4. ________________________________________________
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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,
and from the succession of political regimes
to the properties of medicinal drugs.
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5. ________________________________________________
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The "Five Phases"
are Fire (火; huǒ),
Water (水; shuǐ),
Wood (木; mù),
Metal or Gold (金; jīn),
and Earth or Soil (土; tǔ).
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6. ________________________________________________
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This order of presentation
is known as the "Days of the Week" sequence.
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In the order of "mutual generation"
(相生; xiāngshēng),
they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.
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In the order of "mutual overcoming"
(相克; xiāngkè),
they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.
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8. ________________________________________________
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The system of five phases
was used for describing interactions
and relationships between phenomena.
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After it came to maturity
in the second or first century BCE
during the Han dynasty,
this device
was employed in many fields
of early Chinese thought,
including seemingly disparate fields
such as
Yi jing divination, alchemy, feng shui, astrology,
traditional Chinese medicine, music, military strategy,
and martial arts.
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9. ________________________________________________
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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.
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10. Applications
The Wuxing philosophy
is applied to explain different concepts
in various fields.
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Phases of the Year
Cosmology and feng shui
Dynastic transitions
Chinese medicine
Music
Martial arts
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11. ________________________________________________
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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.
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Wood/Spring: a period of growth,
which generates abundant vitality,
movement and wind.
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12. ________________________________________________
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Fire/Summer: a period of swelling, flowering,
expanding with heat.
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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.
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This period is associated with stability,
leveling and dampness.
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13. ________________________________________________
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Metal/Autumn: a period of harvesting,
collecting and dryness.
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Water/Winter: a period of retreat,
stillness, contracting and coolness.
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14. ________________________________________________
According to wuxing theory,
the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases.
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Each phase
has a complex series of associations
with different aspects of nature,
as can be seen in the following table.
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In the ancient Chinese form of geomancy,
known as Feng Shui,
practitioners
all based their art and system on the five phases (wuxing).
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15. ________________________________________________
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All of these phases
are represented within the trigrams.
Associated with these phases
are colors, seasons and shapes;
all of which are interacting with each other.
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Based on a particular directional energy
flow from one phase to the next,
the interaction can be expansive,
destructive, or exhaustive.
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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.
16. Dynastic transitions
According to the Warring States period
political philosopher Zou Yan
(c. 305–240 BCE),
each of the five elements
possesses a personified "virtue" (de 德),
which indicates
the foreordained destiny (yun 運) of a dynasty;
accordingly, the cyclic succession of the elements
also indicates dynastic transitions.
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17. ________________________________________________
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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).
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From the Qin dynasty onward,
most Chinese dynasties
invoked the theory of the Five Elements
to legitimize their reign.
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19. 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.
23. and the Huáinánzǐ (淮南子)
make the following correlations:
Movement Wood Fire Earth Metal Water
Color Qing (Grue) Red Yellow White Black
Arctic Direction east south center west north
Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch 角 徵 宮 商 羽
Basic Pentatonic Scale pitch pinyin jué zhǐ gōng shāng yǔ
solfege mi or E sol or G do or C re or D la or A
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In this use,
the Chinese word 青 (qīng)
is an ambiguous color
inclusive of both green and blue as its shades.
26. from the set of twelve semi-tones
in the Equal tempered tuning.
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The Chinese "lǜ" tuning
is closest to the ancient Greek tuning of Pythagoras.
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Martial arts
27. T'ai chi ch'uan
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).
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The Five Steps (五步 wǔ bù):
Jìn bù (進步, in simplified characters 进步) – forward step
Tùi bù (退步) – backward step
Zǔo gù (左顧, in simplified characters 左顾) – left step
Yòu pàn (右盼) – right step
Zhōng dìng (中定) – central position, balance, equilibrium
Xingyiquan
uses the five elements metaphorically
to represent five different states of combat.
28. ________________________________________________
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Movement Fist Chinese Pinyin Description
Metal Splitting 劈 Pī To split like an axe chopping up and over
Water Drilling 鑽 / 钻 Zuān Drilling forward horizontally like a geyser
Wood Crushing 崩 Bēng To collapse, as a building collapsing in on
itself
Fire Pounding 炮 Pào Exploding outward like a cannon while
blocking
Earth Crossing 橫 / 横 Héng Crossing across the line of attack while
turning over
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Wuxing heqidao,
Gogyo Aikido
(五行合气道) is an art form
29. with its roots in Confucian, Taoists
and Buddhist theory.
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This art is centralised
around applied peace and health studies
and not that of defense or material application.
The unification of mind, body and environment
is emphasized
using the anatomy and physiological
theory of yin, yang
and five-element Traditional Chinese medicine.
Its movements, exercises and teachings cultivate,
direct and harmonize the Qi.
