Through the Lens of Fengshui

Abstract

Deeply invested in the fantastic topography of the Wuyi Mountains, the Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi (1130–1200) had spent most of his life in that region. Zhu engaged with the Wuyi landscape through boating, cliff carving, education, literature, visual arts, and fengshui. Specifically, Zhu carved two inscriptions in 1175 and 1178 and founded the Wuyi Academy in 1183 near the carvings. Around the same time, Zhu passionately practiced fengshui and conducted many siting trips in Wuyi and the surrounding area. Zhu collaborated with the fengshui master Cai Jitong (1135–1198) to survey the larger Wuyi region and chose auspicious tomb locations for himself and his family. I argue that Zhu’s fengshui may have underlaid his decision to carve the cliff and establish his academy, helping him to determine promising locations in Wuyi and intervene in that landscape. This article highlights the ecological implications of Zhu’s cultural productions, recovering a forgotten episode of a local scholar’s continuous interactions with the natural environment.

理學大師朱熹長年居住並活動於福建省武夷山，如今留下許多石刻、精舍遺跡、詩詞文字與風水活動之記錄。然而，後人探討朱熹的創作與事蹟往往忽略了其所在的環境脈絡。為彌補此一缺失，本文研究了朱熹 1175 與 1178 年的摩崖石刻，以及 1183 在附近設立的武夷精舍與所在的武夷山與九曲溪的環境因素之關聯。在 1170 年代，朱熹熱心投入風水與地理之術，曾與風水師蔡季通多處訪查地形，遷移與勘定家人「父、母、妻與自身」墓址。筆者以為朱熹頻繁的風水活動或許影響了他審視自然的方式，可能助其選擇了一個風水寶地去刻石、建校於武夷山水之間，表現了理學大師可能被忽視的另外一個方面。

Keywords:

• fengshui
• Zhu Xi
• Wuyi Mountains
• stone carving
• Wuyi Academy
• Cai Jitong
• ecological implication

關鍵詞:

• 風水
• 朱熹
• 武夷山
• 摩崖
• 武夷精舍
• 蔡季通

Notes

1 I treat the Wuyi Mountains as a collective noun.

2 Fengshui (geomancy) refers to the art of arranging human constructions and activities according to the topographical and spatial conditions, with the intent to benefit from the invisible energy embedded in nature. For an introduction to fengshui, see the section on “Zhu Xi and Fengshui.”

3 Cai Jitong was one of the earliest students and followers of Zhu Xi. He influenced Zhu’s thoughts and assisted in many of Zhu’s writings. Cai was known as a great geomancer at the time, and his geomantic knowledge and activities informed Zhu Xi’s fengshui. For Cai Jitong’s fengshui, see Minakuchi Takuju 2007. While both names of Cai were referenced in various documents, Cai Jitong is the primary one used in this essay because it was used in Zhu’s 1175 stone inscription.

4 Although the construction of the buildings matters in fengshui practices, barely any original structures survive from Zhu’s time. My usage of the Wuyi Academy therefore refers mainly to its location rather than the building itself.

5 Big Red Robe is a type of yancha 巖茶 (rock tea). Some suggest that the name came from how the tea trees grow in the type of soil rich with mineral components from dissolved rocks. In this regard, the name yancha implies an ecological connection between Big Red Robe and its habitat. The high-quality tea reflects a specific of the environmental conditions that enables the superior tea production.

6 See “Mount Wuyi” on the UNESCO World Heritage website (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/911/, accessed January 22, 2024).

7 See Yang Zhiyi 2012.

8 See Fang Yanshou 2000.

9 Research on Zhu is extensive. I can only list a few publications in English here, see De Bary 1981; Gardner 1986; Chan Wing-tsit 1989; Ebrey 1991; Tillman 1992; Ching 2000.

10 See Gardner 2003.

11 Regarding Zhu’s connection with Wuyi, historian Gao Lingyin’s research is the most relevant to the current project. Employing an anthropological approach, Gao carefully mapped Zhu’s travels, official positions, and inscriptions at different locations in China. Gao then interwove the many places with Zhu’s biography to create a geo-narrative of Zhu’s cultural activities. While Gao focused more generally on Zhu’s official career, travels, promotions and demotions at specific sites, his approach informed this essay in regard to situating Zhu’s cultural practices in situ in Wuyi. See Gao Lingyin 1987.

