Chinese Diagrams: The Ba Gua

The Eight Ways

The ancient Chinese made diagrams explaining nature and natural forces. The Bagua (ba gua: eight diagrams) is one of the oldest forms in this Chinese tradition. Its earliest  form dates back almost 5,000 years and is the foundation of the I Ching (Yijing).

In explaining Sun Tzu's concepts, we diagramed the relationships that he explains in his text especially in our Amazing Secrets book. We did not realize that those diagrams were a version of the ancient  Ba-gua until a martial arts student who was also a reader pointed it out. The main difference in Sun Tzu's version is that the natural forces of "water" and "fire" are replaced with the "commander" and "methods." (See below.) Given this fact, it is not surprising that both water and fire are two special types of attacks that Sun Tzu singles out in his work.  Layers of connections like these are that way that ancient Chinese scientists understood the deep connection to things.

The earlier "Before Heaven" form shows each of eight elements arranged apart from its opposite. Today this form is most commonly associated with various schools of Tai Chi. It is also closely associated with Taoism. 

Today, the Bagua is best known in its "After Heaven" form from Feng Shui, the Chinese art of creating harmonious living spaces. From this, you can see how positions have changed. Though it has many forms, the basic purpose of the Bagua is to show relationships between natural elements. In Feng Shui, these Bagua relationships include colors and areas of your life such as career, marriage, wealth, children, and so on. The eight sides also connect with eight triagrams (of the 64) in the I Ching. 

The connections to Sun Tzu's system can be seen more easily in the "Before Heaven" version. Thanks to reader cyberjanus for pointing this out.

The "After-Heaven" Bagua a Gua or Eight Diagrams are an unbalanced  arrangement of the same elements. This arrangement is meant to reflect the dynamic uinverse and is used in Feng Shui.

Tantalizing Connections to Sun Tzu

If we map Sun Tzu's system to the "Before Heaven" form, with Heaven in the north and the Earth in the south, these relationships are consistent with Sun Tzu. However, trying to associate associate fire and water with leadership and methods is a bit more confused. There are even more problems associating Sun Tzu with the Five Chinese Elements which represent the earliest forms of the Bagua (see "directions" in the element chart.)

Sun Tzu uses water to indicate change. This maps to  leadership decision-making, which is changing directions. Water is also associated with knowledge and hearing which are still of leadership skills. However, water is also "female" in its associations and somewhat antithetical to the five key characteristics of leadership (intelligence, courage, trustworthiness, strictness, and caring).

Similarly, Sun Tzu's uses fire is as a method of attack. Fire is also associated with propriety and taste, both of which Sun Tzu associates with methods. However, fire is also associated with sight, which also belongs in the realm of the leader. (See table of Chinese Elements below).

Though Sun Tzu almost certainly knew of some form of the  Bagua (probably "before heaven" and its relationships, like the Chinese table of elements, he does not appear use them as any direct basis for his work. Stylistically, he created a similar world of relationships to explain competitive systems, using similar terms, but his relationships are largely his own. He did not see any usable connection between his world of competition and the "science" of his time describing the natural world. A couple of his stanzas specifically contradict certain stanzas in the Tao Te Ching, which became the primary sources influencing the development of the Bagua.

The diagrams that reflect Sun Tzu's model are shown in our slide show and explained in detail in our Amazing Secrets series. This fact alone defines him as a pragmatist rather than a philosopher. He was more interested in the real workings of the world than any "ideal" patterns behind it.  

 

The Five Elements in Chinese Tradition and a Few Associations
elements	WOOD	FIRE	EARTH	METAL	WATER
directions	east	south	center	west	north
virtues	benevolence	propriety	good faith	righteousness	knowledge
actions	countenance	sight	thought	speech	listening
senses	sight	taste	touch	smell	hearing
sounds	calling	laughing	singing	lamenting	moaning
colors	blue/green	red	yellow	white	black
symbols	dragon	phoenix	caldron	tiger	tortoise
seasons	spring	summer	between	autumn	winter
conditions	rain	heat	wind	clear	cold
planets	Jupiter	Mars	Saturn	Venus	Mercury
animals	scaled	winged	naked	furred	shelled
Tastes	sour	bitter	sweet	acrid/spicy	salty
Smells	goatish	burning	fragrant	rank	rotten