Feng Shui Schools

If you simply grab a "Feng Shui for Dummies" book or a magazine that talks about colour schemes and placement of objects, you may not learn that much about feng shui. In fact, the book or magazine might not even touch on the fact that there are actually three different schools of feng shui. Each of these schools is based around different thoughts and different traditional practices. It's also important to note that while all three are based in ancient feng shui, none of them is identical to the traditional feng shui as it is practiced in China.

The first school of feng shui is the Traditional or Classical feng shui school. It is the closest of the three modern schools to the ancient forms of feng shui. There are several different schools of Traditional feng shui, including the Compass Feng Shui School and the Landscape Feng Shui School. These schools further divide into the Eight Mansions, Flying Star, and more. They often focus on how shapes, objects, and symbols can be incorporated into an environment. Landscape feng shui doesn't focus that much on compass directions, while the Compass Feng Shui School uses the special feng shui compass, called a bagua, and makes use of lo shu squares and calculations to determine placement.

The Black Hat Sect Tantric Buddhist Feng Shui School, commonly called the BTB Schools, is actually a very, very recent school of feng shui. It has only been in existence for a little over 15 years, and it was actually formed in the United States. However, that doesn't mean it's incredibly modern. Instead, the founder, Grandmaster Thomas Lin Yun, incorporated ideas from Taoism, Tibetan Buddhism, and feng shui into this school. This does, however, make it quite different from traditional feng shui.

Finally, the Intuitive or Modern Feng Shui School is the most modern feng shui school. It is more or less the Western version of the traditional feng shui concepts. Generally, Western tastes, ideas, and habits are used instead of the symbols and concepts usually used in traditional Chinese feng shui. The Western School of Feng Shui is one of several schools that follow the Modern thought. The Modern School may be a better choice for those who are looking for the benefits of feng shui but perhaps do not want to focus on Chinese though or don't care about staying completely faithful to traditional feng shui.

One thing to consider is that none of these feng shui schools is mutually exclusive. In fact, some of the top feng shui consultations will mix various aspects of each school together. There's nothing wrong with this; in fact, sometimes it actually works out better. Before you hire a feng shui consultation, however, you should ask him or her which school he follows and what kind of approach he plans to use in his/her analysis of your home or business.