Table and Facing Mountains
The table mountain is the nearest hill across the bright hall; the facing mountain faces the lair from afar. Their shapes bear on what a site produces.
By Sheng Pin Kai·Last updated
The table mountain is the hill nearest the bright hall, standing directly across from it. The facing mountain is the range that faces the lair from far off. The shape and height of the two bear on what kind of people a site produces.
The table mountain and setting the facing
The table mountain (案山) is the hill closest to the bright hall, directly across from it. Feng shui masters often set the facing by the table mountain: if it has an odd number of peaks, the facing points to the top of the middle peak; if it has an even number, the facing points to the gap between the two middle peaks.
A feng shui site has no fixed name. A feng shui master on the ground looks at the incoming dragon, the table mountain that embraces the site, the sand (the hills and rocks around it), the water and the bright hall, and as a rule names the site on the spot by its shape. So a site's name is not something to learn by rote: it is decided on the spot.
The shapes of the table mountain
Table mountains commonly take three shapes:
A full, rounded hill: round, full and solid, and green with grass and trees. With the facing set correctly, it produces wealthy merchants. Rarer is a large one of this kind: big, full and strong, as steady as Mount Tai. A home or a lair whose facing points to it is sure to produce great wealth.
A hill shaped like a brush rest: a home or a lair that faces it is sure to produce scholars and top scholars of the imperial examinations, and it brings academic honors.
A table mountain standing in water: it rises out of the water, standing as firm as a mountain. With the facing pointed to it, it is sure to produce a minister who stands firm as a rock in midstream, a pillar of the state.
So when the table mountain is favorable, the people fare well; when it is ill-fated, the people fare ill.
The facing mountain
The facing mountain (朝山) is the range in front of the lair that faces it from far off. Its shapes, and what each brings:
| Facing mountain | What it brings |
|---|---|
| Tall, large and evenly formed | A highly favorable site |
| Shaped like a grand armchair | A chief minister |
| Ranged like an army camp | Sure to produce generals, who hold the power of life and death and keep the frontier in awe |
| A small peak behind it that a person standing can see and a person crouching cannot, as if peeping | The site is sure to produce thieves |
| Rising tier above tier, its peaks rolling with strength (the best facing mountain) | Each generation stronger than the last |
| No facing mountain | The force of the dragon vein may last no more than three generations |
Where a facing mountain is shaped like a deity or a Buddha, feng shui masters usually will not face it.
Source: The Way of the Earth's Veins (天纪：地脉道)
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