Bagua

Origin

Chinese tradition recognises two principal arrangements of the eight trigrams. The Earlier Heaven sequence, called Xiantian Bagua, is attributed to the mythical emperor Fu Xi around 2800 BCE. In this arrangement, Qian (heaven) sits in the south, Kun (earth) in the north, Li (fire) in the east, Kan (water) in the west, with the four remaining trigrams at the corners. The pattern is perfectly symmetrical: each trigram is opposite its complement, and the polarity flows around the circle in a balanced way.

The Later Heaven sequence, called Houtian Bagua, is attributed to King Wen of Zhou around 1100 BCE. It rearranges the trigrams to match the cycle of the seasons and the cardinal energies of the natural world: Li (fire) in the south, Kan (water) in the north, Zhen (thunder) in the east, Dui (lake) in the west. The Later Heaven sequence is the practical arrangement used in feng shui, calendar science, and applied divination. The Earlier Heaven sequence is the theoretical or contemplative arrangement, used in meditation and metaphysics. Both diagrams appear in the Shuogua, one of the Ten Wings of the I Ching attributed to Confucius and his school around 500 BCE.

Meaning and method

The eight trigrams of the Bagua are: Qian (heaven), Dui (lake), Li (fire), Zhen (thunder), Xun (wind), Kan (water), Gen (mountain), Kun (earth). Each trigram corresponds to a direction, a season, a family member, a body part, an organ, an animal, a colour, and an element of the Five Phases. Qian is the father, head, lungs, horse, white, metal. Kun is the mother, belly, spleen, ox, yellow, earth. The full table of correspondences is the operating manual of Chinese cosmology.

Within the Bagua, the eight trigrams are also grouped into four complementary pairs: Qian and Kun (heaven and earth, the parents), Zhen and Xun (thunder and wind, eldest son and eldest daughter), Kan and Li (water and fire, middle son and middle daughter), Gen and Dui (mountain and lake, youngest son and youngest daughter). The pairs occupy opposite positions in both arrangements. Reading across the diagonals of the Bagua reveals the structural axes of the system: the heaven-earth axis of vertical creation, the water-fire axis of horizontal transformation, the thunder-wind axis of arousal and gentleness, the mountain-lake axis of stillness and joy.

In practice

In feng shui, the Later Heaven Bagua is overlaid on the floor plan of a building. The grid divides the space into nine sections: eight peripheral sections corresponding to the trigrams, plus a central section. Each section is associated with a life domain. Kan in the north governs career and water elements. Li in the south governs fame and fire elements. Zhen in the east governs family and wood. Dui in the west governs creativity and metal. Gen in the northeast governs knowledge. Xun in the southeast governs wealth. Qian in the northwest governs helpful people. Kun in the southwest governs relationships.

You can apply the Bagua to a single room as well as to a whole home. Stand at the main door of the room facing inward. The wall to your back becomes the south, fame; the wall in front becomes the north, career; the right wall is the west, creativity; the left wall is the east, family. Each section is examined for clutter, light, colour, and element correspondence. To enhance the wealth corner in the southeast, add wood elements such as plants, the colour green, and images of growth. Combine with I Ching divination for deeper analysis. Use the I Ching oracle for trigram readings.

Symbolic depth

The Bagua is the geometric expression of the Chinese cosmos. The octagon mediates between the circle of heaven and the square of earth: it has the symmetry of the circle and the angularity of the square. The eight trigrams correspond to the eight directions of space, the eight winds of the Chinese calendar, the eight nodes of the solar year (equinoxes, solstices, and cross-quarter days), and the eight branches of the family. The central ninth position, when present, is the still axis around which the eight trigrams rotate, the Wuji of unmanifest potential.

The Earlier Heaven Bagua is sometimes called the Bagua of being, the Later Heaven Bagua the Bagua of becoming. The two diagrams together describe both the eternal structure of reality and its temporal unfolding. In Taoism, the practitioner aligns inner cultivation with the Earlier Heaven Bagua and outer activity with the Later Heaven Bagua, harmonising essence and function. The Bagua's eight nodes are also the eight pre-Christian European cross-quarter days celebrated in Wicca as the Wheel of the Year, a remarkable parallel between two unrelated traditions. Continue with Trigram, Hexagram, I Ching, and Yin and Yang.

Also known as

• Pa Kua
• Eight Trigrams
• Eight Symbols
• Trigram Diagram
• Bagua Diagram