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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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of Table of Content ............................................... ...................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. .............................................. ........................2 .2 Objectives of Our Project ............................................ ................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. ....................................4 .............4 Origins of Luo Pan............................................... Pan...................................................................... .............................................. ............................................... ............................................5 ....................5 Development of Luo Pan ............................................. ..................................................................... ................................................ ............................................. ..................................6 .............6 The two schools of Feng Shui; earthly forms and compass ............................................... ......................................................................6 .......................6 Luo Pan Feng Shui in Ancient China ............................................. .................................................................... .............................................. ........................................7 .................7 Landscape surveillance ............................................ ................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. ....................................7 .............7 Architecture of the ancient dwellings .............................................. ..................................................................... ............................................. ...................................7 .............7 Cursed birthdays ........................................... .................................................................. .............................................. .............................................. .............................................. ........................7 .7 Luo Pan Feng Shui in Modern Singapore........................................... Singapore.................................................................. .............................................. ....................................8 .............8 Shape of Suntec City: resemblance of a palm pal m .................................................. .......................................................................... .........................................8 .................8 The new Merlion Park ........................................... .................................................................. .............................................. ............................................... .....................................8 .............8 Twelve-Four Solar Divisions (Chieh Ch’i) ........................................... .................................................................. ............................................... ...............................10 .......10 Solar divisions ............................................. .................................................................... .............................................. ............................................... ..............................................10 ......................10 Solar divisions in Luo Pan ............................................ .................................................................... ................................................ ............................................ ...........................11 .......11 Solar divisions and the Big Dipper .............................................. ...................................................................... ............................................... ....................................11 .............11 Orientations – The Four Celestial Animals and Four Seasons ............................................. ....................................................................12 .......................12 The Four Celestial Animals ................................................ ........................................................................ ................................................ .............................................12 .....................12 South ............................................. .................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. .............................................. ..................................12 ...........12 East ........................................... .................................................................. .............................................. .............................................. ............................................... ......................................12 ..............12 West ........................................... .................................................................. .............................................. .............................................. .............................................. .....................................12 ..............12 North ............................................. .................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. .............................................. ..................................12 ...........12 Centre of the Compass.......................................... Compass.................................................................. ................................................ ............................................ ...............................12 ...........12 The Four Seasons................................. Seasons........................................................ .............................................. .............................................. ............................................... ...............................12 .......12 Former and Later Heaven Sequences ............................................. ..................................................................... ................................................ .....................................13 .............13 Differences between Former and Later Heaven ................................................ ........................................................................ ......................................13 ..............13 Former Heaven Sequence ............................................ ................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. ..................................13 ...........13 Later Heaven Sequence ............................................. ..................................................................... ............................................... ............................................ ...................................14 ..............14 The Nine Moving Stars.................................... Stars............................................................ ................................................ .............................................. ............................................16 ......................16 The Nine Stars .............................................. ..................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. .............................................16 ......................16 The Big Dipper and the Nine Moving Stars .............................................. ..................................................................... ..............................................16 .......................16 The Moving Stars ............................................ ................................................................... .............................................. ............................................... ..........................................17 ..................17 The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions..................... Mansions ............................................ .............................................. .............................................. ..........................................17 ...................17 Definition of constellation ........................................... .................................................................. .............................................. .............................................. ..............................17 .......17 Lunar Mansions and the Celestial Animals ............................................. ..................................................................... ............................................. ........................17 ...17 Lunar Mansions and the Western Zodiac ............................................. ..................................................................... ............................................. ...........................18 ......18 The angles of the constellations on Luo Pan .............................................. ..................................................................... .............................................19 ......................19 Lunar Mansions and twelve-four Solar Divisions ................................................ ....................................................................... ...................................20 ............20 Ch’i (气): its i ts Sources and Effects ............................................. ................................................................... ............................................ .............................................21 .......................21 Sheng and SSu Ch’i .............................................. ..................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. .....................................21 ..............21 Earth, Atmosphere and Heaven Ch’i ............................................. ..................................................................... ................................................ ......................................21 ..............21 Heaven Ch’i (t’ien Ch’i) .............................................. ...................................................................... ............................................... ............................................. .............................21 .......21 Earth Ch’i (ti Ch’i)................................................... Ch’i).......................................................................... ............................................... .............................................. .................................21 ...........21 Weather Ch’i.................................. Ch’i.......................................................... ................................................ ................................................ ............................................ ..................................21 ..............21 Yin and Yang ............................................ ................................................................... .............................................. .............................................. .............................................. ..............................22 .......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?
of Our Figure 1 Evil is associated with Yin
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 influe nced people’s life in ancient times, and how it influences people in modern Singapore.
3) The time-finding art to look into how the Chine se 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 imp lemented the astronomy concepts into Luo Pan.
6) The big principles of Luo Pan to introduce the some of the general co ncepts 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 knowledg e we have gained so far.
5 HISTORY OF LUO PAN
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 i ncorporated 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 H an 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 o f
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 a nd 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
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
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 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
(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 Chen 1 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
The Four and Four 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 i t 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.
and
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).
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
兑 Tui
maximum Yang
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.
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
乾 Chien
Seasons
Directions
Heaven
South-West
Figure 15 The Later Heaven Sequence
15 THE DIRECTION-FINDING ART
兑 Tui
Autumn
West
離 Li
Summer
South
震 Chen
Spring
East
巽 Sun 坎 Khan
South-East Winter
艮 Ken
坤 Kun
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
Moving
“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
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
military windings
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
17 THE ASTRONOMICAL LINKS
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 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
Figure 20 this is the famous Suzhou Astronomical Chart of 1247, displaying the Milky Way and Chinese constellations
A constellation is a collection of stars, grouped together to form a 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
房 (Room)
6
Fang
4
Libra/Delta Sco or Pi Sco
5
An tares/Sigma Sco
East
東 Green
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
11
Aquarius/Beta Aqr
12
Aquarius and Pegasus/Alpha Aqr
虚 (Void)
Dragon
North
北 9
Xu Black
危 (Rooftop)
16
Wei
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
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
25
Alp hard/Alpha Hya
26
Crater/Nu Hya
Yi
27
Corves/Alpha Crt
Zhen
28
Corves/Gamma Crv
南 Red Bird
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
its
and
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. Figure 25 Acupuncture Chart showing flow of Ch’i along meridians
Sheng and SSu Ch’i
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.
Atmosphere and
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.
and 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 c onsists of three lines on top of one another, each line being either a whole line (Yan g) 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, formin g 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
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 Ap ril 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 observation s, 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
Luo Pan 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 2 8 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
of
Figure 33 astronomic locations of the 28 Lunar Mansions of China
of stars
28 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 Li ving Earth Manual of Feng-Shui, Graham Brash (Pte) Ltd, Singapore 2) Walters, Derek (1989), Chinese Geomancy, Dr J J M de Groot’s semi nal 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 Geom ancy, 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 we bsite 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, Hamamats u 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 me dieval 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 Singa pore. It has a large database of photographs, mainly in the areas of application of Feng-Shui. There are many hum orous 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.
