An often-misunderstood term in Feng Shui is that of schools. A school (at least in Feng Shui) is a technique. The concept is well known to Chinese -- for example, the "Thousand Schools of Thought" mentioned by Mao Zedong. But Westerners often confuse the term with a physical school, when something less tangible may be meant.
For example, there is the classical misunderstanding of Form and Shape aspects of Feng Shui, and Time and Space aspects. Westerners are not usually aware of the tendency in Chinese culture to reduce long-winded terms to shorthand (the best example being the often-complex definitions for Feng Shui itself). Because the history of feng shui covers at least 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass, defining authentic feng shui as having a "compass school" and a "form school" misses the point.
In his fieldwork in China, Ole Bruun noted that traditional methods of feng shui (called in the West Chinese, classical, traditional, or authentic) all use a compass, whether they are Form and Shape ("form school") or Time and Space ("compass school"). Traditional feng shui is what is practiced and taught in Asia. It is the type of feng shui that is found in the archaeological record, and in Chinese history and literature.
Authentic feng shui is typically associated with the following techniques. This is not a complete list; it is merely a list of the most common techniques.[27]
Bagua (relationship of the five phases or wuxing)
Five phases (wuxing relationships)
Xuan Kong (time and space methods)
Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Stars methods of time and directions)
Xuan Kong Da Gua ("Secret Decree" or 64 gua relationships)
Xuan Kong Shui Fa (time and space water methods)
Zi Bai (Purple-White Flying Stars methods)
Ba Zhai (Eight Houses or Eight Mansions)
San Yuan Dragon Gate Eight Formation
Major & Minor Wandering Stars
San He Luan Dou (24 Mountains, Mountain-Water relationships)
San He Shui Fa (water methods)
Qimen Dunjia (Eight Doors and Nine Stars methods)
Ziwei Dou Shu (Purple King, 24-star astrology)
