yin and yang and the five phases

 
    The Chinese had no Descartes and did not develop a causative focus in relation to observable events. Instead of reducing phenomena to smaller and smaller causative effects, the Chinese were focused more on the relationships between phenomena and how they interacted with one another. The world, the universe and the human body were viewed in what we now regard as an ecosystem, all parts having roles and no part separable from the rest. It was in this spirit that the Five Phases Theory was developed. Emotions were seen not as arising from neural, evolutionary or behavioral imperatives but as an integral part of the homeostasis of the body. From observations of body states and dysfunctions and related emotional states, it was determined that there are five basic emotions that are grouped with other bodily phenomena. Further, emotions can be the cause or the effect of body disharmony and disease. The emotions are: joy, meditation, grief, fear and anger. Moreover, these emotions have a relationship with one another in that an emotion that is out of balance can enhance or create another or fail to control another. This is inferred from the creation and control cycles of the Five Phase Theory that is evident in both the emotions and the transmission of disease through the organs.
       

 
Emotional Soup

The Rand-McNally Atlas of Emotion

Yin and Yang and the Five Phases

A Bit of Ancient History

   The creation cycle stipulates that emotions, when in balance will provide tendencies for the following emotion to be in balance; and when out of balance can provide tendencies for the preceding and following emotions to become out of balance. A graphic representation of this relationship would be:

An example of the creation cycle: a person filled with fear, either from a constitutional cause or from a perceived threat, could build up anger or could engender grief. This is referred to as the mother-child relationship. The mother (fear) because it is out of balance fails to provide energy for the child (anger). Alternatively, fear (the unruly child) drains energy from grief (the exasperated mother).

The other major cycle of the Five Phases is the control cycle. In this cycle, each emotion has the ability to control or mediate the emotion immediately after the emotion’s child. Thus meditation could control fear; fear could control joy; joy could control grief; grief could control anger; and anger could control meditation. These relationships are seen most often in dysfunctions and distress. An example of this type of action could be: a person with a lot of fear not being able to experience a joyful condition. Here is a graphic of this relationship:

The Five Phase Theory was developed well over 2000 years ago and is an extension of Taoist philosophy, Naturalist or Universalistic theories that have been incorporated into the Chinese medical framework. This is a system of medicine, which values: function over structure, wholeness over separate parts, and the maintenance of balance and health over the pathology of disease. It is truly a holistic model as organs and structures are not isolated for study but viewed in relation to the working of the whole body. Implicit in this is the interrelationship of the body and mind, or more accurately the body-mind, including the emotional landscape. The Five Phase Theory is one of the tools, diagnostic and therapeutic, that is utilized for the maintenance of system balance.

The two main theoretical pillars of Chinese Medicine are the Yin and Yang Theory and the Five Phase Theory. There are many other theories that have been advanced and utilized through the millennia, but these are the most predominant and are the earliest foundation. Not all practitioners of Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu, Anma massage and Tui Na massage incorporate Five Phase Theory in their practices and there are some that use Five Phase Theory predominantly in consideration in both the diagnosis of disease and treatment. Modern physicians in China tend to diminish the use of this theory and emphasis a theory called the Eight Divisions, which is a further delineation of the Theory of Yin and Yang, but remnants and pieces of the theoretical framework remain incorporated in their modern practice. However, many practitioners in Japan, America, Korea, Europe and other parts of the world use this framework exclusively. This theory has continued to provide ample evidence of practical use in the successful treatment of disease and promotion of balance and health two millennia after its inception.

To understand the Theory of Yin and Yang and the Theory of Five Phases it is necessary to explore that concepts of the nature of the Universe expressed in Taoist traditions. Taoism, as does Hinduism and Buddhism, postulates the existence of an invisible reality that is present in all things, a unified field. This is the Tao. Actually, according to the father of Taoism Lao-Tzu, saying this constitutes the Tao is limiting it and pinning it to reality and thus it is not the Tao. The first passage of then Tao-Te Ching (Dao De-Jing) begins:

            “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;

            The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

            The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;

            The Named is the mother of all things.”¹²

With apologies to the Tao and Lao-Tzu, I will describe some of the characteristics of the Tao:

1.      The Tao is the unity of all things and the manifestations of all things.

2.      In the Tao, there are mutual interrelationships between all things.

3.      In the Tao, the interconnectedness of all things cannot be separated.

4.      The Tao is the hidden reality and mother of all things and is empty and has no form.

We will see later on how something can be empty and formless and may also be the producer of all material objects and immaterial states. However, it does seem to our Western eyes to be a bit over-general and fuzzy conceptual devise, as well as, not provable scientifically (like God). But for now, let us suspend whatever skepticism we have and move on.

