What do the symbols on the Bagua diagram represent?

The names of the symbols on the Bagua chart are "Qian (?), Kun (?), Kan (?), Li (?), Zhen (?), Xun (?), Gen (?) , Dui (?)" correspond to the eight directions, respectively representing the eight things and natural phenomena of "heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, and lake".

It is recorded in the "Taiping Yulan" of the Northern Song Dynasty: "Fuxi sat on the square altar, listening to the energy of the eight winds, and then painted the Eight Diagrams." (Fuxi sat on the square altar, listening to the energy from the eight winds. The breath of the direction, so the Bagua diagram was drawn)

In the Bagua, "--" is yang, and "--" is yin, forming the Bagua: Qian is the sky, Kun is the earth, and earthquake is the thunder. , Xun is the wind, Kan is the water, Gen is the mountain, Li is the fire, and Dui is the lake, which resembles the feelings of all things. The eight trigrams are divided into eight directions, and the picture of Tai Chi is drawn in the middle.

"Yi Zhuan" believes that the Eight Diagrams mainly symbolize the eight natural phenomena of heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountains and lakes, and believes that the two hexagrams "Qian" and "Kun" account for the most part in the Eight Diagrams. It has a particularly important position and is the original source of all phenomena in nature and human society. Bagua was originally a symbol used by ancient people to record events, and was later used as a divination symbol. In ancient times, Bagua diagrams were often used as patterns to eliminate evil and avoid disasters.

Extended information

The origin and development of Bagua

It is said that the innate Bagua was created by Fuxi based on the two star charts and calendar "Hetu Luoshu" created by Suiren. . The location is Guadi Village in Hongdong, because this village is surrounded by mountains and there are eight villages distributed around it, and they are all eight miles apart, shaped like the bottom of Gua Di. Fuxi used scenes to draw hexagrams, so he created the Bagua Diagram.

Bagua originated from the ancient Chinese concept of the basic universe formation, the relationship between the earth's rotation (yin and yang) corresponding to the sun and the moon, agricultural society and the philosophy of life. The most original source of information is the Yi Jing of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which contains sixty-four hexagrams, but no images.

As of the Song Dynasty, some scholars believed that the four images performed the Bagua (direction), and eighty-eight generated sixty-four hexagrams. This was the Fuxi Bagua, also called the Xiantian Bagua.

Some scholars believe that the Bagua should come from King Wen of Zhou’s theory of universe. He believed that there was heaven and earth first, and the intersection of heaven and earth created all things. Heaven is Qian, earth is Kun, and the other six hexagrams of Bagua are all their children: Zhen The eldest boy is the eldest boy, Kan is the middle boy, and Gen is the young boy; Xun is the eldest daughter, Li is the middle girl, and Dui is the girl. This is King Wen's Bagua, also known as Houtian Bagua.

Since the Song Dynasty, Bagua symbols have often appeared in conjunction with Tai Chi diagrams, representing the ultimate truth of traditional Chinese beliefs: "Tao". In addition, the Eight Diagrams still correspond to the eight gates. Regarding the acquired Bagua, it starts from the Zhengbeikan Gua: Xiu, Sheng, Shang, Du, Jing, Death, Jing, and Kai.