4815162342.com

[Pat_McCrotch]

this isn't my theory, so the credit should go to eyeamthu1 of the MFN fourms.

http://forums.matrixfans.net/showpost.php?p=472050&postcount=445

First off I believe that Dharma are researching Ch'i... the life energy that flows through the environment and space we inhabit according to Feng Shui. I'll give a brief explanation of Feng Shui. Feng Shui is the Chinese Philosophical and Scientific study of the aforementioned Ch'i. By balancing these energies in harmonious places in which we live and work, our lives can be greatly improved in a number of ways. People use Feng Shui to heighten their awareness of Ch'i in order to change different aspects of their lives... from miraculous curing (Locke and Rose) to becoming Wealthy (Hurley). Of course if the Ch'i isn't balanced, their is also an opposing negative effect (Bad Luck etc).

So far, im sure you can see the links with Lost... but their is no real 'proof'. Lets delve straight into direct Lost references...

Dharma means 'Natural Law' or 'True Reality'. In East Asia, the character for Dharma is '?', pronounced fǎ in Mandarin and hō in Japanese. In the centre of the Lost map is a giant '?' ... could this be the western symbolisation of Dharma rather than a literal question mark? If so, what is there? True Reality? The Balanced Chi? The Secret To Life? Episode 21 is called '?' so maybe we will find out then. 108 is the most sacred of numbers in a lot of, if not all primarily asian religions. It is known as the Natural Number. It also pops up in quite a lot of places 'coincidentally', For example the Sun's diamater is approx 108 times bigger than Earth's diamater... The distance between the earth and the Sun is 108 x The Suns diamater and the distance between the earth and the moon equals about 108 times the moon’s diameter.

We are bound by the laws of time, space and causation according to finite reality. Dharma is the foundation of this causal existence, the one step below the infinite. Dharma is the projection of divine order. Dharma has imbibed the highest principles of Truth. Dharma is not just law, or harmony, it is pure Reality.

This all leads to the biggest link between lost and Asian religions and philosophies (Primarily Feng Shui). Let's start with the I-Ching. In Western cultures, the I Ching is regarded by some as simply a system of divination. It is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. It is a bunch of 64 symbols that consist of line arrangements, each line either being Yang (An unbroken Solid line) or Yin (A line with a gap in the centre) (I'll come onto Yin and Yang soon). Here are some examples - ☶ ☵ ☷ ☳ ☶ ☳.

Now, you will notice that these are used in the Dharma Logo (http://dashh.typepad.com/ilife/images/dharma_initiative_swan_logo.gif)

So, you're thinking 'If the Dharma logo consists of 6 ancient chinese symbols, what do they mean?'. Well, each symbol has a name and a symbol which I'll come to in a second, but first remember that I said their was 64 symbols. Well, you'll never guess what... the Dharma logo is made out of symbols 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.

So, so far we have some links with Feng Shui, some Dharma references to asian philosophies and the Dharma logo using ancient chinese text. Why randomly bring up Feng Shui if Dharma is somewhat linked to a lot of Asian things? Well there is a particular part of Feng Shui I want to focus on. The Black Hat Sect of Feng Shui. This is a unique sect in Feng Shui as it approaches it in a not so traditional manner. While they still agree on the principles, such as the balancing of energies etc etc, They focus less on spiritual and religious explanations and more on scientific concepts. This fits more with Losts scientific theme than tradition Feng Shui, and it gets even weirder. The Black Hat sect has its own Map. It is a map of the various combinations of Ch'i energy. Here is the Black Hat Sects map(http://www.windwatrcanada.com/bagua.JPG). As you can see, it looks scarily similar to the Dharma logo... and yes, the 6 I Chings are identical to that of the Dharma logo. Remember, it is a 'map' not a logo, and thus I assume the Dharma logo is also just a map of the islands energies (And of course, the blast door map).

In the centre you can see the Yin-Yang symbol, which is the two opposing forces of Ch'i, often refered to as the Light and Dark sides (A theme prominant in Lost).

What could all of this mean though? Well, to me it looks like Dharma may be researching the Feng Shui/Yin-Yang energies scientifically in order to attempt to control them for better or worse. In episode 19 - S.O.S the Miracle Healer claimed he didn't know what energies he was harnassing and that "Maybe they're magnetic". Magnetism plays a prominant role in Lost, so maybe the energies are linked with it, and Dharma tried to harness and control it. After various failed attempts (Resulting in an 'Incident'?) and realising it cannot be done, they abandoned their research resulting in an island with unbalanced energy everywhere resulting in all sorts of crazy things.

This leads to the question... what if they completed their research? What is in the centre of the island... the '?' ... the Dharma Symbol, the balanced energy... 'Reality'. And then tons of the other typical questions like 'Who are the Others?', 'Why are the losties their?' 'What is the Monster?' etc etc.




