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Trigrams

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The Trigrams were first discovered by Fu Xi in 3300 BC. They are a collection of ancient

symbols, containing great wisdom and incredibly advanced knowledge

Individually they teach us about important phenomena that affect life, collectively theyshow us how life works and lead to the mastery of life. Based on the Tai Chi a universal

symbol of natural balance they formed the foundation for Chinese philosophy, the I Chingand Feng Shui. They are mankind's legacy provided by our ancestors to show us how to

live a more naturally balanced life and their comprehension leads to an evolutionary stepfor the future of mankind.

Yin/Yang and Trigram formation

"In the beginning there was the one."Lao Zi (Lao Tse) the father of Taoism

This referred to the formation of the universe and the beginning of life. We can think ofthis "one" as being electricity in its natural form, that is as a flow of electrons. The one is

represented by a single solid line called great yang.

Great Yang

"From the one came the two"

So Lao Zi further informed us. What did this mean? Well some of these flowing electrons

attracted other electrons and increased their mass and electrical charge producing matterand magnetism. The two is known as yin and represents the manifest. According to legend

great yang created great yin by dividing itself and this is shown symbolically as twoshorter yang lines or as its wrongly referred to as a broken line.

Great Yin

At the molecular level matter has the ability to break down and change to another elementto achieve what is known as a noble state. Yang represents change and yin represents

matter. As all forms of matter have a potential to change we say that all yin creates yang.

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Yin and Yang and Trigram Formation

Now that greater yang has divided itself and created yin, we can further sub divide them andcreate lesser yang and lesser yin -

Lesser yang Lesser yin

This is also depicted in this form.

This shows us that when yin reaches its peak, yang is born and when yang reaches its peak, yin is

born. You can think of this as being night and day when one half of the world is in light the otheris in darkness, it is a constant revolution. This rotation or evolution occurs on all levels from the

cosmic to the microscopic. This is discussed in great detail in our correspondence course and atour school.

Yin/Yang and Trigram Formation "from the two came the three"

Here we see the formation of the 8 Trigrams or as its known in Chinese the ba Gua. All

Trigrams are created from the bottom up, a bit like building a house, and as you have seenare derived from the Tai Chi symbol. So the first line is the bottom line and this is greater

yang on the left with greater yin on the right. The next level has the lesser or younger levelsof yin and yang and finally the top line provides the 8 Trigrams. By Looking down each of

the 8 columns you can see the Trigrams. The first has a yang line in all 3 positions, thesecond has a yin top line and yang first and second, (even though these are shared.)

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Now yang gives birth to yin and yin creates yang, its a never ending cycle. Yang in coloured

black above and yin is yellow. This sequence was discovered back in BC 3300 by Fu Xi, ittells us of the natural forces in life as you will see. One of the most striking coincidences

with this sequence is that it is a binary code, that's the same language that computers use, butthis is over 5 000 years old!

Now that the Trigrams have been created, lets find out their secrets

Yin/Yang and Trigram Formation

"From the three came the 10 000 things"

This means that everything in our universe can be assigned and understood by one of these

Trigrams. This has led to a greater comprehension of life and the universe and is the basis ofChinese philosophy. Here are just a few of the attributes assigned to each Trigram. You willfind that there are 2 Trigrams that have the same lines, either all yin or all yang, the remainder

have 1 line that is different from the others. This different line is called the host, by notingwhether the line is yin or yang will tell you the polarity of the whole Trigram. For simplicity

these host lines will be coloured red.

Trigram

nameQian Dui Li Xun Zhen Kan Gen Kun

Gua

Element Metal Metal Fire Wood Wood Water Earth EarthDirection

L/HNW W S SE E N NE SW

Phenomena

Heaven Marsh Fire Wind Thunder Water Mountain Earth

Family

memberFather

Youngest

daughter

Middle

daughter

Eldest

daughter

Eldest

son

Middle

son

Youngest

sonMother

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Trigram Formation

The Pre Heaven Sequence or Xian Tian Ba Gua

This is the formation of Trigrams produced by Fu Xi in BC 3300 It bears a strikingresemblance to many ancient symbols including Sanskrit and the Native American medicine

wheel. Its a perfect model of harmony and unity and displays the natural way of life on ourplanet. Looking at any one Trigram then following the arrow to its complete opposite provides

a natural model of yin and yang. It shows us how things reach their peak and then change totheir complete opposite. This concept has formed the basis of Chinese philosophy, I Ching and

Feng Shui. For easy identification the Trigrams still have their hosts or Trigram leaders and

this shows us the active part of the Trigram. Lets look at some Trigrams individually then seehow it compares with its partner.

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Qian - Heaven Kun - Earth Li - Fire Kan - Water

Qian is found at the top ofthe pre heaven sequence

because it represents the skyor heaven. It is designated as

the element metal, becausemetal actually comes from

the heavens. If you haveever done any science at

school you will know that

metal is formed by stars

going super nova. This iswhere atoms are fused

together, to increase theirmass and change to heavier

elements such as iron, goldand silver. The big bang was

believed to be a super novaand this saw a star explode

firing atoms across thegalaxy, the result of this led

to formation of our Earth.

There are three active levels

within the heavens and thisis why they are coloured red

above. Mysticall y they are

referred to as the tri ni ty.Scientifically we can thinkof this as being the radiation

we receive from the Sun andplanets in our solar system,

neighbouring stars, andfinally the stars in the entire

universe. These all have aneffect on us.

