if you’re new to feng shui and Bagua, it can be quite a bit to take in all at once, so we’ve put together this beginner’s guide to understanding Bagua and how it differs from other types of feng shui. In this guide, you’ll learn how the Bagua map differs from the Flying Star Map, how to create your own personal Bagua map, what different shapes of the bagua signify, and much more! You’ll have all the information you need to get started with your own personalized Bagua map in no time!

What is Bagua?

Feng shui bagua is one of fengshui’s most powerful and practical tools. The bagua was developed in ancient China over 5,000 years ago and has been used to navigate through life ever since. It provides you with simple guidance, letting you know what actions will have a positive effect on your life and which actions will have a negative effect. As long as you apply it properly, feng shui bagua can be an incredible asset in your journey toward a better life. What is Feng Shui Bagua?

The eight trigrams are the basic concept of the I Ching, representing all natural phenomena in their state of motion, with each trigram consisting of three lines. The word trigram translates to hanging, and is commonly used to refer to phenomena such as man and machine types. For example, the phenomenon of “Heaven” is “suspended” by the trigram “Qian”. This means that Qian is the trigram and Tian is the image. A trigram can be hung in many, many phenomena, but not arbitrary hanging, there are specific rules. Each phenomenon can find a trigram to hang, and it is not arbitrary. First comes the elephant, then the trigram. The ten thousand elephants are incorporated into the eight trigrams, and the eight trigrams hang the ten thousand elephants. Using the eight trigrams as a model for all the elephants, it is helpful to study and understand the model of the eight trigrams.

The creation of the eight trigrams in the I Ching can be traced back to He Tu and Luo Shu, as well as Tai Chi. Taiji gives birth to the two yi, the two yi gives birth to the four elephants, the four elephants gives birth to the eight trigrams, the eight trigrams determine good and bad fortune, and good and bad fortune give birth to great cause.

The combination of the eight trigrams of the project, can represent a variety of natural phenomena or dynamics, respectively, “sky, earth, water, fire, thunder, wind, mountain, water” (can be called the first eight images, because the eight trigrams can be said to be the first trigrams in the eight people are most likely to see the phenomenon), the name of the trigrams are called “Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, Zhen, Xun, Burgundy and Tui. The eight trigrams of the I Ching represent ancient Chinese cultural thought, including astronomy, geography and philosophy, and their theories also relate to literature, martial arts and Chinese music.

If the eight trigrams are repeated two by two, they form the 64 trigrams. The original eight trigrams (three lines) are also known as eight ‘single trigrams’, while the combination of two trigrams up and down (six lines) is known as ‘heavy trigrams’. The ancient Chinese classic I Ching (pinyin: Yijing) consists of 64 trigrams arranged in pairs, called ‘gua’, with a commentary on each one.

Bagua originated in China and consists of eight symbols used in Taoist teaching, each consisting of three rows, each “broken” or “unbroken”, representing yin or yang, respectively, and 0 or 1 forming the binary numbers 000 to 111, equivalent to the octal numbers 0 to 7. Because of their three-part structure, they are commonly referred to in English as the Bagua.

It is an esoteric concept from an ancient Chinese culture, a set of philosophical symbols. The basis of the eight trigrams is based on the Yi Xiang, the basis of the heavy trigrams is in the line change, “line in which to carry on” is the internal dynamics of the flow of the Yi Dao. The eight trigrams represent the yin and yang system of things changing on their own, with “one” representing yang, with “- -” representing yin, with these two symbols, in accordance with nature’s yin and yang changes in parallel combinations, forming eight different forms, called the eight trigrams. The eight trigrams are in fact the first written symbols.

These trigrams are related to the Tai Chi philosophy and the five elements. There are two arrangements of the three trigrams in relation to each other, the Pre-Tian trigrams, the “Pre-Tian” or “Fuxi” trigrams (Fuxi trigrams) and the Hsien (Hou-Tian trigrams), the “Hou-Tian”, or “Wen Wang” trigrams. Bagua. They are used in feng shui, astronomy, astrology, geography, family, martial arts, Chinese medicine, etc.

Components of Bagua

1.Yao

“Yao” in Chinese, it is “爻”, is the most basic symbol, which means interlacing, which is represented by odd pictures (“⚊” is called Yang Yao) or even pictures (“⚋” is called Yin Yao).

Yao has two types of yin and yang. Four images are added with one more line to form a gossip.

The lines are arranged from bottom to top. The meaning of the “three” lines symbolizes “heaven, man and earth” (the sky is above, the earth is below, and people are in it).

2. single hexagram (sutra hexagram)

A single hexagram (jing hexagram) can be formed by three Yaos.
Eight Trigrams means eight single trigrams (eight sutras).

Chinese Version				English Version
	符号	卦名	自然象征		symbol	Gua name	natural symbol
1	☰	乾qián	天	1	☰	qián	Heaven
2	☱	兑duì	泽	2	☱	duì	Lake
3	☲	离lí	火	3	☲	lí	fire
4	☳	震zhèn	雷	4	☳	zhèn	thunder
5	☴	巽xùn	风	5	☴	xùn	wind
6	☵	坎kǎn	水	6	☵	kǎn	water
7	☶	艮gèn	山	7	☶	gèn	Mountain
8	☷	坤kūn	地	8	☷	kūn	Ground

Each hexagram represents a state or process.

