Bagua

For other uses, see Bagua (disambiguation).

The bagua (Chinese: 八卦; pinyin: bāguà; lit. 'eight trigrams') is a set of symbols from China intended to illustrate the nature of reality as being composed of mutually opposing forces reinforcing one another. Bagua is a group of trigrams—composed of three lines, each either "broken" or "unbroken", which represent yin and yang, respectively. Each line having two possible states allows for a total of 2³ = 8 trigrams, whose early enumeration and characterization in China has had an effect on the history of Chinese philosophy and cosmology.

Bagua diagram explanation from Zhao Huiqian's 六書本義; Liùshū běnyì, 1370s

Bagua
Chinese name
Chinese	八卦
Literal meaning	Eight trigrams
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bāguà Wade–Giles Pa1 kua4 Hakka Romanization Pat-koa Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization baat gwa Jyutping baat3 gwaa3 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese peat kweaH
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Bát quái
Chữ Hán	八卦
Korean name
Hangul	팔괘
Hanja	八卦
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Palgwae
Japanese name
Kanji	八卦
Hiragana	はっけ
Transcriptions Romanization Hakke

The trigrams are related to the divination practice as described within the I Ching and practiced as part of the Shang and Zhou state religion, as well as with the concepts of taiji and the five elements within traditional Chinese metaphysics. The trigrams have correspondences in astronomy, divination, meditation, astrology, geography, geomancy (feng shui), anatomy, decorative arts, the family, martial arts (particularly tai chi and baguazhang), Chinese medicine and elsewhere.

The bagua can appear singly or in combination, and is commonly encountered in two different arrangements: the Primordial (先天八卦), "Earlier Heaven", or "Fuxi" bagua (伏羲八卦) and the Manifested (後天八卦), "Later Heaven", or "King Wen" bagua.

In the I Ching, two trigrams are stacked together to create a six-line figure known as a hexagram. There are 64 possible permutations. The 64 hexagrams and their descriptions make up the book. The trigram symbolism can be used to interpret the hexagram figure and text. An example from Hexagram 19 commentary is "The earth above the lake: The image of Approach. Thus the superior man is inexhaustible in his will to teach, and without limits in his tolerance and protection of the people." The trigrams have been used to organize Yijing charts as seen below.

Trigrams

There are eight possible combinations to render the various trigrams:

	Trigram figure	Possible binary value	Possible decimal sequential number	Name	Translation: Wilhelm	Image in nature (pp.l-li)	Phase	Later Heaven's Direction (p. 269)	Later Heaven's Equinox or Solstice	Earlier Heaven's Direction	Earlier Heaven's Equinox or Solstice	Family relationship (p. 274)	Body part (p. 274)	Attribute (p. 273)	Stage/ state (pp.l-li)	Animal (p. 273)	Obtained Images
1	☰	111	7	乾 qián	the Creative, '(natural) force'	heaven, sky 天	metal	northwest		south	Summer Solstice	father	head	strong, persisting	creative	馬 horse	三連 three lines
2	☱	110	6	兌 duì	the Joyous, 'open (reflection)'	lake, marsh 澤	metal	west	Fall Equinox	southeast		third daughter	mouth	pleasure	tranquil (complete devotion)	羊 sheep, goat	上缺 flawed above
3	☲	101	5	離 lí	the Clinging, 'radiance'	fire, glow 火	fire	south	Summer Solstice	east	Spring Equinox	second daughter	eye	light-giving, humane "dependence"	clinging, clarity, adaptable	雉 pheasant	中虛 hollow middle
4	☳	100	4	震 zhèn	the Arousing, 'shake'	thunder 雷	wood	east	Spring Equinox	northeast		first son	foot	inciting movement	initiative	龍 dragon	仰盂 face-up jar
5	☴	011	3	巽 xùn	the Gentle, 'ground'	wind, air 風	wood	southeast		southwest		first daughter	thigh	penetrating	gentle entrance	雞 fowl	下斷 broken below
6	☵	010	2	坎 kǎn	the Abysmal, 'gorge'	water 水	water	north	Winter Solstice	west	Fall Equinox	second son	ear	dangerous	in-motion	豕 pig	中滿 full middle
7	☶	001	1	艮 gèn	Keeping Still, bound	mountain 山	earth	northeast		northwest		third son	hand	resting, stand-still	completion	狗 dog	覆碗 face-down bowl
8	☷	000	0	坤 kūn	the Receptive, field	ground, earth 地	earth	southwest		north	Winter Solstice	mother	belly	devoted, yielding	receptive	牛 cow	六斷 six fragments

Alternative conversion of the trigrams to binary

Relation to other principles

The Book of Changes listed two sources for the eight trigrams. Its chapter Xì Cí shàng; 'The Great Treatise I' explains the first source thus:

易有太極，是生兩儀，兩儀生四象，四象生八卦。

Yì yǒu tàijí, shì shēng liǎngyí, liǎngyí shēng sìxiàng, sìxiàng shēng bāguà.

