# Water method (水法)

> Water methods read how water moves around a site — where it comes from, where it gathers and where it leaves — and compare it with the house's sitting and facing to judge good and bad. In cities, streets are read as water too.

- Vietnamese: Thủy pháp
- English: Water method
- Chinese: 水法
- Chinese characters: 水法
- Also called: Thủy pháp · Shui Fa · Water reading

## Explanation

The Book of Burial says: "Qi rides the wind and scatters; it meets water and stops." Water holds energy, so its course is studied as carefully as the house's orientation.

Every school has its own rules; what they share is the need to know exactly, as a degree, where water arrives and where it leaves (the Water Mouth).

Classical source: The Book of Burial (Guo Pu, Jin dynasty)

## How Home Check uses it

On the Measure screen, Home Check locates the Water Mouth at three levels — Grand, Middle and Small scale — around the site, and lets you pin Dragon Entry, Sha and Water Mouth by hand. — [Compass & site reading](https://myhomecheck.ai/compass)

## Related terms

- [Water Mouth](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/water-mouth): The Water Mouth is where water leaves a site or the bright hall in front of a house, measured as a degree from the centre of the home.
- [Bright hall](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/bright-hall): The bright hall is the open space in front of a house where energy gathers before entering the main door.
- [Hide the wind, gather the qi](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/hide-wind-gather-qi): "Hide the wind, gather the qi" — shelter from wind and energy is kept — is the root principle of feng shui.

## Questions

### Does a home far from rivers or lakes need a water reading?

Yes. In cities, streets and lanes are read as small waterways (street water), and the slope of the land shows where rain runs.

### How do water method and Water Mouth differ?

The water method is the whole reading of water; the Water Mouth is one point in it — where water leaves the site.

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Original page: https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/water-method  
Other languages: [Tiếng Việt](https://myhomecheck.ai/vi/tri-thuc/thuat-ngu/thuy-phap/index.md) · [中文](https://myhomecheck.ai/zh/learn/glossary/water-method/index.md)  
Updated: 2026-10-21