A Supplement To Chapter 35
A RECORD OF ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVEN
As gathered from the oldest accounts that remain
PROLOGUE --- CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
On the Matter of the Separation --- Yin and Yang --- 陰陽 --- Yinyang
They are called Yin and Yang --- 陰陽 --- Yinyang.
Yin --- 陰 --- is the first character.
Yang --- 陽 --- is the second character.
Both are phono-semantic compound characters --- 形聲字 --- xingsheng zi.
Both share the same semantic component --- 阝 --- a graphical variant of 阜 --- meaning mound or hill.
The hill is the origin.
The hill has two sides.
One side faces the sun.
One side faces away from the sun.
This is where the names came from.
The character Yin --- 陰 --- contains the phonetic components Jin --- 今 --- meaning now, current --- and Yun --- 云 --- meaning cloud.
The full character suggests a cloud-covered hill that receives no direct sunlight.
The character Yang --- 陽 --- contains the phonetic component Yang --- 昜 --- meaning bright.
That component itself contains Ri --- 日 --- the sun --- together with sunbeam markings.
The full character suggests a hill bright with sunlight.
The sinologist Rolf Stein glosses Yin as the shady side of a mountain and Yang as the sunny side of a mountain.
In Chinese geography both terms are still used in place names.
Many cities and regions in China contain the character Yang --- 陽 --- meaning they are located on the sunny south-facing side of a mountain or the north bank of a river.
Many contain Yin --- 陰 --- meaning the shaded north-facing side or the south bank.
This is the original meaning.
Not philosophy.
Geography.
Light and shadow on a hillside.
The philosophy came later.
Everything that followed came from that simple observation.
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On the word order.
The compound is called Yinyang --- 陰陽 --- not Yangyin --- 陽陰.
This is unusual.
In most Chinese binary compounds the more positive or dominant term comes first.
Heaven and earth --- 天地 --- tiandi --- heaven precedes earth.
Sun and moon --- 日月 --- riyue --- sun precedes moon.
Yang is the brighter, more active principle.
By convention it would be expected to precede Yin.
It does not.
Scholars have proposed several explanations.
The first is linguistic convenience.
Yinyang is easier to pronounce than Yangyin in Chinese phonology.
The second is that proto-Chinese society may have been matriarchal.
Yin is associated with the feminine.
Its priority in the compound may preserve an older social order.
The third is that the compound was deliberately ordered to challenge persistent cultural assumptions about which force is superior.
Since Yinyang first became prominent in the late Warring States period --- a period of philosophical experimentation --- this challenge may have been intentional.
None of these proposals has been accepted as definitive.
All three are recorded here.
What is certain: the word order has no hierarchical meaning.
Yin is not superior to Yang because it comes first.
The order is a matter of sound. Or history. Or both.
The principle itself is clear on this point.
Neither Yin nor Yang is superior.
Neither can exist without the other.
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On the earliest written records.
The earliest known written uses of the characters Yin --- 陰 --- and Yang --- 陽 --- appear in oracle bone inscriptions --- 甲骨文 --- jiaguwen --- from the Shang dynasty --- 商朝.
The Shang dynasty lasted approximately from 1600 to 1046 BCE.
In these inscriptions Yin and Yang are not philosophical concepts.
They describe weather conditions.
Yin describes overcast days or the absence of sunlight.
Yang describes sunny days or the presence of sunlight.
The characters describe what the diviner saw when consulting the oracle.
Sunlit or overcast.
The weather would affect the outcome of the activity being divined for.
A campaign. A harvest. A ritual.
This is the earliest recorded use.
Observable fact.
Not metaphysics.
The earliest dictionary of Chinese characters --- the Shuowen Jiezi --- 說文解字 --- compiled by Xu Shen --- 許慎 --- around 100 CE --- records the following definitions.
Yin refers to a closed door, darkness, the south bank of a river, and the north side of a mountain.
Yang refers to height, brightness, and the south side of a mountain.
These definitions are still rooted in observable experience.
Not yet cosmology.
The transition from observation to cosmology happened gradually during the Zhou dynasty --- 周朝 --- Zhou Chao --- which lasted from 1046 to 256 BCE.
