BA – GUA

In addition to applying practical methods to enhance one’s environment, one can improve ch’i by applying a philosophical principle the I Ching ba-gua – to a plot of land, a house, a room, a piece of furniture, or a person. Though rooted in ancient mysticism, it can be applied to everyday life in a more or less practical way. The whole process is based on an internalized ba-gua shape. It is an octagon divided into eight life situations – marriage, fame, wealth, family, knowledge, career, helpful people, and children. Black Hat sect experts simply memorize the ba-gua and superimpose it on rooms, buildings, and even beds. They use the ba-gua both as a guide to interpret a person’s life and problems and as a cure to resolve them. Since everyone bumps into trouble and misfortune – in marriage, work, or with children – the ba-gua becomes a map of one’s life condition. The Chinese believe that an understanding of the ba-gua and its relationship to houses, bodies, and luck enables them to mystically manipulate their destiny.

Many stories are told about tipping fate’s hand by ‘adjusting’ the ba-gua. A Californian student claims she was accepted at the college of her choice after activating the knowledge’ area in her bedroom. An entrepreneur said business improved substantially when he made adjustments in the ‘helpful people’ position in his office. A restauranteur altered already complete renovations when a Feng Shui expert advised her to put the cash register in the ‘wealth’ spot. This all may be self-fulfilling prophecy, but many swear by it.

The application of the ba-gua is simple : If a person’s marriage is having problems, he might adjust the ‘marriage’ position in his bedroom. Or if a businessman wants to improve his finances, he might enhance the ‘wealth’ area of his office or home.

Any of the Nine Basic Cures – mirrors, wind chimes, light, and so on – can be used to adjust or enhance an area of one’s room or life. When adjusting the ba-gua positions, these nine methods are generally interchangeable, depending on individual needs and tastes. For example, if a person wants more money, he might install a plant or fishtank in the money or hsun position of his office, or maybe a wind chime in the hsun area of his bedroom. To rise in the corporate ladder, he might install a heavy machine or computer in the career or kan spot.

One elderly San Francisco resident hopes she had left nothing to fate by reinforcing each of the eight areas or gua in her bedroom. In the marriage area, she installed a crystal ball and a string of eighty-one smaller crystals. They hang directly in front of a western window, filling the room at sunset with many rainbows, thus encouraging an already long marriage. She has wind chimes in the ‘children’ and ‘family’ positions to safeguard offspring – who refuse to use Feng Shui themselves – and to intervene in petty family bickering. In the ‘helpful people’ area, she hangs a knickknack shelf where she leaves petitions to the gods and the Buddha that all her wishes be answered. In the ‘fame’ position is a silk flower, in the ‘wealth’ spot hang two flutes, and in the ‘career’ area are picture of her grandchildren. In the ‘knowledge’ area – the bedroom’s entrance, which happens to be slanted – she hangs nine firecrackers above the door, thus ensuring for her husband, a retired professor, continued scholarship and for the family deepened knowledge and awareness.

Three possible entrances

Three Door BA-GUA

For ba-gua calculations, in Black Hat sect practice, the door is pivotal. The door, literally translated, is the "mouth of ch’i" – ch’i kou. Its position determines where the eight gua are situated in a room. No matter how seldom an entrance is used, it is still considered the main door to calculate ba-gua positions and house shape requirements. If the side door is used more often, even though it will influence your entrance and exit, it will not become the basis of ba-gua orientation.

When the ba-gua is superimposed on a room or a house, the entrance will fall into one of three possible positions – three gua of the octagon. This depends on whether it is in the center or to the side of a wall. If the door is in the center, it is kan, career; if it opens to the right of center, it is Chyan, helpful people, meaning both underlings and patrons; if it opens to the left of center, the door is in the gen, or knowledge position. This method is called ‘three-door ba-gua’.

The ba-gua can be used to adjust ill-shaped plots of land, homes and rooms. It can be superimposed on any lot, house, or room, no matter what the shape. By using the ba-gua, the Feng Shui expert can easily discern areas of trouble in occupants’ lives.

Rooms and apartments present an endless variety of shapes. The Chinese elongate and shorten the ba-gua in order to apply it to each space. An irregularly shaped house or one missing a corner may indicate a shortcoming in the corresponding area of the occupant’s life. Number 3, for instance, is missing its career part, so occupants may have job problems.

