POONG SOO SETTLEMNT THEORY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
BY: Chamun Koo
In the Far East the ancient Poong Soo(or Feng Shui) theory has been used to select the location of a village, a house, or a grave. This influential theory has its roots in the complicated cosmic dual theory on which traditional oriental philosophy and medicine are based.
According to the Poong Soo theory a good village should be surrounded by a mountain range on the north, east and west and open to the south, where a river flows. In particular, the mountaintop to the north should be high and in an appropriate shape since it is a major source of spirit energy for the area. According to the theory this topography keeps the village in harmony with nature and protects it from evil spirits. Thus, a village with these conditions can prosper over the generations. If located in a bad area, the village or family would perish.
Seoul, Korea, the Capital City, was located according to the Poong Soo theory 700 years ago. Even though some variances exist in shape and scale, most of the old villages/towns followed the theory’s rules. Some oriental scholars try to prove that the Poong Soo theory is not merely a superstition, but useful even in modern days as a location theory. Simply, we can say that Poong Soo theory is the criteria for selecting good locations for human settlements to better achieve the natural advantages of topography, hydrography, wind, sunlight, access, etc.
One 75 year-old Poong Soo expert, who spent most of his life working on the theory, visited Los Angeles about 10 years ago for the first time and one of my friends took him on a tour. The old man’s comments on West Los Angeles were bad. His comments on Glendale and Pasadena were not so good, but not so bad. Then, he kept silent for a long time as my friend drove him east on the 210 freeway. Then the old man requested that the car be stopped. He said that this place was the best location in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. It turned out to be Duarte. My friend agreed with him, bought a house there, and has lived there for 7 – 8 years. When he found good medical and church facilities in the area, he was pleased that Americans who are unaware of Poong Soo theory also thought the area was a good place to live.
Recently, he found one bad thing in his community – that is smog. The polluted air of the southland moves to the north and stops at the mountain in his community. He commented that the ancient Poong Soo theory could not deal with smog– one of the major man-made environmental problems. Of course, the same is true in Seoul.
The City Planit, July 1990
City of Los Angeles
CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES & POONG SOO THEORY
By: Chamun Koo
My mother-in-law passed away recently, at the age of 55. Her illness started from a small accident in an airplane, and she finally died because of difficulty in breathing, which may not have been related to the accident. Our family did not realize the seriousness of her illness. Until several months ago she was very healthy and active. She was a successful business-woman in her 30’s and 40’s and an evangelist in her 50’s
Although grieving, I made preparations for the funeral and carefully selected the grave site. I surveyed various grave sites and bought one located in the center of a memorial park which is surrounded by mountains and has a good vied. Far East Asians are strongly influenced by the Poong Soo settlement theory. According to the theory, an appropriately located village, house or grave protects the relatives from evil spirits.
The memorial park custodian told me that the place where my mother-in-law’s grave is located is preferred by Far East Asians. He said that Far East Asians seem to prefer a grave site with good views. He also told me that Far East Asians and Americans differ in the selection of coffins. While Far East Asians prefer wooden coffins which last less than 20 years, Americans prefer steel or copper, which last at least 80 years.
Many Americans as well as the ancient Egyptians may hope that their dead bodies can be resurrected someday, thus they want to preserve their bodies as long as possible. As long as I can remember, Koreans want their remains to return to dust as soon as possible, thus their traditional coffin is made of very thin wood panels. I also heard that Eskimos want their remains to be eaten by the polar bears as soon as possible while some people like the Hindu want their remains to become ashes in the fire. Like Koreans, these people also want their remains to return to the earth or chemical elements as soon as possible.
Two days after the funeral, my family visited my mother-in-laws’ grave in the memorial park. It seemed so peaceful there. The other visitors did not seem to be grieving. Children were laughing and running around the graveyard. It was a very different scene from my previous experiences in Korea. When visiting a cemetery in Korea, I felt some fear and other people seemed to be sad. At this time, we were still grieving. How could we forget her face, laughter, jokes, and behaviors so easily?
When I asked my five-year old son where his grandmother was, he answered that she was in heaven, as we were all taught. But he still seems to be wondering where she is. He said, “If grandmother is in heaven, what is in the grave?” When asked about his grandmother, my two-year old son, his baby brother, made snoring noises to describe his last view of his grandmother at the funeral-“She is sleeping.”
My mother-in-law was buried in a good location with good views. Unconsciously, I followed the rule of the Poong Soo settlement theory in selecting the grave site. The theory encourages us to select the location which has good sunlight, wind, and soil. These conditions will be beneficial to the grasses and trees of the graveyard, and more importantly, help the remains to return to the earth as chemical elements as soon as possible as many hope to be. In selecting my mother-in-law’s grave, I only considered her peaceful rest. That was the last thing I could do for her. It came to me naturally, not regarding how it affected my destiny.
The City Planit, March 1991
City of Los Angeles
