Ancient Origin of Compass

The compass, also known as the compass instrument, is a tool used for feng shui detection and commonly operated by the Riqi sect. The compass consists mainly of a magnetic needle located in the center of the disk and a series of concentric circles, each of which represents the ancient Chinese understanding of a certain level of information in the larger system of the universe.

The ancient Chinese believed that the human aura was controlled by the aura of the universe, and that harmony between human beings and the universe was good, while disharmony between human beings and the universe was bad. Thus, they put all the information of the universe at all levels, such as the stars and constellations in the sky, everything on the earth represented by the five elements, and the heavenly stems and earthly branches, on the compass based on their experience. Feng Shui masters then use the rotation of the magnetic needle to find the most suitable orientation or time for a particular person or a particular event. Although the concept of "magnetic field" is not mentioned in feng shui, the direction, orientation and interval between the circles on the compass implies the law of "magnetic field".

Evolution

Engels, in his book "Machines, Natural Forces, and the Application of Science," said, "The compass opened up world markets and established colonies." This invention of the ancient Chinese and its first use in navigation did contribute to the emergence and development of capitalism. Magnetic needle used in navigation, so that three-quarters of the earth's sea into the way. 15 century, Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach the American continent; the early 16th century, Magellan's fleet of circumnavigation success, and so on, and the application of the magnetic needle is inseparable. But the magnetic needle in the end when is how to introduce into Europe, international scholars have debated for hundreds of years. Engels in his "Dialectics of Nature" made a scientific conclusion, he pointed out: "magnetic needle by the Arabs" from China "to the hands of Europeans," is "in" about 1180 years. "

The predecessor of the compass was called the "Sinan," and the earliest record of it is found in the third century B.C. in the Han Fei Zi - There are degrees. At that time, when people talked about the phenomenon of magnets attracting iron, they thought it meant "a mother carrying her child", so they wrote "磁" as "慈".

Sinan is like a household spoon, with a hemispherical bottom, in order to reduce friction when placed on a plate engraved with a "dry branch" scale and to make it easy to rotate. The 12th century A.D. Song Dynasty, Zhu Yu in the "Pingzhou can talk", Xu Jing in the "Goryeo map of the scripture", are talking about navigation with a compass. Some people say that the marine compass is even earlier, because according to the record of Shen Yao of Liang in the Southern Dynasty, there was already a "compass boat" in the Jin Dynasty. (Also according to Japan, in the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Minghuang of Qi (the third year of the reign of Emperor Xianqing of the Tang Dynasty, 658 A.D.), "Abe cited Tachen Biluo's crusade against the Sushan (Bohai Kingdom) - Shamen Zhisao made a compass car.") The compass car was used for sailing to conquer Sushin, and at that time, Biluo led 180 boats in the expedition. In the same book, in the sixth year of Emperor Tianzhi's reign (the second year of Tang Emperor Gaozong's reign, 667 A.D.), it is said, "The Japanese and Han Shamen Jiyu offered a compass car." (The term "Japanese Han Shamen" refers to monks of Chinese origin naturalized in Japan.) By the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, an independent instrument, the compass (a device that indicates the direction of the magnetic meridian with a compass is called a compass), was made and was commonly used for navigation.

The earliest Western book introducing the compass was found in the early 13th century, 100 years later than the records in books such as "Pingshou Ke Tan". In the Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bianan" recorded the water floating needle and magnetic needle declination. And Columbus in the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean before the discovery of magnetic needle declination, more than 400 years later than Shen Kuo's record. The liquid magnetic compass is commonly used on modern ships, which is an important creation in navigation technology. This design is based on the traditional European dry compass, absorbing our 800 years of floating needle technology, so that the magnetic compass is becoming more and more perfect. This is an important result of the exchange of science and technology between China and the West.

--Li Erhe, "Seven Thousand Years at Sea"

Before the invention of the compass, the ancients used the stars in the sky to discern their bearings, fixing their bearings by observing the North Star at night, and distinguishing their bearings by the sun's shadow during the day. Very early, our ancestors invented the compass car and sundial (gui) used to distinguish the horizon orientation. The sundial (gui) is the earliest compass.

Before the invention of the compass, it was not possible to divide the earth's level into very fine directions. Only eight major directions, north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west and northwest, could be used to describe the direction and orientation. Feng Shui art with eight trigrams to represent: Kan Gua on behalf of the North, Burgundy Gua on behalf of the Northeast, Zhen Gua on behalf of the East, Sunda Gua on behalf of the Southeast, away from the Gua on behalf of the South, Kun Gua on behalf of the Southwest, Dui Gua on behalf of the West, Qian Gua on behalf of the Northwest.

The sundial (gui) positioning will be divided into twelve equal parts of the ground plane, with twelve branches: son, ugly, c, d, chen, si, noon, not yet, shen, you, huxu, ohai to indicate the direction.

