PHILOSOPHY

PHILOSOPHY


The Chinese conceive of a universal principle called the T'AI CHI.

The T'AI CHI is the basis of all phenomena and gives birth to the twin
principles of YIN and YANG.

YANG is the active principle of growth. It represents light, masculinity,
heat, hardness and all that is positive. In the I CHING it appears as the
unbroken line:

______________

Yang is eternally expanding.




YIN is the passive principle of decay. It represents darkness, the feminine,
coldness, softness and all that is negative. It is represented by a broken
line:
  _____    _____

Yin is eternally contracting.

It is the interplay and rebalancing of these forces which produces the I, or
changes detailed in the Book of Changes.

The broken and unbroken lines are combined together into eight trigrams, each
of three lines. Each trigram represents a particular aspect of the cosmic
force:

1. Ch'ien. Heaven. Active, creative, strong, light. The father.

__________
__________
__________

2. K'un. Earth. Passive, weak, dark, receptive. The mother.

____   ____
____   ____
____   ____


3. Tui. The pool. Joy, happiness, pleasure. The youngest daughter.

____   ____
__________
__________


4. Li. Fire. Shining, clear, beautiful, depending. Middle daughter.

__________
____   ____
__________


5. Ch'en. Thunder. Active, motive force, arousing. Eldest Son.

____   ____
____   ____
__________


6. Sun. Wind. Gentle, subtle, penetrating. Eldest Daughter.

__________
__________
____   ____


7. K'an. Water. Deep, eneveloping, gloomy, dangerous. Middle son.

____   ____
__________
____   ____


8. K'en. Mountain. Inert, immoveable, stubborn. Youngest son.

__________
____   ____
____   ____


The hexagrams of the I Ching are comprised of pairings of these trigrams.

For example, hexagram 3 Chun is comprised of the trigram K'an above and the
trigram Chen below.

____   ____
__________
____   ____
____   ____
____   ____
__________

The upper trigram represents deep, dangerous water and the lower trigram
represents an active, awakening movement upwards. The symbol thus resembles
a new shoot struggling to break the surface whilst heavy waters pour down
on it. This leads to the 'Initial Difficulties' denoted by the hexagram.

The hexagrams thus formed are symbols in the true sense of the words: a kind
of signpost or shorthand representing external reality. The aim of the
hexagrams is to help us perceive the underlying reality by a subjective,
intuitive process - more akin to dreaming than rational analysis.

The values of the I Ching permeate the Chinese religion of Taoism. 'TAO'
can be translated as way, path or quest but it is held to be inexpressible
by words. Taoism teaches the acceptance of natural laws and the
renunciation of artificial constraints and concepts. Nothing is fixed and
immutable; all is subject to change - to growth and decay. The Taoist sage
acts, but he does not contend.

The chief book of Taoism is the TAO TE CHING of Lao Tzu, written in the
sixth century BC. Some flavour of what it teaches may be drawn from the
following quotations:

The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.

When all the world recognises beauty
Then ugliness by contrast is created.
When goodness is recognised as good,
Then evil comes into existence...
...Therefore the sage takes no action
and teaches by not talking.

Do that which consists of no action
And order will prevail.

The highest merit is like water.
Water is beneficial to all things
But does not contend.
It stays in places which others despise.
Therefore it is like the Tao.

The greatest rulers - the people do not notice their existence.
The lesser ones - they follow and praise them.
The still lesser ones - they fear them.
The still lesser ones - they despise them.

Where Tao is, equilibrium is. When Tao is lost,
Comes forth the differences between things.

In order to contract a thing, one should expand it first.
In order to weaken, one must first strengthen.
In order to overthrow, one must first exalt...
... The soft and the weak can overcome the hard and the strong.

Tao is eternally inactive and yet there is nothing which
  it does not do.

Returning is the motion of the Tao.
Weakness is the appliance of the Tao.
All things in the Universe come from existence,
And existence from non-existence.

Tao is the source of all things -
A treasure to good men,
And the sustainer of bad men.

The hard and tough partake of death;
the soft and tender are aspects of life.

The Tao of heaven is to lessen the full
And fill the empty.