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The Legendary Yin Yang Symbol – A Blueprint for Everything
The Yin Yang, also written ‘Yinyang’ or Yin-Yang, is an ancient symbol based on Chinese philosophy, but how exactly did it come about? What is the true meaning behind it? Does it mean Good vs. Bad? We’ll get to the bottom of this, but first I need to stress that the information will be highly condensed. The Yinyang history and applications are ginormous, so I will be sharing the key points, in the most simplistic way possible.
The Yin Yang Symbol Evolved Through a Series of Diagrams
Intellectuals of ancient China practiced an art called Xiang or Tu, the art of diagram or image-making. The art consisted of numerical representations, text and shapes, with the goal of communicating the patterns of the universe according to the vision of the Yijing.
The Yijing (or I Ching) is a divination text based on changes and transformation. It’s the oldest living classic of China and the precursor of most Chinese philosophy and culture. The Yijing is basically a manual that provides advice to any specific question one may have. The text centres around 64 hexagrams, made of yin and yang lines, designed to cover all the structures of being and possible changes.
The hexagram is dynamic. They each mean something, and so does each of its lines. When one line changes from yin to yang or yang to yin, the entire hexagram changes, as well as the interpretation.
Diagram Yijing (I Ching) hexagrams
The Yijing reflects the ancient Chinese thought that everything becomes and transforms… from yin to yang and yang to yin.
What is Yin and what is Yang?
YinYang (Yin Yang) started off as two separate terms to describe geographic places in relation to the sun. The sunny and warm side of the mountain was called Yang. And the cold and shady side was called Yin. This led to the classification of everything that exists as a yin or a yang element. But there is a system…
Yin is dark, cold, empty, passive, submissive, hidden, still, soft, the water, the moon, the earth, and the feminine.
Yang is the opposite of yin; Yang is bright, warm, full, active, dominating, visible, moving, hard, fire, the sun, the heavens and masculine. The list goes on…
Basically, everything in the world is either yin or yang, and because yin essentially represents the female and yang the male, things are either of female attribute or of male attribute. The Yinyang philosophy fundamentally takes after male and female biological differences and interactions.
As female and male are opposites, they are also complimentary. The same goes for the yin and yang. The ancient Chinese thinkers saw that there is a paradoxical interdependence on everything that appeared to be opposites. Brightness can only exist with darkness. They interact with each other and make the world function. Day and Night mark the rotation of the earth on its axis. Male and female procreate.
From the naming of the mountainside, Yinyang became a way of thinking. The Yinyang thought was a way of seeing the universe. So how did the ancient Chinese see the cosmos?
Pangu or the Origins of the Universe
A popular Chinese creation myth tells how before everything, there was formless chaos, no light not darkness, and it took the form of a cosmic egg. For thousands of years, Pangu the hero was sleeping it.
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By Sandra Ngo-Trong
5
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The Yin Yang, also written ‘Yinyang’ or Yin-Yang, is an ancient symbol based on Chinese philosophy, but how exactly did it come about? What is the true meaning behind it? Does it mean Good vs. Bad? We’ll get to the bottom of this, but first I need to stress that the information will be highly condensed. The Yinyang history and applications are ginormous, so I will be sharing the key points, in the most simplistic way possible.
The Yin Yang Symbol Evolved Through a Series of Diagrams
Intellectuals of ancient China practiced an art called Xiang or Tu, the art of diagram or image-making. The art consisted of numerical representations, text and shapes, with the goal of communicating the patterns of the universe according to the vision of the Yijing.
The Yijing (or I Ching) is a divination text based on changes and transformation. It’s the oldest living classic of China and the precursor of most Chinese philosophy and culture. The Yijing is basically a manual that provides advice to any specific question one may have. The text centres around 64 hexagrams, made of yin and yang lines, designed to cover all the structures of being and possible changes.
The hexagram is dynamic. They each mean something, and so does each of its lines. When one line changes from yin to yang or yang to yin, the entire hexagram changes, as well as the interpretation.
Diagram Yijing (I Ching) hexagrams
The Yijing reflects the ancient Chinese thought that everything becomes and transforms… from yin to yang and yang to yin.
What is Yin and what is Yang?
YinYang (Yin Yang) started off as two separate terms to describe geographic places in relation to the sun. The sunny and warm side of the mountain was called Yang. And the cold and shady side was called Yin. This led to the classification of everything that exists as a yin or a yang element. But there is a system…
Yin is dark, cold, empty, passive, submissive, hidden, still, soft, the water, the moon, the earth, and the feminine.
Yang is the opposite of yin; Yang is bright, warm, full, active, dominating, visible, moving, hard, fire, the sun, the heavens and masculine. The list goes on…
Basically, everything in the world is either yin or yang, and because yin essentially represents the female and yang the male, things are either of female attribute or of male attribute. The Yinyang philosophy fundamentally takes after male and female biological differences and interactions.
As female and male are opposites, they are also complimentary. The same goes for the yin and yang. The ancient Chinese thinkers saw that there is a paradoxical interdependence on everything that appeared to be opposites. Brightness can only exist with darkness. They interact with each other and make the world function. Day and Night mark the rotation of the earth on its axis. Male and female procreate.
From the naming of the mountainside, Yinyang became a way of thinking. The Yinyang thought was a way of seeing the universe. So how did the ancient Chinese see the cosmos?
Pangu or the Origins of the Universe
A popular Chinese creation myth tells how before everything, there was formless chaos, no light not darkness, and it took the form of a cosmic egg. For thousands of years, Pangu the hero was sleeping it.