Joseph Needham --- 李約瑟 --- the British scientist and historian of Chinese science --- concluded that the philosophical use of the terms began around the beginning of the fourth century BCE.
Passages in older texts that appear to use the terms philosophically are most likely later interpolations.
The record notes this uncertainty.
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On the first text. The Guoyu --- 國語 --- Discourses of the States.
The oldest surviving text to use Yin and Yang in a recognizably cosmological sense is the Guoyu --- 國語 --- Discourses of the States.
The specific passage appears in the section titled Zhouyu --- 周語 --- Discourses of Zhou.
The passage describes an earthquake that struck during the reign of King You of Zhou --- 周幽王 --- Zhou Youwang --- in 780 BCE.
The text records a court official named Boyang Fu --- 伯陽父 --- explaining the earthquake as follows.
Heaven and earth must remain in their proper order.
If Yin and Yang are out of order, the people will be disturbed.
When Yang is suppressed and cannot emerge, or when Yin is blocked and cannot evaporate, earthquakes occur.
This is the earliest surviving text in which Yin and Yang are used to explain a natural phenomenon cosmologically.
It is dated to 780 BCE.
But the text itself was compiled later --- probably during the Warring States period.
Whether the passage actually reflects eighth-century BCE thinking or later interpretation cannot be confirmed.
The record notes this uncertainty.
The text is the earliest surviving document.
The thinking may be older.
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On Yin and Yang in the I Ching --- 易經 --- Yijing --- the Book of Changes.
The I Ching --- 易經 --- Yijing --- is one of the oldest texts in the Chinese tradition.
Yi --- 易 --- means change. Transformation. Ease. Constancy.
Jing --- 經 --- means classic. Canon.
Together --- 易經 --- the Classic of Change.
The text is also called Zhouyi --- 周易 --- the Changes of Zhou.
Its core text dates to the Western Zhou period --- approximately 1000 to 750 BCE.
Its philosophical commentaries --- the Ten Wings --- 十翼 --- Shi Yi --- were added during the Warring States and early Han periods.
The I Ching does not use the words Yin and Yang explicitly in most of its original text.
But its entire structure is built upon the Yin-Yang principle.
The basic unit of the I Ching is the line --- 爻 --- yao.
Each line is either broken or unbroken.
The unbroken line --- ⚊ --- is Yang.
The broken line --- ⚋ --- is Yin.
Yang is solid. Active. Creative. Expanding.
Yin is open. Receptive. Yielding. Contracting.
Three lines stacked on top of each other form a trigram --- 卦 --- gua.
Eight possible combinations of three yin and yang lines produce eight trigrams --- 八卦 --- bagua.
The eight trigrams are:
Qian --- 乾 --- three unbroken yang lines --- represents Heaven.
Kun --- 坤 --- three broken yin lines --- represents Earth.
Zhen --- 震 --- one yang below two yin --- represents Thunder.
Xun --- 巽 --- one yin below two yang --- represents Wind.
Kan --- 坎 --- one yang between two yin --- represents Water.
Li --- 離 --- one yin between two yang --- represents Fire.
Gen --- 艮 --- one yang above two yin --- represents Mountain.
Dui --- 兌 --- one yang below one yang below one yin --- represents Lake.
The eight trigrams are attributed to Fuxi --- 伏羲 --- the legendary culture hero recorded in Chapter Forty of this prologue.
According to the Great Commentary --- 大傳 --- Da Zhuan --- one of the Ten Wings --- Fuxi observed the patterns of the world --- the movements of heaven and earth, the markings on birds and beasts, the configurations of land and water --- and created the eight trigrams in order to become thoroughly conversant with the numinous and bright and to classify the myriad things.
Two trigrams stacked on top of each other produce a hexagram --- 卦 --- gua.
Two times eight equals sixty-four.
There are sixty-four possible hexagrams.
Sixty-four possible combinations of six yin and yang lines.
The I Ching contains all sixty-four.
Each hexagram has a name.
Each hexagram has a brief judgment --- 彖辭 --- tuanci.
Each of the six lines within each hexagram has its own statement --- 爻辭 --- yaoci.