With the development of the processing industry, the magnetic needle from the original spoon-shaped to needle-shaped, and by the water-floating magnetic needle to use the thimble, so that the compass measurement accuracy has undergone a qualitative change. Tang Dynasty, Yang Yunsong will gossip and twelve Earthly Branches two major positioning system into one, and will be a, b, c, d, e, f, g, xin, non, dec ten heavenly stems, in addition to the representation of the location of the Middle Kingdom of the e, f, two stems, all added to the ground plane orientation system, used to indicate the direction. Thus, the earth plane circumference 360 degrees are divided into 24 equal parts, called 24 mountains, each mountain accounted for 15 degrees, three mountains for a trigram, each trigram accounted for 45 degrees. Twenty-four mountains from the Tang Dynasty after the creation, has been retained. Therefore, the twenty-four mountains of the earth is one of the main levels of Yang Pan. North three mountains non, son, dec, after the heaven is the kan trigram, the innate belongs to the kun trigram; Northeast three mountains ugly, burgundy, c, after the heaven is the burgundy trigram, the innate belongs to the zhen trigram;

East three mountains A, d, B, after the heaven is the zhen trigram, the innate belongs to the left trigram; Southeast three mountains chen, Xun, Si, after the heaven belongs to the Sunda trigram, the innate belongs to the Tui trigram;

South three mountains c, noon-d, after the heaven is the right trigram, the innate belongs to the qian trigram; Southwest three mountains did not, Kun, Shen, the latter day is the Kun trigram, the first day of the Sunda trigram; the western three mountains Geng, You, Xin, the latter day is the Dui trigram, the first day of the Kan trigram; Northwest three mountains Xu, Qian, Ohio, the latter day is the Qian trigram, the first day of the Burgundy trigram.

Yang Pan

Yang Gong, as the ancestor of Yang Gong Feng Shui in Gannan, not only created a complete theory of Feng Shui, but also rationalized the compass, a tool of Feng Shui.

The earth's twenty-four mountain pan was created by Yang Gong, and there was no complete twenty-four mountain pan before Yang Gong, only the eight trigrams pan and twelve earthly branches pan. Although the compasses of the Han Dynasty also had, Bagua, Earthly Branches and Heavenly Stems markings, they were not evenly divided into degrees, but rather divided the Heavenly Stems, Bagua and the twelve Earthly Branches into three layers, which accounted for an inconsistent number of degrees. Yang Gong rearranged them, assigning the eight trigrams, the heavenly stems and the earthly branches in a complete planar orientation, an epoch-making creation.

The twenty-four mountains of the earth's astrolabe, or seventy-two dragon plates, were created by Yang Gong in his later years. Yang Gong through a long period of geomancy practice found that: yin and yang five elements are prevalent in all directions, the distribution of yin and yang five elements in accordance with the gossip to determine the attributes of the five elements and the actual situation does not match the yin and yang dragons to frame the dragons is too rough, through repeated research, for the twelve earth dominates the upper heavenly stem, with the five elements of the nayin to express the five attributes of the dragons, known as the "upside-down" Five Elements. The "upside down" referred to in "Qing Nang Ou Language" is the five elements of the nayin of the seventy-two dragons.

The compass of the Han Dynasty

The celestial compass was also created by Yang Gong. In the practice of geomancy, Yang Gong found that there is a large error in the use of the earth's water, according to the principle of the left rotation of the heavenly way and the right rotation of the earth's way, he created the Tianpan Shuangshan for the elimination of sand and water. In the compass, only the heavenly plate is double mountain, other plates are not double mountain. The ancients believed that the dragon is from the sky, belonging to the sky system, for Yang. Water flows in the earth and belongs to the earth system, which is yin. Due to the relative movement of heaven and earth and the left and right rotations of the displacement effect, so the heavenly disk used for water should be shifted to the right, so Yang Gong will be in the earth's orientation to the right rotational displacement of 7.5 °.

Shuangshan five elements are three five elements, the sky disk non son with the palace, dec ugly with the palace, Burgundy c with the palace, a d with the palace, b with the palace, xun si with the palace, c with the palace, d with the palace, d with the palace, kun shen with the palace, geng you with the palace, xin xu with the palace, qian hai with the palace. Double Mountain is in the center of the twelve Earthly Branches of the earth. Twelve Earthly Branches in accordance with the birth of the tomb of the three into the bureau, that is, Shen Zi Chen triple water bureau, Yin Wu Xu triple fire bureau, Si You Ugly triple alloy bureau, Ohio Dawei triple wood bureau. Chen Xu Clown Wei are water, fire, gold, wood, respectively, the tomb of the library, is an important place of the dragon water yin and yang coitus, known as the four major water mouth.

So, the combination of the Earth, Heaven and 72 Dragon Pan is commonly known as the "Yang Pan".

Later in the Song Dynasty, Lai Bouyi introduced the twenty-eight celestial stars and five elements, and set up a human disk, dedicated to the elimination of sand out of the brake. The twenty-four mountains of the human disk were rotated 7.5 degrees counterclockwise than the twenty-four mountains of the earth.

The human disk is also called "Lai Pan".