Names across languages
八卦
Eight Trigrams (Bagua)
八卦
팔괘
Alternate names: 八卦; Bagua; Pa Kua; Eight Trigrams; hakke; palgwa
Reviewed definition
The bagua are eight basic trigrams made from three broken or unbroken lines, commonly named Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen and Dui. Yijing commentary, image-and-number traditions and later cultural practices associate them in differing ways with natural phenomena, family roles, directions and other categories.
Historical context
The relation between eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams receives layered treatment in Yijing traditions. Arrangements often called Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven are later developments whose sources and purposes should be identified separately.
Modern-use note
Bagua appears today in Yijing education, visual design, martial arts, architecture and feng shui discourse. Diagrams should identify their arrangement, directional reference, source and purpose, avoiding the presentation of combined schemes from different eras or schools as one universal standard.
現代では易学教育、図像デザイン、武術、建築、風水の説明に用いられる。図を示す際は配列、方位基準、出典、目的を明記し、異なる時代や流派の図式を一つの普遍的標準として混ぜない。
현대에는 역학 교육, 시각 디자인, 무술, 건축과 풍수 담론에서 사용된다. 도표를 제시할 때 배열, 방위 기준, 출처와 목적을 밝히고 시대와 학파가 다른 체계를 하나의 보편 표준처럼 섞지 않아야 한다.
Limitations and cross-cultural caution
Bagua symbols may support cultural interpretation or reflection, but they are not scientific sensors, diagnostic categories or devices that guarantee fortune. Spatial recommendations must still comply with building, fire, accessibility, safety and professional-ethics requirements.
In everyday Chinese, bagua can also mean gossip; this library entry refers to the eight three-line trigrams. Cross-language content should avoid confusing the colloquial and technical senses.
Reviewed sources
Citations show what the review relied on. Contextual coverage supports description or tradition, not scientific causation.
Chinese Text Project digital edition of the Book of Changes, including the Shuo Gua material and the named trigrams in the classical corpus.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy discussion of Chinese correlative and relational frameworks used to contextualize later trigram associations.