The hexagrams are traditionally arranged in what is called the King Wen sequence --- 文王卦序 --- named after King Wen of Zhou --- 周文王 --- who founded the Zhou dynasty and is said to have written the hexagram judgments while imprisoned around 1050 BCE.
In the I Ching's cosmological view the first hexagram --- Qian --- 乾 --- six unbroken yang lines --- is pure creative Heaven energy.
The second hexagram --- Kun --- 坤 --- six broken yin lines --- is pure receptive Earth energy.
Neither is superior.
Qian is no better or worse than Kun.
All sixty-two remaining hexagrams are mixtures of the two.
All things in the universe are mixtures of yin and yang.
Lines within a hexagram can change from yin to yang or yang to yin.
When they change the hexagram transforms into a different hexagram.
This reflects the dynamic nature of all situations.
Nothing stays fixed.
Every configuration of forces is in the process of becoming another.
The I Ching is a record of all sixty-four possible configurations and their inevitable transformations.
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On the Tao Te Ching --- 道德經 --- and Yin and Yang.
The Tao Te Ching --- 道德經 --- is attributed to Laozi --- 老子.
Chapter Forty-Two states the foundational cosmological sequence.
The Tao gives birth to one.
One gives birth to two.
Two gives birth to three.
Three gives birth to the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things bear Yin and embrace Yang.
They are harmonized through the blending of Qi --- 沖氣以為和 --- chong qi yi wei he.
In this account the two that arise from one are Yin and Yang.
The Tao is undivided.
Its first division produces two.
Yin and Yang.
Shadow and light.
Receptive and active.
From the interaction of these two all further complexity arises.
Chapter Forty-Two also states that the ten thousand things bear Yin and embrace Yang.
Bear --- 負 --- fu --- means to carry on the back. To hold behind.
Embrace --- 抱 --- bao --- means to hold in front. To clasp to the chest.
Every thing carries Yin at its back and holds Yang to its front.
This is not a metaphor.
This is a description of how all existing things are structured.
Nothing has only one quality.
Everything contains both.
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On Zou Yan --- 鄒衍 --- and the School of Naturalists --- 陰陽家 --- Yinyangija.
The philosopher most associated with systematizing Yin and Yang as a cosmological philosophy is Zou Yan --- 鄒衍.
He lived approximately 305 to 240 BCE.
He was a native of the state of Qi --- 齊.
He was a scholar at the Jixia Academy --- 稷下學宮 --- Jixia Xuegong.
He founded the school called Yinyangijia --- 陰陽家 --- the School of Yin-Yang.
This school is also called the School of Naturalists.
Joseph Needham --- the British sinologist --- called Zou Yan the real founder of all Chinese scientific thought.
Zou Yan's contribution was to synthesize two theories that had previously existed separately.
The first theory was Yin-Yang.
The second theory was the Five Elements --- 五行 --- Wu Xing.
He combined them into a single comprehensive cosmological system.
His system explained how natural forces governed both the cosmos and human affairs.
His system explained the change of seasons through the cycling of Yin and Yang.
His system explained the rise and fall of dynasties through the cycling of the Five Elements.
According to his Five Virtues Transmutation theory --- 五德終始說 --- Wude Zhongshi Shuo --- each dynasty rules under the power of one of the five elements.
The Yellow Emperor --- Huangdi --- ruled under the element Earth.
The Xia dynasty ruled under Wood.
The Shang dynasty ruled under Metal.
The Zhou dynasty ruled under Fire.
The Qin dynasty ruled under Water.
Each element is destroyed by the next in the cycle.
Water extinguishes Fire.
Fire melts Metal.
Metal cuts Wood.
Wood penetrates Earth.
Earth dams Water.
Each new dynasty is predicted by which element overcomes the element of the previous dynasty.
All of Zou Yan's own writings have been lost.
His ideas survive only through quotations and summaries in later texts.
His influence survived intact.
The Han dynasty adopted his cosmological framework for imperial ideology.
The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu --- 董仲舒 --- who lived approximately 179 to 104 BCE --- systematized Zou Yan's thinking into the orthodox framework of the Han state.
Dong Zhongshu combined Confucian social philosophy with Zou Yan's cosmology.
He called this system the Interaction Between Heaven and Humanity --- 天人感應 --- Tianren Ganying.
