Your First Feng Shui Luo Pan (Page 2 of 3)
The Rings

The 3 types of Luo Pan

Before selecting your Luo Pan, first ask yourself, WHICH system of traditional Feng Shui do you advocate? There are many schools and or systems of Feng Shui.

In general there are 2 categories of authentic Chinese Feng Shui:

1. San Yuan School (3 Cycles System)
Fey Xing (Flying Stars) or Xuan Kong (Time and Space) can be classified under the SAN YUAN School.

2. San He School (3 Combination System)
Pa-Chai (Eight Mansions), Sui-Long (Water Dragons), San Long (Mountain Dragons) and environmental Feng Shui are subsets of the San He system of Feng Shui.

These are traditional authentic Feng Shui systems.

Which system do you practice?

There are various numbers of rings around a Luo Pan. Depending on which school or which system the Luo Pan is designed for the Luo Pan can be made up of as few as seven (basic rings) to up to a number of thirty-six rings!

Every ring carries with it a specific theory in the application of Feng Shui. Different Feng Shui systems may have different meanings given to a particular level of a Luo Pan. Depending on which system you advocate, the Luo Pan can help the Feng Shui practitioner measure, locate, calculate and even predict the natural earth energies both directional and locational in a particular area.

Today we can find two standardized types of Luo Pan. They are the San Yuan Luo Pan and the San Hup Luo Pan. It is quite easy to differentiate the two types of Luo Pans.

SAN YUAN LUO PAN: Can be easily distinguished with the presence of the 64 Hexagrams of the I-Ching. The San Yuan Luo Pan is also generally called the Jiang Pan (named after the founder of San Yuan Feng Shui: Great Grand Master Jiang Da Hong's).

SAN HUP LUO PAN: Can be recognized by the presence of 3 distinctive rings of the 24  Mountains. The San Hup Luo Pan is also commonly known as the Yang Kung Pan (named after the first Feng Shui Grand Master Yang Yun Song of the Tang  Dynasty)

And there is the third standardized type of Luo Pan which is really a combination of SanYuan and San Hup. It is called the Zhung Hup Luo Pan. Designed primarily for those who like to advocate both systems of Traditional Feng Shui.

The 8-Point Rule for Selecting Your Luo Pan

1. Quality of the Needle

The needle MUST be able to align accurately on TOP of the RED line at the bottom of the Heaven Pool (the round compass piece in the middle). The needle MUST be able to align  accurately BELOW the AXIS CROSS (the intercrossing nylon strings). It should not even be a slight deviation of .01mm away from the above lines.

2. Heaven Pool's Red Line

The Double Dots MUST be pointing to the "Rat" (Direct North 0º) direction while the point  should be pointing the "Horse" (Direct South 180º) direction.

3. Accuracy of Axis Cross (the nylon strings)

The Cross MUST be able to cross the CARDINAL AXIS directly at 0º, 90º, 180º and 270º of the Heaven Dial. There should not even be a slight deviation, or it renders the Luo Pan totally useless.

4. Quality of the Heaven Dial Every character, trigram and number MUST be printed or carved with great clarity.

Must be easy to read. Some words or characters may be blurred in the process of stamping, always double check. The dial should be steady and smooth when turned. It should not be too smooth or too tight.

5. Squareness of the Earth Base and a Spirit Level

The Luo Pan must have the Square Base. It is used to take measurements by matching it parallel to the wall or door of a house/building. It must come with a Spirit Level for accuracy of reading.

6. Material Quality

What is the Luo Pan made of? Poly-Electric wood, normal wood or Recycled Wood? It DOES make a HUGE difference. Poly-Electric wood can withstand temperatures of up to 140o C. Recycled Wood or normal wood are the cheap renditions found in most Chinese  roadside stalls.

7. Measurements and Sizes

* - Luo Pans MUST come with accurate markings of the EXACT 360º.
* - Luo Pans come ONLY in the following standardized sizes:

i. 2"8
ii. 3"4
iii. 4"2
iv. 5"2
v. 6"2
vi. 7"2
vii. 8"6
viii. 1ft 2" * - The standard size Traditional Feng Shui Masters uses are the 8"6 types. The smaller ones like the 2"8 - 4"2 are mainly for convenience use. The smaller the Luo Pan gets, the easier it is to make mistakes. Thus it is only when one is very experience should one use a small Luo Pan for a professional Feng Shui audit. For the beginners, start by using a 5"2 or 6"2. Professional Feng Shui practitioners should always use a 8"6.

AsianConnections thanks Joey Yap, co-founder of the Yap Cheng Hai Feng Shui Center of Excellence for this informative article on Lou Pans.

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