Getting Inside the Bagua Circle

[Steel Tiger]

First a quotation:

Bagua Zhang is the traditional internal martial art based on the Bagua principle. Because bagua is about chang, the main idea of Bagua Zhang is bian or changing. It is said that wherever there is movement, there is change that never ceases. Change in this context refers to the changes of yin and yang. Physically, all change is said to come from and return to the crossing of arms or the walking of the circle.

From a technical point of view, Bagua Zhang includes eight main skills reflecting each trigram of the bagua system and sixty-four skills representing the concepts of Yi Jing. The eight main skills are the foundation of Bagua Zhang, and the sixty-four skills are the applications. In Bagua Zhang, most skills use the palm and so are called zhang which means "palm," or huan zhang which means "palm change." Deriving from the different yin and yang representations in the various line positions, each Bagua Zhang skill focuses on a different way to practice and coordinate the internal components of shen, yi, qi, and jin and the external component of movement. Each skill follows the law of change specified by the patterning of yin and yang lines.

The fighting concepts of Bagua Zhang are: never stop walking and never stop changing; always combine the qualities of soft and hard and those of internal and external; appear suddenly and disappear suddenly; mocve close quickly and leave quickly; and never struggle directly with an opponent. If movement seems difficult, change it so that it becomes easier; if a movement begin as direct, change it so that it comes from the side and vice versa. - p94, Combat Techniques of Taiji, Xingyi, and Bagua

This is a good summation of the essential concepts of bagua. It is like the 13 essences of taiji, if you abide by them you will have a superior skill. some will argue that there are eight principles in bagua, just as there are eight gua, but this is not accurate. As Lu points out in the quote above there are eight fundamental skills but that is different to principles or essences. There really are only two essences to bagua - constant movement, and constant change.

This idea can be difficult to implement. Afterall, to deliver a powerful blow one needs a solid, balanced root and how can you do this while constantly moving? By remembering that stillness is a part of motion. And this is where change comes into play - moving, stop/stike, moving, direction change, moving moving/strike, moving. It is never ending, oddly enough, just like a circle.

 

[pete]

As it relates to bagua... you are like a hurricane, there's calm in your eyes...rock on!

 

[Formosa Neijia]

some will argue that there are eight principles in bagua, just as there are eight gua, but this is not accurate. As Lu points out in the quote above there are eight fundamental skills but that is different to principles or essences.

Well, this depends on who you ask. Some people have a whole lot more than 8 or what is listed above. Saying that there are "only" this or that number is meaningless outside of a specific lineage, which is why lineage is important. You need that context, the overall training paradigm AND the material, to express the principles. Within that context, some people only need eight, some might need more.

So there really isn't a hard and fast rule as you're suggesting.