The theory of the Five Elements interpreted the structure of the universe, but did not explain the origin of the world. This was provided by the theory of the Yin and Yang.

The word Yang originally meant sunshine, or what pertains to sunshine and light; that of Yin meant the absence of sunshine, i.e., shadow or darkness. In later development, the Yang and Yin came to be regarded as two cosmic principles or forces, respectively representing masculinity, activity, heat, brightness, dryness, hardness, etc., for the Yang, and femininity, passivity, cold, darkness, wetness, softness, etc., for the Yin. Through the interaction of these two primary principles, all phenomena of the universe are produced. This concept has remained dominant in Chinese cosmological speculation down to recent times. An early reference to it appears already in the Kuo Yü or Discussion of the State (which was itself compiled, however, probably only in the fourth or third century B.C.) This historical work records that when an earthquake occurred in the year 780B.C., a savant of the time explained: "When the Yang is concealed and cannot come forth, and when the Yin is repressed and cannot issue forth, then there are earthquakes." (Chou Yü, I, IO.)

Later, the theory of the Yin and Yang came to be connected primarily with the Book of Changes. The original corpus of this book consists of what are known as the eight trigrams, each made up of combinations of three divided or undivided lines, as follows:

, , , , , , , . By combining any two of these trigrams with one another into diagrams of six lines each, , , , etc., a total of sixty-four combinations is obtained which are known as the sixty-four hexagrams. The original text of the Book of Changes consists of these hexagrams, and of descriptions of their supposed symbolic meaning.

According to tradition, the eight trigrams were invented by Fu Hsi, China's first legendary ruler, antedating even the Yellow Emperor. According to some scholars, Fu Hsi himself combined the eight trigrams so as to obtain the sixty-four hexagrams; according to others, this was done by King Wen of the twelfth century B.C. The textual comments on the hexagrams as a whole and on their hsiao (the individual lines in each hexagram) were, according to some scholars, written by King Wen, while those on the hsiao were by the Duke of Chou, the illustrious son of King Wen. Whether right or wrong, these attributions attest the importance which the Chinese attached to the eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams.

Modern scholarship has advanced the theory that the trigrams and hexagrams were invented early in the Chou dynasty as imitations of the cracks formed on a piece of tortoise shell or bone through the method of divination that was practiced under the Shang dynasty (1766-1122 B.C.), the dynasty that preceded the Chou. This method has already been mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. It consisted of applying heat to shell or bone, and then, according to the cracks that resulted, determining the answer to the subject of divination. Such cracks, however, might assume an indefinite number of varying configurations, and so it was difficult to interpret them according to any fixed formula. Hence during the early part of the Chou dynasty this kind of divination seems to have been supplemented by another method, in which the stalks of a certain plant, known as the milfoil, were shuffled together so as to get varying combinations yielding odd and even numbers. These combinations were limited in number and so could be interpreted according to fixed formulas. It is now believed that the undivided and divided (i.e., odd and even) lines of the trigrams and hexagrams were graphic representations of these combinations. Thus the diviners, by shuffling the stalks of the milfoil, could obtain a given line or set of lines, and then, by reading the comments on it contained in the Book of Changes, could give an answer to the question on which divination was made.

This, then, was the probable origin of the Book of Changes, and explains its title, which refers to the changing combinations of lines. Later, however, many supplementary interpretations were added to the Book of Changes, some moral, some metaphysical, and some cosmological. These were not composed until the latter part of the Chou dynasty, or even the earlier portion of the following Han dynasty, and are contained in a series of appendices known as the "Ten Wings." In this chapter we shall discuss only the cosmological interpretations, leaving the remainder for chapter fifteen.

Besides the concept of Yin and Yang, another important idea in the "Appendices" is that of number. Since divination was usually regarded by the ancients as a method for revealing the mystery of the universe, and since divination through the use of stalks of the milfoil plant was based on the combination of varying numbers, it is not surprising that the anonymous writers of the "Appendices" tended to believe that the mystery of the universe is to found in numbers. According to them, therefore, the numbers of the Yang are always odd, and those of the Yin are always even. Thus iin Appendix III " we read :"The number for Heaven [i.e. Yang] is one; that for Earth is [i.e. Yin] is two; that for Heaven is three; that for Earth is four; that for Heaven is five; that for Earth is six; that for Heaven is seven; that for Earth is eight; that for Heaven is nine; that for Earth is ten. The numbers for Heaven and the numbers for Earth correspond with and complement one another. The numbers of Heaven [put together] are twenty-five; the numbers of Earth [put together] are thirty; the numbers of both Heaven and Earth [put together] are fifty-five. It is by these numbers that the evolutions and mystery of the universe are performed."

