![Wu Xing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Wu_Xing.png)
(; Japanese: (); Korean: (); Vietnamese: ''ngũ hành'' (五行)), usually translated as Five Phases or Five Agents, is a fivefold conceptual scheme that many traditional Chinese fields used to explain a wide array of phenomena, from cosmic cycles to the interaction between
internal organs
In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a ...
, and from the succession of political regimes to the
properties of medicinal drugs. The "Five Phases" are
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
( zh, c=, p=huǒ, labels=no),
Water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
( zh, c=, p=shuǐ, labels=no),
Wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
( zh, c=, p=mù, labels=no),
Metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
or Gold ( zh, c=, p=jīn, labels=no), and
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
or Soil ( zh, c=, p=tǔ, labels=no). This order of presentation is known as the "
Days of the Week" sequence. In the order of "mutual generation" ( zh, c=相生, p=xiāngshēng, labels=no), they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. In the order of "mutual overcoming" ( zh, c=相克, p=xiāngkè, labels=no), they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.
The system of five phases was used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. After it came to maturity in the second or first century BCE during the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, this device was employed in many fields of early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as
Yi jing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
divination,
alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
,
feng shui,
astrology
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...
,
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...
, music,
military strategy, and
martial arts. Although often translated as the Five Elements in comparison to
Classical elements of the ancient Mediterranean world, the Wuxing were conceived primarily as cosmic agents of change rather than a means to describe natural substances.
Etymology
![Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic001 - 太極圖](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Imperial_Encyclopaedia_-_Education_and_Conduct_-_pic001_-_%E5%A4%AA%E6%A5%B5%E5%9C%96.png)
''Xíng'' () of ''wǔxíng'' () means moving; a planet is called a 'moving star' ( ''xíngxīng'') in Chinese. Wǔxíng originally refers to the five major planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus) that create five dimensions of earth life.
[Dr Zai, J]
''Taoism and Science: Cosmology, Evolution, Morality, Health and more''
Ultravisum, 2015. ''Wǔxíng'' is also widely translated as "Five Elements" and this is used extensively by many including practitioners of Five Element acupuncture. This translation arose by false analogy with the Western system of the
four elements
Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simi ...
.
Nathan Sivin
Nathan Sivin (11 May 1931 – 24 June 2022), also known as Xiwen (), was an American sinologist, historian, essayist, educator, and writer. He taught first at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then at the University of Pennsylvania until his r ...
(1995), "Science and Medicine in Chinese History," in his ''Science in Ancient China'' (Aldershot, England: Variorum), text VI, p. 179. Whereas the classical Greek elements were concerned with substances or natural qualities, the Chinese ''xíng'' are "primarily concerned with process and change," hence the common translation as "phases" or "agents".
Nathan Sivin
Nathan Sivin (11 May 1931 – 24 June 2022), also known as Xiwen (), was an American sinologist, historian, essayist, educator, and writer. He taught first at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then at the University of Pennsylvania until his r ...
(1987), ''Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China'' (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan) p. 73. By the same token, ''Mù'' is thought of as "Tree" rather than "Wood".
The word ''element'' is thus used within the context of Chinese medicine with a different meaning to its usual meaning.
It should be recognized that the word ''phase'', although commonly preferred, is not perfect. ''Phase'' is a better translation for the five ''seasons'' ( ''wǔyùn'') mentioned below, and so ''agents'' or ''processes'' might be preferred for the primary term ''xíng''. Manfred Porkert attempts to resolve this by using ''Evolutive Phase'' for ''wǔxíng'' and ''Circuit Phase'' for ''wǔyùn'', but these terms are unwieldy.
Some of the
Mawangdui Silk Texts The Mawangdui Silk Texts () are Chinese philosophical and medical works written on silk which were discovered at the Mawangdui site in Changsha, Hunan, in 1973. They include some of the earliest attested manuscripts of existing texts (such as the ' ...
(no later than 168 BC) also present the ''wǔxíng'' as "five virtues" or types of activities.
Nathan Sivin
Nathan Sivin (11 May 1931 – 24 June 2022), also known as Xiwen (), was an American sinologist, historian, essayist, educator, and writer. He taught first at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then at the University of Pennsylvania until his r ...
(1987), ''Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China'', p. 72. Within Chinese medicine texts the ''wǔxíng'' are also referred to as ''wǔyǔn'' () or a combination of the two characters ( wǔxíngyǔn) these emphasise the correspondence of five elements to five 'seasons' (four seasons plus one). Another tradition refers to the ''wǔxíng'' as ''wǔdé'' (), the .
