Yin & Yang & Dao

Many people practice Chinese martial arts both internal and external. They talk about Yin and yang and Dao. The question is, how many truly understand the implications of these terms and how they apply to the philosophy of the health and martial practice known as Baguazhang or any other internal system?

“Everybody talks about Yin and yang,
But almost no one does anything about it!”
- John Painter

“Ok, you punch me real hard, right here,” the little man said, thumb pointing to his tiny nose. Knowing not to question a command, I launched a Xingyiquan standing fist with all my might at the grinning face of my 79-year-old teacher. I remember feeling a sensation like the brush of an eagle’s feather near my elbow, a sudden jarring impact on my chest, and then I found myself sailing backwards totally out of control. Landing unceremoniously in a heap against the old mattress strapped to the fence, I stayed down for the inevitable lecture that was to follow.

Mr. Li, the former head of the Li family of Chinese “wagon masters”, a formidable clan of bodyguards from Sichuan, China now living in exile in the United States, sauntered the ten feet across the back yard, looked down, and said, ” This was the energy of the yin and yang, what we call taijijin.”

“How is that in English, Shifu?” I asked slowly struggled to my feet and rubbing my sternum. “It is from my families quanfa , you would say in English, ‘fist fighting method.’ This was just part of our eight principles of action.”

“Shifu, I hardly felt you guide my strike away and at the same time I felt so much power from your palm.” Beckoning mysteriously with his index finger he pointed to the back wall of his house. He pulled himself up to his full height and assumed an air of supreme importance. His bony finger traced a line around a circle painted on a weathered piece of plywood that hung from the wall. It was white on one side and black on the other. The two halves were divided by a reverse ‘S’-shaped line.

“That is the yin yang, so what’s the big deal!?!” I blurted out. The little man folded his arm in front of his body placing his right palm against the inside of his forearm. He gently touched my shoulder and suddenly I was flying once again, only this time sideways through the air. “That was fajin form,” he said, hands on hips, staring down at me like a Chinese drill sergeant.

“And this is not yin yang. It is taiji, the foundation of all energy. When you understand this, and how wuji creates taiji, and taiji generates yin and yang, and the eight gua are each an expression of yin and yang, then you will know something. When you truly know taiji idea, then I have no more to teach you. Right now I fear you know less than that, so let us start.” I did not ask any more questions that day. I just listened as Li, Longdao began my Baguazhang taiji instruction. I was only sixteen then, and today at over sixty I am still working on the multiple layers of the simple yet oh-so-complex principles of the taiji.

Before his death, Master Jou, Tsung Hwa once told me during a visit to his farm in New York, “John you were very lucky to have a teacher that showed you the old way of Taijiquan and Baguazhang. I searched all over China for masters who knew the real martial ways; except for a very few teachers almost all is lost now. People talk of it but really no one knows the philosophy of taiji or the bagua and how they are the master keys that make these arts what they are.” He shook his head and looked down.” In America, even worse: All lost, all becoming sport with no inside! We must work to preserve the real founding idea and methods.”

I was moved by his faith in me, a guy from Texas, not even a Chinese, and I was reminded of the 1897 Charles D. Warner editorial when he penned the now famous saying, “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Warner could just as easily have been speaking about the principles of yin and yang as related to the practice of Baguazhang and other so-called Chinese internal martial arts. Few people really understand or care anymore. They are too busy trying to perfect the outer appearance of a form to win a trophy or capture the will-o-the-wisp of eternal health.

What is Yin and Yang?
Today with so many books, magazines, and teachers sprouting up on every corner like convenience stores, people have a confused view of what Chinese philosophy and the words dao, yin, and yang really are.

This is especially true in the world of Chinese martial arts as taught in North America and Europe. Some think yin and yang are Daoist esoteric principles to be discussed in hushed tones; to others they are the essence of the healing powers of Taijiquan.

Others feel that yin and yang are philosophical concepts that have nothing to do with gongfu (Kung Fu) or combat methods. One author went so far as to write, “In relation to the actual teaching of Kung Fu, the Yin-Yang principle seems nowhere evident; it appears as the symbol, but without meaning which can be connected to the teaching.” (Bruce Tegner’s Book of Kung Fu & Tai Chi: Chinese Karate and Classical Exercises; Thor Publishing 1968)

Sorry, Mr. Tegner, but Baguazhang and Taijiquan are martial arts both totally derived from understanding the interaction of these two qualities of energy.