Legge's translation:
[I]n (the system of) the Yi there is the Grand Terminus,
which produced the two elementary Forms.
Those two Forms produced the Four emblematic Symbols,
which again produced the eight Trigrams.

Adler's translation:
In Change there is the Supreme Polarity,
which generates the Two Modes (兩儀; liangyi).
The Two Modes generate the Four Images (sixiang),
and the Four Images generate the Eight Trigrams.

Derivation of the bagua

This explanation would later be modified to:

The Limitless (wuji) produces the delimited, and this is the Absolute (taiji). The taiji produces two forms, named Yin and Yang. (Adler's 2012 translation: "Non-polar and yet Supreme Polarity (無極而極)! The Supreme Polarity in activity generates yang 陽; yet at the limit of activity it is still. In stillness it generates yin 陰; yet at the limit of stillness it is also active. Activity and stillness alternate; each is the basis of the other. In distinguishing yin and yang, the Two Modes are thereby established.")

The two forms produce four phenomena named lesser yang, great yang (tai yang also means the Sun), lesser yin, and great yin (tai yin also means the Moon). The four phenomena act on the eight trigrams (ba gua), eight eights are sixty-four hexagrams.

Another chapter, 說卦; Shuō Guà; 'Discussing the Trigrams', characterizes the 乾; Qián trigram, which represents Heaven, and 坤; Kūn, which represent earth, as father and mother, respectively, of the six other trigrams, who are their three sons (震; Zhèn, 坎; Kǎn, 艮; Gèn) and three daughters (巽; Xùn, 離; Lí, 兌; Duì).

The trigrams are related to the five elements of Wu Xing, which are used by feng shui practitioners and in traditional Chinese medicine. The elements are Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal. The Water and Fire trigrams correspond directly with the Water and Fire elements. The element of Earth corresponds with the trigrams of Earth and Mountain. The element of Wood corresponds with the trigrams of Wind (as a force that can erode and penetrate stone) and Thunder. The element of Metal corresponds with the trigrams of Heaven and Lake.

Hexagram lookup table

Upper Lower	☰	☱	☲	☳	☴	☵	☶	☷
	乾(qián)	兌(duì)	離(lí)	震(zhèn)	巽(xùn)	坎(kǎn)	艮(gèn)	坤(kūn)
	Heaven	Lake	Flame	Thunder	Wind	Water	Mountain	Earth
☰	1	43	14	34	9	5	26	11
	䷀	䷪	䷍	䷡	䷈	䷄	䷙	䷊
乾(qián)	乾(qián)	夬(guài)	大有(dàyǒu)	大壯(dàzhuàng)	小畜(xiǎoxù)	需(xū)	大畜(dàchù)	泰(tài)
Heaven	Force	Displacement	Great Possessing	Great Invigorating	Small Harvest	Attending	Great Accumulating	Pervading
☱	10	58	38	54	61	60	41	19
	䷉	䷹	䷥	䷵	䷼	䷻	䷨	䷒
兌(duì)	履(lǚ)	兌(duì)	睽(kuí)	歸妹(guīmèi)	中孚(zhōngfú)	節(jié)	損(sǔn)	臨(lín)
Lake	Treading	Open	Polarising	Converting the Maiden	Inner Truth	Articulating	Diminishing	Nearing
☲	13	49	30	55	37	63	22	36
	䷌	䷰	䷝	䷶	䷤	䷾	䷕	䷣
離(lí)	同人(tóngrén)	革(gé)	離(lí)	豐(fēng)	家人(jiārén)	既濟(jìjì)	賁(bì)	明夷(míngyí)
Flame	Concording People	Skinning	Radiance	Abounding	Dwelling People	Already Fording	Adorning	Intelligence Hidden
☳	25	17	21	51	42	3	27	24
	䷘	䷐	䷔	䷲	䷩	䷂	䷚	䷗
震(zhèn)	無妄(wúwàng)	隨(suí)	噬嗑(shìhé)	震(zhèn)	益(yì)	屯(tún)	頤(yí)	復(fù)
Thunder	Innocence	Following	Gnawing Bite	Shake	Augmenting	Sprouting	Swallowing	Returning
☴	44	28	50	32	57	48	18	46
	䷫	䷛	䷱	䷟	䷸	䷯	䷑	䷭
巽(xùn)	姤(gòu)	大過(dàguò)	鼎(dǐng)	恆(héng)	巽(xùn)	井(jǐng)	蠱(gǔ)	升(shēng)
Wind	Coupling	Great Exceeding	Holding	Persevering	Ground	Welling	Correcting	Ascending
☵	6	47	64	40	59	29	4	7
	䷅	䷮	䷿	䷧	䷺	䷜	䷃	䷆
坎(kǎn)	訟(sòng)	困(kùn)	未濟(wèijì)	解(jiě)	渙(huàn)	坎(kǎn)	蒙(méng)	師(shī)
Water	Arguing	Confining	Before Completion	Deliverance	Dispersing	Gorge	Enveloping	Leading
☶	33	31	56	62	53	39	52	15
	䷠	䷞	䷷	䷽	䷴	䷦	䷳	䷎
艮(gèn)	遯(dùn)	咸(xián)	旅(lǚ)	小過(xiǎoguò)	漸(jiàn)	蹇(jiǎn)	艮(gèn)	謙(qiān)
Mountain	Retiring	Conjoining	Sojourning	Small Exceeding	Infiltrating	Limping	Bound	Humbling
☷	12	45	35	16	20	8	23	2
	䷋	䷬	䷢	䷏	䷓	䷇	䷖	䷁
坤(kūn)	否(pǐ)	萃(cuì)	晉(jìn)	豫(yù)	觀(guàn)	比(bǐ)	剝(bāo)	坤(kūn)
Earth	Obstruction	Clustering	Prospering	Providing-For	Viewing	Grouping	Stripping	Field

