hinese maps are drawn with the south at the top. This is the direction you should face in order to
comprehend the landscape: then the Green Dragon of the east is at your
left hand, which is Yang, and the White Tiger of autumn is at your right,
which is Yin. In front of you the sun will be at its zenith, and behind you
there is the darkness of winter.
 A mountain is Yang also,
and so are large rocks, steep waterfalls, age-old pines. It is most Yang
on its sunny side, and Yin in its own shadow; and Yin also comprises
what is low, cavernous, in a valley, and boggy. If you are looking for a
place to build a house or bury your ancestors, you should therefore go to
a south-facing slope, with the Green Dragon animating the landscape to
your left, and the White Tiger prowling harmlessly (because harmoniously) to
your right, and these two should enclose the site as if by the crook of an
elbow. At your front there should be a body of water.
The physiognomy of a landscape is
so complex that you cannot be sure of your ground without the help of a feng-shui
diviner, who understands how every part of it is animated by breath. Feng-shui,
wind and water, bespeaks the two most obvious constituents of dragon's breath; for the
others the diviner needs a magnetic compass. This may have as many as
thirty-eight concentric rings about the needle, each divided into one of
the ideal measures of space and time. Using this, the diviner takes sights
on the veins of the dragon, which are the raised features of the landscape,
noting the watercourses, the trees, rocks, and branching of valleys; and
should they fall upon an auspicious setting, a house built there will make
its owner prosperous, and ancestors buried in that place will bless their
descendants.
Such a site is called the Dragon's
Head, and it should be consecrated with offerings in the shape of a dragon;
and when the house is built, the dragon is invited to make its abode in a
special niche. A garden may also be laid out, a private world of yin-and-yangeries
where the dragon may lovingly disport; and it can further be honored with
figures of itself to be reminded of its good fortune.
Feng-shui diviners are themselves
credited with dragonish powers, not only because they can discern dragons
but because they can influence them according to the principles of the
Blue Bag, which is their name for the universe. They are largely responsible
for the finest use of the landscape the world knows, for the same reasons
that Chinese landscape painting has the oldest and richest tradition of its
kind.
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