I Ching/Bagua
From Public Domain Knowledge Bank
Another possible source of bagua is the following, attributed to King Wen of Zhou Dynasty: "When the world began, there was heaven and earth. Heaven mated with the earth and gave birth to everything in the world. Heaven is Qian-gua, and the Earth is Kun-gua. The remaining six guas are their sons and daughters".
The trigrams are related to the five elements of Wu Xing, used by Feng Shui practitioners and in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Those five elements are Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.
- The Water (Kan) and Fire (Li) trigrams correspond directly with the Water and Fire elements.
- The element of Wood corresponds with the trigrams of Wind (Xun) (as a gentle but inexorable force that can erode and penetrate stone) and Thunder (Zhen).
- The element of Earth corresponds with both the trigrams of Earth (Kun) and Mountain (Gen).
- The element of Metal corresponds with the trigrams of Heaven (Qian) and Lake (Dui).
There are eight possible combinations to render the various trigrams (八卦 bāguà):
| Trigram figure | Possible binary value | Name | Translation: Wilhelm<ref>Wilhelm, R. & Baynes, C., (1967): "The I Ching or Book of Changes", With foreword by Carl Jung, Introduction, Bollingen Series XIX, Princeton University Press, (1st ed. 1950)</ref> | Image in nature (pp.l-li) | Direction (p. 269) | Family relationship (p. 274) | Body part (p. 274) | Attribute (p. 273) | Stage/ state (pp.l-li) | Animal (p. 273) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ☰ | 111 | 乾 qián |
the Creative, (natural) force | heaven, sky Template:Lang |
northwest | father | head | strong, persisting | creative | Template:Lang horse |
| 2 | ☱ | 110 | Template:Lang duì |
the Joyous, open (reflection) | lake, marsh Template:Lang |
west | third daughter | mouth | pleasure | tranquil (complete devotion) | Template:Lang sheep, goat |
| 3 | ☲ | 101 | Template:Lang lí |
the Clinging, radiance | fire, glow Template:Lang |
south | second daughter | eye | light-giving, humane "dependence" | clinging, clarity, adaptable | Template:Lang pheasant |
| 4 | ☳ | 100 | Template:Lang zhèn |
the Arousing, shake | thunder Template:Lang |
east | first son | foot | inciting movement | initiative | Template:Lang dragon |
| 5 | ☴ | 011 | Template:Lang xùn |
the Gentle, ground | wind, air Template:Lang |
southeast | first daughter | thigh | penetrating | gentle entrance | Template:Lang fowl |
| 6 | ☵ | 010 | Template:Lang kǎn |
the Abysmal, gorge | water Template:Lang |
north | second son | ear | dangerous | in-motion | Template:Lang pig |
| 7 | ☶ | 001 | Template:Lang gèn |
Keeping Still, bound | mountain Template:Lang |
northeast | third son | hand | resting, stand-still | completion | Template:Lang wolf, dog |
| 8 | ☷ | 000 | Template:Lang kūn |
the Receptive, field | ground, earth Template:Lang |
southwest | mother (consort) | belly | devoted, yielding | receptive | Template:Lang cow |
