What Is Thượng Sơn Hạ Thủy in Huyền Không Phi Tinh? Why It Is Considered an Inauspicious Configuration and How Classical Texts Discuss Remedies

# What is Upper Mountain Lower Water in Flying Star Feng Shui? Why is it considered an inauspicious configuration, and how do classical texts discuss remedies?

What is Upper Mountain Lower Water?

Upper Mountain Lower Water (thượng sơn hạ thủy) is a configuration in Flying Star Feng Shui (Huyền Không phi tinh) in which the dominant star of the mountain star flies to the facing palace, while the dominant star of the facing star flies back to the sitting palace. In other words, the two stars that should stand in positions favourable to the terrain have swapped places: the mountain star, which properly belongs to the high ground, sits in the facing direction, while the facing star, which properly belongs to the low ground, sits in the sitting direction. According to *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 3* (Selected Feng Shui Articles, Volume 3), this configuration is described as the dominant star of the facing flying to the sitting mountain, and the dominant star of the mountain flying to the facing head; if the terrain does not cooperate appropriately, the usual meaning is depletion and loss of both wealth and household members.

This configuration is the reverse side of "dominant mountain, dominant facing" (vượng sơn vượng hướng). If dominant mountain dominant facing is the ideal, then Upper Mountain Lower Water is the paradoxical condition in which the dominant qi of the period does not gather in the right place.

Why is it called "mountain goes up, water goes up the mountain"?

In Flying Star Feng Shui, the mountain star represents the qi of mountains, tied to household members and stability. The facing star represents the qi of water, tied to wealth and the flow outside. When the dominant mountain star sits in the facing direction, where there should properly be low, open ground with water, it is considered the mountain pushed down into the water. Conversely, when the dominant facing star sits in the sitting direction, where there should properly be high backing, it is considered water pushed up onto the mountain.

Some documents use the image of the mountain deity being forced down into the water while the water deity is forced up onto the mountain to describe this inversion. That phrasing is metaphorical, helping the reader picture why the configuration is considered unfavourable, rather than describing a physical mechanism.

Why is Upper Mountain Lower Water considered an inauspicious configuration?

Upper Mountain Lower Water is considered inauspicious because it places the two most important flows of qi in a house in the wrong positions. The dominant mountain star, which should sit in the sitting direction to guard household members, instead flies to the facing direction, so the household members lose their backing. The dominant facing star, which should sit in the facing direction to receive wealth qi, instead flies back to the sitting direction, so wealth loses its place to gather. The result described in the documents is decline in household members, scattering of wealth, and even illness and misfortune.

*Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 2* (Selected Feng Shui Articles, Volume 2) quotes an old saying that if the sitting is half-empty while the facing is void, that is Upper Mountain Lower Water, then misfortune appears at once before the eyes. The meaning of this saying is: when behind the house there is only empty space or low-lying ground, while in front it is high, closed in, or collects a large body of water, then disaster will come very quickly. It should be noted that this is the phrasing of a classical text, a warning in nature, not a certain assertion that it will happen in every case.

How do the star chart and the landform depend on each other?

The key point that the collections repeat again and again is that the star chart does not stand alone. *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 2* states the principle that the landform depends on the flying stars and the flying stars depend on the landform. That means an inauspicious star chart configuration can still be saved if the external terrain is strong enough, and conversely a fine star chart can still be nullified if the terrain is too poor.

The same book cites the assessment of the author Quân Châu in *Quân Châu Huyền Không Án Lệ Giải*: whether it is dominant mountain dominant facing or Upper Mountain Lower Water, whenever the surrounding circumstances, that is the landform, show a malevolent form responding to misfortune, it must be assessed as inauspicious. This shows that Upper Mountain Lower Water is not a fixed sentence, but a condition that must be read together with the terrain.

Why can the terrain reverse the configuration?

*Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 2* gives the case of a house that commits Upper Mountain Lower Water according to the flying stars yet can still bring fortune for a time if the landform is imposing, with high mountains in front and a large sea behind. Here the terrain has swapped roles: the place that should be the facing has mountains, the place that should be the sitting has water, creating a position opposite to the star chart yet one that balances the configuration.

Conversely, a house with dominant flying stars but located near a large place of worship, a place with inconvenient traffic, withered vegetation, a flow rushing straight at it, or facing the gate of a prison will find it hard to thrive. This is why the documents always put the landform first when assessing fortune and misfortune.

A specific star chart example: Period 8, Cấn mountain Khôn facing

To picture this more clearly, take the example of Period 8 with a Cấn mountain Khôn facing house. In Period 8, star 8 is the star of the current period, that is the dominant star. When the star chart is set up for Cấn mountain Khôn facing, star 8 of the mountain star flies to the Khôn palace in the facing direction, while star 8 of the facing star flies back to the Cấn palace in the sitting direction.

