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Feng Shui: Teaching About Science and Pseudoscience pp 65–90Cite as

Feng Shui Practice

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Part of the book series: Science: Philosophy, History and Education ((SPHE))

Abstract

Feng shui was never just a speculative or metaphysical worldview, from the beginning, it was connected to practice; it impinged on all features of life. In China, for at least 3000 years, feng shui in one form or another has dictated major commercial and domestic siting and construction decisions as well as the proper internal arrangement of offices, homes, kitchens, gardens, furniture, and decorations. For the same period, countless millions have relied on feng shui astrological guides to make business decisions and for the timing for significant personal and family events. Traditionally, feng shui was linked to geomancy or fortune telling. Feng shui has an enormous presence in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Advent of the World Wide Web has dramatically expanded feng shui influence and business. Manipulation of internal chi is the basis of qigong exercise and of Traditional Chinese Medicine. A foundational text is the Confucian classic Book of Changes (or I Ching) whose impact has extended over 3000 years and has now spread well beyond China, being embraced in the countercultural, multicultural, and postmodernist West over the past 50 years.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the marketing of Hilton International Hotels, prominence is given to their high feng shui ratings (Perry-Hobson 1994).

  2. 2.

    http://www.fengshuisociety.org.uk/

  3. 3.

    For the origins and history of the two major feng shui streams, see at least March (1968) and Paton (2007).

  4. 4.

    See http://www.bluemountainfengshui.com/about/form-school/, accessed 4.12.2017).

  5. 5.

    Ibid.

  6. 6.

    Her website says she is the author of ‘80 best-selling books [on feng shui] that have been translated into 30 languages’; after a corporate career, she learnt feng shui from a master who had made ‘many businessmen into truly prosperous billionaires and multi-millionaires’ (Too 1998, p. 8).

  7. 7.

    http://www.hotelclub.com/blog/the-power-of-feng-shui-in-hong-kong/#full-info

  8. 8.

    Dragons have a special place in Chinese thinking and culture; they subsist in a shadow world between the real and imaginary. Some mountain chains and ridges are deemed to be dragons and are conduits for the passage of chi.

  9. 9.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/hongkong/8206601/Hong-Kong-government-spends-millions-on-feng-shui.html

  10. 10.

    This is not a typo; the cited price is per square inch of dwelling.

  11. 11.

    See Alexander (1987), Gallagher (1993), Rossbach (1987), and Taylor (2002).

  12. 12.

    See Marafa (2003), Chen and Wu (2009), Hwangbo (1999, 2002), and Mak and Ng (2005).

  13. 13.

    In Pinyin, the number 4 is sí, while death is sĭ, so by familiarity, number 4 should be avoided.

  14. 14.

    Using French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Thai, Japanese, or any of probably 100 other languages and spending not 15 min but 15 h searching, hundreds of thousands of feng shui websites could probably be located. All offering advice, commodities, and taking money.

  15. 15.

    See http://www.whitedragonhome.com/about/masters/jerry-king

  16. 16.

    See http://www.globalpalaceoffengshui.com.au/

  17. 17.

    See http://www.fengshuiweb.co.uk/

  18. 18.

    See https://www.everythingfengshui.com.au/

  19. 19.

    See https://redlotusletter.com/classical-feng-shui-and-western-black-feng-shui-the-6-critical-differences-confessions-of-a-former-black-hat-practitioner/

  20. 20.

    See http://www.knowfengshui.com/feng-shui-money-wealth-tips/

  21. 21.

    See http://www.meetup.com/vital-life/events/235134045/?rv=ea1

  22. 22.

    See http://www.absolutelyfengshui.com/dateselection/the-12-day-officers-pt-1/

  23. 23.

    See https://www.mydomainehome.com.au/feng-shui-for-better-sex

  24. 24.

    There is a large literature by historians, sociologists, social psychologists, and philosophers on the subject large-scale gullibility and credulity. See at least Alcock (2018), Andersen (2017), Pigliucci (2010), Shermer (1997), and Stalker and Glymour (1989).

  25. 25.

    See March (1968), Needham and Ling (1956, pp. 346–365), Pennick (1979), Skinner (1980, 1982, 2011), and Smith (1991).

  26. 26.

    Nigel Pennick in his book on Geomancy says that feng shui is simply the Chinese variant of universal geomancy (Pennick 1979, p. 10).

  27. 27.

    Fritjof Capra (1984) being perhaps its most influential promoter. For the text and commentary, see Huang (2010), Reifler (1974), Rutt (1996), Shaughnessy (1997), Sorrell and Sorrell (1994), and Wilhelm (1950, 1960, 1977). For a ‘Plain English’ interpretation, see Hulskramer (2004). On the book’s Western dissemination and influence, see Smith (1998). The classic critical commentary is Needham and Ling (1956, pp. 304–345).

  28. 28.

    See http://www.theartofancientwisdom.com/i-ching/

  29. 29.

    The central yin-yang symbol is the core of the South Korean flag.

  30. 30.

    From https://divination.com/how-to-consult-the-i-ching/

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  1. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Michael R. Matthews

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Matthews, M.R. (2019). Feng Shui Practice. In: Feng Shui: Teaching About Science and Pseudoscience. Science: Philosophy, History and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18822-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18822-1_4

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