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Feng Shui & Beautifying Yourself Through Your Surroundings

Most of us are familiar with how our emotions can affect the way we see the world. Similarly, by changing our external reality, we can make positive changes to how we feel. Perhaps this is a reason some of us use retail therapy to make ourselves feel better. These feelings of happiness tend to be fleeting because they are attached to our egos and how we see ourselves. However, if we were beautifying ourselves as appreciation for being alive, or as a way to thank God for this precious human birth, our feelings towards ourselves would be radically different.

The Vajrayana is often called the path of bliss. As a Balinese prince, Ratu taught us many methods from his rich culture to beautify ourselves and our surroundings by developing our appreciation and individual passion as a way to pay homage to the buddha or divinity within all of us.

Following are some notes I took from many impromptu teachings Ratu gave whilst listening to music, sharing a meal or just generally hanging out. I have used these invaluable insights into feng shui to overcome many of my negativities.

Feng Shui and the Home

Our homes are our places of refuge, where we recharge to be able to face the many vagaries of life. Our homes should be a place where you can be yourself and receive support and encouragement.

Treat your home as a sacred place, where the Buddha or divinity within you resides. An appreciation of this fact is a key to happiness.

If you live in a shared house, especially with like-minded people like a Sangha household, it can be great place where you can practise compassion, since we are all positive and negative reflections of each other. If a person brings up negative reactions within you, ask yourself, "What is it about me that I see in that person being reflected back at me?" Use the experience to develop more tolerance towards others and perhaps yourself in the process.

Your home should not be a place of comfort where people come together simply from a sense of desperation to pay the bills or rent. This will only increase your poverty mentality. Similarly surrounding yourself with negativity can enhance your own negativity.

Every room in the house relates to a specific aspect of mind. Beautify or make offerings in the wealth corner of the rooms.

Sacred Space: The Meditation Room/Altar

The Meditation Room, or where you keep your altar (if you have one), relates to you and your relationship to your Lama and Lineage. Daily offerings should be made of flowers, incense*, money, etc as an act of devotion and appreciation to the Lama, especially in Vajrayana. Therefore it must be filled with everything that is beautiful and important to you (like family snapshots) as an offering to the all the Buddhas.

*Note: It is important to burn 3 incense sticks during your practice since burning only one represents death!.

Secret Space: The Bedroom

The bedroom is your sacred inner sanctum. Therefore, it is important to knock first and respect a person’s privacy as it is a place where one is the most vulnerable. It is best not to work in your bedroom, since it is a place for relaxation and sleep.

Beautify this area and keep it tidy and clean. Decorate it to express your individuality and passion. Organising your CDs is important because music is a symbol of your passion.

The state of your bedroom relates to your mind. If it is dirty or messy, your life will reflect this chaos. Therefore, if you are feeling lost or depressed, clean up your room. You will feel much better for it!

Inner Space: The Kitchen

The kitchen relates to wealth and livelihood, since wealth comes from the depth of one’s love. The kitchen is the heart of the home where food is prepared. Food is a celebration of life. Sharing food is sharing love. If you are stingy, or calculating with food, you will be stingy and calculating with love and wealth. Stinginess will only increase your poverty.

The practice of Dana Paramita (generosity) and yadnya (offerings) will help you let go of attachment to the mundane concerns of this world.

It is important to learn to share, practice appreciation and consideration to develop a family bond with others. However, always remember that some of us do not know what is the true meaning of family from our own childhood trauma. Sometimes when you forge closer bonds with others, family issues will inevitably arise. Simply relax and use this experience to learn about yourself. The situation may be showing you that you need to stand up for yourself. Alternatively it may be an opportunity for you to listen to how your behaviour hurts or affects others.

Cleaning & Maintenance

Laziness comes from deep depression. Depression is like a miserable demon that possesses our mind and arises from childhood trauma. Any act of cleaning is the practice of Karma Yoga, which with right understanding, is the antidote to depression since it gets you out of your head and benefits the household.

Cleaning and washing dishes is a symbolic of cleaning one’s thoughts as in meditation practice. Do this regularly.

The toilet is a reflection of one’s own resentment and judgement (dirty mind). Clean the toilet if these feelings arise.

Outer Space: The Living Room

The lounge room represents your public image. It's the stage where one meets and greets people. It is a place where you network and should be warm, inviting and a reflection of your hospitality.

If you want to create wealth this stage must be set accordingly because you carry this image outside with you psychically.

If you want find out more about traditional feng shui, check out Lillian Too's site. She's a student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and written a couple of great books on Dharma.