Yin and Yang

Examples of complementary pairs of some familiar qualities are given in the table below. The reader might also examine the synopsis of categories at the beginning of a Roget’s Thesaurus, which organizes complementary aspects of every imaginable quality. Then determine which aspect is yin and which is yang.

Quality	Yin	Yang
gender	female	male
pressure	soft	hard
temperature	cold	hot
visible light	reflected	radiated
force	weak	strong
sensation	insubstantial	substantial
taste	sweet	salty
capacity	empty	full
concept	intangible	tangible
action	yielding	standing firm
learning	passive absorbing observing	active expressing doing
direction	down (earth) left backward	up (heaven/chi) right forward

The yin and yang aspects of some familiar qualities.

Viewing things in terms of yin and yang might seem to be a gross oversimplification. In fact, it is not. The Westerner is highly accustomed to precision and may fail to realize that these categories are only the surface of a profound conceptual framework. The concept of T’ai Chi seems simple but, in actuality, takes much time to comprehend. There is a yin-yang range of each action we take in any situation. Each action must have the right proportion of yin and yang to be in harmony with nature. An understanding of yin and yang helps us to put these aspects in balance. This balance is represented by the T’ai-Chi symbol (below).

The T’ai-Chi Symbol, which portrays the balance of yin and yang and their cyclic evolution.

Since the black part of the T’ai-Chi symbol (when printed) is the presence of something tangible, namely ink, it might seem that it should be yang. Similarly, the white part is the absence of anything and would be yin. However, this perspective is incorrect. As abstract entities, white and black symbolize light and darkness, respectively. Light is substantial and darkness is insubstantial. Thus, the white part represents yang and the black part represents yin.

Note that the T’ai-Chi symbol portrays yin and yang as continuously evolving from one to another, as night into day. When yang becomes full, it starts to become yin, and vice versa. If an action is too strong, it will produce weakness. Conversely, yielding to a strong attack results in a stronger position. Moreover, since nothing is completely yin or completely yang, the fullest yin part contains a small circular region of yang, and vice versa.

Nothing in the world is softer and more supple than water, Yet when attacking the hard and the strong, nothing can surpass it. The supple overcomes the hard. The soft overcomes the strong. —Lao Tzu

Note that neither yin nor yang can be characterized as good or bad. We tend to think of standing firm as good and yielding as bad. This misconception results from a lack of harmony with nature and from taking a simple-minded approach. Nature is neutral, and its range cannot be simplified in terms of good and bad.

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