Guo Gu Min was one of the famous practitioners of Ba Gua in Beijing. Some sources credit him with composing Ba Gua‘s 36 Songs.

In this series we present Ba Gua’s Eight Hands, or Eight Linear Forms, as taught by Guo Gu Min. The pictures and text are excerpted from Compendium of Ba Gua Zhang Art by Guo Gu Min, edited by Zang Xue Fan: Jilin Science and Technology Publishers. Translated by Huang Guo Qi.

When I learned these forms from Wang Shi Tong, Wang explained that each of the Eight Hands is a linear expression of one of the Old Eight Palms (Lao Ba Zhang). The Eight Hands are the key to understanding how to apply Lao Ba Zhang’s circular palm changes.

This is the second form – Step forward, Pull and Strike, is presented below.