Five Elements
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In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Five Elements (Template:Zh-cp): wood, fire, earth, metal, and water (木, 火, 土, 金, 水; mù, huǒ, tǔ, jīn, shǔi). These elements were used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. Five phases is another way of translating wǔxíng — literally, "five goings". Traditional Taijiquan schools relate them to footwork and refer to them as five "steps".
The doctrine of five phases describes both a generating (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming (克, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases. In the generating cycle, wood generates fire; fire generates earth; earth generates metal; metal generates water; water generates wood. In the overcoming cycle, wood overcomes earth; earth overcomes water; water overcomes fire; fire overcomes metal; metal overcomes wood.
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Interactions_of_Five_Chinese_Elements.png
Image:Interactions of Five Chinese Elements.png
The doctrine of five phases was employed in many fields of early Chinese philosophy, including seemingly disparate fields such as music, medicine, and military strategy.
Correlations between the five elements and other categories
The Yuèlìng chapter (月令篇) of the Lǐjì (禮記) and the Huáinánzǐ (淮南子) make the following correlations:
| Element | Direction | Color | Musical Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | east | blue/green | jué 角 (mi) |
| Fire | south | red | zhǐ 徵 (sol) |
| Earth | center | yellow | gōng 宮 (do) |
| Metal | west | white | shāng 商 (re) |
| Water | north | black | yǔ 羽 (la) |
Some other correspondences are shown below:
| Element | Heavenly creature | Season | Direction | Planet | Tastes | Sense | Viscera | Finger |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | Qīng-lóng (青龍) the Blue Dragon | Spring | east | Jupiter | sour | sight | liver | ring finger |
| Fire | Zhū-què (朱雀) the Red Phoenix | Summer | south | Mars | bitter | sound | heart | middle finger |
| Earth | Huáng-lóng (黃龍) the Yellow Dragon | Change of seasons | center | Saturn | sweet | smell | spleen | index finger |
| Metal | Bái-hǔ (白虎) the White Tiger | Autumn | west | Venus | hot | taste | lung | thumb |
| Water | Xuán-wǔ (玄武) the Black Tortoise-Serpent | Winter | north | Mercury | salty | touch | kidney | little finger |
The elements have also been correlated to the eight trigrams of the I Ching:
| Element | I Ching | Trigrams |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | Wind, thunder | :|| (☴ 巽 xùn) |:: (☳ 震 zhèn) |
| Fire | Fire | |:| (☲ 離 lí) |
| Earth | Earth, mountain | ::: (☷ 坤 kūn) ::| (☶ 艮 gèn) |
| Metal | Sky, lake | ||| (☰ 乾 qián) ||: (☱ 兌 duì) |
| Water | Water | :|: (☵ 坎 kǎn) |
See also
References
- Feng Youlan (Yu-lan Fung), A History of Chinese Philosophy, volume 2, p. 13
- Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, volume 2, pp. 262-23
| Classical Elements
Western Chinese |