Feng Shui of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China Part 4 北京紫禁城之風水

Kun Gua


The 交泰卦 Jiao Tai Gua in 64 gua I-Ching is Kun Gua on top of the Qian Gua

The three main halls are all located on the highest land of the Forbidden City which form the Chinese character, ' Earth ' , symbolizes the Central soil.

Tiananmen Square天安门

Temple of Heaven 天壇

Ample Space in front of the palace

午门 Main Entrance at the South

东华门 donghuamen Entrance at the East


东华门 donghuamen Entrance at the East


The Ming emperors stayed in the 乾清宫 Qian Ching Gong

ancient coin

If you look down from the sky, the three main halls are all located on the highest land of the Forbidden City which form the Chinese character, ' Earth ' , symbolizes the Central soil. The Forbidden City is facing the south which is the direction of fire. As fire grows earth because whatever you burn, the residue will become earth eventually. Yellow is the colour of the land which believed to belong to the emperor himself. Therefore the tiles of the roof of all the buildings in the palace are in yellow colour. The truth is the Red symbolizes fire element, all the walls in the Forbidden City are in are in red colour.

Confucius: facing the South while listening to the world 南面而听天下. Because the 'before heaven bagua’ indicates that the South is the direction of heaven. Therefore, the South of the Forbidden City are the Tiananmen Square天安门 and the Temple of Heaven天壇 which mean the heaven 'tian' 天. It is in line with what I said in my book How To Enhance Your Wealth With Feng Shui? page 40 i.e. If you have ample empty spaces in front of your house, the power in gaining wealth is strong. Empty land in front of your building is good 明堂 ming tang ‘bright hall’. Even better, if have a clear and clean water view. If so, enlarge your main door to welcome good qi of wealth.

All the doors at the entrances of the Forbidden City are doors with 81 nails as 9x9 81, because the number 9 is the greatest number, but only one door is with 9x8 72 nails i.e. donghuamen, 东华门 the door at the East because East is the direction of the wood or plant. Plant breaks the earth as the roots of the plants will break the soil thus the door at the East has to be downgraded. The status of the donghuamen is relatively low. In fact, before the construction of the Forbidden City, the then emperor 明永乐皇帝 did not want to have the donghuamen.

The Ming emperors stayed in the 乾清宫 Qian Ching Gong as the Qian 乾 Gua is the gua of the King, father, yang and the master. Whereas, the queen resided in the 坤宁宫 Kun Ning Gong as Kun 坤 is the Gua for the Queen, mother, yin or the lady master. The building in between the two main buildings is the Jiao Tai Palace 交泰殿 which mean the intersection between the yin female and the yang male in I Ching which symbolizes prosperity in the future generations of the emperor. The 交泰卦 Jiao Tai Gua in 64 gua I-Ching is Kun Gua on top of the Qian Gua thus, you could notice the only picture with phoenix on top of the dragon is in the Jiao Tai Palace 交泰殿. The dragon represents the King and Phoenix 鳳 is the Queen. Therefore dragon should be on the top of the phoenix to show the superb status of the King. But, you could see the only picture in the Forbidden City with Dragon 龙 below the Phoenix 鳳 is in the Jiao Tai Palace 交泰殿.

There are 6 palaces 东西六宫 each beside the Kun Ning Gong 坤宁宫 which means 六六大顺 smoothness without any obstacle. The palaces are the palaces for the high ranking mistresses of the emperor. Their arrangements are six on each side of the Kun Ning Gong 坤宁宫 is also according to the I-Ching Kun Gua, 3 broken line which forms the 6 shorter lines.

According to the orientation of the ‘later heaven bagua’, the East sector is the gua of the eldest son 震卦, so the Prince was to live at the East of the Forbidden City.

The ancient coin is circular with a square hole in the middle represents the heaven or the sky is surrounding the Earth. This is because according to the bagua, shape for the Qian Gua which is North West sector of the bagua is circular and the shape for the gold is circular but the shape of the Kun Gua is square. Thus, the shape of the Temple of Heaven天壇 is circular in shape.

