The Meaning of the Ying Yang
The yin yang seems to decorate everything from clothing to jewelry. It's an easily identifiable symbol that contains a swirl of black and a swirl of white encasing a circle. Each swirl also contains a speck, or "seed" of the other color. This symbol is an ancient Chinese Taoist symbol, and it has an entire philosophy built around its meaning.
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Philosophy
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Tao is believed in Chinese Taoism to be the single principle that runs the entire universe. The yin yang represents the division of that principle into two opposing forces, and all opposites can be expressed either as yin or yang. All matter and energy is represented by the entire circle. Each half of the circle represents the flow of energy, or chi, from one opposite to the other.
Origin
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The yin yang symbol is thousands of years old. It was first developed by Chinese scholars as a way to observe the sun's movement and to understand the universe. They measured the length of shadows cast by the sun by putting a pole in the ground. In this way they were able to chart the number of days in a year. The symbol comes from the dark and light areas represented by the movements of the sun and moon. Summer solstice is considered the birth of the yin cycle, and winter solstice is the birth of yang.
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Yin
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Yin is the black side of the symbol. It carries a white dot that symbolizes a small part of yang being in yin. In the world, dark would represent yin and light yang. Matter is considered yin and spirit is yang.
Yang
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The white side of the symbol is yang. Yang is the polar opposite of yin. Heaven and all things on the spiritual plane such as the soul are considered yang; whereas, the polar opposite is the material world or yin.
Cyclical
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Yin and yang opposites are represented in the symbol as being cyclical. In the symbol, just as the white or yang side reaches it's highest point, or thickest part of the white, the yin begins. The cycle repeats itself. Also, each polar opposite is inescapable from the other because it contains a "seed" of the other. The entire symbol represents harmony and balance.
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References
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- Photo Credit photo by AMagill, http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/197789505/
