9), "vital breath," the modern physical terms of "matter-energy," "emanation" (Needham, 1962), "telluric currents" (Skinner, 1980, p.5) and the Hebrew concept of "breath of life" (Skinner, 1982, p.14). Following the phenomenological approach, the author would suggest the Greek concept of genius loci , or "spirit of place" "the concrete reality man has to face and come to terms with in his daily life" (Norberg-Schultz, 1980, p.1). Qi is the holistic function of a total phenomenon which encounters human experience, which can not be reduced to any individual analytic "scientific" category, such as energy, material, radiation, etc. It is the "oneness" of the earth, the heaven, the divinities and the mortals, that envelops human experience in the lived-world (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 The process model of Feng-shui: Origin, mechanism and result of Qi
The classic Burial Book uses a logic of "source--mechanism--result" to describe the origin, movement, change and function of Qi .
Source: All things in the heaven, on the earth, originate from Qi of Yin (female) and Yang (male). Ontologically, Qi is elusive and invisible, it fills all over the universe. Man as a creature, a "thing," is also but a form of Qi (Fig. 2). This concept becomes the basis for Feng-shui to express the ideal that man and nature could be and should be in harmony.
Mechanism: Although Qi itself is elusive and invisible when dispersing in the universe, it forms into visible and tangible things when accumulated. Into the heavens, the Yang (male)Qi accumulates into the celestial bodies; and down on earth, the Yin (female)Qi condenses into and moves in the form of landscapes. Between the earth and heaven, Qi thrills in wind, soars in cloud, surges in thunder and falls in rain and snow (The Burial Book). The seasonal and daily cycles are but the flow and change of Qi.. Even the spiritual and moral virtues of a person are considered to be of influence on , and influenced by, the state and flux of Qi (Fig. 2). So the state of Qi is a function of variables in all five dimensions (the four spatial and temporal dimensions plus the spiritual and moral dimension). This function has a set of satisfactory, or optimum, solutions called "living Qi" when all the variables match , i.e. when the heaven, the earth, the spirits and mortals are gathered harmoniously.
Result: When and where living Qi gathers, which means various variables match one another harmoniously in terms of Yin -Yang balance, anything will flourish. Dwellers will be at peace, happy, wealthy and healthy. The ideal of "living in harmony" comes into being (Fig. 2).
Ancestor worship is of central importance in family life. It constitutes the most important religious system in China ( Yang, 1969; Freedman, 1966), and Feng-shui is closely associated with ancestor worship. To the Chinese, death is but the continuation of life, the descendants are but the continuity of their dead ancestors. The dead forebears are thus treated as if they were alive, and the placement of the graves will therefore affect the fate of the descendants. The logic is that all things are but forms of Qi , and the dead and his descendants belong to the same Qi strain (genetic kinship). So the selection and arrangement of the graves are of no less importance than the living settlements, and their aims are the same: follow the natural order, catch and gather the living Qi .
"Make known the virtue of the land, establish the ways of behavior, follow the change and
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