BAGUA (CONCEPT)

The 'bagua' () is a fundamental philosophical concept in ancient China. It is generally represented with an octagonal diagram with one trigram on each side. The concept of ''bagua'' is applied not only to Chinese Taoist thought and the ''I Ching'', but is also used in other domains of Chinese culture, such as fengshui, martial arts, navigation, and so on.

Contents

Origin

The Eight Trigrams (Pre-King Wen "Earlier Heaven" order)

The Eight Trigrams (King Wen "Later Heaven" order)

Bagua map

Other meanings

In Popular Culture

See also

External links

Origin

There are two possible sources of ''bagua'':
The first is from traditional Yin and Yang philosophy. The interrelationships of this philosophy were described by Fuxi in the following way:

無極生有極, 有極是太極,
太極生兩儀, 即陰陽;
兩儀生四象: 即少陰、太陰、少陽、太陽,
四象演八卦， 八八六十四卦
''The Limitless (Wuji) produces the delimited, and this is the Absolute (Taiji)
The Taiji produces two forms, named yin and yang
The two forms produce four phenomena, named lesser yang, great yang (''taiyang'' also means the Sun), lesser yin, great yin (''taiyin'' also means the Moon).
The four phenomena act on the eight trigrams (ba gua), eight eights are sixty-four hexagrams.''
Gi-ming Shien of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco taught that the Logos of Ancient Greece was the same as the Tao of Lao Tzu. Pangu, Yu Huang or Nüwa could be considered comparable to Plato's demiurge.
Another philosophical description of the source is the following, attributed to King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty: "When the world began, there was heaven and earth. Heaven mated with the earth and gave birth to everything in the world. Heaven is ''Qian''-gua, and the Earth is ''Kun''-gua. The remaining six gua are their sons and daughters".
Note that "South" is always found at the ''top'' of the Bagua.

The Eight Trigrams (Pre-King Wen "Earlier Heaven" order)

卦名 Name	自然 Nature	Season	性情 Personality	家族 Family	方位 Direction	意義 Meaning
Qian	天 Heaven	Summer	Creative	父 Father	南 South	Expansive energy, the sky.
Xun	風 Wind		Gentle	長女 Eldest Daughter	西南 Southwest	Gentle penetration, flexibility.
Kan	水 Water	Autumn	Abysmal	中男 Middle Son	西 West	Danger, rapid rivers, the abyss, the moon.
Gen	山 Mountain		Still	少男 Youngest Son	西北 Northwest	Stillness, immovability.
Kun	地 Earth	Winter	Receptive	母 Mother	北 North	Receptive energy, that which yields.
Zhen	雷 Thunder		Arousing	長男 Eldest Son	東北 Northeast	Excitation, revolution, division.
Li	火 Fire	Spring	Clinging	中女 Middle Daughter	東 East	Rapid movement, radiance, the sun.
Dui	泽 Lake		Joyous	少女 Youngest Daughter	東南 Southeast	Joy, satisfaction, stagnation.

The Eight Trigrams (King Wen "Later Heaven" order)

卦名 Name	自然 Nature	Season	性情 Personality	家族 Family	方位 Direction	意義 Meaning
Li	火 Fire	Summer	Clinging	中女 Middle Daughter	南 South	Rapid movement, radiance, the sun.
Kun	地 Earth		Receptive	母 Mother	西南 Southwest	Receptive energy, that which yields.
Dui	泽 Lake	Autumn	Joyous	少女 Youngest Daughter	西 West	Joy, satisfaction, stagnation.
Qian	天 Heaven		Creative	父 Father	西北 Northwest	Expansive energy, the sky.
Kan	水 Water	Winter	Abysmal	中男 Middle Son	北 North	Danger, rapid rivers, the abyss, the moon.
Gen	山 Mountain		Still	少男 Youngest Son	東北 Northeast	Stillness, immovability.
Zhen	雷 Thunder	Spring	Arousing	長男 Eldest Son	東 East	Excitation, revolution, division.
Xun	風 Wind		Gentle	長女 Eldest Daughter	東南 Southeast	Gentle penetration, flexibility.

Bagua map

A bagua map is a tool used in modern forms of Feng Shui (especially Black Sect Tantric Buddhist Feng Shui) to map a room or location and see how the different sections correspond to different aspects in one's life. These sections are believed to relate to every area or aspect of our lives and are divided into such categories as: fame, relationships/marriage, children/creativity, helpful people/travel, career, inner knowledge, family/ancestors/health, and wealth/blessings.
In this system, the map is intended to be used over the land, one's home, office or desk to find areas lacking good chi, and to show where there are negative or missing spaces and what may need rectifying or enhancing in life or the environment.
For example, if the Bagua grid is placed over the entire house plan and it shows the toilet, bathroom, laundry, or kitchen in the wealth/blessings area it would be considered that the money coming into that particular environment would disappear very fast, as if to be 'going down the drain.' Malaysia I Ching Net

Other meanings

In Taiwan's colloquial Mandarin and Hong Kong's Cantonese slang, ''bagua'', symbol of all changes and transformations, means "gossip" ; ex : 你很八卦 = You're such a gossip ; 八卦新聞 = tabloid news;

In Popular Culture

In the cartoon ''Jackie Chan Adventures'', the trigrams are each written on a face of the Pan Ku Box, though Lake is reassigned to mean Moon.
The creators of the television series ''Lost'' incorporated the bagua symbol into the logos for the DHARMA Initiative stations found around the island.
In the anime/manga ''Naruto'', the clan known as the Hyuga clan uses combat based on the Eight Trigrams, with their main attack called the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, involving a series of heavy strikes into pressure points on the opponent's body, or as a means of fast weaker attacks against many opponents.
In the anime ''Cowboy Bebop'', ep. titled ''Boogie Woogie Feng Shui'', the device that Maefa uses with the Sunstone contains trigrams from the Bagua, shaped in a Octagon that has a gyroscopic outer and inner ring. The device was used as a MacGuffin of sorts to get Maefa and Jet Black out of trouble. This would be in contrast to the Sunstone, which functions more as a Plot coupon: it not only powered the device, but was destroyed with a single shot from Spike's Swordfish II and opened a rift in hyperspace to provide a resolution to the story.
In the anime/manga ''Outlaw Star'', there is a form of energy called Tao Magic which is employed extensively by the Kei Pirates. There is a somewhat obscure bagua reference near the end of the series when the Kei Pirate Hazanko constructs a method to force the Galactic Leyline open. When the method is completed, a giant bagua-like shape appears in space with the Leyline as the center just before the way inside is opened.

See also

★ Feng Shui

★ I Ching

★ Taiji / Taeguk

★ Flag of South Korea: the Taeguk Flag

★ Baguazhang: a martial art based on principles derived from bagua

★ Taijiquan another martial art partially based on bagua

External links

★ Bagua - Animated

★ Bagua - Full Diagram

★ About the bagua

★ Kheper.net on the trigrams

★ Chart with trigrams & bagua

★ Bagua diagram

★ Bagua images from Google

★ The two kinds of Bagua (Chinese)

★ Early And Later Heaven Arrangements

★ Bagua Elementary School(Guiuan E. Samar Philippines)

★ Malaysia I Ching Net
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