• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.67-88
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• 2011

Pungsu is an ancient logic that systemizes geography based on the Yin-Yang and The Five Elements Principle. It is defined as the unique and highly systemized ancient Eastern art of selecting auspicious sites and arranging harmonious structures such as graves, houses, and cities on them by evaluating the surrounding landscape and cosmological directions. Pungsu helps allegedly one improve life by receiving vital energy(Shengqi, 生氣)-energy flow that flows under the ground. It is traditional belief that the living lead their lives on the ground, indirectly receiving the energy coming out of the ground, whereas the dead are buried under the ground, allowing them to directly absorb energy from the ground, which makes Shengqi the dead receive bigger and more obvious than that the living receive. This energy absorbed by the dead from the ground was believed to be passed on to their descendants. This phenomenon is called "Induction of vital energy between Ancestors and Descendants". People searched for the sites which were believed to contain rich and positive vital energy flow. They also tried to bury their ancestors under such sites hoping to receive the Shengqi coming from underground which they believed would help them thrive and prosper. The efforts to locate the sites which have the most vital energy, auspicious sites or "Bright Yard(明堂)", are easily observed in Asia including China and Korea. The ultimate goal of searching for auspicious sites lies in human(whether alive or dead) receiving vital energy from the nature to enjoy happy lives. In choosing a place to live or to bury their dead ancestors, people tried to understand the energy flow of the site considering the factors related with mountain, water, and direction. If we take a closer look into the methods of finding auspicious sites, we can see that people have tried to see the outer conditions of lands, mountains and waters within the perfect harmony if possible. Auspicious site or Bright Yard is the site with those elements in perfect order and harmony, that is, it is the place which derives the most vital energy from the best order and harmony of nature. As this shows, an auspicious site symbolizes totality-the Self, and it seems to be projected to the land. It is believed to be an attempt that the reason why we try to find auspicious sites to internalize the totality that we projected to the outer world. Therefore, this auspicious site is what our foremost values, symbol of the Self, such as harmony, equilibrium, perfection, and uniqueness are reflected to the land. Through the process of finding such a site, we try to gain totality of psyche.