The Eight Trigrams (八卦, Bā Guà)

This video lecture course is an overview of the eight trigrams, or Ba Gua. It is part of a companion course series leading up to the release of my third book, I Ching, The Oracle.
Supplemental written materials and reference downloads, including a downloadable Ba Gua correspondences table: wp.me/p32or0-9Me
Timestamps:
00:48 Introducing the Eight Trigrams
01:16 Theoretical Origins of the Eight Trigrams (Yin and Yang Philosophy)
04:19 Eight Bodhisattvas and the Ba Gua
05:06 Eight Divinities of the Wu Shamans of Shang
05:28 Eight Immortals Overview
06:24 Han Xiangzi, artistic prodigy; immortality via divine blessing
06:35 Zhong Li Quan, warrior general; immortality via alchemy
06:47 Lu Dong Bin, leader and elite scholar; immortality via sutra recitations
07:00 Cao Guo Jiu, royalty and justice seeker; immortality via renunciation
07:14 He Xian Gu, shamaness, priestess; immortality via fairy spirit guide
07:26 Li Tie Guai, physician, pharmacologist; immortality via solitary practice
07:43 Zhang Guo Lao, alchemist, occultist; immortality via mystical potion
07:57 Lan Cai He, eternal youth; immortality via light and pure of heart
08:52 Eight Immortals and Ba Gua Correspondences
09:32 Ba Gua & Eight Archetypes of the Occultist
10:02 Introducing the Early Heaven and Later Heaven Ba Guas | Ref: “Lo Shu Magic Square,” • The Lo Shu Magic Squar...
10:50 Fuxi and the Early Heaven Ba Gua
11:24 King Wen and the Later Heaven Ba Gua
12:08 The Two Sequences of Eight Trigrams
12:18 Fuxi’s Early Heaven Ba Gua: Natural Laws of Flow
12:32 King Wen’s Later Heaven Ba Gua: How to Control the Flow
13:15 First Principles Playbook of the Taoist Occultist
13:24 First Principle of the Yi (Early Heaven Ba Gua)
13:40 Second Principle of the Yi (Later Heaven Ba Gua)
14:25 Wu Xing Five Movements Drive the Trigrams | Ref: “Wu Xing: Five Movements Toward Change,” • Wu Xing: Five Movement...
14:55 Early Heaven Ba Gua: Numerical Sequence and Order
16:24 Later Heaven Ba Gua: Numerical Sequence and Order
17:25 Twelve Zodiac Animals, the Ba Gua, and Jupiter
18:44 narration mentions six dark crosses that don’t appear until 18:56
18:57 narration mentions six light crosses that don’t appear until 19:07
19:28 Four Trigrams and Four Perfected Hexagrams Aligning with Equinoxes and Solstices; Asc, Dsc, Im, Mc; Four Directional Guardians
21:32 Revisiting the Two Ba Gua Arrangements and Wu Xing Forces (Infinity/Chaos vs. Bounds/Order)
22:17 Numerological Parity with the Yarrow Stalk Divination Process | Ref: “Yarrow Stalk Divination,” • Yarrow Stalk Divinatio...
22:58 Ancient Chinese Calculus? Similarities to DNA, Computing Processes, and the I Ching | Ref: “What is the I Ching?” • What is the I Ching (Y...
24:22 Traditional Sequence of the Trigrams; Overview of Trigram Correspondences and Symbolism
24:33 Heaven: Will, Purpose; Creativity, Inspiration
24:44 Lake: Harvest, Multiply; The Womb; Exchange, Commerce
25:04 Fire: Clarify, Enlighten, Attract; Intelligence, Expansion
25:21 Thunder: Incite, Provoke; Show of Force; Clear the Road
25:44 Wind: Gentle Influence; Fertility; Cultivation
25:59 Water: Catharsis; Reflection; Healing, Medicine; Depths; Darkness, Margins
26:18 Mountain: Stabilize, Sustain; The Peak; Stillness; Self-Control, Endurance
26:31 Earth: Receive, Enrich; Receiving; Reaping; Underworld
21:06 The Three Treasures (Jing, Qi, Shen) and the Trigrams
27:08 Eight Paths to Awakening; Eight States of Superconsciousness
27:55 Wind and Thunder (Wood; Arising, Accelerating)
28:06 Fire (Fire; Expanding, Advancing)
28:19 Earth and Mountain (Earth; Transforming; Balance)
28:36 Lake and Heaven (Metal; Disseminating; Order)
28:56 Water (Water; Dissolving, Flux)
29:21 Planetary Correspondences of the Trigrams and Wu Xing
29:22 Conclusion and Review of the Eight Trigrams
30:44 Mnemonic for remembering the eight trigrams
***
I Ching, The Oracle (North Atlantic Books, 2023), benebellwen.com/i-ching-the-o...
- Amazon (US): a.co/d/cmm0qLP
- North Atlantic Books, a California-based non-profit publisher: www.northatlanticbooks.com/sh...
- Penguin Random House: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