Fuxi's "Earlier Heaven"

Fuxi's "Earlier Heaven" bagua arrangement

Name 卦名	Nature 自然	Season 季節	Personality 性情	Family 家族	Direction 方位	Meaning 意義
乾 Qián	天 Sky, Heaven	Summer	Creative	父 Father	南 South	健 Expansive energy, the sky. For further information, see tiān.
巽 Xùn	風 Wind	Summer	Gentle	長女 Eldest Daughter	西南 Southwest	入 Gentle penetration, flexibility.
坎 Kǎn	水 Water	Autumn	Abysmal	中男 Middle Son	西 West	陷 Danger, rapid rivers, the abyss, the moon.
艮 Gèn	山 Mountain	Autumn	Still	少男 Youngest Son	西北 Northwest	止 Stillness, immovability.
坤 Kūn	地 Earth	Winter	Receptive	母 Mother	北 North	順 Receptive energy, that which yields. For further information, see dì.
震 Zhèn	雷 Thunder	Winter	Arousing	長男 Eldest Son	東北 Northeast	動 Excitation, revolution, division.
離 Lí	火 Fire	Spring	Clinging	中女 Middle Daughter	東 East	麗 Rapid movement, radiance, the sun.
兌 Duì	澤 Lake	Spring	Joyous	少女 Youngest Daughter	東南 Southeast	悅 Joy, satisfaction, stagnation.

King Wen's "Later Heaven"

King Wen "Later Heaven" bagua arrangement

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

In feng shui

The bagua is a tool in the majority of feng shui schools. The bagua used in feng shui can appear in two different versions: the Earlier Heaven bagua, used for burial sites, and the Later Heaven bagua, used for residences.

Primordial bagua

Primordial bagua is also known as Fuxi bagua or Earlier Heaven bagua. Named after the mythological first emperor of China. In the Preface of Shang Shu by Kong Anguo, he writes that "In ancient times, Fu Xi ruled the whole world. It was he who began to draw Eight Trigrams and to create Scripts in order to substitute the system of tying knots." In traditional Chinese medicine, this sequence is known as the prenatal sequence and is used to understand familial risk for illness or disease, similar to western medicine's understanding of formative medicine and the study of genetics. The Heaven trigram is at the top, the Earth trigram is at the bottom (the South was located at the top in Chinese maps of this period) of the bagua. The Fire trigram is located on the left, while the Water trigram is on the right. Thunder and wind form another pair, being the opposites of each other; the first is on the bottom left next to fire, while the second is next to Heaven on the top right of the bagua. Mountain and Lake form the last pair, with one opposite to the other. The adjustment of the trigrams is symmetrical by forming exact contrary pairs. They symbolize the opposite forces of Yin and Yang and represent a state in which everything is in balance.

