Yinyang theroy in Huangdi
Neijing
The concepts of yin-yang and five-phases had been
formed at the time of Shang and Zhou. The medicine men were the wise
man of a tribe who handling the knowlelge of medicine, divination,
calendrical calculation, etc. The hereditary medicine men hold and
developed the
knowledge handed down to them from previous generations. So the
primary yinyang and five-phases theories were fully developed. With
the development of society, specialists in various fields independently
developed their own yin-yang and five-phases theories based on the
primary theories. This is the reason why we find that all yinyang and
five-phases theories in various fields are similar but cannot be linked
together.
The purpose of this article is to simply explain the yinyang theory
which was mentioned in Suwen. I chose this book for explaining the
yin-yang theory because Huangdi Neijing includes fundamental concepts
of the whole primary yin-yang theory, and also, many people have
studied chinese medicine for years but are not fully know fundamental
concepts of yin-yang theroy. If you want to fully understand the
yin-yang theory, you should have some knowledge about ancient chinese
astronomy first. Only knowing that, you are able to easily grasp
the
meaning of words, like "sages turn their faces to south", which was
mentioned in ancient classics.
Lingshu, Chapter 76
A year has twelve months, a day
has twelve chen.
In ancient China, people predicted the start of the seasons by the
positions of the stars overhead. For example, the middle of spring was
when Niao was overhead. They also predicted seasons by the pointing
direction of the handle of Big Dipper's (the Plough). In the winter the
"handle" pointed downward, north, at early evening. Accordingly, they
divided the
celestial equator into 12 segments (houses), each one a
little slice of the celestial sphere, beginning with zi (north).
12 Chen is an ancient system of dividing 24 hours into 12 two-hour
periods, named by duodecimal cycle zi, chou, yin, mao, chen, si, wu,
wei, shen, you, xu, hai. We can know the time using sun, sundial. When
the sun is passing through the upper meridian, the sun is in Wu, the
time (chen) is Wu.
When the sun is passing through the lower merdian, the time (chen) is
Zi.
Zi and wu is the perpendicular, mao and you is the horizonal.
These four cardinal points, zi wu mao you, are the basis of the
yin-yang theory, and is the basis for "two modes" and "four images". Zi
is north, Wu is south, Mao is east, and You is west.
28 mansions lie around the sky
(equator), each side has seven
constellations, four
groups of seven constellations is twenty eight constellations.
The Twenty-eight Mansions are the regions near the ecliptic and the
lunar path, where the Sun and the Moon pass by. Seven Mansions form one
Symbol. The Four Symbols are the Azure Dragon in east, the Vermilion
Bird in south, the White Tiger in west and the Murky Warrior in north.
The middle of spring was when Azure Dragon was overhead, the middle of
summer was when Murky Warrior was overhead, the middle of autumn was
when White Tiger was overhead, the middle of winter was when Vermilion
Bird was overhead.
Fang
and Mao is the horizonal, Xu and
Zhang is the perpendicular.
Speaking in modern terms, the year was divided into quarters based on
the solstices and equinoxes. The four cardinal points are equinoxes and
solstices.
Therefore from Fang to Bi is yang,
from Mao to Wei is yin.
From spring equinox to autumn equinox the weather is warm, from fall
equinox to spring equinox the weather is cold. Chapter 69, Suwen, The
mutually changing of qi, "The go and back of yin and yang, warmness
and coldness manifest their signs."
Yang masters days, and yin masters
nights.
Zi and wu is the perpendicular, mao and you is the horizontal. The day
was divided into two based on two cardinal directions, east and west.
The sun rise at east (mao) and set at west (you). The temperature is
warm at day, and the temperature is cold at night. The day is yang and
the night is yin.
By the way, many people argue unnecessarily about the positions of two
fishes in Taijitu. Some even use metaphysic, philosophy, and quotes
from
daodejing as proof. Actually we can get the proof here.
Lingshu,
Chapter 44, Follow the order of qi, divide a
day into
quarters
Sprouting in the spring, growing in the summer, to be harvested in the
autumn and to be stored in the winter, this is the normal order of qi.
Divide a day into quarters like a year has four seasons, The morning is
similar
to spring, the noon is silimar to summer, the evening is similar to
autumn, it's similar to winter at midnight.
Suwen,
Chapter 4, The word worthful to be stored in
gold bookcase
There is yin in yin, yang in yang.
From the sunrise to noon, it is yang of the heavens, yang of yang. From
noon to sunset, it is yang of the heavens, yin of yang. From early
night to cockcrow, it is yin of heavens, yin of yin. From cockcrow to
sunrise, it is yin of heavens,
yang of yin.
Many people think that the phrase "there is yin in yin, yang in yang"
is too subtle and mysterious to explain and discuss. No matter how they
explain the yinyang theory, you still cannot understand it. In fact, it
is very simple.
Chapter 69, Suwen, The
mutually changing of qi, "The go and back of yin and yang, warmness
and coldness manifest their signs." Chapter 76, Lingshu, "yang
masters days, yin masters nights."
We get two static modes, yin and yang, warmness and coldness, after we
set two cardinal points, east and west, sunrise and sunset.
Here it reads, "There is yin in yin, yang in yang." Chapter 67, Suwen,
"The ascension and descension of yin and yang, warmness and coldness
manifest their signs." We get four aspects after we added two more
cardinal points, upper meridian and lower meridian. The temperature
become warmer when the sun rise to upper meridian, and the temperature
become cooler when the sun sink from upper meridian to west.
Here we see that yin and yang do not only describe two static things,
but also describe two dynamic things. The phrase "there is yin in yin,
yang in yang" actually means that there are yin and yang in either
mode, both of two opposite static states have two opposite dynamic
states inside. Can
you grasp
the meaning of the abstract Xiantian taijitu now? 
Bt the way, let us recompose the above mentioned phrases. From cockcrow
to sunrise, it is yang (of/in yin). From the sunrise to noon, it is
yang (of/in yang). From noon to sunset, it is yin (of/in yang). From
early night to cockcrow, it is yin (of/in yin). Can you grasp the
meaning of the phrase "yang waxes from zi and yin waxes from wu" now?
It describe two dynamic cycles.
Chapter 7, Suwen, Distunguish between yin and yang, "what we called
yinyang is that, the wane is yin and the wax is yang, the static state
is yin and the dynamic state is yang. the low rate is yin and high rate
is yang."
Suwen, Chapter 68
"Shangjing read, 'What we called
dao/way/course is to know the regularity of the heavens, to know the
regularity of change on earth, to know the affairs in human, so it can
be long-lasting, this is the meaning.' Monarch said, 'what does it
mean?' Qibo said, 'The essential qi and their place, which up at the
heavens we called it the regularity of the heavens, which on the earth
we called it the regularity of earth, which connecting with the change
of qi in human we called it human affairs.'"
Suwen, Chapter 5, 66, and 67 also read, "those up at the heavens is
mysterious workings, those in human is the way, those on the earth is
transformation."
The regularity of the heavens means the change of astronomical
phenomena. The regularity of the earth is influences of various
climates on creatures. "Human" means the space in between the heavens
and earth, the region influenced by the regularity of the heavens and
earth, and the space at which "human" can feel all influences and can
see
all changes.
The change of the relative position between the sun and earth cause all
astronomical phenomena which changed with seasons, and the clamite is
also changed by the mysterious workings of the relative position
between the sun and earth. Then, all creatures on earth has the change
of "to sprout, to grow, to be harvested, and to be stored" which caused
by influences of climates. This is what we callled dao.
