Ba Gua Zhang is one of the internal martial art styles of China, also known as You Shen Ba Gua Lian Huan Zhang (游身八卦连环掌) which means the Swimming Body of the Turning Ba gua Form. This internal martial art was created by Dong Hai-chuan (董海川) in Beijing during the 19^th century. Master Dong was born in the third year of the Jiaqing (嘉庆) era of the Qing Dynasty on October 13, 1797 and died in the 8^th year of the Guangxu (光绪) era in 1882. He was born in the Zhu jia wu village in Wen’an County, Hebei Province. He was originally named Ji-de and later changed his name to Hai-chuan. He had a sincere interest in martial art from his earliest years and traveled all over China to find the best teachers and friends with the same interest. He became accomplished in several styles of martial arts and from understanding the essence of other branches of martial arts and eventually developed the style of Ba gua Zhang.

        Ba Gua Zhang (八卦掌) literally translated as the Eight Trigram Form represented in the basic Yi Jing. These Eight Trigrams are the basic Guas (挂) of the Yi Jing (易经) also called the Zhou Yi (周易) representing all the elements of life. According to the Pre-heaven Bagua trigrams also called the “primordial eight trigrams” created by Fu Xi (伏羲), it is said: “Taiji was born from the nothingness and generated the two poles of yin and yang. These two poles then generated the three essences; the sky, earth and human beings. These three essences generated the four directions; East, South, West and North. The four directions generated the five elements; metal, wood, water, fire and earth. The five elements generated the six directions; East, South, West, North, up and down. The six directions generated the seven stars that represent the seven planets. The seven planets generated the eight diagrams that formed the Bagua.”

          There is also a Post-heaven Bagua trigrams made by Zhou Wen-wang (周文王). In the Post-heaven Bagua, these eight diagrams follow a different order and produce sixty-four hexagrams. These are the ones used in predicting the events of life and have a different sequence. The eight trigrams are as follows: Qian (乾), Kan (坎), Gen (艮), Zhen (震), Xun (巽), Li (离), Kun (坤) and Dui (兑). They represent the eight directions and each one has an individual meaning and characteristics. The eight diagrams are composed of two types of lines. The yang lines are expressed with a continuous line “—” and the yin lines are expressed with a broken line “- -”. Combing these trigrams can create all events of life and describe their changes to the individual who can read this language.

         The art of Ba Gua Zhang is using the body to master these natural changes in life and connecting with all things of the univers. The basis of practicing the art of Ba Gua Zhang is to learn “the mud walking step” which stimulates all the leg meridians as well as opening the Ki1 (yong quan) point which is said to be like a well of energy. This step is performed in a “circle walking” method and with every step the body is called to perform various internal and external circular movements. Ba Gua Zhang is known to be the most difficult internal martial art to master but it can also generate remarkable internal power as well as opening all the channels of the mind and calm the mind. This internal power can later be used for health cultivation or for fighting. Nowadays, the main goals of practicing Ba Gua Zhang are to generate optimal health and clarity of the mind as well as developing a flexibility of the body and mind that is indescribable.