Yin and yang
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In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (simplified Chinese: 阴阳; traditional Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng) are generalized descriptions of the antitheses or mutual correlations in human perceptions of phenomena in the natural world, combining to create a unity of opposites in the theory of the Taiji. The term liang yi (simplified Chinese: 两仪; traditional Chinese: 兩儀; pinyin: liǎngyí, lit. "two mutually correlated opposites"), also known as Yin and Yang or heaven and earth, has a similar meaning. The concept of yin and yang (or heaven and earth) describes two opposing and, at the same time, complementary (completing) aspects of any one phenomenon (object or process) or comparison of any two phenomena. They are universal standards of quality at the basis of the systems of correspondence seen in most branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine being an example[1].
Two qualitiesYin (陰 or 阴 "shady place, north slope, south bank (river); cloudy, overcast"; Japanese: in or on; Korean: 음, Vietnamese: âm) qualities are characterized as passive, dark, feminine, negative, downward-seeking, consuming and corresponds to the night. Yang (陽 or 阳 "sunny place, south slope, north bank (river), sunshine"; Japanese: yō; Korean: 양, Vietnamese: dương) qualities are characterized as active, light, masculine, positive, upward-seeking, producing and corresponds to the daytime. Four Laws of Yin-yang
Yin and yang describe the polar effects of phenomena. In viewing any one phenomenon (or the comparison of two phenomena), yin and yang describe the opposing qualities inherent in it. For instance, winter and summer would be the yin and yang, respectively, of the year.
Yin and yang are two complementary qualities. That is to say, the yin and the yang aspect of any one phenomenon will, when put together, form the entire phenomenon. Yin-yang is a philosophy of strict duality. This is the reason the Chinese word has no "and" between yin and yang - the term always expresses the two making up the one. In the example above, winter plus summer makes up the whole year.
The maximum effect of one quality will be followed by the transition toward the opposing quality. In other words, once the maximum Yang aspect has manifest, such as the long days of summer, this will be followed by the transition toward the Yin aspect, with the shortening of the days as winter approaches.
The Yin and yang aspects are in dynamic equilibrium. As one aspect declines, the other increases to an equal degree. For instance, in the cycle of the year, the long days of summer gradually shorten and the nights gradually lengthen as winter approaches. Throughout the process, however, the length of each day is constant (the equilibrium) while it is only the relative length of light and darkness that changes (is dynamic). Yin and yang are neither substances nor forces[1]. They are the terms used in a system of dualistic qualification which can be applied universally. By further divided the Yang and Yin aspect into their respective Yin and Yang aspects, the result is the Yin of the Yang, the Yang of the Yang, the Yin of the Yin, and the Yang of the Yin. This allows an endless scale of universally defined qualities, which is foundational to classical Chinese thought, as seen in the Tao Te Ching, and science, as seen in the Yellow Emperor's Huangdi Neijing. TaijituThe Taijitu (pictured at top of page; traditional Chinese: 太極圖; simplified Chinese: 太极图; pinyin: Taìjí tú; Wade-Giles: T'ai4 chi2 t'u2; literally "diagram of the supreme ultimate"), often referred to as yin-yang in English, is a well known symbol deriving from Chinese culture which represents the principle of yin and yang from Taoist and Neo-Confucian philosophy. The term Taijitu itself refers to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles. The taijitu represents an ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents the entirety of perceivable phenomena, while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two principles or aspects, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause the phenomena to appear in their peculiar way. Each of them contains an element or seed of the other, and they cannot exist without each other. There are other ways that Chinese schools of thought graphically represented the principles of yin and yang, an older example being the solid and divided lines of the I Ching. Wu Jianquan, a famous Chinese martial arts teacher, described the name of the martial art Taijiquan this way at the beginning of the 20th century:
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