Bagua Palm: 8 Trigrams, 3 Dantiens, 2 Palms

Taoist Theory of Spiritual Immortality

 

 

Taoist Theory emphasizes the concepts of Yin and Yang.  Yang is often times characterized as male while yin is characterized as female.  A whole host of other characteristics are also attributed to yang and yin such as active vs. passive, dominant vs submissive, emissive vs. receptive, source vs. sink, etc.  The theory of yin and yang is essentially an ancient binary logic system reflecting the dualistic tendencies of human gender and psychology.  Yang and yin also represent the male and female procreative principles of the universe, cosmic energies which, through their interaction, produce all of creation.

 

The Theory of Bagua, the 8 Trigrams, developed out of the theory of yin and yang.  A trigram is a picture consisting of three lines drawn horizontally stacked on top of each other.  Each of the three lines can be either broken or solid.  A broken line represents yin and a solid line represents yang.  Being eight in number, the 8 trigrams can be arranged in the geometric shape of an octagon.  Each trigram represents one of the sides of the octagon.  The arrangement of the trigrams around the octagon is in a particular order which reflects the process of transformation in the material world.  It is a cycle of creation, sustenance and destruction similar to that symbolized by the Hindu trinity dieties Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

 

The process of incarnation and reincarnation, birth/growth/vital adulthood/decline/death/repeat, is symbolized by traveling around the octagon in one direction.  By reversing the direction of travel around the octagon, one can attain liberation from the cycles of reincarnation and attain spiritual immortality.

 

The 3 Dantiens are chakras, major energy centers in the human body.  They correspond to the sub-navel chakra about two inches below the belly button, the heart chakra (the lions head heart/solar-plexus region at the pit of the chest) and the third eye chakra between the eyebrows.

 

The 2 Palms are the palms of the hands.  Facing your palms towards your body about 4 to 6 inches away from the surface of your body at chakra locations can stimulate massive energy activity within your body.  In other words, the palms stimulate the chakras!

 

The three lines of the trigram represent heaven, earth and man.  The three lines correlate to the three dantiens, the upper, the lower and the middle dantien respectively.

 

Upper Dantien          Third Eye

Heaven

 

Middle Dantien          Heart/Solar-Plexus

Man

 

Lower Dantien          Sub-Navel

Earth

 

When humans stand or sit erect, especially when outside in a natural setting, we can connect to both heaven energy from above and earth energy from below.  The Wuji Stance is the fundamental excersise for connecting… Heaven Above, Earth Below, Man In Between.

 

One of the big secrets of Taoism is that the arrangement of trigrams in the octagonal bagua diagram is an encoding of patterns of chakra stimulation designed to promote spiritual development leading to liberation from the cycles of reincarnation.  The 3 dantiens can be stimulated by connecting to heaven or earth energy or they can be stimulated by facing the palms of the hands towards the body in a specific sequence which over time results in the attainment of Enlightenment, Spiritual Awakening, Salvation, Remembrance of the Self, Spiritual Immortality, Liberation  from the Cycles of Reincarnation.

 

The Bagua Octagon Cycle also refers to the microcosmic orbit energy cultivation exercise.  Energy circulation in a certain direction around your body results in spiritual development.