Art to Change the World

More about Yin Yang

Mark Cartwright
by 
published on 16 May 2018

Yin and Yang (by Dan Carter)

The principle of Yin and Yang is that all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites, for example, female-male, dark-light and old-young. The principle, dating from the 3rd century BCE or even earlier, is a fundamental concept in Chinese philosophy and culture in general. The two opposites of Yin and Yang attract and complement each other and, as their symbol illustrates, each side has at its core an element of the other (represented by the small dots). Neither pole is superior to the other and, as an increase in one brings a corresponding decrease in the other, a correct balance between the two poles must be reached in order to achieve harmony.

ORIGIN

The concept of Yin and Yang became popular with the work of the Chinese school of Yinyang which studied philosophy and cosmology in the 3rd century BCE. The principal proponent of the theory was the cosmologist Zou Yan (or Tsou Yen) who believed that life went through five phases (wuxing) – fire, water, metal, wood, earth – which continuously interchanged according to the principle of Yin and Yang.

WHAT IS YIN?

Yin is:

  • feminine
  • black
  • dark
  • north
  • water (transformation)
  • passive
  • moon (weakness and the goddess Changxi)
  • earth
  • cold
  • old
  • even numbers
  • valleys
  • poor
  • soft
  • and provides spirit to all things.

Yin reaches it’s height of influence with the winter solstice. Yin may also be represented by the tiger, the colour orange and a broken line in the trigrams of the I Ching (or Book of Changes).

WHAT IS YANG?

Yang is:

  • masculine
  • white
  • light
  • south
  • fire (creativity)
  • active
  • sun (strength and the god Xihe)
  • heaven
  • warm
  • young
  • odd numbers
  • mountains
  • rich
  • hard
  • and provides form to all things.

Yang reaches it’s height of influence with the summer solstice. Yang may also be represented by the dragon, the colour blue and a solid line trigram.

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