Detailed Introduction
Why do temples always sit with a mountain at their back and water to their front? Why do the elders insist the sofa must be against a wall, and the head of the bed must never face the door? The answers all lie in one body of knowledge -- feng shui, also called kanyu, the art of geomancy. From siting a temple to laying out a home to orienting a grave, its ideas have seeped into every corner of Taiwanese life.
The Basic Principle
At the heart of feng shui is a single word: "qi" -- the natural energy that flows between heaven and earth. Good feng shui means letting that qi move freely and settle where it should. The discipline has two great schools:
- Form School (Luantou): reads the land itself -- the shape of mountains, the run of water -- to judge good and ill fortune, weighing the four celestial animals: Vermilion Bird (front), Black Tortoise (rear), Azure Dragon (left), White Tiger (right). The ideal layout has mountains supporting the rear, water before the front, and hills embracing on both sides.
- Compass School (Liqi): uses a luopan (feng shui compass) to measure direction, combining the eight trigrams, five elements, and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to reckon auspicious and inauspicious directions, with special attention to a building's orientation and the placement of doors and windows.
In practice, most feng shui masters draw on both schools and weigh things together.
Temple Feng Shui
The siting and building of a Taiwanese temple is exacting about feng shui:
- Orientation: which way the temple faces (south, west, and so on) is the most basic consideration. Different deities have different ideal orientations -- Mazu temples often face the sea (to protect seafarers), while Earth God temples usually face farmland.
- Bright Hall: an open expanse (the "bright hall") is wanted in front of the temple, symbolizing the gathering of wealth energy. The large plazas before many old temples are exactly this bright hall.
- Water mouth: the direction of nearby water matters greatly. "Water gathering at the heart of heaven" is the finest configuration -- water converging and circling before the temple before it flows away, a sign that wealth energy does not disperse.
- Dragon vein: the siting of major temples weighs the "dragon vein," the course and rise and fall of the mountain ranges. Beigang Chaotian Temple, for instance, is said to rest on a "golden dragon" vein, which is why its spiritual energy runs especially strong.
- Shigandang and Shanhai Zhen: temples and homes alike often set a "Shigandang" stone tablet or a "Shanhai Zhen" plaque at a doorway or corner to resolve the harmful energy of a road or alley aimed straight at them.
Home Feng Shui Basics
Taiwanese people are deeply shaped by feng shui in how they decorate and arrange a home:
- Main door: should not face an elevator, a staircase, or an alley aimed at it (a "road clash"), which can cause "wealth leakage." A screen or an entry cabinet can deflect it.
- Kitchen: the stove should not face the tap directly (a water-fire clash), nor turn its back to the door (no "support behind").
- Bedroom: the head of the bed should not face a mirror (prone to causing fright), should not sit beneath an exposed beam (a sign of "pressure"), and the bed should not face straight at the door.
- Living room: the sofa should back against a wall for "support" and not turn its back to the door. The wealth corner (usually diagonal from the main door) can hold a wealth bowl or money-drawing plants.
- Plants: indoor evergreens, money trees, and golden pothos are believed to draw luck and vitality; thorny plants like cacti are considered unsuitable indoors.
Feng Shui Objects and Deflection Tools
- Bagua mirror: hung above a doorway to reflect harmful energy. A convex mirror deflects a road clash; a concave one draws in good energy.
- Shigandang: a stone tablet set at a road junction or alley corner to suppress harmful energy, most often carved with "Mount Tai Shigandang."
- Wind Lion God (Fengshiye): the most iconic feng shui object of Kinmen, used to subdue the wind and ward off evil.
- Pixiu: a mythical beast that only takes in and never lets out, symbolizing the drawing in and holding of wealth -- often displayed in shops and offices.
- Five Emperor Coins: copper coins from five Qing emperors (Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing), strung together and hung on a door or set beneath a threshold to deflect harm and draw wealth.
- Shanhai Zhen: a wooden plaque bearing a landscape and taiji diagram, hung above a doorway or facing the source of harmful energy -- the most common home deflection tool in Taiwan.
Feng Shui Today
Modern Taiwanese hold every kind of view on feng shui: some believe wholeheartedly and won't buy a property without a master's inspection; some treat it as a reference without being rigid; others see it as psychological comfort. Whatever the degree of belief, feng shui has long since woven itself into Taiwanese architecture, interior design, and urban planning -- even new housing developments market their "feng shui layout" as a selling point, proof that this culture still carries real weight today.