PATRIZIA-GAIO-logo_RGB-01 (1)
Holistic Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Clinic
About the balance of Yin and Yang

An interesting reading in these exceptional times…

From ‘Yin Yang in Classical texts‘ by Elisabeth Rocha De La Vallee

(..) GUO YU

Returning to the idea of cycles and nature, we can look at another text, the Guo Yu. The meaning of the character guo is country, state, or kingdom; and yu is speech or discourse. The English translation would be Speech of the Kingdoms, or Discourses of the State.

The state of Zhou is about to perish due to a disturbance of qi. There have been great earth tremors within the beds of the three rivers of the kingdom of Zhou; the people are concerned and the king had asked to know the reason why it occurred. A venerable sage with the name of Fu Yang gave him this answer:

‘Zhou is about to perish. The qi of heaven and earth do not of themselves lose their proper order, and if they transgress this order it is because the people have put them into confusion. When the yang is concealed (yang fu) and cannot come forth and the yin is depressed (yin po) and cannot issue out then there are earthquakes. At the present time these three rivers have suffered from an earthquake, which is because the yang has lost its proper place and has dominated the yin. The yang having lost its place is occupying that of the yin. The rivers and streams must necessarily be obstructed.’ (Translation by Feng Yulan)

This text presents several ideas. The first is that it is possible to have an apparent disorder in nature which is actually part of the greater order, a minor disruption in the pattern of the seasons may still be part of the natural order. But as we saw with the last text, disorders may also be omens or signs of an imbalance which is due to the behaviour of the people. If the qi of heaven and earth do not lose their proper order by themselves, who is to blame? It must be the third power, mankind! This is interesting because it means that the whole concept of qi has developed to allow this kind of thinking. It suggests that the work within the body or the work with music is able to stimulate, attract or balance the yin yang qi in one way or another and this has an effect. And of course that is also the reason why mankind is able to disturb this order. The effect here is on the yang qi which is said to be concealed, hidden, fu; a character which is classically used to describe the yin is here used for the yang. The yang is hidden, concealed and cannot come out, chu.

It is interesting that we do not see the contrary for the yin. There is no suggestion of the yin scattering, because that would not make sense. The yin cannot disseminate anything. It may be scattered by the over powerful yang, but it cannot scatter itself. There can be an excess of yin leading to a blockage of yang, which is simply the inability to establish or to maintain the free communication and circulation essential for life. So this is an imbalance due to the yang losing its place. And that will manifest itself as an access of yin, a blockage. The yang qi are blocked and oppressed by the yin qi, by this movement of pressing down. The weight of the yin causes the inability to flow, to circulate and so on. At the same time the yang qi are trying to force their way out, and this explains the earthquakes in the beds of the three rivers. 

The test says very clearly that this comes from within mankind and is related to their behaviour. This is the reason why the kingdom is about to perish. It is not about to perish because there was an earthquake, but because of the imbalance of the yin yang qi which caused the earthquake and which was due to the poor state of the people governing the kingdom.

The mage of yin yang qi in this text is still very close to that of natural forces, but now it is seen as the very principle of their interaction. Here is a blockage of yin qi and it is the same thing whether it is seen in the behaviour of the mind or in the body, the river bed, or the earth. In this text we can see that the qi of heaven and earth are finally called yin yang; there is a well established relationship or correlation between all the qi which are expressing the exchange between heaven and earth, and the yin yang qi. When the qi first appears in the universe, between heaven and earth, it is always yin yang qi. The balance of yin and yang is essential to the qi, and that balance is also the rhythm within the cycle of the year, the development of the yang and the prevalence of the yin, making up the qi of the year. This is a very basic idea.

We cannot really speak of the yang qi as separate from the yin qi. The qi disseminates and conceals, but in alternation or with an harmonious blending and intermingling. This is the basis. After that we may speak of the yang qi as that which is active, bringing about transformation, stimulating movement and so on, but in this case what do we call the yin qi? That must always depend on the context. In the medical texts, the yin qi may be called the essence of nutrition, but it is simply whether is ruled by the yin movement of the qi, a movement towards the depths, the act of keeping and storing in the interior, and of being very slow. Of course, this is the difference between nutrition and defence. But what is our idea of nutrition? Or the building and reconstruction of qi? It is several things at once. It is everything that is transported and transformed  as nutrients, but also it is the kind if qi which allows this slow movement within, as opposed to the vivacious movement towards the exterior of the defensive qi. (..)

Share