Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
In traditional feng shui and kanyu (geomancy) and in folk culture, the core logic of so-called “warding off evil and driving away ghosts” is not really “fighting” or “chasing away,” but adjusting the energy field (yang qi) and layout of the environment to achieve the effect that “when upright qi is kept within, evil cannot intrude.”
The ancients held that “ghosts” belong to yin, to disorder, and to gloom, while “gods” belong to yang, to uprightness, and to stability. As long as your living environment has ample yang qi, a smoothly flowing energy field, and a stable layout, it will naturally form an invisible feng shui “barrier” that can effectively “ward off evil and drive away ghosts.”
The following are feng shui layout methods for “warding off evil and driving away ghosts” that are widely recognized in the Classic of Lu Ban (Luban Jing), the Ten Books on Dwellings of the Living (Yangzhai Shishu), and folk tradition, arranged by practicality and effectiveness:
1. The Most Fundamental “Yang Force”: Light and Air
1. Daylight: Ample daylight (letting in the light of the sky). Sunlight is the strongest “upright qi” in the natural world, the qi of “Li fire.”
This is the foundation of every means of warding off evil. If this cannot be achieved, no number of ritual implements will do any good.
Solution: Make sure nothing blocks the outside of the windows in your home, especially those of the living room (the bright hall, or mingtang) and the master bedroom. If a room is dark all year round (popularly called a “dead room”), the lights must be kept on for long periods (full-spectrum daylight lamps can be used) to supplement the light.
2. Ventilation: The air in the rooms should circulate, especially in the living room. But avoid a “through-draft”—that is, avoid a long corridor that points straight at the front door of the home, making the air pour straight into the house. If the structure of the house produces a through-draft, it should be resolved.
Solution: Place a screen in front of or behind the front door, about 1.5 meters from the door, to keep the wind from the corridor from pouring straight into the house.
3. A misconception: Many people think that feng shui's emphasis on “storing wind and gathering qi” means keeping doors and windows shut for long periods.
Solution: The foul, turbid air in the house (yin qi) must be let out. If the air at home is stale, rank, and stuffy for long periods, it most easily “attracts unclean things.” Open the windows for more than 10 minutes every day to create cross-ventilation; this is called refreshing your luck.
2. “Static Feng Shui Arrangements” to Guard and Settle the Home
These methods usually involve adjusting the position of large furniture, using physical form and psychological suggestion to create a sense of security.
1. If the northwest corner of the home (the Qian position, representing heaven and the authority of the male head of the household) is missing, or if the front door directly faces a hospital, funeral home, or garbage station (where yin sha qi is heavy), it may bring the occupants a good deal of trouble.
Solution: At the missing corner or the position struck by sha, place a Mount Tai stone carved with the three characters “Shi Gan Dang” (“this stone dares to withstand”).
Effect: Stone belongs to earth, and Mount Tai stone is extremely heavy and represents “stability.” Earth overcomes water (yin qi belongs to water), so it serves to “fill in” and “press down.”
2. If the front door opens straight onto a toilet (foul qi rushing straight at it), or if bedroom doors face each other (a channel for quarrels and for ghosts and goblins), you can set up a screen inside the door.
Key point: Do not use a screen with too much openwork; it must be able to “block the view.” This is like adding a “security gate” to the energy field of the home, stopping disordered, chaotic spirit beings from entering the core living area and preventing them from disturbing the family's mental state.
3. Avoid placing large mirrors in the bedroom and living room.
In feng shui, a mirror is “an object of utmost yin” and also an entrance for “form and spirit.” A bedroom mirror must never reflect the bed (when a person is half asleep, yang qi is at its weakest, and the image reflected in the mirror can very easily cause “fright and palpitations” and draw off yang qi). If the mirror cannot be moved, be sure to cover it with cloth or screen it off with a curtain.
3. Common “Sha-Resolving Objects” and How to Place Them Correctly
Many households have some “sha-resolving objects.” If these objects are put in the wrong place, the result is “counterproductive” and can even “harm people,” so take special care to place them correctly.
1. Peach wood (sword or branch): A pure-yang wood that specifically subdues wandering souls.
Taboo: It must not face a statue of a deity, and must not be hung in the middle above the head of a married couple's bed (it easily triggers quarrels).
Correct method: Hang it on the left side of the front door (the Azure Dragon position), or on the beam above a window.
2. Five Emperors' coins: They gather the qi of “heaven, earth, and humanity” and, having passed through countless hands, have extremely strong yang qi.
Taboo: Counterfeit coins, or modern replicas, have no effect.
Correct method: Bury them under the threshold of the front door, carry them in your bag, or hang them from the rear-view mirror of your car.
3. Cinnabar: Pure red in color, it is a top-grade medicine recorded in the Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica (Shennong Bencao Jing), with the effect of driving out evil and calming the spirit.
Taboo: Artificial cinnabar has no effect. Also, never heat it to high temperatures (it produces toxins), and take strict care that children do not put it in their mouths.
Correct method: Put it under the pillow (against nightmares), or wear it as a pendant (for protection).
4. Garlic or coarse salt: A method shared by Western occultism and Eastern folk custom. Coarse salt can absorb negative energy. Place a cup of coarse salt in each of the four corners of a room and replace it once a month; hanging garlic in the kitchen can resolve the “Sickness Star.”
5. Gourd: It gathers sha and resolves calamity. With its small mouth and big belly, it can “take in” sha qi and digest it. Hang it beside a sickbed, above the toilet door, or at a place of baleful sha.
4. Emergency Measures for “Unusual Disturbances”
Suppose you feel a “sense of pressure” or hear “strange noises” in a particular corner of your home (such as a dark spot, a basement, or an attic).
Solution: Light an ever-burning lamp—that is, install a low-wattage red or yellow bulb at that spot and keep it lit 24 hours a day. Red light has the longest wavelength and the strongest penetrating power of visible light, and in metaphysics it represents “true fire,” which can purify continuously.
The five grains: If you suspect there is something “unclean,” take a handful of raw soybeans, mung beans, rice, sorghum, and black beans mixed together and scatter them from inside the house toward the outside while loudly shouting at it to go. The five grains represent “vitality” and “the smoke of human hearths,” and can cut off the energy source of yin qi.
5. Other Points to Note in Home Feng Shui
1. Most important is the “method of the heart.” Feng shui has the sayings “a blessed land is dwelt in by blessed people” and “a person who stands straight does not fear a crooked shadow.” Keep your heart healthy, normal, and upright.
2. Keep things clean and tidy: A slovenly environment is itself a breeding ground for “yin qi” (mold, insects, and ants all belong to yin).
3. Sound resonance: If a home is deathly silent for long periods, it also easily breeds a feeling of gloomy cold. Playing the radio or television at a moderate level (even as background noise), the sound of a wooden fish, or the steady ticking of a clock can produce a “sound sha” effect that disrupts unstable magnetic fields.
4. Do not collect or display strange objects. As far as possible, avoid keeping human-shaped dolls (especially antique dolls), excavated relics, or bone artworks of unknown origin at home; in feng shui these are called “objects that harbor souls.”
In fact, most households do not need to go to great lengths to “drive out ghosts.” As long as you make sure of “a bright hall and dark rooms” (a bright living room and relatively dark, quiet bedrooms), and keep knives, scissors, and other sharp objects put away in drawers rather than exposed, 90% of feng shui hazards are already solved.