Related News
Home » Sunday » Now and Then
Taijitu and sequence of Baguas
WHICH Taijitu in picture 1 and picture 2 is the genuine national flag of South Korea?
We may have seen the national flag of South Korea so many times in our lives. However, when it comes to identifying it, some of us hesitate for a second. Certainly, you can research online and quickly find the right answer. It is picture 2.
Interestingly, both Taijitu can be seen in many Chinese historical records and books. But which one is correct? Some may argue that the two flags are mirror image of each other. It is true that the perfect symmetry of trigrams may cause various confusions and misunderstandings in “I Ching” studies. Many people have no idea how to distinguish the authentic Taijitu from the erroneous ones and thus turn a blind eye to it.
The Taiji altar (picture 3) in the front of the Taihao Tomb in Huaiyang County, Henan Province, is dedicated to the temple of Fu Xi, I Ching’s founder.
In ancient Chinese maps, the south used to be represented as the top while the north was at the bottom — “upside down” compared to the conventional maps of the modern times.
However, the Taiji altar has been “modernized” as the north is up while the south is down. But note that the building is actually north-facing, while we look at it facing the south.
Picture 4 is a simplified version of the Taiji altar. By comparing both pictures, we will find that the sequence of Bagua (Eight Trigrams) in the two pictures is completely identical.
The Taijitu in the center looks like two fish nestling head to tail against each other — the black one representing yin while the white one yang.
The intensity of yin/yang grows from the fish’s tail to head. The black fish swims in a direction that yin intensifies while yang weakens; the white fish vice versa. The black/white dot upon the opposite background, representing the fish eye, indicates the transformation of yin/yang to the opposite at its fullest.
For example, the black eye of the white fish means yang at the fullest starts to transform into yin.
Yin and yang are two and only two elements which are opposite yet complimentary to each other.
The hexagrams and their names in I Ching were well established and known circa the 9th century BC.
However, Baguatu (the diagram of Eight Trigrams) and the Taiji circle, two parts that Taiji Baguatu is consisting of, didn’t emerge into existence until 2,000 years later.
The circle appeared in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) or early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), at least 200 years later than the octagon Baguatu which first appeared in the 11th century of the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960-1127).
That might be the reason why it is common to see mismatches in the Taijitu with Baguatu. We may explore the puzzling confusion later on.
Let’s focus on the composition and sequence of Bagua for the time being. As such, picture 5 shows only the Baguatu.
Each of the eight trigrams has three yao (lines), known as the base yao, the middle yao and the top yao.
Each line has only two possibilities — two kinds of yao — either a whole line (—) as yang yao or a broken line (- -) as yin yao. So it has 2x2x2=8 trigrams, as 2 to the third power is 8.
These eight trigrams or 3-yao gua are named as Earth (☷), Mountain (☶), Water (☵), Wind (☴), Sky (☰), Valley (☱), Fire (☲) and Thunder (☳).
As shown in picture 5, the eight trigrams are displayed in anti-clockwise order, which is 0-Earth, 1-Mountain, 2-Water, 3-Wind, 4-Thunder, 5-Fire, 6-Valley and 7-Sky. Why is that? Based on the theory of yin and yang being opposites in “I Ching,” 4-Thunder, 5-Fire, 6-Valley, and 7-Sky are in an inverse order.
To look at the eight trigrams outward from the center of the circle, the base yao of 7-Sky, 6-Valley, 5-Fire and 4-Thunder is a whole line (yang yao) while that of the remaining four is a broken line (yin yao).
Bagua in such a sequence creates four pairs of trigrams — 7-Sky and 0-Earth, 6-Valley and 1-Mountain, 5-Fire and 2-Water, and 4-Thunder and 3-Wind.
Coincidently, the sum of the sequence numbers of each pair equals to a value of 7.
It is also interesting that if one draws a line connecting each gua in terms of the sequential number of these eight trigrams, you will get a shape similar to letter “S.” In abstract, it resembles the aforementioned pair of fish nestling against each other.
Shao Yong (1010-1077), one of the greatest Chinese philosophers from the Northern Song dynasty, is likely the first to discover the Bagua sequence.
However, the one who revealed the underlying logic was German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646-1716).
The binary algorithm invented by Leibnitz laid a foundation for the digital age we are living in and benefiting from. Leibnitz was substantially inspired by a copy of “I Ching” in Latin translated by Christian missionaries and brought back by Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730) in the later part of the 17th century.
He applied the binary coding in calculating the sequence of Bagua and reached the following sequence (picture 5):
How did Leibnitz achieve this? Did he draw on Shao Yong’s invention? Let’s explore more in detail next time.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证:沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证:31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证:0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证:沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证:沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.