Yin and yang
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| Yin and yang | |||||||||||||||||
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| Taijitu, the traditional symbol representing the forces of yin (dark) and yang (light). | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese: | 陰陽 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 阴阳 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Kanji: | 陰陽 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana: | いんよう | ||||||||||||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||
| Hangul: | 음양 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hanja: | 陰陽 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Quốc ngữ: | âm dương | ||||||||||||||||
| Chữ nôm: | 陰陽 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hán tự: | 陰陽 | ||||||||||||||||
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This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. |
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This article contains Japanese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of kanji or kana. |
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This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of hangul or hanja. |
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In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (simplified Chinese: 阴阳; traditional Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng) are generalized descriptions of the antitheses or mutual correlations in human perceptions of phenomena in the natural world, combining to create a unity of opposites in the theory of the Taiji. The term liang yi (simplified Chinese: 两仪; traditional Chinese: 兩儀; pinyin: liǎngyí, lit. "two mutually correlated opposites"), also known as Yin and Yang or earth and heaven has a similar meaning.
The concept of yin and yang (or earth and heaven) describes two opposing and, at the same time, complementary (completing) aspects of any one phenomenon (object or process) or comparison of any two phenomena. They are universal standards of quality at the basis of the systems of correspondence seen in most branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine being an example[1].
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Two qualities
Yin (陰 or 阴 "shady place, north slope, south bank (river); cloudy, overcast"; Japanese: in or on; Korean: 음, Vietnamese: âm) qualities are characterized as soft, slowness, substantial, water, cold, conserving, tranquil, gentle, and corresponds to the night.
Yang (陽 or 阳 "sunny place, south slope, north bank (river), sunshine"; Japanese: yō; Korean: 양, Vietnamese: dương) qualities are characterized as hot, fire, restless, hard, dry, excitement, non-substantial, rapidity, and corresponds to the day.
Four Laws of Yin-yang
- Yin-yang are Opposing
- Yin and yang describe the polar effects of phenomena. In viewing any one phenomenon (or the comparison of two phenomena), yin and yang describe the opposing qualities inherent in it. For instance, winter and summer would be the yin and yang, respectively, of the year.
- Yin-yang are Mutually Rooted
- Yin and yang are two complementary qualities. That is to say, the yin and the yang aspect of any one phenomenon will, when put together, form the entire phenomenon. Yin-yang is a philosophy of duality. This is the reason the Chinese word has no "and" between yin and yang - the term always expresses the two making up the one. In the example above, winter plus summer makes up the whole year.
- Yin-yang Mutually Transform
- The maximum effect of one quality will be followed by the transition toward the opposing quality. In other words, once the maximum Yang aspect has manifest, such as the long days of summer, this will be followed by the transition toward the Yin aspect, with the shortening of the days as winter approaches.
- Yin-yang Mutually Wax and Wane
- The Yin and yang aspects are in dynamic equilibrium. As one aspect declines, the other increases to an equal degree. For instance, in the cycle of the year, the long days of summer gradually shorten and the nights gradually lengthen as winter approaches. Throughout the process, however, the length of each day is constant (the equilibrium) while it is only the relative length of light and darkness that changes (is dynamic).
- Yin and yang are neither substances nor forces[1]. They are the terms used in a system of dualistic qualification which can be applied universally. Further dividing Yang and Yin into their respective Yin and Yang aspects, yields four combinations: the Yin of the Yang, the Yang of the Yang, the Yin of the Yin, and the Yang of the Yin. This allows an endless scale of universally defined qualities, which is foundational to classical Chinese thought, as seen in the Tao Te Ching, and science, as seen in the Yellow Emperor's Huangdi Neijing.
Taijitu
The Taijitu (pictured at top of page; traditional Chinese: 太極圖; simplified Chinese: 太极图; pinyin: Taìjí tú; Wade-Giles: T'ai4 chi2 t'u2; literally "diagram of the supreme ultimate"), often referred to as yin-yang in English, is a well known symbol deriving from Chinese culture which represents the principle of yin and yang from Taoist and Neo-Confucian philosophy. The term Taijitu itself refers to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles.
The taijitu represents an ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents the entirety of perceivable phenomena, while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two principles or aspects, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause the phenomena to appear in their peculiar way. Each of them contains an element or seed of the other, and they cannot exist without each other. There are other ways that Chinese schools of thought graphically represented the principles of yin and yang, an older example being the solid and divided lines of the I Ching.
Wu Jianquan, a famous Chinese martial arts teacher, described the name of the martial art Taijiquan this way at the beginning of the 20th century:
- "Various people have offered different explanations for the name Taijiquan. Some have said: - 'In terms of self-cultivation, one must train from a state of movement towards a state of stillness. Taiji comes about through the balance of yin and yang. In terms of the art of attack and defense then, in the context of the changes of full and empty, one is constantly internally latent, not outwardly expressive, as if the yin and yang of Taiji have not yet divided apart.' Others say: 'Every movement of Taijiquan is based on circles, just like the shape of a Taijitu. Therefore, it is called Taijiquan.' Both explanations are quite reasonable, especially the second, which is more complete."[2]
In the image showing yin-yang as a circle the white part represents yang and the black part represents yin. Two parts pass through each other on a line because yin and yang are never separated. There is a small black round in white part and a white one in the black part.
In yin yang cosmology, the taiji is preceded by wuji. Wuji separates into taiji or yin and yang (also liang yi "two symbols"). Two symbols became four symbols. Subsequently, four symbols became bagua. And at last, bagua describes the myriad things of creation. This framework underlies both the I Ching and Tao Te Ching.
Dichotomy in other philosophies
The concept of "unity in duality" as underlying the nature of the Cosmos is fundamental in the philosophy of Heraclitus, one of the Presocratics[3][4][5][6]. Note that the Heracletian duality has nothing to do with an ontological dualism.
Indian philosophy has a distinct dualistic strand, known as Samkhya. In this theory, Yin corresponds to Prakrti and Yang to Purusha.
Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism posit a supernatural dualism to explain suffering in this world.
Indonesia has the motto: "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" that is "Unity in diversity" which originates from a quotation of an Old Javanese poem. This idea is similar to yin and yang philosophy. "Tunggal" means the only one, as in "anak tunggal" (only child).
Unicode
Taijitu is defined in code point U+262F (☯). As an alternative, Unicode suggested it can be substituted by U+0FCA (Tibetan symbol nor bu nyis -khyil), the double body symbol (࿊)[7].
References
- ^ a b Porkert (1974). The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine. MIT Press. ISBN 0262160587.
- ^ Woolidge, Doug (June 1997). "T’AI CHI The International Magazine of T’ai Chi Ch’uan Vol. 21 No. 3". Wayfarer Publications. ISSN 0730-1049.
- ^ A First Look at Unity, Duality, and Complexity
- ^ :: Minorités ::
- ^ Franz Capra connects mystical eastern philosophy with scientific knowledge of physics which allows knowledge of the true reality of the substance of the universe
- ^ Heraclitus
- ^ decodeunicode for Tibetan U+0FCA
See also
- Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
- Golden Mean
- I Ching
- Onmyōdō
- Tao Te Ching
- Traditional Chinese medicine
- Zhuangzi
- Duality
- Flag of South Korea
External links
