Free reference tool
Taiji Thirteen Postures
The thirteen postures are not thirteen movements. They are eight energies and five steps — the grammar underneath every Taiji form. This tool lays them out with their trigram, direction and five-element correspondences, and notes where the transmissions differ.
If you have heard 掤捋挤按 in class and want a map, this is for you. If you are looking for how to practise, start with the learning path.
| Gate | Wang / Li | Zhang Sanfeng |
|---|---|---|
| 掤 Ward-off | 坎 ☵ | 乾 ☰ |
| 捋 Roll-back | 离 ☲ | 坤 ☷ |
| 挤 Press | 震 ☳ | 坎 ☵ |
| 按 Push | 兑 ☱ | 离 ☲ |
| 采 Pluck | 乾 ☰ | 巽 ☴ |
| 挒 Split | 坤 ☷ | 震 ☳ |
| 肘 Elbow | 艮 ☶ | 兑 ☱ |
| 靠 Shoulder | 巽 ☴ | 艮 ☶ |
Wang / Li pairs the four cardinal gates with 坎离震兑 and the four corners with 乾坤艮巽. The Zhang Sanfeng text, a later attribution, uses the Early Heaven trigrams: 乾坤坎离 for the four cardinal gates. The wheel follows Wang / Li.
Ward-off
The primary expansive energy: a rounded structure that receives and redirects rather than collapsing.
Peng is the first of the eight gates and the quality the other seven are said to rest on. The arms and torso keep an elastic, rounded shape; the incoming force meets structure, not a hard block. In practice it is less a single technique than a condition that should be present in every technique.
Notice it in your form
This week, notice where your arms first expand and hold their shape. That is peng in action.
Read the glossary entry →Trigram mapping follows the Wang Zongyue / Li Yiyu text: 坎离震兑 for the four cardinal gates, 乾坤艮巽 for the four corners. Other transmissions, including the Zhang Sanfeng text and some Yang family manuscripts, assign the trigrams differently.
The framework
Eight gates, five steps — not thirteen moves
The name is misleading in English. The thirteen postures are not a sequence of thirteen movements. They are a vocabulary: eight methods of force, and five ways of stepping and orienting the body. Every form is built from them, the way a sentence is built from grammar rather than from a fixed list of sentences.
The eight gates are 掤 (ward-off), 捋 (roll-back), 挤 (press), 按 (push), 采 (pluck), 挒 (split), 肘 (elbow) and 靠 (shoulder). The five steps are 进 (advance), 退 (retreat), 左顾 (look left), 右盼 (look right) and 中定 (central equilibrium).
The trigram and five-element correspondences are a later layer. They are useful as a memory structure and as a window into how nineteenth-century teachers thought about the art. They are not a set of instructions for the body.
The eight gates and the trigrams
This table follows the Wang Zongyue / Li Yiyu text: the four cardinal gates are paired with 坎, 离, 震 and 兑; the four corner gates with 乾, 坤, 艮 and 巽.
| Gate | Pinyin | English | Trigram | Direction | Element |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 掤 | Péng | Ward-off | 坎 ☵ | North | Water |
| 捋 | Lǚ | Roll-back | 离 ☲ | South | Fire |
| 挤 | Jǐ | Press | 震 ☳ | East | Wood |
| 按 | Àn | Push | 兑 ☱ | West | Metal |
| 采 | Cǎi | Pluck | 乾 ☰ | Northwest | Metal |
| 挒 | Liè | Split | 坤 ☷ | Southwest | Earth |
| 肘 | Zhǒu | Elbow | 艮 ☶ | Northeast | Earth |
| 靠 | Kào | Shoulder | 巽 ☴ | Southeast | Wood |
Version note: other transmissions, including the Zhang Sanfeng text and some Yang family manuscripts, assign the trigrams differently. The mapping is a framework, not a single universal rule. The Compare tab above shows the Zhang Sanfeng assignment side by side.
