Does anyone know of any places in Taipei that offer classes in “feng shui”?
Actually, I’m an Architect, and when I return to Australia and face a career that offers things like social respect and superannuation, I’d like to say that I learned something of a practical (work-related) nature while in Taiwan.
It wouldn’t matter if the classes were in English or Chinese (although I’d need to brush up on the Chinese beforehand).
Cheers 
The Big Babou
Babou,
I’d love to take a feng shui class too, so if you sign up anywhere, let me know, I may join you.
In the meantime, check out this site>http://www.geomancy.net It’s quite detailed, but interesting info inside.
Fred
Superstitious claptrap. harumph! 
:mrgreen:
That was helpful… :?
Actually, I couldn’t give a rat’s rectum if it’s superstitious… but knowledge of this topic - enough to bluff my way through a design session with Asian clients - makes good business sense; suffice to say, many of the prinicples of feng shui are commonly used in western architecture(albeit, sometimes for other reasons).
Hi, Babou.
I don’t want to put you off or indeed seem to put you down but feng shui is a bit more in-depth than you seem to think.
The first problem would be finding suitable and genuine teachers. People who really know their stuff wouldn’t be easy to find and they might not want to divulge their knowledge to others. Feng shui, as far as I know, hasn’t really been standardised by anyone and several lines of thought exist. Of course it is practised by many types of people from charlatans to masters.
I think the kind of general introduction course you seem to be looking for would be more likely to be found in a ‘western’ country where the new age movement has inspired interest in such things. Supposing that it was well-formulated, it would give you some good background knowledge. That might be enough for your purposes. I would hope that rather than ‘bluffing’, you could use your little knowledge to avoid making big mistakes from a feng shui point of view.
To practise in a really effective way, you’d need perhaps years of training under a real master. Then, of course, you might not want to practice architecture and instead make even bigger money as an international feng shui expert!
I’ve read enough only to know that real feng shui is rather complicated and something I don’t want to worry about at the moment. In line with general feng shui principles, I try to keep my place clean and tidy (the latter is easier said than done!).
Hocus Pocus.
My wife is considering opening a second store, and said that she needs to go consult the seer. Before opening the first store, the fortune teller told her that she would be successful, but that she would be working hard.
I pointed out to my wife that most successful people work hard.
Feng Shui
But Babou… you have the right idea… there are plenty of people on this planet like my wife… looking for that extra edge to achieve success…
Fortune-telling shops are completely different from decent feng shui. That’s what I mean about people who don’t know about the cultural and historical context lumping everything together as either bullshit or amazing ‘spiritual’ truth. Taiwanese aren’t immune from the orientalisation of their own culture.
Oh thanks. I’ve been here long enough to know the difference between feng shui and fortune telling… and I’ve been studying Chinese culture, history and philosophy since the age of 12. My point simply is that its ALL hocus pocus, as far as I’m concerned. 
That’s a bit of a cop-out, though, isn’t it? I mean if some fengshui expert tells someone that a fruit-bearing plant in their house will ensure fertility, while a flower-bearing one will have the opposite efect, is that fengshui or quackery? And what about having 99 red fish in an aquarium in some particular location being a sure-fire guarantee of financial success? Don’t put a mirror at the wall at the foot of your bed, or you might frighten your “ghost” in the middle of the night, and wake up dead. Hocus-pocus. Mumbo-jumbo. Superstitious nonsense. Snake-oil salesmen preying upon the desperate hopes of people.
There are a few things in fengshui that make sense, but that’s because of common sense, not because of any accumulated Oriental wisdom. (Don’t build your house on quicksand or the edge of a cliff - bad fengshui, don’t you know…) Honestly, I do not know why westerners are so enthralled with this gobbledygook. :?
Someone made some houses to Feng-Shui standard in the USA, and people said they were nice houses, felt nice. On the otherhand, a good designer could also design a house that ‘felt right’ without relying on chi-lines or some other mumbo-jumbo.
Don’t you remember someone we both know whose marriage improved dramatically after consulting a feng shui master and moving into a flat half the size of the old one?
Don’t you remember someone we both know whose marriage improved dramatically after consulting a feng shui master and moving into a flat half the size of the old one?[/quote]
I do not attribute that to fengshui. Anyway, that westerner is so superstitious, he freaks if someone opens an umbrella indoors. 
