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Bagua

The bagua, the eight trigrams of the Yijing: what the broken and unbroken lines mean, how the trigrams are arranged around the yin-yang and how they are used in Daoism and feng shui.

Also called Eight trigrams · Pa kua

In brief

  1. I.The bagua is a ring of eight trigrams, each made of three lines, broken (yin) or unbroken (yang).
  2. II.The trigrams stand for heaven, earth, thunder, water, mountain, wind, fire and lake.
  3. III.Paired together they form the 64 hexagrams of the Yijing, the Book of Changes.
  4. IV.An octagonal bagua mirror is hung over doors to ward off harm.

Chapter I

What it means

Each trigram is three lines stacked, each line yin (broken) or yang (unbroken). Three lines with two possibilities give eight trigrams, the bagua. Together they describe all the basic situations and forces of the world: heaven (three yang lines), earth (three yin lines), and between them thunder, water, mountain, wind, fire and lake.

Set in a ring, the trigrams show change as a cycle: the world is never fixed but always moving from one state into another. At the centre often sits the yin-yang, the source of all change.

Chapter II

Where it comes from

Tradition credits the trigrams to the mythical sage Fuxi. The 64 hexagrams of the Yijing The Book of Changes, an ancient Chinese classic of divination built on 64 hexagrams. Glossary were used for divination by the Zhou dynasty (from about 1000 BCE), and commentaries attributed to Confucius made the book a classic of philosophy. Daoists used the trigrams in ritual, inner alchemy and the arrangement of temples.

Chapter III

Where you see it today

The bagua appears on Daoist robes and temple ceilings, is used in feng shui to read the layout of homes, and gives its name to the martial art baguazhang. Small bagua mirrors hang over doorways across Chinese communities.

Questions people ask

What is the Yijing?

The Book of Changes, an ancient Chinese text of divination and wisdom, built on 64 hexagrams. It became one of the Confucian classics and is deeply important in Daoism.

Are there different arrangements?

Yes. The “Earlier Heaven” arrangement sets opposites across from each other; the “Later Heaven” arrangement follows the seasons and directions and is used in feng shui.

Sources and further reading

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Taoism: symbolism and mythology”
  2. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Feng shui”
  3. Livia Kohn, Daoism and Chinese Culture (Three Pines Press, 2001)
  4. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Religious symbolism and iconography”

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