ebooks Buddhist Spirituality: Later China; Korea; Japan; and the Modern World (World Spirituality) by From Brand: The Crossroad Publishing Company in History

Description

For well over a century; Chinese fengshui; or "geomancy;" has interested Western laymen and scholars. Today; hundreds of popular manuals claim to use its principles in their advice on how people can increase their wealth; happiness; longevity; and so on. This study is quite different; approaching fengshui from an academic angle. The focus is on its significance in China; but the recent history of its reinterpretation in the West is also depicted. The author argues that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge; which is used to explain a range of everyday occurrences in rural areas; such as disease; mental disorders; accidents; and common mischief. The study includes a historical account of fengshui over the last 150 years augmented by the results of anthropological fieldwork on contemporary practices in two Chinese rural areas.