Good Confucianism book (pdf) - Department of Physics

The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE–220 CE 135Figure 9.1 Yin - yang symbolThe Yin - Yang TheoryReferences to yin and yang can be found in the Warring States era. 9 “ Yin ”originally meant “ shade ” as in the shady side of a hill; “ yang ” originallymeant “ sunshine, ” as in the sunny side of a hill. These meanings wereextended to include ideas like cold and dark, hot and light. The yin - yangtheory began as an observation about the seasons and yin or yang wasassigned to them. So in the spring, yang begins to grow, while yin declines;yang grows until it reaches its height in the longest, hottest days of summer.Then yang begins to decline in the autumn, while yin grows and the daysbecome shorter, the weather cooler. Yin continues to increase until thecoldest, shortest, darkest days of winter. Yin reaches its height and thenbegins its decline as yang begins to grow, moving us again to spring. Yinand yang work in a continuing cycle.The yin - yang system can also be applied to the cycle of day and night:yang reaches its height at midday with the highest point of the sun andbegins its decline as yin increases. Yin reaches its high point with the darkesttime of the night, then begins its decline, and so on. Westerners are usuallyfamiliar with the yin - yang symbol (figure 9.1 ). 10As neither yin nor yang dominates the other, but ebbs and flows inconcert with it, the yin - yang system has been seen as “ complementary. ”This means that, unlike a dualist system of opposites, where good fightsevil, for example, yin and yang may be opposites, but they complementeach other rather than conflict with one another.