In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was….Dao
As this is my first foray into the world of Chinese Medicine for the Oracle, I feel the best place to start is at the beginning, and the beginning in Daoism, from which Chinese medicine springs, is the separation of Yin and Yang.
This Taiji symbol is probably the most famous and well known of all the symbols that come from the East, however it is possibly one of the least properly understood as well. Yes it’s true that it represents the balance of dark and light but the symbolism goes a lot deeper. The circle itself represents the Dao. This is the unfathomable oneness that existed before time, before the Big Bang. It contains all the potentials of creation and is the primordial chaos from which all existence sprang forth. According to LaoZi it is both ‘formless’ and ‘infinite’ and as such is quite difficult for us to comprehend, let alone talk about.
From this vast non-entity of the Dao comes the polarities of Yin and Yang. Duality is born from the singularity. Positive and the negative come in to existence giving movement, vibration and ultimately the creation of matter and the three dimensional world. (If you can get your head around this bit, everything else is relatively straight forward!)
So Yin is represented by the dark half of the circle, said to represent amongst other things, the negative, the feminine, sinking and stillness. Yang therefore is white, positive, masculine, rising and moving. However nothing in life is entirely black and white, or completely Yin or Yang. Life exists in the infinite shades of grey between the two extremes. This is represented by the smaller circles in the symbol, in that one always contains the seed of the other.
The curved line of the Taiji is also highly symbolic and informative. It represents the dynamic and ever changing relationship between the two. Yin can only exist in relation to Yang and vice versa. They are in constant state of dynamic balance.
If you follow the circle around in a clockwise direction from 12 o’clock position, you can see that Yin builds until it gets to its maximum at the 6 o’clock position. It is here at the point of maximum Yin where Yang is born. Continue around the clock and you see that Yang builds until its peak back at the 12 position where Yin is born again.
Everything in nature has to follow this cycle of moving from Yin to Yang and back again, from the movement of planets, to the changing of the seasons and from the movements of energy through the body to life and death itself.
Therefore, theoretically Chinese Medicine is in essence very simple. It is an attempt to balance these energies of Yin and Yang in the body, as they shift and respond to the constant changes and fluxes of life. The realities and practicalities of this however are, conversely, immensely complicated.
Matt Fellows is Glastonbury born and bred, is the owner of Glastonbury Acupuncture and is a Daoist wannabee.