Upper Chapter

盤古渾淪，氣萌太樸，分陰分陽，為清為濁，生老病死，誰實主之。無其始也，無有議焉。不能無也，吉凶形焉。曷如其無，何惡於有。藏於杳冥，實關休咎。以言諭之，似若非是。其於末也，一無外此。其若可忽，何假於予。辭之龐矣，理無越斯。

When Heaven and Earth were not yet divided there was only a single undifferentiated mass; primordial “qi” (氣) stirred from this “Great Simplicity” (Taipu) that had not yet been carved. Once qi moved, yin and yang were distinguished: what was light and clear rose to become Heaven; what was heavy and turbid condensed below to become Earth. People have birth, old age, sickness, and death—who after all truly presides behind this? If one traces back to the starting point before the ten thousand things were born, there was no form and no image, and originally nothing to discuss. Yet Heaven and Earth cannot dwell forever in emptiness; once form and qi are established, the auspicious and the inauspicious also show their traces. Since one cannot return to that “non-being,” why detest the “being” before one’s eyes—precisely because there is form that can be examined, the art of siting land has a place to apply itself. This layer of principle is stored in a place deep and invisible, yet it truly moves people’s fortune and misfortune; when one tries to liken it in words, what is said always seems both like and unlike. Yet if one pursues it to the last twigs and ends, not a single affair runs outside it. If it could truly be lightly passed over, why would it need to borrow my hand to write this book? My wording cannot avoid being miscellaneous, yet the principle discussed never goes beyond this one thread.

山川融結，峙流不絕，雙眸若無，烏乎其別。福厚之地，雍容不迫。四合周顧，辨其主客。山欲其凝，水欲其澄，山來水回，富貴豐財，山止水流，虜王囚侯。山頓水曲，子孫千億。山走水直，從人寄食。水過東西，財寶無窮。三橫四直，官職彌崇，九曲委蛇，準擬沙堤，重重交鎖，極品官資。

Mountains and waters interfuse and coagulate into a configuration; peaks stand opposite, flowing water does not cease, and the configuration is of itself clearly distinguishable. If the siter’s pair of eyes is as if unused, by what can one distinguish high and low within it? Land of deep blessing always has an atmosphere that is ample, easy, and unhurried; mountains and waters on all four sides embrace and turn, everywhere looking toward the site of the point (xue, 穴). At this time one must first distinguish which branch is the “host” mountain that forms the point, and which stretch is the “guest” sand that faces and escorts. Mountains are valued for coagulating and not scattering; waters are valued for being clear and not turbid or rushing. When the mountain vein comes rushing and the water flows back in an embrace, it governs wealth and honor with abundant sources of fortune; when the mountain vein has already stopped yet the water goes straight away and will not linger, it is like a king or marquis captured and imprisoned, governing constraint and ruin. When the mountain’s force pauses and rises and falls, and the water bends with feeling, descendants may multiply by the thousand and ten thousand; when the mountain’s force leaks away uncollected and the water goes straight with no return, later generations can only live under others and beg their living from others’ breath. When water crosses horizontally on the east and west sides, a belt with feeling, treasures are inexhaustible; when water forms a pattern of three horizontals and four verticals interweaving before the hall, official rank rises layer upon layer; when the current winds in nine bends like a snake, its nobility may be compared to the sand causeway specially laid for a prime minister entering court; when the water-mouth is locked layer upon layer, not letting generating qi leak away with the water, what is produced is official standing at the extreme of serving the ruler.

氣乘風散，脈遇水止，藏隱蜿蜒，富貴之地。不畜之穴，是謂腐骨。不及之穴，主人絕滅。騰漏之穴，翻棺敗槨。背囚之穴，寒泉滴瀝。其為可畏，可不慎乎。百年幻化，離形歸真。精神入門，骨骸反根。吉氣感應，鬼神及人。東山吐焰，西山起云，穴吉而溫，富貴綿延，其或反是，子孫孤貧。

Generating qi, once it meets the blowing of wind, will scatter; a dragon vein (longmai, 龍脈), once it meets the bound of water, will stop and gather—therefore in siting land one must both “store the wind” and “bound the water.” Wherever the mountain’s force is hidden and concealed, coming in windings, the qi is neither seized by wind nor fails to be held by water: this is land of wealth and honor. Conversely, look at four kinds of inauspicious point: where the soil cannot store qi, the bones below will only rot, hence the name “rotten bones”; where the dragon’s qi has not arrived at all, there is no qi in the point to ride, and the household will have its line cut off and its gate extinguished; where the soil-vein is empty and floating and generating qi rises, scatters, and leaks, in time the coffin and outer coffin will tip and decay; where one turns the back to yin sha (煞) and the surroundings are closed as in a prison, cold springs will seep into the point drop by drop through the year. The consequences being so fearful, how can burial not be cautious? A person’s hundred years are in the end a transformation of illusion; form and spirit then separate, each returning to its root: spirit enters the gate of the unseen, bones return to the root of the earth. Once the bones are buried in soil that contains generating qi, auspicious qi stimulates and answers, and blessings from the dim and distant will reach descendants still in the world. When the earth’s qi is vigorous, the eastern mountain is as if spitting flame, the western mountain as if raising clouds; the soil of the point is warm and moist, not yin and cold, and wealth and honor can stretch through the generations. If the situation is exactly the reverse—the mountains have no living color, the point is yin and cold—descendants will have only loneliness and poverty.