[@BenebellWen]

Apologies, the editing and audio are a bit choppy. The timing of the slides and voiceover narration are off in a few places. Timestamps provided in the video description box. There’s also a write-up on my blog with supplemental written materials and reference downloads: benebellwen.com/2023/08/22/ba-gua-the-eight-trigrams/

[@TamuNgina]

Yeah, but the quality contents SUPERB!!!🎉❤ I will share this video with my Qigong Master. This makes me wanna order TWO copies of the book!!!! Thank you!!

[@perfidious333]

Always a good day when Benebell shares with us! 🙏

[@karennielsen9248]

Fascinating. I’ll have to watch it a dozen more times and study your book before it doesn’t all go directly over my head, but fascinating.

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

While there are 2x2x2, or eight, trigrams. 2 to the exponential power of 3. Then there are 2x2x2x2x2x2 , or 64, hexagrams. 2 to the exponential power of 6. Watching Luo Square and the He tu square helps me understand quite a bit more about this topic than I already knew. I think this should be the second video to watch about this topic. understanding Luo shus number 15 is 1+5 = 6 to understand why there are 6 lines in a hexagram, then understanding 8 trigrams that form the 8 by 8 grid of 64 hexagrams is the way it all works. 2 to the exponential powers are interesting to me because the basis of this is all binary, a 0 and 1 or an x and o, a positive and negative...a slow or busy day. polarity. positives and negatives.

[@rexnemo]

@@InternetSumerian-le6rp What I find intriguing is how the barcodes were allegedly inspired by the Hexagrams of the I Ching !

[@dog_biter]

You are very generous to share so much, thank you!

[@ieatlolz]

These videos are so important! Its so difficult to find comprehensive and reliable material on taoist theory and praxis. I am extremely grateful that you continue to provide such rich resources for free!! If possible I think a better microphone would really improve your content, the audio quality is very tinny which makes it difficult to watch multiple videos. Thank you again!

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

Yes she is a professional at this. I think few notice the symbol of the Tao is serpentine two snake heads intertwined much like what are known as "gogok" artifacts found in the east orient..japan/korea

[@johnniefernandez407]

I love your work. Thank you for giving this collection of knowledge to the world and me.

[@NigelJackson]

Thank you for this illuminating exposition on the Trigrams. The Former Heaven and Later Heaven arrangements of the Trigrams fascinate and puzzle me...the placement of certain Trigrams in both arrays is still mysterious to me. The Fu Hsi array of Former Heaven being based (according to Ong Hean Tatt) on the 'mutual production relationship' of the 5 Elements harmoniously giving rise to each other in circular arrangement reminds me of the paradaisical 'Golden Age' when primordial humanity and the world lived in accord with the Tao - whereas the Later Heaven array of King Wen, based on the 'mutual destructive relations' of the 5 Elements, where the Trigrams are arranged to overcome or conquer each other reflects conflict and defence... (The writer Ong Hean Tatt attributes the Generation cycle of Wuxing with Earlier Heaven Bagua, the Destruction cycle with Later Heaven array - but the 'Qimeng fulun' of I Ching and other Chinese texts actually state the reverse, correlating the Wuxing Destruction cycle to Early Heaven and Generation Cycle to Later Heaven array....which is right? I don't know...)

[@GuiaShopaholic]

@Benebell. I am so grateful for your efucayional videos ❤❤❤

[@WiteDahlia]

This is a good one for the binder notebook! Very clearly explained, thank you ❤

[@elly6136]

Wow ❤ just wow 😵 it all connects. Amazing!

[@wenna_l]

Thank you so much Benebell for all the precious informations you give! And the time you spend editing your videos. I pre-ordered your book 😊 Really looking forward to read it 😍

[@dth92301]

Great video and book is pre-ordered. Awaiting delivery ❤

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

Thanks so much! I've been having fun making a podcast with my wife about our studies of the Yijing while living in a Daoist monastery.