Later the Yin-Yang school tried to connect the Five Elements with the Yin and Yang by means of numbers. Thus it maintained that one, the number for Heaven, produces Water, and six, the number for Earth , completes it. Two, the number for Earth, produces Fire, and seven, the number for Heaven, completes it. Three, the number for Heaven, produces Wood, and eight, the number for Earth, completes it. Four, the number for Earth, produces Metal, and nine, the number for Heaven, completes it. Five, the number for Heaven, produces Soil, and ten, the number for Earth, completes it. Thus one, two, three, four and five are the numbers that complete them. ① This is the theory, therefore, that was used to explain the statement just quoted above:"The numbers for Heaven and the numbers for Earth correspond with and complement one another." It is remarkably similar to the theory of the Pythagoreans in ancient Greece, as reported by Diogenes Laertius, according to which the four elements of Greek philosophy, namely Fire, Water, Earth and Air, are derived, though indirectly, from numbers. ②

This, however, is in China a comparatively late theory, and in "Appendices" themselves there is no mention of the Five elements. In these "Appendices" each of the eight trigrams is regarded as symbolizing certain things in the universe. Thus we read in "Appendices V": "(The trigram) Ch'ien is Heaven, round, and is the father. ... (The trigram) K'un is earth and is mother. ...(The trigram) Chen is thunder.... (The trigram) Sun is wood and wind....(The trigram) K'an is water... and is the moon... (The trigram) Li is fire and the sun...(The trigram) Ken is mountain.... (The trigram) Tui is marsh."

In the trigrams, the undivided lines symbolize the Yang principle, and the divided lines the Yin principle. The trigrams Ch'ien and K'un, being made up entirely of undivided and divided lines respectively, are the symbols par excellence of the Yang and Yin, while the remaining six trigrams are supposedly produced through the intercourse of these primary two. Thus Ch'ien and K'un are father and mother, while the other trigrams are usually spoken of in the "Appendices" as their "sons and daughters."

Thus the first line (from the bottom) of Ch'ien , combined with second and third lines of K'un , results in Chen , which is called the eldest son. The first line of K'un, similarly combined with Ch'ien, results in Sun , which is called the eldest daughter. The second line of Ch'ien, combined with the first and third lines of K'un, results in K'an , which is called the second son. The second line of K'un, similarly combined with Ch' ien, results in Li , which is called the second daughter. The third line of Ch'ien, combined with the first and second lines of K'un, results in Ken , which is called the youngest son. And the third line of K'un, similarly combined with Ch'ien, results in Tui , which is called the youngest daughter.

The process of combination or intercourse between Ch'ien and K'un, which results in the production of the remaining six trigrams, is a graphic symbolization of the process of intercourse between the Yin and Yang, whereby all things in the world are produced. That the world of things is produced through such intercourse of the Yin and Yang, is similar to the fact that living beings are produced through the intercourse of the male and female. It will be remembered that the Yang is the male principle, and the Yin, the female principle.

In "Appendices III " of the Book of Changes we read:"There is inter-mingling of the genial influences of heaven and earth, and the transformation of all things proceeds abundantly. There is a communication of seed between male and female, and all things are produced." Heaven and earth are the physical representations of the Yin and Yang, while Ch'ien and K'un are their symbolic representations. The Yang is the principle that "give beginning" to things; the Yin is that which "completes" them. Thus the process of the production of things by the Yang and Yin is completely analogous to that of the production of living beings by the male and female.

In the religion of the primitive Chinese, it was possible to conceive of a father god and mother goddess who actually gave birth to the world of things. In the Yin-Yang philosophy, however, such anthropomorphic concepts were replaced by, or interpreted in terms of, the Yin and Yang principles, which, though analogous to the female and male of living beings, were nevertheless conceived of as completely impersonal natural forces.

 

( T his paper was originally published in A SHORT HISTORY OF CHINESE PHILOSOPHY, By FUNGYU-LAN)

① See Lives and Opinions of Element Philosophers, Book VIII ,ch, I9.

② See Lives and Opinions of Element Philosophers, Book VIII ,ch, I9.