童斷與石，過獨逼側，能生新凶，能消已福。貴氣相資，本源不脫，前後區衛，有主有客。水流不行，外狹內闊。大地平洋，杳茫莫測。沼沚池湖，真龍憩息。情當內求，慎勿外覓。

A “bare” mountain grows not an inch of grass; a “broken” mountain has its dragon vein already snapped; a “stone” mountain is stubbornly hard and without soil; a “passing” mountain’s qi only passes through and will not stay; a “solitary” mountain stands exposed without escorts; a “pressed” mountain is cramped and will not allow a layout; a “tilted” mountain leans and is not upright. These several evil forms can both invite new misfortunes that were not originally there, and grind away blessings already accumulated. Land worth taking is the opposite: the various noble qis must support and match one another, and must never leave the original source of the incoming dragon; before and behind the point there are ridges arrayed as guards, host mountain and guest sand each in their place; water must gather and not go straight away; the water-mouth is drawn narrow and the inner hall is left wide, and only then does generating qi not leak away with the water. As for the “open plain” (pingyang) of land that stretches flat as far as the eye can see, there are no high mountains to rely on, and looking far one sees a vastness hard to measure; yet marshes, islets, ponds, and lakes—these places where water gathers—are precisely where the “true dragon” rests its feet. On the open plain, water is the dragon; where water gathers, qi gathers. Therefore the feeling with which one seeks the point should be carefully observed within this configuration itself; one must not set aside the inner configuration and look only outward.

形勢彎趨，生享用福。勢止形昂，前澗後岡，位至侯王。形止勢縮，前案回曲，金谷碧玉。山隨水著，迢迢來路，挹而注之，穴須回顧。天光下臨，百川同歸。真龍所泊，孰辨元微。蝦蟆老蚌，市井人煙，隱隱隆隆，孰探其源。

When the distant “force” and the near “form” both curve and tend toward the site of the point, descendants after burial can enjoy blessing and emolument while still alive. When the incoming force has already stopped, and the form of the point rises loftily, with a stream bounding it in front and a ridge sending it from behind, such land can reach the rank of marquis and king. When the form of the point has stopped and the incoming force has also drawn in and no longer runs, and the table-mountain in front curves and embraces, the household’s resources will be like Shi Chong’s Golden Valley Garden, heaps of jasper. Mountains show their veins only as they follow water: the incoming road comes from afar, water pours before the hall as if ladled and poured, and the place that forms the point must turn its head to look back at this stretch of incoming dragon and incoming water, and only then is there feeling. Above, Heaven’s light looks down; below, a hundred streams return to one place: that is where the “true dragon” moors—yet of its mystery, how many can distinguish it clearly? Sometimes its form crouches low like a toad or an old clam; sometimes qi gathers and becomes a stretch of marketplace smoke; the dragon vein on the flat ground rises faintly, sinks faintly, as if there and as if not—who again can probe its source?

若乃斷而復續，去而復留。奇形異相，千金難求。折藕貫絲，真機落莫。臨穴坦然，形難捫度。障空補缺，天造地設，留與至人，前賢難說。草木鬱茂，吉氣相隨，內外表裡，或然或為。

As for those places where the dragon vein seems already broken yet continues again, seems already gone yet turns back and stays: the form is strange and rare, and a thousand gold cannot buy it. It is like a snapped lotus root that still has fine threads running through; the vein-qi secretly connects at the break, and the true aperture is silent and without trace, ordinary eyesight cannot see it. When one approaches the site of the point, what is before the eyes is only a stretch of ordinary flatness, and that configuration is hard to feel out and measure with the hand. If there is a gap in the configuration, one uses sand-hills and watercourses to screen and fill it; once the configuration is complete it is as if made by Heaven and set by Earth. Such land is left for those whose virtue and eyesight are both at home; even the worthies of former ages found it hard to say the principle within it to the end. Where the plants and trees on the ground are lush and flourishing, below there must be auspicious qi following and arising. As for these correspondences of inside and outside, surface and interior, some are naturally generated, and some wait on human cutting, trimming, and cultivating to become complete.

三岡全氣，八方會勢，前遮後擁，諸祥畢至。地貴平夷，土貴有支。穴取安止，水取迢遞。向定陰陽，切莫乖戾，差之毫釐，謬以千里。擇術之善，建都立縣。一或非宜，立主貧賤。

When the generating qi of three ridge-veins is gathered completely, and the mountain forces of the eight directions all come to meet, with table-sand screening in front and ridges embracing behind, the various auspicious tokens will arrive together. As for terrain, it is valued for being level, upright, and even, not tilted or sunken; as for soil, it is valued for having branch veins running through, firm and containing qi. In marking the point one takes the place where the qi-vein rests securely; in looking at water one takes the feeling of its winding from afar. Establishing the “orientation” must accord with the principle of yin and yang, and must not go against the earth’s qi—the Record of Rites, in “Explanations of the Classics,” says that an error of a hair leads to a discrepancy of a thousand li: if on the luopan (羅經) one leans off by a single line, the later verification will be ten thousand li apart. If the art of siting land is used with refinement, at the large scale it can found a capital for the state and establish commanderies and counties; if even one arrangement within it is unsuitable, it immediately invites the retribution of poverty and lowliness.