[@rexnemo]

I find the explanations about magical squares absolutely fascinating . You have clearly done a lot of reading on the subjects that you discuss in these videos . Thank you for these interesting videos about a subject which is not easy to find out about .

[@ngonfinda9606]

Great video hope to see more in this series soon

[@the36thchamber89]

Excellent video, more like this, please!

[@macinvictus]

Super helpful...definitely integrating this

[@LouValcourt]

This is so fascinating! I love patterns and numbers in symbolism. To me it’s evidence that the Universe is not random but filled with order and meaning.

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

While there are 2x2x2, or eight, trigrams. 2 to the exponential power of 3. Then there are 2x2x2x2x2x2 , or 64, hexagrams. 2 to the exponential power of 6

[@DA130885]

Thank you so much for this information 🦋🌈

[@Jumong-appa]

Really impressive stuff....heard that FuXi was the ancient Priest-King archetype like Melchizedek or Gilgamesh, who after the Great Flood had knowledge of the secrets of the Universe

[@facelessnameless]

Best video on the topic

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

I am very impressed at how she explained how the Luo Shu square is the basis for the number 6 as 15 = 1+5=6. This should be basis introductory knowledge to understanding I ching but never learned of it or seen anything on other online pages until I saw this channel. Very excellent work

[@hamiltonsarain9608]

I really enjoy your presentations and I'm looking forward to acquiring the tome. 😁 I'll step up the training in the meantime. I've been kinda lazy lately. Tieguai Li is my Chinese "patron saint." I'm a western beggar come to learn some of those good Chinese medicine ways.

[@PianoChuck]

This is awesome!!! So much new information. Thank you for expanding these ideas. Also I just ordered your book. Technically I will have the three now. I need to do a better job at reading since I’ve been all over the place in my studying.

[@thomasbeauvais1727]

I can't wait for this book. Less than a month to go 🎉

[@kozymoon664]

Wow! Break it down sister!🎉

[@513coltrane]

wonderful presentation, Ken editor of Red Pine Bill Porter

[@darkydarksoul93]

Super cool

[@NetherworldBibliotek]

I watched your video 'why isn't the I Ching trending': if I don't have a strong understanding of Chinese culture, how accurately/insightfully can I read the I Ching?

[@brokeheartwolf3733]

🙏☯️🌀Thank You Much.😊

[@Virtus231]

Thanks!

[@BenebellWen]

Thank you so much!

[@GuiaShopaholic]

Educational

[@DaraDione]

Wow. Mind blown but will soon settle after I receive your I Ching book and begin studying. :) Thankfully, the Immortal Order my SKT is associated with is supporting me through my “healing year” as I immerse myself in the SKT via Book of Reading and I look forward to learning more. Thank you! Blessings!

[@kwanelesigcau3218]

Interesting video, definitely over my head. I think I am battling to wrap my head around how north written below south on cardinal diagram. Silly struggle but I would like query this with respect to your research and expertise.

[@littlelightowl1821]

Thanks

[@BenebellWen]

Thank you! 💖

[@joelster23]

Hey Benebell, I really appreciate your work! I pre-ordered the new book as soon as I saw this. Re-edit: ok I have a totally different question: Why are Heaven and Lake considered Yin in polarity when they are Yang trigrams? Both on page 28 and in Appendix E of The Tao of Craft, they are listed as Yin and this is very confusing? Please help! 🙏

[@PlutoPlanetPower]

Thank you for another great educational video! I've always wondered and I'm curious if you've come across anything that discusses this - do you know where the hanzi come from for each of the trigrams? None of them actually have the meaning of their associated natural element. For example, 離 literally means to leave or be separated, but how did that come to represent Fire? Or 乾 literally means dry but represents Heaven in the Ba Gua. The characters for the 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches also seem to have nothing to do with what they represent.

[@expressionamidstcacophony390]

I've run into 「八極陣」, which is translated as "eight trigrams" by a couple different translators, but which doesn't seem to return anything useful when searched on dictionary or wiki sites. Any idea what these translators know that I don't?

[@danielmenendez8249]

Hi Benebell, I think the “sunset” in image at 2:04 should be near the middle by autumn equinox. Could you please clarify this for me?

[@defiantclass]

Do the hexagrams have correspondences to compass directions?

