Ba Gua
Qi plays a fundamental role throughout Chinese traditional medicine as well as in Chinese martial arts and the Ba Gua helps us to understand this flow. Fu Xi was a sage king who lived around the year 2800 B.C.E. and originally drew the Ba Gua. The eight trigrams would become known as the Xian Tian Ba Gua, or the Early Heaven Sequence. These eight gua were also combined into 64 hexagrams of Hou Tian Ba Gua, or Later Heaven Sequence, by King Wen. While these 64 hexagrams are also found in I Ching (Yi Jing), a foundational book for study of this art, this essay will focus on the eight trigrams, their meaning, and their relevance to the people at the time.
The Ba Gua as a whole is a symbol of eight trigrams centered around the Yin Yang. Each trigram is a set of three lines, either whole or broken. Ch'ien, or Heaven, is three solid lines drawing from Yang while K'un, or Earth, is three broken lines drawing from Yin. The other six are combinations of these and represent a mixing and balancing of the forces. The symbol is pervasive throughout many cultures and is even part of the Korean flag (Li 1998). Different sources will refer to these trigrams by different names, but this essay will use the names given in the I Ching (Wilhelm & Baynes 1950). The Ba Gua is about balance, with no one trigram exceeding the others. However, two trigrams are recognized as parents: Ch'ien and K'un.
Ch'ien, the concept of Heaven, is found not only in Ba Gua but throughout Chinese history, including Confucianism, Daoism, and Taoism. It is worth noting that the concept of Heaven is integral to the Ba Gua, but equally important to recognize that this concept is independent of the Western religious usage. Heaven, part of Yang, represents “the cosmic forces that influence our life on Earth”(Biso 2016 p.146). There is balance within this concept as well, with Heaven being given the qualities of both light and dark. Ch'ien, also referred to as The Creative, manifests in the head and exerts order over the entire body. Connection to Heaven occurs through Baihui, an acu-point on the top of the head (Biso 2016).
K'un is the concept of Earth. Earth, as might be expected, is the opposite of Heaven. Earth is Yin to Heaven's Yang. Much like Heaven, Earth is given two contrasting qualities because there is also balance in Earth, which represents both the yielding and the firm. K'un is also called the Receptive and manifests in the belly, though connection to Earth occurs through Yongquan, acu-points on the bottom of the feet (Biso 2016). The connection between the Yongquan and the Baihui creates the flow of Qi through a person, circulating between Earth and Heaven, which is why Ch'ien and K'un are known as the father and mother, respectively.
“The places are divided into the dark and the light. The yielding and the firm occupy these by turns. Therefore, the Book of Changes has six places, which constitute the linear figures” (Wilhelm & Baynes 1950 p.264). This passage, found in the Book of Changes, describes the balance of the parents—light and dark, yielding and firm—combining to make six children, representing the remaining six trigrams: three sons and three daughters. Also, much like the parents, balance is key and these forces are not opposed to one another, but are meant to live in harmony. “Heaven and earth determine the direction. The forces of mountain and lake are united. Thunder and wind arouse each other. Water and fire do not combat each other. Thus are the eight trigrams intermingled”(Wilhelm & Baynes 1950 p.265). Again, it is well worth noting that these are not strictly literal interpretations, nor should predominately Western ideals be forced onto these concepts. For example, perhaps the most obvious is an apparent contradiction with including both fire and water. However, the I Ching recognizes that while these forces are irreconcilable in the phenomenal world, their primal relationships “do not conflict; on the contrary, they balance each other” (Wilhelm & Baynes 1950 p.266)
The first son is Chên, or Thunder. Chên embodies strong movement, activity, and vitality. It is therefore not surprising that Chên would manifest in the foot. Chên is referred to as the Arousing. As with Heaven, it is important to understand how this term would have been understood. “Arousing” for this trigram refers to “evocative”, “rise” or “awaken”. So in the phrase “thunder and wind arouse each other”, the author means that the forces work to move one another, wind moving a storm across the sky while thunder urges the wind onward.
