8/8/2019 Five Chineese Cycles

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/five-chineese-cycles 1/5

Cycles

The Interactions of Wu Xing: The creation cycle (black, circle shaped arrows) and the

overcoming cycle (white, star shaped arrows).The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles, a generating or creation ( shēng ) cycle, also known as "mother-so

and an overcoming or destruction (kè) cycle, also known as "grandfather-nephew", of interactions between the phas

Generating

The common memory jogs, which help to remind in what order the phases are:• Wood feeds Fire;

• Fire creates Earth (ash);

• Earth bears Metal;

• Metal carries Water (as in a bucket or tap, or water condenses on metal);

• Water nourishes Wood.

Also:

• Wood absorbs Water;

• Water rusts Metal;

• Metal breaks up Earth;

• Earth smothers Fire;• Fire burns Wood.

Other common words for this cycle include "begets", "engenders" and "mothers."

Overcoming• Wood parts Earth (such as roots; or, Trees can prevent soil erosion);

• Earth absorbs (or muddies) Water (or Earth dam control the water);

• Water quenches Fire;

• Fire melts Metal;

• Metal chops Wood.

This cycle might also be called "controls", "restrains" or "fathers".

8/8/2019 Five Chineese Cycles

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/five-chineese-cycles 2/5

Cosmology and feng shui Main article: Feng Shui 

According to Wu Xing theory, the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases. Each phase has a complex series

associations with different aspects of nature, as can be seen in the following table. In the ancient Chinese form of 

geomancy known as Feng Shui practitioners all based their art and system on the five phases (Wu Xing). All of thephases are represented within the Ba gua. Associated with these phases are colors, seasons and shapes; all of which

are interacting with each other.

Based on a particular directional energy flow from one phase to the next, the interaction can be expansive,destructive, or exhaustive. With proper knowledge of such 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 receiverthe Feng Shui "Treatment."

Movement Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Color Green Red Yellow Purple Blue

Shape Rectangular  Triangle Square Round Curve

MaterialWood, Plants,

FlowerFire, Light Clay, Stone

Gold,Silver

Water , Mirror 

Direction east south center  west north

Planet Jupiter  Mars Saturn Venus Mercury

Heavenly

creature

Azure

Dragon

Vermilion

Bird

 Yellow

DragonWhite

Tiger

Black 

TortoiseHeavenly Stems 甲,乙 丙,丁 戊, 己 庚,辛 壬,癸

Phase  New Yang Full Yang Yin/Yangbalance

 New Yin Full Yin

Energy Generative Expansive StabilizingContract

ingConserving

Season Spring Summer  

Change of seasons

(Every thirdmonth)

Autumn Winter  

Climate Windy Hot Damp Dry Cold

Development Sprouting Blooming Ripening Withering Dormant

Livestock  dog sheep/goat cattle chicken  pig

Ba guaMain article: Ba gua 

The movements have also been correlated to the eight trigrams of the I Ching:

Movement Metal Earth Wood Wood Water Fire Earth Metal

I Ching Heaven Earth Thunder Wind Water Fire Mountain Lake

Trigrams qián k ūn zhèn xùn kan lí gèn duì

8/8/2019 Five Chineese Cycles

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/five-chineese-cycles 3/5

Chinese medicine

Five Chinese Elements - Diurnal Cycle - Main article: Traditional Chinese medicine The interdependence of Zang Fu networks in the body was noted to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the

Chinese doctors onto the five phases. For instance, the Liver (Wood phase) is said to be the "mother" of the heart (Fphase), and the Kidneys (Water phase) the mother of the Liver. The key observation was things like kidney deficien

affecting the function of the liver. In this case, the "mother" is weak, and cannot support the child. However, the