Heaven and humanity respond to each other through Yin and Yang.
When the ruler is virtuous Yang flourishes.
When the ruler is corrupt Yin prevails.
Natural disasters are heaven's warning of moral disorder in human society.
This theory governed imperial Chinese political thought for two thousand years.
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On the fundamental qualities of Yin and Yang.
The classical texts identify the following qualities for each.
Yin --- 陰:
Dark --- 暗 --- an.
Cold --- 寒 --- han.
Passive --- 靜 --- jing.
Receptive --- 納 --- na.
Feminine --- 陰性 --- yinxing.
Earth --- 地 --- di.
Moon --- 月 --- yue.
Water --- 水 --- shui.
Night --- 夜 --- ye.
Winter --- 冬 --- dong.
Interior --- 內 --- nei.
Descending --- 降 --- jiang.
Even numbers --- 偶數 --- oushu.
The broken line in the I Ching --- ⚋.
The tiger --- 虎 --- hu.
The color orange.
The south bank of a river.
The north face of a mountain.
Yang --- 陽:
Bright --- 明 --- ming.
Hot --- 熱 --- re.
Active --- 動 --- dong.
Expansive --- 擴張 --- kuozhang.
Masculine --- 陽性 --- yangxing.
Heaven --- 天 --- tian.
Sun --- 日 --- ri.
Fire --- 火 --- huo.
Day --- 日 --- ri.
Summer --- 夏 --- xia.
Exterior --- 外 --- wai.
Ascending --- 升 --- sheng.
Odd numbers --- 奇數 --- jishu.
The unbroken line in the I Ching --- ⚊.
The dragon --- 龍 --- long.
The color azure.
The north bank of a river.
The south face of a mountain.
This list is not exhaustive.
Any phenomenon in the universe can be placed on one side of the Yin-Yang axis relative to another phenomenon.
A minister is Yin relative to the ruler but Yang relative to his wife.
Coolness exists only relative to warmth.
Nothing is absolutely Yin or absolutely Yang.
Everything is Yin or Yang only in comparison to something else.
This is the relativistic nature of the concept.
The West often treats opposites as absolute and irreconcilable.
Good and evil.
God and the Devil.
Right and wrong.
Chinese thought treats opposites as relative and interdependent.
No force wins finally over its opposite.
When one increases the other decreases.
When one reaches its extreme it begins to transform into the other.
Midsummer is the peak of Yang.
From that peak Yang begins to decline and Yin begins to increase.
Midwinter is the peak of Yin.
From that peak Yin begins to decline and Yang begins to increase.
This cycle has no end.
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On the four laws governing Yin and Yang.
The classical medical and philosophical texts identify four laws that govern the relationship between Yin and Yang.
The first law is Opposition --- 對立 --- duili.
Yin and Yang are always in opposition.
They are opposite in nature.
Cold opposes heat.
Darkness opposes light.
Stillness opposes movement.
This opposition is the engine of all change.
Without opposition there would be no change.
Without change nothing would exist.
The second law is Interdependence --- 互根 --- hug.
Yin cannot exist without Yang.
Yang cannot exist without Yin.
Cold is only cold relative to heat.
Without heat there is no concept of cold.
Without cold there is no concept of heat.
Day exists because night exists.
Each defines and requires the other.
The Huangdi Neijing states: Yin is the foundation of Yang.
Yang is the root of Yin.
Without the root the crown dies.
Without the foundation the structure collapses.
The third law is Waxing and Waning --- 消長 --- xiaochang.
Xiao --- 消 --- means to diminish. To decrease.
Chang --- 長 --- means to grow. To increase.
Yin and Yang are never static.
They are always in a dynamic process of increase and decrease.
As Yang increases Yin decreases.
As Yin increases Yang decreases.
The seasons demonstrate this law.
From winter solstice to summer solstice Yang increases and Yin decreases.
From summer solstice to winter solstice Yin increases and Yang decreases.
The gnomon --- 圭表 --- guitiao --- an ancient Chinese solar measurement instrument --- was used to track this cycle.
The length of its shadow changes throughout the year.
The shadow is longest at winter solstice. Maximum Yin.
The shadow is shortest at summer solstice. Maximum Yang.
