ba gua
(context: talking about the elements as expressed in Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Weren't we talking about mixing elements?
Cloud is air and water. So Katara and Aang can work together to bend clouds in "The Soothsayer."
Mud is water and earth. So Katara and Toph can both bend mud, and they have a great mudfight in "The Runaway."
Lava is earth and fire. Ghazan does that while escaping with Zahir, and many times later. Bolin learns to lavabend too.
What's the missing link? Fire and air. The only thing I can think of is the aurorae, borealis or australiaris, and I don't think we've seen an aurora-bender. Interesting to think about what that would be like.
Also an interesting contrast to the pa-kwa or ba-gua, the Eightfold Way. When I compare Taoist concepts to European paganism, the correspondence of the four elements is easy. Earth, Fire, Air, Water. But the Taoists don't spend much time on the four element stage, they spend most of their attention on the next one, eight elements.
Here, I'll walk us through the verse of the Tao Te Jing
"Before all else is the Tao." (Before you can start drawing, you need to have your crayon and paper.)
"From the Tao comes nothing." (Blank sheet of paper.)
"From nothing comes one." (Fill the paper with formless scribbles. All chaotic, no difference. All the same.)
"From one comes two." (The scribbles polarize, with light scribbles floating upward and dark scribbles sinking downward.)
So far, I'm good with this creation story. Torah says God created the heavens and the earth, and that's what this says too. Good. But next things get a little weird.
"From two comes eight."
um. Did you skip over four? I see the sequence if four is in there. And four in this context is perfectly clear to me: Heaven and Earth, which are above and below, and Fire and Water, that which rises and that which falls. These are the same elements in European lore and witchcraft as they are in classical Chinese literature.
Eight is the number of the pa-kwa or ba-gua that you see in every Airbender temple, and the basis of the martial art that I have been trained in (though not yet certified to teach). They use the same four points as I've just described. The additional four points in between them, as I understand them, starting from Sky (Air, Heaven, etc.) and going clockwise:
Sky: That which is above.
Wind: Sky presses down and intrudes upon Earth.
Water: That which descends (from Sky to Earth).
Mountain: Earth presses up and intrudes upon Sky. This point is adolescent Earth, coming into power.
Earth: That which is below.
Thunder: something Earth-like appearing in Sky (at least it sounds that way). This point departs the Sky and comes down to shake the Earth, and usually a lot of Water comes down with it.
Fire: That which rises (from Earth to Sky).
Lake: something Sky-like appearing in Earth. (Think of this as if you're standing on a mountaintop in China.) This point departs Earth and reaches toward Sky, with Fire as its intermediary or bridge.
What I've just described is the Pa-Kwa of Earlier Heaven, as I was taught. It aligns around the clock face as I've described.
the eight trigrams
But then something else happens that I don't understand, which moves some of the trigrams around into different places, and that's the Pa-Kwa of Later Heaven -- which is the one on the Korean flag, and the one you'll mostly see in Chinatown. Can anyone help me out with this joober?
Weren't we talking about mixing elements?
Cloud is air and water. So Katara and Aang can work together to bend clouds in "The Soothsayer."
Mud is water and earth. So Katara and Toph can both bend mud, and they have a great mudfight in "The Runaway."
Lava is earth and fire. Ghazan does that while escaping with Zahir, and many times later. Bolin learns to lavabend too.
What's the missing link? Fire and air. The only thing I can think of is the aurorae, borealis or australiaris, and I don't think we've seen an aurora-bender. Interesting to think about what that would be like.
Also an interesting contrast to the pa-kwa or ba-gua, the Eightfold Way. When I compare Taoist concepts to European paganism, the correspondence of the four elements is easy. Earth, Fire, Air, Water. But the Taoists don't spend much time on the four element stage, they spend most of their attention on the next one, eight elements.
Here, I'll walk us through the verse of the Tao Te Jing
"Before all else is the Tao." (Before you can start drawing, you need to have your crayon and paper.)
"From the Tao comes nothing." (Blank sheet of paper.)
"From nothing comes one." (Fill the paper with formless scribbles. All chaotic, no difference. All the same.)
"From one comes two." (The scribbles polarize, with light scribbles floating upward and dark scribbles sinking downward.)
So far, I'm good with this creation story. Torah says God created the heavens and the earth, and that's what this says too. Good. But next things get a little weird.
"From two comes eight."
um. Did you skip over four? I see the sequence if four is in there. And four in this context is perfectly clear to me: Heaven and Earth, which are above and below, and Fire and Water, that which rises and that which falls. These are the same elements in European lore and witchcraft as they are in classical Chinese literature.
Eight is the number of the pa-kwa or ba-gua that you see in every Airbender temple, and the basis of the martial art that I have been trained in (though not yet certified to teach). They use the same four points as I've just described. The additional four points in between them, as I understand them, starting from Sky (Air, Heaven, etc.) and going clockwise:
Sky: That which is above.
Wind: Sky presses down and intrudes upon Earth.
Water: That which descends (from Sky to Earth).
Mountain: Earth presses up and intrudes upon Sky. This point is adolescent Earth, coming into power.
Earth: That which is below.
Thunder: something Earth-like appearing in Sky (at least it sounds that way). This point departs the Sky and comes down to shake the Earth, and usually a lot of Water comes down with it.
Fire: That which rises (from Earth to Sky).
Lake: something Sky-like appearing in Earth. (Think of this as if you're standing on a mountaintop in China.) This point departs Earth and reaches toward Sky, with Fire as its intermediary or bridge.
What I've just described is the Pa-Kwa of Earlier Heaven, as I was taught. It aligns around the clock face as I've described.
the eight trigrams
But then something else happens that I don't understand, which moves some of the trigrams around into different places, and that's the Pa-Kwa of Later Heaven -- which is the one on the Korean flag, and the one you'll mostly see in Chinatown. Can anyone help me out with this joober?