The Cosmological Origins of Fengshui

The Cosmological Origins of Fengshui

Trinity University

Introduction

China, like its sister civilizations in Greece and India, developed a very sophisticated science of astronomy in its pre-classical period. Both solar and lunar eclipses are recorded on oracle bones from the mid-14th to the mid-13th centuries BCE. The most ancient extant record of a nova, or stellar explosion, is also contained in an oracle bone dating to circa 1300 BCE. The sighting of Halley's Comet was first recorded by Chinese astronomers in the classical period (467 BCE). And sunspots were observed without the aid of telescopes as early as 28 BCE. (Myths of sun ravens may be earlier references to this solar phenomenon.) While the Chinese did not have telescopes, they did invent other scientific instruments, and the following discussion will concentrate on one of them.

The Chinese Zodiac

The oracle bones also record the names of four stars whose culmination marked the arrival of the solstices and equinoxes. Already in the 14th century BCE we see the nucleus of the Four Celestial Palaces, whereby the celestial equator is divided into four equal sections. Although seven constellations on this great circle are mentioned in the Book of Odes (9th century BCE), it is not until the late Warring States period (403-221) that the names of the entire zodiac were recorded. The following illustration is the lid of a lacquerware chest discovered in a Warring States tomb:

Curled around the left border is a dragon, while a tiger crouches to the right. In the middle of the lid is a rough circle of 28 characters that name the constellations of the Chinese zodiac. In the middle of the illustration is the pictograph of a ladle, representing the constellation Bei Dou, the Northern Dipper.

The Cosmograph

Finally, in tombs dating to the Former Han dynasty (206 BCE-25 CE), examples of the following instrument were discovered:

Called a shipan, or "cosmograph," as I have styled it (see my article, "Cosmos, Cosmograph, and the Inquiring Poet," in Early China 17 [1992]), the instrument consists of a square fixed earth plate on bottom and a rotating heaven disc on top. Around the circumference of both plate and disc are arranged the names of the 28 zodical constellations. In the center of the dial is a representation of the Northern Dipper. (See the animated 3D image below which simulates the celestial dipper in its rotation around the North Star.) The dial is obviously a stylized depiction of the same cosmology represented on the lid of the chest.

The Four Celestial Deities

What is missing from the heaven disc of the cosmograph are the images of the celestial dragon and tiger. In the following illustration of the dome of heaven I have supplied outlines of the four celestial deities recognized by the Chinese--zhuniao, the Crimson Bird, canglong, the Cerulean Dragon, xuanwu, the Dark Turtle, and baihu, the White Tiger, which are macro-constellations each composed of seven of the 28 zodiacal constellations:

In any given season only one of these macro-constellations can be observed in its entirety in the night sky. In the ancient period the central constellation of each of the four deities occupied the center of the southern sky on the solstices and equinoxes. For example, on the summer solstice the Fire Star, the central star of the Heart of the Dragon, culminated at dusk.

The function of the ancient cosmograph can only be surmised since very few records of its use survive. (See my essay, "Qimancy: the Art and Science of Fengshui," on this webpage for additional information regarding its early use.) The instrument is similar to a planisphere which allows the user to locate any star or constellation in the sky at any moment of the year. But more likely it functioned as a sort of cosmic clock. Ancient Chinese astronomers were fully aware that the quarterly (six-hour) diurnal rotation of the heavens was equivalent to the seasonal (tri-monthly) annual revolution. With a knowledge of what star was passing the meridian at sunset, a quick glance at the cosmograph could tell what constellation had culminated at noon or which one would be culminating at midnight. Or, knowing that a particular constellation had risen at sunset on the vernal equinox, a person would know what constellation was rising, culminating, or setting on the summer solstice. More importantly, perhaps, the disposition of the Dipper's handle could be predicted. The Dipper was the throne of Shang Di, the High Lord, the supreme deity in the Chinese pantheon, and the handle indicated the focus of his power.

I mentioned earlier that only one of the four palaces could be observed in its entirety in any given season of the year. This is because the celestial equator--the circular route traversed by the 28 zodiacal constellations--is not equivalent to the terrestrial equator or the horizon. The former is canted upward from the latter like the nested rings of a gimbal (a recent example of a gimbal is the rings of the "spaceship" in the movie Contact ). Half of the celestial ring is above the horizon toward the south, and half is below the horizon toward the north. The Northern Dipper, on the other hand, which is closer to the pivot of the heavens--the North Star, is always visible in its complete revolution of the northern sky:

It is the location of the observer in the northern hemisphere that accounts for this phenomenon. The lower the latitude, the higher is the zodiac in the sky. At the highest latitude--on the north pole, the celestial and terrestrial equators are equivalent. Here the North Star is directly above the observer, and the zodiac travels around the horizon. This is the situation idealized by the illustration of the dome of heaven above, and simultaneously by the cosmograph.

¹The Dark Turtle hangs its head,
The Crimson Bird hovers in dance,
The Cerulean Dragon coils sinuously,
The White Tiger crouches down.

The Four Terrestrial Forms

So what does this ancient cosmology, and particularly the astronomical and astrological cosmograph, have to do with fengshui? Those with even a cursory knowledge of fengshui will recognize the dragon and tiger as the terrestrial models of the land forms to the east and west, or to the left and right, respectively, of the site being oriented by the fengshui master. A passage from the Book of Burial, the earliest extant work on fengshui, reads as follows.¹

This verse is quoted from an even older text that is no longer extant, but which supposedly dates from the Han dynasty. In the period of time between the crafting of the lacquerware chest and the writing of the Book of Burial, a space of some six or seven centuries, the celestial deities came down to earth. There is no record in any ancient text of this transformation. We must ask ourselves how and why this change transpired.

Returning now to the cosmograph, we notice again that around the square earth plate (as well as around the circular heaven disc) are arranged the 28 zodiacal constellations. As we have seen, the disc represents a view of the heavens that is only visible from the North Pole, a situation that no ancient Chinese astronomer could ever have observed. Yet it is not the real world that is being modeled here; it is the ideal world.

In ancient Chinese myth there is the tale of a primordial battle. Previously the circular Heaven was separate from the square Earth and was supported by eight great mountains in each of the eight directions. When the water demon Gong Gong fought with the fire god Zhu Rong, he toppled the northwestern piller, Mount Buzhou, causing Heaven to fall downward and Earth to tilt upward in the northwest. After this catastrophe the rivers of China from that moment on flowed southeastwards, and the stars flew toward the northwest. It is the ideal world existing before the great flood that is captured by the cosmograph. The fact that these instruments were placed in tombs to accompany the deceased in the afterlife attests to their numinous quality. Rather than merely representing the ideal world, the cosmograph was a divine instrument that connected the two realms.

In the ideal world the four celestial deities of the dragon, tiger, bird and turtle, do indeed meet the earth as they traverse the horizon. The permanent situation captured on the earth plate of the cosmograph--dragon to the east, bird to the south, tiger to the west, and turtle to the north--represents the spring equinox. In many ancient cultures, including China, this marks the beginning of the new year. When the cosmologist was replaced by the fengshui master in the centuries during and after the Han dynasty, the cosmograph slowly evolved into the compass, an unmistakable Chinese invention, and the function of the instrument evolved from celestial to terrestrial divination. But the purpose was unchanged. The hope was that humans might recapture the perfection of the ideal world. When he locates the dragon and tiger in his local environment, the fengshui master has discovered a veritable heaven on earth.

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