Kidneys control the heart along the Ke cycle, so the Kidneys are said to restrain the heart. Many of these interactioncan nowadays be linked to known physiological pathways (such as Kidney pH affecting heart activity).[citationneeded] The key thing to keep in mind with the Chinese medical application of the five elements is that it is only

model, and it is known to have exceptions.The citation order of the Five Phases, i.e., the order in which they are cited in the Bo Hu Tong and other Han dynas

texts, is Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. The organs are most effectively treated, according to theory, in the

following four-hour periods throughout the day, beginning with the 3 a.m. to 7 a. m. period: Metal organs (see the lbelow), Earth organs, Fire

1organs, Water organs, Fire

2(the "non-empirical" Pericardium and Triple Burner organs)

and Wood organs, which is the reverse of the citation order (plus an extra use of Fire and the non-empirical organs take care of the sixth four-hour period of the day). These two orders are further related to the sequence of the planet

going outward from the sun (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, or Water, Metal, Fire, Wood, and Earth) by a st

diagram similar to the one shown above.The sequence of the five elements Traditional Chinese medicine)promotion, inhibition, Cheng (bullying), Wu (insu

Movement Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Planet Jupiter  Mars Saturn Venus Mercury

Mental Quality Sensitivity Creativity Clarity Intuition Spontaneity

Emotion anger  happiness love grief , sadness fear , scare

Zang (yin organs) liver  heart/ pericardiumspleen/panc

reaslung kidney

Fu (yang organs)gall

bladder

smallintestine/San

 Jiao

stomach large intestineurinary

bladderSensory organ eye tongue Mouth nose ears

Body Part Tendons Pulse Muscle Skin Bones

Body Fluid Tears Sweat Saliva Mucus Urine

Fingerindexfinger

middle finger  thumb ring finger  little finger 

Sense sight speech taste smell hearing

Taste sour   bitter  sweet  pungent salty

Smell Rancid Scorched Fragrant Rotten Putrid

8/8/2019 Five Chineese Cycles

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/five-chineese-cycles 4/5

Life  birth youth adulthood old age death

Celestial stemMain article: Celestial stem 

Movement Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Heavenly Stem Jia Yi Bing Ding Wu Ji Geng Xin Ren Gui

Year ends with 4, 5 6, 7 8, 9 0, 1 2, 3

MusicMain article: Chinese music 

The Yuèlìng chapter (月令篇) of the  Lijì (禮記) and the  Huáinánzi (淮南子) make the following correlations:

Movement Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Colour Green and Blue Red Yellow White Black 

Direction east south center  west north

The Basic Pentatonic Scale jué  角 (mi) zhi 徵 (so)

g ōng  宮 (do) shāng  商 (re)

yu 羽 (la)

(Notes:

• The Chinese word青 qī ng , has many meanings, including green, • αζυρε, • χψαν, and black. It

refers to green in Wu Xing.• In most modern music, various seven note or five note scales (e.g., the major scale) are defined by selecting

seven or five frequencies from the set of twelve semi-tones in the • Εθυαλ τεµπερεδ tuning. The Chine

"lu" tuning is closest to the ancient Greek tuning of Pythagoras. See • Χηινεσε µυσιχολογψ .)

Martial artsTaijiquanMain article: Tai chi chuan 

Taijiquan 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 (五步 wu bù):

Chin Pu (進步 jìn bù) - Forward step.

T'ui Pu (退步 tùi bù) - Backward step.Tsuo Ku (左顧 (simpl.:左顾) zuo gù) - Left step.

You P'an (右盼 yòu pàn) - Right step.

Chung Ting (中定 zhōng dìng) - The central position, balance, equilibrium.

XingyiquanMain article: Xingyiquan 

Xingyiquan uses the five elements to metaphorically represent five different states of combat.

Movement Fist Pinyin Description

Wood Crushing Bēng To collapse, as a building collapsing in on itself.

Fire Pounding Pào Exploding outward like a cannon while blocking.

Earth Crossing Héng Crossing across the line of attack while turning over.

8/8/2019 Five Chineese Cycles

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/five-chineese-cycles 5/5

Metal Splitting P ī  To split like an axe chopping up and over.