If thunder brings about movement, wind brings about dispersion. Sun, or Wind, is the eldest daughter of the six. While inciting movement in thunder, Sun is inherently gentle, dispersing the rigidity of winter, though like the wind is also penetrating. Where thunder may be used to achieve immediate goals, it must be balanced with Sun, which requires a long view of one's goal to be achieved through many small victories. In the same way, patience without action is indecisiveness, demonstrating why these two forces are opposite yet complementary. These two forces are also physiologically near one another, with Wind manifesting in the thighs. This conjures images of more deliberate movements: “what the heart desires, the thighs run after” (Wilhelm & Baynes 1950 p.124)
K'an (Water) is the middle son. While K'an manifests in the body in the ears, the concept of K'an represents the heart, a person's soul locked in their body. This is also why Water is associated with reason, as it is light enclosed in the dark. Water is known as the Abysmal, as in an Abyss or chasm. This is because when this force is balanced in the body, one may pass through danger much like the river cuts through the ravine, filling up wherever it passes without fearing the dangerous places. In translating this to our actions, Water is sincerity, being honest with both others as well as ourselves.
Lí is paired with K'an, representing Fire. The middle daughter, this is the first of the children to leave the lower body as Lí manifests in the eye, particularly the eye's “brightness”. The concept, however, leaves the body entirely, representing the radiance of nature. Where water flows, fire clings and so is also known as the Clinging. Fire, while certainly embracing the traditional phenomenon, also includes more generally “light”. The sun (the celestial body, not the trigram) and moon are both part of the Clinging, as they cling to the Heavens; this is central to the concept of fire: whatever it clings to is made brighter. While water is thought to follow its own path, carving through the ravine, fire recognizes that everything is dependent, relying on harmony and beneficial forces lest the fire burn out.
Kên is the youngest son. Kên is closer to the mother and visualized as Mountain and the ideal of Keeping Still. Kên is a force which urges quiet, raising momentary stillness as a complement to movement. It is said that only with the stillness of the hands—the place which manifests Kên—can the ego disappear and allow one to overcome the confusion of the individual and truly contemplate the universal. There is an idiom: look before you leap. This is what Kên urges, to remain still before any action, before any mistakes, and in doing so best prepare for what is to come.
Finally, Kên is paired with Tuì, the Lake. Tuì is the youngest of all the children and the third daughter. It is also interesting that while many of the pairs are contrasting (while still being complementary), both Tuì and Kên are notable for their reliance on the firm aspects of the mother, rather than her yielding characteristics. The Lake is joyous, but the yielding characteristic is a dark principle (yin) and so “yielding joy” is sadness. The joy found in the Lake stands on firmness and one's own internal strength. Joy lends itself to others as well, and manifests in the mouth, being associated with both laughter and speaking the truth. Much like Water, the Lake is a filling force where a proper balance will prevent outside ills from taking root in the body.
The importance of the Ba Gua cannot be understated; indeed, the Book of Changes and its description of the trigrams forms the foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The theory “is built on the unity of opposites, including the balance of nature, as well as the balance inside and outside the human body”(Li 1998 p.33). The theory influenced many throughout history, including informing life sciences (Wei Boyang during the Eastern Han dynasty), war, (Zhuge Liang in the three states period (220-280)), and music (Zhu-Zai-xu in the Ming dynasty)(Li 1998). Research into TCM as well as the Ba Gua continues even to this day, underscoring the importance and relevance of these forces which have persisted through thousands of years.
References
Biso, T. (2016) The Art of Ba Gua Zhang. Outskirts Press, Inc.
Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). General Writing FAQs. Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/general_writing_faqs.html
Wilhelm, R. & Baynes, C. (1950) The I Ching or Book of Changes. Princeton University Press.
Li, Y. (1998) Book of Changes and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Beijing Science and Technology Press.