| Homepage | Web Directory | Article Directory | Bid Directory |
Articles. News. Information. | |
Category of Information, News & Articles |
|
|
|
Understanding Of I-Ching And Tai Chi In Relation To Our Lives
Tai Chi, The Great Ultimate, was found earliest in the Book of Change, or otherwise known as I-Ching. Legend said that this scripture has written by the first emperor of the Zhou Dynasty - Zhou Wen Wang. Thus I-Ching is also known as Zhou-Yi. I-Ching, or the Book of Change, with its name implies, stated that life is in constant flux of change. The word I (Yi in pinyin) means 'change' in Chinese. It is formed from the characters of the sun and the moon, which represents yang and yin respectively. It has a verse stating, "Changes has the Great Ultimate, which give rise to the Two Elements. The Two Elements give rise to the Four Phenomena, and the Four Phenomena give rise to the Eight Hexagrams..." Let's begin with the word Tai Chi - the Great Ultimate. It actually means the earliest, the beginning... of all events and things. In some case, it refers to the Universe by ancient Chinese. In one of the scripture, it stated that "One yin and one yang is the Way..." This means that the all changes of events and things in the universe come from this opposing, yet united forces of yin and yang. This is why in from Tai Chi, there arises in the Two Elements - yin and yang. Take a look at the Tai Chi diagram, which is better known as the 2-Fishes diagram in Chinese. It is a circle divided into 2 sections in proportion. The circle is representing Tai Chi, or the Universe Whole, and within this wholeness, there's the Two Elements. The division of the yin and yang in Tai Chi means that there are 2 opposing elements, represented by the black section and white section respectively. Yet, the division is not a straight division, but a curved division - meaning that the 2 opposing elements actually accommodate each other in order to form the complete circle. Firstly, this means that while it is divided as opposing elements - it is united in a way to form the complete wholeness. The opposing yet united forces of yin and yang became the basis of the thinking in I-Ching. And Tai Chi uses the concepts in the I-Ching, the yin and yang elements as the core concepts to explain the both physical and meta-physical aspects of the world. Secondly, the curved division gives a sense of balance. Here, we are talking about balancing the yin and yang elements here. There's this statement in I-Ching: "When the yin goes to the extreme, the yang is born. And when the yang goes to the extreme, the yin is born". Look at the 2-fishes diagram again. If you go in counter-clock wise along the diameter of the Tai Chi circle, you will find that as one element grows more and more and reach its peak, the other elements will begin to grow in replacement. For example, if you move along the diameter on the black side, you will see that the 'half' represented by the black will become bigger and bigger and then suddenly shrink and the white 'half' will begin to grow instead. This means that if one element goes to the extreme, the other will begin to set in. What does this mean to us then? Simple: we have to balance our life in every aspect, and do not just focus only on one or a few. We have to balance between work and personal life, between family and friends, between material and spiritual, and the list goes on. Otherwise, there will be disharmony in our lives. Thirdly, the movement growing or shrinking of the yin and yang elements within the Tai Chi diagram suggests that life changes constantly to and from between good and bad, joy and sorrow, happiness and sadness, high and low and between any two extreme qualities. This is the dualistic principles in I-Ching. In any events or things, there are two qualities within. There's no such thing as complete good or perfectly bad things. It is the degree of good, or bad that matters. Take for example, can we say that a person is good because there's no bad quality in him, or a person is bad because he or she have never done any 'good' at all??? A good person may at times been guilty of small bad deeds, and a bad person may at times have some good in him or her. Isn't it? A good thing may have some negative side in it. And vice versa, a bad thing may have some positive side in it. It depends on how we perceive the issue. That's the dualistic principles in I-Ching. This goes to the next concepts. In the diagram, within each element, there's a dot in it. The black section has a white dot, while the white section has a black dot. What does this means? We move now to the next statement: The Two Elements give rise to the Four Phenomena. This means, in the yin element, there will be yang element and vice versa, in the yang element, there will be yin element. What does it means to us? In any events or things, there will be some good in the bad, and some bad in the good. Just like there's some yin in the yang, and some yang in the yin. For example, when a person wins a race, others will lose the race. There's bad news within the good news, there's sorrow amongst joy, there's losing among winning and so on. In life, there will be mixtures of good and bad, joy and sorrow, happiness and sadness, winning and losing, high and low, and it all come in a 'package'! Therefore, we should learn to be more give and take - and accept the nature of life as it is. Enjoy the good things, and accept the bad one bravely and gracefully. This will then help us to achieve a more balance and harmonious life. Tai Chi's concepts of yin and yang became influential to the ancient Chinese, and found its way into the philosophy, theories, medicine, art of war, religion, arts and the way of maintaining life. It has found its way into Daoism, which in some ways, people claimed that Tai Chi is under the idea of Daoism, which is not quite true. It should be the other way round. Whatever it is, understanding the principles of I-Ching does help us to understand the nature of life itself to better balance and manage our ups and downs to face our daily chores and challenges. And I wish all of you success and harmony in your life. May the Energy of Tai Chi be with you! Written by: *************** Note *************** C. Guan Soo
