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Yin Yang

What is the Yin Yang?

The yin yang symbol represents perfect balance and harmony in the universe. According to Taoist principles, the forces of all that exists in the universe remain in constant motion which is cyclical. Simply put, yin chi represents the dark energy and yang chi the energy of light. Together these pairs of opposites are dependent on each other. One force dominates, but then it is gradually replaced by the opposing force – changing from yin to yang and back again from yang to yin. Night becomes day, and day becomes night. Birth becomes death, and death becomes birth (think: composting). Friends become enemies, and enemies become friends. Such is the nature – Taoism teaches – of everything in the relative world.

How does this symbol represent Yin and Yang?

The symbol of the yin yang, also known as the Tai Chi symbol, consists of a circle equally divided into black and white sections by a reverse S-like shape. Within each section lies a small circle of the opposite color.

The outer circle represents all that exists in the universe, and indeed, the universe itself. This circle encompasses the duality of existence. The black area represents yin, and the white yang. The two halves divided by soft flowing curves yield to one another and push into each other, illustrating the dependence of each on the other. As yin swells in size and height, the yang begins to emerge. As yang continues to swell in size and height, yin emerges, once again revealing that each sustains the other in their never-ending cycle.

The small black and white circles nested inside the areas of their opposite colors show that nothing is absolute; these circles serve as a constant reminder of the interdependent nature of the black/white “opposites.” In each of the opposing forces there exists a small part of the other. In all yin there is yang and in all yang there is yin. This truth reminds the Taoist practitioner that all of relative existence is in constant flux and change. We need only to look at these examples to realize how true this is in the universe: in every female there is a little male and in every good there is a little evil. Nothing in the universe – or in life – is simple black or white. Each exists in the other and each needs the other to exist.

We see this same idea illustrated in this passage from Shih-tou’s poem “The Identity of Relative and Absolute

Within light there is darkness,
but do not try to understand that darkness.
Within darkness there is light,
but do not look for that light.
Light and darkness are a pair,
like the foot before and the foot behind in walking.
Each thing has its own intrinsic value
and is related to everything else in function and position.
Ordinary life fits the absolute as a box and its lid.
The absolute works together with the relative,
like two arrows meeting in mid-air.

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