Compared with the principle: the dominant mountain star, which should sit in the sitting direction, instead sits in the facing direction, and the dominant facing star, which should sit in the facing direction, instead sits in the sitting direction. This is exactly the Upper Mountain Lower Water position. If this house also has low-lying, empty ground behind in the sitting direction and high, closed-in ground in front in the facing direction, then it matches all the more the saying "sitting full, facing empty" that the classical texts warn about.

However, if this house has a high mound or a row of tall buildings behind, and a pond, lake, river or canal in front, then according to *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 2*, the configuration can be considered saved, and may even bring fortune for a time. This example shows that with the same star chart, the result of the assessment depends greatly on the actual terrain.

When a house has a combined facing, meaning the sitting mountain or the facing does not fall exactly on a single trigram but lies between two trigrams, there is one point worth noting: using the star chart to assess dominant mountain dominant facing may lose its absolute accuracy. *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 3* reminds us that a star chart must be set up this way for careful examination in such a case.

How do classical texts discuss remedies through the landform?

The collections all stress that remedying Upper Mountain Lower Water is not a matter of adding mountains or adding water at random. *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 2* states clearly that one must rely on the star map of the period, determine the positions of the mountain star and the water star, and only then examine the actual terrain to make adjustments. Changing the direction of the gate, the position of windows, the arrangement of plants or a miniature rockery can also create positive change, but it must be in the right place.

One principle quoted by *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 4* is "the dragon deity on the mountain does not go down into the water, the dragon deity on the water does not go up onto the mountain." That means the dragon deity on the mountain should not be encroached upon by water, and the dragon deity on the water should not be blocked by mountain. Put another way, the actual terrain must support the flying stars, and must absolutely not oppose them.

Mountain behind becomes water, water in front becomes mountain

The remedy most often mentioned in the classical texts is to reverse the roles of the terrain: turn the place behind into water and the place in front into mountain, or the reverse depending on the star chart. Specifically, if the dominant mountain star is in the facing direction, then the facing side needs an element belonging to mountain, such as a high mound, a tall building or a high wall, to support the mountain star. If the dominant facing star is in the sitting direction, then the sitting side needs an element belonging to water, such as a pond, a lake or a water tank, to support the facing star. This is the method of "gathering mountain, releasing sha" that *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 3* mentions, though the book also notes that this concept is not identical to Upper Mountain Lower Water.

However, reversing the terrain is only feasible in some cases. For a townhouse, creating a high mound in front or a pond behind may not be practical. In that case, the documents usually recommend lighter solutions such as changing the direction of the door, rearranging the interior, or accepting that the configuration cannot be fully remedied.

Related configurations and where the schools disagree

Upper Mountain Lower Water is usually placed alongside other configurations such as "mountain arrives, facing arrives" (đáo sơn đáo hướng), "both stars meet at the facing" (song tinh hội hướng) and "both stars meet at the sitting" (song tinh hội tọa). *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 3* distinguishes them clearly:

It should be stated clearly that not every school assesses these the same way. *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 4* cites the view of the Trung Châu school that some configurations such as "linked pearls of the three plates" (liên châu tam ban) are dangerous, initially able to prosper but later suffering great ruin. Meanwhile, the way Upper Mountain Lower Water is assessed in the collections stresses the role of the landform, which can soften or reverse the configuration. This shows that with the same star chart phenomenon, different schools can reach different conclusions about the degree of fortune or misfortune.

*Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 2* also gives the case of "sitting not full, facing full," that is low and indistinct behind, high and dry in front with gathered water. According to this book, even if it falls into "repeated yin" (phục ngâm), that configuration is not necessarily greatly inauspicious, and may even be capable of prospering in both household members and wealth. From this it can be seen that the decisive factor lies in how the star chart interacts with the terrain, not merely in the appearance of the stars themselves.

What are the practical applications and limits of Upper Mountain Lower Water?

In practice, assessing Upper Mountain Lower Water requires the practitioner to know the period qi clearly, set up the star chart correctly, and only then compare it with the terrain. *Tuyển tập bài viết Phong Thủy chọn lọc số 2* stresses that feng shui is not a static discipline but moves with time, so the same house can produce different results across periods. Therefore, one should not mechanically apply a single Upper Mountain Lower Water configuration to conclude fortune or misfortune in every case.

One important note is that this is a feng shui concept, not a basis for construction engineering. The conclusions about loss of wealth, loss of household members or illness in the classical texts are warnings within the feng shui framework, and do not replace surveys of structure, foundation, drainage or building safety. Readers should regard this as a cultural and historical perspective on feng shui, not a handbook for construction decisions.

Which sitting and facing directions fall into Upper Mountain Lower Water?

Periods 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 each have six sitting and facing directions of Upper Mountain Lower Water; Period 1 and Period 9 have none. Period 5 has its own method of calculation (twenty years split in half, sent to the Khôn palace and the Cấn palace), so it is not included in the table. The table is calculated according to the method of setting the Flying Star chart of the Shen school, and gives only the upright facing (lower trigram).