三大殿都建在’土’字型的台基上,象徵着中央土而南方属火，整个紫禁城坐北朝南. 火生土, 皇帝为天子, 地上之皇, 因此皇帝黃袍加身, 黃色为土地的颜色. 因此宫殿内大多数之瓦顶皆用黄色，其道理在此. 五行之赤色象征 火，所以紫禁城所有的墙、门、窗、柱、框一律用红色。火生土. 孔子曰 : 南面而听天下. 前天八卦的南方属天, 乾为天. 因此南方有天安门和天壇. 　

　
城墙四面都有门，南有午门，北有神武门，东有东华门，西有西华门. 所有的门都是9x9 81颗门钉, 因为9是最大数目, 但唯独东华门是9x8 72颗门钉因为东方属木, 不可让木来克土呀! 因此东华门的地位较小.

内廷主要三宫有乾清宫、交泰殿和坤宁宫. 明朝皇帝都住在乾清宫因为乾卦为最重要的男主人卦位, 乾清宫象徵天, 而坤宁宫象徵地, 乾清宫比太和殿稍微小. 乾为天, 天为阳, 坤为地,地为阴, 坤宁宫为明朝皇后的住所. 交泰殿为阴阳二气交会处. 易经里的泰卦是乾下坤上, 所以在交泰殿可以看到紫禁城内唯一的鳳上龙下的图象, 代表着阴阳二气交会而子孫滿堂.

内廷主要三宫乾清宫、交泰殿和坤宁宫的两旁为东西六宫, 有六六大顺之义, 也是易经里的坤卦(三畫卦). 后天八卦的震卦为长子的方位, 所以太子是住在东方的震卦.

紫禁城的南方为天或易经里的乾卦, 因此有天安门和天壇, 天壇是圆形的因为圆形代表天. 紫禁城的北方为地或易经里的坤卦, 因此有地壇, 地壇是方形的因为方形代表地. 古代铜钱是圆形而中间有方形的洞代表着天包圍着地呀! 紫禁城的东方为日或易经里的离卦, 因此有日壇. 东方为太陽升出的地方. 紫禁城的西方为月或易经里的坎卦, 因此有月壇. 这都是跟据易经里的前天八卦所造呀!

北京故宮紫禁城之风水 Part 3 Forbidden City Feng Shui Part 3

乾清宫
太和殿

I am going to Singapore next weekend but updating my blog is like my normal routine, thus, I want to make sure that I have updated my blog prior to my departure....

紫禁城严格按照中轴对称进行布局，中轴两端的建筑阴阳对称。中轴即是中央子午线，是规划紫禁城全部宫殿及北京城的基准线。紫禁城内的朝政三大殿，即奉天殿、华盖殿、谨身殿（后改名为太和殿、中和殿、保和殿）和后寝三宫（乾清宫、交泰宫、坤宁宫）均位于中轴线上。其他宫殿均不在中轴线上。也是严格按照对称规则进行布局，分布在中轴线两端。

紫禁城内之布局，其实是隐藏着中国古代之易经阴阳五行道理，亦都证明了中国古代文化的宝贵。明清两代之帝皇依然尊崇古代易经阴阳五行之学，将之运用于整个宏伟之宫殿群，由此可知易学之尊崇地位，为历代皇帝所用，历久不衰之原因。　　

　　 因为注重阴阳五行学说，故此所有城内设计，都是依存着阴阳两面互相对应，及运用金、木、水、火、土，（五行）之分布。如外殿之布局采用奇数，称五门、三朝。内廷宫殿用偶数，称两宫六寝，两宫即干、坤两宫，六寝即东西六宫。

故宫大体上可以分为两大部分，南为工作区，即外朝或前庭，北为生活区，即内廷或后宫。外朝内廷的所有建筑排列在中轴线上，东西对称，秩序井然。外朝是皇帝处理政事的地方，主要有三大殿：太和殿、中和殿、保和殿。其中太和殿最为高大、辉煌. 它的比例为9长5宽, 代表皇帝为九五之尊也. 皇帝登基、大婚、册封、命将、出征等都要在这里举行盛大仪式，其时数千人“三呼万岁”，数百种礼器钟鼓齐鸣，极尽皇家气派。太和殿后的中和殿是皇帝出席重大典礼前休息和接受朝拜的地方，最北面的保和殿则是皇帝赐宴和殿试的场所。保和殿也是科举考试举行殿试的地方.

