Yin and Yang

There is neither heaven nor earth,
Only snow,
Falling incessantly.

—Hashing, 27 Dec. Daily Zen calendar

For no obvious reason, I went hunting for yin-yang images this morning. I found some interesting things, as well as some very odd ones. First off, the source of the symbol is the apparent path of the sun through the year. This I had seen before. It is also known as the taiji symbol (or taiji-du, various spellings). Taiji means "supreme ultimate" and it refers to the uppermost support beam in the roof of a house. As the sun moves through the sky, light and shadow switch positions on the slopes of the roof.

Now, some of the more interesting images that I found:
This one comes from a rather hysterical Christian analysis of yin and yang (link is further down). I rather like the confluence of major symbols in it.


According to the site where I found this, this is an actual picture taken by one of the Voyager probes. Mozilla crashed on me and I lost the link, though.







This one is available for purchase as a print (but I would again have to hunt for the link; also lost when Mozilla crashed). I love the way the symbol shows up all over the place in nature.







The last image I'm just going to link to rather than post. It is a 3D stereogram from something called VRillusions. For those who have trouble with stereograms, use the dots above the picture as a guide. Cross your eyes until you get the two dots right on top of each other in the center of your field of vision (you will be "seeing" three dots at this point). Then the 3D image should be visible. Any more, I actually find the guide more distracting than helpful, but that was not always so.




Anyway, the hysterical Christian article got on my nerves, so I'm going to deconstruct it. There is so much wrong with this that I don't even know where to begin. But with all the author's "research", he doesn't even mention the link to the path of the sun, and it sounds like he takes any statement in any book that even mentions "yin/yang" as gospel truth about it. Let's see...

First, something he gets right (by quoting it from another book): "The philosophy of T'ai Chi Ch'uan is rooted in Taoism, which advocates natural effort, and in the I Ching, or Book of Changes. The movements and inner teachings are derived from the complementary relationship between Yin and Yang, two fundamental forces that create and harmonise the Universe by their interaction." He does not mention that "distinguishing full and empty" is what makes taiji one of the most effective martial arts, but he probably didn't bother to research practical applications. He also confuses "palmistry" (a Western art) and "reflexology." Reflexology is about the links of the energy meridians to other parts of the body (usually hands and feet). I've been told of studies of advanced meditators who did energy circulation while hooked up to electrical monitors. There was a measurable flow of electricity right along the meridians described by the Chinese several thousand years ago. The meridians are real (I would like to track that study down, though). I think, though, that reflexology techniques will not work very well in someone whose meridians are blocked.

Most of the rest of the article is completely irrelevant. He confuses Gnostic dualism with yin/yang non-dualism. He insists that the yin/yang has extreme sexual connotations (the Chinese would laugh: the fact that he sees only the sexual implications tells us a great deal about where his mind is). Yin/yang says there must be a balance. Extremism of any flavor indicates imbalance. This includes extreme obsessession with sex as well as the extreme of celibacy. He misses this, and it's probably the most important point. After a great deal more ranting about pagan uses of the symbol (pagans use it! It must be evil! I'm guessing he condemns Christians who dare to put a five-pointed star on their tree as well), we finally get to something relevant to yin/yang.

The yin/yang symbol is quite appropriate today for humanists, New Agers, witches, Satanists, etc. As Michael Tierra, a proponent of the yin/yang theory, states: "The Yin/Yang theory is a teaching method and does not define anything absolute.'' There are seven laws concerning the yin/yang, one of which is: "2. Everything changes."

This is an important item to notice. The idea that "everything changes" does not agree with the Bible. There we find that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 1 3:8). He doesn't change. James 1:17 also states: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Malachi 3:6 tells us: "I am the Lord, I CHANGE NOT."

Another law is: "3. All antagonisms are complementary.'' Again, this is contradictory to Scriptures. This would make Jesus and Satan complementary to each other! What blasphemy!

Well, if God and Christ never change, then they are both dead, for only the dead never change. But that is not what I see in the Bible. God created something. That was a change. Christ came, and the God of the New Testament is clearly different from the God of the Old Testament. That was a change. And, according to Christian doctrine, without Satan to tempt Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, there would have been no need for Christ. How can they not be complementary?

And how about, "'The extreme of any condition will produce signs of the opposite.'' Again applying this to Christ would mean that because He is the extreme in goodness, mercy, compassion, etc., that He will produce signs of hate, injustice, unconcern,etc." One word: Crusades. Argue all that you want that the Crusades were unChristian, but they were inspired by Christian doctrine nonetheless. Also, "'8. Nothing is solely Yin or Yang; everything involves polarity.'' This is stating that nothing is entirely good or entirely evil. This again contradicts the Scripture for in Habbakkuk 1:13 we find that God is 'of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity.' The Bible also tells us that there is no truth in Satan (John 8:44). Obviously, the yin/yang theory is not consistent with God's Word." So all the genocides and mass murders in the Old Testament were "pure" and "good"... Also, how does God's inability to look on iniquity square with the idea that God sees and knows all? If he can't look at iniquity, he must be missing an awful lot. And Satan's most potent weapon has always been pure and simple truth (used in a negative way, to be sure, but true nonetheless).

Some final thoughts: the yin/yang symbol is ancient. By only going to modern sources and uses, this author completely missed the mark. You want to know about yin and yang? Go to the ancient Chinese texts. Better yet, look out your door and watch the sun move across the sky, watch the seasons change, watch the moon go through its cycle. Everything changes. This is a fact of life on Earth. To say that God does not change is to declare that God is dead. That-which-is must change to stay the same, moment to moment, eon to eon.