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Ba Gua
Introduction : History : The Name : Curriculum : Articles
The Name
"Ba Gua" and "Pa Kua" are merely different spellings of the same romanized terms in the main dialect of the Chinese language, Mandarin.
Translated into English, "Ba (Pa)" means "Eight" and "Gua (Kua)" means "Trigram." (A trigram can be thought of as a 3 - pieced diagram) The character for "gua" is derived from a picture of the threads on a loom. It represents the transverse thread which in English we call the "warp" that weaves through the vertical threads.
The 8 Trigrams refer to the eight basic principles described in the ancient Chinese treatise, the "Yi Jing" more commonly known as the "I - Ching", or "Book of Changes".
The principles of Ba Gua and Change, lend themselves to 2 very different yet theoretically related
disciplines: Feng Shui, the "art of placement," and Ba Gua Zhang (Pa Kua Chang), the martial and healing art.
The "Zhang," or "Chang" means "palm." "Chuan" means "fist." Both terms are sometimes added to the word
Ba Gua, both imply martial art. "Ba Gua" also is the word used to designate, "feng shui" which is the chinese art of geomancy.
Based on natures cycles as demonstrated in the book of changes, Ba Gua (Zhang) utilizes natural
principles of response so that the practitioner can adapt his defense to an attack.
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