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The Moon and the Sun, the yin and yang

 

The Chinese concepts of yin and yang represented shadow and sunshine, with the moon as ruler of yin and the sun as yang. The beliefs and rituals surrounding Chinese cosmology were always aimed at restoring the balance of lunar, or receptive energies, and solar, or active energies.

 

Yin and Yang

Origins of Yin-yang became associated with Taoism, a religion widespread in China several hundred years before Christ's incarnation on earth. In Taoism, the Tao, loosely translated as "the Way" or "the Path", is the origin of all things and the ultimate reality. As is true in many Eastern religions, this concept is not to be grasped intellectually since it describes a reality beyond the intellect.  Therefore, according to Taoist teachings, the truth of the Tao can only be understood indirectly or through a process of enlightened living.  Happiness is gained by living in the flow of the Tao, which is the flow of the universe.  This belief has no personal God.  Where do the yin and yang come in?  "Through the dynamics of yin and yang, the female and male cosmic principles, the Tao creates all phenomena.  Whereas the Tao is perfectly harmonious, the cosmos is in a state of constant disequilibrium "

According to the ancient Chinese philosophers, in the beginning was Tao. But then Tao separated into the two prime principles, yang and yin. And from the many combinations of yang and yin everything else that is in the world has emerged.

There is really no good or bad according to the Taoist/yin-yang view, only what appears to be good or bad.  There is no life and death because "Life and death are one, right and wrong are the same," (from the Chuang Tzu as quoted in World Religions, Geoffrey Parrinder, p. 333).  In this view, opposites are not really opposite; they just appear that way to us because we perceive through a dualistic conditioning and cannot see how opposites are really part of the whole.  Opposites actually contain the essence of each other, and eventually merge with each other.  This is one of the origins of the holistic view of the world and of the body, and remains the basis today of the body-mind connection.  The universe is seen as mystically connected and interplaying, including every person, animal, rock, tree, river, etc., through the yin-yang interaction.  Referring to the Tao, Wen-Tzu states that "the Way has no front or back, no left or right: all things are mysteriously the same, with no right and no wrong," (Wen-Tzu, Further Teachings of Lao-Tzu [Boston: Shambhala, 1992], 109).

 

Yang is represented by the Sun.  Yin is represented by the Moon.

 

Yin and yang rule the world, each of them is important. Yang is active however yin is also powerful. Yin and Yang conbine together to rule the world. Yang contains yin and yin contains yang. People should use both yin and yang, then they can learn how to follow and use the Tao.

 

 

 

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