Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Italic title Template:Infobox Chinese Template:Infobox Vietnamese
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Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang-zh),Template:Efn translated as Five Moving Ones, Five Circulations, Five Types of Energy, Five Elements, Five Transformations, Five Phases or Five Agents,<ref>Theobald, Ulrich (2011) "Yin-Yang and Five Agents Theory, Correlative Thinking" in ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art</ref> is a fivefold conceptual scheme used in many traditional Chinese fields of study to explain a wide array of phenomena, including terrestrial and celestial relationships, influences, and cycles, that characterise the interactions and relationships within science, medicine, politics, religion and social relationships and education within Chinese culture.
The Five Moving Ones are traditionally associated with the classical planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn as depicted in the etymological section below. In ancient Chinese astronomy and astrology, that spread throughout East Asia, was a reflection of the seven-day planetary order of Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth.<ref>The Chinese encyclopaedia Cihai (辭海), under the entry for "seven luminaries calendar" (七曜曆, qī yào lì), describes the "method of recording days according to the seven luminaries [七曜 qī yào]." China normally observes the following order: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. Seven days make one week, which is repeated in a cycle. This method -- originating in ancient Babylon (or ancient Egypt according to one theory), used by the Romans at the time of the 1st century CE, and later transmitted to other countries -- existed in China in the 4th century AD. It was also transmitted to China by Manichaeans in the 8th century AD from the country of Kang (康) in Central Asia (translation after Bathrobe's Days of the Week in Chinese, Japanese & Vietnamese, plus Mongolian and Buryat (cjvlang.com)).</ref>Template:Efn When in their "heavenly stems" generative cycle as represented in the below cycles section and depicted in the diagram above running consecutively clockwise (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When in their overacting destructive arrangement of Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, Metal, natural disasters, calamity, illnesses and disease will ensue.
The wuxing system has been in use since the second or first century BCE during the Han dynasty. It appears in many seemingly disparate fields of early Chinese thought, including music, feng shui, alchemy, astrology, martial arts, military strategy, I Ching divination, religion and traditional medicine, serving as a metaphysics based on cosmic analogy.
Etymology
Wuxing originally referred to the five classical planets (from brightest to dimmest: Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn), which were with the combination of the Sun and the Moon, conceived as creating the five forces of earthly life (including yang and yin). This is why the word is composed of Chinese characters meaning "five" (Template:Lang-zh) and "moving" (Template:Lang-zh). "Moving" is shorthand for "planets", since the word for planets in Chinese has been translated as "moving stars" (Template:Lang-zh).<ref name="Zai 2015">Dr Zai, J. Taoism and Science: Cosmology, Evolution, Morality, Health and more. Ultravisum, 2015.</ref> Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts (before 168 BC) also connect the wuxing to the wude (Template:Lang-zh), the Five Virtues and Five Emotions .<ref name="Contemporary China p. 72">Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 72.</ref><ref name="Dechar 2006 20–360">Template:Cite book</ref> Scholars believe that various predecessors to the concept of wuxing were merged into one system of many interpretations in the Han dynasty.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Wuxing was first translated into English as "the Five Elements", drawing parallels with the Greek and Indian Vedic static, solid or formative arrangement of the four elements.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Contemporary China p. 73">Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China, p. 73.</ref><ref name="Dechar 2006 20–360"/> This translation is still in common use among practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine, such as in the name of Five Element acupuncture and Japanese meridian therapy.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, this analogy could be misleading as the four elements are concerned with form, substance and quantity, whereas the post-heaven arrangement of the wuxing are "primarily concerned with process, change, and quality".<ref name="Chinese History p. 179">Nathan Sivin (1995), "Science and Medicine in Chinese History", in his Science in Ancient China (Aldershot, England: Variorum), text VI, p. 179.</ref> For example, the wuxing element "Wood" is more accurately thought of as the "vital essence" and growth of trees rather than the physical innate substance wood.<ref name="Lecture Room, CCTV-10">Template:Cite AV media</ref> This led sinologist Nathan Sivin to propose the alternative translation "five phases" in 1987.<ref name="Sivin 1987.73">Nathan Sivin (1987), Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan) p. 73.</ref> But "phase" also fails to capture the full meaning of wuxing. In some contexts, the wuxing are indeed associated with physical substances.<ref name="Nappi">Template:Cite book</ref> Historian of Chinese medicine Manfred Porkert proposed the (somewhat unwieldy) term "Evolutive Phase".<ref name="Nappi" /> Perhaps the most widely accepted translation among modern scholars is the "five agents" or "five transformations".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Cycles
