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Yin and yang

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A Taijitu or yin-yang symbol.




The nature of yin–yang



Fractal set

The Yin Yang are fractal set, fractal dimension is 1, Df=1 [5]

"Yang" and "Yin" in place names

Many places in China, such as Luoyang, contain the word "Yang", and a few, such as Huayin, the word "yin". This is a very old way to assign place names. "Yang" means that a place is on the south slope of a mountain or on the north bank of a river – for example, Luoyang is on the north bank of the Luo River. "Yin" means that a place is on the north slope of a mountain or on the south bank of a river – for example, Huayin is on the north slope of Mount Hua.

Symbolism and its importance

Yin is the black side with the white dot on it and yang is the white side with the black dot on it. The relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and in the valley. Yin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the 'sunny place' or 'south slope') is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed.



I Ching

In the I Ching, yin yang are represented by broken and solid lines: yang is solid () and yin is broken (). These are then combined into trigrams, which are more yang or more yin depending on the number of broken and solid lines (e.g., is heavily yang, while is heavily yin), and trigrams are combined into hexagrams (e.g. and ). The relative positions and numbers of yin and yang lines within the trigrams determines the meaning of that trigram, and in hexagrams the upper trigram is considered yang with respect to the lower trigram, allowing complex depictions of interrelations.


The principle of yin and yang is represented in Taoism by the Taijitu (literally "diagram of the supreme ultimate") diagram. The term is commonly used to mean the simple 'divided circle' form, but may refer to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles. Similar symbols have also appeared in other cultures, such as in Celtic art and Roman shield markings.[7][8][9]


Taijiquan, a form of martial art, is often described as the principles of yin and yang applied to the human body. Wu Jianquan, a famous Chinese martial arts teacher, described Taijiquan as follows:


Wu Jianquan, The International Magazine of T’ai Chi Ch’uan[10]

Religious and philosophical


Practitioners of Zen Yoga, a system of exercise created in 2007, see yin-yang as a flow.

Aaron HoopesZen Yoga

See also


  1. Porkert (1974). The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine. MIT Press. ISBN 0262160587. 
  2. Taylor, Rodney Leon (2005). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Confucianism, Vol. 2. New York: Rosen Publishing Group. p. 869. ISBN 9780823940790. 
  3. Muller, Charles. "Daode Jing". 
  5. DENG Yu, TCM FRACTAL SETS 中医分形集, Journal of Mathematical Medicine 数理医药学杂志 (Chinese) , 1999，12（3），264-265
  6. Osgood, Charles E. "From Yang and Yin to and or but." Language 49.2 (1973): 380–412 . JSTOR. 16 Nov. 2008 <>.
  7. Giovanni Monastra: "The "Yin–Yang" among the Insignia of the Roman Empire?", Sophia, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2000)
  8. Late Roman Shield Patterns. Notitia Dignitatum: Magister Peditum
  9. Helmut Nickel: "The Dragon and the Pearl", Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 26 (1991), p. 146, Fn. 5
  10. Woolidge, Doug (June 1997). T’AI CHI The International Magazine of T’ai Chi Ch’uan Vol. 21 No. 3. Wayfarer Publications. 
  11. Hoopes, Aaron (2007). Zen Yoga: A Path to Enlightenment though Breathing, Movement and Meditation. Kodansha International. ISBN 9784770030474. 

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Yin and yang. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.

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