March 2001 - For a practice that dates from 6,000 B.C., feng shui has turned into a modern trend. People are now turning to consultants to help them rearrange their homes and businesses to capture “qi,” an invisible life force, in order to increase personal harmony, good health, good will, and good luck.

This recent trend concerns Stephen Field, professor of Chinese at Trinity University, who feels people are practicing feng shui without really knowing what it is.  “The practice is as old as the Chinese culture itself and anyone who teaches feng shui without having a good foundation in classical Chinese thought is like someone practicing surgery without studying anatomy,” says Professor Field.  As the leading American scholar on its cultural significance, he should know.

According to Professor Field, the practice began with the dead.  A Neolithic grave recently unearthed in China revealed evidence the body was buried using the rules of feng shui.  Later, the practice was used by the living as a way to trap “qi.”

Professor Field says the form school of feng shui deals with locating an ideal site close to hills and water, a practical concern for a mostly rural society.  Another school, which Professor Field calls the compass school, was developed based on numerology and the Chinese zodiac.  The two schools have intertwined and, over the course of several thousand years, have developed into a rich and complex aspect of Chinese thought.

Professor Field is working to educate others about the tradition of feng shui.  He has created a Web site, www.fengshuigate.com, which supplies several web pages about the cultural side of feng shui.  And, for those looking for a quick way to add more “qi” to their lives, he has a page that uses numerology to help redesign a person's home or office.

To talk to Professor Field about feng shui, contact Russell Guerrero at (210) 999-8406 or e-mail at rguerrer@trinity.edu.