The Five Elements or Wu Xing — Meaning, Formation, Content, History, and Application
What Is the Five Elements Theory?
How Are the Five Elements Formed?
Generating and Restraining Cycles.
Origin and Development in History.
The Five Elements in Chinese Astrology and Calendar.
Application of Five Elements Theory in Chinese Medicine and Food Therapy.
Utilization of The Five Elements in Names.
Five Elements in Feng Shui Culture.
The Five Elements in Chinese Culture, Picture from RayRenault.
What Is the Five Elements Theory?
Five Elements, also named Wu Xing or Five Phases, is the essence of ancient Chinese Philosophy and Cosmology.
It defines the nature and attributes of everything in the universe and its movements and concludes the fundamental theories regarding how ancient Chinese perceived the world.
Throughout history, it has been widely used in many traditional cultural fields, such as astrology, traditional Chinese medicine, name, diet, Feng Shui, etc.
How Are the Five Elements Formed?
Taiji
In ancient Chinese Cosmology, the whole universe was believed to be undifferentiated and the oneness.
This is Taiji, the beginning of the cosmos.
Yin and Yang
Gradually, the movement of Taiji evolves the Yin and Yang.
-
Yin is about contracting energy, which is downward, passive, dark, accumulated, introverted, feminine, and quiet.
-
Yang is about releasing energy, representing upward active, bright, expand, exocentric, masculine, and lively.
Everything in the world has both Yin and Yang side; they are in constant motion and mutual transformation.
Four Images
The motion of Yin and Yang, then, generates the Four Images.
The Four Images, Lesser Yang - Greater Yang - Lesser Yin - Great Yin, can be:
-
Spring - Summer - Autumn - Winter, and
-
Birth - Grow - Old - Die, and
-
Wood - Fire - Metal - Water and
-
East - South - West - North.
Five Elements
All lives birth out of and return to the earth; four seasons change under the Moon and the Sun.
So, the Moon and the Sun constitute a Taiji, which contains both Yin and Yang; it corresponds to the earth on the ground.
Then the Five Elements or Wuxing are formed.
Wood
Fire
Earth
Metal
Water
Meaning and Symbolization.
The Five Elements Theory is a philosophical term in ancient Chinese culture that defines the nature and attributes of everything in the universe and its movements.
The Wood, Fire, Metal, Water, and Earth are five specific representatives, or symbols, of the Five Phases.
-
Wood: growth, development, extension;
-
Fire: hotness, upward, bright;
-
Metal: convergence, concretion, solid;
-
Water: cold, downward, circulate, nourish;
-
Earth: mild, placid, neutralization.
Generating and Restraining Cycles.
The only permanent thing is changing.
Therefore, all the elements in the universe are in constant motion, which constituents interactions between the elements.
They can create or overcome one another.
Inter Generating of the Five Elements:
Wood → Fire: branches can create fire
Fire → Earth: burnt ashes become earth
Earth → Metal: metal ores are formed inside the earth
Metal → Water: melted metal will be liquid
Water → Wood: water nourishes wooden plant
Inter Restraining of the Five Elements:
Metal ⌦ Wood: metal tools can cut off plants
Wood ⌦ Earth: roots of trees grow inside of the earth and prevent soil erosion
Earth ⌦ Water: dykes and dams can stop the flood
Water ⌦ Fire: water can put out a fire
Fire ⌦ Metal: fire melts metal into liquid
Origin of the Yin Yang and Five Elements Theory in History.
It’s entirely possible that Ancient Chinese Cosmology was more of collective intelligence; however, some famous kings are related to the invention of this theory.
Fu Xi, an honorable king from around 5000 years ago, used to observe the universe, trying to figure out a general rule.
Soon, he got two pictograms (named He Tu Luo Shu) from mythical creatures, from which he concluded Yin-Yang, Five Elements, and Eight Diagrams (or Bagua).
The theory was mentioned in the Book of Documents and the Book of Changes.
These two ancient books were written and preserved in some old royal places and then compiled by Confucius (551 BC — 479 BC).
Later, the Wuxing theory was formed by the great philosopher Zou Yan (about 324 BC — 250 BC) and further developed and matured in the Han Dynasty (202 BC — 220 AD).
The Five Elements in Chinese Astrology and Calendar.
In ancient Chinese Astrology, the moon is Yin, while the sun is Yang.
The Wuxing corresponds to five great stars: Jupiter (wood), Mars (fire), Saturn (earth), Venus (metal), and Mercury (water).
According to the Inter Generating Order (Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water), each of these five stars shows up for 72 days in the Arctic sky in turn, which corresponds to the changing of the seasons on the earth.
Meanwhile, based on the movement of the five stars (moving toward the earth is Yang while moving away is Yin), ancient Chinese created the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches System to record and count in the Traditional Chinese Calendar.
