Gua or hexagram

In the I Ching, a gua is a symbol composed of six lines [a hexagram] that represent yin and yang [see masculine feminine yin and yang].

A solid line           _______________                          represents yang energy

A broken line       ______      _______                        represents yin energy

The top three lines are known as the Upper Trigram and are given a name for example ‘Fire’. 

The bottom three lines are known as the Lower Trigram and also follow the same naming system, for example Earth. 

The naming system is based on the Chinese elements

Each gua has multiple meanings in the I Ching, but in the context of this website I have extracted from the I Ching the meanings that have a correspondence with the activity needed to get a person in that state.  In effect a gua is a state of energy, and a person needs to do something either to maintain that state or achieve that state or in some cases to avoid that state.

In order to describe the guas I have used the following conventions

• The gua name is that used in Chinese e.g. QIAN

• The gua is shown as a hexagram as it is in the I Ching

• The Chinese element to which it corresponds is also shown, so that the added symbolism can be followed through

• The name of the upper and lower Trigrams are provided in English rather than Chinese

• The description of the symbol as it is given in the I-Ching is provided.