Kua 1 is the first of the eight personal trigrams — the Ming Gua 命卦 — used in Ba Zhai 八宅, the Eight Mansions school of classical feng shui. It corresponds to Kan 坎, the Water trigram, seated in the north of the Later Heaven arrangement, and it belongs to the East Group of life numbers. A person's Kua is fixed at birth, derived from birth year and sex, and it defines a permanent compass profile: four favourable directions that support activity, and four unfavourable directions that classical texts assign to passive uses. This guide sets out the full table for Kua 1 and how to apply it room by room.
The four favourable directions of Kua 1
The four favourable directions for Kua 1 are south-east, east, south, and north. Sheng Qi 生氣, the generating breath and strongest of the four, falls in the south-east — the Qing-era Ba Zhai Ming Jing pairs it with the star Tan Lang 貪狼 and assigns it to vitality, advancement, and reputation. Tian Yi 天醫, the heavenly doctor, falls in the east, the direction the tradition associates with recovery, appetite, and dependable support. Yan Nian 延年, longevity, falls in the south and governs bonds — marriage, family accord, durable partnership. Fu Wei 伏位, the stable position, rests at north, Kan's own palace, and carries the quietest blessing: composure, routine, steady cultivation. The set is worth noticing — every East Group Kua draws its favourable four from north, south, east, and south-east, the East Four.
The four unfavourable directions of Kua 1
The four unfavourable directions for Kua 1 are west, north-east, north-west, and south-west. Huo Hai 禍害, mishaps, falls in the west — the mildest of the four, read as friction, small losses, and needless fatigue. Wu Gui 五鬼, the five ghosts, falls in the north-east, classically linked with quarrels, betrayal, and loss by fire. Liu Sha 六煞, the six killings, falls in the north-west — the star of entanglement, disputes, and self-undoing. Jue Ming 絕命, the severed fate, falls in the south-west; every school ranks it gravest, and its placement follows an old elemental logic — Kun's earth dams Kan's water. None of these directions is perilous to cross or occupy briefly; the doctrine concerns prolonged orientation, where one sleeps, sits, and faces day after day.
Desk, bed, and door: applying the table
Ba Zhai is applied through orientation rather than ornament. A desk serves a Kua 1 occupant best when the seated person faces south-east or east — facing means the direction the eyes point, not the wall at one's back. A bed is judged by the crown of the head: sleeping with the head toward south or north aligns the body's long axis with favourable qi, and the manuals prefer Yan Nian for couples, Fu Wei for those who prize undisturbed rest. A main door that faces one of the favourable four is prized; where it cannot be altered, attention shifts to the rooms themselves. The complementary rule — press the bad, 壓凶 — gives storerooms, bathrooms, and other passive functions to the unfavourable sectors, so that what is inauspicious is also unused.
The character of Kua 1
The Shuo Gua commentary of the I Ching casts Kan as the middle son — water moving through a defile, danger met with persistence. Kua 1 people are classically read as deep rather than broad: reflective, adaptable, private, at their best in work that rewards sustained concentration — research, strategy, writing, any discipline whose meaning lies beneath the surface. Water's virtue is persistence without rigidity; its liability is opacity. The tradition cautions the Kan native against brooding, secrecy, and drifting with circumstance, and its remedy is characteristically spatial — a desk turned toward the generating breath, a routine with a fixed keel, and company that draws the depths into speech.
References
Canonical sources that inform this guide.
- Feng shui · WIKIPEDIA
- The Living Earth Manual of Feng Shui · BOOK
- Ba Zhai Ming Jing (八宅明鏡) · BOOK