Published by Swiss James on 25 Feb 2008 at 01:00 pm
Ba Gua- the 8 diagrams
After all last week’s talk about Buddhism, I decided I should give something back by buying a little incense from my local Buddhist supply shop (where I buy all of these things). I picked out some incense, a little dish to burn it in, and was admiring a horrible gold watch with a little swastika instead of a second hand, when a guy came in to buy one of these things:
It’s some kind of tool to use when divining fortune by the eight diagrams (ba gua) which, if you tuned in last week, you’ll know is one of the many things you can’t do in a temple.
The size of a CD, made out of wood, it has a compass in the middle and the two pill shaped holes have spirit levels inside, to make sure it’s on a flat surface. Most of the markings on it don’t mean a thing to me, but I do know that the innermost circle shows the “8 diagrams”, elements of nature, such as fire, heaven, thunder and earth. You can see 4 of these things written the same way on South Korea’s national flag (best flag ever btw).
More info here and here, but to be honest it’s all total bollocks, they just look cool. And for 25rmb a piece, I bought four of them to use as drinks coasters.
James it’s actually a Qing Dynasty GPS navigation system, but they work just as well as coasters.
The 8 diagrams are also related to the tatoos that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow both have, I believe.
at least you dont fritter your money away on novelty trinkets.
damn! you mean to tell me it’s not a scale?! but coaster is a brilliant alternative use . . .
I thought it was a chinese dartboard….
It is just a glorified magnetic compass to make it look mysterious.
my son calls it an alitheometer - which is from a phillip pulman book series - the golden compass (they made a movie about this too recently). its a truth teller. i bought him one bigger than a coaster - in a wooden box. he hasn’t figured out how to use it though. and wonders why i do…
don’t people feng shui their house w/ this too?
I believe they are called ‘trigrams’ and not ‘diagrams’. But only by educated people.
Trigrams? Diagrams? You guys don’t know what you’re talking about. They are DIAPHRAGMS and they are early Chinese form of contraception