THREE SAGES STUDYING SYMBOL OF YIN AND YANG
(The Yin is the black and the Yang the white “comma” forming circle)
From a Chinese painting in the British Museum
According to Kwang-tze, the Taoist, it was believed in China that “the breath (or influence) of the east is wind, and wind creates wood”; that “the breath of the south is Yang, which creates fire”; that “the centre is earth”; that “the breath of the west is Yin, which gives birth to metal”; and that the breath of the north “is cold, by which water is produced”. Another native pre-Christian writer says that “the east appertains to wood, the south to fire, the west to metal, and the north to water”.[44] Thus taking in the seasons we have the following combinations, showing the organs of the body influenced by the gods of the “airts”:
- East—the Blue Dragon, Spring, Wood; Planet, Jupiter; liver and gall.
- South—the Red Bird, Summer, Fire, the Sun; Planet, Mars; heart and large intestines.
- West—the White Tiger, Autumn, Wind, Metal; Planet, Venus; lungs and small intestine.
- North—the Black Tortoise, Winter, Cold, Water; Planet, Mercury; kidneys and bladder.
The good influence (or breath) was summed up in the term Yang, and bad influence in the term Yin. Yang refers to what is bright, warm, active, and life-giving; and Yin to what is inactive, cold, and of the earth earthy. “When”, says a Chinese writer, “we speak of the Yin [[231]]and the Yang, we mean the air (or ether) collected in the Great Void. When we speak of the Hard and Soft, we mean that ether collected and formed into substance.”[45] Says De Groot in this connection: “In China vital power is specially assimilated with the Yang, the chief part of the Cosmos, identified with light, warmth, and life”. Yin is “the principle of darkness, cold, and death, standing in the universe diametrically opposite to Yang”.[46] The chief source of Yang is the sun, which gives forth “shen” or “soul substance”; the chief source of Yin is the moon. Yang strengthens the vital energy, and is the active principle in various elixirs of life, including, as De Groot notes, “the cock, jade, gold, pearls, and the products of pine and cypress trees”.[47]
Yin and Yang are controlled by the constellation, the Great Bear, called in China “the Bushel”. In the Shi Ki there is a reference to “the seven stars of the Bushel”, styled “the Revolving Pearls or the Balance of Jasper”, and arrayed “to form the body of seven rulers”. This constellation is “the chariot of the Emperor (of Heaven). Revolving around the pole, it descends to rule the four quarters of the sphere and to separate the Yin and the Yang; by so doing it fixes the four seasons, upholds the equilibrium between the five elements, moves forward the subdivisions of the sphere, and establishes all order in the Universe.”[48]
An ancient Chinese writer says in this connection that when the handle (tail) of the Bushel (Great Bear) points to the east (at nightfall), it is spring to all the world. When the handle points to the south it is summer, when it points to the west it is autumn, and when it points to the north it is winter. In the Shu King [[232]](Part II, Book I) the Great Bear is referred to as “the pearl-adorned turning sphere with its transverse tube of jade”.[49] The Polar Star is the “Pivot of the Sky”, which revolves in its place, “carrying round with it all the other heavenly bodies”. In like manner the Taoists taught that “the body of man is carried round his spirit and by it”. The spirit is thus the “Pivot of Jade”. That is why the Pivot of Jade is used in the ritual services of Taoism.[50]
In Norse-Icelandic mythology the World Mill controls the seasons and the movements of the heavenly bodies. The heavens revolve round the Polar Star, Veraldar Nagli (“the world spike”). Nine giant maids turn the world mill.[51]