12 Zhu was one of the first to systematically describe the boating journey along the Nine Bend Stream. While several Song dynasty (961–1279) and pre-Song scholars had noted the Wuyi Mountains, none had treated boating as a systematic cultural practice. Many scholars before Zhu had commented on Wuyi and its exceptional landscape, but they did not pay much attention to the terrain, Nine Bend Stream, and the boating activity, not to mention prescribing the boating journey into a sequential passage. See Han 2011, p. 175.

13 Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji 76.26b–27a.

14 See Bol 2008.

15 Several scholars have noted the possible overlap between fengshui practices and the modern notion of ecology. For example, Stephan Field once referred to fengshui as “folk ecology.” Some characterize fengshui as mythic ecology. See Field 2001, p. 185.

16 Zhu created many cliff inscriptions at famous or sacred sites in southern China. See Azuma Jyuji 1985.

17 See recent publications such as Braddock – Irmscher 2009; Kusserow – Braddock 2018; Lee De-nin 2019; Kusserow 2021; S. Lee 2021.

18 Moxibustion is a therapy often used along with acupuncture to enhance the healing effect. Moxibustion involves burning of the herb mugwort’s leaves.

19 蓋地理之法，譬如針灸，自有一定之穴，而不可有毫之差。使醫者之施砭艾皆如今日臺史之定宅兆，則攻一穴而徧身皆創矣，是又安能得其穴道之正果. See Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji 15.36 a–b. Quoted in Ebrey 1997, pp. 89–90.

20 See also Linquan gaozhi.

21 For a discussion on the usage of qi, see Csikszentmihalyi 2004, pp. 144–160; Behuniak 2004, pp. 1–21.

22 Bennett 1978, p. 6.

23 My usage of the word “ecology” therefore differs from German zoologist Ernst Haeckel’s (1834–1919) coinage of the term, which defines ecology as a branch of modern Western science. See Egerton 2013.

24 Shu Jingnan 2001, pp. 72–74.

25 Ren – Fang 2001, pp. 33–38.

26 Ren – Fang 2001, pp. 33–38.

27 Ren – Fang 2001, p. 34.

28 Ren – Fang 2001, p. 37.

29 Ren – Fang 2001, p. 37.

30 Unlike regular Confucian academies or shuyuan 書院, Zhu’s school in the Wuyi Mountains may be categorized as a “study” that practiced less rigorous curricula and was less administratively important. However, I do not make a distinction here because this article focuses more on the location of the institute rather than the actual practices of the school. See Chan Wing-tsit 1989, pp. 336–355. For research on other Song dynasty private schools, see Walton 1999. For other research on Zhu’s academies in different places see Fang Yanshou 2000.

31 See Wuyishanshi difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui 2007.

32 Long before Zhu, people in Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, and many other provinces of China avidly produced moya shike 摩崖石刻 (cliff carvings). Kanda Kiichirō 1954, pp. 16–30.

33 As early as the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), inscribing texts on landscapes was a well-established cultural practice for monks, intelligentsia, and government officials. For the seminal research on the epigraphic practices in early medieval China, see Harrist 2008. Harrist’s work greatly informed this research. Harrist critically reacts against the previous scholarship that mainly approached stone carvings in the form of ink-rubbings. Many overlooked the environmental conditions in which the inscriptions stand and treated the carvings merely as two-dimensional copies of earlier writings. Harrist successfully reminds us of the geographic implications embedded within these writings and provides a fresh perspective of approaching ancient monuments.

34 Ren – Fang 2001, p. 37.

35 “Wuyi’s river [the Nine Bend Stream] flows eastward through nine bends. Among these bends, the Fifth Bend is the deepest. The site is where the mountain, which stretches from the north to the south, runs to its end. All the rocks appear to combine into one peak, soaring one thousand feet from the ground. On top of the mountain, there is a small platform with soil where forests grow verdant, making it charming. Four sides of the peak taper inward, resembling a squared hat. Previously, it had been called the Great Hidden Screen.” 武夷之溪東流凡九曲，而第五曲爲最深。蓋其山自北而南者，至此而盡。聳全石爲一峯，拔地千尺，上小平處㣲戴土生，林木極蒼翠可玩。而四隤稍下則反削而入如方屋帽者，舊記謂大隱屏也. Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji, 9.2b.