3. Heavy hexagrams (different hexagrams)

Sixty-four hexagrams can be evolved through the eight trigrams. When two gossips are superimposed on each other (complex trigrams), they form eighty-eighty-sixty-four trigrams.
Sixty-four hexagrams, meaning sixty-four heavy hexagrams (sixty-four different hexagrams). That is, the eight “single hexagrams” (jing hexagrams) are intertwined with latitude and longitude to form sixty-four “heavy hexagrams” (different hexagrams).

bagua hexagram

Bāguà—The eight trigrams

Bagua used in Feng Shui

Bagua is one of the essential tools of Feng Shui. There are two different versions of the Bagua used in Feng Shui: those used in cemeteries are the Primal Bagua and those used in residences are called the Later Bagua.

The Xiantian Bagua (Primordial Bagua)

Fuxi Bagua

卦名	自然	季节	性情	家族	方位	意義
Name	Nature	Season	Personality	Family	Direction	Meaning
乾 Qián	天 Sky (Heaven)	Summer	Creative	父 Father	南 South	健 Expansive energy, the sky. For further information, see tiān.
巽 Xùn	風 Wind	Summer	Gentle	長女 Eldest Daughter	西南 Southwest	入 Gentle penetration, flexibility.
坎 Kǎn	水 Water	Autumn	Abysmal	中男 Middle Son	西 West	陷 Danger, rapid rivers, the abyss, the moon.
艮 Gèn	山 Mountain	Autumn	Still	少男 Youngest Son	西北 Northwest	止 Stillness, immovability.
坤 Kūn	地 Earth	Winter	Receptive	母 Mother	北 North	順 Receptive energy, that which yields. For further information, see dì.
震 Zhèn	雷 Thunder	Winter	Arousing	長男 Eldest Son	東北 Northeast	動 Excitation, revolution, division.
離 Lí	火 Fire	Spring	Clinging	中女 Middle Daughter	東 East	麗 Rapid movement, radiance, the sun.
兌 Duì	澤 Lake	Spring	Joyous	少女 Youngest Daughter	東南 Southeast	悅 Joy, satisfaction, stagnation.

Shao Yong, a scholar of the Song dynasty, that the four signs of the eight trigrams (orientation), eight-eights to generate 64 trigrams, this is the Fuxi Bagua, also known as the Manifested Bagua; some scholars believe that the eight trigrams should come from King Wen’s doctrine of Qian and Kun, he believes that the first heaven and earth, heaven and earth intersect and generate everything, the sky is dry, the earth is Kun, the other six trigrams are its children: Zhen for the long male, Kan for the male, Burgundy for the young male; Xun for the long female, leaving for the female, Tui for the young girl. This is the Eight Trigrams of the King of Wens, also known as the Eight Trigrams of the Later Heaven. Before Shao Yong, there was no distinction between the first and second Heavenly Bagua.

The Houtian Bagua(Manifested Bagua)

Manifested Bagua

卦名	自然	季节	性情	家族	方位	意義
Name	Nature	Season	Personality	Family	Direction	Meaning
離 Li	火 Fire	Summer	Clinging	中女 Middle Daughter	南 South	麗 Pulsing motion, radiance, the luminaries.
坤 Kun	地 Earth	Summer	Receptive	母 Mother	西南 Southwest	順 Receptive energy, that which yields.
兌 Dui	澤 Lake	Autumn	Joyous	少女 Youngest Daughter	西 West	悅 Joy, satisfaction, stagnation.
乾 Qian	天 Heaven	Autumn	Creative	父 Father	西北 Northwest	健 Expansive energy, the sky.
坎 Kan	水 Water	Winter	Abysmal	中男 Middle Son	北 North	陷 Danger, rapid rivers, the abyss, the moon.
艮 Gen	山 Mountain	Winter	Still	少男 Youngest Son	東北 Northeast	止 Stillness, immovability.
震 Zhen	雷 Thunder	Spring	Arousing	長男 Eldest Son	東 East	動 Excitation, revolution, division.
巽 Xun	風 Wind	Spring	Gentle	長女 Eldest Daughter	東南 Southeast	入 Gentle penetration, flexibility.

The eight trigrams of the Later Heaven have a one-to-one relationship with the southeast and northwest directions: Zhen, Li, Tui and Kan represent due east, south, west and north respectively, while the remaining four trigrams represent the southeast, southwest, northwest and northeast corners. The diagram on the right also reflects the traditional way of making maps in ancient China.

Front south, back north (sitting north facing south), left east, right west. This orientation is exactly one hundred and eighty degrees different from the direction of the modern maps imported from the West, where north is the upper part of the map. (The development of China’s historical boundaries up to ancient times: from north to south, from the Yellow and Huai plains to the Yangtze river basin, may explain the idea of the ancients making maps.)

Why are the orientations of the Pre-ternatural Bagua different from the Post-ternatural Bagua? Some people believe that the Precessional Bagua reflects the view of the world before it was created, while the Postcessional Bagua is the opposite. Others believe that the first and second trigrams represent the concepts of three-dimensional vertical space and flat time respectively (similar to the dimensions in Western studies), as in the Qing dynasty’s Zhang Chao’s “Shadow of a Dream”, which reads: “The first trigrams are also seen vertically; the second trigrams are also seen horizontally”.

Bagua Map

The Bagua Map is a tool used in modern Feng Shui to map out a room or location and to see how the different sections correspond to different aspects of life. These factors affect the recipient’s fame, relationships, marriage, children, creativity, travel, occupation, inner knowledge, family relationships, health, and wealth.

The Bagua Map is intended to be used in the land, home, office or desk to identify areas lacking in good chi and to show negative or missing spaces in the life or environment that may need to be corrected or enhanced.

A Beginner’s Guide to Feng Shui Bagua 2022