The Centre as a Direction

Treating the centre as a direction is not a paradox but a distinct and widespread cosmological move: it converts a flat scheme of quarters into one with an axis. In Chinese cosmology the centre is the fifth direction of the five-phase system, holding the earth phase and the colour yellow, and it mediates among the other four; the emperor, the capital and the Middle Kingdom itself all occupy it, and the Hall of Light, the Mingtang, was a ritual building in which the ruler moved through the seasons around a central position.

In Mesoamerican cosmology the four quarters surround a centre marked by the world tree, coloured blue-green, and the same structure appears in the Maya and Aztec cosmograms. In Hindu Vastu the centre of a plot is the Brahmasthana, the place of Brahma, and is kept open and unbuilt, a rule that produces the courtyard at the heart of the traditional house.