Feng-Shui (Paperback)

by Eva Wong (Author) "To the early Chinese, wind and water (feng and shui) were important matters..." (more)
Key Phrases: geomantic chart, water dragon formations, por hor, Nine Palaces, Earth Base, Facing Star (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Real feng-shui, refreshingly expressed by a true practitioner of the art with her feet firmly grounded in the Chinese Taoist tradition. Definitely one of the top 10 books on feng-shui in English."— Feng Shui for Modern Living "Even the most casual or ambivalent reader will come away from the book with a greater sensitivity to the environment—landforms, rocks, trees, rivers, etc.—and greater appreciation of the relationship between traditional feng-shui guidelines and many of the principles of contemporary Western ecology."— Asian Thought and Society

Product Description
A comprehensive study of feng-shui discusses the theoretical and philosophical principles of the ancient Chinese art of harmonious design, the history of its practice, and ways to adapt one's environment to harmonize the patterns of the universe. 15,000 first printing.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition (July 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570621004
• ISBN-13: 978-1570621000
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #173,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference on Form School & Flying Star Feng Shui, June 20, 2000

By A Customer

For readers who are primarily interested in feng shui guidelines for arranging furniture and enhancing good luck sectors of their home, this book will probably prove to be a big disappointment. There is only minimal attention paid to house interiors in this book. However, for anyone with at least an intermediate knowledge of feng shui basics and an interest in pursuing an in depth study of the history of feng shui and the practice of Form School and Flying Star feng shui, this book is a wonderful source of information.

In this book the author provides a detailed history of the development of feng shui and its ties to Taoist philosophy. She also includes a short but informative explanation of the Chinese calendar. She then moves on to a brief description of aspects of the geomantic compass (i.e., the Lo Pan) that are salient to her particular practice of feng shui. A considerable portion of the book is devoted to Form School feng shui; that is, evaluating the landscape, both rural and urban, for auspicious locations. Some of this material is, admittedly, difficult to follow. I found the graphic representations of landforms to be somewhat esoteric and hard to understand. However, if you want to gain a thorough understanding of the basics of Form School feng shui as practiced by the Chinese masters, this is a terrific source of information. Trying to comprehend the material left me with an appreciation for why the Chinese require aspiring practitioners to be apprenticed to feng shui masters in order to learn the art of feng shui.

The author also teaches her readers how to apply Flying Star feng shui, which she calls the Nine Palaces. The flying stars refer to nine stars (five of which make up the Big Dipper) which are believed to exert an influence on one's feng shui. The author explains how to set up a natal chart for your home based on the directions faced by the front and back of the house and the cycle (according to the Chinese calendar) in which the home was built. From the natal chart you can determine the configuration of the nine stars and whether they portend benevolence or malevolence for each room of your home and its occupants. You also learn how to apply the flying star formulas on a monthly and yearly basis to see how the passage of time affects the feng shui of your home. The author includes many examples for you to follow in order to learn the technique. She also shows you how to assign bedrooms based on the occupant's year of birth and how to set up countermeasures to lessen the impact of destructive stars. Setting up and interpreting the charts requires some very detailed work, and you need to be comfortable working with numbers to really enjoy this approach to feng shui.

I have found it utterly fascinating to learn Flying Star feng shui. One begins to contemplate the idea that every house has its own life cycle and that some cycles are more auspicious than others in which to build new homes. (For example, the upcoming cycle from 2004-2023 will be a particularly good time to build since houses built during this cycle will have energy that is either "high", "good", or "rising" for 160 out of the next 180 years!) I have also found the book to be a very useful reference work for understanding Nine Ki (Nine Star) astrology as well as references to Flying Star feng shui made by other authors.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsurpassed, the definitive introduction to the subject, October 15, 1998

By	"bhadrakara" (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

It would be difficult to overestimate the value of this book. Although Feng Shui is a subject which has attracted more than its share of charlatans, the beginner can approach Ms. Wong's work with the confidence that she doesn't promise more than she delivers. In a well-written Introduction (which itself is worth the price of the book) she cautions the reader against assuming that this ancient art can be mastered by reading any book, even this one. More than a "how-to" manual, the book places Feng Shui in the religious and cultural context in which it developed, and without which it can neither be practiced nor understood. The reader coming to Feng Shui for the first time has to start somewhere, and I know of no better place than in these pages. Justin Thacker, Los Angeles

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a clear understanding and a practical guide., December 2, 2001

By	ARR (New York) - See all my reviews

I had been searching for a good feng shui book for months when I found this one. This books is both beautifully written and a very easy read, which is quite rare for an instructional book. The layout of this book is a mastery in itself, and the cross references between chapters are great. Although I had originally planned to skim - or yes maybe skip - some of the chapters, I quickly found myself engrossed. The background information gave me a much clearer understanding of the art of feng shui and a strong foundation for its practice. Often I find teachers of Chinese art forms caught in a trap between a desire to make the art form easier for the Western world to adopt/understand and a desire to stay true to the art form as it should be practiced. In my opinion, Ms. Wong did a masterful job of avoiding this trap. It is at once a very practical, very beautiful guide. Thank you for a wonderful book!!