Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)

wuxing diagram

Diagram of the interactions between the wuxing. The "generative" cycle is illustrated by grey arrows running clockwise on the outside of the circle, while the "destructive" or "conquering" cycle is represented by blue arrows inside the circle.

File:VM Mu-Huo-Tu-Jin-Shui zhi Shen 4594.jpg

Tablet in the Temple of Heaven of Beijing, written in Chinese and Manchu, dedicated to the gods of the Five Movements. The Manchu word usiha, meaning "star", explains that this tablet is dedicated to the five planets, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury, and the movements which they govern.

Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang-zh),Template:Efn usually translated as 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 agents are traditionally associated with the classical planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, 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

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic001 - 太極圖.png

Taijitu diagram featuring the wuxing in the center (from the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China by Chen Menglei)

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 yang and yin of the five forces of earthly life. 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">Template:Cite 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
• Fire produces Earth (ash, lava)
• Earth bears Metal (geological processes produce minerals)
• Metal collects Water (water vapor condenses on metal, for example)
• Water nourishes Wood (Water flowers, plants and other changes in forest)

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

Movement	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Heavenly Stems	Jia Template:Lang Yi Template:Lang	Bing Template:Lang Ding Template:Lang	Wu Template:Lang Ji Template:Lang	Geng Template:Lang Xin Template:Lang	Ren Template:Lang Gui Template:Lang
Year ends with	4, 5	6, 7	8, 9	0, 1	2, 3

Ming nayin

In Ziwei divination, nayin (Template:Lang) further classifies the Five Elements into 60 ming (Template: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	Jia Zi Template:Lang	Sea metal Template:Lang	31	Jia Wu Template:Lang	Sand metal Template:Lang	Metal
2	Yi Chou Template:Lang		32	Yi Wei Template:Lang
3	Bing Yin Template:Lang	Furnace fire Template:Lang	33	Bing Shen Template:Lang	Forest fire Template:Lang	Fire
4	Ding Mao Template:Lang		34	Ding You Template:Lang
5	Wu Chen Template:Lang	Forest wood Template:Lang	35	Wu Xu Template:Lang	Meadow wood Template:Lang	Wood
6	Ji Si Template:Lang		36	Ji Hai Template:Lang
7	Geng Wu Template:Lang	Road earth Template:Lang	37	Geng Zi Template:Lang	Adobe earth Template:Lang	Earth
8	Xin Wei Template:Lang		38	Xin Chou Template:Lang
9	Ren Shen Template:Lang	Sword metal Template:Lang	39	Ren Yin Template:Lang	Foil metal Template:Lang	Metal
10	Gui You Template:Lang		40	Gui Mao Template:Lang
11	Jia Xu Template:Lang	Volcanic fire Template:Lang	41	Jia Chen Template:Lang	Lamp fire Template:Lang	Fire
12	Yi Hai Template:Lang		42	Yi Si Template:Lang
13	Bing Zi Template:Lang	Creek water Template:Lang	43	Bing Wu Template:Lang	Sky water Template:Lang	Water
14	Ding Chou Template:Lang		44	Ding Wei Template:Lang
15	Wu Yin Template:Lang	Fortress earth Template:Lang	45	Wu Shen Template:Lang	Stage station earth Template:Lang	Earth
16	Ji Mao Template:Lang		46	Ji You Template:Lang
17	Geng Chen Template:Lang	Pewter metal Template:Lang	47	Geng Xu Template:Lang	Jewellery metal Template:Lang	Metal
18	Xin Si Template:Lang		48	Xin Hai Template:Lang
19	Ren Wu Template:Lang	Willow wood Template:Lang	49	Ren Zi Template:Lang	Mulberry wood Template:Lang	Wood
20	Gui Wei Template:Lang		50	Gui Chou Template:Lang
21	Jia Shen Template:Lang	Stream water Template:Lang	51	Jia Yin Template:Lang	Rapids water Template:Lang	Water
22	Yi You Template:Lang		52	Yi Mao Template:Lang
23	Bing Xu Template:Lang	Roof tiles earth Template:Lang	53	Bing Chen Template:Lang	Desert earth Template:Lang	Earth
24	Ding Hai Template:Lang		54	Ding Si Template:Lang
25	Wu Zi Template:Lang	Lightning fire Template:Lang	55	Wu Wu Template:Lang	Sun fire Template:Lang	Fire
26	Ji Chou Template:Lang		56	Ji Wei Template:Lang
27	Geng Yin Template:Lang	Conifer wood Template:Lang	57	Geng Shen Template:Lang	Pomegranate wood Template:Lang	Wood
28	Xin Mao Template:Lang		58	Xin You Template:Lang
29	Ren Chen Template:Lang	River water Template:Lang	59	Ren Xu Template:Lang	Ocean water Template:Lang	Water
30	Gui Si Template:Lang		60	Gui Hai Template: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, expanding which generates abundant vitality, movement and as a consequence is associated with wind.
• Fire/Summer: a period of fruition, ripening flowering, and 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 reclusivness, stillness, consolidation and coolness.