　　 内廷包括乾清、交泰、坤宁三宫以及东西两侧的东六宫和西六宫，这是皇帝及其嫔妃居住的地方，俗称为“三宫六院”。在居住区以北还有一个小巧别致的御花园，是皇室人员游玩之所。故宫规模宏伟，布局严整，建筑精美，富丽华贵，收藏有许多的稀世文物.

北京故宮紫禁城之风水 Part 2 Forbidden City Feng Shui Part 2

万岁山（后改名为景山）Hill at the North of the Forbidden City

Bent and curved Golden Water River 金水河

I always feel that we cannot call ourselves that we understand feng shui until we learn the feng shui application in Forbidden City, Beijing. The feng shui application in the palace has been done to the maximum level and it applied the theory of I-Ching, yin and yang, before heaven bagua and later heaven bagua in the construction of the palace.

Prior to the construction of the Forbidden City, there was no water and hill in the palace originally and the then emperor 明永乐皇帝 decided to create water and hill in the palace. Thus, he ordered his men to create a hill at the back of the palace which is at the North, called 万岁山（后改名为景山）. Water was brought in from the North West of the palace which according to the theory of the later heaven bagua is the sector of the King or Master 乾 (Qian) or heaven 天. The water flows from the North West to South East of the palace. South East is the sector of wind 巽. It means the water is the rain from the sky (heaven) and evaporates as air (wind).

The formation of hill and water in the Forbidden City is according to the theory of front red phoenix and back lack turtle 前朱雀后玄武. There is a support at the back and in front of the palace is ample of space which means bright hall 明堂.

The river in the Forbidden City is called the Golden Water River 金水河 and the flow the river is bent and curved and it is auspicious as if the flow of the river is bent and curved then it is passionate. Whereas, straight flow of water is ruthless instead.

The shape of the Golden Water River 金水河in front of the Hall of the Supreme Harmony (the main hall in the Forbidden City) 太和殿 is known as the 玉带环抱 ‘yu dai huan bao’ a jade belt around your waist. It is like someone is hugging and protecting you. Jade belt was a belt worn by ranking officials in the old China. Hence, if you have a house located at the auspicious sector then your relationship with family members and people around you will be remarkable and your luck in terms of wealth will be excellent. However, if your house is located at the opposite side, then it is defined as 反弓水 bend bow water, which is an inauspicious location, then your luck in terms of wealth and relationship with others will not be prosperous.

You will notice the application of the bow concept in the Forbidden City of Beijing, China whereby the men-made river is build like the shape of 弓 bow is designed at the entrance of the palace which is a design to protect the palace against any undesired qi. The palace is located inside the bow, so it is protected by the bow.

明永乐皇帝定京师于北京,按风水营建紫禁城,原来没有金水河和万岁山（后改名为景山），基于风水格局之考虑，无天然河水就要风水工力改造，成“背山面水”之格局。紫禁城正北也就是后方设有玄武门（后改名为神武门），其后需建山为屏障增靠山。这也是我们所说的左青龙右白虎前朱雀后玄武. 前面是一片大广场为好的明堂. 后面是靠山.

万岁山与十三陵天寿山遥相呼应，将天寿山龙脉之气引入紫禁城，既成为紫禁城的镇山，又可阻挡北风穿堂。金水河从万岁山西北方而来，沿万岁山西麓注入紫禁城护城河中，河水再由西北角楼下引入紫禁城内，流入太和殿前。在后天八卦中西北方属乾位，为天门，来自天河之水，通过金水河的流动，将天上的“生气”源源不绝地引入紫禁城. 再从东南流出紫禁城, 东南在后天八卦中为巽卦, 易经 巽卦代表风, 象徵水从天上来而化为气.

紫禁城内金水河之水从护城河西北角引入，曲曲弯弯地流经武英殿、太和殿、文渊阁、南三所、东化门等重要建筑和宫门前，既将“生气”导入，又形成风水中的“水抱有情”之势金城玉带。曲曲弯弯的金水河到东南角又流入护城河, 曲曲弯弯为流水有情。直沖的水或路反而无情.

TO BE CONTINUED......