36 Despite its Chinese title ge 歌 (song), these songs are qiyan jueju 七言絕句 (heptasyllabic quatrain) poems.

37 For the translation of Tao Qian’s fable, see Hightower 1970, pp. 254–255. For the historical reception of Tao Qian, see Swartz 2008. There are many publications on the intersections between Tao’s story and the visual arts. For example, Barnhart 1983. Susan E. Nelson has published a series of articles on the representations of Tao Qian and his literary compositions. See Nelson 1986; 1998; 1999; 2001.

38 九曲将窮眼豁然，桑麻雨露見平川，漁郎更覔桃源路，除是人間别有天. Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji 9.6a.

39 Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji 76.26b–27a.

40 兩崖絶壁人迹所不到處往往有枯查挿石鏬間，以舟船棺柩之屬，柩中遺骸，外列陶器，尚皆未壞，頗疑. I cite Delphine Ziegler’s translation with some modifications here. See Ziegler 1998, p. 271.

41 Ziegler 1998, p. 278.

42 See Gao Lingyin 1987.

43 Bruun 2008, pp. 11–48.

44 See Liu Hsiang-kwang 2010.

45 Liao Hsien-huei 2008 and 2009.

46 Liu Hsiang-kwang 2010, pp. 26–28.

47 Liu Hsiang-kwang 2010, pp. 26–28. On the civil examinations and learning during Song dynasty, see Ho Ping-ti 1964; Chaffee 1995; Liang Ken Yao 2015. I want to thank my colleague Rao Xiao for providing a selected bibliography on examination systems and learning in Song China.

48 Liu Hsiang-kwang 2010, pp. 25–28.

49 See Liang Ken Yao 2002, pp. 283–291.

50 Drawing upon Ebrey’s research, I am able to compare and contrast Zhu’s theoretical writing and his actual fengshui activities, foregrounding his intervention in the Wuyi landscape. See Ebrey 1997, pp. 75–107.

51 See Ching 2000, p. 82; Ahern 1973, pp. 175–190.

52 臣本儒生不暁術數，非敢妄以淫巫瞽史之言，眩惑聖聽. Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji, 15.37a–b. Quoted in Ebrey 1997, p. 90.

53 I am using Ebrey’s translation here. See Ebrey 1997, p. 87.

54 Zhu Xi ji, vol. 7, pp. 3920 and 3939.

55 According to Cai’s Linzhong bie wengong shu, the author recounts the number of years since they befriended. Quoted in Wang Yiran 2012, pp. 305–316. Huang Gan 黃榦 (1152–1221), one of Zhu’s early students, commented: “Every time Cai visited [Zhu], the master always asked Cai to stay for several days. They would converse all night until dusk, not having enough time to sleep.” 公之來，先生必留數日，往往通夕對，床不暇寢. Mian zhai ji 22.1a. Quoted in Wang Yiran 2012, p. 308.

56 大明天地之數，精詣鍾律之學，又緯之以陰陽風水之書. Si chao wen jian lu 2.2b. Quoted in Ebrey 1997, p. 93.

57 熹既信妖人蔡元定之邪說，謂建陽縣學風水，有侯王之地. Si chao wen jian lu 4.12b.

58 朱子母祝令人之地，得之西山，蓋其家毎欲得葬地，則必求之西山也. Wu Wenzheng ji 63.10b. See also Shu Jingnan 2001, pp. 421–422 and 424–425.

59 府君將沒，欲葬崇安之五夫。 … 時熹幼未更事，卜地不詳。旣懼體魄之不獲其安，乃以乾道六年七月五日遷于里之白水鵝子峯下. See Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji, 94.25a.