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Etymology
30. Xíng (行) of wǔxíng (五行) means moving;
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A planet
is called a 'moving star' (行星 xíngxīng)
in Chinese.
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Wǔxíng
originally refers to the five major planets
(Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus)
that create five dimensions of earth life.
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Wǔxíng
is also widely translated as "Five Elements"
and this is used extensively
31. by many including
practitioners of Five Element acupuncture.
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This translation arose by false analogy
with the Western system of the four elements.
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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".
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By the same token,
Mù is thought of as "Tree" rather than "Wood".
32. ________________________________________________
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The word element
is thus used within the context of Chinese medicine
with a different meaning to its usual meaning.
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It should be recognized that the word phase,
although commonly preferred, is not perfect.
33. ________________________________________________
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Phase
is a better translation
for the five seasons (五運 wǔyùn) mentioned below,
and so agents or processes
might be preferred for the primary term xíng.
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Manfred Porkert
attempts to resolve this
by using Evolutive Phase for 五行 wǔxíng
and Circuit Phase for 五運 wǔyùn,
but these terms are unwieldy.
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Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts
(no later than 168 BC)
34. also present the wǔxíng
as "five virtues"
or types of activities.
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Within Chinese medicine texts
the wǔxíng
are also referred to as wǔyǔn (五運)
or a combination of the two characters
(五行運 wǔxíngyùn)
these emphasise
the correspondence of five elements
to five 'seasons' (four seasons plus one).
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Another tradition refers to the wǔxíng as wǔdé (五德),
the Five Virtues.
Cycles
35. The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles,
a generating or creation (生 shēng) cycle,
also known as "mother-son",
and an overcoming or destruction (克 kè) cycle,
also known as "grandfather-grandson",
of interactions between the phases.
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Within Chinese medicine
the effects of these two main relations
are further elaborated:
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Inter-promoting (相生 xiāngshēng):
the effect in the generating (生 shēng) cycle
38. Inter-promoting
Common verbs for the shēng cycle
include "generate", "create" or "strengthens",
as well as "grow" or "promote".
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The phase interactions in the shēng cycle are:
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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)
39. Weakening
A deficient shēng cycle is called the xiè cycle
and is the reverse of the shēng cycle.
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Common verbs for the xiè
include "weaken", "drain", "diminish" or "exhaust".
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The phase interactions in the xiè cycle are:
Wood depletes Water
Water rusts Metal
Metal impoverishes Earth
(overmining or over-extraction of the earth’s minerals)
Earth smothers Fire
Fire burns Wood (forest fires)
40. Inter-regulating
Common verbs for the kè cycle
include "controls", "restrains" and "fathers",
as well as "overcome" or "regulate".
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The phase interactions in the kè cycle are:
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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
41. Overacting
An excessive kè cycle is called the chéng cycle.
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Common verbs for the chéng cycle include "restrict",
"overwhelm", "dominate" or "destroy".
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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)
42. Counteracting
A deficient kè cycle is called the wǔ cycle
and is the reverse of the kè cycle.
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Common verbs for the wǔ cycle
can include "insult" or "harm".
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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)
78. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience",
with the majority of its treatments
having no logical mechanism of action.
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Medicine in traditional China
encompassed a range of sometimes
competing health and healing practices,
folk beliefs,
literati theory and Confucian philosophy,
herbal remedies, food, diet, exercise, medical
specializations, and schools of thought.
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In the early twentieth century,
Chinese cultural and political modernizers
worked to eliminate traditional practices
as backward and unscientific.
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79. ________________________________________________
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Traditional practitioners
then selected elements of philosophy and practice
and organized them into
what they called "Chinese medicine" (Zhongyi).
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In the 1950s,
the Chinese government
sponsored the integration of Chinese and Western
medicine,
and in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of the
1960s,
80. promoted Chinese medicine as inexpensive and
popular.
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After the opening of relations
between the United States and China after 1972,
there was great interest in the West
for what is now called traditional Chinese medicine
(TCM).
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TCM
is said to be based on such texts
as Huangdi Neijing
81. (The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor),
and Compendium of Materia Medica,
a sixteenth-century encyclopedic work,
and includes various forms of herbal medicine,
acupuncture,
cupping therapy, gua sha, massage (tui na),
bonesetter (die-da),
exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy.
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TCM is widely used in the Sinosphere.
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One of the basic tenets
is that the body's vital energy (ch'i or qi)
82. is circulating through channels called meridians
having branches
connected to bodily organs and functions.
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The concept of vital energy is pseudoscientific.
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Concepts of the body and of disease used in TCM
reflect its ancient origins
and its emphasis on dynamic processes over material
structure,
similar to the humoral theory of ancient Greece and
ancient Rome.
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83. The demand for traditional medicines in China
has been a major generator of illegal wildlife
smuggling,
linked to the killing and smuggling of endangered
animals.
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