EDITED: added missing links

[HAL JORDAN]

I like, I like. This is quite good. There is some definite ground for this theory. So what do you think the island actually is in relation to the Chi philosophy???
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I hope life isn't a joke because I don't get it.

[Gregoroth]

I think the whole Dharma organisation is covering things up. Probably developing weapons or something, 'Smokie' for example. I mean the Hanso site, I presume, would be for the people in the Lost universe to visit too, not just clues for us. If it's being advertised there, why all the secrecy and the island being hidden etc.

[justjared]

I like this theory of yours but the examples and map that you "link" to aren't there. I don't know if this is really a theory about what is happening on the island but I do think there are too many coincidences to dismiss it.

[Pat_McCrotch]

i updated it with the missing links

[cooper42]

Wow!!!

If the Losties were put on the island for a purpose, maybe certain ones coincide with the map that you linked to:

Fame - Charlie
Children/creativity/future - Claire and the baby
Helpful people/travel/father - Jack (being a doctor)
Relationships/marriage/mother - Sun
Career - Jin
Wealth - Hurley
Family/past - Kate
Knowledge/Spirituality - Eko

All of these are suggestions, but the ones that just jump at me are fame and wealth. I mean, come on, we have a lottery winner and a rock star on the island, for crying out loud!

I don't know what it all means, but it seems like the Losties are representative of the Black Hat Sects map...
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[justanothersky]

There's a great deal of effort put into this, unfortunately there're quite a few vital mistakes which might make the Chi theory totally unsound.

First, There're has been a long debate about whether DHARMA is an acronym or a complete word.
And this week's ARG it's revealed DHARMA is indeed an acronym, which stands for "Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications Initiative".
It's not 100% definite, but it very much confirmed DHARMA is at least an acronym, not one word.
Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dharma_Initiative
And for a rather good thread on Heuristics, please see: http://www.4815162342.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22168

Second, as a Chinese I appreciate you've taken some interest in feng-shui & chi, however I have to point out some glaring errors.

As you already mentioned, I-Ching is the oldest Chinese text.
But it encompass far more than just feng-shui, or rather feng-shui is only one area of study [or should I say 'practical application'] that derived from studying I-Ching.
And the design of Dharma logo is based on a 'Tai-chi ba-gua tu' or simply 'ba-gua tu', which is not at all unique to the study of feng-shui nor to the 'Black Hat Sect' you mentioned.

'Ba-gua tu' is actually a device invented at least 2000 years later [after I-Ching] by some of the scholars who delved deep into I-Ching to help remembering & understanding the principles better.
It might be used in feng-shui, but it's also been used in many disciplines/areas of study or even by religions such as Taoism
There're about 5 different variations of such 'ba-qua tu', which is often used as map/diagram/chart, and all 5 have the same 'Tai-chi tu' in the center surrounded by 8 trigrams [or 'qua' in Chinese].
It's not a 'map' exclusive only to the 'Black Hat' fung-shui practitioners, which I'm very certain.

This fourth point would be more like a two-part question.
Here is part 1: When you say " 'If the Dharma logo consists of 6 ancient chinese symbols, what do they mean?'. Well, each symbol has a name and a symbol which I'll come to in a second, but first remember that I said their was 64 symbols. Well, you'll never guess what... the Dharma logo is made out of symbols 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42".

I know what these no. 4, 8, ... 42 hexagrams looks like as well as their meanings, but how did you arrive at the conclusion that 'DHARAM', an English or Hindu word, would correspond to these 6 hexagrams?
I would be very interested to see the sources.

Question part 2:
Where did you find the information that "Dharma = '?' " and said, I will quote here: "In East Asia, the character for Dharma is '?', pronounced fǎ in Mandarin and hō in Japanese"??

I speak Mandarin, which is my first language, and old enough to have lots of pretty difficult ancient Chinese text incorporated between primary to senior high school years [basically between 6-18] and still reads books in ancient Chinese sometimes.

And I know 'Dharma' bearing great significance in Hinduism but I'm not aware it actually corresponds to any particular word / character in Chinese.
It might appear in a translation of Buddhist text, but I very much doubt it since we have other suitable phrase for translating 'true reality' or 'natural law'.
And it would be a two-word phrase, not just one word.

And definitely not "?" the question mark.
I'm pretty sure "?" as a symbol only exist in Chinese language since the 20th century.

Moreover, in ancient Chinese text, there're quite a number of different Chinese characters which would stand for "?" the question mark in a sentence, depending on the context....
Therefore I really don't understand where does this "Dharma= ?" nor its pronunciation coming from [as it should have at least 3 different possibilities here]...
Hopefully you don't see me as nitpicking here at the last question as I'm most curious about this, so would really love to see the source.

[julesdingle]

[Nctrnl]

Wow Nice well thought out theory. I like it. Kudos to the author.
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[just another other]

I like a lot of aspects of this theory, and it is very well thought out....

[justanothersky]

[steltomtf]

justanothersky

[justanothersky]

[just another other]

[justanothersky]