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Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and the parts are as important for the cohesion of the whole.

In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of primordial qi or material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, force and motion leading to form and matter. "Yin" is retractive, passive and contractive in nature, while "yang" is repelling, active and expansive in principle; this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature—patterns of change and difference. For example, biological, psychological and seasonal cycles, the historical evolution of landscapes over days, weeks, years to eons. The original meaning of Yin was depicted as the northerly shaded side of a hill and Yang being the bright southerly aspect. When pertaining to human gender Yin is associated to more rounded feminine characteristics and traits and Yang as sharp and masculine.

'' Taiji'' is a Chinese cosmological term for the "Supreme Ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which yin and yang originate. It can be contrasted with the older '' wuji'' (). In the cosmology pertaining to yin and yang, the material energy which this universe was created from is known as '' qi''. It is believed that the organization of qi in this cosmology of yin and yang is the formation of the 10 thousand things between Heaven and Earth. Included among these forms are humans. Many natural dualities (such as light and dark, fire and water, expanding and contracting) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality symbolized by yin and yang. This duality, as a unity of opposites, lies at the origins of many branches of classical Chinese science, technology and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of traditional Chinese medicine, and a central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as baguazhang, tai chi, daoyin, kung fu and qigong, as well as appearing in the pages of the ''I Ching'' and the famous Taoist medical treatise called the ''Huangdi Neijing''.

In Taoist metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu ( 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang. The Ahom philosophy of duality of the individual self ''han'' and ''pu'' is based on the concept of the hun 魂 and po 魄 that are the yin and yang of the mind in the philosophy of Taoism. The tradition was originated in Yunnan, China and followed by some Ahom, descendants of the Dai ethnic minority.

Linguistic aspects

Characters

The Chinese characters and are both phono-semantic compounds, with semantic component 'mound', 'hill', a graphical variant of —with the phonetic components (and the added semantic component ) and . In the latter, features + + .

Pronunciations and etymologies

The Standard Chinese pronunciation of is usually the level first tone as with the meaning , or sometimes with the falling fourth tone as with the distinct meaning . is always pronounced with the rising second tone as .

Sinologists and historical linguists have reconstructed Middle Chinese pronunciations from data in the (7th century CE) ''Qieyun'' rhyme dictionary and later rhyme tables, which was subsequently used to reconstruct Old Chinese phonology from rhymes in the (11th–7th centuries BCE) ''Shijing'' and phonological components of Chinese characters. Reconstructions of Old Chinese have illuminated the etymology of modern Chinese words.

Compare these Middle Chinese and Old Chinese reconstructions of and :
* < and < (Bernhard Karlgren)
** and (Li Fang-Kuei)
* and ( William H. Baxter)
* < and < (Axel Schuessler)
* < and < ( William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart)

Schuessler gives probable Sino-Tibetan etymologies for both Chinese words.

< compares with Burmese 'overcast', 'cloudy', Adi 'shade', and Lepcha 'shade'; it is probably cognate with Chinese < and < .

< compares with Lepcha ''a-lóŋ'' 'reflecting light', Burmese ''laŋ^B'' 'be bright' and ''ə-laŋ^B'' 'light'; and is perhaps cognate with Chinese < (compare areal words like Tai ''plaŋ^A1'' 'bright' & Proto- Viet-Muong ''hlaŋ^B''). To this word-family, Unger also includes < 'bright'; however Schuessler reconstructs 's Old Chinese pronunciation as and includes it in an Austroasiatic word family, besides < < 'twilight of dawn'; < 'bright', 'become light', 'enlighten'; owing to "the different OC initial consonant which seems to have no recognizable OC morphological function".

Meanings

''Yin'' and ''yang'' are semantically complex words.

John DeFrancis's '' ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary'' gives the following translation equivalents.

