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Ba Gua, Pa Kua, Bagua, Pakua, Bagua zhang,
Bagua Quan, Pakua Chuan, which ever way you prefer to spell or
pronounce it, it is the same sysytem. Usually if the chuan or zhang
is left out of the spelling then one would be referring to the
philosophical aspects of the art, but to me you cannot have one
without the other. I have also heard bagua referred to as eight
trigram boxing and eight diagram boxing, being the art is based upon
the I-Ching, I believe Eight Trigram Boxing would be the most
appropriate.
The origins of pakua can be traced back to I Ching, which is said to
be over 3000 years old. The I Ching, or Book of Changes, contains
the outline for a source a divination. The technique originally
involved the use of tortoise shell that was heated then cracked, the
cracks correlated to the eight trigrams, which in turn, could
predict future events. The I-Ching method was developed by Fu His,
at a later date the I Ching was "updated" by King Wang and his son.
The idea behind the I Ching is that there is a singularity that all
things derive from. This singularity devided, this was represented
by a whole line and a devided line. These two continually split
until it created the eight trigrams, or the pakua. Each of the kua's
relate to a planet, season, color, time, family member, element, and
many other things. The kua's are set in a circle and have a creative
and destructive cycle, it is through this that the martial art of
pakua was formed.
Unlike most martial arts, Ba Gua can be traced back to its founder,
and like other systems, this also has been twisted and filled with
falsehoods in hopes to further the mysteries that surround the
martial arts. Dong Haichuan is accredited as the originator of Ba
Gua; Dong Haichuan's martial skills were already at a very high
level, when he began to study with some Doaist monks who used circle
walking as a form of moving meditation. Dong Hai Tuen incorporated
their philosophies and circular methods to create Bagua. Some say
Dong Hai Tuen learned Pakua from a monk named Bi Deng Xia, who
himself learned bagua from the real originator. There are, of
course, other versions of the origins of pakua, too numerous to name
here. For all that it is worth Dong Hai Tuen's students definitely
contributed to the popularization of this style through out the
world, and many of the recognized styles of Ba Gua can be traced
back to the students of Dong Haichuan.
Ba Gua usually consists of various circle walking techniques,
followed by two "palm changes" (ways to reverse direction on the
circle), and eight postures, sometimes named after animals, and
sometimes not. These eight postures in turn create an endless array
of combination; the most widely used is the 64 combination sets,
because eight times eight equal sixty-four. Chi gung is usually
practiced along with exercise and warm up sets. Some systems offer
weapons and others don't, the most common weapons include the
straight sword, saber, broadsword, deer horns, staff, and double
daggers. The original version is usually referred to as dragon or
swimming dragon style.
Web link for Ba Gua:
http://www.bodyelectricmethod.com
http://www.plumflower.com/ba_gua_zhang_2_.htm
http://www.pa-kua.com
http://www.shenwu.com/bagua.htm
http://site.netopia.com/bagua
http://www.circle-of-light.com/fengshui/bagua.html
http://www.hsing-i.com/pa_kua/
http://www.chiflow.com/pakua_overview.htm
Written by:
Jay C Shrewsbury
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