Chinese Science
Chinese Science Overview
Yin and
Yang
Five
Classical Elements
Sun
Tzu's Five Elements
Mapping
the Elements
The Bagua
(Eight Ways)
Sun
Tzu's Diagrams
The Bagua (Eight Ways)
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Before-Heaven Bagua: The
original form, said to
come from markings on a tortoise shell, shows each element with its opposite
(yinyang). The symbols are from the I-Ching
(Yijing). |
Probably the best-known diagram in Chinese culture is the Bagua. The Bagua (ba gua literally means "eight ways" or
"eight directions") is one of the oldest forms in
this Chinese tradition. Its earliest form dates back almost
5,000 years. It is the foundation of the I Ching (Yijing),
or Book of Changes.
It is considered to be a symbol of good luck, and eight is the luckiest
number.
The earlier "Before Heaven" form of the diagram
shows each of eight elements arranged opposed to its opposite.
Today this form is most commonly associated with various schools of Tai
Chi. It is also closely associated with Taoism. This is the form
that Sun Tzu used in designing his system. All the elements in the
"Before Heaven" form—heaven, earth, fire, water, lake, mountain, wood,
thunder—are used either directly or as symbols in the text.
The After-Heaven Bagua are an unbalanced arrangement
of the same elements. This arrangement is meant to reflect the dynamic
universe.
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Today, the Bagua
is best known in its "After Heaven" form from Feng Shui, the Chinese art of creating harmonious
living spaces. From this, you can see how positions have changed. Though it has many forms, the basic purpose of the
Bagua is
to show relationships between natural elements. In Feng Shui,
these Bagua relationships include colors and areas of your life
such as career, marriage, wealth, children, and so on. The
eight sides also connect with eight trigrams (of the 64) in the I Ching.
