Yin and Yang and the 5 elements

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YIN AND YANG AND FIVE ELEMENTS

All systems of forecasting have to start with an assumption that everything follows certain basic laws, or Order in this universe. This theme is very much explored in the science of Chaos and Complexity. All matters, no matter how complicated they appear to be, follows a basic pattern or order. This believe is exactly the foundation of Four Pillars of Destiny. In this system, we believe there is a basic Order in the world governing everything. With understanding of such basic Order, we can deduce how events will happen, how people will behave in the course of time. So to understand the subject of Four Pillars of Destiny, we have to start off with the philosophy of Chinese cosmology.

The Taichi, or circle of Yin and Yang, is the foundation of everything in the world. The symbol is fashionable and common today. But not many people really appreciate its importance and its deep meaning. To understand Tai Chi, we have to introduce an empty circle, called Mu Chi, which means ultimate emptiness. This Mu Chi comes before the Tai Chi. It means a state before anything happens in the universe, which is totally void and empty. Then the Tai Chi comes next, it represents the state when there are two sides to everything. Such as man and woman, black and white, good and evil, happiness and suffering, up and down, Sun and Moon, left and right…….etc.

Mu Chi and Tai Chi

The idea is that the world is totally empty and meaningless before the appreciation that there are two sides to everything. Take for example, suppose we go to a planet where there is no male, no female, no good, no evil, no happiness, no suffering, no up and no down….. such place is totally empty and meaningless. Absolutely nothing will happen in such an empty world. Once there is realization that there are two sides to everything, then the world will come alive with meaning, with man and woman, with happiness and suffering, with good and evil, then

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everything will happen. As such, the Tai Chi is actually symbol of the beginning of the world as well as the foundation to every thing happening in this world.

The Tai Chi symbol has 2 halves, the white half represents Yang (male) and the dark half represents Yin (female). The shape of the Tai Chi is round, symbolize Harmony between the Yang (male) and the Yin (female). The circle is not split into two halves by a straight line in the middle, instead, the Yang and the Yin are draw like two fishes merging into each other, with biggest Yang on top - meaning Heaven, and biggest Yin below - meaning Earth. The Yang slowly diminishes down to become Yin and the Yin slowly diminishes up to become Yang. This symbolize the relationship between Yang and Yin are not opposing, they are complimentary and merging into each other. Within the Yang there is a black dot, within the Yin there is a white dot. This symbolizes the two sides are complimentary and cannot be totally separated.

The concept of Yin and Yang seems simple but it has very deep implications. The development of computer science in the last decades actually brings deeper appreciation of the significance of the Tai Chi symbol. The computer data bank adopted the binary digit system of 0 and 1. And this is inspired by the concept of Yang and Yin. With multiple combinations of 0 and 1 we can store all the complicated information data of the world in the computer. This is exactly the philosophy of the Tai Chi, that all matters in this universe has its foundation in the concept of Yang and Yin, this is first basic law, the fundamental Order of the universe,

Actually I have observed that this Tai Chi concept is not only found in Chinese cosmology. Take for example, in the Bible, the story of Adam and Eve bears similar meaning to the Tai Chi. Also the Star of David is actually made up of two triangles, the up triangle means Yang, and the down triangle means Yin.

Comparing Chinese cosmology with western astronomy, the Tai Chi is like the Big Bang, a stage when everything begins to occur. In Western Cosmology, before the Big Bang, the world is an object of infinite density and heat, called Singularity. When the big explosion occurred, time and space are created, the expansion lowered the temperature and various gases are created at different stage of cooling down. And such gases condensed into matter and planets. The Tai Chi can be compared to the Big Bang, where there is Tai Chi, matters also appears, and such matters are generalized into five category, we use five common objects to represent these five type of matters, or forces, these are Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth.

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The five basic elements - Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, are symbols of all matters in the world. It is considered that everything, no matter it is solid objects, or abstract events, all matters in the world, can be classified into these five basic categories. Take for example, a building is earth element. If one works in property business, it can be classified as earth career. And earth can also represent faith, the stomach, cells in the body, the central position.

One step further, we not only understand everything is made up by the five elements; we also have basic laws governing their relationship. Such relationships can be represented by two circles. The Circle of Birth and the Circle of Destruction.

Earth Metal

Water Fire Metal

Wood

Fire Wood Water Earth

Circle of Birth Circle of Destruction

The Circle of Birth shows one element produce and support another element. Like mother gives birth to a child. It shows harmonious relationship. With Metal produces Water, Water produces Wood, Wood produces Fire, Fire produces Earth, and Earth produces Metal. To try to understand this circle with the common sense according to our world today, it is easy to see Wood is plants which need Water to grow, dry Wood generates Fire, Fire burns down objects and changes them into ashes which become Earth, Earth is the place where we found all the metal ores. However, how Metal can produce Water seems a mystery and so far I have not found a satisfactory explanation. We should take this for granted as the five elements concept actually refers to five different kinds of energy or forces, and may not be identical to the Metal element as we know it today.

