What is bagua(八卦)?

So what is bagua (八卦) and how does it comes about?

Bagua (八卦) comes from Yin and Yang.

In the very 1st stage, there was only emptiness. Which is also known as wu ji (无极).

Then it started to have Yin & Yang(a.k.a 太极/两仪).

After Yin & Yang, it started to have the 4 phenomena (a.k.a 四象).

Lastly is bagua (八卦). This is how bagua (八卦) comes about.

There are 2 arrangement for the bagua (八卦). One known as the early heaven bagua (八卦) and the other is known as the later heaven bagua (八卦).

Early Heaven Bagua (八卦)

In early heaven Bagua, also known as Fu Xi (2852 - 2737 BCE) Bagua (八卦), the Heaven is in the higher part and the Earth is in the lower part. The trigram Qian (乾) is at the top, in the South , and Kun (坤) at the bottom, in the North. Li (离) and Kan (坎) on the left and on the right-hand side form a pair. Zhen (震) and Xun (巽) form another pair, while being one opposite the other. Gen (艮) and Dui (兑) form another pair, while being one opposite the other, in balance and harmony. The adjustment of the trigrams is symmetrical by forming exact contrary pairs. They symbolize the opposite forces of Yin and Yang and represent an ideal state, when everything is in balance.

Later Heaven Bagua (八卦)

The sequence of the trigrams in later heaven bagua (八卦) , also known as the Bagua of King Wen (1099 - 1055 BCE), describes the patterns of the environmental changes. Kan is placed downwards and Li at the top, Zhen in the East and Dui in the West. Contrary to the Earlier Heaven Bagua, this one is a dynamic Bagua where energies and the aspects of each trigram flow towards the following. It is used in fengshui to tell us the direction of the place.

Overview

Early Heaven Bagua is like a man standing straight, where the body need the opposition force to create the balance so that man can stand straight. The Later Heaven Bagua is like a man who is starting to walk, the posture needed to balance the body so that there is a balance and will not fall due to lost of balance. So both Bagua is balance just presented in a different form. There is also another way of looking at the early and later heaven bagua. There is a way to derive the later heaven bagua from the early heaven bagua. (Hint: Using latitude and longitude and also the changing of lines in the gua) Try this out yourself, I had shown this to many of my student on how the early heaven bagua can change to the later heaven bagua.

Meanings of the bagua (八卦)

What is Fengshui?

What is fengshui? Many people thinks that fengshui got to do with taoist or buddhist. Is fengshui something got to do with religion? Do fengshui really need to place alot of items?

Fengshui (风水) directly translated means wind and water. But what is the wind and what is the water?

The wind in fengshui is commonly known as qi (气). We can say that it is the energy in the environment that we stay in that is affecting human. One very simple example is that the noise pollution in the city will cause one to have very bad mood. All this are proven by the scientist that the environment can affect the human. Therefore qi (气) not only means the air but is the energy that is in the environment that we stay in.

Where water is the place where all the qi (气) will stop and stay be it good or bad qi (气). A few example of waters are the roads, junctions in the modern cities, swimming pools, ponds and even reservoirs. Therefore many fengshui masters they use water to activate the fengshui for the house. One example is that they will tell you that this sector is the wealth sector so you will need a water feature to be place at this location or sector. One very important thing to note about water feature is that if you place the water feature at the wrong sector or location, it will also activate the bad energies that will affect the people.

Some people will say that fengshui (风水) is the study of how to stay harmoniously with the environment. That is why in the ancient civilization where all the towns and cities started near a junction of the rivers. Where all the qi (气) is held.

The art of fengshui (风水) is to hide and gather the wind (藏风聚气). Fengshui (风水) is about tapping the correct qi (气) and also making use of the qi (气) not by placing items that you think that it will bring in the qi (气) or make the qi (气) good.

Beside all this fengshui is a form of architecture but in the chinese form of context, check out the history of fengshui for more details about why i had this saying.