# Altar sitting (神台坐向)

> An altar's sitting is the side its back rests against, opposite the direction it faces. An altar should sit against a solid, stable wall — not a WC, kitchen, window or passage — and is read together with the house's sitting and facing.

- Vietnamese: Tọa bàn thờ
- English: Altar sitting
- Chinese: 神台坐向
- Chinese characters: 神台坐向
- Also called: Tọa bàn thờ · Altar orientation

## Explanation

For Vietnamese families the altar is the most solemn place in the home, so its sitting is chosen with care: closed and clean behind, open in front, not looked into directly by the main door or a bedroom door.

Beyond the wall behind, the floor above matters too — for example, avoiding a WC directly over the altar.

## How Home Check uses it

When checking a plan, Home Check reviews the altar's sitting against the house's orientation, the wall behind it and what lies directly above and behind. — [Feng shui check & fix](https://myhomecheck.ai/feng-shui)

## Related terms

- [Sitting and facing](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/sitting-and-facing): Sitting is the side a house leans its back against; facing is the side it looks out from.
- [Door–kitchen–WC alignment](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/door-kitchen-wc-alignment): Alignment is when the main door, the stove and a WC door sit on one straight axis, looking straight at each other.
- [Birth-year mountain](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/birth-year-mountain): A person's birth-year mountain is the compass mountain that shares the Earthly Branch of their birth year.

## Questions

### Must the altar face the same way as the house?

Not necessarily. Its sitting is judged on its own, by feng shui and by the wall it rests on; ask a master to look at the plan after setting polarity.

### Where does the altar go in a townhouse?

Often on the top floor, in its own room, against a solid wall, with no WC above and not facing the staircase.

---  
Original page: https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/altar-sitting  
Other languages: [Tiếng Việt](https://myhomecheck.ai/vi/tri-thuc/thuat-ngu/ban-tho-toa/index.md) · [中文](https://myhomecheck.ai/zh/learn/glossary/altar-sitting/index.md)  
Updated: 2026-10-21