The Indian method of Vastu Shastra – the source of Feng Shui
The intellectual differences between India and China
When dealing with a method, you should look at its source, its origin, because the closer you get to the source, the clearer the water becomes!
If we want to understand the differences between Chinese culture and Indo-European culture, we need to take a look at their origins. To do this, I need to go a little further.
The teaching of Vastu Shastra is part of the Atharva Veda, the fourth Veda, which is considered to be the oldest document of Indian medicine. The word “Vastu” means “the place of a house or building” and“Vasthu Shastra” means something like “laws for the construction of a house or building”.
I would like to describe the Chinese way of thinking and its achievements as an advanced “mental culture”. It differs from the basic mindset in the Indo-European language area, which culminates in India and which I would like to call a “spiritual culture”. This difference will become clear in the following explanations.
The origins of the yellow races are to be found in the human culture of Lemuria, an advanced civilization close to nature that extended throughout East Asia as far as Oceania. Like Atlantis in the western hemisphere, this civilization was exposed to a massive flood catastrophe, combined with serious changes to the land masses. Today’s Chinese culture is around 3000 years old. It began around 1000 BC with some written records still existing today. Of course, there was also a human culture in China before that, the successors of Lemuria, but no records of it have survived.
According to written records, Indian culture is only 500 years older, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. In reality, Indian civilization began around 8000 BC, i.e. 10,000 years ago. It was the first advanced human civilization to develop after the fall of the Atlantean era. At this time, the colonization of China had sunk to a Stone Age level. This is by no means meant negatively! We have known for a few years that the Neanderthals already had real villages, handcrafted tools and a communal culture. So they must also have had a differentiated language. However, Chinese culture was to develop in a different direction from Indian culture.
With the fall of Atlantis around 10,500 BC, the first migration of peoples began, during which the survivors of Atlantis emigrated to northern Europe and the Mediterranean region. While the travelers founded the first western civilizations in Egypt and Babylon, the living conditions in Europe were so harsh that these peoples continued to migrate and eventually invaded India and Pakistan from the north. They subjugated the Bengali peoples and mixed with them. This gave rise to the peoples who still live on the Indian subcontinent, in Sri Lanka, Burma etc. today. The further we get into Southeast Asia, the less influence the Indo-European immigrants have.
In South India, spiritual schools emerged that aimed to gain knowledge of the world and not to conquer it. We can assume that the living conditions there were so favorable that there was no need to fight for survival. The fruit practically grows in your mouth. Nature means well with people. In any case, many people there devoted themselves to a spiritual path of knowledge, more so than in other countries. They recognized the transience of all earthly values, and some of them saw through the illusions of Maya. They entered the worlds beyond. This is how South India became the source of Kundalini Yoga, the oldest science of human nature.
Kundalini Yoga encompasses all the yoga techniques taught by other schools. The various masters of Kundalini Yoga specialized in different parts of Kundalini Yoga according to their nature, and so over 120 different yoga schools gradually emerged. In addition to these different yoga schools , schools of close combat developed in South India, in which the special spiritual abilities of Kundalini Yoga and the Chakra teachings were used for special warriors. The Indian warrior caste temporarily became the carrier of spiritual development.
Around 500 BC, the Buddhist monk Boddidharma traveled from southern India to Beijing to bring the spiritual achievements of Buddhism to China for the emperor there. Boddidharma’s journey was actually nothing special, as the followers of Buddhism, like the Christian missionaries 500 years later, were driven by the desire to improve the world. At that time, China was still divided into different countries that were at war with each other. There was a state-run, authoritarian government in which the fine arts were cultivated, but there was no sign of spirituality.
Boddidharma wanted to change this and make the Chinese aware of the spiritual path. At the time he left South India, there were already well-developed schools for various close combat techniques, Kundalini Yoga, Vastu Shastra (Indian Feng Shui) and the then relatively new Buddhism. Boddidharma was well versed in all of these methods and attempted to accomplish a great work.
The Chinese emperor had heard of this sage and had the first Shaolin monastery built in his honor, followed by 20 more monasteries. All these monasteries were informed about the methods of Boddidharma and were to learn, improve and pass them on.
When Boddidharma himself reached the emperor, he realized that this man would need several more incarnations if he wanted to understand the spiritual teachings. Even in the monasteries, his teachings were only implemented mechanically and there was no sign of a spiritual path. Boddidharma was very disappointed. He retreated to the Wudang Mountains in northern China, founded the first Wudang monastery there and sought out a few followers who were able to absorb his knowledge.
It seems to be typical of the Chinese people that the originally spiritual teachings of Boddidharma, a mixture of Buddhism, Kundalini Yoga and Vastu Shastra, were not properly understood. Today, every child knows what has become of the Shaolin monasteries: they have become the source of countless Kung Fu monasteries, all of which use mental techniques, but primarily with the aim of increasing their own energy in order to become stronger and better than all the other fighters. The majority of Shaolins work outside the monasteries as bodyguards, mercenaries, paid killers or in the film industry. Only a small number stay in the monastery for life and try to improve their spiritual qualities.