The Circle of Destruction is easier to explain and to remember. One can understand easily as all adhere well to common sense. Water will put off Fire, Fire will melt the Metal, Metal is an axe which will cut the Wood down, and Wood is like trees and their root penetrated deep into the

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Earth and hold it under control, and Earth dam is often built to stop Water from flooding. The concept of the Five Elements is fundamental to all areas in Chinese culture. One will find this concept as foundation to all kinds of studies, including Chinese traditional medicine, Feng Shui, Four Pillars of Destiny, Qi gong, I Ching Divination, Kung Fu…..So it is the most important concept that one has to memorize by heart. The following table shows at random how the five elements are associated with various areas in our daily lives.

Sound

Emotion

Organs

Body MetalWoodWaterFireEarth

2D3E6A5G1C

GriefAngerFearJoyMeditation

LungLiverKidneyHeartStomach

NoseEyesEarTongueMouth

Color

Season WhiteGreenBlackRedYellow

AutumnSpringWinterSummer4 seasons

Directions WestEastNorthSouthCentre

Weather DryWindColdHotWet

Taste PungentSourSaltyBitterSweet

Table of 5 elements related to daily life

The above table shows how the five elements can be applied to everything in our lives. From music to emotions, body organs, seasons, colors, taste can all be classified into five elements. Indeed, the study of Four Pillars of Destiny is exactly learning how to explain all events in terms of five elements. After one studied the subject, one will find there is fundamental change in our perception of life. Everything happening to us are brought about by the inter action of the five elements. I seldom find anything which cannot be logically explained with the laws of the five elements.

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Now let us examine this table. The first row is sound. It refers to Chinese music which has 5 basic keys instead of 7 like in the western music. Each key is represented by one element. Then we can see emotions. Take for example, sadness and depression is metal element, which is same as the lung, the nose, which can be expanded to mean breathing organs. This means sadness and stress can often cause sickness in breathing organ area. Let us also look at wood element in this row. Wood is anger, and it is related to the Liver and the eyes. If a person is hot tempered, the Chinese always associate this with a hot liver. If a person stayed up at night too late and did not get enough sleep, the liver is lacking good rest, hence the next morning the person may feel irritated and with sticky eyes. Hence the liver, eyes and temper are related because they fall in the same category of wood element.

We can also note the four seasons are closely related to elements, with Wood represents spring, because plants are prosperous in spring. Fire represents summer because it is hot season. Autumn is represented by metal because it is Fall, meaning leaves fall when metal cuts the wood. Winter is cold so it is symbolized by water. Then earth element is always important and so it is present in all seasons. The table also shows colors and directions as elements. These are very often used in Feng Shui. Take for example if a feng shui master requested the person use more red color to decorate his room, it means his birthday need support of more fire element.

The theme of this book is on health. So we will focus more on the row of internal organs. The Five elements represent the five vital organs in our body, namely wood is liver, fire is heart, water is kidney, metal is lung and earth is stomach or pancreas. This understanding is exactly the foundation of analyzing disease in Chinese Traditional medicine. The concept is that our body is made up with the five elements. When they are in balance and harmony. Our body will be healthy. However, when there is imbalance in our body, this could mean some element we need gets too weak, or some element we do not need gets too much, then sickness will occur.

We can look at the case of high blood pressure. If one suddenly feels his blood pressure gets very high, if he visits a Chinese doctor, he may give him medicine to improve his kidney. What is the kidney to do with high blood pressure? Exactly we can see the logic if we examine the cycle of the five elements. When a person gets high blood pressure, it is a matter of the fire element, which is responsible for the heart as well as blood circulation. If a person is in good health, in accordance with the Circle of Destruction, the water element should keep fire element under control. But now suddenly the blood pressure gets high, it means the fire is out

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of control. The reason should be water is too weak to perform its duty of controlling fire. Water is kidney, so the cure is to improve the strength of the kidney. Once the kidney is functioning normally, the fire will be kept under control and the blood pressure will come down.