Yin or —Noun: ① hilosophyfemale/passive/negative principle in nature, ② Surname; Bound morpheme: ① the moon, ② shaded orientation, ③ covert; concealed; hidden, ④ vagina, ⑤ penis, ⑥ of the netherworld, ⑦ negative, ⑧ north side of a hill, ⑨ south bank of a river, ⑩ reverse side of a stele, ⑪ in intaglio; Stative verb: ① overcast, ② sinister; treacherous

Yang or —Bound morpheme: ① hinese philosophymale/active/positive principle in nature, ② the sun, ③ male genitals, ④ in relief, ⑤ open; overt, ⑥ belonging to this world, ⑦ inguisticsmasculine, ⑧ south side of a hill, ⑨ north bank of a river

The compound ''yinyang'' means "yin and yang; opposites; ancient Chinese astronomy; occult arts; astrologer; geomancer; etc."

The sinologist Rolf Stein glosses Chinese ''yin'' as "shady side (of a mountain)" and ''yang'' as "sunny side (of a mountain)" with the uncommon English geographic terms '' ubac'' "shady side of a mountain" and '' adret'' "sunny side of a mountain" (which are of French origin).

Toponymy

Many Chinese place names or toponyms contain the word ''yang'' 'sunny side', and a few contain ''yin'' 'shady side'. In China, as elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, sunlight comes predominantly from the south, and thus the south face of a mountain or the north bank of a river will receive more direct sunlight than the opposite side. For example, ''Yang'' refers to the "south side of a hill" in Hengyang , which is south of Mount Heng in Hunan, and to the "north bank of a river" in Luoyang , which is located north of the Luo River in Henan. Similarly, ''yin'' refers to "north side of a hill" in Huayin , which is north of Mount Hua in Shaanxi province.

In Japan, the characters are used in western Honshu to delineate the north-side San'in region from the south-side San'yō region , separated by the Chūgoku Mountains .

Loanwords

English '' yin'', '' yang'', and ''yin-yang'' are familiar loanwords of Chinese origin.

The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines:

yin (jɪn) Also Yin, Yn. [Chinese ''yīn'' shade, feminine; the moon.]
a. In Chinese philosophy, the feminine or negative principle (characterized by dark, wetness, cold, passivity, disintegration, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being. Also ''attrib''. or as ''adj''., and ''transf''. Cf. yang.
b. ''Comb''., as yin-yang, the combination or fusion of the two cosmic forces; freq. attrib., esp. as yin-yang symbol, a circle divided by an S-shaped line into a dark and a light segment, representing respectively ''yin'' and ''yang'', each containing a 'seed' of the other.

yang (jæŋ) Also Yang. [Chinese ''yáng'' yang, sun, positive, male genitals.]
a. In Chinese philosophy, the masculine or positive principle (characterized by light, warmth, dryness, activity, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being. Also ''attrib.'' or as ''adj.'' Cf. yin.
b. ''Comb.'': yang-yin = ''yin-yang'' s.v. yin b.

For the earliest recorded "yin and yang" usages, the ''OED'' cites 1671 for ''yin'' and ''yang'', 1850 for ''yin-yang'', and 1959 for ''yang-yin''.

In English, ''yang-yin'' (like ''ying-yang'') occasionally occurs as a mistake or typographical error for the Chinese loanword ''yin-yang''—yet they are not equivalents. Chinese does have some ''yangyin'' collocations, such as () "silver coin/dollar", but not even the most comprehensive dictionaries (e.g., the ''Hanyu Da Cidian'') enter ''yangyin'' *. While ''yang'' and ''yin'' can occur together in context, ''yangyin'' is not synonymous with ''yinyang''. The linguistic term "irreversible binomial" refers to a collocation of two words A–B that cannot be idiomatically reversed as B–A, for example, English ''cat and mouse'' (not *''mouse and cat'') and ''friend or foe'' (not *''foe or friend'').Roger T. Ames, "''Yin'' and ''Yang''", in ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy'', ed. by Antonio S. Cua, Routledge, 2002, 847.

Similarly, the usual pattern among Chinese binomial compounds is for positive A and negative B, where the A word is dominant or privileged over B. For example, ''tiandi'' "heaven and earth" and ''nannü'' "men and women". ''Yinyang'' meaning "dark and light; female and male; moon and sun", is an exception. Scholars have proposed various explanations for why ''yinyang'' violates this pattern, including "linguistic convenience" (it is easier to say ''yinyang'' than ''yangyin''), the idea that "proto-Chinese society was matriarchal", or perhaps, since ''yinyang'' first became prominent during the late Warring States period, this term was "purposely directed at challenging persistent cultural assumptions".

