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Chapter 9: Fusion as a Bridge
Unity of Ying and Yang
Basic to the Taoist tradition is the view that positive and negative
energies are a manifestation of the very nature of the universe as a
unity of opposite energies: Yin and Yang. It is by virtue of the dynamics
of the interplay of Yin and Yang that the universe exists and
continues to exist. They rule all phenomena in the universe as an
infinite web of mutually interconnected processes and their movement.
This insight is the theoretical as well as the practical basis
of the Fusion Practices.
In Taoist theory, Yin and Yang rule the relationships between stars,
planets, the sun and the moon and the earth, light and dark, above
and below, man and woman. It is in and through this interplay, that
the universe unfolds and functions. If one of them would disintegrate
or disappear, the universe would end.
In the Taoist vision on the nature of the universe, the body is a
microcosmos, which manifests and reflects in its inner structure
the dynamics of the universe. As such it is also ruled by the same
forces of Yin and Yang.
These in turn manifest themselves in the universe in the five
elements (water, fire, wood, metal and earth). These five elements
operate as energies in the body, in and through the five vital organs:
the kidney, heart, liver, lungs and spleen. It is the natural
capacity of the body to heal and regenerate itself. The body is sustained
and nurtured by cooperating and facilitating the workings of
the universe through the balancing of the five forces in the organs
of the body and the positive and negative properties of each of
them.
It is the relationship between the positive and negative energies
contained and reflected in the organs, which is the starting point of
the Fusion Practices.
In the Taoist tradition, the body has always been viewed as a
sacred vessel, which reflects the sacred nature of the universe as
a whole. Interfering with its laws of motion, the balance between
Yin and Yang is broken and with it harmony and mutual cooperation
between the organs and the elements which compose the
body.
As a result, the free uninhibited flow of energy streams, and with
it the immunity of the body, are affected. In Chinese medicine, of
Taoist origin, disease is seen as the outward manifestation of
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