Cycles
The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles, a generating or creation ( ''shēng'') cycle, also known as "mother-son", and an overcoming or destruction ( ''kè'') cycle, also known as "grandfather-grandson", of interactions between the phases. Within Chinese medicine the effects of these two main relations are further elaborated:
*Inter-promoting ( ''xiāngshēng''): the effect in the generating ( ''shēng'') cycle
*Weakening ( ''xiāngxiè''): the effect in a deficient or reverse generating ( ''shēng'') cycle
*Inter-regulating ( ''xiāngkè''): the effect in the overcoming ( ''kè'') cycle
*Overacting ( ''xiāngchéng''): the effect in an excessive overcoming ( ''kè'') cycle
*Counteracting ( ''xiāngwǔ'' or ''xiānghào''??): the effect in a deficient or reverse overcoming ( ''kè'') cycle
Inter-promoting
Common verbs for the ''shēng'' cycle include "generate", "create" or "strengthens", as well as "grow" or "promote". The phase interactions in the ''shēng'' cycle are:
*Wood feeds Fire
*Fire produces Earth (ash, lava)
*Earth bears Metal (geological processes produce minerals)
*Metal collects Water (water vapor condenses on metal, for example)
*Water nourishes Wood (Water flowers, plants and others changes in forest)
Weakening
A deficient ''shēng'' cycle is called the ''xiè'' cycle and is the reverse of the ''shēng'' cycle. Common verbs for the ''xiè'' include "weaken", "drain", "diminish" or "exhaust". The phase interactions in the ''xiè'' cycle are:
*Wood depletes Water
*Water rusts Metal (iron)
*Metal impoverishes Earth (overmining or over-extraction of the earth's minerals)
*Earth smothers Fire
*Fire burns Wood (forest fires)
Inter-regulating
Common verbs for the ''kè'' cycle include "controls", "restrains" and "fathers", as well as "overcome" or "regulate". The phase interactions in the ''kè'' cycle are:
*Wood parts (or stabilizes) Earth (roots of trees can prevent soil erosion)
*Earth contains (or directs) Water (dams or river banks)
*Water dampens (or regulates) Fire
*Fire melts (or refines or shapes) Metal
*Metal chops (or carves) Wood
Overacting
An excessive ''kè'' cycle is called the ''chéng'' cycle. Common verbs for the ''chéng'' cycle include "restrict", "overwhelm", "dominate" or "destroy". The phase interactions in the ''chéng'' cycle are:
*Wood depletes Earth (depletion of nutrients in soil, over-farming, overcultivation)
*Earth obstructs Water (over-damming)
*Water extinguishes Fire
*Fire vaporizes Metal
*Metal overharvests Wood (deforestation)
Counteracting
A deficient ''kè'' cycle is called the ''wǔ'' cycle and is the reverse of the ''kè'' cycle. Common verbs for the ''wǔ'' cycle can include "insult" or "harm". The phase interactions in the ''wǔ'' cycle are:
*Wood dulls Metal
*Metal de-energizes Fire (metals conduct heat away)
*Fire evaporates Water
*Water muddies (or destabilizes) Earth
*Earth rots Wood (overpiling soil on wood can rot the wood)
Celestial stem
Ming neiyin
In
Ziwei, ''neiyin'' () or the method of divination is the further classification of the Five Elements into 60 ''ming'' (), or life orders, based on the
ganzhi
The sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi ( zh, 干支, gānzhī), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...
. Similar to the astrology zodiac, the ming is used by fortune-tellers to analyse a person's personality and future fate.
Applications
The Wuxing philosophy is applied to explain different concepts in various fields.
Phases of the Year
The five phases are around 73 days each and are usually used to describe the transformations of nature rather than their formative states.
*Wood/Spring: a period of growth, which generates abundant vitality, movement and wind.
*Fire/Summer: a period of swelling, flowering, expanding with heat.
*Earth can be seen as a transitional period between the other phases or seasons or when relating to transformative seasonal periods it can be seen as late Summer. This period is associated with stability, leveling and dampness.
*Metal/Autumn: a period of harvesting, collecting and dryness.
*Water/Winter: a period of retreat, stillness, contracting and coolness.
Cosmology and ''feng shui''
![FiveElementsCycleBalanceImbalance 02 plain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/FiveElementsCycleBalanceImbalance_02_plain.svg)
According to wuxing theory, the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases. Each phase has a complex series of associations with different aspects of nature, as can be seen in the following table. In the ancient Chinese form of
geomancy
Geomancy ( Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy in ...
, known as Feng Shui, practitioners all based their art and system on the five phases (wuxing). All of these phases are represented within the
trigrams
Trigrams are a special case of the ''n''-gram, where ''n'' is 3. They are often used in natural language processing for performing statistical analysis of texts and in cryptography for control and use of ciphers and codes.
Frequency
Context ...
. Associated with these phases are colors, seasons and shapes; all of which are interacting with each other.
[Chinese Five Elements Chart](_blank)
Information on the Chinese Five Elements from Northern Shaolin Academy in Microsoft Excel 2003 Format
Based on a particular directional energy flow from one phase to the next, the interaction can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive. A proper knowledge of each aspect of energy flow will enable the Feng Shui practitioner to apply certain cures or rearrangement of energy in a way they believe to be beneficial for the receiver of the Feng Shui Treatment.
Dynastic transitions
According to the Warring States period political philosopher
Zou Yan
Zou Yan (; ; 305 BC240 BC) was a Chinese philosopher and spiritual writer best known as the representative thinker of the Yin and Yang School (or School of Naturalists) during the Hundred Schools of Thought era in Chinese philosophy.
Biography
Z ...