In traditional doctrine, the five phases are connected in two cycles of interactions: a promoting or generative (Template:Linktext shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son"; and an overacting or destructive (Template:Linktext kè) cycle, also known as "grandfather-grandson" (see diagram). Each of these cycles can be interpreted and analyzed in a forward or reversed direction. In addition to the aforementioned cycles there is also what is considered an "overacting" or excessively generating version of the destructive cycle.Template:Citation needed
Inter-promoting
The generative cycle (Template:Linktext xiāngshēng) is:
- Wood feeds Fire as fuel
- Fire produces Earth (ash, lava)
- Earth bears Metal (geological processes produce minerals)
- Metal collects, filters and purifies Water (water vapor condenses on metal, for example)
- Water nourishes Wood (water leads to growth of flowers, plants and other changes in nature)
Inter-regulating
The destructive cycle (Template:Linktext xiāngkè) is:
- Wood grasps (or stabilizes) Earth (roots of trees can prevent soil erosion)
- Earth contains (or directs) Water (dams or river banks)
- Water dampens (or regulates) Fire
- Fire melts (or refines or shapes) Metal
- Metal chops (or carves) Wood
Overacting
The excessive destructive cycle (Template:Linktext xiāngchéng) is:
- Wood depletes Earth (depletion of nutrients in soil, over-farming, overcultivation)
- Earth obstructs Water (over-damming)
- Water extinguishes Fire
- Fire melts Metal (affecting its integrity)
- Metal makes Wood rigid to easily snap.
Weakening
The reverse generative cycle (Template:Linktext/Template:Linktext xiāngxiè) is:
- Wood depletes Water
- Water rusts Metal
- Metal impoverishes Earth (erosion, destructive mining of minerals)
- Earth smothers Fire
- Fire burns Wood (forest fires)
Counteracting
A reverse or deficient destructive cycle (Template:Linktext xiāngwǔ or Template:Linktext xiānghào) is:
- Wood dulls Metal
- Metal de-energizes Fire (conducting heat away)
- Fire evaporates Water
- Water muddies (or destabilizes) Earth
- Earth rots Wood (buried wood rots)
Celestial stem
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}
| Movement | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavenly Stems | lang}} Yi {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} |
lang}} Ding {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} |
lang}} Ji {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} |
lang}} Xin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} |
lang}} Gui {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} |
| Year ends with | 4, 5 | 6, 7 | 8, 9 | 0, 1 | 2, 3 |
Ming nayin
In Ziwei divination, nayin ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) further classifies the Five Elements into 60 ming ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), or life orders, based on the ganzhi. Similar to the astrology zodiac, the ming is used by fortune-tellers to analyse individual personality and destiny.
| Order | Ganzhi | Ming | Order | Ganzhi | Ming | Element |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lang}} | Sea metal {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 31 | lang}} | Sand metal {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Metal |
| 2 | lang}} | 32 | lang}} | |||
| 3 | lang}} | Furnace fire {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 33 | lang}} | Forest fire {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Fire |
| 4 | lang}} | 34 | lang}} | |||
| 5 | lang}} | Forest wood {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 35 | lang}} | Meadow wood {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Wood |
| 6 | lang}} | 36 | lang}} | |||
| 7 | lang}} | Road earth {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 37 | lang}} | Adobe earth {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Earth |
| 8 | lang}} | 38 | lang}} | |||
| 9 | lang}} | Sword metal {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 39 | lang}} | Foil metal {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Metal |
| 10 | lang}} | 40 | lang}} | |||
| 11 | lang}} | Volcanic fire {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 41 | lang}} | Lamp fire {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Fire |
| 12 | lang}} | 42 | lang}} | |||
| 13 | lang}} | Creek water {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 43 | lang}} | Sky water {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Water |
| 14 | lang}} | 44 | lang}} | |||
| 15 | lang}} | Fortress earth {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 45 | lang}} | Stage station earth {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Earth |
| 16 | lang}} | 46 | lang}} | |||
| 17 | lang}} | Pewter metal {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 47 | lang}} | Jewellery metal {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Metal |
| 18 | lang}} | 48 | lang}} | |||
| 19 | lang}} | Willow wood {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 49 | lang}} | Mulberry wood {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Wood |
| 20 | lang}} | 50 | lang}} | |||
| 21 | lang}} | Stream water {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 51 | lang}} | Rapids water {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Water |
| 22 | lang}} | 52 | lang}} | |||
| 23 | lang}} | Roof tiles earth {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 53 | lang}} | Desert earth {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Earth |
| 24 | lang}} | 54 | lang}} | |||
| 25 | lang}} | Lightning fire {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 55 | lang}} | Sun fire {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Fire |
| 26 | lang}} | 56 | lang}} | |||
| 27 | lang}} | Conifer wood {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 57 | lang}} | Pomegranate wood {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Wood |
| 28 | lang}} | 58 | lang}} | |||
| 29 | lang}} | River water {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | 59 | lang}} | Ocean water {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} | Water |
| 30 | lang}} | 60 | lang}} |
Applications
The wuxing schema is applied to explain phenomena in various fields.
