Monday, March 20, 2006

Yin and Yang

There is a strong belief in the duality of the universe. There is a complimentary form for anything that exists around us. I also do strongly beleive in this. There is an interesting concept on this fact proposed by the famous chinese philosopher Confusious.
The concept of yin and yang describes two primal opposing but complementary forces found in all things in the universe. Yin, the darker element, is passive, dark, feminine, downward-seeking, and corresponds to the night; yang, the brighter element, is active, light, masculine, upward-seeking and corresponds to the day. Yin is often symbolized by water, while yang is symbolized by fire.

The pair probably goes back to ancient agrarian religion; it exists in Confucianism.Yin and yang are descriptions of complementary opposites rather than absolutes.Most forces in nature can be broken down into their respective yin and yang states, and the two are usually in movement rather than held in absolute stasis.
Principles of Yin and Yang
Everything can be described as either yin or yang.

1. Yin and yang are opposites.
Everything has its opposite—although this is never absolute, only comparative. No one thing is completely yin or completely yang. Each contains the seed of its opposite. For example, winter can turn into summer; "what goes up must come down".

2. Yin and yang are interdependent.
One cannot exist without the other. For example, day cannot exist without night.
3. Yin and yang can be further subdivided into yin and yang.
Any yin or yang aspect can be further subdivided into yin and yang. For example, temperature can be seen as either hot or cold. However, hot can be further divided into warm or burning; cold into cool or icy. Within each spectrum, there is a smaller spectrum; every beginning is a moment in time, and has a beginning and end, just as every hour has a beginning and end.
4. Yin and yang consume and support each other.
Yin and yang are usually held in balance—as one increases, the other decreases. However, imbalances can occur. There are four possible imbalances: Excess yin, excess yang, yin deficiency, and yang deficiency. They can again be seen as a pair: by excess of yin there is yang deficiency and vice versa. The imbalance is also a relative factor: the excess of yang "forces" yin to be more "concentrated".
5. Yin and yang can transform into one another.
At a particular stage, yin can transform into yang and vice versa. For example, night changes into day; warmth cools; life changes to death. However this transformation is relative too. Night and day coexist on Earth at the same time when shown from space.
6. Part of yin is in yang and part of yang is in yin.
The dots in each serve: 1. as a reminder that there are always traces of one in the other. For example, there is always light within the dark (e.g., the stars at night), these qualities are never completely one or the other. 2. as a reminder that absolute extreme side transforms instantly into the opposite, or that the labels yin and yang are conditioned by an observer's point of view. For example, the hardest stone is easiest to break. This can show that absolute discrimination between the two is artificial.
Hope it was gud reading!

1 comment:

Kuan Gung said...

Great stuff!