Radiation from thestars penetrates to

the deep core of ourplanet, and this is

why Qian or fullyang is known as the

penetrating force.Kun receives this

energy and istherefore known as

the receptive force.This is why we find

metals as ores withinthe planet itself.

Further radiation

produces heat and

this has warmed

our planet up

significantly for lifeto form. In order for

us to maintain aconstant

temperature, wemust release the

same amount of

radiation as we

receive, and this iswhy yin energy

rises.

Of the Earths three

active levels, the topline represents the

atmosphere and isdesignated as

heaven. The middlesline represents a

band that measuresbetween 1 Km

above and 1 Kmbelow sea level. This

This represents theSun, hence fire, or

heat and light, theactive part is the

centre. The Sun hasa natural nuclear

fusion plant withinit. Fusing atoms

together it

produces

hydrogen and

helium and that's

all.Everythi ng elseincluding carbon

the " stuff of li fe"

comes from other

stars. Here on Earththe Sun rises in the

east and sets in thewest and this is why

its shown in the eastof the sequence.

From ancient timesthe Sun has always

been associated

with the east,

particularly at thetime of the spring

equinox. At thistime, known as zero

hour the sun rises atprecisely 90 degrees

(due east) becausewe know the exact

time and position ofthis occurrence the

Sun is used as akind of cosmic

compass and allowsus to find specific

stars that have the

Naturally thisrepresents the

moon. It is in thewest of our

sequence and as weknow the moon

rises in the west andsets in the east. Like

the sun its activepart is the centre,

but unlike the Sunits not hot enough

to create nuclearfusion. What it does

do though, is tocreate magnetism,

which has itsgreatest effect on all

liquids within theEarth. On a full

moon all liquidsrise and on a new

moon the liquidsfall to their lowest

point. The Chinese

new year is

celebrated on thesecond new moon

after the wintersolstice precisely

because of this.This magnetic pull

creates our tidalsystem around the

world. It affects allemotions causing

blood to rise orleave the head, the

positive side of thisis that this Trigram

and element of

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is where 95% of alllife on our planet

lives, it is thereforedesignated as the

man line. The

bottom linerepresents the Earthitself and its crust is

constantly movingpushing countries

closer together,forming mountains

and oceans in theprocess. All

Tr igrams have this

designati on of

Heaven, Man andEarth, in Feng Shui

thi s is known as the

luck trinity.However, the KunTrigram takes on a

special meaning asKun serves as a

model for our planetand represents the

microcosm.

greatest influenceon us. This is why

ancient sites havestanding stones

positioned due east

for the springequinox.

water symbolisebirth. For the

downside ask anypolice department!

it also affects sap in

trees and plants, sothe best time toweed is around a

full moon when thesap is in the

branches.

The Trigrams above represent the cardinaldirections of North, South, East and West.

Together with the Tai Ji symbol in the middle,they form an uncanny resemblance to the Carbon

atom; the basic building block of all organic life.The Protons and Neutrons are positively charged

and remain in the middle, the electrons arenegatively charged and orbit the centre. Together

they form a neutral charge, a model of perfect yin

and yang. Coincidentally, all atoms try to form a chemically complete or Noble state with 8electrons in their outer shell by either donating or accepting electrons from other atoms. This isthe basis of all chemical reactions and appears to mirror the Trigram formation.

Zhen Xun Gen Dui

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The remaining Trigrams form the intercardinal

points and viewed as pairs they show usimportant natural laws. The first pair we will

look at is Xun and Zhen. These both represent the

element of wood and have the phenomena of windand thunder associated with them. Wood representsthe plant kingdom and through the process of

photosynthesis plants release oxygen and supplyabout 99% of all O2 in our atmosphere. As the

warm oxygen rises it cools and forms clouds.Thunderclouds are formed in areas with intense

vegetation such as the tropics and middle latitudes.They can be up to 10 Km in height and have a huge

temperature differential between the bottom andthe top. This temperature change causes the bottom

to be negatively charged (yin) and the middle andtop to be positively charged (yang) as shown in the

Xun Trigram. The negative charge induces apositive charge on the ground directly below the

cloud this is shown in the bottom line of Zhen.When the electric field between the lower part of

the cloud and the ground reaches a certain voltage,the air molecules ionised along a narrow path and

air becomes a conductor. This allows a free flow ofcharge between the cloud and the ground.

Lightning starts with a leading stroke as electrons

flow from the cloud to the ground, leaving thecloud with a positive net charge. Right after theleading stroke along the built-up ionised path

comes the main stroke from the ground to thecloud, neutralising the positive charges. This

releases a huge amount of energy in the form ofheat and light and it is believed that this was the

spark that created life on Earth.

The final pair is that of Gen and Dui

representing the Mountain and Lake

or Marsh respectively. Mountains are

formed through the process of Tectonicswhere new crust is formed at mid oceanridges. This new crust tends to buckle in

collision with continents and forms largeaccumulations of earth (Mountains) in the

process. Air cools at a rate of 1C per 100meters of altitude, when air currents reach

mountains they rises, cool and condenseas rain. The rain falls on the mountain

and forms lakes or marshes at the foot orin hollows. This process is known as

weathering and through freezing andthawing which erodes rocks and carries

away important nutrients locked within.

These nutrients are collected in lakes

and rivers and eventually find theirway to the seas and oceans. All beaches

are formed in this way. The importance

of these nutrients is that they are

essential for life and the weathering

process distributes these essential

ingredients throughout the land. It is

believed by some that the first lifeappeared on rocks around lakes and tidalbasins. This is why both Tri grams have

the youngest fami ly members associated

with them.