Yin and yang (it's YIN, not YING, heathens) is something everyone should consider learning more about. Below is an excerpt from Acid and Alkaline by Herman Aihara, an excellent book (Recognizing my personal love for periodic undisciplined consumption of unhealthy foods, I am currently unwilling to fully apply the book's diet guidelines, but its cancer theory and yin yang section are must-reads).
In the I Ching (Book of Changes), chien represents the strong power, father and heaven,
and kien is the yielding, mother and earth. In ancient China, strength, violence, blight, noise,
- therefore, heavenly powers - were categorized as yang. The opposite - that is, earthly powers which makes plants grow
- are categorized as yin. The I Ching, the famous divination book, has been the bible of
the Chinese for 5000 years.
There are several important concepts in the I Ching.
1. Yin and yang are antagonistic but also complementary. Therefore, the yin yang concept is
not Western dualism which sees nature as two antagonisms: capitalist vs. labor,
rich vs. poor, good vs. bad, right vs. wrong. Oriental dualism sees two forces
that antagonize but at Tao Te Ching, second chapter: "Under heaven, we all
know beauty as beauty because there is ugliness. We know virtue because there are bad deeds."
2. There is yin inside yang, and yang inside yin. In other words, there is a seed of happiness
when we are unhappy, and vice versa. There is a seed of sickness when we are unhealthy,
and vice versa. 3. I means change. Yin yang also means change. Yin changes to yang, and yang changes to yin.
This concept is the result of the observation of seasonal changes. Therefore, the change is
not lineal change, but cyclic change. There is no beginning and end.
Like the I Ching, another bible of the Chinese and one of the best selling
philosophical books is the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tsu. Lao Tsu expresses that this world is made
by the interaction of two forces - yin and yang. Since yin and yang are relative to each other,
the yin value changes according to the change of the yang value; there is no absolute
value, truth or virtue in this world. The free man, or wisest man, therefore, lives with Tao, the order of the universe.
In other words, he accepts any natural changes.
In the case of character, yang means busy and active, while yin means calm and quiet.
Yang is the foundation of germination and yin is the foundation of nourishment or growth.
Mao Tse Tung stated in his On Contradiction:
In mathematics: plus and minus, differential and integral.
In mechanics: action and reaction.
In physics: positive and negative electricity.
In chemistry: the combination and dissociation of atoms.
In social science: the class structure.
What is more important is their transformation into each other. That is to say, in a given condition,
each of the contradictory aspects within a thing transform into the opposite.
All processes have a beginning and an end; all processes transform themselves into
their opposites.
"Things that oppose each other also complement each other." That is, things opposed to
each other have identity. There is an absolute in the relative.
It is important to pointout that yin and yang is not a concept of dualism as most
Western thinkers might assume. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines dualism as follows:
"Dualism is the doctrine that the world (or reality) consists of two basic, or opposed
and irreducible principles or substances (i.e. good and evil; mind and matter) that account for all that exists.
It has played an important role in the history of thought and religion." According to this
definition, the yin and yang concept appears to be dualism. However, yin and yang is
not dualism. George Ohsawa stated that yin and yang are two sides of oneness,
which is the Creator of the Universe, God, Universal Consciousness, or whatever it may be called.
Oneness is invisible. When this invisible reality manifests in this world, it appears
as yin and yang, two antagonistic forces or phenomena. Therefore, yin and yang are
relative manifestations of God or Universal Consciousness - man's monistic, invisible,
and ultimate concept. This is very important because if one considers yin and yang another form of dualism, he is
confusing gold with copper.
| YANG | | | | | | YIN |
| heavy | | | | | | light |
| red | orange | yellow | green | blue | indigo | violet |
| active | | | | | | quiet |
| hot | | warm | | cool | | cold |
| downward | | | | | | upward |
| bitter | salty | | sweet | | sour | hot (spicy) |
| round/short/thick | | | | | | flat/thin/long |
| solid | | liquid | | gas | | plasma |
| time | | | | | | space |
| anger | joy | | pleasure/peace | | sadness | resentfulness |
| centripetal force | | | | | | centrifugal force |
| contraction | | coagulation | | separation | | expansion |
| inside center | | | | | | outer periphery |
Nature manifests the antagonistic yet complementary forces in plants, animals, and things everywhere.
The ancient Chinese called these manifestations yin and yang. Modern science calls them
positive and negative, plus and minus, electron and proton, expansion and contraction,
induction and deduction, man and woman, male and female, and acid and alkaline.
Since our life is the manifestation of two forces, our actions, living and thoughts
always have antagonism and contradiction. However, if there is antagonism, there should exist
complementarity. Therefore, the most important lesson to learn is to accept an antagonism
wherever you come across it, and turn it to complementarity in your life.
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