The Bright Hall

The bright hall is the stretch of level ground in front of the lair. A bright hall takes three bad forms and three good ones, and whether it is good or ill bears on the rise and fall of a whole family.

What the bright hall is

A bright hall (明堂) can be large or small. A large bright hall can be like the city of Taipei, which holds over a million people; a small one can be a field or a pond. For the bright hall and the other terms such as the dragon, the water and the lair, see Landform Terms.

Three bad bright halls

The ancients gave several warnings about the bright hall; three of them follow.

A hall broken up by scattered rock and uneven ground: the rocks lie in no order, a corner is missing on the east, a bulge juts out on the west, and the ground rises and falls. Homes and shops also have a bright hall: the road their door faces. Road works that tear up the hall, ground patched in one place and gapped in another, and debris piled at random are all damage people do to the bright hall, and they always affect the feng shui. Only when the works are finished and the road is cleared and leveled, so that a clean, level hall lies there once more, does the site’s vitality return.

A hall with a hollow sunk in front of it: such a hollow is also unfavorable. The household falls into ruin and the descendants scatter.

A hall crossed by many small paths: the paths run on and on, and there are many of them. This too bodes ill: the home has no peace, and thieves and robbers abound.

Three good bright halls

Once a good bright hall can be recognized, a bad one is plain at a glance.

A lake with a small island in the hall: the hall holds a lake, and a small island stands in the lake, like the small island in Sun Moon Lake. It is a highly favorable site.

A hall of rice paddies: the hall is rice paddies, lush and green and heavy with grain. This too is a highly favorable bright hall.

A wide hall with a winding river: where a river enters a wide hall and makes nine bends or more, the hall is a site of great wealth and great eminence. An old saying runs:

九曲入明堂，必出帝王。

Our translation: Where nine bends enter the bright hall, an emperor is sure to come.

By contrast, water that enters or leaves the hall straight in and straight out, shooting like an arrow, always marks an ill-fated site: it gathers no wealth and instead breaks up the family estate.

The bright hall of a home

A bright hall is best level and wide. In a home, the bright hall is the courtyard or the garden, where the family gathers day to day, and so whether the bright hall is good or ill bears on the rise and fall of the whole family.

Source: The Way of the Earth's Veins (天纪：地脉道)