Baguazhang especially is an art that could not exist were it not for these principles. One must come to know the taiji and the yin and yang of ones own body and how to apply it to guide and control the actions of an opponent. Indeed, Baguazhang employs the principle of yin and yang for every aspect of its practice.

Origins of Taiji Symbol

The design we know, a circle with two interconnecting circular shapes is not the yin and yang; it is called the taijidu (“diagram of the supreme ultimate”). Contrary to popular belief although they adopted the symbol as their own, it is not of Daoist origin. The symbol in question was created by a Neo-Confucian, Chou Tun-I in the 5th Century BC to show the interaction of Yin and yang as described in the Yijing (book of change) and the Dao De Jing (classic of way and power).

The First Taiji Symbol
Prior to the taijidu, symbols from the Yijing had been used to illustrate the yin & yang principal. The diagram comprised of three symbols from the Yijing.

The Yijing Gua Fire

__________

____    ____

__________

The Gua Water

____    ____

__________

____   _____

They were wrapped around an empty circle, the symbol of Wuji (the void).

Interestingly, when you mix fire and water you get steam, which in Chinese is the character for qi (“life force energy”).

Daoists Did Not Invent Yin & Yang

While the three main branches of Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism all use the yin and yang or taijidu symbol in their philosophical and medical practices, Taiji has become in the Western mind associated with Daoism.

This concept of polar opposites, yin and yang and the word dao originated in China’s pre-history long before even the Daoist, Confucian, or Buddhist sects arose. It was first discussed by the legendary First Emperor, Fuxi around 2730 BCE in his writing on the Yijing and was expanded upon over thousands of years by the three branches of Chinese thought.

When early Chinese man felt the winter air grow cold and the trees fell bare, he believed that life was over. There would be no more warmth. But with the advent of another summer, followed by another winter, man noticed a developing cycle. Realizing this helped early man in China to understand and bring order into the chaos of life. This recognition eventually led emperor Fuxi to begin recording what was to become the Yijing (Book of Changes). The yin/yang’s white and black hemispheres evolved over time. They became symbolic of everything physical, spiritual and emotional in the universe-male (yang), female (yin); sun (yang), moon (yin). For everything up there is a down. For every back there is a front

In time the common people of China and the Daoists adopted this version of the symbol of Master Chou Tun-I. It is the “double fish diagram” and is often mistakenly called the Yin and yang. This icon is actually called taijitu or grand ultimate terminus principle. The black and white curved circles fitting into each express the Dao of eternal wholeness. The unbroken line surrounding the two symbolizes wuji, while the reversed ‘S’-shaped curved line in the center simply divides the two. The two dots mean that nothing is ever absolutely one thing. Each thing contains just a little of the essence of the other. taijidu also represents continuous interaction or movement. There is no separate yin without yang or yang without yin. The two are part of one whole, the Taiji, and the Taiji is the creative principle of Dao.

A more modern way of illustrating this symbol would be to use an airbrush would to make the two slowly dissolve into each other. The black would blend into white so imperceptibly that there would be no way to say here is where yin starts and yang ends. For, in truth, there is no clear separation of night and day. Day fades to dusk and to night and to dawn back to day. It is the way of Taiji to move gently and smoothly.

Yijing Stages of Yin and Yang

In a correctly placed taijidu, the yang is on the left at the top and is associated with heaven, creative energy, and heat, and yin is moving down the right side to the bottom representing earth, receptive, and cooling energy. As one goes around the circle a cycle of energy exchange appears. At the top the yang is at its prime, then clockwise, the yin, or cold, begins to show. As one continues to move toward the bottom of the yin/yang circle all is yin, so cold dominates. Continue going clockwise, however, and the yang, or heat, will reappear. There are many different interpretations for what the lines symbolize.

In the Yijing, Winter (yin), a dormant period, has three broken lines. Summer (yang), the hottest time, has three solid lines. An agrarian calendar was created to chart the seasons. Over the centuries, Daoist and Confucians charted thousands of correspondences to these changes of yin to yang and back again.

If we study the diagram of the taijidu placed inside the circular arrangement of the Fuxi Yijing diagram it becomes apparent what the three line figures represent stages of change around the circle of the taijidu. Knowing this helps us to understand what happens after a particular event.