60 何叔京、朱仲晦、連嵩卿、蔡季通、徐文臣、呂伯共、潘叔昌、范伯崇、張元善，淳熙乙未五月二十一日。

61 Shu Jingnan 2001, p. 555.

62 尊嫂已遂事否？卜其宅兆固當審處，然古人居是邦，即是邦。蓋無處無可之地，似不必越它境，費時月泛觀而廣求也。君子舉動人所師仰，近世風俗深泥隂陽家之論. See Nan xuan ji 23.14a. Quoted in Ebrey 1997, p. 87.

63 近時朱公元晦聽蔡季通預卜藏穴，門人裹糗行紼，六日始至. See Shuixin ji 12.6b. For further research on the relations between tomb siting, burial ritual, and geomancy, see Ahern 1973, pp. 175–190.

64 太師徽國文公朱子墓，在建陽嘉禾 … 乃朱子與蔡元定所卜，風吹羅帶形. Zhuzi shiji, p. 389. Quoted in Wang Yiran 2012, p. 338.

65 See Zhuzi daquan, 4573. Quoted in Wang Yiran 2012, pp. 338–339.

66 淳熙戊戌八月乙未，劉彥集、嶽卿、純叟、廖子晦，朱仲晦來。

67 For an introduction to fengshui concepts and terms, see Fan Wei 1992, pp. 35–45 and Morgan 1980, pp. 209–210.

68 陳季陸嘗挽劉韜仲諸公同往武夷，訪晦翁朱先生，偶張體仁與焉。會宴之次，朱張志形交談風水，曰如是而為笏山，如是而為靴山，稱賞蔡季通無已。季陸遂難云：「蔡丈不知世代攻於陰陽，方始學此。」晦翁又從而褒譽之，乃祖、乃父明於龍脈，季通尤精。 … 晦翁搖指向季陸道：「此說不可與蔡丈知。」僕親聞是語，故紀之，以為溺於陰陽者之戒. See Ying xue cong shuo 1.12b–13a.

69 According to the editors of the Qing dynasty Siku quanshu 四庫全書 (Complete Library in Four Sections), Fa wei lun is one of the most important publications on fengshui, among numerous books on the same subject until the eighteenth century. Over the centuries, scholars had different opinions about the authorship of Fa wei lun. Some attributed the book to Cai Jitong’s father Cai Fa, while others, including the editors of Siku quanshu, accepted Cai Jitong as the author. See Minakuchi Takuju 2007, pp. 68–69. As far as this research is concerned, since Cai Jitong inherited much of his fengshui knowledge from his father Cai Fa, it is not the most crucial issue to determine the authorship of Fa wei lun. I follow the Siku quanshu’s opinion and treat the book as Cai Jitong’s composition.

70 See Ebrey 1997, p. 94.

71 夫山以靜為常，是謂無動，動則成龍矣。水以動為常，是謂無靜，靜則結地矣。故成龍之山，必踊躍翔舞，結地之水，必灣環悠洋. See Fa wei lun, pp. 2a–b.

72 六曲蒼屏遶碧灣 / 茅茨終日掩柴關. Here, I followed Christina Han’s translation, yet with some modifications, see Han 2013, p. 63.

73 Sinologist Minakuchi Takuju has pointed out how the binary yet complementary balance of yin and yang theory is central to Cai Jitong’s fengshui. Minakuchi paraphrases Cai’s idea of how yang must contain yin while yin must accommodate yang to formulate good fengshui. See Minakuchi Takuju 2007, pp. 70–75.

74 夫孤陽不生，獨陰不成，天下之物莫不要相配對。地理家以雌雄言之，大槪不過相對待之理。 … 陽龍取陰穴，陰龍取陽穴，此龍穴相對有雌雄. See Fa wei lun, pp. 3a–b; quoted in Ebrey 1997, p. 94.

75 To be clear, these are minor bends between the Fifth Bend and Sixth Bend and do not have specific names.

76 Haiwai xinfaxian Yongle dadian shiqi juan, p. 415.

77 Qingnang 青囊 (green bag) carried various meanings in medieval China, including divination, fengshui practices, burial rites, and medicinal traditions. For example, Chen Shou’s 陳壽 (233–297) Sanguo zhi 三國志 (Records of the Three Kingdoms) has attributed the medical records Qingnang shu 青囊書 (Book of the Green Bag) to the famous physician Hua Tuo 華佗. See also Hanyu da cidian 1983, p. 564.