With this logic, it is not difficult to explain many common diseases with the five elements, and we can easily trace the origin of the sick organ and apply the right medicine. Take for example, a common health problem for city people are sinus and skin allergy. It is very common nowadays and it seems there is no permanent cure in western medicine. Patients are only given some kind of tranquilizer to dampen their senses. But this is only reducing the symptoms, not really curing the disease. We can also understand such health problem by the logic of the five elements. Firstly, we can establish both sinus and skin allergy are metal problem. Sinus is the nose, which is a breathing organ, hence it is metal. How about skin allergy? Actually the skin is the largest breathing organ in our body. Therefore, it is very much related to metal element too. I have seen the birth data of many ladies in the skin care and beauty business and found they usually possess plenty of metal elements. As we now establish the disease of sinus and skin allergy falls in the category of metal element, we can easily associate the problem with fire, which is the element attacks and destroys metal. What the fire element represents? It is our blood circulation. If fire has problem, it means there is problem in our blood circulation. Indeed, if our blood is not clean, it will carry toxin to different parts of body and cause irritations on the nose and on the skin. We can still trace one step further. What produces fire? It is wood. What is wood? It is the liver. So we can also establish that the problem with dirty blood actually comes from the liver. One can easily see the liver is the organ for cleaning and producing fresh blood. If the liver is not functioning well, the blood is not clean so the dirty blood carries toxin to our body and causes allergy. So the effective treatment to cure skin allergy and sinus is to improve liver function. One can take Chinese herbs to support the liver, or take liver detox to clean the liver. One should also avoid eating too much meat and deep fried food which will create more toxins and overload the liver. So with the understanding of the five elements cycle of birth and destruction, we can easily understand the inter relationship of different vital organs and can trace the root of sickness so as to make more effective treatment and cure.

To demonstrate once more the validity of the five elements in our daily lives, let us now look at the bottom row of the table. It is about tastes. Different kinds of taste are related to different elements. When people visit a Chinese herbal doctor or acupuncture doctor, sometimes they will be asked about their particular taste in food. This information is useful in diagnosing

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sickness as a person's strong favorite taste may reflect this person has imbalance in a certain element. Take for example, a person who has sweet tooth, always likes sweet dessert, reflects there is imbalance of earth element in his body, as earth element is sweet taste. I remember in March 2005, it is a month when the earth element is very weak as it is under attack by the rabbit wood in the month, and the yin wood in the year. One of my friend complained that she suddenly lost sweet taste in food. She went to see a Chinese doctor, the doctor also diagnosed that her pancreas (earth) is weak. And gave her medicine to strengthen her pancreas. Amazingly, as soon as this month is over, getting into April, a Dragon (earth) month, my friend told me her sweet taste suddenly came back, as the earth element made her pancreas stronger.

Now let us use the relationship of the five elements with the five tastes to explain some common sense phenomenon. Take for example, everybody knows smoking will damage the lung. How can we see this in the cycle of five elements? It is very simple, smoking is bitter taste, bitter taste is fire, fire destroys metal, and metal is lung.

We always say drinking too much alcohol will hurt the liver. The five elements can reflect this easily. Alcohol is pungent taste, pungent taste is metal, metal destroys wood, and wood is the liver. When one has problem with kidney, it is not suitable to eat too sweet. Because sweet is earth, earth destroys water, and water is kidney. Likewise, when one has heart problem, doctor will tell him not to eat too salty. Salty is water, water destroys fire, and fire is the heart.

Hence we can see the five elements are very much the driving forces behind everything in our lives. The very fact that Chinese medicine, Qi gong, acupuncture, are proven to be effective and valid, points directly to the truth of the five elements theory. Indeed, the theory of the five elements is a revolutionary discovery about the true nature of the universe and of life. The Four Pillars of Destiny is exactly the system bringing the ultimate understanding of how the five elements affect our daily lives. With such understanding, we can derive much deeper insight in our behavior, in everything happening around us, in our past, present and future.

I would like to conclude this chapter with a story written in the famous Chinese novel “Traveling to the West” This is a legendary story about a monk in the Tang dynasty took the long journey from China to India to bring back the Buddhist scripts. The journey is dangerous and full of obstacles and this monk is escorted by three bodyguards. The most powerful bodyguard is a famous legendary hero - The Monkey King. The story is about the young

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Monkey. He is a naughty monkey when he was young. One day he went to play in the Garden of Heaven and he swallowed all the valuable fruits. This made the King of Heaven very angry, and he send his soldiers to capture the monkey. However, the monkey is very powerful and no one can restraint him. So the King of Heaven had to call for help. He invited the most senior god, the Buddha. The Buddha is almighty and he easily gets hold of the monkey. To teach the monkey a lesson, the Buddha said “monkey, I will let you go free if you can jump pass my palm.” The monkey laughed, because when he jumped, he can reach a distance of one hundred and eight thousand miles. So he made a summersault and he went very far. He landed on a beautiful island with a mountain in the centre. To prove he had arrived this island, the monkey made a mark by urinating and returned to see the Buddha. The monkey is excited and described to the Buddha how far he has traveled and how beautiful is the island. But the Buddha said “monkey, you made my hand sting, you see, your urinated on my fingers.” Then the monkey failed the test and was imprisoned under the mountain for 500 years…

What is this story telling us? The five fingers of the palm of the Buddha is symbol of the five elements. They are supreme. Even powerful like the Monkey King still cannot escape the grip of the five elements. It is the basic law, no one can go against it.