Dao of Yin and Yang and Baguazhang

No matter what philosophy one chooses, the concepts of dao, wuji, yin, and yang are part of the science of the Taiji. Taiji concepts are everywhere: not just in high-minded philosophy but also in physics, body mechanics and the movement of our bodies through space, to the on and off reaction of nerves, and the flexion (yang) and contraction (yin) of muscles. Even if you do not understand Chinese, this idea as a philosophy of action and reaction is central to understanding the foundation of the martial art called Jiulong Baguazhang.

For the Westerner understanding the principles of Daoist thought is not an easy task. In the first place, dao, like many other Chinese concepts, is mostly a construct of the intuitive or right-brain approach to life. Westerners tend to be predominately analytical or left-brained.

Even the way we write in the West is different from the eastern way. Ideograms, the type of writing used in China, are not at all like the Western alphabet. Chinese characters are most often symbols that represent ideas and poetic feelings expressed as a sort of artistic short hand that stimulates the right brain to feel a mood or energy about something. Perhaps this is why so many in the West try to make it mysterious and esoteric when in reality it is as common as the rain, moon, and sun.

What Then Is Dao?

First, if I could answer this I would not be here. There would be no reason to be on the Earth. No one has the total answer, no one! I will state what I believe at this time in my study. Later it may change; that is also the nature of Dao.

Daoists seek to follow the principles of Dao. Today, however, Daoism is divided into two main branches. One has turned the simple philosophy of Lao Zi into a complex religion, while the other Daoism is a simple approach to understanding nature.

So what is the Dao? Dao is not a thing. A simplistic way of putting it is to say, Dao means how, the how and why of things in the world both seen and unseen. In the classic of Daoist literature, the Dao De Jing, the author Lao Zi writes:

The Dao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao.
The name that can be named is not the true name.
The nameless (wuji) is the origin of both heaven (yang) and earth (yin);
That which we give name (taiji) is the mother of all existence,
Darkness within darkness, the gate to all mystery.
All who desire can see only the manifestation of it;
All who renounce desire can see the mysteries.
— Lao Zi, Dao De Jing #1

Here is a clue to the Dao of yin and yang. It is a profound mystery. Why? Because it is so simple that it appears complex. Lao Zi also tells us that Dao, no matter how we talk about it, remains an enigma. It is not yin and yang or taiji but the progenitor of them.

Dao can be examined but not touched; felt, but not seen. Its principles and laws of action expressed by yin and yang can be observed and utilized. We cannot use the Dao itself it is a universal absolute. Dao is the beginning and end of all things; it is both ancient and new.
Lao Zi says,

“Something mysteriously formed the primal creator.
I do not know its name for lack of a better word I call it Dao”

So trying to find a literal definition for the word “Dao” is virtually impossible. The Chinese calligraphic characters for Dao are derived from two radicals: the first meaning “foot” or “traveling”, and the second, “crowned head of a wise man or sage.” Simply, the “path of life,” or the “the path a wise person walks.” This is why I say, “Dao means how.”

When we know how we should move with things, we are working in the flow of Dao. To the original masters and martial artists looking at Dao or nature and finding the yin and yang energies in it was a way to glean valuable information.  By watching, listening, and learning how the flow of energy and cycles of life and death move through all natural things, one begins to see a pattern or way to the energy of things. Once you learn to see the ebb and flow of life’s ever-changing currents, the better you can deal with the highs and lows thrown your way on a daily basis.  Those who do not observe Dao or use its principles swim against the current and can expect a life of constant strife.

While Dao is the Alpha and the Omega, it is not the same as an anthropomorphic God. Dao is more like Einstein’s idea of a “unified field” of energy that is the ground upon which is played out everything that ever was, is, and will be. The mutuality of action and reaction, vibration and stillness arising from it is the engine that drives it all.

The Dao of Baguazhang can exist on many levels. In its simplest application it would be to learn to apply the principles of yin and yang to every aspect of combat or fist fighting: how the mind moves the muscles and which muscles need to move in harmony with other, and how action and reaction creates or dissipates power; how to harmonize with incoming energy and use it to advantage. There are thousands of ideas that are not so mysterious when you examine them carefully. Yes. It is really just that simple to say but very hard to do. So much has to be unlearned.

There is no time like the present to begin.

International Copyright IAM Co.1998
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