Bagua

The bagua is an eight-part symbolic map built around a center.

Eight bagua trigrams surrounding a yin–yang symbol
Bagua trigrams · Tom Cowap · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Eight trigrams

The trigrams—Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui—combine broken and unbroken lines. They are associated with natural images, directions, family roles, and qualities of change.

Two common applications

Some schools align the bagua with compass directions. Other modern schools align it with the main entrance. These systems should not be mixed casually; the chosen method should be stated clearly.

The center

The center represents integration and balance. A bagua reading is most useful when it encourages a coherent view of the whole space rather than isolated decorative cures.