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The Yin and Yang of Chinese Philosophy |
"I sent my soul through the invisible, Some lesson of that after life to spell;
And by and by my soul returned to me And answered, 'I, myself, am Heaven and Hell.' "
The Tablets of Aeth |
Yin and Yang
The yin and yang represent all the balancing forces in the universe. It is the alpha and omega of the cosmos. The beginning and the end of all things. Under yang are the absolute principles of creation and the forces that bring growth and evolution. Under yin are the opposing principles of counteracting forces that bring about death and anti-evolution. |
Origin of Yin Yang
The duel concepts of yin and yang – or the single concept Yin-Yang – originate in ancient Chinese philosophy and metaphysics, which describe two primal opposing but complementary principles or cosmic forces said to be found in all non-static objects and processes in the universe. The concept is the cornerstone for Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine.
Yin (Chinese: 陰 or 阴; Hanyu Pinyin: yīn; literally "shady place, north slope (hill), south bank (river); cloudy, overcast") is the dark element: it is passive, dark, feminine, downward-seeking, and corresponds to the night.
Yang (陽 or 阳; yáng; "sunny place, south slope (hill), north bank (river); sunshine") is the bright element: it is active, light, masculine, upward-seeking and corresponds to the day.
Yin is often symbolized by water or earth, while yang is symbolized by fire or wind.
Yin (the receptive, feminine, dark, passive force) and yang (the creative, masculine, bright, active force) are descriptions of complementary opposites rather than absolutes. Any yin/yang dichotomy can be viewed from another perspective. All forces in nature can be seen as having yin and yang states, and the two are in movement rather than held in absolute stasis.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Symbol of Yin Yang
 The Symbol (Yin-Yang) represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work.The outer circle represents "everything", while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen.
They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Cosmic opposites
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.
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The cyclical nature of yin and yang
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.
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| 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."
Once you have this principle down, this particular Chinese philosophy of equal and opposite forces in nature, the meaning of yin and yang becomes clear and helps to explain the nature of our universe and ourselves.
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