Read somethign about the basics of Feng Shui. It’s pretty much mostly common sense. It’s just later that they built up the more complex stuff to protect their positions as experts (like lawyers and other professionals).
EGs: Don’t have three doorways all in a row (wind tunnel)
Don’t sleep underneath a beam (makes sense)
Don’t sleep next to the toilet (stiky and diseasy)
Build near water but not stagnant water (drinking water but not mozzies)
Some is more subtle but not much different form the way western interior designers talk about how colors and certain objects change mood.
And then there’s the mumbo-jumbo thrown on top, but just as modern Daoist mumbo-jumbo doesn’t lessen the wisdom of th Dao De Qing, later mumbo-jumbo doesn’t invalidate basic feng shui.
Brian
Maoman,
You may want to consider feng shui before opening the doors of your new buxiban. Check out your birth date vs your partner’s in conjunction with the address, main door directions, etc. Consult the little yellow almanac for the best days to begin business, make sure you have a nice big fish tank somewhere to ensure harmonious cooperation, green plants and lucky frogs to bring you success, and the appropriate colour schemes.
I happen to find feng shui-enhanced interiors rather pleasing myself. I like the unique placements, elements of moving water and fresh plants placed in strategic locations.
I don’t believe this is mumbo jumbo at all. Stop being so pragmatic and consider there may be some validity, at least in the aesthetic sense.
I’d say your own flat could do with a lighter color scheme on the walls, and softer fabrics and lines to balance out the heavy rather encroaching and oppressive masculine starkness.
Right… Doctors (at least where I’m from) have obviously conspired to make anatomy and physiology and medicine more complex so the rest of us would just stop going to the barbers to let blood… and I have no real love for lawyers… but I can’t tell you how many people come to see us when they get into trouble… and then, the last thing on their mind is lawyer jokes… Finally, legal principles are actually based primarily on common sense and at least in common law jurisdictions, upon accepted customs and practices. Not really complex at all.
You’re right. But I think its clear that when we criticize feng shui, we are criticizing the nonsensical aspects of the same. Ask anybody around here about the difference between philosphical Daoism and Popular Daoism and you’re likely to draw a blank stare.
[quote]Right… Doctors (at least where I’m from) have obviously conspired to make anatomy and physiology and medicine more complex so the rest of us would just stop going to the barbers to let blood… and I have no real love for lawyers… but I can’t tell you how many people come to see us when they get into trouble… and then, the last thing on their mind is lawyer jokes… Finally, legal principles are actually based primarily on common sense and at least in common law jurisdictions, upon accepted customs and practices. Not really complex at all.
[/quote]
That’s my point. Like the reason for the movement for plain legal language - law is based on some common sense principles, and many laws are in fact extremely simple, but they are just worded in such a way that most people can’t understand them and a certain ‘mystique’ is applied so that most people think that only lawyers understand law. The same could be said for many other professions, and of course for Feng Shui. There’s some good simple principles there underneath the mumbo-jumbo.
Brian
[quote=“Sir Donald Bradman”][quote]Right… Doctors (at least where I’m from) have obviously conspired to make anatomy and physiology and medicine more complex so the rest of us would just stop going to the barbers to let blood… and I have no real love for lawyers… but I can’t tell you how many people come to see us when they get into trouble… and then, the last thing on their mind is lawyer jokes… Finally, legal principles are actually based primarily on common sense and at least in common law jurisdictions, upon accepted customs and practices. Not really complex at all.
[/quote]
That’s my point. Like the reason for the movement for plain legal language - law is based on some common sense principles, and many laws are in fact extremely simple, but they are just worded in such a way that most people can’t understand them and a certain ‘mystique’ is applied so that most people think that only lawyers understand law. The same could be said for many other professions, and of course for Feng Shui. There’s some good simple principles there underneath the mumbo-jumbo.[/quote]
Look, I’ve never been one to trumpet the superior intellect of lawyers… nor have I ever denigrated the intelligence of those who translate, edit or teach, because I don’t think that such a superior or inferior intellects exists necessarily in relation to professions.
However, understanding the law and legal principles is not quite as easy as you imply… I guarantee you that if the law was written in simple, plain English (or any language), there would still be plenty of people who would have difficulty understanding it. These would be the same people who frequently have difficulty with simple common sense and concepts of fairness.