The five steps and the five elements
This table follows the Yang family manuscript: advance is fire, retreat is water, look-left is wood, look-right is metal, and central equilibrium is earth.
| Step | Pinyin | English | Direction | Element |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 进 | Jìn | Advance | South | Fire |
| 退 | Tuì | Retreat | North | Water |
| 左顾 | Zuǒ gù | Look left | East | Wood |
| 右盼 | Yòu pàn | Look right | West | Metal |
| 中定 | Zhōng dìng | Central equilibrium | Center | Earth |
Version note: some modern interpretations reverse water and fire for advance and retreat. The tool uses the Yang family manuscript and says so.
Taiji, the two modes, the four images, the eight trigrams
易有太极，是生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦。
— 《易传·系辞上》
The sequence is a cosmological framework, not a practice routine. Wang Zongyue's Taiji Treatiseopens with yin and yang, but it does not prescribe a step-by-step meditation through two modes, four images and eight trigrams. Reading the sequence as a set of practice stages is a modern interpretation, not a classical instruction.
The eight-gate and five-step correspondences are a later systematisation, associated with the Wu-Li transmission in the nineteenth century. They are worth learning as a map of how the art was organised, not as a rule for what your hands should do.
What this is not
- Not a Feng Shui compass. There are no twenty-four mountains, no sitting-facing calculations, no date selection, and no divination here. Feng Shui is a separate spatial practice with its own tools.
- Not a rule for which way to face. The directions are a coordinate framework. Classical Taiji texts do not prescribe a fixed facing direction; "face south" is a later health-culture interpretation, not a rule in the classical texts.
- Not a single canonical mapping. The eight-gate trigram mapping and the five-step element mapping both have variant readings. The tool uses one and tells you which.
Read it with
- Thirteen Postures — the glossary entry
The definition, with links to the eight gates and the five steps.
- The Eight Gates
Each of the eight methods, defined individually.
- The Five Steps
Advance, retreat, look left, look right, and central equilibrium.
- The three internal martial arts
Xingyi, Bagua and Taiji — where the trigram language comes from, and where it differs.
- Traditional Chinese Martial Arts
The wider map: styles, lineages and the vocabulary around them.
- The Tai Chi learning path
Where the thirteen postures sit in the sequence of practice.
Common questions
What are the thirteen postures?
They are not thirteen movements. The thirteen postures (十三势) are eight gates — 掤, 捋, 挤, 按, 采, 挒, 肘, 靠 — plus five steps: 进, 退, 左顾, 右盼, 中定. Together they describe the energies and the footwork underneath every Taiji form.
How do the eight gates map to the trigrams?
This tool follows the Wang Zongyue / Li Yiyu text: 掤 坎, 捋 离, 挤 震, 按 兑 for the four cardinal gates, and 采 乾, 挒 坤, 肘 艮, 靠 巽 for the four corners. Other transmissions assign the trigrams differently, so the mapping is a framework, not a single universal rule.
Why are there different versions of the mapping?
The eight gates and five steps were systematised in the nineteenth century, and different manuscripts and lineages record different correspondences. The Zhang Sanfeng text and some Yang family manuscripts use a different trigram arrangement, and some modern interpretations reverse water and fire for advance and retreat. The tool states which version it uses.
Do I need to face a fixed direction when I practise?
No. Classical Taiji texts do not prescribe a fixed facing direction. The directions here are a coordinate framework for the trigrams and the five steps, not an instruction to face north or south. The idea that one must face a particular way is a later health-culture interpretation, not a rule in the classical texts.
Is this a Feng Shui compass?
No. Feng Shui is a separate spatial practice with its own tools (the luopan, the twenty-four mountains, sitting-facing calculations). This is a Taiji reference: it explains the eight gates and five steps, and it does not offer divination, date selection or property orientation advice.
What is the difference between the eight gates and the five steps?
The eight gates are methods of force — ward-off, roll-back, press, push, pluck, split, elbow and shoulder. The five steps are footwork and body orientation — advance, retreat, look left, look right, and central equilibrium. The gates are what the hands and body do; the steps are how you get there.
More practice tools
Breath Trainer
A free slow-breathing pacer with four patterns, including a no-hold option — useful on its own and alongside qigong and Tai Chi.
Open →Free Tai Chi & Qigong Music
Stream the practice sets, or download them for offline use.
Open →All free tools are listed in one place: Practice Tools.