Wu
Xing
The five elements (五 行wǔ xíng) refer to wood, fire,
earth, metal, and water and their motions. Since
ancient time, wood, fire, earth, metal and water have
been considered as basic substances to constitute the
universe and they are also indispensable for life. Five
Elements Theory
is a Chinese philosophy used to describe interactions
and relationships between things. The five elements —
wood, fire, earth, metal, and water — are believed to
be the fundamental elements of everything in the
universe between which interactions occur.
金
|
jīn
|
metal
|
木
|
mù |
wood |
水
|
shuǐ |
water |
火
|
huǒ |
fire |
土
|
tǔ |
earth |
There are two cycles in the elements: Generating and Controlling
phases. Generating
phase is the process where each
element mothers the element after it: wood feeds fire, fire
creates earth, earth bears metal, metal collects
water, and water nourishes wood. Controlling phase is
the restraining process
to balance things to make sure no element is too strong: wood
parts earth, earth dams water, water extinguishes
fire, fire melts metal
and metal chops wood.
The
five element is a way to understand the life and nature,
it is also the
basis of traditional Chinese
medicine. It helps to balance our
body, life,
nature and world around us.