The shadow's change records the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang through the year.
The fourth law is Transformation --- 轉化 --- zhuanhua.
When either Yin or Yang reaches its extreme it transforms into its opposite.
This is expressed in the ancient saying: extreme Yang gives birth to Yin. Extreme Yin gives birth to Yang.
In Chinese: 陽極生陰,陰極生陽 --- yang ji sheng yin, yin ji sheng yang.
Ji --- 極 --- means extreme. Utmost. The outermost limit.
At its outermost limit a force reverses.
The hottest summer day begins the descent toward autumn.
The coldest winter night begins the ascent toward spring.
This transformation is not defeat.
It is the natural completion of a cycle.
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On Yin and Yang within Yin and Yang. The dot within each half.
Within Yin there is a seed of Yang.
Within Yang there is a seed of Yin.
This principle is depicted visually in the Taijitu --- 太極圖 --- the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate.
The dark half of the circle --- Yin --- contains a small white dot --- Yang.
The white half of the circle --- Yang --- contains a small black dot --- Yin.
This means no force is absolute.
No darkness is without any light.
No light is without any darkness.
The Huangdi Neijing states: within Yin there is Yang. Within Yang there is Yin.
In Chinese medicine this has practical applications.
A Yin deficiency always eventually affects Yang because Yang has no root.
A Yang deficiency always eventually affects Yin because Yin receives no warmth.
No condition is purely one thing.
Treatment must consider both.
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On the Taijitu --- 太極圖 --- the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate.
The Taijitu --- 太極圖 --- is the visual symbol recognized throughout the world as the Yin-Yang symbol.
Taiji --- 太極 --- means the Supreme Ultimate.
Tu --- 圖 --- means diagram. Chart.
Together --- 太極圖 --- Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate.
The concept of Yin and Yang dates to Chinese antiquity.
The visual diagram is much more recent.
The philosopher Zhou Dunyi --- 周敦頤 --- who lived from 1017 to 1073 CE during the Song dynasty --- is credited with introducing the diagram in its first influential form.
He described it in his text Taijitu Shuo --- 太極圖說 --- Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate.
This text became the cornerstone of Neo-Confucian cosmology.
Zhou Dunyi's opening line states: 無極而太極 --- Wu Ji er Tai Ji.
Non-polar and yet Supreme Polarity.
Or: the Limitless and yet the Supreme Ultimate.
This phrase connects the concept of Taiyi --- 太一 --- recorded in Chapter Thirty-Three of this record --- to the Yin-Yang principle.
From the Limitless --- Wuji --- 無極 --- comes the Supreme Ultimate --- Taiji --- 太極.
From the Supreme Ultimate comes movement.
Movement generates Yang.
When movement reaches its extreme it generates stillness.
Stillness generates Yin.
When stillness reaches its extreme it generates movement again.
Movement and stillness alternate.
Each is the basis of the other.
Yin and Yang are established.
From Yin and Yang the Five Elements arise.
From the Five Elements the myriad things arise.
Zhou Dunyi's original Taijitu was not the familiar swirling black-and-white circle.
It was a vertical linear arrangement of nested circles showing the progression from Wuji through Taiji through Yin and Yang through the Five Elements.
The swirling form --- the S-curve dividing the circle --- first appeared in the work of Zhao Huiqian --- 趙撝謙 --- who lived from 1351 to 1395 CE during the Ming dynasty.
He introduced the swirling variant in his etymological treatise the Liushu Benyi --- 六書本義 --- in the 1370s.
The dots within each half --- the white dot in the black field and the black dot in the white field --- appeared in texts from the late Ming dynasty.
Zhang Huang --- 章潢 --- who lived from 1527 to 1608 CE --- included such a diagram in his encyclopedic collection Tu Shu Bian --- 圖書編.
The symbol most people recognize today --- swirling halves with dots --- did not reach its final form until the late Ming.
The concept it represents is more than three thousand years old.
The symbol is less than seven hundred years old.
They are not the same age.
This distinction is noted.
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On Yin and Yang in the Huangdi Neijing --- 黃帝內經.
The Huangdi Neijing --- 黃帝內經 --- defines Yinyang in the following terms.
