Sitting Ren facing Bing: the everyday southern facing
Many old houses and graves in south China sit Ren and face Bing: back to the north by north-west, face south by south-east. It is chosen when the dragon comes down from the north and the last node leans slightly west, so a stone sitting exactly Zi would have its back off the ridge. The test is the usual one: stand behind the stone; the ground should rise behind you and open in front.
Water arriving from Ren across the front of a south-sitting site must turn before the stone. A peak on Ren is read as a supporting hill behind, not a facing peak.
Tianfu, the aide, standing beside the rampart
Ren carries Tianfu, the Heaven's Aide. Fu means to assist: support, a strong right hand, help at one's side. It is a regular star, and next to it Zi carries Tianlei, the rampart: the wall at due north and the aide beside it.
Lai Buyi's school reads Tianfu in that modest role. A full ridge entering on Ren is confirmed as a sound supporting dragon, not a sovereign one; that star is on Hai, and Ren does not inherit it. A rounded hill on Ren behind a south-facing house is confirmed as good backing. Broken land on Ren gives the aide nothing to assist. The star answers the form; it never argues with it.
What this means on the ground
Stand inside the front door with your back to it, or behind the stone sighting along its face. Level the luopan, read three times a step apart and use the middle. Stay away from gates, cars and phones; set a phone compass to magnetic north.
Ren covers 337.5 to 352.5; its solid middle is 341 to 349. From 338 to 340 you lean to Hai, a different group and star; from 350 to 352 to Zi and Tianlei. The fen jin pulls the stone back a degree or two into Ren. Near due north small errors matter more; a few degrees east leaves Ren.
Common mistakes
The first is to call every north-south house sitting Zi facing Wu. Many are Ren and Bing, fifteen degrees round, with different stars and fen jin. The second is to assume Ren shares Hai's standing as a neighbour; Ren is a Kan group stem with a regular star, and 339 is Ren, not Hai.
The third is true north: maps and planning drawings use it, and a south-facing house in much of North America shifts a full mountain on the plate. The fourth is a stone on the 337.5 or 352.5 line. The fifth is judging the backing hill from the street, not from behind the stone.
Questions people ask
What degree is Ren on a feng shui compass?
Ren is 345 degrees, north by north-west, covering 337.5 to 352.5. It is a yang Water stem, first of the Kan group, between Hai and Zi, and its opposite is Bing at 165 degrees. On our luopan Ren carries Tianfu.
What is the difference between sitting Ren and sitting Zi?
Both face roughly south. Zi is due north, 0 degrees, facing Wu at 180; Ren is 345, facing Bing at 165, fifteen degrees further round. They carry different stars, Tianlei and Tianfu, and different fen jin. A reading on site tells you which you have.
Is a house facing 165 degrees good feng shui?
A facing of 165 is Bing, so the house sits Ren. It is sound when the ground rises behind the house to the north by north-west, the front is open and the water or road bends in front. If the back drops away, the number does not help.
Send Master Zhang your three readings and photos, and a site reading will tell you whether your Ren sitting has the hill it needs behind it.