Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)
Chinese five elements
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Wuxing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng; Jyutping: Ng5 Hang4),[a] translated as Five Moving Ones, Five Circulations, Five Types of Energy, Five Elements, Five Transformations, Five Phases or Five Agents,[2] 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.
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| Chinese | 五行 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese alphabet | ngũ hành | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 五行 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hangul | 오행 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 五行 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Kanji | 五行 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | ごぎょう | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.[3][b] 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).[8] 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" (五; wǔ) and "moving" (行; xíng). "Moving" is shorthand for "planets", since the word for planets in Chinese has been translated as "moving stars" (行星; xíngxīng).[9] Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts (before 168 BCE) also connect the wuxing to the wude (五德; wǔdé), the Five Virtues and Five Emotions .[10][11] Scholars believe that various predecessors to the concept of wuxing were merged into one system of many interpretations in the Han dynasty.[12]
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.[13][14][11] 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.[15][16] 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".[17] 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.[18] This led sinologist Nathan Sivin to propose the alternative translation "five phases" in 1987.[19] But "phase" also fails to capture the full meaning of wuxing. In some contexts, the wuxing are indeed associated with physical substances.[20] Historian of Chinese medicine Manfred Porkert proposed the (somewhat unwieldy) term "Evolutive Phase".[20] Perhaps the most widely accepted translation among modern scholars is the "five agents" or "five transformations".[21][22]
Cycles
In traditional doctrine, the five phases are connected in two cycles of interactions: a promoting or generative (生 shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son"; and an overacting or destructive (克 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.[citation needed]
Inter-promoting
The generative cycle (相生 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 (相克 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 (相乘 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 (相洩/相泄 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 (相侮 xiāngwǔ or 相耗 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
| Movement | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavenly Stems | Jia 甲 Yi 乙 | Bing 丙 Ding 丁 | Wu 戊 Ji 己 | Geng 庚 Xin 辛 | Ren 壬 Gui 癸 |
| Year ends with | 4, 5 | 6, 7 | 8, 9 | 0, 1 | 2, 3 |
Ming nayin
In Ziwei divination, nayin (納音) further classifies the Five Elements into 30 ming (命), 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 | Wood Rat 甲子 | Sea metal 海中金 | 31 | Wood Horse 甲午 | Sand metal 沙中金 | Metal |
| 2 | Wood Ox 乙丑 | 32 | Wood Goat 乙未 | |||
| 3 | Fire Tiger 丙寅 | Furnace fire 爐中火 | 33 | Fire Monkey 丙申 | Forest fire 山下火 | Fire |
| 4 | Fire Rabbit 丁卯 | 34 | Fire Rooster 丁酉 | |||
| 5 | Earth Dragon 戊辰 | Forest wood 大林木 | 35 | Earth Dog 戊戌 | Meadow wood 平地木 | Wood |
| 6 | Earth Snake 己巳 | 36 | Earth Pig 己亥 | |||
| 7 | Metal Horse 庚午 | Road earth 路旁土 | 37 | Metal Rat 庚子 | Adobe earth 壁上土 | Earth |
| 8 | Metal Goat 辛未 | 38 | Metal Ox 辛丑 | |||
| 9 | Water Monkey 壬申 | Sword metal 劍鋒金 | 39 | Water Tiger 壬寅 | Foil metal 金箔金 | Metal |
| 10 | Water Rooster 癸酉 | 40 | Water Rabbit 癸卯 | |||
| 11 | Wood Dog 甲戌 | Volcanic fire 山頭火 | 41 | Wood Dragon 甲辰 | Lamp fire 覆燈火 | Fire |
| 12 | Wood Pig 乙亥 | 42 | Wood Snake 乙巳 | |||