Yinyang is the Dao of heaven and earth.
It is the net --- 綱紀 --- gangji --- of the ten thousand things.
Gangji --- 綱紀 --- means the main strand to which all other threads are attached, together with the mesh of all the other threads.
All things are tied to an interrelated net or web through Yinyang.
Yinyang is the parent --- 父母 --- fumu --- of all transformations.
Yinyang is the origin --- 本始 --- benshi --- of life and death.
Yinyang is the residence --- 府 --- fu --- of spirit and insight.
To heal illness one must seek in this root.
This is the Huangdi Neijing's definition.
The Huangdi Neijing applies Yin and Yang systematically to the human body.
The back of the body --- 背 --- bei --- is Yang.
The front of the body --- 腹 --- fu --- is Yin.
The outer surface of the limbs is Yang.
The inner surface of the limbs is Yin.
The upper body is Yang.
The lower body is Yin.
The organs of the body are divided into Yin organs and Yang organs.
The Yin organs are called Zang --- 臟.
Zang means to store. To preserve. To hold within.
There are five Yin organs.
Heart --- 心 --- Xin.
Liver --- 肝 --- Gan.
Spleen --- 脾 --- Pi.
Lung --- 肺 --- Fei.
Kidney --- 腎 --- Shen.
These organs store and do not discharge.
They are solid.
They are Yin.
The Yang organs are called Fu --- 腑.
Fu means a government office. A place of processing and transmission.
There are six Yang organs.
Small Intestine --- 小腸 --- Xiao Chang.
Large Intestine --- 大腸 --- Da Chang.
Stomach --- 胃 --- Wei.
Gallbladder --- 膽 --- Dan.
Bladder --- 膀胱 --- Pang Guang.
Triple Burner --- 三焦 --- San Jiao.
These organs receive, transform, and transmit. They do not store.
They are hollow.
They are Yang.
Each Yin organ is paired with a Yang organ.
Heart is paired with Small Intestine.
Liver is paired with Gallbladder.
Spleen is paired with Stomach.
Lung is paired with Large Intestine.
Kidney is paired with Bladder.
The sixth Yang organ --- the Triple Burner --- is paired with the Pericardium --- 心包 --- Xinbao --- an auxiliary of the Heart.
The Huangdi Neijing also records the correspondences between Yin and Yang and the cycles of day and night.
Yang Qi is most abundant at noon.
Yang Qi is least abundant at midnight.
Yin Qi is most abundant at midnight.
Yin Qi is least abundant at noon.
The healthy body follows these cycles.
When the cycles are disrupted illness follows.
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On Yin and Yang in the Zhuangzi --- 莊子.
The Zhuangzi --- 莊子 --- describes the interaction of Yin and Yang as the greatest of all Qi.
Cosmic Yin and Yang are the greatest of Qi.
When they interact they produce all phenomena.
The text also records a cosmological account of the primordial separation.
Before heaven and earth took form there was only undifferentiated Qi.
The clear and light portions of Qi rose and became heaven.
This was the first Yang.
The heavy and turbid portions of Qi sank and became earth.
This was the first Yin.
Heaven is Yang. It is above. It is luminous. It is active.
Earth is Yin. It is below. It is dark. It is receptive.
Between heaven and earth all further differentiation occurred.
The Zhuangzi also teaches that death is not to be mourned.
Death is the dispersal of Qi.
Yin and Yang simply rearrange themselves.
The form changes.
The Qi continues.
The concept of Yin and Yang gives Daoist philosophy its equanimity about death.
What seems like an ending is only a transformation.
What seems like a loss is only a change of form.
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On Yin and Yang in Confucianism. Dong Zhongshu --- 董仲舒.
Dong Zhongshu --- 董仲舒 --- lived approximately 179 to 104 BCE.
He was the most influential Confucian scholar of the Han dynasty.
He was responsible for elevating Confucianism to the status of the official state philosophy.
He incorporated the Yin-Yang cosmology of Zou Yan into his Confucian framework.
His primary text is the Chunqiu Fanlu --- 春秋繁露 --- Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn Annals.
In this text Dong Zhongshu applied a moral dimension to Yin and Yang.
Yang corresponds to virtue --- 德 --- de.