At one point in time, or perhaps in all points in time, the Tao, in its most empty form – called the Wu Ji or Non Ultimate - existed with no limits and no boundaries. This transformed into the Tai Ji (Tai Chi) or Supreme Ultimate. This entity possesses boundaries, limits, differences in quantity and quality and is composed of two properties called Yin and Yang. The graphical symbol of the Tai Ji is familiar to us all:

The symbol of the Tai Ji tells us much about the characteristics of Yin and Yang. The white Yang is on the left side and is rising towards the heavens and contains within it a circle of Yin and alternately the dark, descending Yin side is on the right and contains a portion of Yang. Thus the Yang is characteristic of brightness, ascension, lightness, the right side, the upper side, and at its maximum strength always contains Yin. The opposite attributes are true for Yin: darkness, descent, heaviness, the left side, the lower side, and containment of Yang. Also when Yang or Yin attains its maximum strength it will become the opposite attribute.

There are five simple rules that relate to the characteristics of Yin and Yang:

1.      All material and immaterial objects and states have two characteristics: Yin aspect and Yang aspect.

2.      Yin aspects and Yang aspects can be split further into either Yin or Yang aspects.

Thus there can be objects or states that may be referred to as Yin within Yin or Yin within Yang. These can be further divided, as needed, providing a continuum of states or attributes. For instance, the legs are Yin because they are in the lower part of the body, but the inside and front of the legs are Yin and the outside and back of the legs are the Yang portions of the leg. A graphic representation of this would be:

This is a visual representation of the original separation into Yin and Yang and separating again into four divisions (or 2²) and then separating again into 8 trigrams (or 2³). Trigrams are important in Chinese culture and Chinese medicine as they represent the relationship of man to the universe. The upper line represents heaven, the middle, man and the lower earth. Thus man is the balance between the heavens or spiritual environment and earth or the material environment. Another separation of the eight divisions would yield all the combinations of these trigrams or 64 hexagrams (or 2⁴). These hexagrams are the 64 different changes outlined in the I Ching or Book of Changes of the Zhou Dynasty (1122-256 B.C). The hexagrams form images such as fire over water or mountain over lake that connote changes of destiny in Chinese I Ching divination.

3.       Yin and Yang create one another.

This rule is another way of describing Yin and Yang as dependant on one another. One cannot exist without the other. Shade cannot exist without the sunshine and day without night. Thus Yin and Yang always exist together and are complementary to each other. So it would follow that in Chinese thought, there are no black and white conditions; that all exists on a continuum of relative degrees of black and white.

4.      Yin and Yang control one another.

The concept of balance is the important aspect of this rule. For Yin and Yang to control each other, they must necessarily tend toward balance because they are dependant on one another for existence. That is not to say that one cannot be dominant in any particular state or condition; if one is strong the other must necessarily be weak. The interdependence of Yin and Yang is established with this rule in that each force requires the mitigating opposite force to remain in balance.

5.      Yin and Yang can turn into one another.

The last rule concerns the changes that take place when Yin or Yang become maximal and diminishes the opposite state violating the first four rules. In this case, Yang will transform into Yin or visa versa. Normally the dependency and interdependency of Yin and Yang will tend to maintain a system in a relative state of balance. If Yin decreases and Yang increases in equal parts, the system will readjust to allow Yin to increase and Yang to decrease. This is the essential aspect of balance in organic systems and is called homeostasis. Without this tendency to balance, life could not exist due to the stresses of the environment, both inner and outer. Occasions occur though when the extreme imbalance occurs, and it is in these cases that transformation occurs. An example of the in the body is a very high temperature, a very Yang condition, transforming into a cold condition (Yin) such as shock. One could also say that this rule would apply to how we get our essential nutrients for life from the environment. We take in air (Yang) and it is transformed in the lungs into a constituent of blood (Yin). We also take in food (material or Yin) and it is transformed through the Krebs Cycle or Citric Acid Cycle to usable energy (Yang) in the cells of the body. An example on a macroscopic scale of this transformation would be the creation from large stars (Yang) of black holes. A black hole is extremely Yin as it is very heavy, has high mass and is so dark it doesn’t allow light to escape due to its high gravity. But even with its high almost pure mass and gravity, very pure Yang radiation is beamed from its poles.

These are fairly simple concepts and when explained they appear quite self-evident.  A succinct description of the Yin and Yang Theory would go something like this: “All manifestations are characterized by having two complementary and interdependent aspects that can transform into each other and each aspect can furthermore be dived into two complementary, interdependent and inter-transforming aspects”; but that hardly gives the flavor. The important concept to be garnered from this is: “There is balance in all things”.  Ironically and in reality, though, there are imbalances. It is: too hot or cold, too humid or dry, too windy or still. I am: too passive or aggressive, depressed or hyperactive, obsessive or apathetic. Another system is needed to describe not just relative balance in manifestations but how things change, grow, and transform within underlying balance or imbalance. The Theory of Five Phases is one system that addresses this.

The Five Phases represent an organic cycle of change or transformation and are represented by elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Some refer to this theory as the Theory of Five Elements but it is not the elements that are important but the phases of change and growth and decline. This theory does not stipulate that all matter is made up of the elements or that they are essential building blocks of the world around us. The elements are used more as a mode of conceptualization.

12.      Wing-Tsit Chan [Translated and Compiled] (1969) A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press