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

I remember reading that neolithic chinese geomancy involved people putting metal lodestones (strongly magnetic natural iron) on pieces of wood floating in water to have them face northward. This is how compasses were discovered

[@tangentreverent4821]

Have you heard of anyone using the former and latter heaven at the same time to examine the relationship of the environment and practitioner?

[@JackChanek]

This was so interesting and informative; I'm perpetually in awe of the amount and quality of educational content you put out. I cannot wait for your book!

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

I like helping people understand the i ching. I think the Three Truths and Cao Dai traditions are definitely relevant. Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian teachings all in one synthesis. While there are 2x2x2, or eight, trigrams. 2 to the exponential power of 3. Then there are 2x2x2x2x2x2 , or 64, hexagrams. 2 to the exponential power of 6. Hope I can help you learn something new, there are many mathematical properties of the book of changes

[@tewtravelers9586]

It seems the trigrams would be perfectly paired corresponding to their shared bigrams. Using the five elements kind of throws me off…like turtles all the way down logic. Still, I absolutely love the Yi and its design. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@IVNVKNG]

I love you

[@mauricejones5962]

I have purchased both Tao of Craft and your I Ching and there's just one thing I'm confused about: Surrounding the seal of the Lady of the Ninth Heaven in one diagram and the Early and Later Ba Gua in another are 36 hexagrams. I've gone page by page with other readers and we can't find any reference to these 36 hexagrams!! Can you please tell us the significance of these hexagrams?!

[@juann268]

In the introductory classes to a TCM course we were told fire is arising and wood is expanding. Were they mistaken or are there dissenting views on this? Later on we saw in acupuncture there is a bit of disagreement between schools.

[@BenebellWen]

That would be the first time I have ever heard wood as expanding and fire as rising. Sure there are many subtle differing approaches to correspondences, but as a universal base, we do tend to see wood as associated with rising, germinating energy, and fire as spreading, expansive energy.

[@juann268]

@@BenebellWen Thank you. After three years we began to notice it's not a very good school. Lots of things like this, so I'm not surprised.

[@IVNVKNG]

I like you so much

[@dakotapeters5654]

5:27 Do them in a zigzag pattern lol Sky, Moon, Time, Earth / East, Mountain, West, Winds. Seems like it fits pretty well not to mention sky is opposite symbol of earth wind is opposite of east cause wind always hits western side means it comes from east direction. That and moon and time are 2 different forms of reflection aparently but idk 😆

[@dakotapeters5654]

All of the symbols diagonal from eachother and equally far apart are opposite of eachother

[@kevincaspersen4334]

How does one become an I ching practioner?

[@513coltrane]

I Ching can be used in many ways. And it has many levels to reveal. I found it useful to "adopt" a trigram as a signature symbol. For me it is mountain. How did I choose mountain? It really came to me through using the book, and feeling that this image was somehow important to me. Another way to get into it is to do readings for someone on a regular basis. This gets you into the healing and mystical aspects. The publishing of this version by Benebell is a wonderful moment in and of itself in which we can learn more. It is a time to celebrate this opportunity and to dedicate time to this work. Thank you Benebell for this wonderful blossoming in the history of I Ching.

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

Imagine it as the inner way of seeing your own being illustrated as an archetype on which all change is based. that is why it is called the book of changes. also, the solid and broken lines are what binary was actually based off of, not the other way around. so you could picture each broken like as a 0 or 1, or an x and o for example. imagine each line as a busy and lazy day. an aggressive man and submissive female. look at the black and white Tao symbol as two intertwining snake, one good and one evil or negative and positive for example.

[@InternetSumerian-le6rp]

@@513coltrane I think the most important thing to understand is her videos of Luo Shu square. very fundamental. interesting articles about it and He Tu you can find elsewhere too

[@dakotapeters5654]

Lol mysterious lady of the 9th Heaven that's hilarious I just happened to notice that the angel picture tarot card has a male face in the back

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

Taoist mysticism : mountainous piles of tables and charts

[@dakotapeters5654]

Asians are so good at m ...making things fit together perfectly, creating and solving puzzles, etc... wonder how good they are at matchmaking a man and woman together... just curious cause I'm not very good at it and my fellow Americans americant find or make a good match for me... is it just me?😅

[@ISGSAGE]

8 Trigrams 64 Palms!!!✋🏾

[@shinobu19]

Anetch Hrak

[@yzfwing7439]

韩国🇰🇷的灵感来源

[@amberwang7639]

Thanks!

[@BenebellWen]

Thank you so much!