Yin corresponds to punishment --- 刑 --- xing.
Heaven prefers Yang over Yin.
Heaven prefers virtue over punishment.
Therefore the ruler should govern primarily through virtue and use punishment only as a secondary tool.
This moral reading of Yin and Yang was not present in earlier texts.
It was Dong Zhongshu's innovation.
It attached ethical weight to a cosmological concept.
It made the governance of the empire a matter of cosmic principle.
When the ruler governed virtuously Yang would flourish.
Good harvests. Fair weather. Social harmony.
When the ruler governed through cruelty and punishment Yin would prevail.
Floods. Droughts. Earthquakes. Social disorder.
Natural disasters became political messages.
The cosmos spoke to the ruler through Yin and Yang.
This framework persisted in Chinese imperial political theory for two thousand years.
Each emperor was required to interpret natural disasters as potential messages from heaven about his governance.
Floods required ritual atonement.
Droughts required moral examination.
Earthquakes required policy reform.
Yin and Yang governed not only the body and the cosmos but the state.
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On Yin and Yang in East Asia and the world.
The Yin-Yang concept spread from China throughout East Asia.
In Japan the concept is called In-Yo --- 陰陽 --- the same characters with Japanese pronunciation.
A government bureau existed in Japan as early as 675 CE to advise the imperial court on divination and calendar control according to In-Yo principles.
This bureau was called the Onmyoryo --- 陰陽寮 --- the Office of Yin-Yang.
Its practitioners were called Onmyoji --- 陰陽師 --- Masters of Yin and Yang.
The most famous Onmyoji was Abe no Seimei --- 安倍晴明 --- who lived from 921 to 1005 CE.
He is celebrated in Japanese popular culture to this day.
In Korea the concept is called Eum-Yang --- 음양.
The flag of South Korea --- 태극기 --- Taegukgi --- bears a Taijitu at its center.
The Taijitu on the Korean flag is oriented differently from the Chinese standard.
The red field is above and to the left.
The blue field is below and to the right.
In Vietnam the concept is called Âm-Dương --- the same meaning.
In all of these nations the concept of Yin and Yang is woven into medicine, cosmology, divination, architecture, martial arts, and daily social understanding.
In the West the concept became known primarily through the I Ching.
The German missionary and scholar Richard Wilhelm --- 衛禮賢 --- translated the I Ching into German in 1924.
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung --- 榮格 --- Ronge --- introduced Wilhelm's translation to a broad Western audience with an influential foreword.
Jung found in the I Ching a systematic method for exploring the depths of the human psyche.
He applied the Yin-Yang principle to his theory of opposites in the unconscious.
The Danish physicist Niels Bohr --- when developing the principle of complementarity in quantum mechanics --- credited the Yin-Yang symbolism as an inspiration.
He chose as his personal coat of arms the Taijitu.
His motto was: Contraria sunt Complementa.
Opposites are complementary.
This is Yin and Yang.
Stated in Latin.
By a Danish physicist.
In the twentieth century.
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On what the separation of Yin and Yang represents.
The separation of Yin and Yang represents the first act of differentiation in the cosmos.
Before Yin and Yang there was only the undivided.
Wuji --- 無極 --- the Limitless.
Hundun --- 混沌 --- the Primordial Chaos.
Taiyi --- 太一 --- the Great One.
All recorded in previous chapters of this record.
The separation of Yin and Yang is what made existence possible.
Without difference there can be no things.
A universe of absolute uniformity has no objects, no motion, no time.
When the undivided divided into Yin and Yang the first difference appeared.
From that first difference all other differences followed.
Hot and cold.
Light and dark.
Heaven and earth.
Fire and water.
Male and female.
Life and death.
All of it is downstream from that first separation.
The separation did not create conflict.
It created relationship.
Yin and Yang are not enemies.
They are partners in a dance that produces the world.
The dance never ends.
When Yin increases Yang waits.
When Yang increases Yin waits.
At the extreme of each the other begins.
This is the cosmos.
This is also the hour before dawn.
This is also the moment when the sick person turns.
This is also the moment when the dying one breathes their last.
The same principle.
At every scale.
Always.
END OF SUPLEMENT