78 嘉定二年余以心制里居宅兆未卜，聞資中王直夫雅善青囊之術，即具書幣致之居。三日余表兄髙南叔拉與登隈支山，過蟠鼇鎮歷馬鞍山，未至山數里直夫頓足而言曰，由長秋山而下乾岡數里 … 子之先君子其當葬此乎。下而卜之果如所云遂爲今長寜仟旣. See Heshan xiansheng daquan wenji 92.26a–b.

79 又爲余言子未有室居，子之先廬被山帶江，其上有山與馬鞍之朝向若相似然。 … 余曰，而未嘗渉吾地而惡乎知之，曰余以氣之所萃知之。卜之又如其所云。由是即其地成室，是爲今白鶴書院. See Heshan xiansheng daquan wenji 92.26a–b.

80 Caishi jiuru shu, p. 620.

81 Tujie jiaozheng dili xinshu is a Song dynasty government-sponsored publication that documents much fengshui knowledge, providing various visual illustrations of houses and tomb sites in the forms of dragons. The book serves as an excellent example of comparison because of its close date (1057) to Zhu’s time, in the sense that it belongs to the same cultural period of the Song dynasty. According to Sinologist Miyazaki Yoriko, the first half of Tujie jiaozheng dili xinshu explores yang dwellings and vital forces embedded in different land configurations (dishi 地勢). In contrast, the book’s latter half addresses fengshui of the yin dwelling and burial matters. Miyazaki Yoriko 2003, pp. 49–71.

82 如遊龍者，為岡四角依依而起，水流行丙地，四方五百步無缺敗也. Tujie jiaozheng dili xinshu 3.118.

83 Yoon Hong-key 1980, p. 343.

84 武夷之溪東流凡九曲，而第五曲爲最深。蓋其山自北而南者，至此而盡. Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji 9.2b.

85 兩麓坡坨旁引還復相抱. Hui’an xiansheng Zhu wengong wenji 9.2b.

86 Yoon Hong-key 1980, p. 344.

87 Wuyishan shi difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui 2007, pp. 18–19.

88 As a ruler, Emperor Huizong institutionalized a curriculum to promote calligraphy education in a more standardized and accessible fashion. Students had to learn clerical, seal, and cursive scripts, fathom the meaning of Confucian classics, such as the Lunyu and the Mengzi, and study many imperial-produced stone steles. Songshi 157.3688. Quoted in He Yanquan 2007, p. 423.

89 For research on Zhang Jizhi’s large script, see Fu Shen 2011, pp. 1–37.

90 Chu Hui-liang 2011, pp. 34–47.

91 See Daming shike bowuguan 大名石刻博物馆 website for the image: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7YERS4dqM4scMMizUF9fpQ (accessed 20 March 2024).

92 On a different occasion, Zhu entrusted Cai to publish the curriculum for his Wuyi Academy. This suggests that Cai was involved in publicizing Zhu’s writings in both the forms of carvings and woodblock prints. See Zhuzi daquan, pp. 4935 and 4953. Quoted in Wang Yiran 2012, p. 332.

93 Toward the end of her seminal study on Neo-Confucian scholars’ geomantic practices, Patricia Ebrey speculated about how the Fujian local topography may have influenced Zhu’s fengshui. See Ebrey 1997, p. 95.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yu-chuan 陳昱全 Chen

Chen Yu-chuan is Assistant Professor of Art History at Oakland University, Michigan. Chen specializes in East Asian art and visual culture, with an emphasis on exploring the ecological implications of visual materials. His projects return artworks to their original environmental contexts in order to understand the interactions between humans, natural organisms, and the physical landscape. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University with the dissertation “Activating the Sacred Landscape: The Visual Culture of the Wuyi Mountains” (2019, currently under revision for publication), “Divine Mushrooms and Sacred Landscape: Fang Congyi’s Topographic Painting of the Wuyi Mountains,” in Memorial Landscapes: World Images East and West. Ed. Uwe Fleckner et al. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021), pp. 255–274, and the catalogue A Mushroom Perspective on Sacred Geography (Stanford: Cantor Arts Center, 2017).