While the ba-gua can be applied to shapes to resolve imbalances in the shape or to enhance certain areas of the occupants’ lives, some people have gone so far as to create octagonal rooms. Thus all eight gua are emphasized and balanced and the octagon itself is the most auspicious shape of all. Mr. K’s, a well-known restaurant in Washington, is based on recurring ba-gua theme

The ba-gua applies to rooms of any shape or size.

The outer banquettes and the inner ones both create octagons. In addition, on the advice of a Feng Shui expert, the owners placed the stove and the cash register in the ‘wealth’ and ‘helpful people’ areas. ‘We asked him where the best ch’i spots of the ba-gua were situated,’ explains Lola Kao, wife of the owner, Johnny Kao.

Other

Feng Shui also uses a range of personal cures to address other problems. The cures are always increasing and changing, to address new problems.

Red ribbons for doors with knocking knobs. Fring to hid and resolve a slanted beam.

Chalk under the bed to care a backache.

The LO P’AN

Lo means reticulated, like a net; p’an means a plate or dish. The name is accurate; the surface of the inner dial of the Lo P’an is covered with circles and divisions, giving the appearance of a circular net, or spider’s web, while the dial itself, if removed from its base, is actually beveled like a plate or saucer. This saucer shaped dial sits in depression in a square base plate, in which it can be rotated. Most examples of Lo P’an seen in museums, or as illustrated in books, are sadly lacking in the square base. The base is quite plain, and apparently functionless, and museum curators and others could perhaps be forgiven for thinking that it was merely the box in which the dial came. This is far from the case, but because the base plate is so simple in appearance it can be described first.

The Base Plate

The base plate of the Lo P’an is square. It has a circular depression into which the dial sits loosely, enabling it to be rotated. The base plate is fitted with two red threads, which run across the face of the dial at right-angles, parallel to the sides of the square base, and act as cursors. It is important that these threads are accurately aligned with sides of the base, crossing the pivot of the compass needle, and firmly taut against the upper dial. Because in the symbolism of yin and yang a square represents the Earth, and a circle represents Heaven, the base plate is usually referred to as the Earth Plate, and the dial as the Heaven Plate. Inevitably this can be a source of great confusion, since the same terms are also used for divisions of the dial itself.

The Dial Plate

The upper, or dial plate of the Lo P’an is much more complex. It is circular, with a bevelled cross-section, and sits in the depression in the base plate.

At its center is a magnetic compass, the needle of which is magnetized in such a way that it points south in accordance with traditional Chinese cartographic usage.

A fine guideline is marked on the base of the compass needle housing. Its appearance is so insignificant that this line usually escapes the notice of the casual observer, but it has a vital function.

The compass needle in its housing is known as the ‘Heaven Pool’ possibly because this is the name of one of the constellations of Chinese astronomy close to the Pole Star, or because in former times the compass needle floated on a drop of water.

The Reticulations

Beyond the Heaven Pool, and proceeding towards the edge of the dial, is a circular grid, divided into different numbers of divisions marked with Chinese characters.

The innermost divisions may be inscribed with the Eight Trigrams, or their Chinese names, or alternatively with the corresponding numbers of the Magic Square of Nine. In the latter case, the numbers are often represented as dots joined by lines, as if they were patterns of stars. Closer examination will reveal that in each case the order of the trigrams is that of the Former Heaven sequence, which is not the usual order for Chinese compasses. Their inclusion here is most likely intended to stress the fact that this is no ordinary mariner’s or geographical compass, but one with special powers.

The number of rings on the dial varies according to the size and type of Lo P’an, but it would not be possible to explain the function of many of them until the reader was familiar with the Chinese compass plate.

Using The LO P’AN

When the Lo P’an is being used to assess the geomantic qualities of a site, the edge of the base plate is aligned with the walls of the building, or some other significant straight edge. The circular dial is then rotated until the guideline in the Heaven Pool is aligned with the compass needle. The operator then scrutinizes the dial, noting which signs on the dial fall under the red cursor thread.

Before the dial plate’s divisions can be examined in closer detail, it is necessary to understand the language and function of the Chinese calendar.

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