yin yang

YIN AND YANG By- B. Kabhishka

11A
 WHAT IS YIN AND YANG?
In Ancient Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (/jɪn/ and /jɑːŋ, jæŋ/; Chinese: 陰陽
yīnyáng pronounced [ín jǎŋ], lit. "dark-light", "negative-positive") is a concept of
dualism, describing how obviously opposite or contrary forces may actually be
complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how
they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.[1] In Chinese
cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy,
organized into the cycles of Yin and Yang and formed into objects and lives. Yin is
the receptive and Yang the active principle, seen in all forms of change and
difference such as the annual cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (north-facing
shade and south-facing brightness), sexual coupling (female and male), the
formation of both men and women as characters and sociopolitical history (disorder
and order).
MEANINGS
Yin and yang are semantically complex words.
John DeFrancis's Chinese-English dictionary gives the following translation equivalents.[13]
Yin 陰 Noun ① [philosophy] negative/passive/female principle in nature ② Surname Bound
morpheme ① the moon ② shaded orientation ③ covert; concealed; hidden ④ 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
Yang 陽 Bound morpheme ① [Chinese philosophy] positive/active/male principle in nature ② the
sun ④ in relief ⑤ open; overt ⑥ belonging to this world ⑦ [linguistics] masculine ⑧ south side of
a hill ⑨ north bank of a river
The compound yinyang 陰陽 means "yin and yang; opposites; ancient Chinese astronomy; occult
arts; astrologer; geomancer; etc.".
The sinologist Rolf Stein etymologically translates Chinese yin 陰 "shady side (of a mountain)" and
yang 陽 "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).[14]
MEANING OF THE SYMBOL
Yin, Chinese for “female” or “moon,”
represents darkness, femininity,
passivity, and the earth. Yang (“sun” or
“male”) represents light, masculinity,
activity, and the heavens. ... In the
symbol, yin is represented by the color
black and yang, white.
HISTORY
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 ( 鄒衍 ; 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."
NATURE
In Daoist philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the Tao Te Ching at
chapter 42.[22] It becomes sensible from an initial quiescence or emptiness (wuji,
sometimes symbolized by an empty circle), and continues moving until quiescence is
reached again. For instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will
simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of
high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates
and the pool is calm once more. Yin and yang thus are always opposite and equal
qualities. Further, whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to
transform into the opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in
summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an
endless cycle.
The bigger the front, the bigger the back.
Illness is the doorway to health.
Tragedy turns to comedy.
Disasters turn out to be blessings.
REFERENCES
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