Later Heaven bagua

The sequence of trigrams in the Later Heaven bagua is attributed to King Wen. It is also known as the postnatal bagua arrangement in traditional Chinese medicine; it is used to understand physical, emotional and environmental patterns that influence health or disease, similarly to western medicine's inquiry into functional medical science. In this arrangement, Water is placed downwards and Fire at the top; Thunder is in the East, while Lake is in the West. Contrary to the Earlier Heaven bagua, the Later Heaven bagua is dynamic; energies and the aspects of each of its trigrams flow towards the following. It is the sequence used by the Luo Pan compass, which is used in feng shui and referred to as the manifest pattern; it analyzes the movement of the qi that practitioners believe affect them.

Western bagua

The popularity of feng shui increased in the West because of the bagua of the eight aspirations. Each trigram corresponds to an aspect of life that also corresponds to one of the cardinal directions. Applying feng shui using the bagua of the eight aspirations (or bagua map for short) made it possible to simplify feng shui and to use it for the general public. Western bagua focuses more heavily on intention than the traditional forms of feng shui.

Experienced practicers of traditional feng shui disregard Western bagua for its simplicity, since it does not take into account the forms of the landscape, time, or the annual cycles. The bagua of the eight aspirations is divided into two branches: the first, which uses the compass and cardinal directions, and the second, which uses the bagua by using the main door.

Bagua map

A bagua map is a tool used in Western forms of 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 life and are divided into categories such 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 spaces that may need rectifying or enhancing in life or the environment.

For example, if the bagua grid is placed over an entire house plan and it shows the toilet, bathroom, laundry, or kitchen in the wealth/blessings area of the map, it would be said that the money coming into that particular environment would disappear very fast.

A Tibetan "Mystic Tablet" containing the Eight Trigrams on top of a large tortoise (presumably, alluding to the animal that presented them to Fuxi), along with the 12 signs of Chinese zodiac, and a smaller tortoise carrying the Lo Shu Square on its shell

In Unicode

The bagua symbols in the Miscellaneous Symbols block of Unicode include the following:

Miscellaneous Symbols Unicode block

Official Name	Glyph	Unicode #	HTML	Element
Trigram for Heaven	☰	U 2630	☰	Metal
Trigram for Lake	☱	U 2631	☱
Trigram for Fire	☲	U 2632	☲	Fire
Trigram for Thunder	☳	U 2633	☳	Wood
Trigram for Wind	☴	U 2634	☴
Trigram for Water	☵	U 2635	☵	Water
Trigram for Mountain	☶	U 2636	☶	Earth
Trigram for Earth	☷	U 2637	☷

The Miscellaneous Symbols block also encodes the constituents ⚊ (yang—U 268A; &#9866) and ⚋ (yin—U 268B; &#9867), as well as the digrams ⚌ (greater yang—U 268C; &#9868), ⚍ (lesser yin—U 268D; &#9869), ⚎ (lesser yang—U 268E; &#9870), and ⚏ (greater yin—U 268F; &#9871).

The hexagrams they form are separately encoded in the Yijing Hexagram Symbols Unicode block U4DC0..U4DFF.

Symbolism

In traditional Chinese medicine, including the profession of acupuncture, the Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven arrangements are used to understand the pathogenesis of disease or illness and to select treatment plans specifically related and tailored to a patient's constitution.

The Flag of South Korea has the four cardinal trigrams (qian, kun, kan, li) surrounding the taegeuk, or taijitu. These are specific representations of the movement and harmony of yin and yang. These trigrams were also depicted on the commissioning pennant of the South Korean Navy.

Culture references

In Peking opera, a role with Daoist techniques or military strategy wears a costume decorated with taiji and bagua.

Baguazhang and tai chi are two Chinese martial arts based on principles derived from bagua.

Tekes County and Zhuge Village has a layout based on bagua.

The 2004 Philippine horror film Feng Shui and its 2014 sequel, Feng Shui 2, revolve around a cursed bagua mirror that kills those who stare into it.

See also

• Tian gan and Di zhi: the archaic calendar system of East Asia.
• Ba Xian, Eight Taoist Immortals
• Ba Mai
• Ba Duan Jin
• Chinese ritual mastery traditions
• Chinese spiritual world concepts
• Fuji (planchette writing)
• Fulu
• Octal