公侯之地，龍馬騰起。面對玉圭，小而首銳。更遇本方，不學而至。宰相之地，繡墩伊邇，大水洋朝，無極之貴。空闊平夷，生氣秀麗。外臺之地，捍門高峙，屯軍排迎，周迴數里，筆大橫椽，足判生死。此低彼昂，誠難摹擬。

Land that can produce dukes and marquises has an incoming dragon that leaps up like a dragon-horse, its force lofty; the facing mountain in front is like a “jade tablet,” not large in body and with its tip sharp and upright. If it is further matched with a direction that accords with one’s own destiny and period, this wealth and honor will arrive of itself without deliberate management. Land that can produce a prime minister has nearby a round and elegant sand like an “embroidered stool” as companion, and in the distance a great water coming in a vast court-attendance, governing nobility that cannot be added to; its layout is spacious and level, and the generating qi appears especially elegant. Land that can produce a great minister of the “Outer Terrace” has on both sides of the water-mouth “guard-gate” sands standing high opposite like gates, and surrounding sands like stationed troops lined up to receive, stretching for several li around; among the sands the literary brush is thick as a roof-beam laid across, governing the holding of punishments and rewards, enough to decide people’s life and death. This kind of great land is low here and high there, uneven in its changes, and is truly hard to copy and compare by a fixed likeness.

官貴之地，文筆插耳，魚袋雙連，庚金之位，南火東木，北水鄙技。地有佳氣，隨土而起，山有吉氣，因方所止。文士之地，筆尖而細，諸水不隨，虛馳名譽。大富之地，圓峰金櫃。貝寶沓來，如川之至。小秀清貴，圓重富厚。

Land that can produce official nobility has literary-brush peaks on both sides rising high as if inserted at the ears, and a pair of “fish-pouch” sands linked as a couple—the fish-pouch was the tally officials of Tang and Song wore at the waist, hence taken as the image of official credentials. Fish-pouch sand is most suitable when it falls in the Geng direction: Geng belongs to Metal, and only of the same qi as the gold fish-pouch does it count as qualified. If it falls in a southern position belonging to Fire, Fire comes to conquer Metal; if it falls in an eastern position belonging to Wood, Wood is not of its class; if it falls in a northern position belonging to Water, Metal’s qi is drained—these several are all inferior small tricks not worth taking. Where great land contains fine qi, the qi appears in form as it rises with the soil-vein; where mountains contain auspicious qi, the qi stops according to a particular direction. Land that can produce men of letters has a literary-brush peak that is sharp and slender; if the many waters do not follow it in court-attendance and protection, it becomes name without substance, empty reputation racing for a time. Land of great wealth has a round and full Metal-star peak and a flat-topped “gold cabinet” sand; treasures then pour in without cease, like a river rushing. In sum, sand-peaks that are small, clever, and elegant govern a name of pure nobility; those that are full, round, and heavy govern thick wealth.

貧賤之地，亂如散錢，達人大觀，如示諸指。幽陰之宮，神靈所主。葬不斬草，名曰盜葬。葬近祖墳，殃及子孫。一墳榮盛，十墳孤貧。穴吉葬凶，與棄尸同。陰陽合符，天地交通。內氣萌生，外氣成形。內外相乘，風水自成。察以眼界，會以情性。若能悟此，天下橫行。

Land of poverty and lowliness has sand and water scattered like copper coins thrown on the ground, with no mutual regard. These configurations, falling under the eye of one who understands, are taken in at a glance, as clear as what the Analects says of showing something on the palm of the hand. The grave is a palace of hidden yin, and has spirits in charge of it: if before burial one does not, according to ritual, cut the grass, break the soil, and announce sacrifice to the Lord of Earth, this is called “stolen burial”; if a new grave is buried tight against the ancestral graves, disturbing the old tombs, the calamity will fall on descendants. Of graves alike, one that obtains the land makes the household flourish; ten that lose the land instead invite loneliness and poverty. If the point is originally auspicious land, yet the year, month, and method of burial commit the inauspicious, that is no different from casually abandoning the corpse in the wild. Land that truly forms a configuration is where yin and yang join like the two halves of a tally, and the qi of Heaven and the qi of Earth communicate above and below: the “inner qi” in the earth stirs and is born, the “outer qi” on the surface gathers into the forms of mountain and water; the two qis, inner and outer, ride and receive each other, and the auspiciousness of feng shui is naturally accomplished. Observing the configuration depends on a pair of eyes; comprehending its feeling depends on the mind’s nature to enter into it. If one can thoroughly awaken to these principles, one can take this art through all under Heaven and meet no obstruction.