Ngoc Lu Drum expresses creatively, accurately, clearly, consistently & fully, both in the format & the content, the Circle Square Dao or Âm Dương Ngũ Hành (ADNH), one of the most ancient & comprehensive theories of mankind, comprising all 3 aspects – scientific, philosophical & spiritual. Circle Square Dao is about the interactions and changes presented & expressed through diagrams, symbols, models, numbers, laws, rules, methods, their relationships and meanings. Therefore, it is also called the Law of Five Interactions.
Unlike the Bible, Vedas or I Ching that expressed primarily in words, Circle Square Dao is the Wordless & unspoken Sutra, perhaps the only one in human history in terms of its comprehensive scope.
Circle Square Dao, encoded on the Drum is characterized by 3 most outstanding features: originality, comprehensiveness & coherence.
Originality
The Originality of the Drum is the most noticeable feature. The Ngoc Lu bronze drum was discovered in 1893 in Ngoc Lu village, Ly Nhan, Ha Nam province of Vietnam. The drum is the most outstanding, beautiful & quintessential representative of Dong Son culture that existed between 900 BC and 200 AD. Many researchers have agreed that the age of drums is about 2500 years 1Source: Wikipedia.
Recognized as the National Treasure of Vietnam, the drum is currently kept and displayed at the National Museum of History in Hanoi, Vietnam2Source: Vietnam National Museum of History.
Thus, in terms of chronology, the Drum & the Circle Square Dao have existed in parallel with “I Ching”, one of the 5 Chinese classics since at least 2500 years ago but almost no one knows.
With works that are several thousand years old, originality is very rare. Having the original publicly displayed is very important as it makes the study & reference transparent and easy.
Coherence
Circle Square Dao displays its coherence by the consistent & systematic connections & dependencies between the diagrams, laws, methods, their meanings, and the core philosophy & ideas. Coherence is characteristic of a doctrine. When the doctrine’s coherence is expressed in numbers, proportions, shapes, models & laws that reflect the objective reality & are proved by the modern science, the doctrine is a scientific theory.
Comprehensiveness
Circle Square Dao’s comprehensiveness is shown by the fact that the Drum has full set of the diagrams covering all 3 forces or agents: Heaven, Earth & Human. Generally speaking, Heaven-Treatise 8 Trigrams (BQHT) & Land-Directions 8 Trigrams (BQLD) focus mostly on Heaven & Earth, Yin & Yang, Science & Philosophy, Nature and Society while Land-Heaven 8 Trigrams or “Bat Quai Lac Hong” (BQLH) covers Human, Center & Dao, the conscious energy.
Among all diagrams, BQLH is the most important. Without it, the Circle-Square Dao would not be complete. Without it, there will be mostly theory and little practice thus losing a significant value.
BQLH provides the key principles, methods & techniques guiding the actions corresponding with the views about Heaven & Earth or Nature & Society expressed by BQLD & BQHT. Specifically, BQLH enables people to experiment, understand & master the inner world, to live life, centered on Dao, to achieve happiness, harmonizing all opposites of Yin Yang, Am Duong.
In addition, based on the BQLH, 64 hexagrams had been generated to provide a living manual to help people handle daily practical issues. By practicing it repeatedly, people will also get another benefit i.e. to learn & understand the Dao’s wisdom & insights.
In short, in the Circle Square Dao all 3 aspects of Heaven Earth & Human, Circle Square or Âm Dương & Center, Science Philosophy & Dao blend together as One.