MORE RESOURCES:
Philosophy - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Conspiracy Theorist Rudyard Kipling on Masonry: "the closest thing to a religion that I shall ever know"."The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: a human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. The Animal and the Human Recent DNA analyses have revealed that humans share a majority of our genetic makeup with other animals. Physically speaking, our similarities with our fellow beings far outweigh our differences. Viewing from Anothers Perspective Sets Humans Apart? Recently I discussed what sets humans apart from other animals and species. The basic question, which has been kicked around for centuries is what makes man so unique? So, different than the other species we see? Many immediately take their religious doctrine and use it to answer the question; they say things like "God made us in his image. The Pertinence of Nudity Every kind of nudity is an abstraction. A man without clothes submits himself to immediate opinion. German Philosophers German Culture: German PhilosophersGerman and German speaking philosophers have made vast contributions to philosophy, and through philosophy, to the course of world history. Perhaps the most influential were the 'great triumvirate' of Kant, Hegel and Marx. Knowledge and Study of Social Science . Human being Knowledge & social scienceHuman beings are the best creature of the Creator. The Earth Energy Grid EARTH ENERGY GRID: - Sedona, Arizona is not only my own personal special place in nature - almost all spiritual organizations have conventions, churches or offices near all these vortices of earth energy and nature. There is a secret government base in a valley to the north and under a swamp some engineers found signs similar to the Nazca Lines and other natural spirit forms from ancient peoples. Archetypes DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY (ARCHETYPES): - "All material bodies are condensations of frozen bodies." (2) Jung is becoming 'in vogue' again, I hear. Joseph Bonaparte and The New Jersey Devil Joseph Bonaparte and The New Jersey Devil:"Commodore Stephen Decatur was an American naval hero in the early nineteenth century. According to legend, he visited the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged. Life in the Universe Part II We are most probably not the only beings in the universe interested in other planets and heavenly bodies.Based on reports and various sources of information our very own planet is visited by different shapes of unknown unidentified flying objects and mysterious entities believed to be visitors from space. Tempus Fugit and the Dollar Doesnt Money is time, a commodity which can be used to gage worth in respect to the time needed to construct, design, build, assemble, mine or in other ways accomplish a task, the creation of a product, a skill, an idea or any materialistic value. The value of a dollar changes from moment to moment depending on who possesses it at any specific point in time. Its Not Your Fault! Saying goodbye is easy for the traveler. I am a person who traveled so much that I had no roots except 'within' and I learned to be connected to 'What IS'. Goths To start this chapter we have a response from the journalist Hippie and friend who uses the name Eternum1 on the web. He was a part of the founding of web logs as these journalists went to the hot spots of the world and kept in touch with each other. Alumpeth Devi Temple of Kerala in India Alumpeth temple is an ancient kalari temple of Sri Bhadrakali (Devi), located at Vathikulam, a remote but beautiful village in Kerala state of South India. Vathikulam village is accessable by road travelling 7 kms towards east from Kayamkulam town. Some Ponderable Questions I am nothing if not inquisitive. Ask any person who knows me well. What Is Destiny? Is There Some Thing Called Free Will? One of the greatest and everlasting debates of humanity has been about the role of destiny in the lives of human beings. There was a time when it was almost an accepted fact of life that each and every event was governed by destiny of human beings. Nature of Visual Representation Nature is often called "red in tooth and claw", this means covered in blood, and comes from a fairy tale called Wolfking; it is a story of times past repute with epic adventures, this quote is very much like "survival of the fittest"!Okay, maybe that was a bit too oblique, however, there was a point to it, perhaps if I add that, an artist named Foucault once created a painting where he wrote the words "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" which is French for "This is not a pipe" under a very conformist graphic of a smoker's pipe.It was not a pipe, it was a picture of a pipe. Why Im Glad Im Not a Minority Writer I'll admit that I used to be jealous of my compadres who were minorities in my BFA Creative Writing program. The rest of us were just crusty white kids with no rhythm. From Experience: Is It the Circle of Life? All of it in one way or another a part of my lifetime and not an analytical study of the way that business has changed but a comparison that is not at all hard to follow or see. What happened to our country now seems to be subtle changes that occurred as the years passed by. Satus Anxiety 'Every adult life could be said to be defined by two great love stories. The first - the story of our quest for sexual love - is well known and well-charted.
|
| Home | Sitemap | |
| © 2006 eInfoJunction.com | Homepage | Web Directory | Article Directory| Bid Directory |
