Lo Pan

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A Chinese Lo Pan

A Lo Pan , also written Luopan ( Chinese  羅盤  /  罗盘 , Pinyin luópán , W.-G. lo-p`an , Jyutping lo 4 pun 4 ) is an extended compass that is used in Feng Shui .

description

Around the actual compass, which forms the center of the area, symbols are attached to several (simple variants have at least eight, the professional versions up to 64), mostly rotatable rings, which are interpreted by the Feng Shui consultant.

The symbols are taken from the following levels of Feng Shui:

The arrangement of the rings naturally varies greatly between the schools of Feng Shui. But even within a school, the arrangement of the rings as well as the symbols within the rings can differ - depending on the experience of the master who put the ring together.

The Feng Shui consultant uses the Lo Pan to get an overview of a place as quickly as possible. For example, the date of birth or the Gua number (the number of the trigram in BaGua, which is calculated from the date of birth) is set. This results in the client's favorable and demanding cardinal directions. These are taken into account with the Qi qualities of the living space / garden.

Building a Lo Pan

Lo pans can vary from type to type. However, a basic structure is roughly the same for all versions.

  • Earth plate (outer plate): This mostly describes the square base plate of the Lo Pan. Although only a basic static element, the compass is considered useless without this plate. It is always aligned parallel to the respective (target) measurement object.
  • Heaven plate (inner plate): This disk must be rotatable. Basically, the information that can be read from the rotary position must always be evaluated according to the Feng Shui school, which teaches the use of the respective Lo Pan. Based on this, very different measurement results can be achieved with apparently very similar Lo Pans.
  • The sky pond: This is the central part of the compass, usually a little in the middle. It contains a needle that aligns its tip with magnetic north . Since there is usually no scale division, the compass is calibrated to the north at the beginning of use by moving the sky plate in a circular motion until the compass needle reaches a fixed mark (often a colon, between which the needle must be adjusted).
  • Axis: The compass is divided into four logical quadrants by two "axes" (often: strings) . The actual measurement information is located where these strings cross.
  • The landscape rings: These are i. d. Usually a subdivision of the sky plate. It contains Chinese characters and formulas that correlate with the measurement result. The entire range of available information does not necessarily have to be used. The ability to evaluate depends on the skills of the user.
  • Spirit level: A spirit level is hidden behind the 6th level . This should ensure additional accuracy and stability during the measurement process.

See also

Web links

Commons : Lo Pan  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephen Skinner: Structure of the Lo P'an from: Guide to the Feng Shui Compass ISBN 978-0-9547639-9-2 , 2008, pp. 46, 54, 64.