covered in this project. We have omitted rings that are not relevant to astronomical aspect. There are 6 rings altogether. In the centre, we have the compass. Second ring is the Former Heaven Sequence. Third ring is the Later Heaven Sequence. Fourth Ring is the Nine Moving Stars. Fifth ring is the 28 Constellations. The most outer ring is the corresponding zodiac associated with the 28 Constellations. Then there is a metal sphere covering over it. It is to represent the Celestial Sphere and the Luo Pan or the base of the base is the Horizon plane. There are many dots on the spheres. They represent the 28 constellations, with the key star of each constellations highlighted with the color of the direction it is associated. For example, South is associated with Red Bird. So the color is red. The stars of individual constellations are linked together. We have embedded the four Celestial Animals into the sphere to indicate the direction they represent.

How does it work? Our version of Luo Pan does not have the same objective of an authentic Luo Pan. The objective of our Luo Pan is the find the position of the 28 constellation at a given time and direction. Check which one of the solar divisions the day falls. Then align the needle and the corresponding solar division to the North Direction of the magnetic compass. The constellations will appear at the direction the compass shows.

Stars charts Below are stars charts showing the specific locations of the stars and the key stars which are circle in yellow:

Figure 30 7 constellations in the East, represented by the Celestial Animal Azure Dragon

Figure 29 7 constellations in the North, represented by the Celestial Animal Dark Warrior/Tortoise and Snake

26 APPENDIX 1

Figure 32 7 constellations in the West, represented by the Celestial Animal White Tiger

Figure 31 7 constellations in the South, represented by the Celestial Animal Red Bird/Phoenix

27 APPENDIX 2

Appendix 2: Overview of Position of stars

Figure 33 astronomic locations of the 28 Lunar Mansions of China

28 REFERENCES

References Books

Figure 34 from left to right: The Living Earth of Feng-Shui, Chinese Geomancy, An anthological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy and Feng Shui

1) Skinner, Stephen (1982), The Living Earth Manual of Feng-Shui, Graham Brash (Pte) Ltd, Singapore 2) Walters, Derek (1989), Chinese Geomancy, Dr J J M de Groot’s seminal study of Feng Shui together with detailed commentaries by the Western world’s leading authority on the subject, Element Books Limited 3) Feuchtwang, Stephan D.R. (1974), An Anthological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy, Collection “Co naissance De L’asie” Vol. 1, Editions Vithagna, Laos 4) Skinner, Stephen (2001), Feng Shui, Paragon

Websites Luo Pan http://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/LuoPan.html Descriptions: This is a website done by Frank D. (Tony) Smith, Jr. based on a 19 rings Luo Pan. He explained the Luo Pan ring by ring with great details. It is an interesting website worth seeing. He has websites on many other areas like the Clifford algebra and comets. David B. Kelley’s Web Pages http://hawk.hama-med.ac.jp/dbk/kelley.html Descriptions: This is a website done by Dr. David B. Kelley, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan. There are pictures of the ancient Chinese observations of stars. It has plenty of information of variety of topics, like medieval lunisolar playing cards, Maya calendar and Mexican cultures. Feng Shui at Geomancy.Net - Singapore http://sg.geomancy.net/default-spore.htm Descriptions: This is a commercialized Feng-Shui website based in Singapore. It has a large database of photographs, mainly in the areas of application of Feng-Shui. There are many humorous graphics created

29 REFERENCES

by the website’s Feng-Shui master too. It also offers basic guides for Feng-Shui beginners. The website is very well-designed with a lot of graphics but can take time to download. Feng Shui and Time Cycle by Aifen Wong http://www.traditionalfengshui.com/articles/fstimecycle.htm Descriptions: This is a simple website with few features. However it has a few good articles worth reading especially on the Chinese Solar Calendar. Star Charts and Moon Stations by Steve Renshaw and Saori Ihara http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/charts.htm Descriptions: This is an informative website done by Steve Renshaw and Saori Ihara. It is mainly about Japanese star charts. However, some of the charts used originated from China as the ancient Japanese astronomers were closely linked to their China counterparts.