| 13 | Fire Rat 丙子 | Creek water 澗下水 | 43 | Fire Horse 丙午 | Sky water 天河水 | Water |
| 14 | Fire Ox 丁丑 | 44 | Fire Goat 丁未 | |||
| 15 | Earth Tiger 戊寅 | Fortress earth 城頭土 | 45 | Earth Monkey 戊申 | Stage station earth 大驛土 | Earth |
| 16 | Earth Rabbit 己卯 | 46 | Earth Rooster 己酉 | |||
| 17 | Metal Dragon 庚辰 | Pewter metal 白镴金 | 47 | Metal Dog 庚戌 | Jewellery metal 釵釧金 | Metal |
| 18 | Metal Snake 辛巳 | 48 | Metal Pig 辛亥 | |||
| 19 | Water Horse 壬午 | Willow wood 楊柳木 | 49 | Water Rat 壬子 | Mulberry wood 桑柘木 | Wood |
| 20 | Water Goat 癸未 | 50 | Water Ox 癸丑 | |||
| 21 | Wood Monkey 甲申 | Stream water 泉中水 | 51 | Wood Tiger 甲寅 | Rapids water 大溪水 | Water |
| 22 | Wood Rooster 乙酉 | 52 | Wood Rabbit 乙卯 | |||
| 23 | Fire Dog 丙戌 | Roof tiles earth 屋上土 | 53 | Fire Dragon 丙辰 | Desert earth 沙中土 | Earth |
| 24 | Fire Pig 丁亥 | 54 | Fire Snake 丁巳 | |||
| 25 | Earth Rat 戊子 | Lightning fire 霹靂火 | 55 | Earth Horse 戊午 | Sun fire 天上火 | Fire |
| 26 | Earth Ox 己丑 | 56 | Earth Goat 己未 | |||
| 27 | Metal Tiger 庚寅 | Conifer wood 松柏木 | 57 | Metal Monkey 庚申 | Pomegranate wood 石榴木 | Wood |
| 28 | Metal Rabbit 辛卯 | 58 | Metal Rooster 辛酉 | |||
| 29 | Water Dragon 壬辰 | River water 長流水 | 59 | Water Dog 壬戌 | Ocean water 大海水 | Water |
| 30 | Water Snake 癸巳 | 60 | Water Pig 癸亥 |
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
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.[23]
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.[c]
| Movement | Metal | Wood | Water | Fire | Earth | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trigram hanzi | 乾 | 兌 | 震 | 巽 | 坎 | 離 | 艮 | 坤 |
| 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 (c. 305–240 BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified virtue (德; dé), which indicates the foreordained destiny (運; yùn) 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.[25]
Chinese medicine
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.[26][27]
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.[28][29][30]
Music
The Huainanzi and the Yueling chapter (月令; Yuèlìng) 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 | 角 | 徵 | 宮 | 商 | 羽 |
| 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.[32]
- 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.[33]
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.[25]
The Five Steps (五步; wǔ bù) 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 | 劈 | Pī | Downward | Fist or palm chopping forward, hand pulling down and back, spine rolling downward | dragging down | condensing power | Dropping (jerking down) |
| Water | Drilling | 鑽 / 钻 | Zuān | Upward | Fist drilling upward like water under pressure, hand down and back | spiraling | relaxing power | Shocking (jerking up and down simultaneously) |
| Wood | Crushing | 崩 | Bēng | Forward | Fist shooting straight forward | wedging | linear power | Penetrating (expanding through) |
| Fire | Pounding | 炮 | Pào | Backward | Fist being propelled forward by body flinging open | flinging | reciprocal power | Launching (uprooting and countering) |
| Earth | Crossing | 橫 / 横 | 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.[25][34]
In Japan
The Japanese term is gogyo (Japanese: 五行, romanized: gogyō). During the 5th and 6th centuries (Kofun period),[35] Japan adopted various philosophical disciplines such as Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, and Confucianism through monks and physicians from China helping to evolve the Onmyōdō system. In contrast, the theory of Godai is a form-based philosophy that was introduced to Japan through India and Tibetan Buddhism.[36] These theories have been extensively practiced in Japanese acupuncture and traditional Kampo medicine.[37][38]
See also
Notes
- This order of presentation is known as the "Day of the week" or "Twenty-Eight Mansions" sequence. In the order of "mutual generation" (相生; xiāngshēng), they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.[4] In the order of "mutual overacting" (相克; xiāngkè), they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.[5][6][7]
