Landform Terms: Dragon, Water, Hall, Sand and Lair

Landform feng shui reads a site with a fixed set of terms, running from the dragon, which is the mountain range itself, to the lair where the dragon comes to rest. In front of the dragon lie the water, the bright hall, the table mountain and the facing mountain; on its two sides stand the Green Dragon and the White Tiger. The dragon’s energy finally gathers at the lair.

The dragon

Mountain ranges run on without a break, and the rise and fall of a whole range looks just like a dragon’s spine, so feng shui names it for its shape and calls it the dragon: the dragon is the mountain range. Ranges are further told apart in several ways: by which end they are seen from, by whether they are living or dead, and by whether they are yang dragons or yin dragons.

The incoming dragon: where a mountain descends from high ground to low, a person standing on the low ground and looking up along the mountain’s ridgeline sees the incoming dragon, the range rising away from the viewer.

Seen from the other end: falling away from the viewer, the range is the reverse of the incoming dragon.

A range begins at its highest and farthest part, the peak where it starts. A somewhat lower peak, further along, is where the range rises again and runs on. Further down it is simply a mountain range. For how a living range is told from a dead one, and how yang and yin dragons are set, see Reading the Dragon.

China serves as an example. Zhang Liang, in the Red Thunderbolt Classic, speaks of the summit of the Pamirs. The Kunlun Mountains are where China’s ranges begin, and from them run great ranges such as the one across the north and the one across the south, where the ranges rise again and run on. The ridge of the southern range runs from where it begins on the mainland all the way to Hong Kong, where it ends. It enters the Taiwan Strait with its dragon vein unbroken and emerges from the sea in Taiwan. There the Central Mountain Range is where it rises again and runs on, and the dragon forms its lair in the Taipei Basin.

Water

Feng shui is exacting about water. Water must flow level and slow; it must be clear, not foul; silent, not loud; winding and bending, never running straight in or straight out. Water has many rules, and they come down to these few. For how good and bad water are read, see Reading Water. For measuring water with the compass, by methods such as the Eight Yellow Springs, see The Eight Yellow Springs.

The bright hall

Once a mountain range enters flat land, a plain opens out, and feng shui masters call it the bright hall. On a large scale, the Taipei Basin is the bright hall of the Central Mountain Range; on a small scale, the courtyard in front of a home’s door is a bright hall. For what makes a bright hall good or bad, see The Bright Hall.

The table mountain and the facing mountain

The table mountain: a mountain close in front of the bright hall, such as Yuanshan in Taipei.

The facing mountain: a mountain beyond the bright hall that pays court to it from afar. For the Taipei Basin, Guanyin Mountain is its facing mountain.

For the shapes of the table and facing mountains and what they signify, see Table and Facing Mountains.

The water mouth and the rocks that guard it

The water mouth: the place where two streams meet and merge into one large river is the water mouth.

Rocks and hills at the water mouth: large rocks or small hills that hold their ground on both sides of the water mouth stand guard over it. Large rocks or small hills in the water beyond the bright hall are also called sand.

Sand shaped like an animal is the best, and the animal must be a fierce, nimble or steady one, such as the tiger, lion, elephant, monkey or ox. Sand shaped like a creature that lurks in the dark, such as the rat, snake or ant, bodes ill.

For how to recognize the water mouth, with examples of the rocks and hills that guard it, see The Water Mouth and Its Guardians.

The Green Dragon and the White Tiger

Seen with the back to the incoming dragon, the mountain that curves around on the left is the Green Dragon, and the mountain that stands tall on the right is the White Tiger. The Green Dragon is not necessarily in the east, and the White Tiger is not necessarily due west; both are only feng shui terms, not directions.

Spurs inside and behind the enclosure

A spur inside: a spur or small hill on the inner side, enclosed by the incoming dragon, the Green Dragon and the White Tiger.

A spur behind: a mountain foot or small hill that runs outward behind and outside the point where the incoming dragon joins the Green Dragon and the White Tiger.

For what makes a Green Dragon and a White Tiger true, and what these two kinds of spur signify, see Dragon, Tiger and the Side Spurs.

The lair

The lair is in fact the vent of a volcanic eruption in remote antiquity. A vent at a mountaintop becomes a crater lake, such as the crater lake on Changbai Mountain in northeast China. After a range enters flat land there are also small vents, and these are where the dragon forms its lair in feng shui. For how the exact position of the lair is determined, see Locating the Lair.

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