One should note this striking difference between China and India:
Various methods of yoga and meditation have been developed in India, all with the aim of perfecting the individual and gaining higher insights. Anyone who immerses himself in the world of Kundalini Yoga can of course also become an excellent fighter. But that is by no means the goal of his efforts. The followers of Kundalini Yoga strive to perfect their inner insights. Every Kundalini Yoga practitioner seeks to come to terms with himself, his own weaknesses and his karma. Kundalini Yoga seeks to eradicate old mistakes in order to purify the soul from the entanglements of karma. The result of this path will always be an altruistic attitude that seeks union with the divine planes and, with increasing maturity, distances itself from the difficulties of worldly life.
Of course, there are also misguided yogis who use their special abilities to pose as gurus and healers and thus take advantage of people. However, it is the aim of the Indian yoga tradition to weed out such people of weak character before they acquire special abilities and take advantage of others.
For this reason it is said in the Yogashutras that there are many paths in the beginning, and it takes effort to walk them, but the more the seeker approaches perfection, the more he will realize that all spiritual schools lead to the same universal goal: To union with the highest divine levels, Brahman itself.
Unfortunately, hardly any of the Chinese monks understood this. At least no evidence of this has been handed down to us. Of course, the Tao Te King or the I Ching are outstanding writings and testimonies of a high spiritual level that are second to none.
But whoever studies the contents of these two writings will realize that they give us rather excellent descriptions and analyses of human, social behaviour, which are very valuable for understanding society and for our behaviour in society, but these best writings from Chinese sources are not spiritual in the proper sense! They are rather instructions for a conscious and successful way of life.
Feng shui and the system used by these masters should never be confused with India. People in India are completely different and have an innate sense of spirituality. It remains to be seen at what level this manifests itself. The majority of Indians practise traditional religion with all its rituals and sacrifices in a simple and naive way. A small section of people practise yoga and meditation in order to develop spiritually . However, all these people are aware of the laws of karma. They know very well the consequences of our actions. They know that there will always be a balance in our universe. For this reason, the Indians, or rather the Hindus and the Sikhs, are a little more careful about what they do than other peoples. I don’t want to talk the Indians down. In India too, there are plenty of criminals who think they can escape the law of karma, who make excuses, but that will do them little good. However, Indian society as a whole demonstrates a high level of insight into karmic connections and a great willingness to develop and promote spirituality and ethics.
There are certainly spiritual people in all East Asian countries, just like everywhere else on earth. But they rarely leave their region and we don’t even get to see them here. We will also hardly ever see the truly spiritual Chinese here. However, those who set off from distant lands to explore the world also want to conquer it. They don’t just want to pass on their teachings, they want to earn money from them. Those who go to the West to spread their special healing teachings want to be rewarded for it.
In the past, Christian missionaries traveled around the world and prepared the ground for colonial wars. They unsettled the natives with their doctrine of salvation and subsequently brought fire, sword and death to the foreign peoples. Today, the Western pharmaceutical industry is conquering foreign countries with the help of Western medicine and the impressive tall tales of bird viruses crossing with human flu in order to wipe out humanity.
But now the Asian peoples are fighting back. They are sending their Feng Shui masters to the West to open up the West to Eastern teachings, not to do us a favor, but to make gains. So we are in the midst of a great confrontation between Asian and Western European forces that has been going on for 1000 years. And perhaps these differences are even older, dating back to the time of Lemuria and Atlantis.
Think about it critically: What real spiritual master sees any point in proselytizing the world with his personal philosophy? He knows that everything we experience is just a variation of the one great spirit! Where should he go when he is right in the middle of it?
If he sees a concrete task to make his contribution to the further development of humanity’s spiritual consciousness , then he will do so. But this is more likely to be the case where he lives than anywhere else on this globe. If he is needed elsewhere, then he will go there too, and he and his teaching will be recognized by his deeds. But with masters who travel all over the world to offer their services for high fees, one should be very careful when questioning their intentions and methods.
Yogi Bhajan, the last great master of Kundalini Yoga, who died in October 2004, was sent to the West by his own masters in 1969. He was to familiarize us with the tradition of Kundalini Yoga. From 1969 until his death, he charged each participant in his courses 60 US$ (45 €) for 3 days. A ridiculous price when the path he offered us could lead to enlightenment in just a few years! His western followers market his teachings for normal western seminar prices. That’s okay too. If the teachings are preserved, the price is justified.
Asian Feng Shui masters have been visiting Europe and the USA for several years. For seminars lasting 3 – 6 days, they charge between € 1600 and € 6000. Not bad at all, is it? At least it’s worth the extra travel. If this teaching really helps us to progress as human beings and spiritually , then everything would be fine. But if the content of this teaching only serves to make our environment better, with dubious success, then the individual interested party should take a good look at whether they really want to go down this path and what really matters to them.
DHA Kyborg Institute & Publishing House