Phases of the year
The five phases are around 73 days each and are usually used to describe the transformations of nature rather than their formative states.
- Wood/Spring: a period of growth, the expansion of which generates vitality and movement; associated with wind.
- Fire/Summer: a period of fruition and ripening flowering; associated with heat.
- Earth can be seen as a period of stability and stillness transitioning between the other phases or seasons, or, when relating to transformative seasonal periods, it can be seen as late summer. This period is associated with centralisation, leveling and dampness.
- Metal/Autumn: a period of moving inward. It is associated with collection, harvesting, transmuting, contracting, loss and dryness.
- Water/Winter: a period of reclusiveness, stillness, consolidation and coolness.
Cosmology and feng shui
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The art of feng shui (Chinese geomancy) is based on wuxing, with the structure of the cosmos mirroring the five phases, as well as bagua (the eight trigrams). Each phase has a complex network of associations with different aspects of nature (see table): colors, seasons and shapes all interact according to the cycles.<ref name="Chinese Five Elements Chart">Chinese Five Elements Chart Template:Webarchive Information on the Chinese Five Elements from Northern Shaolin Academy in Microsoft Excel 2003 Format</ref>
An interaction or energy flow can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive, depending on the cycle to which it belongs. By understanding these energy flows, a feng shui practitioner attempts to rearrange energy to benefit the client.Template:Efn
| Movement | Metal | Wood | Water | Fire | Earth | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trigram hanzi | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} |
| Trigram pinyin | qián | duì | zhèn | xùn | kǎn | lí | gèn | kūn |
| Trigrams | ☰ | ☱ | ☳ | ☴ | ☵ | ☲ | ☶ | ☷ |
| I Ching | Heaven | Lake | Thunder | Wind | Water | Fire | Mountain | Field |
| Planet (Celestial Body) | Venus | Jupiter | Mercury | Mars | Saturn | |||
| Color | White | Green | Black | Red | Yellow | |||
| Day | Friday | Thursday | Wednesday | Tuesday | Saturday | |||
| Season | Autumn | Spring | Winter | Summer | Intermediate | |||
| Cardinal direction | West | East | North | South | Center | |||
Dynastic transitions
According to the Warring States period political philosopher Zou Yan (Template:Circa BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified virtue (Template:Lang-zh), which indicates the foreordained destiny (Template:Lang-zh) of a dynasty; hence the cyclic succession of the elements also indicates dynastic transitions. Zou Yan claims that the Mandate of Heaven sanctions the legitimacy of a dynasty by sending self-manifesting auspicious signs in the ritual color (white, green, black, red, and yellow) that matches the element of the new dynasty (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth). From the Qin dynasty onward, most Chinese dynasties invoked the theory of the Five Elements to legitimize their reign.<ref name="Wu 2006" />
Chinese medicine
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The interdependence of zangfu networks in the body was said to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the ancient Chinese doctors onto categories of syndromes and patterns called the five phases.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In order to explain the integrity and complexity of the human body, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners use the Five Elements theory to classify the human body's endogenous influences on organs, physiological activities, pathological reactions, and environmental or exogenous (external, environmental) influences. This diagnostic capacity is extensively used in traditional five phase acupuncture today, as opposed to the modern Confucian styled eight principles based Traditional Chinese medicine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Music
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Huainanzi and the Yueling chapter (Template:Lang-zh) of the Book of Rites make the following correlations:
| Movement | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Color | Qing (green and blue) | Red | Yellow | White | Black |
| Arctic Direction | east | south | center | west | north |
| Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} | lang}} |
| Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch pinyin | jué | zhǐ | gōng | shāng | yǔ |
| solfege | mi or E | sol or G | do or C | re or D | la or A |
- Qing is a Chinese color word used for both green and blue. Modern Mandarin has separate words for each, but like many other languages, older forms of Chinese did not distinguish between green and blue.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- In most modern music, various five note or seven note scales (e.g., the major scale) are defined by selecting five or seven frequencies from the set of twelve semi-tones in the Equal tempered tuning. The Chinese shi'er lü system of tuning is closest to the ancient Greek tuning of Pythagoras.<ref>Joseph C.Y. Chen (1996). Early Chinese Work in Natural Science: A Re-examination of the Physics of Motion, Acoustics, Astronomy and Scientific Thoughts, pp.96-97. Template:ISBN.</ref>
Martial arts
Wuxing being an influential philosophical concept, there are several Chinese martial arts and a few other east Asian styles that incorporate five phases concepts into their systems.
