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YIN/YANG

The twin concepts of Yin and Yang are attributed to ancient Chinese cosmology and are representative of the dualism, or two-sidedness, that exists within the universe.

The principle of polarity is to be found everywhere in the universe: heaven and earth; the finite (the earth) and the infinite (the atmosphere and everything above the earth); the visible (the earth) and the invisible (heaven and air); above (the sun and warmth) and below (the earth and cold), and so on. Polarity allows movement and therefore change; for example, the earth moves and rhythmically changes its position in relation to the sun. This brings about the slow change from day and daylight through the dusk into the darkness of night. The concept of continual change, a fundamental idea in daoistic philosophy, is clearly illustrated by the behaviour of water. It falls as rain on the earth. It collects in rivulets, which become streams and then rivers which flow into the sea. The water then evaporates, rising into the sky to fall as rain and thereby completing the cycle.

Everything in nature and all events in life have a relationship to each other which involves opposing factors. These natural things and events are also in a continual state of change as they are subject to the ebb and flow of cosmic forces. The ideal state in nature and therefore in health is when these opposing forces are in relative balance.

These complementary opposites are neither forces nor material entities -nor are they mythical concepts that transcend rationality. Rather, they are symbols used to describe the continuous process of natural change. Yin and Yang are not only a set of correspondences; they also represent a way of thinking where all things are seen as parts of a whole. No entity can ever be isolated from its relationship to other entities; no thing can exist in and of itself. There are no absolutes, rather that everything is relative, flexible and changeable. Yin and Yang must, necessarily, contain within themselves the possibility of opposition and change. Each makes up for what the other lacks, and the wholeness of the world would be incomplete if there were a deficiency of either.

The original meaning of Yin and Yang is representative of the mountains -both the dark side and the bright side, or the contrasting shaded and sunny slopes of the mountain. Yang means literally "the sunny side of the mountain" or "illumination", while Yin can be translated as "the shadowy slope", that is the state which exists after a period of illumination. Yang can be defined as active, initiating, moving, spreading out, unfolding, altering, dispersing, loosening, expanding, aggressive and as negation; ie. it is that which changes what is already in existence. Yin is regarded as a force which makes things concrete, materialises and somatises; as being completing, confirming, corresponding, solidifying, thickening, organising, determining, contracting, at rest, solid, compact and conservative.

Together the Yin and Yang are depicted as a circle, one half dark and the other half light; within the dark half there is a small light circle, and within the light, a small dark one. This suggests that, though opposites, there is a necessary relationship between the two; that is, Yin exists in Yang and Yang exists in Yin.  This changing combination of negative and positive, dark and light, cold and hot which keeps the world spinning creates Ch'i or the life giving force of the universe. The two sides of the symbol are not static; but, rather, they stand as a rolling circle encompassing the other as it moves through time, space, and dimension. The circle of the opposite element in the center of this flow is called "The Seed of Change"; representing that everything within the universe has the power to change it's own direction during it's life span.

The Yin and Yang represent all the opposite principles one finds in the universe. Each of these opposites produce the other: Heaven creates the ideas of things under Yang, the earth produces their material forms under Yin, and vice versa; creation occurs under the principle of Yang, the completion of the created thing occurs under Yin, and vice versa, and so on. This production of Yin from Yang and Yang from Yin occurs cyclically and constantly, so that no one principle continually dominates the other or determines the other. All opposites that one experiences —health and sickness, wealth and poverty, power and submission —can be explained in reference to the temporary dominance of one principle over the other. Since no one principle dominates eternally, that means that all conditions are subject to change into their opposites.

This cyclical nature of Yin and Yang, the opposing forces of change in the universe, mean several things. First, that all phenomena change into their opposites in an eternal cycle of reversal. Second, since the one principle produces the other, all phenomena have within them the seeds of their opposite state, that is, sickness has the seeds of health, health contains the seeds of sickness, wealth contains the seeds of poverty, etc. Third, even though an opposite may not be seen to be present, since one principle produces the other, no phenomenon is completely devoid of its opposite state. One is never really healthy since health contains the principle of its opposite, sickness. This is called "presence in absence."

The Yin and Yang accomplish changes in the universe through the five material agents, or "wu hsing" -metal, wood, water, fire, earth- which both produce one another and overcome one another. All change in the universe can be explained by the workings of Yin and Yang and the progress of the five material agents as they either produce one another or overcome one another: the movements of the stars, the workings of the body, the nature of foods, the qualities of music, the ethical qualities of humans, the progress of time, the operations of government, and even the nature of historical change. 

Ying-Yang Diet

 

 

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