Hou Tian Pai (後天派風水) — Later Heaven School
Hou Tian Pai (後天派) is a rigorous and highly logical school of Feng Shui transmitted by Master Li Hushuan (李胡山). Unlike traditional Eight Mansions (Ba Zhai) which rely on the owner's birth year, Hou Tian Pai focuses on the objective energy structure of the building itself, making it exceptionally effective for modern multi-story apartments and complex urban structures.
The Sixteen Directions (十六方位)
Hou Tian Pai refines the standard 24-mountain compass into a 16-system directional framework. This system groups the mountains into four primary categories, each with its own calculation logic:
- Four Cardinals (四正系统): Ren-Zi (N), Jia-Mao (E), Bing-Wu (S), Geng-You (W).
- Four Corners (四隅系统): Gen-Yin (NE), Xun-Si (SE), Kun-Wei (SW), Qian-Hai (NW).
- Four Yin Stems (阴干变宫): Yi-Chen, Xin-Xu, Ding-Wei, Gui-Chou.
- Four Yang Stems (阳干坐禄): Si-Bing, Geng-Shen, Hai-Ren, Yin-Jia.
Zhai Zhu Xing — The Master Star (宅主星)
The core concept of Hou Tian Pai is the Master Star (Zhai Zhu Xing). This star represents the "Body" (Ti) of the house. While the first floor is influenced directly by the door position, every floor above it has a different Master Star derived through the He Tu (河圖) sequence and Nine Star Flipping (九星翻卦) logic. This explains why residents in the same building stack can experience vastly different fortunes.
Key Methodologies
- Bian Zhai (編宅): The systematic process of encoding the house structure to determine its Master Star.
- Floor Transformation: Applying the 1-6, 2-7, 3-8, 4-9, 5-10 He Tu combinations to track qi as it rises through the building.
- Yun Bu (運步): A corrective calculation for "long-narrow" buildings (length-to-width ratio > 2.5:1), where the energy center shifts due to structural imbalance.
- Door-Palace-Star (門宮星): Analyzing the interaction between the Entrance (Door), the Sector (Palace), and the Master Star (Star) to determine health, wealth, and relationship outcomes.
Philosophical Distinction
Hou Tian Pai operates on the principle that "The House has its Fate, the Person has their Fate." It rejects the common practice of matching the person's Ming Gua to the house (East/West group), asserting that a good house is good for anyone, and a bad house affects all residents regardless of their birth year.