Tai chi trains and focuses on five basic qualities as part of its overarching strategy.<ref name="Wu 2006">Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Five Steps (Template:Zhi) are:
- Lǎo Jìnbù (老進步) – always step forward
- Juébù Tuìbù (絕不退步) – never step backward
- Yòupàn (右盼) – watch right
- Zuǒgù (左顧) – beware left
- Zhōngdìng (中定) – center pole, point, pivot neutral posture, maintain balance, maintain equilibrium.
These five steps are not mutable states in tai chi.
Xingyi Quan uses the five elements metaphorically to represent ideally five different energies, but energy work is subtle, so normally one starts out learning five basic techniques with complementary footwork to teach the basic concepts behind the energies. Ideally one can use any technique with any kind of energy, but there are different levels of skill one must go through.
In Xingyi Quan, realization of the five energies has three basic levels: Obvious power, subtle power, mysterious power.
| Movement | Fist | Chinese | Pinyin | Direction | Shape | Subtle Action | Energy | Feeling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metal | Splitting | lang}} | Pī | Downward | Fist or palm chopping forward, hand pulling down and back, spine rolling downward | dragging down | condensing power | Dropping (jerking down) |
| Water | Drilling | lang}} | Zuān | Upward | Fist drilling upward like water under pressure, hand down and back | spiraling | relaxing power | Shocking (jerking up and down simultaneously) |
| Wood | Crushing | lang}} | Bēng | Forward | Fist shooting straight forward | wedging | linear power | Penetrating (expanding through) |
| Fire | Pounding | lang}} | Pào | Backward | Fist being propelled forward by body flinging open | flinging | reciprocal power | Launching (uprooting and countering) |
| Earth | Crossing | lang}} | Héng | Horizontal | Fist crossing horizontally and turning over to plough through | turning | torque power | Colliding (turning into a strike, falling onto a strike) |
The Five Animals in Shaolin martial arts are an extension of the Wuxing theory as their qualities are the embodiment and representation of the energetic qualities of the five phases in the animal kingdom. They are the,
- Tiger - Fire (fierce and powerful)
- Monkey - Metal (hunched over)
- Snake - Water (flexible)
- Crane - Wind (evasive)
- Mantis - Earth (steady and rooted)
Wuxing Heqidao, (Gogyo Aikido 五行合气道) is a life art with roots in Confucian, Taoists and Buddhist theory. It centers around applied peace and health studies rather than defence or physical action. It emphasizes the unification of mind, body and environment using the physiological theory of yin and yang as well as five-element Traditional Chinese medicine. Its movements, exercises, and teachings cultivate, direct, and harmonise the qi.<ref name="Wu 2006" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In Japan
The Japanese term is gogyo (Japanese: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, romanized: gogyō). During the 5th and 6th centuries (Kofun period),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Japan adopted various philosophical disciplines such as Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism through monks and physicians from China helping to evolve the Onmyōdō system. As opposed to theory of Godai that is a form based philosophy that was introduced to Japan through India and Tibetan Buddhism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These theories have been extensively practiced in Japanese acupuncture and traditional Kampo medicine.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>
See also
- Acupuncture
- Classical element
- Color in Chinese culture
- Flying Star Feng Shui
- Humorism
- Qi
- Wufang Shangdi
- Wuxing painting
- Zangfu
- Yin and yang
Notes
References
Further reading
- 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.
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
External links
- Wuxing (Wu-hsing). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Template:ISSN.
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