Taoism > Basic Concepts
The Yin-Yang Principle
Yin and yang are the most familiar Chinese philosophical terms to the Western
mind, being equally, or even better known than Tao-te ching or Lao-tzu. In the Shambhala dictionary of Taoism we read that yin and yang are "two polar energies that, by they fluctuation and interaction, are the cause of the universe". (p. 216).
Yin and Yang as cosmic symbols. Three ancient representations of T'ai-chi or the Supreme Ultimate. Figure A stress the complementary relation between yin and yang, figures B and C stress the dynamic interaction between the two poles. |
The polarity principle is very familiar to the Western thinking and this explains our attraction for yin and yang. In fact, yin and yang are very old as they appear in the commentaries on I-ching and the Spring and Autumn Annals, that is, over 2000 years ago in China. "A yin and a yang is Tao", we read in the comments on I-ching. In Annals
we find that yin and yang "separate and merge again, When they are separate they merge, when they are merged they separate..." That is what we call interaction. Furthermore, yin and yang are features of things and cosmic phenomena, or people and different kinds of action or human attitudes, or mere energies. Concerning the natural phenomena we find them in lists of polar characteristics such as the following:
Yang |
Yin |
Day |
Night |
Summer |
Winter |
High |
Low |
Right |
Left |
Strong |
Weak |
Light |
Dark |
In short, everything in the Universe may be ranged in this list under the yang or yin category. Or, everything is regulated by the ever lasting interaction of yin and yang.
In the Chinese classic medicine yin and yang refer to energies and functioning modes of organs and body functions. It is said that the healthy state is brought by the right balance between yin and yang. Thus, man must choose the right food and nurture a psychic equilibrium in order to acquire health and longevity.
To conclude, Alan Watts states that yin and yang are two poles of the cosmic energies. As for their ideograms:
[they] indicate the sunny and shady sides of a hill, and they are associated with the masculine and the feminine, the firm and the yielding, the strong and the weak, the light and the dark, the rising and the falling, heaven and earth... (Alan Watts, Tao: The Watercourse Way, Pantheon Books, 1975, p. 21). WPE
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- Read also:
- The yin-yang principle is approached in our course The Yin-Yang Philosophy. Click here to learn more.
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