During the Chou dynasty in ancient China King Wen was the first to use pa-k’ua to describe the natual energies flowing through the world. Pa-k’ua or the eight trigrams was basically a compass, showing the different flows of energy, in different directions. North is water (k’an), northeast is mountain (ken), East is thunder (chen), southeast is wind (sun), South is fire, southwest is earth or mother (k’un) west is lake (tui), and northwest is heaven or father (chien). These eight direction

The Han Dynasty (206 BCE-219 CE) is when the art of k’an-yu is first founded by the Taoists Huan-shih Kung and Ch’ing Wu. K’an-yu directly translated means “mountains and low places”, and it was used specifically to study the flow of energy carried in landforms. This art from the Han Dynasty on was essential in the placement of everything, from cities to graves. The Chinese believe, according to the art of k’an-yu that everything has a natural amount of either positive or negative energy and the placement of structures and objects must take advantage of the positive energy and flow naturally with that energy, within which they are immersed. Placing things to correctly compliment and take advantage of the natural energy flows, was first only used by emperors and nobles to place their burial grounds (so as to harness positive energy and supposedly ensure a long reign for their dynasties). It was not until later during the Chin Dynasty (265-420 CE) that k’an-yu was used for placing everything from cities to individual houses and the

Some topics in this essay:
Feng Shui, King Wen, Han Dynasty, CE Sung, Chin Dynasty, Hsü-jen Wang, Western Chou, Han Sinha, Wu K’an-yu, Shui SA, feng shui, art k’an-yu, placement cities, chou dynasty, eight trigrams, pa-k’ua eight trigrams, positive energy, han 1994, geomantic compass, k’an-yu feng, pa-k’ua eight, western chou dynasty, k’an-yu feng shui, traced western chou, roots feng shui,