Cosmology and feng shui

Detailed illustration of the Wuxing cycle

Detailed illustration of the cycle

The art of feng shui (Chinese geomancy) is based on wuxing, with the structure of the cosmos mirroring the five phases, as well as 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	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template: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

Chinese Five Elements Diurnal Cycle

Chinese Five Elements Diurnal Cycle - 24 hour cycle of energy in the human body. waxing and waning of energy in each organ. during the time of the living breath, and the time of the dead breath. Template:Citation needed

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>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In order to explain the integrity and complexity of the human body, Chinese medical scientists and physicians 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. In combination the two systems are a formative and functional study of postnatal and prenatal influencing on genetics in the form of epigenetics, biology, physiology psychology, sociology and ecology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Movement	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Planet	Jupiter	Mars	Saturn	Venus	Mercury
Mental Quality	idealism, spontaneity, curiosity	passion, intensity	agreeableness, honesty	intuition, rationality, mind	erudition, resourcefulness, wit
Emotion	anger, motivation	frenzy, joy	anxiety, planning	grief, compassion	fear, caution
Virtue	Benevolence	Propriety	Fidelity	Righteousness	Wisdom
Zang (yin organs)	liver	heart/pericardium	spleen/pancreas	lung	kidney
Fu (yang organs)	gall bladder	small intestine/San Jiao	stomach	large intestine	urinary bladder
Sensory Organ	eyes	tongue	mouth	nose	ears
Body Part	tendons	vessels	muscles	skin	bones
Body Fluid	tears	sweat	saliva	mucus	urine
Finger	ring finger	middle finger	thumb	index finger	pinky finger
Sense	sight	taste	touch	smell	hearing
Taste<ref name="eberhard">Template:Cite journal</ref>	sour	bitter	sweet	pungent, umami	salty
Smell	rancid	scorched	fragrant	rotten	putrid
Life	early childhood	youth	adulthood	senior age	old age, conception
Covering	scaly	feathered	naked human	furred	shelled
Hour	3–9	9–15	change	15–21	21–3
Year	Spring Equinox	Summer Solstice	Summer Final	Fall Equinox	Winter Solstice
360°	45–135°	135–225°	Change	225–315°	315–45°

Music

Template:Main 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	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template:Lang	Template: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>Template:Cite 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	Template: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	Template: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	Template:Lang	Bēng	Forward	Fist shooting straight forward	wedging	linear power	Penetrating (expanding through)
Fire	Pounding	Template:Lang	Pào	Backward	Fist being propelled forward by body flinging open	flinging	reciprocal power	Launching (uprooting and countering)
Earth	Crossing	Template: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, yang and five-element Traditional Chinese medicine. Its movements, exercises, and teachings cultivate, direct, and harmonise the qi.<ref name="Wu 2006" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gogyo

The Japanese term is gogyo (Japanese: Template: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 form based philosophy that was introduced to Japan through India and Tibetan Buddhism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These theories have been extensively practiced in Japanese acupuncture and traditional Kampo medicine.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate: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

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.