1990년 7월, LA \”The City Planit\”지에 실린 구자문교수의 풍수에 관한 첫번째 글입니다.
POONG SOO SETTLEMNT THEORY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
BY: Chamun Koo
In the Far East the ancient Poong Soo(or Feng Shui) theory has been used to select the location of a village, a house, or a grave. This influential theory has its roots in the complicated cosmic dual theory on which traditional oriental philosophy and medicine are based.
According to the Poong Soo theory a good village should be surrounded by a mountain range on the north, east and west and open to the south, where a river flows. In particular, the mountaintop to the north should be high and in an appropriate shape since it is a major source of spirit energy for the area. According to the theory this topography keeps the village in harmony with nature and protects it from evil spirits. Thus, a village with these conditions can prosper over the generations. If located in a bad area, the village or family would perish.
Seoul, Korea, the Capital City, was located according to the Poong Soo theory 700 years ago. Even though some variances exist in shape and scale, most of the old villages/towns followed the theory’s rules. Some oriental scholars try to prove that the Poong Soo theory is not merely a superstition, but useful even in modern days as a location theory. Simply, we can say that Poong Soo theory is the criteria for selecting good locations for human settlements to better achieve the natural advantages of topography, hydrography, wind, sunlight, access, etc.
One 75 year-old Poong Soo expert, who spent most of his life working on the theory, visited Los Angeles about 10 years ago for the first time and one of my friends took him on a tour. The old man’s comments on West Los Angeles were bad. His comments on Glendale and Pasadena were not so good, but not so bad. Then, he kept silent for a long time as my friend drove him east on the 210 freeway. Then the old man requested that the car be stopped. He said that this place was the best location in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. It turned out to be Duarte. My friend agreed with him, bought a house there, and has lived there for 7 – 8 years. When he found good medical and church facilities in the area, he was pleased that Americans who are unaware of Poong Soo theory also thought the area was a good place to live.
Recently, he found one bad thing in his community – that is smog. The polluted air of the southland moves to the north and stops at the mountain in his community. He commented that the ancient Poong Soo theory could not deal with smog– one of the major man-made environmental problems. Of course, the same is true in Seoul.
The City Planit, July 1990
Los Angeles City Planning Department
답글 남기기