Loading…
You're offline
You can keep editing — changes will sync when your connection returns.
BTB and Classical Compass are the two major traditions of feng shui in modern practice. They share the same goal — balance the flow of chi — but get there along different paths. ChiSpace supports both.
Black Sect Tantric Buddhism — Western adaptation, intuitive
Free in ChiSpaceFounded in the late 20th century by Grandmaster Lin Yun, BTB simplified Classical feng shui for Western homes. It orients the Bagua to the front door rather than to a compass, which makes it workable for apartments, rentals, and any home where the layout is hard to box-and-compass.
BTB leans on intention, symbolism, and the visible flow of energy through a space. It’s the friendlier on-ramp.
SIDE BY SIDE
How the Bagua is placed
BTB
Aligned to your front door — every home starts with Career (water) at the entrance.
Classical
Aligned to true compass directions — the Bagua is anchored to magnetic North.
What you need to know
BTB
Just your floor plan. No compass, no birth date.
Classical
Compass facing direction, occupants’ birth years and gender, and (optionally) the year the home was built.
Best for
BTB
First-time practitioners, anyone wanting feng shui without a compass, and homes where the front facing is ambiguous.
Classical
Anyone wanting personalised analysis tied to compass directions, Kua numbers, and time-based Flying Stars charts.
Complexity
BTB
Approachable. One Bagua orientation per home.
Classical
Deeper. Adds Flying Stars (annual + base chart) and Kua-number-based personal directions.
How remedies feel
BTB
Symbolic and intention-led — placement matters most.
Classical
Element-driven — the cure’s material and direction are calibrated to the chart.
DECIDING
You don’t have to choose forever. Many practitioners begin with BTB and graduate to Classical as the practice deepens. ChiSpace lets you switch between them at any time.
COMMON GROUND
Energy enters at the front door and moves through every room. Both schools work to keep it smooth and unobstructed.
Every home divides into nine life areas — career, wealth, love, fame, family, knowledge, helpful people, children, health.
Wood, fire, earth, metal, water — every cure draws on one element to balance another, in both traditions.
GLOSSARY
Vital energy that flows through a space
The animating force of feng shui. Chi enters through your front door and moves through your home, slowing in corners, gathering in open spaces, and escaping through windows and drains. The job of feng shui is to keep chi smooth, balanced, and unhurried.
Chi that has turned harsh, fast or stagnant
The counterpart to healthy chi (煞氣, "sha chi"). Chi turns harsh when it moves too fast — straight down a long corridor, or from a front door aligned with a back window — and it turns stagnant when it has nowhere to go, collecting in cluttered corners and unused rooms. Feng shui remedies aim to slow, soften or disperse sha chi rather than block it outright: a plant to break a sharp corner, a curtain to slow a rushing hallway, or the six-coin salt-water cure used in Classical practice.
A nine-zone map of life areas overlaid on your home
Pronounced "bah-gwah." A 3×3 grid that divides any space — a home, a room, a desk — into nine zones. Each zone governs a life area (career, wealth, relationships, fame, family, knowledge, helpful people, children, health). BTB orients the Bagua to your front door; Classical orients it to magnetic North.
Wood, fire, earth, metal, water
The five elemental forces that shape feng shui practice. Each element nourishes one and weakens another (wood feeds fire; water destroys fire). Cures and remedies are chosen to balance whichever element is missing or overpowering a zone.
A time-based chart that adds an annual layer to the Bagua
A Classical-only system (Xuan Kong Fei Xing). Nine stars, numbered 1–9, occupy the nine sectors of your home, and the arrangement shifts every year at Li Chun — the start of spring, around 4 February — so the January chart still belongs to the previous year. Four stars are traditionally treated with care: the Five Yellow and Two Black most of all, which is why practitioners postpone renovation in whichever sector the Five Yellow occupies. Others are favoured, notably the Nine Purple, the ruling star of the current period (2024–2043). Alongside the stars sit three directional markers taken from the year’s zodiac animal — Tai Sui (the Grand Duke), Sui Po (its opposite) and San Sha (Three Killings) — which shape how furniture is oriented rather than which sector is treated. ChiSpace maps the current year’s chart onto your own floor plan in Premium, and you can tap any sector to see it highlighted. It is an annual overlay: it sits on top of your home’s permanent Bagua rather than replacing it.
Your personal number, based on birth year and gender
A Classical-only concept. Calculated from your year of birth and gender, the Kua number identifies your four auspicious directions (for sleeping, sitting, working) and four inauspicious ones. Classical analysis personalises remedies around this.
The direction the front of your home faces
In Classical feng shui, this is the foundational measurement — usually taken with a compass while standing inside, looking out the front door. ChiSpace uses your facing direction to align the Classical Bagua and run Flying Stars.
An object, colour, or arrangement that rebalances a zone
A specific fix for a feng shui issue. Remedies range from the simple (close the toilet lid, add a plant) to the structural (move the bed, install a mirror). Many work in both schools; some are Classical-specific (the six-coin salt cure, year-stars activator).
Feng shui has a thousand-year history and many lineages — Form School, San He, San Yuan, Eight Mansions, Flying Stars, BTB, Pyramid School and others. Here we focus on the two distinctions that matter for everyday practice: compass-anchored vs entrance-anchored. A real practitioner will go further; this guide is a starting map, not the territory.
Draw your floor plan once. Switch between BTB and Classical inside the planner to see how each tradition reads your space.
Open the planner