History

Joseph Needham discusses yin and yang together with Five Elements as part of the School of Naturalists. He says that it would be proper to begin with yin and yang before Five Elements because the former: "lay, as it were, at a deeper level in Nature, and were the most ultimate principles of which the ancient Chinese could conceive. But it so happens that we know a good deal more about the historical origin of the Five-Element theory than about that of the yin and the yang, and it will therefore be more convenient to deal with it first."

He then discusses Zou Yan (; 305–240 BC) who is most associated with these theories. Although yin and yang are not mentioned in any of the surviving documents of Zou Yan, his school was known as the Yin Yang Jia (Yin and Yang School). Needham concludes "There can be very little doubt that the philosophical use of the terms began about the beginning of the 4th century, and that the passages in older texts which mention this use are interpolations made later than that time."Needham, Joseph; Science and Civilization in China Vol.2: History of Scientific Thought; Cambridge University Press; 1956

Nature

Yin and yang are a concept that originated in ancient Chinese philosophy that describes how opposite or contrary forces may create each other by their comparison and are to be seen as actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.

In Daoist philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the ''Tao Te Ching'' at chapter 42.

It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite, traditionally it is said that Yin and Yang are known by the comparison of each other, since yin and yang are bound together as parts of a mutual whole (for example, there cannot be the bottom of the foot without the top). A way to illustrate this idea is to postulate the notion of a race with only women or only men; this race would disappear in a single generation. Yet, women and men together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. The interaction of the two gives birth to humans, as the interaction of heaven and earth establishes harmony (''he''), giving birth to things.

Modern usage

Yin is the black side, and yang is the white side. Other color arrangements have included the white of yang being replaced by red. The taijitu is sometimes accompanied by other shapes, such as bagua.

In turn, the concepts are also applied to the human body. In traditional Chinese medicine, one's health is directly related to the balance between yin and yang qualities within them. The technology of yin and yang is the foundation of critical and deductive reasoning for effective differential diagnosis of disease and illnesses within Taoist influenced traditional Chinese medicine.

''Taijitu''

The principle of yin and yang is represented by the ''taijitu'' (literally "diagram of the Supreme Ultimate"). The term is commonly used to mean the simple "divided circle" form, but may refer to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles, such as the swastika, common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Similar symbols have also appeared in other cultures, such as in Celtic art and Roman shield markings.Giovanni Monastra: "," "Sophia," Vol. 6, No. 2 (2000)Helmut Nickel: "The Dragon and the Pearl," ''Metropolitan Museum Journal,'' Vol. 26 (1991), p. 146, fn. 5

In this symbol the two teardrops swirl to represent the conversion of yin to yang and yang to yin. This is seen when a ball is thrown into the air with a yang velocity then converts to a yin velocity to fall back to earth. The two teardrops are opposite in direction to each other to show that as one increases the other decreases. The dot of the opposite field in the tear drop shows that there is always yin within yang and always yang within yin.

Tai chi

Tai chi, a form of martial art, is often described as the principles of yin and yang applied to the human body and an animal body. Wu Jianquan, a famous Chinese martial arts teacher, described tai chi (''taijiquan'') as follows:

See also

* Ayin and Yesh
* Dialectic
* Dualistic cosmology
** Shatkona
* Enantiodromia
* Flag of Mongolia
* Flag of South Korea
* Flag of Tibet
* Fu Xi
* Gankyil
* ''Huangdi Neijing''
* Ometeotl
* Onmyōdō
* Seny and Rauxa
* Taegeuk
* Tai chi
* Tomoe
* '' Zhuangzi''

Notes

References

Footnotes

Works cited

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External links

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{{Traditional Chinese medicine

Chinese martial arts terminology
Concepts in Chinese philosophy
Chinese words and phrases
Dichotomies
Dualism in cosmology
Religious symbols
Tai chi
Taoist cosmology
Traditional Chinese medicine
National symbols of Mongolia
National symbols of South Korea