Buddhism on vasthu shastra

Vatthu-vijja is the pali equivalent of Vastu-vidya (or shastra) and, as mentioned above, refers to “architecture” as both science and a means of livelihood. It is well-known that in ancient India numerous ‘guilds’ of various crafts and arts exists. They travelled around the country, and possibly the world, in order to distribute and provide their skills and services. One type of such guilds was the builders guild, specialised in temple architecture and city planning.

In the context of Buddhism, Vatthu-vijja occurs in a couple of Suttas. Note: these sources all apply to Theravada Buddhism.

First, in the Brahma-Jāla Sutta (chapter 1) vatthuvijja is mentioned in a lengthy list of ‘wrong means of livelihood’ applicable to Brahmans that are ‘living on food provided by the faithful’:

...
(16) Looking at the knuckles, &c., and, after muttering a charm, divining whether a man is well born or lucky or not.
(17) Determining whether the site, for a proposed house or pleasance, is lucky or not.
(18) Advising on customary law.
...
(source)

In his notes, the translator T. W. Rhys Davids says:

Vatthu-vijjā [...] The craft is further explained by Buddhaghosa in his comment on the Mahā-parinibbāna Sutta I, 26. Its success depended on the belief that the sites were haunted by spirits.
(source)

Upon looking at Buddhaghosa’s commentary on the above-mentioned chapter of the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, we find the following:

At that time Sunidha and Vassakāra, the chief ministers of Māgadha, were building a fortress at Pāṭaligāma to repel the Vajjians, and there were many deities who inhabited the area.

Now, wherever a place is occupied by powerful deities, they bend the minds of the most powerful kings and ministers to build dwelling-places there, and deities of middling and inferior power bend in a similar way the minds of middling or inferior kings and ministers.

The Blessed One, with his divine eye, surpassing the vision of ordinary men, saw those deities occupying Pāṭaligāma. He rose early in the morning, saying to Ānanda: “Who is it then, Ānanda, who is building a fortress at Pāṭaligāma?”

“Sunidha and Vassakāra, Venerable sir, the chief ministers of Māgadha, are building a fortress there to keep back the Vajjians.”

“They act, Ānanda, as if they had consulted with the gods of Tāvatiṃsa.

[Telling him what he had seen, and of the influence the deities, he added]:

“Among the famous residences of the Noble Ones, and as far as trade extends, this will become the chief city of Pāṭaliputta, a centre for trade. However, three dangers will affect Pāṭaliputta: fire, flood, and internal dissension.”

(source: page 25)

So there you go, Vastu-shastra was a common concept in Buddhism. At the very least, the profession and purpose of architecture (vastu) was known to the Buddhist authors.

The Indian Vasthu Shastra and the Chinese Feng Shui are known as geomancy in English.

In DN 2, this is known as "vatthuvijjā" in Pali, which in Sanskrit is presumably, "vasthuvidya" or, knowledge or science of vasthu (the science of building sites).

The Buddha forbade monks from practising geomancy in DN 2 (translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu), calling it an "animal art" or "debased art":

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as: reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry]; reading omens and signs; interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets]; interpreting dreams; reading features of the body [e.g., phrenology]; reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice; offering fire oblations, oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil; offering oblations from the mouth; offering blood-sacrifices; making predictions based on the fingertips; geomancy; making predictions for state officials; laying demons in a cemetery; placing spells on spirits; earth-skills [divining water and gems?]; snake-skills, poison-skills, scorpion-skills, rat-skills, bird-skills, crow-skills; predicting life spans; giving protective charms; casting horoscopes — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

Another translation of DN 2 by Bhikkhu Bodhi:

“Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, earn their living by a wrong means of livelihood, by such debased arts as:

• prophesying long life, prosperity etc., or the reverse, from the marks on a person’s limbs, hands, feet, etc.;
• divining by means of omens and signs;
• making auguries on the basis of thunderbolts and celestial portents;
• interpreting ominous dreams;
• telling fortunes from marks on the body;
• making auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;
• offering fire oblations;
• offering oblations from a ladle;
• offering oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains, ghee and oil to the gods;
• offering oblations from the mouth;
• offering blood-sacrifices to the gods;
• making predictions based on the fingertips;
• determining whether the site for a proposed house or garden is propitious or not;
• making predictions for officers of state;
• laying demons in a cemetery;
• laying ghosts;
• knowledge of charms to be pronounced by one living in an earthen house;
• snake charming;
• the poison craft, scorpion craft, rat craft, bird craft, crow craft;
• foretelling the number of years that a man has to live;
• reciting charms to give protection from arrows;
• reciting charms to understand the language of animals

he abstains from such wrong means of livelihood, from such debased arts. This too pertains to his moral discipline.