(c. 305–240 BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified "virtue" (''de'' ), which indicates the foreordained destiny (''yun'' ) of a dynasty; accordingly, the cyclic succession of the elements also indicates dynastic transitions. Zou Yan claims that the Mandate of Heaven sanctions the legitimacy of a dynasty by sending self-manifesting auspicious signs in the ritual color (yellow, blue, white, red, and black) that matches the element of the new dynasty (Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire, and Water). From the Qin dynasty onward, most Chinese dynasties invoked the theory of the Five Elements to legitimize their reign.
Chinese medicine
The interdependence of
zang-fu
The zàng-fǔ () organs are functional entities stipulated by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). They constitute the centrepiece of TCM's general concept of how the human body works. The term ''zàng'' () refers to the organs considered to be y ...
networks in the body was said to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the Chinese doctors onto the five phases.
In order to explain the integrity and complexity of the human body, Chinese medical scientists and physicians use the Five Elements theory to classify the human body's endogenous influences on organs, physiological activities, pathological reactions, and environmental or exogenous influences. This diagnostic capacity is extensively used in traditional five phase acupuncture today, as opposed to the modern
eight principles based Traditional Chinese medicine. Furthermore in combination the two systems are the study of postnatal and prenatal influencing on genetics, psychology and sociology.
Music
The ''Yuèlìng'' chapter () of the ''Lǐjì'' () and the ''Huáinánzǐ'' () make the following correlations:
* In this use, the Chinese word (''qīng'') is
an ambiguous color inclusive of both
green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...
and
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
as its shades. This concept is common in many languages but largely alien to modern English, where it is only sometimes encountered as "grue". See the article on "
blue–green distinction in language
In many languages, the colors described in English as "blue" and "green" are colexified, i.e. expressed using a single cover term. To describe this English lexical gap, linguists use the portmanteau word ''grue'', from ''green'' and ''blue'' ...
" for further details.
* In most modern music, various five note or seven note scales (e.g., the major scale) are defined by selecting five or seven frequencies from the set of twelve semi-tones in the
Equal tempered tuning. The Chinese "lǜ" tuning is closest to the ancient Greek tuning of Pythagoras.
Martial arts
T'ai chi ch'uan
Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. ...
uses the five elements to designate different directions, positions or footwork patterns. Either forward, backward, left, right and centre, or three steps forward (attack) and two steps back (retreat).
The Five Steps ( wǔ bù):
*''Jìn bù'' (, in
simplified characters
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the ''Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one o ...
) – forward step
*''Tùi bù'' () – backward step
*''Zǔo gù'' (, in simplified characters ) – left step
*''Yòu pàn'' () – right step
*''Zhōng dìng'' () – central position, balance, equilibrium
Xingyiquan
Xing Yi Quan is classified as one of the internal styles of Chinese martial arts. The name of the art translates approximately to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist".
Xing Yi is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements ...
uses the five elements metaphorically to represent five different states of combat.
Wuxing heqidao, Gogyo
Aikido
Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in aroun ...
(五行合气道) is an art form with its roots in Confucian, Taoists and Buddhist theory. This art is centralised around applied peace and health studies and not that of defence or material application. The unification of mind, body and environment is emphasised using the anatomy and physiological theory of yin, yang and five-element
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...
. Its movements, exercises and teachings cultivate, direct and harmonise the
Qi.
Gogyo
The Japanese term is ''gogyo'' (
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
:五行,
romanized: gogyō). During the 5th and 6th centuries (
Kofun period), Japan adopted various philosophical disciplines such as
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
,
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...
and
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...
through monks and physicians from China. In particular, ''wuxing'' was adapted into
gogyo (). These theories have been extensively practiced in Japanese
acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...
and traditional
Kampo
, often known simply as , is the study of traditional Chinese medicine in Japan following its introduction, beginning in the 7th century. It was adapted and modified to suit Japanese culture and traditions. Traditional Japanese medicine use ...
medicine.
See also
*
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...
*
Classical element
*
Color in Chinese culture
*
Flying Star Feng Shui
Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui or ''Xuan Kong Fei Xing'' is a discipline in Feng Shui, and is an integration of the principles of Yin Yang, the interactions between the five elements, the eight trigrams, the Lo Shu numbers, and the 24 Mounta ...
*
Humorism
Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers.
Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 1850s ...
*
Qi
*
Wu Xing painting
*
Zang Fu
The zàng-fǔ () organs are functional entities stipulated by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). They constitute the centrepiece of TCM's general concept of how the human body works. The term ''zàng'' () refers to the organs considered to be yi ...
*
Yin and yang
Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...
References
Further reading
*
Feng Youlan (Yu-lan Fung), ''A History of Chinese Philosophy'', volume 2, p. 13
*
Joseph Needham, ''
Science and Civilization in China
''Science and Civilisation in China'' (1954–present) is an ongoing series of books about the history of science and technology in China published by Cambridge University Press. It was initiated and edited by British historian Joseph Needham ( ...
'', volume 2, pp. 262–23.
*
*
External links
Wuxing (Wu-hsing) ''The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', .
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Chinese philosophy
Taoist cosmology
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