YAN & YANG THE FIVE ELEMENTS

VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES

1. Yin & Yang and the Five Elements in the Inner Canon
2. Yin and Yang and the Five Elements are key concepts
3. in Chinese philosophy.
4. First, Everything in the universe contains a mixture of elements of Yin and Yang,
5. forces or “energies” which are both contradictory and complimentary.
6. For example, night and day,
7. heaven and earth, male and female, life and death,
8. strength and weakness
9. all have the dialectical qualities of Yin and Yang.
10. While Yin and Yang are opposites, in certain circumstances they can trade places:
11. strength becomes weakness,
12. living things die, death is followed by birth.
13. Second, Chinese view the material universe
14. as highly intricate and immensely complex,
15. yet in basic terms all phenomenon boil down
16. to the Five Elements:
17. metal, wood, water, fire and earth.
18. These five physical elements interact under the influence of Yin and Yang,
19. resulting in the world we live in.
20. This cosmology plays a key role in Chinese traditional medicine,
21. with every part of the human body having its own Yin or Yang qualities.
22. For example, the head is Yang,
23. as is the entire upper torso,
24. while all the parts below the waist are Yin.
25. The front of the body is Yin,
26. the back is Yang.
27. The back of the hand is Yang, while the palm is Yin,
28. and the same goes for the outer and inner sides of the legs.
29. According to the Inner Canon,
30. “Yin and Yang are the Way of Heaven and Earth.”
31. Here, “Way” means the interaction between Yin and Yang
32. that gives order and discipline to the universe.
33. Within this great order,
34. controlling the forces of Yin and Yang
35. enables one to be a master of the universe.
36. Yin and Yang are also the “mother and father” of all change,
37. including the processes of birth and death.
38. Yin and Yang are mysterious,
39. but their mystery can be seen and solved.
40. The subtle and complex relationship between Yin and Yang
41. is a key topic in Chinese philosophy and Chinese medicine.
42. Another important aspect of the Chinese worldview
43. is the intimate relationship between Heaven and Mankind.
44. Human beings are singular participants in the vast universe.
45. Thus the human body functions according to the same principles and rules that govern the universe, or nature.
46. The human body is a microcosm of the universe.
47. Consider how the movement of the sun reflects activity in our bodies.
48. The sun, which is Yang,
49. rises in the morning, as does the Yang energy in our bodies.
50. Yang energy reaches its peak at noon,
51. and like the setting sun,
52. it retreats in the afternoon and evening,
53. making way for the emergence of Yin,
54. which thrives at night.
55. Let’s also consider the concept of the month,
56. and the relationship between the lunar calendar
57. and women’s monthly menstrual cycles.
58. There are 365 days in the year,
59. and approximately 360 acupuncture points on the body.
60. In the Chinese calendar, 60 years constitutes a cycle or 甲子jiazi.
61. In fact, some major epidemics occur at regular intervals,
62. every 60 years or so.
63. In ancient times, Chinese people believed that in order to understand the universe,
64. it was essential to observe the functioning of the human body,
65. as the two are intimately connected.