What is He Tu？ (河图)
The entire branch of Chinese Metaphysics is a subset of Yi Jing. In the previous Yi Jing article, we understand how things around us are derived from Taiji. But the evolution does not stop there, here we come to one of the important diagram in Chinese Metaphysics. This pictorial presented is one of the major backbone system in Chinese Metaphysics:
He Tu. (河图)
He Tu literally means River Map. Why river and not mountain you might ask? One of the many stories you might heard the formation of He Tu. Here is the popular version:
In ancient times, Fu Xi ruled China. He often looked up to observe heavenly phenomena and also carefully noted the stars movements and the changes they brought about. One day during his typical observation trip to the Yellow river, he saw a dragon horse leap out of the river and saw black and white dots on the back of the dragon horse. Coincidentally the marks on the back of the mythical creature matches his findings on heavenly phenomena that he has been studying.
He Tu was thus born. You may realize that the River Map always differs by a difference of 5. Also by observing the patterns of the movement, you will also notice that the river map theory runs in an ascending clockwise direction starting from the center (Earth) position.
Like my master always says, the story sounds incredible and of course, you can choose not to believe this story. But during the course of Feng Shui studies, it is one of the ancient tales that you will come across often.
Jokes aside, you’ll probably hear variants of the above tale. But usually there is no structured explanation why the dots were line up in that fashion. Today I will share what my master has taught us, and this could be one of the possible reason why the He Tu is arranged in this manner.
Why He Tu is arranged in this manner?
This is because He Tu is a mere pictorial extension of Taiji. When you look at the Taiji diagram below:
Ever thought why the first white dot (Yang) is at the bottom not on anywhere? Look at the white dot below at the Taiji symbol. This the beginning of light, and there is only one white dot, therefore one is at the bottom. Moreover the one white dot represents the start of growth in Yang. Therefore one is at the bottom of He Tu.
Next is the second dot, which is on top of the Taiji, which also means that the Yang is at its peak and the Yin is in its transition position and Yin energy will start to manifest. This become a cycle, day after day. Three dots on the left because it means that Yang is actually growing stronger, we need another number to represent it. That is why three dots are on the left.
Similarly the four dots are on the left because Yin gains strength and momentum as the day goes by. Five in the centre is to balance the whole chart or acts as a medium to separate the four cardinal directions (four elements).
You will notice that the numbers are add up in the difference of five. Do take note, unlike Luo Shu, The He Tu numbers is added up and has not limitations to it. Meaning to say, number at North in He Tu is 1 and 6. But it can be this combination of 1, 6, 11, 16, 21 and so on. So long it’s a difference by the number of 5.