道 and 佛
Monks, Taoists, and the Lineage
Feng shui was shaped by Taoist and Buddhist tradition, though it is not a doctrine of either.
The founders
Guo Pu and Yang Yunsong
Guo Pu, 郭璞 (276 to 324), a Taoist-associated scholar, is traditionally credited with the Book of Burial, 葬書, the first text to name feng shui. Yang Yunsong, 楊筠松, a Tang official remembered as the one who saves the poor, carried the texts to Jiangxi and founded the Form school lineage. In the Song dynasty the practice was systematized, with a cosmological framing from scholars like Zhu Xi, 朱熹.
Temples and qi
The monastic thread
Taoist and Buddhist monasteries were sited by the same landform logic, which is one reason so many Taoist temples sit on mountains such as Wudang, 武當. Monks and Taoist masters were active practitioners who selected sites and wrote texts. The same qi that inner practice cultivates in the body, feng shui reads in the land. It is fair to say feng shui was shaped by these traditions; it is not fair to say a scripture teaches it.
Keep exploring
More of the Feng Shui hub
See how this shapes your own space in the Habitat, or find your animal on the Oracle.