The path that one person follows is not the correct path for any other person . Each of us must walk his own path to enlightenment— that is the way.
I Ching (The Book of Changes)
Ba Gua Theory
INTERNATIONAL MEIHUA QUAN FEDERATION
Eight Diagrams
The eight diagrams originated from ancient people’s understanding of the universe’s formation, the relationship between the sun, moon, and the earth, agricultural society, and philosophy of life. They represent the eight elements that make up the universe.
In the long-term practice, the ancients discovered limitations in expressing thoughts in words, so the sages designed hexagrams to express their understanding of the world and finally added words below to form a complete system. The purpose is to use the finite hexagrams to correspond to the infinite world and the understanding of the world. They summarize the world into eight phenomena, represented by eight trigrams, also called jing trigrams or shan trigrams.
eight classics hexagrams
In the Eight Classics hexagrams, the Qian hexagram represents heaven, the Kun hexagram represents the earth, the Li hexagram represents the sun, and the Kan hexagram represents the moon.
Time and space keep moving, so there are four more hexagrams: Zhen hexagram represents thunder. It is “Thunder and Wind Phase Thin”; Gua Gen Gua represents high mountains and land, and Dui Gua represents oceans and rivers. After the thunder vibrates, there is airflow, which is wind; Sunda hexagram represents wind, the air current vibrates too much, and electricity will be generated when it rubs.
Bagua Diagram
Innate & Acquired Gossip
There are two types of gossip: innate gossip and acquired gossip. The innate gossip reveals the laws of the macroscopic world and reflects the state of all things in the early days of the universe and the earth. The acquired gossip reflects the specific conditions of Nature and human society. Congenital and acquired are distinguished in time and space. Innate refers to the law. Acquired refers to the phenomenon; innate is unfulfilled, and later has not been accomplished; what has not been formed can be changed, but the fact cannot be changed; the future can be changed, but the reality cannot be changed.
Innate Gossip
The ancients believed that before everything in the universe was formed, it was innate, and everything was acquired. The innate qi is the source of all things, and the innate gossip contains the principle of the formation of heaven and earth and the big phenomenon of the formation of the universe. The congenital gossip clarifies the law of the changes of heaven and earth and the theory that makes people adapt to this law. The sixty-four hexagrams of Fuxi, which evolved from the innate gossip, are also mainly used for the evolution of the divination world. This evolution is independent of human will. For example, “Huangji Jingshi,” used for the divination of national fortunes, uses innate gossip. If you want fortune-telling about personal affairs and infer the good and bad luck of general affairs, you need to rely on the gossip of the day after tomorrow.
The Xiantian Bagua diagram forms a “heaven-earth” meridian from Gan to Kun and a “water-fire” latitude from Kan to Li. The yin and yang lines of the two opposite hexagrams are exactly opposite, such as:
The positioning of heaven and earth:
- Qian Gua is pure Yang, Kun Gua pure Yin.
- They are one south, one north, one up, and one down.
- They face each other.
Shanze ventilation: Gen is the mountain in the northwest, and Dui is in the southeast. Mountains and lakes are two opposites. Thunder and wind are thin: Xun is the wind in the southwest, and the earthquake is thunder in the northeast, which creates a state of “phase thin”. Water and fire do not meet each other: Li is the sun in the east, and the moon is in the west. Fire and water are incompatible, so one east and one west.
Acquired gossip
The Houtian gossip, also known as the Wenwang gossip, was created by Zhou Wenwang’s transformation of innate gossip. In the process of studying innate gossip, King Wen of Zhou found that it was inconsistent with reality, so he changed the orientation to make it conform to the laws of change of all things in Nature. He also added the number nine to the hexagram and the position of Middle-earth. In practical applications, most of the later generations use the innate gossip as the “body” and the acquired gossip as the “use.” Elements such as the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and the Five Elements are based on the Eight Diagrams of the Later Heaven. The Houtian Bagua map corresponds to the Luoshu Jiugong map.
The Houtian Bagua shows the movement and changes of all things in the universe’s environment. It describes the law of connection between the sun, the moon, and the earth. It observes and describes the universe with people and the earth as the center. The acquired gossip is a rule derived from the passage of the four seasons and the growth and collection of all things. It can be seen from the “Said Gua Biography” that all things are born in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn, and store in winter. There are 360 days a week. Its transition point is on the eight festivals of the four squares and four corners on the day. Each hexagram has three lines, and the eight trigrams have a total of twenty-four lines, that is, twenty-four solar terms in a year.
The attributes and meaning of gossip
The basic unit of gossip is Yao, a unique symbol for describing the changes of Yin and Yang.
1. Numeric properties
The number of innate gossips: Gan is one, Dui is two, Li is three, Zhen is four, Xun is five, Kan is six, Gen is seven, and Kun is eight; the number of acquired gossip: Kan is one, Kun is two, Zhen is three, Xun is four, the middle is five, dry is six, Dui is seven, Gen is eight, and separation is nine.
2. Yin and Yang attributes
Yin hexagram. The four hexagrams of Gan, Kan, Gen, and Zhen are Yang hexagrams, among which Gan is the father, Gen is the young male, Kan is the middle male, and Zhen is the eldest male (Zhen, Kan, and Gen are more yin than yang, and yin follows yang, so it is Yang hexagram). The four hexagrams of Kun, Dui, Li, and Xun are yin hexagrams, among which Kun is the mother, Dui is the young girl, Li is the middle girl, and Xun is the eldest daughter.
3. Orientation property
Innate gossip: Gannan, Kunbei, Lidong, Kangxi, Duidongnan, Zhendongbei, Xunnanxi, Gennorthwest. The gossip of the day after tomorrow: Zhendong, Duxi, Linan, Kanbei, Ganxibei, Kunsouthwest, Genbeibei, Xundongnan.
4. Five Elements
Gandui belongs to metal; Zhenxun belongs to wood; Kungen belongs to earth; Li belongs to fire; Kan belongs to water.
5. Prosperity Property
Qiandui is prosperous in autumn, but declines in winter; Zhenxun prospers in spring but declines in summer; Kungen prosperous in four seasons but declines in autumn; Li prosperous in summer, declines in four seasons; Kan prosperous in winter, declines in spring.