Ba gua
From Barbelith
The bagua (or pakua) are the "eight changes" of Chinese esoteric philosophy and martial arts. They're represented by three-line diagrams called trigrams -- three lines, each one broken or unbroken, leads to eight possible configurations. Each configuration is assigned a specific fundamental force or natural phenomenon.
The eight trigrams, when combined, make up the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching.
These are the fundamental forces or postures of the martial art also known as bagua; when combined with the forces of the Five Elements, these create the 13 Postures of Tai Chi Chuan (http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/powers13.htm). That page has a very nice chart right here (http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/powers13.htm#Pa%20Kua), showing how the eight "gates" correspond to compass directions and body systems.
Note: the eight gates don't always correspond to the same trigrams, and the trigrams don't always correspond with the same directions -- this varies from system to system and interpreter to interpreter.
| Table of contents |
HEAVEN: Qian or Tien
====== ====== ======
This trigram represents tireless, expansive, uplifting power, and is associated with the limitless sky and all that rises.
Force: Peng - Ward Off. "Bouncing" or expanding energy
Direction: Southeast
Body system: Head, arms.
Relation: FATHER
EARTH: Kun
== == == == == ==
This trigram represents sleepy, cold dormancy and acceptance, and is associated with the ground beneath our feet and things sleeping underneath it (like seeds, or coal being slowly transformed into diamonds).
Force: Lu - Roll Back. Sideways, intercepting energy
Direction: Northeast
Body system: Dan tien -- torso, hips, genitals.
Relation: MOTHER
WATER: Kan
== == ====== == ==
This trigram represents danger, as depicted by a rushing river through a steep ravine. It's also known as the abyss, and is associated with moving water, or water as a destructive force seeking its own level.
This trigram is also associated with The Moon. In alchemical systems, it is said to trade energies with li, the fire trigram, bringing forth the five elements out of the interplay of yin and yang.
Force: Qi or Ji - Press. Sticking/following energy, meeting opponents' actions by following their motions.
Direction: South
Body system: Kidneys. (Of course.)
Relation: MIDDLE SON
FIRE: Li
====== == == ======
This trigram represents blazing fire, the sun and lightning -- that which brings qian down to earth. It's associated with rapid or forceful movement and dynamism.
In Taoist poetry, this trigram is associated with "the Green Maiden," an allegorical figure related to the study of inner alchemy, symbolizing "mercury in the elixir," combining the elemental forces of fire and wood. She's poetically compared to snow on a green mountainside being turned into warm wine fermenting in a jar. There's more on those associations here (http://www.eng.taoism.org.hk/daoism&human-civilization/daoism-literature&art/pg5-2-5-23-22.asp).
Force: An - Push. Downward pushing energy from above.
Direction: North
Body system: Heart, circulatory system.
Relation: MIDDLE DAUGHTER
WIND: Xun or Sun
====== ====== == ==
This trigram represents flexibility and penetration, as cold wind through a jacket, or a tree's roots into the rock. It's often referred to as the gentle wind -- a rushing, howling gale might be better represented by kan, the abyss.
Force: Cai or Tsai - Pull down.
Plucking or pulling downward from below. A fast tug off-balance.
Direction: Northwest
Body system: Spleen, gallbladder (go figure).
Relation: ELDEST DAUGHTER
THUNDER: Zhen or Chen
== == == == ======
This trigram represents motivation and excitation.
Force: Lie - Split. Dividing energy, as in Part Horse's Mane. Revolving like a circular saw or electric fan.
Direction: West
Body system: Liver, pancreas.
Relation: ELDEST SON
LAKE: Dui or Tui
== == ====== ======
This trigram represents satisfaction, and even joy, but also stagnation and stillness. It's also called "the marsh."
Force: Zhou - Elbow. Fierce, twisting chop. Tai chi master Da Liu associates tui with the fist.
Direction: East
Body system: Lungs, circulatory system (as opposed to the heart).
Relation: YOUNGEST DAUGHTER
MOUNTAIN: Gen or Ken
====== == == == ==
This trigram represents rest, regeneration and steadfastness.
Force: Kao - Shoulder. Full body energy, using entire body to deliver force like a football player. Tai chi master Da Liu associates this trigram with the limbs, especially force delivered through the whole body by the legs.
Direction: Southwest
Body system: Digestive organs.
Relation: YOUNGEST SON
Other Eights
In Chinese culture, and across Asia, eight is considered a fortunate number because of its association with the eight changes. It appears in a number of other significant contexts. As well as the Eight Immortals, there's Buddha's Eightfold Path, Eight Treasures and Eight Holy Items.
The Eightfold Path
Following this Noble Eightfold Path (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path) will break you free from the world's sorrow: This is the Fourth Noble Truth of Buddhism.
These practices are:
(Wisdom)
1. Correct Understanding -- Know the nature of pain and sadness, recognize its origin in desire and attachment, and recognize the way to prevent that cycle.
2. Correct Intentions -- Renounce the cycle of desire and pain, intend to harm none.
(Virtuousness)
3. Correct Speech -- Don't lie, don't be abusive, don't start arguments, don't chatter idly.
4. Correct Action -- Don't kill, don't steal, be chaste and temperate.
5. Correct Livelihood -- Making a living in the best way possible, causing the least harm.
(Mental development)
6. Correct Efforts -- Developing intentions for self-perfection, skillful qualities and the elimination of evil.
7. Correct Mindfulness -- Eliminating desire and distraction when thinking of one's own body and mind. Sense data free of emotion.
8. Correct Concentration -- freeing your mind from all pleasures and all pains, seeing all distractions as equal expressions of the essential void.
Eight Treasures and Eight Holy Items
The eight treasures, often seen as decorations on household items, are:
- two books tied together,
- a leaf,
- pair of horns,
- lozenge (a rhomboid shape, luckier if two were intertwined),
- a coin,
- a mirror,
- pearls, and
- a bell.
The Eight Holy Items are supposedly found pictured on the bottom of Buddha's foot:
- Wheel of the Law,
- conch shell,
- umbrella,
- canopy,
- lotus blossom,
- vase,
- pair of fish,
- and a lucky knot
See the images here (http://firehorseportfolio.com/tea/eight.html) for more on the Eight Treasures and Eight Holy Items, with a fuller explanation of the Holy Items here (http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/b8symbol.htm), at Buddhanet.net.
Back to The Pagoda
On to Five Elements, Eight Immortals
Back to Jenny Everywhere: The Game
