Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)
Classical elements |
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In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Five Elements (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng): wood, fire, earth, metal, and water (木, 火, 土, 金, 水; mù, huǒ, tǔ, jīn, shǔi). These elements were used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. Five phases is another way of translating wǔxíng — literally, "five goings". Traditional Taijiquan schools relate them to footwork and refer to them as five "steps".
The doctrine of five phases describes both a generating (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or restraining (克, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases. In the generating cycle, wood generates fire; fire generates earth; earth generates metal; metal generates water; water generates wood. In the overcoming cycle, wood overcomes earth; earth overcomes water; water overcomes fire; fire overcomes metal; metal overcomes wood.
The doctrine of five phases was employed in many fields of early Chinese philosophy, including seemingly disparate fields such as music, traditional Chinese medicine, and military strategy.
Correlations between the five elements and other categories
The Yuèlìng chapter (月令篇) of the Lǐjì (禮記) and the Huáinánzǐ (淮南子) make the following correlations:
Element | Direction | Color | Musical Note |
---|---|---|---|
Wood | east | green or blue | jué 角 (mi) |
Fire | south | red | zhǐ 徵 (sol) |
Earth | center | yellow | gōng 宮 (do) |
Metal | west | white | shāng 商 (re) |
Water | north | black | yǔ 羽 (la) |
(see also pentatonic scale)
(note: The Chinese word 青includes the range in the spectrum from green to blue, with shades down to black.)
Some other correspondences are shown below:
Element | Heavenly creature | Season | Direction | Planet | Tastes | Sense | Viscera | Finger |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wood | Qīng-lóng (青龍) the Green Dragon |
Spring | east | Jupiter | sour | sight | liver | ring finger |
Fire | Zhū-què (朱雀) the Red Phoenix |
Summer | south | Mars | bitter | sound | heart | middle finger |
Earth | Huáng-lóng (黃龍) the Yellow Dragon |
Change of seasons (four times a year) |
center | Saturn | sweet | smell | spleen | index finger |
Metal | Bái-hǔ (白虎)* the White Tiger |
Autumn | west | Venus | hot | taste | lung | thumb |
Water | Xuán-wǔ (玄武) the Black Tortoise-Serpent |
Winter | north | Mercury | salty | touch | kidney | little finger |
* Qí-lín (麒麟) was also associated later.
The elements have also been correlated to the eight trigrams of the I Ching:
Element | I Ching | Trigrams |
---|---|---|
Wood | Wind, thunder | :|| (☴ 巽 xùn) |:: (☳ 震 zhèn) |
Fire | Fire | |:| (☲ 離 lí) |
Earth | Earth, mountain | ::: (☷ 坤 kūn) ::| (☶ 艮 gèn) |
Metal | Sky, lake | ||| (☰ 乾 qián) ||: (☱ 兌 duì) |
Water | Water | :|: (☵ 坎 kǎn) |
See also
- Chinese music
- Five elements (Japanese)
- Four elements
- Xingyiquan
- Pushing hands
- Qi
- Qigong
- Taijitu
- Tao
- Zang Fu theory
References
- Feng Youlan (Yu-lan Fung), A History of Chinese Philosophy, volume 2, p. 13
- Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, volume 2, pp. 262-23
External links
- Chinese Zodiac Chart Find your Chinese Zodiac sign based on your date of birth.