can anyone tell me where to start in order to understand the meaning of the trigrams of the pakua?
Get a good copy of the I Ching (Book of Changes)
Total I Ching: Myths for Change
Stephen Karcher
2003
ISBN 0 316 72431 9
Time Warner Books UK
Although not related to martial arts, Stephen Karcher is a scholar whose writing is clear, interesting and able to trace back to original characters.
His seminars are excellent.
You can read the I Ching here:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ich/index.htm
Lotsa other interesting stuff too.
btw do I know you from another forum?
Maybe ShaolinWolf?
Wouldn’t it be better to learn extensively about the trigrams before delving into the hexagrams?
Yaksha,
Post a specific question about the trigrams and lets see who knows what. I bet I know nothing.
Well, to start off, what are their benefits. I’m learning more and more about chi kung, chinese medicine, and kung fu and I’ve seen the trigrams used in all of those things, but I don’t even know what they signify.
I understand the general theories of the five elements and yin and yang, but I do not understand the trigrams except that they are somehow related.
an interesting link
Check out
http://www.kjartan.org/backrubfaq/section02.html
for some basics on the 8 trigrams… granted it’s feng shui, but the basics underlying the meanings are the same.
Good luck
herb ox
Yaksha
They are related like this:
Wu Chi --------------> Tai Chi---------------> Yin and Yang---------------------> Five elements/phases(Wu Hsing) -----------------------------> 8 trigrams(Pa Kua/Bagua) -------------> 64 hexagrams ----------------> the “ten thousand things”.
From what I can gather, it is basically a Taoist “grand unified theory” to explain changes, since everything is a manifestation of the abovementioned cycles. I Ching is typically used for divination, but I think it actually holds a much higher meaning, since Confucius said he wished he had spent more of his life studying it. Dunno about medical usage.
Someone more knowledgable can probably explain it better, since my knowledge in this is somewhat superficial. I am rather turned off by matters that are overly esoteric.
Greetings..
The I Ching read as a book is a magnificent study of human nature.. it points to the liklihood of cause and effect as it relates to the experience of living.. it makes a great companion to Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”.. the two books illustrate the probabilities of human nature and strategies for managing that nature effectively..
Be well..
Well, I can read it. Understanding it is another matter however. It seems it would take a very long time to make any meaning out of it at all.
There seems to be some introduction info that I am missing.
There are yang and yin lines.
but what about the three positions in the trigrams, what do they represent? There is a top, a middle, and a bottom position.
What do those three mean?
Is the i ching’s only use for divination?
It seems more scientific than that.
broken lines - yin
solid lines - yang
“top” position - Heaven
“middle” position - Man
“bottom” position - Earth
Sorry 'bout the bunk link I gave last time - try
http://www.kheper.net/topics/I_Ching/trigrams.htm
peace
herb ox
How about where you are
the direction you’re going
where you end up
YinYang relationship to the trigrams
I Ching…
I accidentally stumbled on this interesting thread. Quite a few good input already. Count’s work on the charts are well done. 
I Ching trains the mind to function intuitively (key component for devination/prediction). Abstract thinking and fussy logic serve as the base. The first step towards that is to learn drawing the trigrams. This exercise is often omitted these days but is most important in developing a healthy foundation for future studies. By learning to draw the trigrams and arrange them in Bagua diagrams (landscaping and mapping), one would learn the delicately balance between spatial-temporal relations (physics) and the mind (metaphysics).
Without imagination, even if you have all the technologies necessary, you can not colonize Mars. But in order to do that, you first need to draw the plans. This is no difference in studying the I Ching.
Mantis108
A very good book on trigrams and Bagua techniques:
Baguazhang
Emei Baguazhang
-Theory and Applications-
by Master Liang, Shou-Yu & Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming & Mr. Wu, Wen-Ching
That book is crap. There is no direct corrolation between baguazhang and the trigrams. You’ll understand baguazhang much better with correct instruction and practice than ever with philospohy.
I agree with Bob as to the basic idea of the three lines of any trigram. Heaven, Earth, Man. They can also mean any triad you might think of, past present future what ever. Look at this yin/yang theory as simply trying to descibe the various phenomona of the universe and it’s potential and tendancy to change. While a trigram may have a certain basic meaning it all has to do with context. For instance “li” or fire…does it mean fire as in burning or does it mean bright as in illuminating?
Even simpler than that Buddy. “Rising” as in the direction of the heat. I agree with your direction of focusing on yin yang theory though and IMO about the Yang book.
Rising…excellent point.